"Have you a sweetheart, Gretchen?" — Margaret Ellen Edward's fifteenth full-page illustration in the <span class="h2book">Cornhill</span> for Lever's <span class="h2book">The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly</span> (August 1868)

"Have you a sweetheart, Gretchen?"

Mary Ellen Edwards

1868

Wood engraving by Swain

16.1 cm high by 10.3 cm wide (6 ¼ by 4 ⅛ inches)

Main illustration for the fifteenth (August 1868) number of Lever’s The Bramleighs of Bishop’s Folly in the Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 18, facing p. 129 (p. 389 in volume), framed.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Respectably Dressed Julia and the Dalmatian Peasant Girl

Here, Gretchen, help me with this great chest of drawers. We must get rid of it out of this, wherever it goes.” It was a long and weary task, and tried their strength to the last limit; and Julia threw herself into a deep-cushioned chair when it was over, and sighed heavily. “Have you a sweetheart, Gretchen?” she asked, just to lead the girl to talk, and relieve the oppression that she felt would steal over her. Yes, Gretchen had a sweetheart, and he was a fisherman, and he had a fourth share in a “bragotza;” and when he had saved enough to buy out two of his comrades he was to marry her; and Gretchen was very fond, and very hopeful, and very proud of her lover, and altogether took a very pleasant view of life, though it was all of it in expectancy. Then Gretchen asked if the signorina had not a sweetheart, and Julia, after a pause, — and it was a pause in which her colour came and went, said, “No!” And Gretchen drew nigh, and stared at her with her great hazel eyes, and read in her now pale face that the “No” she had uttered had its own deep meaning; for Gretchen, though a mere peasant, humble and illiterate, was a woman, and had a woman's sensibility under all that outward ruggedness.

“Why do you look at me so, Gretchen?” asked Julia.

“Ah, signorina,” sighed she, “I am sorry — I am very sorry! It is a sad thing not to be loved.” [Vol. XVIII, Chapter LIX, "A Very Brief Dream," pp. 144-145 in serial; pp. 389-390 in volume]

Comment

Since the action captured in the plate, Julia's tidying up Augustus's room at the Villa Fontanella, is minor, Edwards seems to have intended the scene to contrast the traditional peasant costume of Montenegro with the proper English fashion worn by Julia L'Estrange. One of the oddities about this scene is that, despite her Germanic name, Gretchen addresses Julia with the Italian "signorina,” probably because from his travels Lever knew that Italian was the common language of business, particularly with tourists, since Montenegro had once been a Venetian enclave.

Julia L'Estrange and Jack have been verbally sparring ever since George effected his release from the custody of the Montenegrin Podesta (judge). It seems as if, unable to bear what he misintrepets as Julia's rejection, Jack will shortly depart. An obvious source of suspense here is whether Julia will relent, and confess her deep affection for Jack; indeed, she finally does so in Chapter LI. Meanwhile, readers also wonder what news of the lawsuit Augustus will bring back from England. In fact, the narrative is provided by Augustus's companion, Cutbill.

Bibliography

Lever, Charles. The Bramleighs of Bishop’s Folly. The Cornhill Magazine 15 (June, 1867): pp. 640-664; 16 (July-December 1867): 1-666; 17 (January-June 1868): 70-663; 18 (July-October 1868): 1-403. Rpt. London: Chapman & Hall, 1872. Illustrated by M. E. Edwards; engraved by Joseph Swain.

Stevenson, Lionel. "Chapter XVI: Exile on the Adriatic, 1867-1872." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 277-296.

Created 11 September 2023