Uriah Heep and His Mother

Sol Eytinge

Wood engraving

9.6 high x 7.6 cm wide (framed)

Fifteenth full-page illustration for Dickens's David Copperfield in the Ticknor and Fields (Boston), 1867, Diamond Edition.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. ]

The fifteenth illustration — "Uriah Heep and His Mother" — captures the moment in Chapter 52, "I Assist at an Explosion," when the Heeps are receiving their comeuppance at the hands of Wilkins Micawber, whose indictment:

had a powerful effect in alarming the mother; who cried out in much agitation: —

"Ury, Ury! Be umble, and make terms, my dear!"

"Mother!" he retorted, "will you keep quiet? You're in a fright and don't know what you say or mean. Umble!" he repeated, looking at me with a snarl; "I've umbled some of 'em for a pretty long time back, umble as I was!" [425]

The text gives the reader very little sense of Uriah's mother, other than that she has inculcated the doctrine "Be umble" into Uriah's speech, if not his consciousness. Compared to Phiz's lean, long-headed Uriah in such scenes from the original series as "I Am Shewn Two Interesting Penitents" (November 1850, chapter 61), Eytinge has given us a better fed, less angular villain, although the pointed chin and wringing of the hands are still very much in evidence.

Reference

Dickens, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield. Il. Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867.

---

Last modified 26 January 2011