Seventh plate for Thomas Hardy's "Wessex Folk" (subsequently renamed "A Few Crusted Characters"), "They Had a Good Supper Together, and Talked Over Their Affairs." by Charles Green

They Had a Good Supper Together, and Talked Over Their Affairs

Charles Green

June 1891

Lithograph

8 cm high by 10 cm wide

Scanned image and caption by Philip V. Allingham

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document tothis URL.]

From Thomas Hardy's "Incident in the Life of Mr. George Crookhill — one of the tales in "Wessex Folk" (subsequently renamed "A Few Crusted Characters") in Harper's New Monthly Magazine. In this seventh plate for Thomas Hardy's nine framed tales, Green depicts Georgy Crookhill drinking with a man of about his own age whom he has met on the road from Casterbridge, a man he assumes to be the wealthy and gullible Farmer Jollice. Again, this scene lays the groundwork for the plot involving the gulling of the local confidence man and petty thief by a much cleverer rogue. The unfortunate protagonist steals the clothes and mount of the farmer (left), who however turns out to be a military deserter. Only the coincidence of the real Farmer Jollice's turning up to verify that Crookhill is not the man who stole his belongings permits him to escape the firing squad.

References

Hardy, Thomas. "Wessex Folk" (subsequently renamed "A Few Crusted Characters"). Harper's New Monthly Magazine 82 (June 1891): 123.

Last modified 21 May 2008