"Kate Nickleby introduced to Mr. Squeers" — Furniss's fourth illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1910)

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Kate Nickleby introduced to Mr. Squeers

Harry Furniss

1910

13.8 x 9.3 cm, vignetted

"Dear Nicholas," whispered Kate, touching her brother’s arm, "who is that vulgar man?" "Eh!" growled Ralph, "do you wish to introduced to Mr. Squeers, my dear?" "Mr. Squeers, here’s my niece: Nicholas’s sister!" "Very glad to make your acquaintance, Miss," said Squeers, raising his hat an inch or two. (49)

Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, The Charles Dickens Library Edition, facing IV, 64.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Ralph and His Brother's Children Meet Mr. Squeers

Left: The Yorkshire Schoolmaster at The Saracen's Head (April 1838), in which Phiz introduces Nicholas and the reader to the vulgar brute. Centre: Barnard portrays as brutal, shaggy, and villainous in the Household Edition: The schoolmaster and his companion looked steadily at each other for a few seconds, and then exchanged a very meaning smile (frontispiece, 1875).

"Dear Nicholas," whispered Kate, touching her brother’s arm, "who is that vulgar man?"

"Eh!" growled Ralph, whose quick ears had caught the inquiry. "Do you wish to be introduced to Mr. Squeers, my dear?"

"That the schoolmaster! No, uncle. Oh no!" replied Kate, shrinking back.

"I’m sure I heard you say as much, my dear," retorted Ralph in his cold sarcastic manner. "Mr. Squeers, here’s my niece: Nicholas’s sister!"

"Very glad to make your acquaintance, miss," said Squeers, raising his hat an inch or two. "I wish Mrs. Squeers took gals, and we had you for a teacher. I don’t know, though, whether she mightn’t grow jealous if we had. Ha! ha! ha!"

If the proprietor of Dotheboys Hall could have known what was passing in his assistant’s breast at that moment, he would have discovered, with some surprise, that he was as near being soundly pummelled as he had ever been in his life. Kate Nickleby, having a quicker perception of her brother’s emotions, led him gently aside, and thus prevented Mr. Squeers from being impressed with the fact in a peculiarly disagreeable manner.

"My dear Nicholas," said the young lady, "who is this man? What kind of place can it be that you are going to?"

"I hardly know, Kate," replied Nicholas, pressing his sister’s hand. "I suppose the Yorkshire folks are rather rough and uncultivated; that’s all."

"But this person," urged Kate.

"Is my employer, or master, or whatever the proper name may be," replied Nicholas quickly; "and I was an ass to take his coarseness ill. They are looking this way, and it is time I was in my place. Bless you, love, and goodbye! Mother, look forward to our meeting again someday! Uncle, farewell! Thank you heartily for all you have done and all you mean to do. Quite ready, sir!" [Chapter V, "Nicholas starts for Yorkshire. Of his Leave-taking and his Fellow-Travellers, and what befell them on the Road," 49]

Introductory Illustrations of Squeers from Other Series (1875 to 1910)

Left: Fred Barnard's portrait of Squeers outside The Saracen's Head: "Very glad to make your acquaintance, miss," said Squeers, raising his hat an inch or two (1875. Centre: Detail of Squeers from C. S. Reinhart's American Household Edition illustration of Squeers' classroom management: "This is the first class in English spelling and philosophy, Nickleby" (1875). Right: Clayton J. Clarke's Player's Cigarette Card No. 44: Mr. Squeers (1910).

Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators

Bibliography

Barnard, J. "Fred" (illustrator). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-eight illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872. I.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. With 39 illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). London: Chapman & Hall, 1839.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 4.

__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.

Created 19 April 2021