Sergeant Buzfuz by J. Clayton Clarke ("Kyd") for the 1910 watercolour series: reproduced on John Player cigarette card no. 13: Ninety-two Characters from Dickens: The Pickwick Papers. 2 ½ inches high by 1 ¼ inches wide (6.3 cm high by 3.3 cm wide). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
SERGEANT BUZFUZ (The Pickwick Papers)
Leading counsel for Mrs. Bardell in the immortal breach of promise case "Bardell against Pickwick." A red-faced, pugnacious bully, he makes his various points with sledge-hammer force, while keeping an ever-watchful eye upon "the enlightened, high-minded, right-feeling, conscientious, dispassionate, sympathising, contemplative jury of his civilised countrymen." [Verso of Card No. 13]
Passage Illustrated: Sergeant Buzfuz for the Plaintiff in Bardell v. Pickwick
Sergeant Buzfuz then rose with all the majesty and dignity which the grave nature of the proceedings demanded, and having whispered to Dodson, and conferred briefly with Fogg, pulled his gown over his shoulders, settled his wig, and addressed the jury.
Serjeant Buzfuz began by saying, that never, in the whole course of his professional experience — never, from the very first moment of his applying himself to the study and practice of the law — had he approached a case with feelings of such deep emotion, or with such a heavy sense of the responsibility imposed upon him — a responsibility, he would say, which he could never have supported, were he not buoyed up and sustained by a conviction so strong, that it amounted to positive certainty that the cause of truth and justice, or, in other words, the cause of his much-injured and most oppressed client, must prevail with the high-minded and intelligent dozen of men whom he now saw in that box before him.
Counsel usually begin in this way, because it puts the jury on the very best terms with themselves, and makes them think what sharp fellows they must be. A visible effect was produced immediately, several jurymen beginning to take voluminous notes with the utmost eagerness.
‘You have heard from my learned friend, gentlemen,’ continued Serjeant Buzfuz, well knowing that, from the learned friend alluded to, the gentlemen of the jury had heard just nothing at all — ‘you have heard from my learned friend, gentlemen, that this is an action for a breach of promise of marriage, in which the damages are laid at £1,500. But you have not heard from my learned friend, inasmuch as it did not come within my learned friend’s province to tell you, what are the facts and circumstances of the case. Those facts and circumstances, gentlemen, you shall hear detailed by me, and proved by the unimpeachable female whom I will place in that box before you.’
Here, Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz, with a tremendous emphasis on the word ‘box,’ smote his table with a mighty sound, and glanced at Dodson and Fogg, who nodded admiration of the Serjeant, and indignant defiance of the defendant.
‘The plaintiff, gentlemen,’ continued Serjeant Buzfuz, in a soft and melancholy voice, ‘the plaintiff is a widow; yes, gentlemen, a widow. The late Mr. Bardell, after enjoying, for many years, the esteem and confidence of his sovereign, as one of the guardians of his royal revenues, glided almost imperceptibly from the world, to seek elsewhere for that repose and peace which a custom-house can never afford.’ [Chapter XXXIV of The Household Edition, "Is Wholly Devoted to a Full and Faithful Report of the Memorable Trial of Bardell against Pickwick," 235]
Commentary
Kyd's representations are largely based on the original illustrations by Phiz and Seymour, although the modelling of the figures is suggestive of Phiz's own, expanded series for Household Edition volume of the 1870s. Such is very much the case here, with Kyd's version so clearly resembling Mrs. Bardell's barrister, the pompous Sergeant Buzfuz, in Phiz's March 1837 illustration The Trial. The gesture, the corpulent body under the legal robes, and the puffy face and red nose are all consistent with Dickens's satire of a prominent attorney of the period, Serjeant Bompas; Dickens's caricature made Buzfuz a byword for an unscrupulous barrister who employs rhetoric and histrionics to flatter and cajole a jury, and bullying tactics to manipulate so unsteady a witness as Mr. Winkle.
Scenes from Mr. Pickwick's Ordeal in Court (1837-1910)
Left and centre: Harry Furniss's lithographs for trial, Mr. Pickwick and his Counsel. . . . . and Sergeant Buzfuz (1910), do not depict trial itself, and focus on the rival barristers involved, Sergeants Snubbin for the defendant and Buzfuz for the plaintiff. Right: In the frontispiece for the second volume in the Charles Dickens Library Edition, the focus is Sam's wandering testimony: Sam Weller in the Witness-Box fails to recognise his Father (1910). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Left: Thomas Nast's American Household Edition's engraving for this chapter, "Wretch," said the lady (1873). Right: Phiz's derivative illustration of the Trial from the Household Edition: An admonitory gesture from Perker restrained him, and he listened to the learned gentleman's continuation with a look of indignation, p. 241 (1874). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Other artists who illustrated this work, 1836-1910
- Robert Seymour (1836)
- Thomas Onwhyn (1837)
- Felix Octavius Carr Darley (1861)
- Sol Eytinge, Jr. (1867)
- Thomas Nast (1873)
- Harry Furniss (1910)
Scanned images 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 person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
The Characters of Charles Dickens pourtrayed in a series of original watercolours by “Kyd.” Lonodn, Paris, and New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, nd. [1910?]
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Robert Seymour, R. W. Buss, and Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). London: Chapman & Hall: April 1836 through November 1837.
_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Frontispieces by Felix Octavius Carr Darley and Sir John Gilbert. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1863. 4 vols.
_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. 1.
_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 22 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 2.
_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 5.
_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 16 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 4.
_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.
Created 6January 2015
Last updated 9 July 2025