"Uncaptioned Headnote Vignette," first page of seventh installment (Chapters 18-21) by John McLenan for Bulwer-Lytton's "A Strange Story" (21 September 1861)

Uncaptioned headnote vignette on the first page of seventh weekly instalment (Chapters 18-21)

John McLenan

1861

10.8 cm. by 5.9 cm. (4 ¼ inches by 2 ¼ inches)

Bulwer-Lytton's A Strange Story

Harper's Weekly 5 (21 September 1861): 606.

The woman’s story was prolix. Its substance was this. Her husband, habitually an early riser, had left his bed that morning still earlier than usual, to give directions about some cattle that were to be sent for sale to a neighbouring fair. An hour afterwards he had been found by a shepherd, near the mausoleum, apparently lifeless.

Image scan and text 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 to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: The Estate Manager found unconscious near the mausoleum

On being removed to his own house, he had recovered speech, and bidding all except his wife leave the room, he then told her that on walking across the park towards the cattle-sheds, he had seen what appeared to him at first a pale light by the iron door of the mausoleum. On approaching nearer, this light changed into the distinct and visible form of his master, Sir Philip Derval, who was then abroad, — supposed to be in the East, where he had resided for many years. The impression on the steward’s mind was so strong, that he called out, “Oh, Sir Philip!” when looking still more intently, he perceived that the face was that of a corpse. As he continued to gaze, the apparition seemed gradually to recede, as if vanishing into the sepulchre itself. He knew no more; he became unconscious. It was the excess of the poor woman’s alarm, on hearing this strange tale, that made her resolve to send for me instead of the parish apothecary. [Chapter XX, 606]

Commentary: The Visitation That Appeared before the Steward at the Mausoleum

As the passage suggests, the local apothecary and not the society doctor would generally be sent for in such an instance, so that the reader is naturally curious as to why that is not the case here. Why has the narrator, Dr. Allen Fenwick, been summoned to the remote spot on the Hill? The illustration of the unconscious liveried steward serves to introduce a new, important character: Sir Philip Derval, forty-eight-year-old absentee owner of the estate who has been abroad some eighteen years.

Bibliography

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G. D. A Strange Story. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly V, 10 August — 8 March 1862.

Bulwer Lytton, Edward (Lord Lytton). A Strange Story. The Works of Edward Bulwer Lytton, Vol. VII. New York: P. F. Collier, n. d. Pp. 7-242.

Created 21 November 2007

Last modified 10 July 2026