"The Problem" by "Phiz" — Phiz's fifth illustration for Charles Lever's "Barrington" (April 1862)

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The Problem

Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)

steel engraving

11.3 cm high by 9.7 cm wide (4 ½ by 3 ⅞ inches), partially vignetted

April 1862

Fifth serial illustration for Charles Lever's Barrington; Tales of the Trains, Chapter X, "Being 'Bored'," facing p. 82.

[Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image 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 it, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: Thirsting for Some Occupation

Bending low over the table, he was straining his eyes at the game, when a low, gentle voice from behind his chair said, “Would you not wish candles, sir? It is too dark to see here.”

Conyers turned hastily, and as hastily recognized that the person who addressed him was a gentlewoman. He arose at once, and made a sort of apology for his intruding.

“Had I known you were a chess-player, sir,” said she, with the demure gravity of a composed manner, “I believe I should have sent you a challenge; for my brother, who is my usual adversary, is from home.” [Chapter X, “Being 'Bored'," p. 82]

Commentary

Ostensibly, the puzzle alluded to in the plate's title is one of chess (“A Mate in Six Moves“ from an open book nearby), which Fred Conyers has been pondering for some moments prior to Dinah Barrington's entrance into her room in the turret of the house. Indeed, shortly afterward the two do play a game of chess, in which Fred is bested. But Fred will himself pose a problem for the Barringtons, for apparently his father, Ormsby Conyers, caused George's death; later, when a romance seems to be developing between Fred and Josephine, Dinah worries that the young nabob is far above the teenager in both wealth and rank. These problems are, of course, resolved at the end of the story.

Related Material

Bibliography

Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.

Lever, Charles. Barrington; Tales of the Trains. Illustrated by 'Phiz'. London: Chapman and Hall, 1863.

Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978.

Sutherland, John A. "Barrington." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989, rpt. 1990, 48-49.

Created 9 November 2007

Last modified 12 October 2026