"Is it good, Brass, is it nice, is it fragrant?" — Chap. XI by Charles Green. 1876. 10.9 cm high by x 13.8 cm wide. Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop, in the 1876 British Household Edition, IV: 44. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Context of the Illustration: Quilp Ingratiates Himself with Sampson Brass
The legal gentleman, whose melodious name was Brass, might have called it comfort also but for two drawbacks: one was, that he could by no exertion sit easy in his chair, the seat of which was very hard, angular, slippery, and sloping; the other, that tobacco-smoke always caused him great internal discomposure and annoyance. But as he was quite a creature of Mr. Quilp’s and had a thousand reasons for conciliating his good opinion, he tried to smile, and nodded his acquiescence with the best grace he could assume.
This Brass was an attorney of no very good repute, from Bevis Marks in the city of London; he was a tall, meagre man, with a nose like a wen, a protruding forehead, retreating eyes, and hair of a deep red. He wore a long black surtout reaching nearly to his ankles, short black trousers, high shoes, and cotton stockings of a bluish grey. He had a cringing manner, but a very harsh voice; and his blandest smiles were so extremely forbidding, that to have had his company under the least repulsive circumstances, one would have wished him to be out of temper that he might only scowl.
Quilp looked at his legal adviser, and seeing that he was winking very much in the anguish of his pipe, that he sometimes shuddered when he happened to inhale its full flavour, and that he constantly fanned the smoke from him, was quite overjoyed and rubbed his hands with glee.
"Smoke away, you dog," said Quilp, turning to the boy; "fill your pipe again and smoke it fast, down to the last whiff, or I’ll put the sealing-waxed end of it in the fire and rub it red hot upon your tongue."
Luckily the boy was case-hardened, and would have smoked a small lime-kiln if anybody had treated him with it. Wherefore, he only muttered a brief defiance of his master, and did as he was ordered.
"Is it good, Brass, is it nice, is it fragrant, do you feel like the Grand Turk?" said Quilp.
Mr. Brass thought that if he did, the Grand Turk’s feelings were by no means to be envied, but he said it was famous, and he had no doubt he felt very like that Potentate. [Chapter XI, 42]
Commentary: Quilp Moves Decisively against Grandfather Trent
Chapter Eleven marks a significant turning point in the fortunes of the Trents. No sooner has Grandfather Trent fallen severely ill than Quilp and his devious attorney, Sampson Brass, take possession of the Curiosity Shop as a result of Trent's gambling debts. As the client and the attorney celebrate their triumph by occupying venerable armchairs in the shop and smoking pipes, Kit Nubbles overhears them. Even as Quilp delights in occupying Nell's bedroom, Kit determines to keep watch in the street to warn the Trents and offer them temporary lodgings at his house. Thus, Grandfather Trent determines to leave London in order to escape Quilp's machinations. Before dawn, the pair slip out of the house and make their way westward, out of the city.
Related Resources
- Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop — Some Discussions
- The Old Curiosity Shop Illustrated: A Team Effort by "The Clock Works."
- Kyd's Characters from Dickens (1889, 1910)
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 the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop in Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by Phiz, George Cattermole, Samuel Williams, and Daniel Maclise. 3 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1841; rpt., Bradbury and Evans, 1849.
_____. The Old Curiosity Shop. Illustrated by Thomas Worth. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Bros., 1872. I.
Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop. Illustrated by Charles Green. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1876. XII.
Created 5 May 2019
Last modified 18 July 2025