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Jacob Postlethwaite Punished

John McLenan

24 December 1859

9.9 cm high by 4.7 cm wide (3 ⅞ by 1 ⅞ inches), vignetted.

Fifth uncaptioned headnote vignette for Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel (24 December 1859), 821.

[Click on the image to enlarge it.]

The illustration provides comic relief from the romantic anguish of the young drawing-master as the severe schoolmaster makes the chubby, self-pitying pupil "a sturdy, white-headed boy") at the country school near Limmeridge House stand on a stool in disgrace for spreading stories about a ghost at Mrs. Fairlie's grave. When Marian Halcombe questions the boy, Hartright concludes that the "ghost" is in fact "The Woman in White," Anne Catherick. An amusing touch is the "ghost" stick-figure that some arrant schoolboy has drawn on the wall, just to the right of the lachrymose teller of tall tales.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Postlethwaite Punished. — staff artist John McLenan's fifth headnote vignette (composite woodblock engraving) for Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel, Instalment 5, published on 24 December 1859 in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, Vol. III. Part One: "The Story Begun by Walter Hartright, of Clement's Inn, Teacher of Drawing," Chapter XI, 821; p. 36 in the 1861 volume.

Postlewaite Punished for Spreading Ghost Stories about the late Mrs. Fairlie

“Now, boys,” said the voice, “mind what I tell you. If I hear another word spoken about ghosts in this school, it will be the worse for all of you. There are no such things as ghosts, and therefore any boy who believes in ghosts believes in what can’t possibly be; and a boy who belongs to Limmeridge School, and believes in what can’t possibly be, sets up his back against reason and discipline, and must be punished accordingly. You all see Jacob Postlethwaite standing up on the stool there in disgrace. He has been punished, not because he said he saw a ghost last night, but because he is too impudent and too obstinate to listen to reason, and because he persists in saying he saw the ghost after I have told him that no such thing can possibly be. If nothing else will do, I mean to cane the ghost out of Jacob Postlethwaite, and if the thing spreads among any of the rest of you, I mean to go a step farther, and cane the ghost out of the whole school.”

“We seem to have chosen an awkward moment for our visit,” said Miss Halcombe, pushing open the door at the end of the schoolmaster’s address, and leading the way in.

Our appearance produced a strong sensation among the boys. They appeared to think that we had arrived for the express purpose of seeing Jacob Postlethwaite caned.

“Go home all of you to dinner,” said the schoolmaster, “except Jacob. Jacob must stop where he is; and the ghost may bring him his dinner, if the ghost pleases.”

Jacob’s fortitude deserted him at the double disappearance of his schoolfellows and his prospect of dinner. He took his hands out of his pockets, looked hard at his knuckles, raised them with great deliberation to his eyes, and when they got there, ground them round and round slowly, accompanying the action by short spasms of sniffing, which followed each other at regular intervals — the nasal minute guns of juvenile distress. [Chapter XII, 821; 36 in the 1861 volume edition]

Related Material

  • McLenan's regular, full-scale illustration for the fourth weekly number in serial: "And just outside the door an old woman was engaged in washing." for 24 December 1859.
  • Fred Walker's poster: The Woman in White for the Olympic's October 1871 adaptation

Bibliography

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White: A Novel. New York: Harper & Bros., 1861 (first printing, 15 August 1860; reissued in single-column format in 1902, 548 pages).

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White: A Novel. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. Illustrated by John McLenan. Vols. III-IV (26 November 1859 through 8 September 1860).

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White. Ed. Maria K. Bachman and Don Richard Cox. Illustrated by Sir John Gilbert. London: Minerva, 2006.

Peters, Catherine. "Chapter Twelve: The Woman in White (1859-1860)." The King of the Inventors: A Life of Wilkie Collins. London: Minerva Press, 1992. Pp. 205-225.

Vann, J. Don. "The Woman in White in All the Year Round, 26 November — 25 August 1860." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. Pp. 44-46.


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Created 7 July 2024