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The Wager
Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)
steel engraving
13.8 cm high by 10.8 cm wide (5 ⅜ by 4 ⅜ inches), vignetted
May 1862
Seventh serial illustration for Charles Lever's Barrington, Chapter XIV, "Barrington's Ford," facing p. 108.
[Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Left: Frontispiece (February 1863) and Tom Dill at His Studies (June 1862), both by Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz). Middle: Polly Dill (March 1862). Right: Polly Dill Takes Leave of Conyers (May 1862). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
When he gained the bank, it was to see three horsemen, who seemed to be cheering, or, as it might be, warning a young girl who, mounted on a powerful black horse, was deep in the stream, and evidently endeavouring to cross it. Her hat hung on the back of her neck by its ribbon, and her hair had also fallen down; but one glance was enough to show that she was a consummate horsewoman, and whose courage was equal to her skill; for while steadily keeping her horse's head to the swift current, she was careful not to control him overmuch, or impede the free action of his powers. Heeding, as it seemed, very little the counsels or warnings showered on her by the bystanders, not one of whom, to Conyers's intense amazement, had ventured to accompany her, she urged her horse steadily forward.
“Don't hurry, — take it easy!” called out one of the horsemen, as he looked at his watch. “You have fifty-three minutes left, and it's all turf.”
“She'll do it, — I know she will!” “She 'll lose, — she must lose!” “It's ten miles to Foynes Gap!” “It's more!” “It's less!” “There! — see! — she's in, by Jove! she's in!” These varying comments were now arrested by the intense interest of the moment, the horse having impatiently plunged into a deep pool, and struck out to swim with all the violent exertion of an affrighted animal. “Keep his head up!” “Let him free, quite free!” “Get your foot clear of the stirrup!” cried out the bystanders, while in lower tones they muttered, “She would cross here!” “It's all her own fault!” Just at this instant she turned in her saddle, and called out something which, drowned in the rush of the river, did not reach them. [Chapter XIV, "Barrington's Ford," 108]
Again we see Polly Dill (on the borrowed champion "Baythershin") and three riders of the chase; this time, she has accepted the challenge to ride from Lowe's Folly to Foynes in a mere hour and forty minutes. She has unwisely dared to ford the river near The Fisherman's Home rather than take the slightly longer and safer crossing at Nusford.
However, having broken her reins Polly is in peril until rescued by Fred Conyers, who receives no thanks since she believes she could have won her friends their £100 wager against the "English officer that is stopping at Sir Charles's" (90), presumably Horace Stapylton. Fred is disgusted by what he regards as a disgraceful bet because it has threatened both horse and rider: "He had often heard of the reckless habits and absurd extravagances of Irish life" (90), comments Lever of Fred's typically English prejudices.
Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.
Lever, Charles. Barrington. With 25 engravings by Phiz [Hablột Knight Browne]. 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 updated 12 October 2026