"Mr. Dempsey catches a Lawyer asleep" — Phiz's thirty-first engraving for Charles Lever's "The Knight of Gwynne" (March 1847)

Mr. Dempsey catches a Lawyer asleep

Phiz

March 1847 (fourteenth) instalment: initial illustration

Steel-engraving

12.0 cm by 10.5 cm (4 ¾ by 3 ¾ inches), vignetted.

Charles Lever's The Knight of Gwynne; A Tale of the Time of the Union (March 1847), originally for Part 15, facing p. 465.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Dempsey discovers Nickie's legal papers

The deep and heavy breathing of the sleepers was the only sound to be heard; they snored as if it were a contest between them; still it was long before Dempsey could summon courage enough to issue from his hiding-place, and with stealthy steps approach the table. Cautiously lifting the candle, he first held it to the face of one and then of the other of the sleepers. His next move was to inspect the supper-table, where, whatever the former abundance, nothing remained save the veriest fragments: the bottles too were empty, and poor Dempsey shook his head mournfully as he poured out and drank the last half-glass of sherry in a decanter. This done, he stood for a few minutes reflecting what step he should take next. A sudden change of position of Nickie startled him from these deliberations, and Dempsey cowered down beneath the table in terror. Scarcely daring to breathe, Paul waited while the sleeper moved from side to side, muttering some short and broken words; at length he seemed to have settled himself to his satisfaction, for so his prolonged respiration bespoke. Just as he had turned for the last time, a heavy roll of papers fell from his pocket to the floor. Dempsey eyed the packet with a greedy look, but did not dare to reach his hand towards it, till well assured that the step was safe. [Chapter LV, "A Convivial Evening," pp. 463-464]

Commentary: Paul Dempsey destroys Anthony Nickie's arrest warrants

The spears and effigies of the disguised Bagenal Daly and Sandy M'Grane immediately indicate our location: the portico in The Corvy that houses Daly's collection of curiosities. The detective is Paul Dempsey, investigating the identities of the three travellers who have just arrived in "jaunting-car" (447). The first man he recognizes immediately, for Mr. Larne, the Sheriff's officer from Dublin, was his "late patient" (447) at the inn. The second traveller he identifies as a Dublin lawyer, Anthony Nickie (whose name and address on Jervas Street are announced in a tag on his portmanteau); he is the focal point of the present illustration, and the subject of Chapter LIV. The third sleeper is Nickie's confidential agent, "Mick" McDermot. The sordid trio have arrived to take possession of the cottage as an "attachment of property for debt" (452), not Maurice Darcy's debt, but Bagenal Daly's. Having inquired of the butler, Tate, as to the whereabouts of the Knight of the Gwynne and the owner of The Corvy, the trio examine some papers from Nickie's box, eat supper, consume a decanter of sherry, and then go to sleep. The trio have in effect taken possession of The Corvy on behalf of their client, "Peter Hickman, formerly of Loughrea, surgeon and apothecary" (452). Nickie also has a warrant for Dempsey's arrest, and apparently has four agents enquiring into his present location at nearby Coleraine. Meantime, with the wind blowing a gale, Nickie elects to spend the night in The Corvy with his subordinates.

The leader of the legal trio, the Dublin attorney Nickie, is the best dressed, despite his "scrubby whisker" and somewhat crude behaviour with Lady Eleanor and Helen Darcy; the other two upon arrival Lever describes as "common looking fellows in dark upper coats and glazed hats" (447). As the trio enter the chamber of curiosities, Dempsey hastily wraps himself in an Indian blanket, and hides in Daly's canoe. When the Dublin guests are snoring soundly, Dempsey lights a candle, and examines a roll of legal documents tied with red tape — and burns them in the fireplace. Phiz's realisation of the drunken attorney is hardly flattering, as the overweight, rumpled Nickie seems stupified, sleeping with his eyes open.

Other Comic Illustrations Featuring Paul Dempsey and Mrs. Fumbally

22. Mr. Paul Dempsey does the honours of Ballintray (facing p. 312) October 1846
23. Mr. Dempsey's visit to the Corvy (facing p. 325) November 1846
24. Dodd and Dempsey at the Review (facing p. 337) November 1846
26. Mr. Dempsey's Newspaper creates a sensation (facing p. 375) December 1846
27. A Commotion in Miss Fumbally's establishment (facing p. 396) January 1847
29. Mr. Dempsey finds out "something to his advantage" (facing p. 422) February 1847
32. Paul discovers a "pose plastique (facing p. 466) March 1847
33. Mr. Paul tastes Mrs. Fumbally's "you know — you know" (facing p. 484) April 1847
34. A Drawing-room disunion at Mrs. Fumbally's (facing p. 492) April 1847
37. Mr. Dempsey in My Lady's Boudoir (facing p. 557) June 1847
39. Mr. Dempsey's last appearance and last request (facing p. 607) July 1847

Bibliography

Buchanan-Brown, John. Phiz! Illustrator of Dickens' World. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1978.

Lester, Valerie Browne Lester. Chapter 11: "'Give Me Back the Freshness of the Morning!'" Phiz! The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004. Pp. 108-127.

Lever, Charles. The Knight of Gwynne; A Tale of the Time of the Union. London: Chapman and Hall, serialised January 1846 through July 1847.

Lever, Charles. The Knight of Gwynne. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablột Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vol. I and II. In two volumes. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 28 February 2018.

Steig, Michael. Chapter Four: "Dombey and Son: Iconography of Social and Sexual Satire." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 86-112.

Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter IX, "Nomadic Patriarch, 1845-1847." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 146-164.

_______. "The Domestic Scene." The English Novel: A Panorama. Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin and Riverside, 1960.

Created 14 August 2023