[Ringmaster Sleary and His Daughter, Josephine, Costumed as a Horse-Rider] by Harry French

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Title page vignette

[Ringmaster Sleary and His Daughter, Josephine, Costumed as a Horse-Rider]

Harry French

Wood engraving

1870s

6.5 cm wide x 7.2 cm high

Illustration for Dickens's Hard Times for These Times in the British Household Edition, p. 44

This is possibly what Tom saw "through a hole in a deal board" of the equestrian Tyrolean flower-act (Book One, Ch. 3), or possibly "A Grand Morning Performance by the Riders" (Book Three, Ch. 7) Interior: circus tent.

Image scan and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Commentary

Although the title-page of the Harper Brothers' Household Edition announces the contents as "The Uncommercial Traveller," "Hard Times," and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," the vignette is clearly Sissy Jupe holding the Nine Oils, the lineament that her horse-riding father, the circus clown Signor Jupe, uses to ease his rheumatic pains. The passage illustrated occurs in chapter 5, "The Key-Note," when Bounderby and Gradgrind encounter Girl Number Twenty in the street:

"Now, girl," said Mr. Gradgrind, "take this gentleman and me to your father's. We are going there. What have you got in that bottle you are carrying?"

Gin, said Mr. Bounderby.

"Dear, no, sir! It's the nine oils."

"The what?" cried Mr. Bounderby.

"The nine oils, sir. To rub father with." Then, said Mr. Bounderby, with a loud, short laugh, "what the devil do you rub your father with nine oils for?"

"It's what our people [i. e., circus acrobats] always use, sir, when they get any hurts in the ring," replied the girl, looking over her shoulder, to assure herself that her pursuer was gone. "They bruise themselves very bad sometimes." [page 131]

Ironically, Jupe's abandoning his daughter renders her more suitable as a student in Gradgrind's model school because she will no longer have any direct connection with "the horse-riding," and can freely become Gradgrind's ward. Although Cecilia agrees to part company with her circus family, as Gradgrind demands, she refuses to be parted from the nine oils since it will be her only tangible connection to him:

"No, no! she said, in another burst of tears. "Oh, no! Pray let me keep it for father till he comes back! He will want it when he comes back. He had never thought of going away when he sent me for it. I must keep it for him, if you please!" [137]

References

Dickens, Charles. Hard Times with twenty illustrations by H. French. London: Chapman and Hall [1875?].

Created 17 April 2002

Last modified 25 December 2019