"Mr. Stiggins on his Legs" — Harry Furniss's thirty-sixth regular illustration for Dickens's "Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" (1910)

Mr. Stiggins on his Legs, a re-interpretation of two earlier Phiz illustrations (1837 and 1874), 9.4 cm high by 14.3 cm wide (3 ¾ inches by 5 ½ inches) vignetted, in Dickens's The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Chapter XLV, “Descriptive of an Affecting Interview between Mr. Samuel Weller and a Family Party. Mr. Pickwick makes a Tour of the diminutive World he inhabits, and resolves to mix with it, in future, as little as possible,” in The Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910) facing II, 641.

Passage Realised: The Boozy Non-Conformist Holds forth

Phiz's original August 1837 steel-engraving, The Red-Nosed Man Discourseth (Ch. XLV).

Mr. Weller delivered this scientific opinion with many confirmatory frowns and nods; which, Mrs. Weller remarking, and concluding that they bore some disparaging reference either to herself or to Mr. Stiggins, or to both, was on the point of becoming infinitely worse, when Mr. Stiggins, getting on his legs as well as he could, proceeded to deliver an edifying discourse for the benefit of the company, but more especially of Mr. Samuel, whom he adjured in moving terms to be upon his guard in that sink of iniquity into which he was cast; to abstain from all hypocrisy and pride of heart; and to take in all things exact pattern and copy by him (Stiggins), in which case he might calculate on arriving, sooner or later at the comfortable conclusion, that, like him, he was a most estimable and blameless character, and that all his acquaintances and friends were hopelessly abandoned and profligate wretches. Which consideration, he said, could not but afford him the liveliest satisfaction.

He furthermore conjured him to avoid, above all things, the vice of intoxication, which he likened unto the filthy habits of swine, and to those poisonous and baleful drugs which being chewed in the mouth, are said to filch away the memory. At this point of his discourse, the reverend and red-nosed gentleman became singularly incoherent, and staggering to and fro in the excitement of his eloquence, was fain to catch at the back of a chair to preserve his perpendicular. [Chapter XLV, “Descriptive of an Affecting Interview between Mr. Samuel Weller and a Family Party. Mr. Pickwick makes a Tour of the diminutive World he inhabits, and resolves to mix with it, in future, as little as possible,” 648]

Commentary: Anticipated Nemesis for the Rev. Mr. Stiggins and Tony Weller, Esq.

Furniss's original caption: At this point of his discourse the reverend and red-nosed gentleman became singularly incoherent, and staggering to and fro in the excitement of his eloquence, was fain to catch at the back of a chair top preserve his perpendicular. — Pickwick, p. 648.

The lithograph is not juxtaposed against the harangue which the inebriated Non-conformist minister delivers to the Wellers, but rather anticipates the textual moment in the snuggery of the public house which Mrs. Weller owns. If she is devoutly credulous as she holds her hands prayerfully together, she is nonetheless not particularly enthusiastic about a ranting sermon against the consumption of alcohol. The postures of all four characters in the impressionistic Furniss lithograph convey their essential attitudes and mental states.Tony (left rear) slumbers; Sam, left of centre, is fascinated by Stiggins' hypocrisy; and Stiggins himself is in mid-flight of rhetoric as, having dropped his hat and umbrella, on the floor, he gestures heavenward as he almost loses his balance. Although he is presumably rehearsing a sermon that he has penned and memorized, drink has rendered him "singularly incoherent." As an impressionist and caricaturist, Furniss includes only indispensable background details such as the pitcher of punch and the two partially consumed drinks. Most of the comic effect, therefore, is delivered by the text itself as Tony Weller describes Stiggins as "the representative of the united parishes of Saint Simon Without and Saint Walker Within" (645), alluding to the City churches "within" and outside the walls of mediaeval London:

Tony Weller is implying that Stiggins is a hypocrite who acts differently when inside the Fleet Prison from when outside. Without and within refer to the old walls of the City of London, and City churches are often called after the saint to whom they are dedicated, followed by 'wirhin' or 'without', to describe on which side of the wall they are situated. Simon, one of Jesus's twelve disciples, was also known as Simon the Zealot. Walker is Cockney slang for a fake. [Guiliano and Collins, Note 6, p. 426]

Sam, as in the text describing the moment realised, "sitting cross-legged on a chair and resting his arms on the top- [648/649] rail, regarded the speaker with great suavity and blandness of demeanour," as he glances occasionally at his sleeping father as the sermon degenerates into an incoherent rant.

Relevant Household Edition (1873-74) illustrations

Left: The same scene in the 1874 Household Edition: Mr. Stiggins, getting on his legs as well as he could, proceeded to deliver an edifying discourse for the benefit of the company. Right: Thomas Nast's version of the same scene, Mr. Stiggins raised his hands, and turned up his eyes (1873) realizes an earlier moment.

Other artists who illustrated this work, 1836-1910

Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose, as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them, 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 Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Robert Seymour, Robert Buss, and Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, November 1837. With 32 additional illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn (London: E. Grattan, April-November 1837).

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 16 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 4.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 5.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club in The Annotated Dickens. 2 vols. Edited by Edward Guiliano and Philip Collins. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1986. Vol. 1.

Created 7 February 2024