"Mr. Caudle is called up at Two in the Morning" — Charles Keene's illustration forDouglas Jerrold's"Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures" (1866)

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Mr. Caudle is called up at Two in the Morning

Charles Keene

1866

Wood-engraving

9.2 x 9 cm, vignetted

Tenth illustration for Douglas Jerrold's Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures (first published in 1845): "The Fourth Lecture," p. 18.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Summoned to Bail Harry Prettyman out of the Watch-house

"Yes, Mr. Caudle, I knew it would come to this. I said it would, when you joined those precious Skylarks. People being called out of their beds at all hours of the night, to bail a set of fellows who are never so happy as when they're leading sober men to destruction. I should like to know what the neighbours will think of you, with people from the police knocking at the door at two in the morning? Don't tell me that the man has been ill−used: he's not the man to be ill−used. And you must go and bail him! I know the end of that: he'll run away, and you'll have to pay the money. I should like to know what's the use of my working and slaving to save a farthing, when you throw away pounds upon your precious Skylarks. A pretty cold you'll have to−morrow morning, being called out of your warm bed this weather; but don't you think I'll nurse you not I; not a drop of gruel do you get from me. ["Fourth Lecture" —; "Mr. Caudle has been called from his bed to bail Mr. Prettyman from the watch-house," p. 17-18]

Commentary

The order of the illustrations in this instalment violates chronological order, as Keene describes Caudle's accompanying the constable to the watch-house prior to this scene, in which Caudle goes to the window at 2:00 A. M. on Sunday to answer the constable's summons to bail out a fellow Skylark.

Bibliography

Jerrold, Douglas. Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures, as Suffered by the late Job Caudle.Edited from the Original MSS. by Douglas Jerrold. With a frontispiece by Leech, and as motto on the title-page, "Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Fury's lap. —; Shakespeare." London: Punch Office; Bradbury and Evans, 1846.

Jerrold, Douglas. Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures . Illustrated by John Leach and Richard Doyle. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1856.

Jerrold, Douglas. Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures. Illustrated by Charles Keene. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1866.

Last modified 10 November 2017