The Last Visit of Heyling to the Old Man
Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)
November 1836
Steel Engraving
Dickens's Pickwick Papers
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Passage illusatrated from the inset narrative "The Tale about the Queer Client," which involves the revenge of George Heyling, a Marshalsea debtor, upon an unscrupulous attorney:
The object of his search and his unrelenting animosity, now a decrepit old man, was seated at a bare deal table, on which stood a miserable candle. He started on the entrance of the stranger, and rose feebly to his feet.
"What now, what now?" said the old man. "What fresh misery is this? What do you want here?"
"A word with you," replied Heyling. As he spoke, he seated himself at the other end of the table, and, throwing off his cloak and cap, disclosed his features.
The old man seemed instantly deprived of speech. He fell backward in his chair, and, clasping his hands together, gazed on the apparition with a mingled look of abhorrence and fear. [chapter 21]
References
Cohen, Jane Rabb. Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus: Ohio State U. P., 1980.
Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens Picture-Book. London: Educational Book Co., 1910.
Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978. Pp. 51-85.
Dickens, Charles. "Pickwick Papers (1836-37). London: Chapman & Hall.
Last modified 5 December 2011