"There was my majesty, all ablaze, like a king attended with my servants" — fifth illustration for the Illustrated Children's Edition of "Robinson Crusoe" (1815) (original) (raw)

Full Caption

There was my majesty, all ablaze, like a king attended with my servants. Poll, my favourite, was the only person permitted to talk to me. [See page 49]

Original Passage Adapted

It would have made a Stoic smile to have seen me and my little family sit down to dinner. There was my majesty the prince and lord of the whole island; I had the lives of all my subjects at my absolute command; I could hang, draw, give liberty, and take it away, and no rebels among all my subjects. Then, to see how like a king I dined, too, all alone, attended by my servants! Poll, as if he had been my favourite, was the only person permitted to talk to me. My dog, who was now grown old and crazy, and had found no species to multiply his kind upon, sat always at my right hand; and two cats, one on one side of the table and one on the other, expecting now and then a bit from my hand, as a mark of especial favour. [Chapter XI, "Finds Print of Man's Foot on the Sand," p. 49]

Commentary

Even a fully horned goat, the tamed kid grown up, is one of crusoe's entourage, as he dines at a table of his own making, attended by two cats and a dog. The wall with shelving connects the previous illustration of Crusoe's magazine in the cave, in which the table and chair are in the rear. Poll the parrot, who had been on a perch in the earlier illustration (left), now has his own wicker cage (upper right), although he out of the cage and chatting with His Majesty as a privileged subject. The ceiling has received the some artistic treatment as in the previous plate, so that the effect is of narrative-pictorial continuity, even though, for the first time (discounting the out-of-sequence frontispiece), Crusoe is wearing clothing made from goatskins rather than broadcloth.

Interior Scenes from Other Pictorial Series, 1790 through 1864

Left: Thomas Stothard's low-key 1790 interior scene of Crusoe working in his cave in the rainy season, Robinson Crusoe at work in his cave, copperplate engraving, Chapter IV, "First Few weeks on the Island"). Right: John Gilbert's parallel scene of Crusoe's teaching Poll to speak, Crusoe & his Parrot (frontispiece, 1867). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Left: George Cruikshank's charming 1831 realisation of Crusoe and the quiet interior of his cave, Crusoe and Poll the Parrot in dialogue (Chapter IX, "A Boat"). Right: The children's book illustrator emphasizes Crusoe's living in harmony with his many animal companions in Robinson Crusoe reading the Bible (1818). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Left: The generalised interior scene focusses Crusoe's attempting to read, although desperately ill, in his cave: Crusoe ill reading the Bible (1863). Right: The Cassell's illustrator again emphasizes Crusoe over the interior of the cave in Crusoe teaching his Parrot to talk(1863). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Many thanks for the assistance of the staff at Special Collections and University Archives, particularly John Frederick, Library Assistant, McPherson Library, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Reference

Defoe, Daniel (adapted). The Wonderful Life and Surprising Adventures of that Renowned Hero, Robinson Crusoe: who lived twenty-eight years on an uninhabited island, which he afterwards colonized.. London: W. Darton, 1815.