"Beacon Hill" — Phiz's second illustration for William Harrison Ainsworth's "The Spendthrift: A Tale" (1855-57) (original) (raw)

Context of the Illustration: The Park Described

. . . and accordingly, after crossing [the park] in a westerly direction, [Gage] passed through a lodge-gate, and entering a lane, led the way along it for a couple of miles, when they arrived at the foot of a considerable eminence, covered with furze and occasional brushwood. A narrow bridle-road led towards its summit, and tracking this they soon reached a bare piece of ground, with nothing upon it but a small circular stone structure, whence an extensive view was obtained. On one side lay the noble park, which they had just quitted, with its ancient mansion, and still more ancient ruins, distinguishable through the trees. On the other, a fair and fertile country, with a river winding through it on its way to the sea — numerous scattered farm-houses — and here and there a village, with a grey old church, contiguous to it. A range of hills, about six miles off, bounded the inland prospect, and other high land, about equidistant in the opposite direction, cut off a view of the sea, which would otherwise have been visible. The hill, on which the party were standing, seemed to rise up in the middle of a large vale of some twenty miles in circumference, and indeed there was no corresponding eminence near it except that part of the park on which the mansion and the old castle were situated.

"This is called Beacon Hill, gentleman," Gage said. "What think you of the view?" [Chapter III, "The Beacon Hill," 21]

Other Title-page Vignettes by Phiz for Ainsworth, Dickens, and Lever (1844-1863)

Phiz's Commissions from 1857, according to Michael Steig

• W. Harrison Ainsworth, The Spendthrift. 8 cuts.
• Henry Fielding, Amelia, Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones. 8 cuts each.
• Illustrated Times. 20 cuts.
• Charles Lever, Nuts and Crackers. 6 etchings, 44 cuts.
• Tobias Smollett, Humphrey Clinker, Peregrine Pickle, Roderick Random. 8 cuts each.

Working methods

• "Phiz" — artist, wood-engraver, etcher, and printer
• Etching, Wood-engraving, or Lithography in Phiz's Illustrations for A Tale of Two Cities?

Bibliography

Ainsworth, William Harrison. The Spendthrift: A Tale. (1860). Illustrated by Phiz; engraved by the Dalziels. Ainsworth's Works. London & New York: George Routledge, 1882.

Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.

Vann, J. Don. "The Spendthrift in Bentley's Miscellany, January 1855 — January 1857." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: Modern Language Association, 1985, 30.

Worth, George. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.

Created 17 October 2021