On the Original Illustrations of Trollope's Fiction

The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire

Written 1866 (20 January - 15 September)
Serialized 1866 (1 December) - 1867 (6 July), Weekly Sixpenny Parts
32 Full-Page Illustrations and 32 Vignettes by George Housman Thomas
Published as a book 1867 (Volume I, March; Volume II, July), Smith & Elder

  1. Cover for weekly parts. Sources: the cover illustrations for all the numbers of the Smith, Elder bound-together edition in 1867 of The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire; C. P. Snow, Anthony Trollope: An Illustrated Biography , p.98 (full-page art paper black-and white photocopy). Reprinted in R. H. Super, The Chronicler of Barsetshire, p. 240, No. 10 (reduced, black-and-white). Here is a black-and-white reproduction of the original lavish cover.


    On a pale-yellow background an elaborately designed title in large gold letters intended to evoke antique associations; the large initial letters (T, L, C, B) blocked; these take up the top half the wrapper. Trollope's name is in dark-modern square type across the middle. On the bottom half is a triangular frame in which we see a church spire, with a weather cock; a church porch and parsonage house; a tiny serpent and tiny pocket-book, on a wall which encloses it all; the entrance is opened, and you have steps up to walk in. Bright power blue, dark rich reds and browns dominate the colour scheme; around the triangular frame are small green leaves There are small green leaves around the triangular frame.

  2. Small picture of a butcher standing in front of raw hanging meat, sharping his knives. He looks grim. Vignette for Chapter 1 ('How did he get it?). Sources: 1867 Harper and Brothers American One-Volume Edition of The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire, p. 1; and the 1867 Smith & Elder edition of 20 bound-together numbers of The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire, No. 1: unfortunately the illustrations on the bound numbers are displaced; each of the 32 full-page illustrations serves as a frontispiece to the whole and each of the vignettes appears at the corner of the first chapter of the number whether it belongs to the first chapter or illustrates the first scene or not.

    This is appropriate as we are told that it was Mr Fletcher, the butcher, who first became angry when he heard other tradesmen has been paid before him and wrote Bishop Proudie repeated letters complaining harshly about people who don't pay their bills. The male figure is hard-looking, determined, no gentleman.


  3. 'The Rev Mr Crawley and His Wife'. Sources: Harper and Bros Last Chronicle, p. 13 (all the full-page illustrations are somewhat reduced in size to a three-quarter page; they are, however, carefully placed over the scene they are intended to illustrate); 1867 Smith & Elder Last Chronicle, No. 1. Reprinted Trollopiana, 42, p. 7.

    George Housman Thomas has carefully studied Millais's depiction of Rev and Mrs Crawley as they first appeared in Framley Parsonage, and given us the same originally graceful dignified pair. The woman has not changed much, just older, somewhat heavier; the man looks sunken-in, brooding, slightly deranged. He looks at some space in the mid-range of the room; his hand clasp his head and knee. The room is bare: a wooden talbe, a book, a cupboard, books on a writing desk nearby.

    G. H. Thomas, Mr and Mrs Crawley many years older than when we first saw them in Framley Parsonage, Last Chronicle of Barset


  4. Small picture of a recognisable Crawley standing surrounded by young children in a schoolroom; vignette for Chapter Four ('The Clergyman's House at Hogglestock'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 20; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 2.

    The emphasis is on two girl who are drawn as at the front with Mr Crawley facing away from us and towards the others. He is talking to and controlling the children patiently. The girls whispering to one another; we distinguish benches. The lack of hair-styling and gowns of the children mark them as working-class. This is how this man spends part of his day.


  5. '"I love you as though you were my own", said the schoolmistress'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 30; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, frontispiece to No. 2; also 1997 Trollope Society Last Chronicle, facing p. 50. Reprinted and discussed in N. John Hall, Anthony Trollope and His Illustrators, pp. 115-18:

    G. H. Thomas, Grace Crawley and the schoolmistress, "I love you as though you were my own" , Last Chronicle of Barset

    This is a picture of a fairly young woman (she could be no more than 20) as suppliant on her knees to kindly older woman. The room is exquisitely detailed, from the elegant wallpapers, to the pictures on the wall, flowers on furnitue, a mantelpiece with fringe, a mirror, pillows scattered about, and the two women's dresses, hair. Hall praises Thomas for having created pictures 'reminiscent of Millais; they are, however, much less idyllic and more alert, older, as delicate, but worried.


  6. Small picture of decidedly elegant young gentleman knocking at a solid door with the sign 'The Misses Prettyman'; vignette for Chapter Seven ('Miss Prettyman's Private Room'). Sources: Harper Last Chronicle, p. 32; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 3. My comment: he is overtly luxuriously dressed (a shiny top hat, a two-toned overcoat, a cane). Housman has also made him an older man -- as in the book he is a widow, with a child, come to court the relatively young Grace Crawley. He looks in his mid- thirties. Very much the aristocrat.

  7. 'Mr Crawley Before the Magistrates'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 41; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, frontispiece to No 3; also serves as frontispiece to 1997 Trollope Society edition of The Last Chronicle. Reprinted and discussed Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 118-19.
    G. H. Thomas, "Mr Crawley Before the Magistrates", The Last Chronicle of Barset

    This is a superb picture; this is a close imitation of the man we saw in Millais in 'The Crawley Family', except now, as Trollope said of Millais's picture of Lady Mason early in Orley Farm (see Annotated Commentary 1, 'There was sorrow in her heart, and deep thought in her mind') Mr Crawley is bending to try to find within himself 'in spite of all that [he] had gone through . . . .more of strength, -- more of the power to resist all that this world could do to [him]. Housman has posed Crawley as he was in the near-by picture of himself with the respectful children; now his audience is indifferent or hard and well-dressed, with authority over him He is tired and stiff; Mrs Crawley sits veiled at his side. The two men at the side of the table and in the center of the picture space are finely detialed, grim, whispering. Hall writes that the 'entire crowded scene has movement and tension'.


  8. Small picture of two girls bent over their sewing by candlelight; vignette for Chapter Nine ('Grace Crawley Goes to Allington'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 43; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle,No 4. Lovely, delicate drawing; a plain deal table, the two heads of the two girls bent at their task, one more poorly dressed than the other. One does fine sewing, and the other has some study cloth. Effective next to dialogue between Lily Dale and Grace Crawley; they become sympathetic friends.
    G. H. Thomas, Lily Dale and Grace Crawley sewing, Last Chronicle of Barset


  9. '"A Convicted Thief", repeated Mrs Proudie'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 52; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, frontispiece to No 4. Reprinted in James Pope Hennessy, Anthony Trollope, from Mansell Collection, p. 155 (excellent copy); reprinted and discussed in Hall, AT and His Illustrators, pp. 117-21.

    The depiction is expressive rather than realistic: the psychology on the face of Mrs Proudie is exaggerated: she is pig-like rather than pugnacious, supercilious to the point of absurd sniffing. However, this is what she feels like to the reader: the worst of self-righteous blind bullies. The Bishop is in shadows, holding his hands still. Again the room is exquistely detailed; it is well-appointed with curtains, rugs, handsome table, books.

  10. Small picture of a desolate landscape; one where hard work goes on; vignette for Chapter Twelve ('Mr Crawley Seeks for Sympathy'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 54; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 4:
    G. H. Thomas, Hogglestock, Last Chronicle of Barset

    This tiny vignette ought to be better known. It might help offset the common idea that Trollope's books are almost wholly about the rich and upper class. We see a realistic depiction of a brickshed, straw on top, tools inside, nearby a hard-worked well, a little farther off another frail-looking structure. A small wooden bridge crosses a stream; agricultural tools are stewn in the distance. This is the scene after the men have left a hard day's labour. It recalls water scenes in Dickens's novels with the difference that nothing melodramatic has or is about to occur. The sky is lowering but clear at the edges (through a light and heavy use of lines).


  11. '"Speak Out Dan!". Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 52; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, frontispiece to No 5:

    G. H. Thomas, Crawley and Dan, Last Chronicle of Barset

    We see Mr Crawley sitting by the fire, warming himself, looking up to a working man who scratches his head. Crawley isn't too proud here. The wife is seen in shadows by the threshold and not carefully drawn; on the floor are straw baskets; on the table a teapot. The picture is placed precisely over the dialogue where Crawley asks Dan for advice and solace. The two are on Crawley's side, but don't know what to say or how to help. It looks forward to the picture later in the volume where Crawley again appeals to a working man and is told '"It's dogged as does it"' (the frontispiece for the 1878 8 volume set, see below). It is subtle, quieter.


  12. Small picture a gentleman seen from the back; he is sitting in a comfortable chair, in a well-furnished room; there is a massive, handsome fireplace, and a wall of books to his left; on his right, we see a drink on a handsome table; he has a wastebasket by his feet; vignette fro Chapter 15 ('Up in London'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 66; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 6.

    Here we have the mature John Eames, handsome elegantly-dressed gentleman about town who has made a success of his profession. From the side we can see a young face; he is beardless, has only long whiskers.


  13. 'Grace Crawley is introduced to Squire Dale'. Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 66; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 6; 1997 Trollope Society Last Chronicle, facing p. 146.

    We see an ostentatiously crest-fallen and submissive young woman who looks down at the floor in plaintive blankness as an older elegant gentlemen bows to her; they stand in front of a church, with a complacent older Lily to one side. It reveals how the Victorian reader saw and acceptd Grace Crawley's behavior and status as lowly and the Squire's as high and self- assured. (This reader hopes others gag as they look at this one too.) Grace contrasts strongly with the self-assured older aristocratic gentlemen in the vignette to Chapter Seven.


  14. Small picture of clergyman determinedly walking into a church; he is seen from the back; at the entrance gate are some working men who look unwelcoming and rough; vignette for Chapter 17 ('Mr Crawley is Summoned to Barchester'). Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 77; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 7.

    Here we have Rev Crawley braving the loss of respect he now must endure as he goes into his church. Not enough work has been done on the Crawley figure, but the working man who looks belligerently out from the left-corner of the picture is well done, as is the somewhat gentlemanly man who stands just back of him (in lighter lines) repeating the same attitude.


  15. 'Farmer Mangle and Mr Crawley'. Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 81; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 7:

    G. H. Thomas, "Farmer Mangle and Mr Crawley", Last Chronicle of Barset

    Another picture which ought to be better known. We see two large figures sitting together on a cart, all on the right side of the picture. To the back the landscape is wintry (bare trees, thin grasses) and the white makes it chill. The farmer has a pleasant sturdy expression on his face as he urges his horse on; he is well-bundled up, prosperous, good-humoured. Mr Crawley's outfit is elegant, but looks thin; his expression is glum, glowering, tired. The horse is beautifully drawn. Here is Mr Crawley taken to the Bishop's palace in comfort in despite of his aching pride.


  16. Small picture of two gentleman conferring in someone's study; one scratches his head, the other leans forward to make an impression; vignette for Chapter 22 ('What Mr Walker Thought About It'). Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 88; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 8.

    Here is our old friend Mark Robarts come to ask Mr Walker's opinion (the dialogue faces the picture on the next page of the Harper edition). One can make out Mark's clerical collar; the room is small; Mr Walker who faces us, looks perturbed.


  17. '"She's more like Eleanor than any one else"'. Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 97; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 8; 1997 Trollope Society Last Chronicle, facing p. 194.

    We see an old frail man sitting somewhat hesitantly on a couch as he looks down at a young female child, blonde. To the right standing behind them are an elegant gentlemen in his thirties and a much older one whose hair is gray and grizzled; a middle aged lady bows to the little girl while talking to her. This is Mr Harding, who is drawn far less sentimentally and absurdly than Millais's figure. He is simply frail; Dr Grantly has aged, is stout and looks a bit tired. Perhaps Mrs Grantly is made too young to be the mother of Major Grantly who now appears in a larger clearer drawing. Like Johnny Eames, he lacks a beard -- in fact almost no one has a beard in these drawings. The picture does not come off to this modern reader because the child is a fetish object; her face is actually far too adult and knowing, the eyes recalling those of glamour cartoons in 20th century magazines.


  18. Small picture of elderly postman handing a small letter to a maid standing at a gate; vignette for Chapter 23 ('Miss Lily Dale's Resolution'). Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 100; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 9.

    The scene is not dramatised in the text; instead we are given Adolphus Crosbie's letter to Lily's mother in which, now that his wife is dead, he attempts to begin a romance leading to marriage with Lily once again. The postman looks old and frail, not well-dressed; the maid has a cross expression on her face, but the latter may be just inadequate engraving. The effect is to emphasise the rural quiet world of Barset into which the letter arrives.


  19. '"I am very glad to have the opportunity of shaking hands with you"'. Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 107; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 9. Reprinted as frontispiece to 1964 Houghton Mifflin edition of The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire, ed. Arthur Mizener.

    As Mizener writes we see 'Adolphus Crosbie stepping across the Dobbs Broghton's drawning-room to shake hands with Johnny Eames. On Johnny's right sits Madalina Desmoulines; next to her is Augustus Musselboro, and next to him Mrs Vansiever. the two (male) figures in the background are Mrs Broughton and Conway Dalrymple. My comment: there is an intendedly strong contrast with vignette of postman and maid; we see an elegant party going on, with richly dressed ladies and gentleman, the world Crosbie married to get into. As with Millais's depiction of 'Lady Lufton and the Duke of Omnium' for Framley Parsonage (see Annotated Commentary 1), the focus is on an older woman's face: this time, it's the avaricious, mean Mrs Van Siever, a measure of the difference in mood in this book's presentation of high life and that of Framley Parsonage). Pace Mizener's denigrating commentary, this picture is as effective in its way as Millais's: the woman in the center is the spirit of the place; Crosbie's outstretched hand is accompanied by a cold supercilious expression on his face; Madalina has an anxious, expectant and demanding look at she faces Johnny whose face is depicted looking away to Crosbie.


  20. Small picture of an artist painting on an easel; in the background a man sits watching and smoking; vignette for Chapter 25 ('Miss Madalina Desmoulins'). Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 112; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 10.

    Just below in the American edition we read the following ironic passage:

    '"I don't think you care two straws about her", Conway Dalrymple said to his friend John Eames, two days after the dinner party. The painter was at work in his study, and the private secretary from the Income- Tax Office, who was no doubt engaged on some special mission to the West End on the part of Sir Raffle Buffle [oh doubtless], was sitting on a lounging chair and smoking a cigar.

    Considering the importance of the picture in the story, the choice is right from numbers of points of views. Alas, not enough time has been taken on the engraving, and the figure of Dalrymple is simply recognisable as artist from his beard, palette, and smock.


  21. '"What Do you Think of it, Mrs Broughton?"'. Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 117; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 10:

    G. H. Thomas, Mrs Dobbs-Broughton, Clara and Conway Dalrymple, Last Chronicle of Barset

    Mrs Dobbs-Broughton is very well drawn -- as Hall would say, much in Millais's manner. She is intently looking at the picture in which we can see the outlines of the Sisera- Jael story. She is proud, intelligent, beautifully dressed; Dalrymple backs away hesitantly. The problem with the picture is in Clara Van Siever's face: what is meant to be jealousy comes across as a distanced flat expression. The room is that of a wealthy woman, lovely lace curtains on the window; to the side on a pedestal, a naked woman kneeling, an arm drawn across her breast is the best touch (even if not sufficiently carefully engraved). Clara is dressed in an absurdly beribboned, bemuffed, belaced young way which is precisely appropriate to the means her mother has used to imprison her all her life thus far.


  22. Small picture of elegantly-dressed gentleman bringing a horse and chariot into a stable; vignette for Chapter 28 ('Showing How Major Grantley Took a Walk'). Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 112; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 11.

    In shadows and not carefully engraved we see Major Grantly arriving in the yard of the Red Lion, preparatory to walking to Mrs Dale's house to see Grace.


  23. 'Squire Dale and Major Grantley'. Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 126; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 11; 1997 Trollope Society Last Chronicle, facing p. 258.

    This is a good landscape picture. We see the quiet Barsetshire countryside; the two gentleman are walking and conversing by a old thick tree; in the distance two women are walking in a pair (Grace and Lily). The Squire is bent over, intent; Major Grantly listening.


  24. Small picture of a man boarding a train; vignette for Chapter 32 ('Mr Toogood'). Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 135; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 12.

    As Mr Toogood is a delightfully 'good' character, a moral touchstone in the story, it again shows Thomas took time over these pictures as this figure repeats the gestures, gait, whole appearance of Millais's first depiction of Mr Harding in The Small House at Allington. Compare Millais's '"There is Mr Harding comig out of the Deanery"' (see my Annotated Commentary 2); alas the ludicrous simper is then reproduced; this man has at least a hawklike vigilance rather than fraility to his body aspect.


  25. '"Never mind, Mr Henry"'. Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 126; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 12.

    G. H. Thomas, Dr Grantley and the keeper, The Last Chronicle of Barset

    This is a good one and deserves to be better known. We have a heavy-set rich-looking -- large imposing --Dr Grantly on a strong horse talking to the keeper who is clearly not intimidated but talks earnestly at him with his own dog at his feet. Grantly listens intently as the keeper tells him a word from him would go far to making the Ullathornes preserve foxes; the reference is to Grantly's desire to please and to make his son into a fox-hunting gentleman. Thomas has been careful to make Grantly consistent throughout.


  26. Small picture of stout, domineering woman in enormous black dress; in the distance a man sitting at a desk holds his head; vignette for Chapter 34 ('Mrs Proudie sends for her lawyer'). Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 145; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 13.

    G. H. Thomas, Mrs Proudie, The Last Chronicle of Barset

    The background is poorly sketched; it is the same study we saw in '"A Convicted Thief"' above; and we see Mrs Proudie as a thrusting hard woman making the figure who covers his face with his hand in the background miserable.


  27. '"Lily wishes that they might swear to be brother and sister'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 154; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 13; 1997 Trollope Society Last Chronicle, facing p. 322. Reprinted and discussed in Hall, AT and His Illustrators, p. 122; Hennessy, p. 21:

    G. H. Thomas, "Lily wishes that they might swear to be sister and brother", Last Chronicle of Barset

    There is a closely similar picture in Henry Woods's series for The Vicar of Bullhampton, 'Sunday Morning at Dunripple' (see Annotated Commentary 6), an autumnal scene with Walter Marrable and Edith Brownlow walking side-by-side. Both pictures visualise quiet loss and stoic acceptance as the common experience of life touchingly. The delicacy of the intimation is conveyed by, as Hall says, the 'depersonalised faces', the stylisation, the 'sterile atmosphere' between two people walking in parallel lines at a distance amidst 'late afternoon shadows, leafless trees and, in the case of Thomas's picture, a huge stump. The same 'rigid upright posture' and quiet parallel walking apart is depicted in Thomas's and Woods's pair of people who will not become lovers, but could and maybe ought to have.


  28. Small picture of two young women saying goodbye to one another at a door, one in cloak and bonnet; in the distance an older one looks on; vignette for Chapter 36 ('Grace Crawley Returns Home'). Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 158; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 14.

    Grace looks sad to leave; beneath the picture is Mrs Crawley's letter to her daughter, asking her to come home to her father.


    G. H. Thomas, Lily and Grace Crawley bid adieu, The Last Chronicle of Barset


  29. 'She read the beginning -- "Dearest Grace"'. Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 159; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 14:


    G. H. Thomas, "She read the beginning -- Dearest Grace", Breakfast Scene, The Last Chronicle of Barset

    In the American edition on the other side of Mrs Crawley's letter we see Grace in a high collar (looking a bit older, probably because of the bun) and Lily (her dark hair is tied back) reading their respective letters while a full-bodied Mrs Dale reads a newspaper. A beautiful depiction with many details: the steaming tea, an open ham, a toast rack, bread and butter all laying on a cloth-covered table. An intimate scene of breakfast comforts, quiet sociability, which Grace must now leave.


  30. Small picture of gentleman slightly bowing to lady who curtsies ever so slightly; vignette for Chapter 39 ('A New Flirtation'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 169; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 15. John Eames takes up with Madalina Desmoulins.

  31. '"Mama, I've got something to tell you"'. Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 179; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 15.

    Deep in shadows of a bare room, we see a young woman leaning on an older one; beyond a door threshold is a bed (Mr Crawley lies sick). A great deal of trouble has been taken over the full designed dresses, the thin drugget on the floor; the small round table with its cup of tea. Beneath it in the American edition we read the dialogue where Grace tells her mother of Major Grantly's visit and her proud response.


  32. Small picture of man walking up to or alongside a tavern; vignette for Chapter 42 ('Mr Toogood Travels Professionally'). Sources: Harper & Bros. Last Chronicle, p. 181; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 16.

    G. H. Thomas, "Mr Toogood Travels Professionally", The Last Chronicle of Barset

    This is an effective vignette. The man seems so small, dwarfed, a mere dark shadow, against the large lit tavern detailed enough to show us the many-panelled windows, stairwell in to where there are bright lights (all white) against the shadowy silent cobbled streets.


  33. 'Mr Toogood and the Old Waiter'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 154; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 16; 1997 Trollope Society Last Chronicle, facing p. 384.
    G. H. Thomas, "Mr Toogood and the Old Waiter", The Last Chronicle of Barset

    Wonderful picture, another of the best of the original illustrations to Trollope's novels. It is filled with good feeling emanating from the faces of the two men: the waiter is very old, his face very wrinkled as he stands at attention. It is a real face alive with alertness, consciousness. He is not glamorised; his outfit is wrinkled (like his face), a bit shabby, with thin slippers, one of his hands on the table between himself and his customer, Mr Toogood. Mr Toogood leans back in his chair, comfortably holding a smoking cigar as he looks up respectfully and genially at the waiter; they are talking. Mr Toogood has a liquor set-up on the table, is wearing flapping slippers. The lines are all carefully done to indicate the different objects in such a room (picture of a man hunting on the wall), back nondescript piece of wooden furniture.


  34. Small picture of one gentleman approaching another who sits down at a desk; vignette for Chapter 44 ('I suppose I must let you have it'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 192; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 17.

    The man looking up from his desk has a stubborn, unfriendly grimace on his face; the other is reaching into his jacket for a paper. Here is Crosbie borrowing money from Butterwell; in the American edition, the dialogue appears just below the vignette.


  35. 'They pronounced her to be very much like a lady'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 195; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 17.

    G. H. Thomas, "They pronounced her to be very much like a lady", The Last Chronicle of Barset

    Lily is wearing the same striped dress we saw in an earlier illustration; it has good feeling emanating from the old man's face: he leans over the table watching Lily looking at a picture of Emily Dunstable who will now become Bernard Dale's wife. It recalls the women at the breakfast table of No. 14 (above). This novel is filled with good domestic pictures, and was read as a deeply-felt reflection of the life of the middle class at the time.


  36. Small picture of man leaning over a table attempting to write a letter; vignette for Chapter 48 ('Dr Tempest at the Palace'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 203; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 18.

    As can be seen from the passage just below, here is Bishop Proudie struggling with the difficult task of writing to Mr Tempest to ask him to come to the palace to set another investigation on foot which neither he nor Dr Tempest want. The figure looks unusually light and intelligent; probably the result of Mrs Proudie not being in it to cow the man. We are told in the chapter that the Bishop was good at writing such letters and this to Mr Tempest was and is effective in just the way the Bishop wants.


  37. '"As right as a trivet, uncle"'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 213; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No 18.

    A well-drawn, elaborated picture of John Eames walking along with Mr Toogood at his side. Mr Toogood looks very concerned; Johnny holds his head down; has a heavy cloak on one arm and round rather than top hat. We see a train next to them, and shadowy people at work on top of it loading the luggage onto the train. John is going off on his chivalrous mission to save Mr Crawley; he is ever troubled by his desire for Lily and betrayal of her with Madalina.


  38. Small picture of elderly man looking out the window, troubled; vignette for Chapter 49 ('Near the Close'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 215; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 19.

    G. H. Thomas, Dr Grantley or Bishop Proudie, The Last Chronicle of Barset

    From the verbal context this ought to be Dr Grantly thinking about the bitterness he is going to cause if he carries on the quarrel with his son over marrying Grace Crawley. It would be a rare depiction of Dr Grantly in a yielding mood, it matches the picture of him talking to the keeper about foxes for hunting early in the book (see '"Never mind, Mr Henry"' above). However, the figure is dressed like Bishop Proudie and looks like him. Thomas is consistent in his visualizations; thus I think it is probably a depiction of Bishop Proudie after his wife's death (which occurs later in the novel) which has been misplaced.


  39. 'Posy and her Grandpapa'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 219; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 19; 1997 Trollope Society Last Chronicle, facing p. 464. Reprinted Hennessy, p. 127; Super, p. 240, No 12.

    This really an appalling picture; the child actually has a come-hither look on her preternaturally alert face; the old man clearly dotes on her. Lavish attention has been paid to details of the child's full dress, hair and shoes; a picture on the wall depicts a wealthy bourgeois woman overlooking another child. Chacun a son goût.


  40. Small picture of woman in a dark dress handing a hat to another woman who is attempting to refuse it, but had already taken hold of a riding whip; there is a riding cloak lying on a nearby chair; vignette for Chapter 52 ('"Why don't you have an 'it' for yourself?"'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 233; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 20. The text which surrounds the picture dramatises how Emily Dunstable maneuvers Lily into going horseback riding in the park (where they meet Crosbie).

  41. 'Mrs Dobbs-Broughton Piles her Faggots'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 230; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No 20.

    Clara is recognisably the same young girl we saw dressed up in frilly 19th century garb; here she is dressed for her sexy Biblical role, with Mrs Dobbs-Broughton (in the same dress she appeared in the earlier illustration), fixing the scarf which is to be wrapped round Clara's head. We see Dalrymple from the back looking back from a canvas to watch them. Clara's face is again not well done; it's as if Thomas didn't know what expression to give her. Mrs Dobbs- Broughton is again intent on her task, alive with intensity.


  42. Small picture of elegant older man bowing to an elegantly-dressed lady while another older woman looks on; vignette for Ch 53 ('Rotten Row'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 237; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 21. Here we have Lily encountering Crosbie with her friend looking on. Thomas has gotten compassion into the other woman's face, sketchy as the drawing is.

  43. '"I can be nothing to you because of Papa's disgrace"'. Sources: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 21; 1997 Trollope Society Last Chronicle, facing p. 528.

    Another of Grace Crawley submissive, plaintively looking down, all shame and self- abnegation; she stands before Major Grantly and a comfortable looking Mrs Robarts (lovely shawl). He at least looks appalled. There is again something about the delineation of the face (its shape and expression) which recalls that of Celia Johnson (see Annotated Commentary 3 on the depiction of Florence Burton, 'Florence Burton Makes Up a Packet', an illustration by Edwards for The Claverings).


  44. Small picture of heavy-set clerical gentleman pointing to a sign with his umbrella or cane; vignette for Chapter 56 ('The Archdeacon Goes to Framley'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 248; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 22:

    G. H. Thomas, Dr Grantley contemplating the sign which says his son's property is up for sale, The Last Chronicle of Barset

    A wonderful vignette of Dr Grantly; perhaps it's the gingerliness with which he touches the sign he finds so awful that makes it exquisitely right for how this character would look were his son publicly to sell his property to others as things he cannot afford to keep or give away.


  45. '"But it will never pass away", said Grace'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 258; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece for No 22.

    The same Dr Grantly we saw in the illustration of Posy and her grandfather looks down fondly at the uncomfortable young woman who cannot meet his eyes. He holds her hand in his wtih concern. Thus do we see Dr Grantly coming to accept Grace Crawley. He is made pretty in the picture; her face has more sharpness and wit in it than in the others.

  46. Small picture of an older gentleman listening to a working man explain something as a somewhat younger looking gentleman looks on; vignette for Chapter 58 ('The Cross-Grainedness of Men'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 259; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 23. Here is the gamekeeper, Flurry, explaining the situation over the foxes to Dr and Major Grantly. That it is not a genial scene, but one of dominance, submission, and class discomfort is made apparent.

  47. '"Honour thy father -- that thy days be long in the land"'. Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 264; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No 23.

    A rare deathbed scene in the Trollope illustrations (there is another in Phineas Redux, see Annotated Commentary 7, '"He may soften her heart"'). My comment: Johnny is the elegant gentleman we have seen all along; Mr Harding's face is that of a death's head. The scene does not embody anything in the text so much as the 'meaning' of Mr Harding's death: don't do anything to someone in life which you will regret after the individual has died and it is too late to make amends; this is the moral of many of the ghost stories of the period.


  48. Small picture of torn canvas, abandoned palette, brushes and cloth on a table; vignette for Chapter 60 ('The End of Jael and Sisera'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 270; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 24:
    G. H. Thomas, The painter's work torn up, The Last Chronicle of Barset


    I like it; it says what happened concisely. The tear is a harsh black triangle against a canvas where we see a flailing fist held up.


  49. '"It's Dogged as Does it"'. Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No 24. Reprinted in Trollopiana, 42, p. 13.

    This one has been superceded by Francis Arthur Fraser's much more graceful austere pair of men which became one of six frontispieces for the 1878 8 volume edition of Barsetshire Chronicles (see below). In this picture Hoggett the brickmaker is a rougher man, with a wide girth to the upper part of his body; he has no grace or elegance of any kind; his legs are thin and bent, his boots worn and clumsy. He points downward with one hand (for emphasis) and grasps Mr Crawley's hand with the other. Mr Crawley holds his coat tight shut against a feel of wind in the picture; it is also a wet day (seen in the grasses, lines on the ground and leafless large tree behind them. This is a good illustration; Hoggett is alive with feeling as is the landscape around them (Mr Crawley is slightly more cartoon-like). It ought to be better-known, and certainly along with the breakfast table, and the vignettes of Barsetshire ordinary life, one of those reprinted in modern editions of The Last Chronicle.


  50. Small picture of a thin, worn Mr Crawley sitting at his desk; vignette for Chapter 62 ('Mr Crawley's Letter to the Dean'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 280; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 25. The dark shadows on the man's face, and his pose of grit and determination are perfect. The letter to come is one of the greatest in Trollope's novels.

  51. 'Mrs Proudie's Emissary'. Sources: Sources: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No 25.

    We see an elegant man who has something of a sycophantic or submissive posture returning to a sad-looking horse tethered to a fence; his hand is held out towards those in the house as if in explanation. Mr Thumble is stiff, uncomfortable. At the threshold we see a head we recognise as Crawley's; the young man next to him with the moustache is Major Grantly. We can see the worn cottage wall, a rough garden. This is an effective illustration of the moment after the scene we are about to read.


  52. Small picture of a man's body lying across a threshold; his head is unseen; beyond is an inner courtyard where we glimpse the window of an office; vignette for Chapter 64 ('The Tragedy at Hook Court'). Sources: Harper & Bros Last Chronicle, p. 290; Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 26. Thus is signalled the suicide of Dobbs-Broughton. Again an synecdoche-like illustration is effective.

    G. H. Thomas, The literal Suicide, Last Chronicle of Barset


  53. '"You don't know what starving is, my dear"'. Sources: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No 26; 1997 Trollope society Last Chronicle, facing p. 638. The drawing of the women's faces is very poor; Mrs Van Siever is a witch in a cartoon; Clara looks out at the world theatrically annoyed. The dresses are rich enough. (One wonders who chose the illustrations that appear in the Trollope Society edition.)

  54. Small picture of an old man facing a fireplace, holding his face in his hands; his housekeeper watches him from afar 'In Memoriam'. Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle), No. 27. These small vignettes at the end of the novel are uniformly effective; they are tasteful indications of broken people, vows, loss.

  55. '"They will come to hear a ruined man declare his own ruin"'. Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 27; 1997 Trollope Society Last Chronicle, facing p. 674. Reprinted and discussed in Hall AT and His Illustrators, p. 119:

    G. H. Thomas, "They will come to hear a ruined man declare his own ruin", The Last Chronicle of Barset

    A moving depiction of Mr Crawley's final humiliation as he walks into court with Grace on his arm; the Millais-like grace and elegance Thomas has chosen for the scene fits, so too (pace Hall) the rugged head. Mr Crawley's head is now skull-like; the dark colours with which his clothes are filled in contrast with Grace's white dress and its heavy lines for folds. Yes people will come to see such things -- all the more because the central figure has a deeply-feeling thinking and educated sensibility.


  56. Small picture of young man asleep inside a train compartment; vignette for Chapter 50 ('Mrs Arabin is Caught'). Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 28. We glimpse the sea outside the train window; across the way on the other seat is a book, some papers. Here is John Eames on his way; another brief synecdoche.

  57. 'No Sale After All'. Source: Smith Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 28. Dr Grantly's joy is conveyed through a magnificent full portrait of a stables; we see buildings, beautiful horses, well-tended fences; a man placing a newspaper on a post pillar. Towards the right center of the illustration we see a man with a high hat (Dr Grantly) telling another man, 'No sale'. Again another illustration which ought to form the ordinary repertoire of those that are reprinted with this book.

  58. Small picture of older clergyman on one side of a table, an elegant son on the other pouring some wine out of a decanter itno a stemmed wineglass; vignette for Chapter 53 ('There is Comfort at Plumstead'). Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 29. Here is Dr Grantly in yet another of these scenes of men sitting together around a table drinking; the feeling is good. There is a suggestion of paintings on the walls, and more glass decanters on other tables.

  59. '"These are young Hogglestockians, are they?"'. Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece for No. 29. A large illustration depicting a genial full-bodied man holding out his hand to children in a schoolroom who crowd about him. We see Crawley to the left coming to greet him. The feeling is right; it would come off but for the careless drawing or engraving.

  60. Small picture of a man in black, bundled up, carrying a doctor's bag; vignette for Chapter 76 ('"I think he is light of heart"'). Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 30. Another synecdoche which works. It turns grief into relief; the figure is clearly hurrying away, no longer needed.

  61. 'The Last Denial'. Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece for No 30. Finely achieved picture of Lily standing behind the curtains, looking out of glass window as she watches a man walk away. The drawing is slightly stiff, but well-done. Thomas captures Lily's presence, her grief, her loss, her pride; it's a melancholy scene which is perfect to end on. There is one very like it, only not well drawn of Mrs Hurtle at the close of The Way We Live Now (see Annotated Commentary 8, 'Then hiding herself at the window, she watched him as he went along the street', and my book, Trollope on the Net, Chapter 6).

  62. Small picture of Lily coming into the house; vignette for Chapter 79 ('Mr Crawley speaks of his coat'). Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No. 31. My comment: again our attention is diverted to a small detail which stands for the whole. We see a lady opening the door of a fence, polite, hesitant, well-meaning. Lily is placed against Mr Crawley as the true hero and heroine of this book.

  63. '"What is it I behold?"'. Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece for No. 31; 1997 Trollope Society Last Chronicle, facing p 768. Badly drawn picture of Madalina falling on Johnny Eames; the woman is far too large; were she to stand she'd tower over the man. She seems not to be falling, but leaning on him, and the sense is for quite some time. John attempts to push up the deadweight. At the door we see an older woman who has a sour expression on her face and sad eyes. This is supposed to be Johnny's final scene with Madalina. Why the Trollope Society chose to reprint this one is anyone's guess. It's funny for the wrong reasons.

  64. Small picture of older elegantly-dressed young man who is coming down from a horse; next to him stands a young gentlewoman; vignette for Ch 82 ('The Last Scene at Hogglestock'). Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, No 32. This is recognisably the same young gentleman who knocked on Miss Prettyman's door in Instalment 3, Chapter 7 (see directly above); the blonde girl is also Grace who is still waiting for her prince. If sketchy, the lines of the drawing are elegant and graceful.

  65. '"Peradventure he signifies his consent"'. Source: Smith, Elder Last Chronicle, Frontispiece to No. 32. This picture is the appropriate one with which to end this book, and indeed the chronicles of Barsetshire. We see a ravaged man sitting by a bare table; he reads a letter, his face all anxiety, strained. Behind him stands a figure who is recognisably Grace, and slightkly sketched in behind is the mother. Here are real people caught in the desperate grips of their own psychology, whose central elements have been formed by contact with other and powerful people, as ever dependent upon those powerful. That Mr Crawley held back (much to the derision of Dr Grantly) makes him the man he is. Alas, he is, however, finally, for sale, even if he makes terms first.

    G. H. Thomas, "'Peradventure, he signifies his consent'" [Our last rough-hewn picture of Crawley], Last Chronicle of Barset



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