Good old Stickwick Stapers. A very expressive illustration apparently by Frank Reynolds.
In this scene from Dicken’s Pickwick Papers, still a beloved book, Mr Pickwick was trying to ask his landlady if he ought to employ a manservant; whether ‘Two can live as cheaply as one...’ and the poor women gets the idea he’s about to propose marriage, fainting into his arms, just as Pickwick’s three friends walk in. The old ones are the best.
Less amusingly, leading to the unfortunate Pickwick’s later prosecution and imprisonment for ‘breach of promise’. I could go on to write about the blatant ‘damaged goods’ chauvinism of this supposedly pro-women law, compare to ‘MeToo’ and probably mention that Rising of the Shield Hero is execrable sexist rubbish, but with Pickwick Papers I really can’t get too angry about anything in the world. God bless us, everyone.
