In 1878, at the suggestion of his friend Mr. Luke Fildes, R.A., "Phiz" applied to Government for a pension. The petition was prepared by Mr. Robert Young, but the result was unfavourable. Happily he received unexpected assistance from another quarter, in the shape of a well-deserved annuity from the Royal Academy, awarded in recognition of his distinguished services to Art. Ever hopeful of being restored to health, he began on his recovery to again use his pencil, but the crippled condition of his right hand, together with the rapid decline of his fanciful imagination and power of invention, made it impossible for him to produce anything worthy of his past reputation. At length his affliction became so pronounced that all hope of recovery was abandoned, and on the 8th of July 1882 the famous "Phiz" breathed his last, in his sixty-seventh year. He spent the end of his busy life in the quiet seclusion of Hove, and his last resting-place is on the summit of a hill on the northern side of the extra-mural cemetery at Brighton.
"Phiz's" many excellent qualities far outweighed any defects in his character. A life-long friend of the artist, Mr. John Greville Fennell, writes thus to me: "No man knew more of Hablôt Browne than I did, for though he was very reticent to most, he never, I believe, concealed anything from me. We used to wander together in the country for two or three weeks or more at a time, and a man more full of fun, when he had thrown off the 'harness,' I have not known in my large acquaintance." His naturally modest disposition eventually developed into a remarkable shyness, and this, when coupled with a dislike of publicity, was often misconstrued as pride. Even Dickens had considerable difficulty in persuading him to meet a few friends and spend a pleasant evening. When he did accept such invitations, he invariably tried to seclude himself in a corner of the room or behind a curtain. In former years he was occasionally prevailed upon to attend certain dinners given by Dickens to celebrate the completion of his stories; and the novelist sometimes succeeded in inducing him to accept invitations to join him for a brief holiday by the sea, as we learn from a communication addressed to Forster, and dated from Bonchurch during the "Copperfield" days, in which Dickens said: "Browne is coming down when he has done his month's work." Eventually, all desire for social intercourse ceased, "Phiz" preferring to lead the life of a recluse in his country home.
A short time prior to his severe illness in 1867, Hablôt Browne received an extraordinary commission from Mr. F. W. Cosens, one of his most liberal patrons, who solicited the artist to make coloured replicas of the entire series of his published designs for the works of the great novelist. In a letter to me on this subject in 1882, Mr. Cosens said: "I remember to have had only two or three interviews with him, and, as a stranger, found him shy and nervous. I desired to secure any sketches he might have of the illustrations to Dickens, but understood him to say he had none, as he drew them on the blocks [plates]. He evidently did not like the drudgery of reproduction, and named such terms as he thought would deter me; but finding the honorarium was of great importance to him, the bargain was struck. The work extended over some years, and the later productions evince haste and inferiority. The work can hardly be called water-colour drawing, as it is simply sketching, slightly heightened by colour-washing." Strange to say, "Phiz" did not possess copies of Dickens's novels, so he borrowed Mr. Cosen's set, and from these he executed the tinted replicas. At the sale of Mr. Cosen's library at Sotheby's in 1890, this interesting collection, numbering 405 drawings, was disposed of for the aggregate sum of £671.
It should be mentioned in conclusion, that, besides the vignettes already described as having been prepared by "Phiz" for the Library Edition (1858-59), he also designed for that edition the following subjects, which were executed in water-colours and, like the rest, engraved on steel:—Mr. Trott and the "Boots," illustrating "The Great Winglebury Duel" in "Sketches by Boz;" Mr. Bumble and Oliver, for "Oliver Twist;" Scrooge and Marley, for the series of Christmas Books; and a Vineyard Scene, which appropriately decorates the title-page of "Pictures from Italy."
Although, as already stated, Hablôt Browne was quite capable of biting-in his own designs upon the steel plates, he had not sufficient time to devote to this part of his work. From the "Pickwick" days onward the artist was fortunate in securing the services of his fellow-apprentice in Finden's studio, Mr. Robert Young, who was afterwards his partner in many artistic ventures, and always his most intimate friend and admirer. When at Finden's, Mr. Young acquired the art of biting-in, a process which, although to some extent a mechanical one, requires a considerable amount of artistic knowledge and manipulative skill, for there is nothing to guide the etcher as to the required effect, except in some cases a rough indication on paper. It was Mr. Young's duty, after each plate was bitten-in, to go over it with a graver and join any lines which in the etching had become broken or rotten. For biting-in and finishing the two subjects on one plate he received from Chapman & Hall (with whom he had a separate account) the sum of three guineas. Browne's ruling-machine for producing the mezzotint effects was kept in his colleague's room at Furnival's Inn, where, more than half-a-century ago, he and the artist took chambers for business purposes and to be near the publishers. These quarters, which were situated in the south-west corner of the Inn, have been lately demolished, together with the chambers at No. 15, rendered famous by the fact that the earlier portion of "Pickwick" was there written.
Mr. Young acted as Browne's assistant in the manner described during the greater part of the years of "Phiz's" popularity, and his co-operation extended not only to the Dickens illustrations, but to the thousand-and-one designs that embellished the works of other writers. The following brief note (quoted from Mr. Thomson's Memoir) is a specimen of the many communications which constantly passed between the artist and his coadjutor:—
[Circa 1845.]
"My Dear 'Co,'—Pray help me in an emergency. Put a bottle of aquafortis in your pockets, wax and all other useful adjuncts, and come to me to-morrow about one or two o'clock, and bite in an etching for me, ferociously and expeditiously. Can you?—will you?—oblige, Yours sincerely,
H. K. Browne."
Mr. Robert Young, who is now in his eighty-second year, has recently favoured me with a few facts concerning himself, which are not devoid of interest in the present record. Writing from Norham-upon-Tweed, he says: "I was born in Dalkeith in 1816, educated in France, and, on leaving school, was apprenticed to Finden, the engraver, where my friendship with 'Phiz' commenced, which closed with his death. Some years ago I was presented with a clerkship in the Admiralty, and retired on a pension in 1878, which enables me to pass my last days in this humdrum village. I am, as you see, very old, have many infirmities, and cannot always remember past events."