File:HT Gradgrind and Louisa (Harry French).jpeg

"I Only Entreat You To Believe, My Favourite Child, That I Have Meant To Do Right" Harry French Wood engraving 1870s.

This plate reasserts Gradgrind's role as parent; but whereas he was firm disciplinarian and reasonable counsellor, now he enacts the role of bedside watcher and caregiver, just as Louisa had for her mother. He does not resemble the nattily dressed, middle-aged man that he was before, but a balding, jowly figure; here he is anxious, despondent, and even self-condemning as he accepts responsibility for what has befallen his daughter. Louisa in French's plate, too, seems different: her hair is disheveled and her eyesockets sunken. Although French has captioned the plate "'Only Entreat You To Believe, My Favourite Child, That I Have Meant To Do Right'" Gradgrind is silent, deep in thought, and Louisa appears to be asleep, so that the moment illustrated must be just prior to the father's leaving his daughter's room.

This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse The author died in 1928, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 95 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929. This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain". This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.