Produced by Marius Masi, Chris Curnow and the Online
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Transcriber's notes:
(1) Letters following a carat (^) were originally printed in superscript.
(2) Side-notes were moved to their respective paragraph's start, and
treated as titles. for the exact locations see the html version.
(3) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
Page i: "are useful in themselves, and are neatly and clearly."
'clearly' amended from 'cleary'.
Page 8: "I have seen the ghastly illustrations to the licentious
Contes Drolatiques of Balzac." 'Drolatiques' changed from
'Diolatiques'.
Page 100: "Arrogance or Nonchalance of the Tenth Reported."
'Nonchalance' changed from 'Nonchalence'.
Page 114: "In common fairness some credit should be conceded."
'conceded' changed from 'conceeded'.
Page 115: "with a threat of further inquiry into its truth." 'further'
changed from 'furthur'.
Page 116: "This extraordinary work presents us with pictures." 'work'
amended from 'works'.
Page 117: "The King at Home, or Mathews at Carlton House." 'The'
amended from 'the'.
Page 206: "Professor Bates would assign as one of the principal
causes of the sterility which befel the genius of Cruikshank."
'befell' amended from 'befel'
Page 246: "who however is too firmly seated on his shoulders to be
dislodged." 'dislodged' amended from 'disloged'.
Page 330: "While at Whitby, a deputation from the Institute of that
town waited on John Leech." 'Whitby' amended from 'Whity'.
Page 349: "which does not show the care and thought which he bestowed
upon its elaboration." Comma removed after 'upon'.
Page 376: "stated anywhere, we shall now proceed to relate them.
Thackeray was in London when Seymour shot himself in 1836." Comma
after 'them' changed to period.
APPENDIX V.: "Charles Lever's 'Harry Lorrequer.' 1839. (A pirated
edition was published at Philadelphia, 1840.)" '1840' amended from
'1804'.
ENGLISH CARICATURISTS.
SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
"At last we have a treatise upon our caricaturists and comic
draughtsmen worthy of the great subject.... An entertaining history of
caricature, and consequently of the events, political and social, of
the century; in fact, a thoroughly readable and instructive book....
And what a number of political occurrences, scandals public and
private, movements political and secular, are passed in review! All
these events Mr. Everitt describes at length with great clearness and
vivacity, giving us a view of them, so to speak, from the
inside."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
"It is a handsome and important volume of 400 pages; the letterpress
being a brightly written commentary, abounding with illustrative
gossip, on the caricature of the century and the merits of its graphic
humourists.... It includes a great deal of the more stirring social
and political history of the time. The illustrations so plentifully
strewn through Mr. Everitt's volume give it a peculiar
interest."--_St. James's Gazette._
"The work, which contains a large amount of information and some
valuable lists of publications, is illustrated with about seventy wood
engravings."--_Literary World._
"A real contribution to the history of the social life of the century.
The book is very fully and well illustrated, forming in fact quite a
gallery of nineteenth century caricature."--_Truth._
"The plates with which it is illustrated are remarkably well produced,
and are useful in themselves, and are neatly and clearly printed, so
that they give a capital idea of the originals from which they are
prepared."--_Saturday Review._
"Gives an elaborate estimate of the merits of the later caricaturists
and a complete account of their lives."--_Graphic._
[Illustration:
_Published 21st October, 1812, by_ S. W. FORES, 50, _Piccadilly_.
"A BUZ IN A BOX, OR THE POET IN A PET."
_Frontispiece._]
ENGLISH CARICATURISTS AND GRAPHIC HUMOURISTS
OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times.
_A Contribution to the History of Caricature from the Time of the First
Napoleon Down to the Death of John Leech, in 1864._
BY
GRAHAM EVERITT.
SECOND EDITION.
[Illustration]
London:
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO.
1893.
BUTLER & TANNER,
THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS,
FROME, AND LONDON.
PREFACE.
The only works which, so far as I know, profess to deal with English
caricaturists and comic artists of the nineteenth century are two in
number. The first is a work by the late Robert William Buss, embodying
the substance of certain lectures delivered by the accomplished author
many years ago. Mr. Buss's book, which was published for private
circulation only, deals more especially with the work of James Gillray,
his predecessors and contemporaries, treating only briefly and
incidentally of a few of his successors of our own day. The second is a
work by Mr. James Parton, an American author, whose book (published by
Harper Brothers, of New York) treats of "Caricature, and other Comic Art
in all Times and many Lands." It is obviously no part of my duty (even
if I felt disposed to do so) to criticise the work of a brother scribe,
and that scribe an American gentleman. Covering an area so boundless in
extent, it is scarcely surprising that Mr. Parton should devote only
thirty of his pages to the consideration of English caricaturists and
graphic humourists of the nineteenth century.
Under these circumstances, it would seem to me that, in placing the
present work before the public, an apology will scarcely be considered
necessary.
Depending oftentimes for effect upon overdrawing, nearly always upon a
graphic power entirely out of the range of ordinary art, the work of the
caricaturist is not to be measured by the ordinary standard of artistic
excellence, but rather by the light which it throws upon popular opinion
or popular prejudice, in relation to the events, the remembrance of
which it perpetuates and chronicles. While, however, a latitude is
allowed to the caricaturist which would be inconsistent with the
principles by which the practice of art is ordinarily governed, it may
at the same time be safely laid down that it is essential to the success
of the comic designer as well as the caricaturist, that both should be
_artists_ of ability, though not necessarily men of absolute genius.
It may be contended that Gillray, Rowlandson, Bunbury, and others,
although commencing work before, are really quite as much nineteenth
century graphic satirists as their successors. This I admit; but
inasmuch as their work has been already described by other writers, and
the present book concerns itself especially with those whose labours
commenced after 1800, I have endeavoured to connect them with those of
their predecessors and contemporaries, without unnecessarily entering
into detail with which the reader is supposed to be already more or less
familiar.
I am in hopes that the character in which I am enabled to present George
Cruikshank as the leading caricaturist of the century; the account I
have given of his hitherto almost unknown work of this character;
together with the view I have taken of the causes which led to his
sudden and unexampled declension in the very midst of an artistic
success almost unprecedented, may prove both new and interesting to some
of my readers.
I have to acknowledge the assistance I have derived from the 1864 and
1867 MS. diaries of the late Shirley Brooks, kindly placed at my service
by Cecil Brooks, Esq., his son; my thanks are likewise due to Mr.
William Tegg for some valuable information kindly rendered.
PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.
Having been called on to write a Preface to a popular edition of this
book, I seize the opportunity which is now afforded me of correcting an
error which occurred in the original edition. By some unaccountable
accident the printer omitted my sub-title; and it was not unnatural that
some of my reviewers should inquire _why_, in a work dealing with
English Caricaturists of the Nineteenth Century, no mention should be
made of the graphic humourists who succeeded John Leech. This question
is answered by the restoration of the original title, from which it will
be seen that the work is simply "a _contribution_ to the history of
caricature from the time of the first Napoleon _down_ to the death of
John Leech, in 1864." To take in the later humourists, would be to carry
the work beyond the limits which I had originally assigned to it.
One word more, and I have done. My intention in writing this book was to
show how the caricaturist "illustrated" his time,--in other words, how
he "interpreted" the social and political events of his day, according
to his own bias, or the views he was retained to serve. While exhibiting
him in the light of an _historian_--which he most undoubtedly is--I had
no idea (as some of my too favourable critics seem to have imagined) of
writing a history of caricature itself. For this task, indeed, I am not
qualified, nor does it in the slightest degree enlist my sympathy.
G. EVERITT.
_11th August, 1893._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Dr. Johnson's definition of the word _Caricatura_.--Francis Grose's
definition.--Modern signification of the word.--Change in the Spirit
of English Caricature during the last Fifty Years.--Its
Causes.--Gillray.--Rowlandson.--Bunbury.--Influence of Gillray and
Rowlandson on their immediate Successors.--Gradual Disappearance of
the Coarseness of the Old Caricaturists.--Change wrought by John
Doyle.--We have now no Caricaturist.--Effect of Wood Engraving on
Caricature.--Hogarth, although a Satirist, not a
Caricaturist.--Gustave Dore misdescribed a Caricaturist.--Absurdity of
comparing him with Cruikshank.--"Etching Moralized."
_pp._ 1-11.
CHAPTER II.
Connection of Gillray and Rowlandson with Nineteenth Century
Caricaturists.--Napoleon Bonaparte.--The Causes of English
Exasperation against him explained.--Sketch of his Policy towards
England.--The "Berlin Decree."--English Caricatures brought to the
notice of Bonaparte.--"A Political Fair."--The "Gallick Storehouse for
English Shipping."--"Spanish Flies, or Boney taking an Immoderate
Dose."--"Boney and his New Wife, or a Quarrel about Nothing."--Birth
of the young King of Rome.--"British Cookery, or Out of the Frying-pan
into the Fire."--"General Frost Shaving Boney."--"Polish Diet with
French Dessert."--"The Corsican Blood-hound beset by the Bears of
Russia." "Nap nearly Nab'd, or a Retreating Jump just in
time."--"Boney Returning from Russia covered with Glory."--"Nap's
Glorious Return."--Rowlandson's Anti-Bonaparte Caricatures.--French
Contemporary Satires.--Gillray's Anti-Bonaparte Caricatures.--His
Libels on Josephine.--Madame Tallien.--Robert Dighton.--Consequences
of a Pinch of Snuff.--Master Betty--Impeachment of Lord
Melville.--Introduction of Gas.--Mary Anne Clarke.--Imbecility and
Death of James Gillray
_pp._ 12-33.
CHAPTER III.
Re-opening of Drury Lane.--Dr. Busby's "Monologue."--"A Buz in a Box,
or the Poet in a Pet."--"Doctors Differ, or Dame Nature against the
College."--Joanna Southcott.--Flight of the Princess
Charlotte.--"Plebeian Spirit, or Coachee and the Heiress
Presumptive."--"Miss endeavouring to Excite a Glow with her Dutch
Plaything."--American War of 1812-1815.--Hostile Temper of the
Americans.--Disastrous Results of their Invasion of Canada.--English
Retaliatory Measures.--Burning of Washington.--Expedition against
Alexandria.--"The Fall of Washington, or Maddy in Full
Flight."--British Defeated at Baltimore and New Orleans.--"Romeo
Coates."--Marriage of the Princess Charlotte.--"Leap Year, or John
Bull's Establishment."--Troubles of 1817.--Narrow Escape of the Prince
Regent.--"More Plots!!! More Plots!!!"--Edmund Kean and Lucius Junius
Booth.--"The Rival Richards."--Congress of the Allied Sovereigns at
Aix-la-Chapelle.--"A Russian Dandy at Home: a Scene at
Aix-la-Chapelle."--"A Peep at the Pump Room, or the Zomerzetshire
Folks in a Maze."--Death of Queen Charlotte.--"The Hambourg
Waltz."--Invention of the Kaleidoscope.--"Caleidoscopes, or Paying
for Peeping."--The Velocipede or "Hobby."--"The Spirit Moving the
Quakers upon Worldly Vanities."--"John Bull in Clover," and "John Bull
Done Over."--Birth of the Princess Victoria.--"A Scene in the New
Farce, called The Rivals, or a Visit to the Heir Presumptive."
_pp._ 34-61.
CHAPTER IV.
Caroline of Brunswick.--Levity of her Character.--Result of the
Commission to Inquire into her Conduct in 1806.--Her Letter to the
Regent.--Result of the Commission of 1813.--Caroline rebels.--Wrath of
Lord Ellenborough.-"A Key to the Investigation, or Iago distanced by
odds."--Refusal of the Regent to meet her in 1814.--Her
Protest.--Applies for Permission to Travel Abroad.--Rumours
prejudicial to her Moral Conduct.--"Paving the way for a Royal
Divorce."--The Milan Commission.--Ministers averse to the Prosecution
of the Queen.--Their False Step.--Arrival of Caroline in
London.--Opening of the "Green Bag."--Arrival of the
Witnesses.--Strange Appearance of Caroline at the Trial.--Satire upon
Her and her Supporters.--"City Scavengers Cleansing the London Streets
of Impurities."--Practical Failure of the Prosecution.--"The Queen
Caroline running down the Royal George."--"The Steward's Court of the
Manor of Torre Devon."--Popularity of the King.--"Grand Entrance to
Bamboozlem."--Public Events of 1822-1825.--Greek War of
Independence.--Battle of Navarino.--"Russian Bear's Grease, or a Peep
into Futurity."--"The Descent of the Great Bear, or the Mussulmans in
a Quandary."--"The Nest in Danger."--"The Porte presenting a Bill of
Indemnification."--"Burking old Mrs. Constitution, aged
141."--Caricature Declines after 1830, and why.--William Heath and
other Caricaturists of the Period.--Theodore Lane.
_pp._ 62-88.
CHAPTER V.
Caricatures of Robert Cruikshank.--Forgotten, and why.--Artistic
Training--"The Mother's Girl Plucking a Crow, or German Flesh and
English Spirit."--"The Horse Marine and his Trumpeter in a
Squall."--Queer Fashions of the early part of the
Century.--Thackeray's Difficulty.--Caricatures on the "Dandies" of
1818.--Robert and his Fellow-Caricaturists ridicule the sham
"Corinthians" and "Corinthian Kates" of their day.--Hollow Pretensions
of the "Dandies."--"The Dandy Dressing at Home" and "The Dandy
Dressed."--"A Dandyess."--Robert's Satires on the "Dandies" of
1819.--"The Mysterious Fair One, or the Royal Introduction to the
Circassian Beauty."--Other Caricatures of his of 1819.--His Satires on
the Trial of Queen Caroline.--His Caricatures of 1821.--Duel between
the Dukes of Bedford and Buckingham.--Other Satires by him in
1822.--Interference of Louis XVIII. in Spanish Affairs.--Robert's
Satires on Louis and his Son.--"The Golden Ball."--Other Caricatures
by Robert in 1823.--The Tenth Hussars.--Maria Foote and "Pea-green
Hayne."--Other satires by Robert in 1824.--Colonel Fitz-Bastard and
Mr. Judge.--Cox _v._ Kean.--Sir Walter Scott.--"The Living
Skeleton."--Popple and Stockdale.--Other Subjects of
1825.--"Cruikshankiana."
_pp._ 89-108.
CHAPTER VI.
Book Illustrations of Isaac Robert Cruikshank.--The "Life in
London."--Injustice done to Robert with reference to this Book.--The
"Life" Dramatized.--Excitement it Occasioned.--The Portly Stranger in
the Duke's Box.--Queer Visitors at Rehearsal.--Horror of the Serious
People.--The Mistake which they made.--"The Finish."--Pierce Egan's
Position with reference to the "Life."--Origin of "Bell's Life in
London."--Charles Molloy Westmacott.--"The English Spy."--"The
Oppidans' Museum."--The "King at Home."--Rowlandson's contribution to
"The English Spy."--Westmacott and the Literature of Foote and
Hayne.--Robert's Carelessness.--"Points of Misery."--"Doings in
London."--"Cruikshank's Comic Album."--"Monsieur
Nong-tong-paw."--Three Books Illustrated by Robert.--Death.
_pp._ 109-124.
CHAPTER VII.
Caricatures of George Cruikshank.--"No Plan, no Ambition."--The
Assertion Disproved.--Why George's Caricatures possess so remarkable
an Interest.--"The Scourge."--Lord Sidmouth's Bill to amend the
Toleration Act.--Opposition to the Measure by the
Nonconformists.--George's Satire upon them.--Satire upon the Medical
Profession.--"The Satirist, or Monthly Meteor."--"Fashion."--"The
Loyalists' Magazine."--An Early Satire.--"Meditations amongst the
Tombs."--Other Satires of 1813.--"Little Boney gone to
Pot."--Alexander of Russia and the Duchess of Oldenburg.--The Princess
Caroline.--Joanna Southcott.--The Obnoxious Corn Laws of
1815.--Satires thereon.--Escape of Napoleon.--Outlawed by the
Powers.--Excitement caused by this Event.--George's Satires
thereon.--Napoleon endeavours to Establish Friendly Relations.--Silent
Hostility of Europe.--He Sets out for the Army.--George's Satire
thereon.--Surrender of Bonaparte.--The _Bellerophon_ off the English
Coast.--Other Satires of 1815.--The Regent's Repugnance to
Retrenchment and Reform.--Marriage of the Princess Charlotte.--Satire
on the Purchase of the "Elgin Marbles."--Other Satires of 1816.--John
Bull's Bankruptcy Proceedings.--Remanded for Extravagance.--His
"Schedule."--Seditious Troubles of 1817.--A Satire on the Princess
Caroline.--Death of the Princess Charlotte.--Other Satires of 1817--of
1818.--The "Bank Restriction Note."--Satires of 1819.--Queen Caroline
and other Caricatures of 1820 and 1821.--Death and Funeral of the
Queen.--The Populace force the Procession to go through the City.--The
Military fire on the People.--Alderman Sir William Curtis in Highland
Costume.--Indignation of the King.--Satires on both.--Statue of
Achilles.--Other Caricatures of 1822.--Satires of 1823 and
1824.--Joint Stock Company Mania of 1825.--Undated Satires.--Amazing
value of George Cruikshank's Caricatures.
_pp._ 125-166.
CHAPTER VIII.
George Cruikshank as a Book Illustrator.--Defects and
Excellencies.--Women, Horses, Trees.--"Greenwich Hospital."--Sikes and
the Dog.--Jonathan Wild.--Simon Renard and Winwike.--"Born a Genius
and Born a Dwarf."--Its History.--Randalph and Hilda at
Ranelagh.--Sale of the Shadow.--Sailors Carousing.--Paying off a
Jew.--Simpkin Dancing.--The Last Cab Driver.--Dominie
Sampson.--Dumbiedikes.--Fall of the Leaf.--Taurus.--Libra.--Revolution
at Madame Tussaud's.--Theatrical Fun Dinner.--"Gone!"--Duke of
Marlborough's Boot.--The Two Elves.--Witches' Frolic.--Ghosts.--Jack
o' Lantern.--Devils.--The Gin Shop.--Redgauntlet.--Fagin in the
Condemned Cell.--Murder of Sir Rowland Trenchard.--Xit Wedded to the
Scavenger's Daughter.--Mauger Sharpening his Axe.--Massacre at
Tullabogue, etc.--His Genius.
_pp._ 167-188.
CHAPTER IX.
The Sleep of Thirty Years.--Causes of George Cruikshank's Decadence
Insufficiently Understood.--Professor Bates' Theory.--Charles
Dickens's Nervousness (?).--Why Cruikshank was Unfitted to Illustrate
his Novels.--The Rejected Illustration to Oliver Twist.--Quarrel with
Bentley.--Guy Fawkes Illustrations.--"Ainsworth's Magazine."--Progress
of the Cruikshank _versus_ Bentley Campaign.--Cruikshank's Declaration
of War.--His Tactics.--"Our Library Table."--Quarrel with Harrison
Ainsworth.--Cruikshank's Claim to be Originator of Two of his Stories
Considered.--A word for Harrison Ainsworth.--Popularity and Success of
his Novels.--Charles Lever's "Arthur O'Leary."--Cruikshank's final
Leap in the Dark.--Its Fatal Consequences.--Crusade against
Drink.--"Worship of Bacchus."--His Work Falls away.--Thirty Years of
Artistic Sterility.--Fairy Stories turned into Temperance
Tracts.--Forgotten!
_pp._ 189-207.
CHAPTER X.
Birth of Robert Seymour.--Starts as a Painter in Oils.--Death of
George IV.--His Contemptible Character.--Sale of his Wardrobe.--Order
for General Mourning.--"The Adelaide Mill."--Revolution of
1830.--Dismissal of the German Band.--St. John Long the
Quack.--Administering an Oath.--The "Humorous Sketches."--"Book of
Christmas."--"New Readings of Old Authors."--"Figaro in London."--A
Beckett's Editorial Amenities.--Feud between him and Seymour.--Seymour
Caricatures A Beckett.--"Figaro" passes into the hands of
Mayhew.--Re-engagement of Seymour.--Origin of the "Pickwick
Papers."--The Rejected Etching.--Suicide of Seymour.--His Claim to be
the "Inventor" of "Pickwick" considered.
_pp._ 208-234.
CHAPTER XI.
The Agitation for Reform in 1830-32.--The Marquis of Blandford's
Scheme of Reform.--Strange State of the English Representative System
of those Days.--O'Connell's Scheme.--Lord John Russell's "Resolutions"
Rejected.--Dearth of Political Caricaturists at this
Time.--HB.--Secret of the Success of his "Political Sketches."--His
Style a Complete Innovation.--"I'll be your Second."--Unpopularity of
the Duke of Cumberland.--"My Dog and my Gun."--Lord John Russell
Introduces a Reform Bill.--Second Reading Carried by a Majority of
One.--General Election.--Lord John Russell's Second Reform Bill Passes
the House of Commons.--Deputation to the Lords.--"Bringing up our
Bill."--The Lords Throw it Out.--Lord John Russell again brings in a
Bill.--Ministers again in a Minority in the Lords.--Earl Grey tenders
certain Alternatives.--Excitement caused by the Opposition of the
Lords.--Perplexity of the King.--How he Overcame the Opposition of the
Peers.--William IV. as Johnny Gilpin.--The King as Mazeppa and Sinbad
the Sailor.--Outrage on the Duke of Wellington.--"Taking an Airing in
Hyde Park."--"Auld Lang Syne."--"A Hint to Duellists."--"A Great
Subject Dedicated to the Royal College of Surgeons."--Sir Francis
Burdett.--"Following the Leader."--"The Dog and the Shadow."--"A Race
for the Westminster Stakes."--"A Fine Old English Gentleman."--"Jim
Crow Dance and Chorus."
_pp._ 235-253.
CHAPTER XII.
Political Sketches of HB. (continued).--Lord John
Russell.--"Jonah."--Reduction of the Stamp on Newspapers.--How it was
evaded.--Arguments of the Opponents of the Measure.--Hard and Soft
Soap _versus_ Newspapers.--Strange Arguments of the Newspaper
Proprietors of the Day.--"The Rival Newsmongers."--Brougham Watches
for the Door of Preferment being Opened.--"The Gheber Worshipping the
Rising Sun."--Made Lord Chancellor.--"A Select Specimen of the Black
Style."--A Scene in the House of Lords.--"The Duel that Did Not Take
Place."--Dissolution of Parliament in 1834.--Brougham's Royal
"Progress" through Scotland.--Annoyance of William IV., who Determines
to Get Rid of Him.--"The Fall of Icarus."--"The Vaux and the
Grapes."--The Irish Coercion Bill of 1833.--Irish Disaffection which
led Up to It.--List of Irish Crimes for One Year.--Scenes between
English and Irish Members.--"Prisoners of War."--Good Effects of the
Coercion Bill.--Irish Agitators of 1833 and 1883 Compared.--O' Connell
and the Irish Peasant.--Unscrupulous Political Conduct of
O'Connell.--"The Comet of 1835."--"Doctor Syntax [_i.e._ Peel] on his
Faithful Steed in Search of the Picturesque."--Amazing Number of HB's
Political Sketches.--His failings.--His Imitators and their Fate.
_pp._ 254-276.
CHAPTER XIII.
John Leech.--Birth.--At Charterhouse.--The "Coach Tree."--Early
Efforts in Drawing brought to the notice of Flaxman.--Apprenticed to
Whittle, an Eccentric Medical Man.--Transfer of Leech's
Indentures.--Early Work.--Applies to Illustrate "Pickwick."--Style not
Matured till 1840.--An Attack on Dickens.--Attack on "Phiz."--Attack
on D'Israeli.--"Bentley's Miscellany."--Joins _Punch_.--Marriage.--The
"Right-hand Man in Punch's Cabinet."--"Illuminated
Magazine."--Portraits of Leech in _Punch_.--Douglas Jerrold and Albert
Smith.--Douglas Jerrold and A Beckett.--Leech at a Fancy Ball.--Albert
Smith and the Wide-awake Innkeepers at Chamounix.--George Cruikshank
Borrowing from Leech.--Influence of Cruikshank on Leech.--The Two
Compared.--Abhorrence of Frenchmen.--Mistake in "The Battle of Life."
_pp._ 277-293.
CHAPTER XIV.
John Leech's _Punch_ Cartoons.--The "Albert" Hat.--O'Connell.--Sir
James Graham.--"Peel's Dirty Little Boy."--"How do you Like the New
Whig?"--"The Premier's Fix."--"The Railway Juggernaut."--Between Free
Trade and Protection Sir Robert Peel falls through.--"Dombey and
Son."--Lord Brougham "in order."--Smithfield.--Louis Philippe.--The
Year of Unrest, 1848.--French Expedition to Rome.--"A Bright
Idea."--General Haynau and Barclay & Perkins' Draymen.--"Joe"
Hume.--The "Papal Aggression" Cartoons.--"The Boy who Chalked up 'No
Popery' and then Ran Away."--Great Exhibition of 1851.--The _Coup
d'etat_.--The Peace Society.--"The Old 'Un and the Young 'Un."--War
with Russia.--Evils of the Purchase System.--Generals _Janvier_ and
_Fevrier_.--"The Return from Vienna."--Incapacity of English
Generals.--"Urgent Private Affairs."--"Staying Proceedings."--The
Royal Levees.--The French Colonels.--"Religion _a la mode_."--Fete at
Cremorne.--Plots against the French Emperor, and their
Consequences.--"Invasion of French Light Wines."
_pp._ 294-314.
CHAPTER XV.
Exhibition of Leech's "Sketches in Oil" at the Egyptian Hall in
1862.--What Thackeray said of them.--Gradual Decrease in the Numbers
of his Cartoons for _Punch_.--Overwork.--Goes to the Continent with
Mark Lemon in 1862.--"A day at Biarritz."--Returns with no
Benefit.--Leech and Thackeray at Evans's in December, 1863.--Thackeray
and Leech at Charterhouse on "Founder's Day."--Thackeray at the
Wednesday _Punch_ Dinner, 15th of December, 1863.--Death of
Thackeray.--Death of Mr. R. W. Surtees.--The _Punch_ Council
Dinners.--John Leech a faithful Attendant.--"Moses Starting for the
Fair."--John Leech's Illness described.--No Falling off in the Quality
of his Designs.--"St. Genulphus."--Starts off for Homburg with Mr.
Alfred Elmore.--Death of Thomas Frederick Robson.--His Wonderful
Powers Wasted.--Leech goes to Whitby.--Shirley Brooks joins him.--"The
Weinbrunnen Schwalbach."--Reminiscences of the Whitby Visit.--Opening
of Fechter's Season at the Lyceum.--John Leech at a Party at Mr. W. P.
Frith's, 13th of October--At the Weekly _Punch_ Dinner, 26th of
October.--Serious Change for the Worse.--His Death.--Shock caused by
his Death in London and the Provinces.--His Funeral.--Shirley Brooks'
Memorial in _Punch_.
_pp._ 315-335.
CHAPTER XVI.
Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz").--Invincible Tendency to
Exaggeration.--Charles Lever's Opinion.--Weakness and Attenuation of
his Figures.--Compared with John Leech.--Tendency to Reproduce.--All
his Heroes closely Resemble One Another.--Charles Lever's Complaint on
this Score.--Great Ability of the Artist.--"Ralph Nickleby's Visit to
his Poor Relations."--Newman Noggs.--Squeers.--Mrs. Nickleby's Lunatic
Admirer.--"Pecksniff's Reception of the New Pupil."--"Pleasant Little
Family Party at Mr. Pecksniff's."--"Warm Reception of Mr. Pecksniff by
his Venerable Friend."--Quilp and Samson Brass.--Quilp and the
Dog.--Mrs. Jarley's Waxwork Brigand.--Capture of Bunsby by Mrs.
Macstinger.--"Sunday under Three Heads."--The Jack Sheppard Mania of
1840.--"The Way to the Gallows made Easy and Pleasant."--"Phiz" not a
Born Comic Artist.--Excellence in Depicting Graver Subjects.--"The
Dombey Family."--"Mrs. Dombey at Home."--"Abstraction and
Recognition."--"The Dark Road."--"Carker in his Hour of
Triumph."--"Bleak House."--Why Browne suited Charles Dickens's
Requirements.--Coolness between Artist and Author.--One of Browne's
Finest Illustrations.--Decline of Book Etching.--Browne without an
Idea of his Own.--Powerful Assistance rendered to Novelists by Book
Illustrators of his day.--Sketches and Studies.--Death of the Artist.
_pp._ 336-354.
CHAPTER XVII.
Kenny Meadows.--"Portraits of the English."--A Thoroughly Useful
Man.--Some Works Illustrated by Meadows.--His Merits Unequal.--His
Contempt for Nature.--An Early Illustrator of _Punch_.--His
Illustrated Shakespeare.--Some Excellent Work of Meadows.--His
Death.--Robert William Buss.--Recommended to Illustrate "Pickwick" on
Seymour's Death.--Etchings Suppressed.--The "Buss Plates" not his at
all.--His Paintings.--Lectures on Caricature and Graphic
Satire.--Comic Publications which preceded or ran side by side with
_Punch_.--Alfred William Forrester (Alfred Crowquill).--"A General
Utility Man."--Crowquill a Caricaturist.--His Talent and
Cleverness.--Some of His Paintings.--Charles H.
Bennett.--"Shadows."--"Shadow and Substance."--"Origin of
Species."--Taken on the _Punch_ Staff.--Early Death.--Theatrical
Performances for the Benefit of his Family.--Kate Terry.--Thackeray as
a Comic Artist.--Satire on Charles Lever.--Unfitted to Illustrate his
own Novels, and why.--His Genius Displayed in Literature not in
Art.--Illustrations to "Vanity Fair" Considered.--Anthony Trollope on
this Subject.
_pp._ 355-380.
CHAPTER XVIII.
First Work of Richard Doyle.--Receives his Art Training from his
Father.--Joins _Punch_.--The Peace-at-any-Price Party.--The Troubles
of 1848.--The Sea-Serpent of Revolution Upsetting the Monarchical
Cock-boats.--Lord Brougham.--Richard Doyle's Dream of the Future of
Ireland.--The Window Tax.--"Manners and Customs of Ye Englishe."--"The
Month" upon Exeter Hall.--Establishment of the Papal Hierarchy in
England.--The Causes of Doyle's Retirement from _Punch_
Explained.--Unselfishness of His Conduct.--Ultimate Consequences on
his Prospects.--Number of his _Punch_ Illustrations.--Caricatures of
Richard Doyle.--"Brown, Jones, and Robinson."--Works Illustrated by
Doyle.--Mr. Hamerton's Criticism on his Illustrations to "The
Newcomes."--His Death.--John Tenniel.--Joins _Punch_ at the
Commencement of Troublous Times.--Death of the Duke of
Wellington.--Battle of Oltenitza.--Lord Aberdeen as the "Courier of
St. Petersburg."--Lord Aberdeen tries to Hold in the British
Lion.--England the Unready.--"Peace" Seated on the Garrison
Gun.--_Punch's_ Low Estimate of the Third Napoleon.--An "International
Poultry Show."--"The Eagle in Love."--"Playing with Edged Tools."--"An
Unpleasant Neighbour."--Louis Closes his Firework Shop "to please
Johnny."--Miss Britannia Refuses to Dance again with Louis.--Mr.
Tenniel one of the most Versatile of Modern Designers.--Examples of
his Graphic Satire.--Notice of his Cartoons Closes with 1864, in
Accordance with the Plan of the Work.--His Comic Powers.
_pp._ 381-400.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
ANONYMOUS.
PAGE
A BUZZ IN A BOX _Frontispiece_
_From Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Caricature._
GRAND ENTRANCE TO BAMBOOZLEM 81
_From Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Caricature._
LEAP YEAR; OR, JOHN BULL'S PEACE ESTABLISHMENT 50
_From Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Caricature._
A PEEP IN THE PUMP ROOM 57
_From Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Caricature._
BENNETT, CHAS. H.
"CREEPING LIKE A SNAIL" 371
_From Original Woodblock in possession of the Publishers._
OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER 372
_From Original Woodblock in possession of the Publishers._
BROWNE, HABLOT K. ("PHIZ").
THE DEPARTURE 336
DICK SWIVELLER AND THE LODGER 340
THE RIOTERS 346
SAM WELLER AND HIS FATHER 352
_Woodcut Reproductions of the Original Sketches._
BUNBURY, W. H.
INTERIOR OF A BARBER'S SHOP 5
SALUTATION TAVERN 11
STREPHON AND CHLOE 11
_By Permission of Messrs. Chatto & Windus._
CROWQUILL, ALFRED.
FROZEN OUT GARDENERS 368
"SWEARING THE HORNS" AT HIGHGATE 369
_Both by permission of Messrs. W. & R. Chambers._
CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE.
ABSENT-MINDEDNESS 175
BAT BOROO 175
THE BRAINTREES 171
THE DEAF POSTILION 171
THE DENTIST 175
THE ELVES AND THE COBBLER 180
_Above six by permission of Messrs. Geo. Bell & Sons._
THE GIN SHOP 184
_From Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Caricature._
THE OLD COMMODORE 182
_By permission of Messrs. Geo. Routledge & Son._
RUSSIAN CONDESCENSION 133
_From Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Caricature._
A SCENE IN KENSINGTON GARDENS 152
_From Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Caricature._
"A TALL FIGURE HER SIGHT ENGROSSED" 182
_By permission of Messrs. Geo. Routledge & Son._
THE TETE-A-TETE 175
THE WAITS OF BREMEN 180
THE WITCH'S SWITCH 175
_Above three by permission of Messrs. Geo. Bell & Sons._
CRUIKSHANK, ROBERT.
JOHN BULL FLOURISHING 99
_Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Caricature._
CUTS FROM "THE UNIVERSAL SONGSTER" 110
_By permission of Messrs. Geo. Routledge & Son._
DORE, GUSTAVE.
THE ABBOT OF MARMOUSTIERS 8
THE LANDLORD OF THE THREE BARBELS 9
MONSEIGNEUR HUGON 9
SERJEANT-OF-THE-JUSTICE TAUPIN 8
_Above four by permission of Messrs. Chatto & Windus._
GILLRAY, J.
A CONNOISSEUR 24
THE GOUT 5
A LESSON IN APPLE DUMPLINGS 24
NAPOLEONIC CARICATURES 18, 20
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 26
A PEEP AT CHRISTIE'S 14
ROYAL AFFABILITY 24
_Above seven by permission of Messrs. Chatto & Windus._
SHAKESPEARE SACRIFICED 12
_Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Caricature._
TWOPENNY WHIST 16
_By permission of Messrs. Chatto & Windus._
HOGARTH, W.
MARRIAGE A LA MODE 7
_Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Sketch._
LANE, THEODORE.
THE GALLERY 85
THE NON-PAYING AUDIENCE 85
_Woodcut Reproductions of the Original Sketches._
LEECH, JOHN.
THE ELECTION 286
"I HOPE, MR. SMUG, YOU DON'T BEAT YOUR BOYS!" 292
THE MAYOR AND CORPORATION OF SWINESTEAD 278
ROWLANDSON, T.
"ALL THE TALENTS" 3
"ANYTHING WILL DO FOR AN OFFICER" 2
THE COBBLER'S CURE FOR A SCOLDING WIFE 29
DESIRE 11
SPITFIRES 28
TRUMPET AND BASSOON 2
_Above six by permission of Messrs. Chatto & Windus._
SANDBY, PAUL.
A MOUNTEBANK PAINTER 7
_By permission of Messrs. Chatto & Windus._
SEYMOUR, ROBERT.
THE ADELAIDE MILL 213
_Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Caricature._
THE DYING CLOWN 233
_Woodcut Reproduction of the Original Sketch._
THACKERAY, W. M.
ANGELICA ARRIVES JUST IN TIME 379
_By permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co._
BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON 392
_By permission of Messrs. Bradbury, Agnew & Co._
GRUFFANUFF 378
_By permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co._
MARGINAL SKETCHES (2) 375
_By permission of Messrs. Chatto & Windus._
MONKS OF THE ORDER OF FLAGELLANTS 378
PRINCE BULBO 378
_Both by permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co._
WOODWARD, G. M.
DESIRE 11
"GENERAL COMPLAINT" 11
_Both by permission of Messrs. Chatto & Windus._
[Illustration:
"_The Farthing Rushlight._"
THE PRINCE OF WALES, WITH FOX, SHERIDAN, AND HIS WHIG ASSOCIATES, TRYING
IN VAIN TO BLOW OUT POOR OLD GEORGE.]
The author desires to express his sense of obligation to the several
publishers who have courteously granted him permission to reproduce
drawings, the copyrights of which are vested in themselves; and at the
same time to state his regret that other publishers, similarly
situated with respect to other works, have not seen their way to
render it possible for him to supply specimens of the style of certain
artists, two of whom in particular, John Leech and H. K. Browne, must
needs be conspicuous by their comparative absence.
Such Caricatures and Book Illustrations as have seemed specially
desirable--of which the copyrights have lapsed and no editions are at
the present day in print--have been engraved for this work by MR.
WILLIAM CHESHIRE.
ENGLISH CARICATURISTS.
CHAPTER I.
_OF THE ENGLISH CARICATURE AND ITS DECAY._
DEFINITION OF CARICATURE
If you turn to the word "_caricatura_" in your Italian dictionary, it is
just possible that you will be gratified by learning that it means
"caricature"; but if you refer to the same word in old Dr. Johnson, he
will tell you, with the plain, practical common-sense which
distinguished him, that it signifies "an exaggerated resemblance in
drawings," and this expresses exactly what it _does_ mean. Any
distinguishing feature or peculiarity, whether in face, figure, or
dress, is _exaggerated_, and yet the likeness is preserved. A straight
nose is presented unnaturally straight, a short nose unnaturally
depressed; a prominent forehead is drawn unusually bulbous; a
protuberant jaw unnaturally underhung; a fat man is depicted
preternaturally fat, and a thin one correspondingly lean. This at least
was the idea of _caricature_ during the last century. Old Francis Grose,
who, in 1791, wrote certain "Rules for Drawing Caricaturas," gives us
the following explanation of their origin:--"The sculptors of ancient
Greece," he tells us, "seem to have diligently observed the form and
proportions constituting the European ideas of beauty, and upon them to
have formed their statues. These measures are to be met with in many
drawing books; a slight deviation from them by the predominancy of any
feature constitutes what is called character, and serves to discriminate
the owner thereof and to fix the idea of identity. This deviation or
peculiarity aggravated, forms caricatura."
As a matter of fact, the strict definition of the word given by Francis
Grose and Dr. Johnson is no longer applicable; the word caricature
includes, and has for a very long time been understood to include,
within its meaning any pictorial or graphic satire, political or
otherwise, and whether the drawing be exaggerated or not: it is in this
sense that Mr. Wright makes use of it in his "Caricature History of the
Georges," and it is in this sense that we shall use it for the purposes
of this present book.
[Illustration:
ROWLANDSON.
THE TRUMPET AND THE BASSOON.]
[Illustration:
ROWLANDSON. _January 1st, 1796._
"ANYTHING WILL DO FOR AN OFFICER."
"What shall we do with him?"
"Do with him? Why, make an officer of him!"
_Face p. 2._]
CHANGE IN THE SPIRIT OF ENGLISH CARICATURE.
Since the commencement of the present century, and more especially
during the last fifty years, a change has come over the spirit of
English caricature. The fact is due to a variety of causes, amongst
which must be reckoned the revolution in dress and manners; the
extinction of the three-bottle men and topers; the change of thought,
manners, and habits consequent on the introduction of steam, railways,
and the electric telegraph. The casual observer meeting, as he sometimes
will, with a portfolio of etchings representing the men with red and
bloated features, elephantine limbs, and huge paunches, who figure in
the caricatures of the last and the early part of the present century,
may well be excused if he doubt whether such figures of fun ever had an
actual existence. Our answer is that they not only existed, but were
very far from uncommon. Our great-grandfathers of 1800 were jolly good
fellows; washing down their beef-steaks with copious draughts of "York
or Burton ale," or the porter for which Trenton, of Whitechapel, appears
to have been famed,[1] fortifying themselves afterwards with deeper
draughts of generous wines--rich port, Madeira, claret, dashed with
hermitage--they set up before they were old men paunches and
diseases which rendered them a sight for gods and men. Reader, be
assured that the fat men who figure in the graphic satires of the early
part of the century were certainly _not_ caricatured.
[Illustration:
T. ROWLANDSON. _April 13th, 1807._
"ALL THE TALENTS."
The "Broad-Bottom Administration," known as "All the Talents," showing
the several qualifications of the Ministry.
_Face p. 3._]
THE THREE GREAT CARICATURISTS OF THE LAST CENTURY.
In connection with the subject of graphic satire, the names of the three
great caricaturists of the last century--Gillray, Rowlandson, and
Bunbury--are indispensable. The last, a gentleman of family, fortune,
and position, and equerry to the Duke of York, was, in truth, rather an
amateur than an artist. Rowlandson was an able draughtsman, and
something more; but his style and his tastes are essentially coarse and
sensual, and his women are the overblown beauties of the Drury Lane and
Covent Garden of his day. George Moutard Woodward, whose productions he
sometimes honoured by etching, and whose distinguishing characteristics
are carelessness and often bad drawing, follows him at a respectful
distance. The genius of James Gillray has won him the title of the
"Prince of Caricaturists," a title he well earned and thoroughly
deserved. The only one of the nineteenth century caricaturists who
touches him occasionally in _caricature_, but distances him in
everything else, is our George Cruikshank.
Commencing work when George the Third was still a young man, Gillray and
Rowlandson necessarily infused into it some of the coarseness and
vulgarity of their century. With Gillray, indeed, this coarseness and
vulgarity may be said to be rather the exception than the rule, whereas
the exact contrary holds good of his able and too often careless
contemporary. As might have been expected, every one who excites their
ridicule or contempt is treated and (in their letterpress descriptions)
spoken of in the broadest manner. Bonaparte is mentioned by both artists
(in allusion to his supposed sanguinary propensities) as "Boney, the
carcase butcher;" Josephine is represented by Gillray as a coarse fat
woman, with the sensual habits of a Drury Lane strumpet; Talleyrand, by
right of his club foot and limping gait, is invariably dubbed "Hopping
Talley." The influence of both artists is felt by those who immediately
succeeded them. The coarseness, for instance, of Robert Cruikshank, when
he displays any at all, which is seldom, is directly traceable to the
influence of Rowlandson, whom (until he followed the example of his
greater brother) he at first copied.
INFLUENCE OF GILLRAY ON CRUIKSHANK.
Gillray wrought much the same influence upon George Cruikshank. I have
seen it gravely asserted by some of those who have written upon him,[2]
that this great artist never executed a drawing which could call a blush
into the cheek of modesty. But those who have written upon George
Cruikshank--and their name is legion--instead of beginning at the
beginning, and thus tracing the gradual and almost insensible formation
of his style, appear to me to have plunged as it were into _medias res_,
and commenced at the point when he dropped caricature and became an
illustrator of books. Book illustration was scarcely an art until George
Cruikshank made it so; and the most interesting period of his artistic
career appears to us to be the one in which he pursued the path
indicated by James Gillray, until his career of caricaturist merged into
his later employment of a designer and etcher of book illustration, by
which no doubt he achieved his reputation. In answer to those who tell
us that he never produced a drawing which could call a blush into the
cheek of modesty, and never raised a laugh at the expense of decency, we
will only say that we can produce at least a score of instances to the
contrary. To go no further than "The Scourge," we will refer them to
three: his _Dinner of the Four-in-Hand Club at Salthill_, in vol. i.;
his _Return to Office_ (1st July, 1811), in vol. ii.; and his
_Coronation of the Empress of the Nares_ (1st September, 1812), in vol.
iv.
REVOLUTION EFFECTED BY H. B.
As the century passed out of its infancy and attained the maturer age of
thirty years, a gradual and almost imperceptible change came over the
spirit of English graphic satire. The coarseness and suggestiveness of
the old caricaturists gradually disappeared, until at length, in 1830,
an artist arose who was destined to work a complete revolution in the
style and manner of English caricature. This artist was John Doyle,--the
celebrated H. B. He it was that discovered that pictures might be made
mildly diverting without actual coarseness or exaggeration; and when
this fact was accepted, the art of caricaturing underwent a complete
transition, and assumed a new form. The "Sketches" of H. B. owe their
chief attraction to the excellence of their designer as a portrait
painter; his successors, with less power in this direction but with
better general artistic abilities, rapidly improved upon his idea, and
thus was founded the modern school of graphic satirists represented by
Richard Doyle, John Leech, and John Tenniel. So completely was the style
of comic art changed under the auspices of these clever men, that the
very name of "caricature" disappeared, and the modern word "cartoon"
assumed its place. With the exception indeed of Carlo Pellegrini (the
"Ape" of _Vanity Fair_), and his successors, we have now no caricaturist
in the old and true acceptation of the term, and original and clever as
their productions are, their compositions are timid compared with those
of Bunbury, Gillray, Rowlandson, and their successors, being limited to
a weekly "exaggerated" portrait, instead of composed of many figures.
[Illustration:
JAMES GILLRAY. _May 14th, 1799._
"THE GOUT."]
[Illustration:
W. H. BUNBURY, _etched by_ GILLRAY. _1811, pubd. May 15th, 1818._
"INTERIOR OF A BARBER'S SHOP IN ASSIZE TIME."]
_Face p. 5_]
But caricature was destined to receive its final blow at the hands of
that useful craftsman the wood-engraver. The application of
wood-engraving to all kinds of illustration, whether graphic or comic,
and the mode in which time, labour, and expense are economised, by the
large wood blocks being cut up into squares, and each square entrusted
to the hands of a separate workman, has virtually superseded the old and
far more effective process of etching. Economy is now the order of the
day in matters of graphic satire as in everything else; people are no
longer found willing to pay a shilling for a caricature when they may
obtain one for a penny. Hence it has come to pass, that whilst comic
artists abound, the prevailing spirit of economy has reduced their
productions to a dead level, and the work of an artist of inferior
power and invention, may successfully compete for public favour with the
work of a man of talent and genius like John Tenniel, a result surely to
be deplored, seeing there never was a time which offered better
opportunities for the pencil of a great and original caricaturist than
the present.[3]
MISTAKE OF THOSE WHO COMPARE MODERN CARICATURISTS WITH HOGARTH.
It is a common practice, and I may add mistake, with writers on comic
artists or caricaturists of our day, to compare them with Hogarth. Both
Hogarth and the men of our day are graphic satirists, but there is so
broad a distinction between the satire of each, and the circumstances of
the times in which they respectively laboured, that comparison is
impossible. Those who know anything of this great and original genius,
must know that he entertained the greatest horror of being mistaken for
a _caricaturist_ pure and simple; and although he executed caricatures
for special purposes, they may literally be counted on the fingers. "His
pictures," says Hazlitt, "are not imitations of still life, or mere
transcripts of incidental scenes and customs; but powerful _moral_
satires, exposing vice and folly in their most ludicrous points of view,
and with a profound insight into the weak sides of character and
manners, in all their tendencies, combinations, and contrasts. There is
not a single picture of his containing a representation of mere
pictorial or domestic scenery." His object is not so much "to hold the
mirror up to nature," as "to show vice her own feature, scorn her own
image." "Folly is there seen at the height--the moon is at the full--it
is the very error of the time. There is a perpetual error of
eccentricities, a tilt and tournament of absurdities, pampered with all
sorts of affectation, airy, extravagant, and ostentatious! Yet _he is as
little a caricaturist_ as he is a painter of still life. Criticism has
not done him justice, though public opinion has."[4] "A set of severer
satires," says Charles Lamb, "(for they are not so much comedies, which
they have been likened to, as they are strong and masculine satires),
less mingled with anything of mere fun, were never written upon paper or
graven upon copper. They resemble Juvenal, or the satiric touches in
Timon of Athens."
[Illustration:
W. HOGARTH. "_Mariage a la Mode._"]
[Illustration:
PAUL SANDBY. _Anti-Hogarthian Caricature._
"A Mountebank Painter demonstrating to his admirers and subscribers
that crookedness is y^e most beautifull."
_Face p. 7._]
CHARACTER OF HOGARTH'S SATIRES.
Hogarth was a stern moralist and satirist, but his satires have nothing
in common with the satires of the nineteenth century; such men as the
infamous Charteris and the quack Misaubin figure in his compositions,
and their portraits are true to the life. Although his satire is
relieved with flashes of humour, the reality and gravity of the satire
remain undisturbed. The _March to Finchley_ is one of the severest
satires on the times; it shows us the utter depravity of the morals and
manners of the day, the want of discipline of the king's officers and
soldiers, which led to the routs of Preston and Falkirk, the headlong
flight of Hawley and his licentious and cowardly dragoons. Some modern
writers know so little of him that they have not only described his
portrait of Wilkes as a _caricature_, but have cited the inscription on
his veritable contemporary _caricature_ of Churchill in proof of the
assertion. Now what says this inscription? "The Bruiser (Churchill, once
the Reverend), in the character of a Russian Hercules, regaling himself
after having killed the monster _Caricatura, that so severely galled his
virtuous friend_, the heaven-born Wilkes." Hogarth's use of the word
_caricatura_ conveys a meaning which is not patent at first sight;
Wilkes's leer was the leer of a satyr, "his face," says Macaulay, "was
so hideous that the caricaturists were forced in their own despite to
flatter him."[5] The real sting lies in the _accuracy_ of Hogarth's
portrait (a fact which Wilkes himself admitted), and it is in this
sarcastic sense that Hogarth makes use of the word "caricatura."
GUSTAVE DORE.
Turning from Hogarth to a modern artist, in spite of his faults of most
marvellous genius and inventive faculty, I frequently find critics of
approved knowledge and sagacity describing the late Gustave Dore as a
caricaturist. It may seem strange at first sight to introduce the name
of Dore into a work dealing exclusively with English caricature art,
and I do so, not by reason of the fact that his works are as familiar to
us in England as in France, not because he has pictorially interpreted
some of the finest thoughts in English literature, but because I find
his name so constantly mentioned in comparison with English
caricaturists and comic artists, and more especially with our George
Cruikshank. Now Gustave Dore is, if possible, still less a caricaturist
than our English Hogarth. I have seen the ghastly illustrations to the
licentious "Contes Drolatiques" of Balzac cited in proof of his claims
to be considered a caricaturist. I will not deny that Dore did try his
hand once upon a time at caricature, and if we are to judge him by these
attempts, we should pronounce him the worst French caricaturist the
world ever saw, which would be saying a great deal; for a worse school
than that of the modern French caricaturists (and I do not except even
Gavarni, Cham, or Daumier), does not anywhere exist. That this man of
marvellous genius had humour I do not for one moment deny; but it was
the grim humour of an inquisitor or torturer of the middle ages--of one
that revels in a perfect nightmare of terror.[6] Genius is said to be
nearly allied to madness; and if one studies some of his weird
creations--such, for instance, as _The Judgment Day_ in the legend of
"The Wandering Jew"--the thought involuntarily suggests itself that a
brain teeming with such marvellous and often morbid conceptions, might
have been pushed off its balance at any moment. Gustave Dore delights in
lofty, mediaeval-gabled buildings, with bartizans and antique galleries;
in steep streets, dominated by gloomy turrets; in narrow entries,
terminating in dark vistas; in gloomy forests, crowded with rocky
pinnacles; in masses of struggling, mutilated men and horses; in
monstrous forms of creeping, crawling, slimy, ghastly horror. By the
side of the conceptions of Gustave Dore--_teste_ for instance the weird
pictures of "The Wandering Jew" already mentioned--George Cruikshank
sinks at times into insignificance; and yet side by side with
George Cruikshank, as a purely comic artist or caricaturist, Dore is
beneath mediocrity.
[Illustration:
GUSTAVE DORE. _From "Contes Drolatiques."_
"SERGEANT-OF-THE-JUSTICE TAUPIN."]
[Illustration:
GUSTAVE DORE. _From "Contes Drolatiques."_
"THE ABBOT OF MARMOUSTIERS."
_Back to p. 8._]
[Illustration:
GUSTAVE DORE. _From "Contes Drolatiques."_
"THE LANDLORD OF THE THREE BARBELS."]
[Illustration:
GUSTAVE DORE. _From "Contes Drolatiques."_
MONSEIGNEUR HUGON.
_Back to p. 9._]
MR. HAMERTON'S OBSERVATIONS ON CARICATURE.
Artists and art critics not unnaturally regard caricature with some
disfavour. "Art," says Hamerton, "with a great social or political
purpose, is seldom pure fine art; artistic aims are usually lost sight
of in the anxiety to hit the social or political mark, and though the
caricaturist may have great natural facility for art, it has not a fair
chance of cultivation." Writing of Cruikshank's "etchings" (and I
presume he refers to those which are marked with comic or satirical
characteristics), he says: "They are full of keen satire and happy
invention, and their moral purpose is always good; but all these
qualities are compatible with a carelessness of art which is not to be
tolerated in any one but a professional caricaturist."[7] Now all this
is true, and moreover it is fairly and generously stated; on the other
hand, Mr. Hamerton will probably admit that no artist is likely to
succeed in graphic satire, unless he be a man of marked artistic power
and invention.
While treating incidentally of the etchings of artists who have
distinguished themselves as graphic satirists or designers, with etching
itself as an _art_ this work has no concern. For those who would be
initiated into the mysteries of etching and dry point, negative and
positive processes, soft grounds, mordants, or the like, the late Thomas
Hood has left behind him a whimsical sketch of the process, which,
imperfect as it is, will not only suffice for our purpose, but has the
merit probably of being but little known:--
"Prepared by a hand that is skilful and nice,
The fine point glides along like a skate on the ice,
At the will of the gentle designer,
Who, impelling the needle, just presses so much,
That each line of her labour _the copper may touch_,
As if done by a penny-a-liner.
* * * * *
Certain objects however may come in your sketch,
Which, designed by a hand unaccustomed to etch,
With a luckless result may be branded;
Wherefore add this particular rule to your code,
Let all vehicles take the _wrong_ side of the road,
And man, woman, and child be _left-handed_.
Yet regard not the awkward appearance with doubt,
But remember how often mere blessings fall out,
That at first seemed no better than curses:
So, till _things take a turn_, live in hope, and depend
That whatever is wrong will come right in the end,
And console you for all your _reverses_.
* * * * *
But the acid has duly been lower'd and bites
Only just where the visible metal invites,
Like a nature inclined to meet troubles;
And behold as each slender and glittering line
Effervesces, you trace the completed design
In an elegant bead-work of bubbles.
* * * * *
But before with the varnishing brush you proceed,
Let the plate with cold water be thoroughly freed
From the other less innocent liquor;
After which, on whatever you want to protect,
Put a _coat_ that will act to that very effect,
Like the black one which hangs on the vicar.
Then the varnish well dried--urge the biting again,
But how long, at its meal, the _eau forte_ may remain,
Time and practice alone can determine:
But of course not so long that the mountain, and mill,
The rude bridge, and the figures--whatever you will--
Are as black as the spots on your ermine.
It is true, none the less, that a dark looking scrap,
With a sort of Blackheath and Black Forest, mayhap,
Is considered as rather Rembrandty;
And that very black cattle and very black sheep,
A black dog, and a shepherd as black as a sweep,
Are the pets of some great _dilettante_.
* * * * *
But before your own picture arrives at that pitch,
While the lights are still light, and the shadows, though rich.
More transparent than ebony shutters,
Never minding what Black-Arted critics may say,
Stop the biting, and pour the green blind away,
As you please, into bottles or gutters.
Then removing the ground and the wax _at a heat_,
Cleanse the surface with oil, spermaceti or sweet--
For your hand a performance scarce proper--
So some careful professional person secure,
For the laundress will not be a safe amateur,
To assist you in _cleaning the copper_.
* * * * *
Thus your etching complete, it remains but to hint
That with certain assistance from paper and print,
Which the proper mechanic will settle,
You may charm all your friends--without any sad tale
Of such perils and ills as beset Lady Sale--
With a fine _India Proof of your metal_."[8]
[Illustration:
WOODWARD, _engr. by_ ROWLANDSON. _"Desire," Jan. 20th, 1800._
DESIRE.]
[Illustration:
W. H. BUNBURY. _"Strephon and Chloe," July 1st, 1804._
SENTIMENTAL COURTSHIP.]
[Illustration:
W. H. BUNBURY. _"The Salutation Tavern," July 21st, 1801._
A FASHIONABLE SALUTATION.]
[Illustration:
G. M. WOODWARD. _"General Complaint," May 5th, 1796._
"Don't tell me of generals raised from mere boys,
Though, believe me, I mean not their laurel to taint;
But the general, I'm sure, that will make the most noise,
If the war still goes on, will be General Complaint."
_Face p. 11._]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "Nor London singly can his porter boast,
Alike 'tis famed on every foreign coast;
For this the Frenchman leaves his Bordeaux wine,
And pours libations at our Thames's shrine;
Afric retails it 'mongst her swarthy sons,
And haughty Spain procures it for her Dons.
Wherever Britain's powerful flag has flown,
there London's celebrated porter's known."
--_The Art of Living in London_ (6th edition 1805).
[2] One quotation shall suffice. Mr. William Bates tells us in his
admirable "Maclise Portrait Gallery":--"He _never_ transgressed the
narrow line that separates wit from buffoonery, pandered to
sensuality, glorified vice or raised a laugh at the expense of
decency. Satire _never_ in his hands degenerated into savagery or
scurrility. A moral purpose _ever_ underlaid his humour; he sought
to instruct or improve when he amused." Mr. Bates will, we hope,
pardon us if we say that this is not quite the fact. George
Cruikshank in truth was no better or worse than his satirical
brothers, and his tone necessarily improved from the moment he took
to illustrating books.
[3] Since the above was written, strange to say, caricature appears
to be showing symptoms of revival.
[4] "The Fine Arts," by William Hazlett, p. 29.
[5] "Critical and Historical Essays," vol. iii., p. 574.
[6] We can scarcely call the wonderful series of historical cartoons
which he executed at sixteen _caricatures_, even in the modern sense
of the word. Whatever humour they possess is neutralized by the grim
irony which, even at this early period, characterized his work.
[7] "Etching and Etchers," by Philip Gilbert Hamerton, third edition,
p. 246.
[8] Thomas Hood's "Etching Moralized," in _New Monthly Magazine_, 1843,
vol. lxvii. p. 4, and _seq._