_MISCELLANEOUS CARICATURES AND SUBJECTS OF CARICATURE, 1800-1811._
PROPOSED METHOD OF ARRANGEMENT.
Although Gillray began his work in 1769,--thirty years before our
century commenced, and Rowlandson five years later on, in 1774, their
labours were continued some years after 1799, and are so interwoven, so
to speak, with the work of their immediate successors, that it is almost
impossible in a work dealing with nineteenth century caricaturists to
omit all mention of them. In collecting too materials for the present
treatise, we necessarily met with many anonymous satires, without
signature, initials, or distinguishing style, which may be, and some of
which are probably due to artists whose pencils were at work before the
century began. Even if equal in all cases to the task of assigning these
satires to the particular hands which designed and executed them, we
submit that little real service would be rendered to the cause of
graphic satire. It appears to us therefore that the most convenient
method will be to indicate in this and the following chapters _some_ of
the leading topics of caricature during the first thirty years of the
century, and to cite in illustration of our subject such of the work of
anonymous or other artists, for which no better place can be assigned in
other divisions of the work.
[Illustration:
JAMES GILLRAY. _June 20th, 1789._
SHAKSPEARE SACRIFICED, OR THE OFFERING TO AVARICE.
Alderman Boydell, as High Priest within the magic circle, preparing an
oblation to Shakspeare; the demon of Avarice, seated upon the List of
Subscribers, hugging his money-bags; Puck on his shoulders blowing
bubbles of "immortality" to the promoter of the "Gallery" about to be
published. Shakespeare himself, obscured by the Aldermanic fumes.
Figures of Shakspearean characters above.
_Face p. 12._]
The attention of the public during the first fifteen years of the
century was mainly directed to the progress and fortunes of the great
national enemy, Napoleon Bonaparte. The hatred with which he was
regarded in this country can scarcely be appreciated in these days; and
in order that the cause of this bitter antipathy may be understood,
it will be necessary for us to consider Bonaparte's general policy in
relation to ourselves.
18TH BRUMAIRE.
The close of the century had been signalized in France by the memorable
revolution of "the eighteenth Brumaire." The Directory had ceased to
exist, and a provisional consular commission, consisting of "Citizens"
Sieyes, Ducos, and Bonaparte, was appointed. On the 13th of December,
the legislative committees presented the new constitution to the nation,
the votes against it being 1,562 as against 3,012,659 in its favour.
Bonaparte was nominated first consul for ten, and Cambaceres and Lebrun
(nominal) second and third consuls for five years.
Although Bonaparte, as soon as he was appointed First Consul, made
direct overtures to the king of England with a view to peace, he had
himself to thank if his overtures met with no corresponding return. To
accomplish the revolution of the "eighteenth Brumaire," he had found it
necessary to quit Egypt. The English knew the French occupation of Egypt
was intended as a direct menace to British interests in India. Lord
Granville, therefore, in his official reply, without assuming to
prescribe a form of government to France, plainly but somewhat
illogically intimated that the "restoration of the ancient line of
princes, under whom France had enjoyed so many centuries of prosperity,
would afford the best possible guarantee for the maintenance of peace
between the two countries." This New Year's greeting on the part of Lord
Granville put an end, as might have been expected, to all further
communications.
THE FRENCH DRIVEN OUT OF EGYPT.
The French, however, had no business in Egypt, and England was resolved
at any cost to drive them out of that country. With this object in view,
the armament under the command of Sir Ralph Abercrombie effected its
disembarkation at Aboukir on the 8th of March, 1801. A severe though
indecisive action followed five days afterwards. On the 20th was fought
the decisive battle of Alexandria. General Hutchinson, on the death of
the English commander, followed up the victory with so much vigour and
celerity, that early in the autumn the French army capitulated, on
condition of being conveyed to France with all its arms, artillery, and
baggage. The capitulation was signed just in time to save French honour;
for immediately after the conclusion of the treaty, a second British
force, under the command of Sir David Baird, arrived from India by way
of the Red Sea. Bonaparte's favourite project of making Egypt an
_entrepot_ for the conquest of Hindostan was thus most effectually
checkmated.[9]
On the 1st of October, 1801, _preliminaries_ of peace between France and
Great Britain were signed in Downing Street; on the 10th, General
Lauriston, aide-de-camp to the First Consul, having arrived with the
ratification of these preliminaries, the populace took the horses from
his carriage and drew it to Downing Street. That night and the following
there was a general illumination in London.
The "preliminaries" referred to were those of the very unsatisfactory
"Peace of Amiens," as it was called. Its terms, by no means flattering
to this country, were shortly these: France was to retain all her
conquests; while, on the other hand, the acquisitions made by England
during the war were to be given up. Malta and its dependencies were to
be restored (under certain restrictions) nominally to the Knights of St.
John of Jerusalem; the French were to evacuate Naples and the Roman
States; and the British Porto Ferrago, and all the ports possessed by
them in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic.
[Illustration:
JAMES GILLRAY. _Sept., 1796._
A PEEP AT CHRISTIE'S, OR TALLY-HO AND HIS NIMENEY PIMENEY TAKING THE
MORNING LOUNGE.
A study of Lord Derby and Miss Farren (the actress), a few months
before their marriage, enjoying the Fine Arts, he studying "The Death
of Reynard," she "Zenocrates and Phryne."
_Face p. 14._]
BONAPARTE ESTABLISHES AN ENGLISH NEWSPAPER IN PARIS.
All this time a violent paper war had been maintained between the
English press and the _Moniteur_, the official organ of the Consular
Government. In the month of August, 1802, Bonaparte prohibited the
circulation of the English newspapers, and immediately after the issue
of the order, the coffee houses and reading rooms were visited by his
police, who carried away every English journal upon which they could lay
their hands. By way of answer to English abuse (to which Napoleon was
singularly sensitive), the First Consul now established an English
newspaper in Paris, which was thenceforth unceasingly occupied in
vilifying the Government and people of England. This paper was called
_The Argus_, and an Englishman, one Goldsmith,--whilom proprietor of the
_Albion_ newspaper in London,--was actually found mean enough to
undertake the peculiarly dirty office of its editor.
The _denouement_ was not long delayed. On the 13th of March, 1803,
occurred the extraordinary and well-known scene between the First Consul
and the English ambassador, Lord Whitworth. Bonaparte, in the presence
of a numerous and astonished Court, vehemently accused England of breach
of faith in not carrying out the provisions of the treaty, by still
remaining in possession of Malta. The episode appears to have been of an
extraordinary character, and the violence and ferocity of Bonaparte's
language and behaviour, maintained till the very close of the interview,
must have contrasted strangely with the coolness of the English
ambassador.
The restoration of Malta to the Knights of St. John was of course a mere
nominal restitution, for, except in name, the Knights of St. John had
ceased to exist. The First Consul really wanted the island for himself;
and while he accused us of breach of faith, was himself acting all the
while contrary to the spirit of the treaty of Amiens. While requiring
that we should drive the royalist emigrants from our shores, he demanded
that the English press should be deprived of its liberty of speaking in
such frank terms of himself and his policy. His unfriendly conduct did
not end here. At this very time he was actively employed in fomenting
rebellion in Ireland, and in planting (under the nominal character of
consuls) spies along our coast, whose treacherous objects were
accidentally discovered by the seizure of the secret instructions issued
to one of these fellows at Dublin. "You are required," said this
precious document, "to furnish a plan of the ports of your district,
with a specification of the soundings for mooring vessels. If no plan of
the ports can be procured, you are to point out with what wind vessels
can come in and go out, and what is the greatest draught of water with
which vessels can enter the river deeply laden."
Still there was no actual breach of the nominal peace between the two
countries until the 12th of May, on which day Lord Whitworth left Paris.
He landed at Dover on the 20th, meeting there General Audreossi,
Napoleon's minister to the English Court, on the point of embarking for
France.
ENGLAND DECLARES WAR.
For two days before, that is to say on the 18th of May, 1803, England
had issued her declaration of war against France. In this document, our
government alleged that the surrender of Malta to the knights of St.
John of Jerusalem had been rendered impossible by the action of France
and Spain, who had destroyed the independence of the Order itself.
Reference was made to Bonaparte's attempts to interfere with the liberty
of the English press, and the indignities he had offered to our
ambassador; but the real ground of quarrel was to be found in an
official gasconade of Bonaparte's, in which he declared that "Britain
could not contend single handed against France," a vainglorious boast,
which (in those days at least) touched a chord which thrilled the
patriotic feelings of every Englishman that loved his country.
Napoleon's next step--a simply detestable action--was quite in
accordance with the faithless policy which he pursued towards this
country. The treaty of Amiens had induced crowds of English to cross the
Channel, and on the specious pretext that two French ships had been
captured prior to the actual declaration of war, he issued a decree on
the 22nd of May, 1803, for the arrest and imprisonment of all Englishmen
in France, over eighteen and under sixty years of age, all subjects of
the king of England between those ages being considered, for the purpose
of this outrageous order, _as forming part of the English militia_. This
measure was carried out with the utmost rigour, and the eleven thousand
English who thus became prisoners of war were deprived of their liberty
fifteen years, and regained it only in 1814.
[Illustration:
JAMES GILLRAY. _January 11th, 1796._
TWOPENNY WHIST.
Mistress Humphrey and Betty, of St. James' Street, their neighbour
Mortimer (a well-known picture dealer) and a German guest.
[A satire, by contrast, on the high stakes of "White's" and
"Boodle's."]
_Face p. 16._]
ENGLISH ENTHUSIASM.
The feeling of the nation at this time may be judged by the debates in
the Houses of Parliament. In the Commons, Mr. Grey moved an
amendment, which, while it assured His Majesty of support in the war,
expressed _disapprobation of the conduct of Ministers_. This amendment
was rejected by 398 to 67. The unanimity in the Lords was still greater.
The official statement that England was unable to contend single-handed
with France produced a violent outburst of indignation, and the
amendment moved by Lord King, to omit words which charged France with
the actual guilt and responsibility of breaking the treaty, was
negatived by 142 to 10. This was on the 23rd of May. On the 20th of June
a great meeting was held at Lloyds, for the purpose of promoting a
subscription for carrying on the war. Six days later on, five thousand
merchants, bankers, and other persons of position met at the Royal
Exchange, and unanimously agreed to a declaration which expressed their
determination to "stand or fall with their king and country." This
resolution or declaration was seconded by the Secretary to the East
India Company, and the meeting did not separate until "God save the
King" and "Rule Britannia" had been sung, and nine cheers had been given
for England and King George. On the 26th of August, His Majesty reviewed
the London volunteers in Hyde Park, in the presence of the French
princes, General Dumouriez, and two hundred thousand spectators; this
military spectacle being followed on the 28th by a review, in the same
place, of the Westminster, Lambeth, and Southwark corps. The number of
volunteers actually enrolled in the metropolis and outparishes at this
time was forty-six thousand.
The following year saw the final end of the great French Revolution; the
names of the puppet "second" and "third" consuls had been long omitted
from the public acts of the French Government. The motives of this
omission were soon abundantly apparent; and in the month of May, 1804,
Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French.
Some writers have doubted whether Napoleon entertained any serious
intention of invading this country; but to doubt such intention would be
really to doubt whether Nelson fell at Trafalgar, for that crushing
defeat was simply the sequel and outcome of the collapse of the
emperor's plans. The details of the invasion scheme were fully explained
to General Sir Neil Campbell by Napoleon himself at Elba, in 1814, and
afterwards confirmed by him in precisely similar terms to O'Meara at St.
Helena. Those plans were defeated by the suspicions and vigilance of
Lord Nelson; by his habit of acting promptly upon his suspicions; by the
alacrity with which the Admiralty of the day obeyed his warnings; by the
prescience of Lord Collingwood; and by the consequent intercepting of
the combined French and Spanish fleets off Ferrol by Sir Robert Calder,
in July, 1806. The moment this happened, Napoleon saw that his game--so
far at least as England was concerned--was at an end; and fertile in
resources, he immediately carried out the second part of his programme.
Then followed, as we know, the campaign of Austerlitz, the treaty of
Presburg, the war with Prussia, and finally the battle of Jena, in
October, 1806.
BERLIN DECREE.
Ever bent on humiliating and crippling the resources of England,
Napoleon on the 1st of November, 1806, issued his memorable "Berlin
Decree," containing eleven clauses, of which this country formed the
exclusive topic. By it, all trade and correspondence with the British
Isles was prohibited; all letters and packets at the post office,
addressed to England, or to an Englishman, or "written in English," were
to be seized; every subject of England found _in any_ of the countries
occupied by French troops or those of their allies, was to be made
prisoner of war; all warehouses, merchandise, and property belonging to
a subject of England were declared lawful prize; all trading in English
merchandise forbidden; every article belonging to England, or coming
from her colonies, or of her manufacture, was declared good prize; and
English vessels were excluded from every European port.[10] This
outrageous "decree" Bonaparte imposed upon every country that fell under
the iron sway of his military despotism.
[Illustration:
NAPOLEON FORTY-EIGHT HOURS AFTER LANDING.
"Ha, my little Boney! what dost think of Johnny Bull now? Plunder Old
England, hay? Make French slaves of us all, hay? Ravish all our wives
and daughters, hay? O, Lord help that silly head! To think that Johnny
Bull would ever suffer those lanthorn jaws to become King of Old
England's Roast Beef and Plum Pudding!"]
[Illustration:
JOHN BULL OFFERING LITTLE BONEY FAIR PLAY.
BONAPARTE--"I'm a-coming! I'm a-coming!"
JOHN BULL--"You're a-coming!
If you mean to invade us, why make such a route?
I say, Little Boney,--why don't you come out?
Yes, d---- you, why don't you come out?"
FIGURES FROM GILLRAY'S NAPOLEONIC CARICATURES.
_Face p. 18._]
BASE POLICY OF BONAPARTE.
The policy, therefore, of the emperor towards England, which was
contrary to all the usages of civilized warfare, will explain the
bitter animosity with which he was regarded in this country. The English
were molested everywhere; they were made prisoners at Verdun and in
Holland; their property was confiscated in Portugal; Russia was cajoled,
Prussia forced into a league against them, and Sweden menaced, because
she persisted in maintaining her alliance with this country. The "Berlin
Decree" was an infamous document, worthy rather the policy of a bandit
chief than of a fair and honourable antagonist. It proclaimed war not
against individuals, but against private property, and specially
appealed to the cupidity of those to whom it was addressed. This base
policy towards English subjects recoiled inevitably against its
perpetrator; and its effects were soon felt in the fields of the
Peninsula, the banishment to Elba, and above all, in the final
consignment to the rock of St. Helena. We, on our part, ignored
Bonaparte's right to the title of emperor. With us, he was invariably
"General Bonaparte," and nothing more; and in the graphic lampoons of
Gillray, Rowlandson, and Cruikshank, he was exhibited under the most
ludicrous circumstances in connection with the divorce, the defeats of
Russia and the Peninsula, and even the paternity of his son the young
king of Rome. These caricatures were brought to his notice by his spies
and emissaries in England; they rendered him furious; and one of
them--Gillray's admirable and, as it subsequently proved, prophetic
satire of _The Handwriting on the Wall_--is said to have given him not
only offence, but even serious uneasiness.
The tone of the English caricaturists may be gathered from one of the
best of Woodward's satires, published in 1807. It is entitled _A
Political Fair_, in which the various shows are labelled Russian,
Danish, Swedish, Westphalian, Austrian, Dutch, Spanish, and even
American. The best show in the fair is kept of course by John Bull &
Co., whilst Bonaparte is the proprietor of a humble stall, whereat
gingerbread kings and queens are sold wholesale and retail by his
Imperial Majesty.[11] The same artist, in another but distinctly
inferior satire (published in November, 1807), gives us _The Gallick
Storehouse for English Shipping_: on one side we see Napoleon
accumulating vast stores of Spanish, Danish, Dutch, and Swedish vessels,
intended to annihilate the naval power of England--the shipbuilder,
however, shrugs his shoulders and suggests it is but time thrown away,
for as fast as the ships are built, John Bull "claps them into his
storehouse over the way." The satire was suggested of course by the
victory of Trafalgar in October, 1805; by Sir J. Duckworth's capture of
French shipping in January, 1806; and by the surrender of the Danish
fleet after the bombardment of Copenhagen, in September, 1807.[12]
BATTLE OF BAYLEN.
In a caricature published by Walker in 1808, we see Joseph Bonaparte
(one of these Imperial ginger-bread monarchs) driven from Madrid by
Spanish flies; the satire is entitled _Spanish Flies, or Boney taking an
Immoderate Dose_, and has reference to the results of the Battle of
Baylen, in Andalusia, one of the _very_ few victories ever obtained by
the Spaniards against the French, where a division of 14,000 men
surrendered to Castanos. This was on the 20th of July, and nine days
afterwards Joseph retreated to Burgos with the crown jewels. The
wretched Spaniards, however, were incapable of improving their victory;
and General Castanos instead of following up the retreating enemy, went
to Seville to fulfil a vow he had made of dedicating his unexpected
victory to St. Ferdinand, on whose tomb he deposited the crown of laurel
presented to him by his grateful countrymen. Of the Bonaparte
caricatures of this year, no less than nineteen are due to the pencil of
Thomas Rowlandson, and will be found fully described in Mr. Joseph
Grego's exhaustive work[13] upon that artist and his works.
[Illustration:
THE KING OF BROBDINGNAG AND GULLIVER.]
[Illustration:
TALLEYRAND, KING-AT-ARMS, BEARING HIS MASTER'S GENEALOGICAL TREE,
SPRINGING FROM BUONE, BUTCHER.]
[Illustration:
NAPOLEON IN HIS CORONATION ROBES.
FIGURES FROM GILLRAY'S NAPOLEONIC CARICATURES.
_Face p. 20._]
The year 1809 witnessed the divorce from Josephine, and the marriage of
the emperor to Marie Louise. The purposes for which this matrimonial
alliance was effected were made no secret of by the emperor, and were
indicated of course in the plainest possible terms by the English
contemporary caricaturists, who were certainly not troubled with any
unnecessary scruples of prudery or delicacy. One of these satires,
published by Tegg, on the 16th of August, 1810, is entitled _Boney and
his New Wife, or a Quarrel about Nothing_, and indicates in the plainest
possible terms that the purposes for which the divorce had been effected
were as distant as ever. The result of this union, however, was the
birth of the young king of Rome on the 20th of March, 1810, an event
which set the pencils of our pictorial satirists once more in motion,
and the young heir and his father were complimented by Rowlandson in a
rough caricature, published by Tegg on the 9th of April, 1811, as _Boney
the Second, the little Babboon [sic] created to devour French Monkies_.
BATTLE OF BAROSSA.
In March, 1811, was fought the battle of Barossa; while the same month
Massena, finding it difficult to maintain his army in a devastated
country, instead of fulfilling his vain-glorious boast of driving "the
English into their native element," began his own retreat from Santarem,
abandoning part of his baggage and heavy artillery. Marching in a solid
mass, his rear protected by one or two divisions, he retired towards the
Mondego, preserving his army from any great serious disaster, though
watchfully and vigorously pursued by Lord Wellington. The skilful
generalship of the French marshal elicited of course no encomiums from
the English caricaturists. On the contrary, we see (in "The Scourge" of
1st May, 1811) Wellington in the act of basting a French goose before a
huge fire, a British bayonet forming the spit. While basting the goose
with one hand, the English general holds over the fire in the other a
frying-pan filled with French generals, some of whom--to escape the
overpowering heat--are leaping into the fire; another British officer
(probably intended for General Graham) blows the flames with a pair of
bellows labelled "British bravery." Napoleon appears in a stew-pan over
an adjoining boiler, while we find Marshal Massena himself in a
pickle-jar below. This satire is entitled, _British Cookery, or Out of
the Frying-pan into the Fire_.
NAPOLEON'S STAR BEGINS TO WANE.
The star of Napoleon was beginning to wane in 1812. The snow made its
first appearance in Russia on the 13th of October of that year, and the
French emperor already commenced his preparations for retreat. This is
referred to in a very clever caricature published by Tegg on the 1st of
December, 1812, wherein we find _General Frost shaving Boney_ with a
razor marked "Russian steel." Napoleon stands up to his knees in snow,
and out of the nostrils of the snow fiend [General Frost] issue blasts
labelled "North," "East," "Snow," and "Sleet." Seven days later on, we
meet with a roughly-executed cartoon, _Polish Diet with French Dessert_,
wherein we see Napoleon basted by General Benningsen, the spit being
turned by a Russian bear. This caricature, no doubt, has reference to
the disastrous defeat by Benningsen of the French advanced guard, thirty
thousand strong, under Murat, on the 18th of October, 1812, when fifteen
hundred prisoners, thirty-eight cannon, and the whole of the baggage of
the corps, besides other trophies, fell into the victors' hands.
The retreat from Moscow is referred to in a satire published by Thomas
Tegg on the 7th of March, 1813, labelled, _The Corsican Bloodhound beset
by the Bears of Russia_; wherein Napoleon is represented as a mongrel
bloodhound with a tin kettle tied to his tail, closely pursued by
Russian bears. Various papers are flying out of the kettle, labelled
"Oppression," "Famine," "Frost," "Destruction," "Death," "Horror,"
"Mortality," "Annihilation." "Push on, my lads," says one of the
pursuers. "No grumbling; keep scent of him; no sucking of paws this
winter, here is food for the bears in all the Russias." The emperor, in
truth, had the narrowest escape from being made a prisoner by the
Cossacks, a fact alluded to in another caricature published by Tegg in
June, 1813, entitled, _Nap nearly Nab'd, or a Retreating Jump just in
time_. Here, the emperor and one of his marshals are depicted leaping
out of window, at the very moment when a Cossack with his lance appears
outside the palings. "Vite," says the marshal, in the peculiar _patois_
adopted by the English caricaturists of the early part of the century,
"Courez, mon Empereur, ce Diable de Cossack, dey spoil our dinner!!!"
THE BULLETIN.
Napoleon collected his marshals around him at Smorgoni, on the 5th of
December, 1812, and dictated a bulletin which developed the horrors of
the retreat, and explained to them his reasons for returning to Paris.
"I quit you," he said, "but go to seek three hundred thousand men." He
then proceeded to lay the blame on the King of Westphalia, and his
trusted and tried friend the Duc d'Abrantes; alleged that English
torches had turned Moscow into a heap of ashes; and added (with greater
truthfulness) that the cold had done the rest of the mischief. He
entrusted the command to Murat, and bidding them farewell set out,
accompanied only by Generals Coulaincourt, Duroc, and Mouton, the
Mameluke Rustan, a captain of the Polish lancers, and an escort of
Neapolitan horsemen. This event is referred to in a caricature,
published by S. W. Fores on the 1st of January, 1813, entitled, _Boney
returning from Russia covered with Glory, leaving his army in
comfortable winter quarters_. Napoleon and Coulaincourt are seated in a
sleigh driven by another general in jack boots, with a tremendous cocked
hat on his head, a huge sword by his side, and a formidable whip in his
hand. Coulaincourt inquires, "Will your Majesty write the bulletin?"
"No," replies Napoleon; "you write it. Tell them we left the army all
well, quite gay; in excellent quarters; plenty of provisions; that we
travelled in great style; received everywhere with congratulations; and
that I had almost completed the _repose_ of Europe" (a favourite
expression of his). By way of contrast to these grandiloquent phrases,
the eye is attracted to the surroundings. The ground is thickly coated
with snow; in the foreground, two famished wretches cut and devour raw
flesh from a dead horse. On all sides lie dead and dying men and
animals, while in the distance we behold the flying and demoralized
troops chased by a cloud of Cossacks. The English caricaturists follow
the emperor into the sanctity of his private life; they depict in their
own homely but forcible fashion the astonishment of the empress at his
unexpected return, and the disgust of young "Boney the Second," who not
only expresses surprise that his imperial sire had forgotten his promise
to "bring him some Russians to cut up," but suggests that they seem to
have "cut _him_ up" instead. These incidents are described in a satire
entitled, _Nap's Glorious Return; or, the Conclusion of the Russian
campaign_, published by Tegg, in June, 1813.
The crushing defeat of Vitoria, the crowning disaster of
Leipzig--sustained the same year, the subsequent abdication of
Bonaparte, the return from Elba, the brief incident of the "hundred
days," the catastrophe of Waterloo, and the subsequent consignment of
the great emperor to St. Helena, form of course the subjects of a host
of graphic satires. Foremost amongst them (for Gillray's intellect was
gone), must be mentioned the caricatures of Thomas Rowlandson and of
George Cruikshank. The first being fully described in Mr. Grego's work,
we are not called on to mention them here, while the last will be fully
set out when we come to treat of the caricature work of George
Cruikshank.
FRENCH ROYALIST SATIRES.
The French royalist satirists of course expressed their views on the
situation. A French royalist caricature, published after Waterloo,
represents Napoleon as a dancing bear forced to caper by England, his
keeper, who makes an unsparing use of the lash, whilst Russia and Prussia
play pipe and drum by way of music. A good answer, however, to this is
found in a French caricature (published in the Napoleon interest), like
most of the French satires of that period without date, entitled,
_L'apres dinee des Anglais, par un Francais prisonnier-de-guerre_, which
satirizes the after-dinner drinking propensities of the English of the
period. The caricature, although neither flattering nor altogether
decent, is probably not an exaggerated picture of English after-dinner
conviviality while the century was young.
[Illustration:
GILLRAY. _"Royal Affability," Feb. 10th._
"Well, friend, where a' you going, hay? What's your name, hay? Where
do you live, hay?--hay?"]
[Illustration:
GILLRAY. _Connoisseur examining a Cooper June 18th, 1792._
A CONNOISSEUR IN ART.]
[Illustration:
GILLRAY. _"A Lesson in Apple Dumplings."_
"Hay? hay? apple dumplings?--how get the apples in?--how? Are they
made without seams?"
_Face p. 24._]
By far the most biting, the most sarcastic, the most effective, and the
most popular of the anti-Bonaparte caricatures are those by James
Gillray, which commence before the close of the last century, and end in
1811, the year when the lurid genius of this greatest and most original
of satirists was quenched in the darkness of mental imbecility. James
Gillray, however, like his able friend and contemporary, Thomas
Rowlandson, does not fall within our definition of a "nineteenth
century" satirist; and I am precluded from describing them. I have
before me the admirable anti-Bonaparte satires of both artists; and
inseparably linked as they are with the men who began work after 1800,
the almost irresistible tendency is to describe some of them in
elucidation of the events to which I have occasion to refer. To do so,
however, although fascinating and easy, would be not only to wander from
my purpose, but to invade the province of the late Thomas Wright and of
Mr. Grego, which I am not called upon to do; to refer to them, however,
for the purpose of this chapter, I have found not only necessary, but
unavoidable.
INJUSTICE OF THE CARICATURISTS.
THEY MISTAKE THE CHARACTER OF BONAPARTE.
Caricature, like literary satire (as we all know from the days of the
"Dunciad" downwards), has little concern with justice; but we who look
back after the lapse of the greater part of the century, and have
moreover studied the history and the surroundings of Napoleon Bonaparte,
may afford at least to do him justice. Gillray is a fair exponent of the
intense hatred with which Bonaparte was regarded in this country, when
not only the little "Corsican," but those about him, were held up to a
ridicule which, oftentimes vulgar, partook not unfrequently of absolute
brutality. Who would imagine, for instance, that the fat blousy female
quaffing deep draughts of Maraschino from a goblet, in his famous satire
of the _Handwriting on the Wall_, was intended for the refined and
delicate Josephine? Occasionally, however, James Gillray descended to a
lower depth, as in his _Ci Devant Occupations_ (of 20th February, 1805),
in which we see this delicate woman, with the frail but lovely Spaniard,
Theresa de Cabarrus (Madame Tallien), figuring in a manner to which the
most infamous women of Drury Lane would have hesitated to descend.
Josephine de la Pagerie, as we all know, was anything but blameless;
which indeed of _les Deesses de la Revolution_ could pass unscathed
through the fiery furnace of the Terror?[14] But this miscalled satire
of James Gillray, which he dubs "a fact," is nothing less than a
poisonous libel. As for _le petit Caporal_ himself, everyone now knows,
that while he viewed the carnage of the battlefield with the
indifference of a conqueror, he shrank in horror from the murderers of
the Swiss; from Danton and his satellites, the Septembrist massacrists;
from the mock trials and cold-blooded atrocities of the Terrorists.
Standing apart from these last by right of his unexampled genius, with
Danton, Marat, Robespierre, Couthon, Carrier, Napoleon Bonaparte has
nothing whatever in common. Looking back upon the ruins of his empire,
the mistakes he had made, the faults he had committed, Napoleon, with
reference at least to his own personal elevation, might say with truth:
"Nothing has been more simple than my elevation. It was not the result
of intrigue or _crime_. It was owing to the peculiar circumstance of the
times, and because I fought successfully against the enemies of my
country. What is most extraordinary is, that I rose from being a private
person to the astonishing height of power I possessed, without having
committed a single crime to obtain it. If I were on my death-bed I could
make the same declaration."[15]
To these facts, of course, James Gillray (if indeed he knew them) closed
his eyes. In his sketch of the 12th of May, 1800, he shows us the young
lieutenant at the head of tattered legions directing the destruction of
the royal palaces. Blinded by the prejudice of his times, he seems
apparently ignorant of the fact that Napoleon although a _spectator_ of
the attack on the Tuileries, had no power; that if he had, he would (as
he himself expressed it at the time) have swept the sanguinary
_canaille_ into the gutters with his grape shot. Again, in his satires,
he connects him repeatedly with the guillotine, to all appearance
unconscious of the fact that between Napoleon and the guillotine no
possible sympathy existed.
* * * * *
[Illustration:
JAMES GILLRAY. _June 28th, 1791._
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PETRIFIED, AND THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY REVIVIFIED.
1. BARBER--"De King is escape! de King is escape!"
2. COOK.--"Aha! be gar, de King is retaken!! Aha! Monsieur Lewis is
retaken, aha!!"
[_The French Revolution._]
_Face p. 26._]
ROBERT DIGHTON'S SKETCHES.
A good idea of the appearance and costume of "the general" and
notables of the early part of the century, is given by the sketches of
the last century artist, Robert Dighton. His etchings are not
caricatures, as may be supposed, but likenesses of the _oi polloi_--the
university dons--the prize-fighters--the butchers--the
singers--actors--actresses--the men about town ("Corinthians," as they
were termed in the slang of the Regency)--the "upper ten"; and what
amazingly queer folks were these last! The Duke of Grafton, with his
tremendous beak, wig, and cocked hat, his mahogany tops and spurs, his
long coat with the flapped pockets and his star; the Marquis of
Buckingham, with his red fat face and double chin, which told tales of
nightly good cheer, his cocked hat, military coatee, and terrific
paunch, which resisted all attempts to confine it within reasonable
military compass; John Bellingham--the murderer of Spencer
Perceval,--with his retreating forehead, long pointed nose, drab cloth
coat and exuberant shirt frill; "What? What? What?"--Great George
himself, as he appeared in 1810, in full military panoply--huge
ill-fitting boots, huge blue military coat, collar, lappets, and star, a
white-powdered bob surmounting a clean-shaved unintellectual face, the
distinguishing characteristics of which were a pair of protruding eyes
surmounted by ponderous eyebrows.
A well-drawn caricature published by S. W. Fores on the 11th of May,
1801, gives us an admirable idea of the male and female costume of the
period. It contains sixteen figures, and is entitled _Tea just Over, or
the Game of Consequences begun_. "Consequences" would appear to have
been a fashionable game at this time; but the "consequences" here
alluded to are the immediate results of a pinch of snuff. The
"consequences" of one gentleman sneezing are the following: he jerks the
arm of the lady next him, the result being that she pours her cup of
scalding hot tea over the knees of her neighbour, a testy old gentleman,
who in his fright and pain raises his arms, jerking off with his cane
the wig of a person standing at the back of his chair, who in the
attempt to save his wig upsets his own cup and saucer upon the pate of
his antagonist Another guest, with his mouth full of tea, witnessing
this absurd _contretemps_ is unable to restrain his laughter, the
result of which is that he blows a stream of tea into the left ear of
the man who has lost his wig, at the same time setting his own pigtail
alight in the adjoining candle. All these disasters, passing in rapid
succession from left to right, are the direct "consequences" of one
unfortunate pinch of snuff.
MASTER BETTY.
The year 1804 witnessed the advent of a performer whose theatrical
reputation, notwithstanding the wonderful sensation it created for a
couple of seasons, was not destined to survive his childhood. The brief
_furore_ he excited, enabled his friends to lay by for him a
considerable fortune, which enabled him to regard the memory of his
immature triumphs and subsequent failures with resignation. Master
Betty, "the Young Roscius," was not quite thirteen years of age when he
made his first appearance at Covent Garden on the 1st of December, 1804,
as Achmet in _Barbarossa_. He played alternately at the two great
houses; twenty-eight nights at Drury Lane brought L17,210 into the
treasury, whilst the receipts at Covent Garden during the same period
are supposed to have been equally large. A rough caricature of 1804,
bearing the signature "I. B.," depicts the child standing with one foot
on Drury Lane and the other on Covent Garden, with a toy whip in one
hand and a rattle in the other, while two full-grown actors of real
merit bemoan the decadence of public taste on the pavement below. Some
years later on the pair might have said with Byron,--
"Though now, thank Heaven! the Rosciomania's o'er,
And full-grown actors are endured once more."[16]
The leading home political incident of 1806 was the impeachment and
acquittal of Lord Melville, an event which is dealt with by Gillray, and
also by Rowlandson in his graphic satire of _The Acquittal, or Upsetting
the Porter Pot_, both artists alluding to Whitbread, the brewer, the
head of the advanced Liberals, and one of the principal movers of Lord
Melville's impeachment.
[Illustration:
T. ROWLANDSON. _October 25th, 1810._
"SPITFIRES."
_Back to p. 28._]
[Illustration:
T. ROWLANDSON. 1813.
"THE COBBLER'S CURE FOR A SCOLDING WIFE."
_Back to p. 29._]
INTRODUCTION OF GAS.
Gas, which now promises to be superseded in its turn by electricity, was
introduced into Boulton & Watts' foundry, at Birmingham, as early as the
year 1798, and the Lyceum Theatre was lit with gas (by way of
experiment) in 1803; it met however with much opposition from persons
interested in the conservation of the oil trade, and made no real
progress in London until 1807, when it was introduced into Golden Lane
on the 16th of August. Pall Mall, however, was not lighted with gas
until 1809, and it was really not finally and generally introduced into
London until the year 1820. We meet with an excellent satire published
by S. W. Fores, in 1807, wherein a harlequin is depicted sitting on a
rope suspended between a couple of lamp posts. The lamps and the hat of
the figure are garnished with lighted burners; the neighbours in the
windows of the adjoining houses, the people on the pavement below, the
fowls, the dogs, the cats on the roofs, are suffocated with the noxious
vapour. The figure holds in his hand a paper, whereon we read, "This is
the speculation to make money, L10,000 per cent. profit all in
_Air_-light air. 'Tis there, 'tis here, and 'tis gone for ever." This
caricature bears the title of _The Good Effects of Carbonic Gas_. A
caricature of Woodward, engraved by Rowlandson, and published by
Ackermann on the 23rd of December, 1809, gives us _A Peep at the Gas
Lights in Pall Mall_, the interest of which chiefly centres in the
eccentric form of the early street lamps. Among the groups looking on
are a wondering "country cousin" and a "serious" companion. "Ay,
friend," says the latter, anxious of course, in season and out of
season, to turn the occasion to profitable account, "verily it is all
vanity! What is _this_ to the _inward light_?" Some more disreputable
members of the community are expressing their fears that the new light
will interfere with their own peculiar modes of livelihood.
A clever and somewhat remarkable woman succeeded in achieving an
unenviable notoriety in 1809. The daughter of a printer residing in Bowl
and Pin Alley, near White's Alley, Chancery Lane, the remarkably
intelligent girl had early attracted the notice of friends, one of whom
placed her at a boarding school, where she picked up an education (such
as it was) sufficient to sharpen her natural abilities. Her commencement
in life was scarcely a hopeful one. Mary Anne Thompson eloped at
seventeen years of age with one Joseph Clarke, the son of a builder on
Snow Hill, and after living with him three years married him. The
marriage was not a happy one. The pair after some years separated, and
Mary Anne was thenceforth driven to trust for her support to her own
resources and attractions.
MARY ANNE CLARKE.
These proved fully equal to the occasion. Somewhat small in stature,
nature had nevertheless endowed her with a remarkably well turned
figure, well shaped arms, comely features, a singularly clear
complexion, and blue eyes full of light and vivacity. Dressing with
considerable taste and elegance--utterly shameless--without principle or
character, with nothing to lose--everything to gain, the woman was
eminently fitted to succeed in the peculiar path in life she had elected
to follow. Throwing her line with all the dexterity of an accomplished
angler, she succeeded almost at her first cast in hooking a very large
fish indeed--his Royal Highness Frederick Duke of York,
Commander-in-chief, Prince-bishop of Osnaburgh, who had attained at this
time the respectable age of forty-six years.
Mary Anne proved, as might have been expected, an expensive plaything.
In the short space of two years, the duke seems to have handed his
mistress upwards of L5,000, besides expending on her in payments to
tradesmen for wine, furniture, and other "paraphernalia," at least
L16,000 or L17,000 more. In time, as is not unusual in matters of this
kind, the duke seems to have grown tired of his enslaver, and
endeavoured to pension her off with an annuity of L400 a year; but with
the niggardliness which was so distinguishing a characteristic of his
family, payment was not only withheld, but when the woman applied for
payment, the duke was mean and foolish enough to threaten her with
prison and the pillory. Mrs. Clarke, a woman of genius and resource,
instead of being frightened, straightway betook herself to Messrs.
Wilberforce and Whitbread, the supporters of the impeachment of Lord
Melville, and confessed to them certain irregularities of which she had
been guilty.
Into the unsavoury revelations of Mary Anne Clarke, her traffic in the
sale of military commissions, and still worse, in a system of
ecclesiastical patronage in which she alleged his Royal Highness
connived, we need not enter. They are set out as far as is necessary in
Mr. Grego's book, and also in Mr. Wright's treatise on James Gillray and
his works. Suffice it to say, that all these miserable exposures would
have been saved, had the duke, instead of seeking to save his pocket,
paid the annuity to which the woman was entitled. If by resigning, he
thought to silence his unscrupulous persecutor, he was quickly and
unpleasantly undeceived. The clever, unscrupulous woman had reserved her
trump-card to the last. All this time she had been engaged in preparing
her "Memoirs," comprising not only the history of her transactions with
his Royal Highness, but a series of his letters, containing, it is said,
anecdotes of illustrious personages of the most curious and _recherche_
description. The immediate publication of these "Memoirs" having been
announced to his Royal Highness, the duke was driven in spite of himself
to effect an arrangement. For a payment of L7,000 down, an annuity of
L400 for her own life, and one of L200 for each of her daughters, the
printed "Memoirs" (eighteen thousand copies) were destroyed, the
publication suppressed, and above all the terrible private
correspondence duly surrendered.
The mover of the committee of inquiry was one Wardle, colonel of a
militia regiment, who for a very brief space of time was permitted to
figure as a patriot; that he was a mere instrument in the hands of other
persons seems now abundantly clear. No sooner had Mary Anne Clarke
landed his Royal Highness, than she fixed her hook in the jaws of the
luckless colonel, who, tool as he was, proved to be by no means a sharp
one. It is obvious a woman of Mrs. Clarke's character would be the last
person to open her lips, unless it was made clear to her that it would
be worth her while to do so. Her go-between in the transaction was a
certain "Major" Dodd. Wardle gave Mrs. Clarke L100 for present
necessities, and by way of earnest of more liberal promises which seem
afterwards to have been repudiated by his employers. Through Major Dodd,
the clever, unprincipled woman secured a house in Westbourne Place,
which she furnished in a style of comfortable elegance, and succeeded by
her blandishments in swindling Wardle into becoming security for her
furniture. The inevitable result of course followed. On the 3rd July,
1809, Wright, the upholsterer, brought his action against Wardle and
recovered L1,400 damages,[17] besides costs, "for furniture sold to the
defendant to the use of Mary Anne Clarke." The colonel, like the
commander-in-chief, thus found himself not only out-manoeuvred by his
clever and unscrupulous ex-ally, but reaped the obloquy attendant on
exposure and ridicule, instead of the glorification which had at first
greeted his patriotic exertions.
Mary Anne Clarke and the Duke of York, afforded (as might have been
expected) plenty of employment to the caricaturists. The theme, however,
is treated too grossly for description, a subject to be regretted, as
most of the satires, containing as they do admirable portraits of the
principal personages, are exceedingly clever. The subject suited an
artist who delighted in delineating the immodest and full-blown beauties
of Drury Lane; and accordingly, more than forty caricatures on the
subject of "The Delicate Investigation," as it was called, are due to
the pencil of Thomas Rowlandson.
THE END OF MARY ANNE CLARKE.
In order to show the character of this infamous woman, we must follow
her progress a little farther than either Mr. Grego or Mr. Wright appear
to have done. In February, 1814, she once more made a public appearance:
this time in the Court of Queen's Bench. She seems to have got the Right
Hon. William Fitzgerald, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, by some
means or other into her clutches, in connection with the proceedings of
1809. By this time, however, she had descended so low, that exposure was
threatened unless a sum of money was deposited under a stone. In her
threats, she announced her intention of "submitting to the public in a
very short time _two or three volumes_, which might be followed by
others as opportunity should suit or circumstances require." This
threat, instead of extorting money, consigned Mary Anne to the custody
of the marshal of the King's Bench Prison for the space of nine calendar
months, at the end of which period she was ordered to find securities to
keep the peace for a space of three years. It might have gone harder
with the brazen woman if the proceedings had taken any other form than
that of an indictment for libel, and if she had not admitted her fault,
and in some measure thrown herself upon the mercy of the court. The
pages of history do not appear to be sullied with the intrusion of Mary
Anne Clarke's name after this period.
The year 1811 is marked by an event which claims special record in a
work treating of English caricatures and caricaturists of the century.
In that year, James Gillray executed the last of his famous etchings;
and although mere existence was prolonged for nearly four years
afterwards, till the 1st of June, 1815, he sank in 1811 into that
hopeless and dreary state of mingled imbecility and delirium from which
the intellect of this truly great and original genius was destined never
to recover.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] "If it had not been for you English, I should have been Emperor
of the East; but wherever there is water enough to float a ship, we
are sure to find you in our way."--_Napoleon to Captain Maitland._
See Maitland's "Narrative of the Surrender of Bonaparte," p. 99.
[10] _London Chronicle_, December 6th, 1806.
[11] See also Gillray's previous satire of the 23rd of January, 1806
(which probably suggested this), _Tiddy Doll, the Great French
Gingerbread Baker, drawing out a new batch of kings_.
[12] See also Gillray's cartoon of 1st October, 1807, _British Tars
towing the Danish Fleet into Harbour_.
[13] See vol. ii., p. 92, _et seq._
[14] In a loose age, Madame Tallien, notwithstanding such virtues as
she possessed, was a loose character. Between 1798 and 1802 she had
three children, who were registered in her family name of
_Cabarrus_. On the 8th of April, 1802, at her own request a divorce
was pronounced from Tallien, and with two husbands still alive she
married (14th July, 1805,) Count Joseph de Caraman, soon after heir
of the Prince de Chimay. She died in the odour of sanctity, on the
15th of January, 1835.
[15] O'Meara, vol. i, p. 250.
[16] "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers."
[17] According to Mr. Grego, L2,000.