meaning of this print is not very obvious. It may be assumed that
Dr. Sawbones has secured a new subject; but whether an admirer of
the anatomist's lady has had himself conveyed into her presence by
simulating death, or changing places with the 'subject,' does not
appear. However, the critical situation of the lively gentleman on
trestles does not seem conducive to a tranquil frame of mind; the
operator is deliberately getting out his saws, knives, scissors, and
other repellent anatomical instruments in a business-like spirit,
for he has, according to an announcement, to deliver _A Course of
Anatomical Lectures, accompanied with Dissections_, and he is in want
of a subject for demonstration. The lady, filled with the direst
apprehensions, is trying to impress on the anatomist the remarkable and
unusual fact that the dead man has returned to life.
_March 16, 1811._ _Sailors on Horseback._ Published by T. Tegg
(62).--This print is one of the numerous instances of subjects designed
by amateurs and given to Rowlandson to engrave, and, in most respects,
to put into shape. According to the humours of this print four sailors,
mounted on horseback, are going off on an equestrian cruise by the
seashore. The British Tar most at his ease has been lashed with strong
cables to the back of his steed beyond a chance of drifting loose:
'Here I come, my hearties, right and tight--smart sailing; but never
mind that--I can't be cast away, for my commander, Heavens bless him,
has lashed me to the deck with some tough old cables!' His neighbour,
who has a restive horse, requests, 'Keep more to the starboard, and be
d---- to you; don't you see how you make my vessel run ahead!' A third,
riding behind, is mounted on an animal who is taking into his head to
launch out in the rear: 'D---- me, how she heaves; why, this is worse
than a jolly-boat in the Bay of Biscay!' A comrade, having had a spill,
has been left on the road, and is in danger of being run over: 'Mind
what you are at, messmates, for I am upset, and the frigate I came on
board of has been under way without me this half-hour.'
_March 28, 1811._ _Kitty Careless in Quod, or Waiting for Jew Bail._
Published by T. Tegg (65).--A dashing young lady of fashion, who has
evidently been running ahead of the constable, is 'laid by the heels'
in a spunging-house; the apartment in which she is lodged belongs,
it appears from a printed notice on the wall, to _MacNab, Sheriff's
Officer for the County of Middlesex--genteel accommodation for ladies
and gentlemen_. Heavy locks and bolts to the door, and massive bars
to the window, indicate the security of Kitty's keeping. The fair
captive does not seem depressed by her confinement: seated before a
glowing fire, her legs crossed in easy indifference, the prisoner is
drinking bumpers of port wine with her captors; a spectacle by no means
unusual in the days of this publication, when the extravagances of
people of fashion were constantly leading them to the confinement of a
spunging-house.
_April 1, 1811._ _Pastime in Portugal, or a Visit to the Nunneries._
Published by T. Tegg (64).--The principal figure in this picture is
that of a young officer belonging to the British army opposed to the
French legions on the Peninsula; in company with a Portuguese don he
has come to visit one of the nunneries which were sufficiently abundant
in the country; three well-favoured members of the sisterhood and a
sour-looking old harridan, by way of duenna, have come to the 'grill,'
or large grated window, which was employed to cut off the 'cloistered
ones' from the rest of the world. We are able to gather from the
illustrations of the period that travellers were accustomed to make
visits to nunneries, where they purchased objects manufactured by the
inmates, who were regarded by our countrymen as a kind of show; the
visitors, however, were always restricted to the outside of the grating
which separated the sisterhood from more intimate association with
a wicked world. In Rowlandson's sketch the pretty nuns are offering
silk purses, of their own knitting, to their dashing visitor, whose
attention is more exclusively occupied by the very decided personal
attractions of the fair recluses.
_April 5, 1811._ _The Last Drop._ Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James
Street, Adelphi.--A short and corpulent _bon-vivant_, not unlike a
balloon in figure, whose waistband has been abnormally distended by
the bibulous propensities of the owner, is standing on tiptoe tilting
up to his eager lips a huge punchbowl, too well filled to be lifted
bodily; he is transferring the contents to his own inside with much
gusto. While the veteran and inordinate toper is greedily engulfing
his last bumping measure he is too busily engaged in the important
work in hand to notice that _Death_, in his bony personality as a
ghastly skeleton, is helping to raise the finishing bowl, while the
fatal dart is poised over his head, ready for the stroke which will
follow this last potation before the tippler has time to recover his
breath. The stout gentleman has evidently enjoyed a lengthy innings,
and, from the instances scattered about him, he has made the most of
his opportunities; he is surrounded by the remnants of the good and bad
things with which he has made away--barrels of stout, bottles of port,
puncheons of _usquebaugh_, and spirits of all sorts; in fact, a very
cellar of the strong drinks which in his day have fallen to the share
of the departing toper.
_April 9, 1811._ _Boney the Second, or the Little Baboon Created to
Devour French Monkeys._ Published by T. Tegg.--'Boneyparte,' in his
general's uniform, is seated before the fire, making caudle--of French
blood--for the infant prince; a row of sovereign-crowns, wrested from
the wearers, are ranged on the mantelpiece. Napoleon's heir, the
miniature of his sire, with the addition of a monkey's tail, is tearing
and clawing at his parent, and is held on a cushion placed outside the
Imperial cradle, which is inscribed _Devil's Darling_. Napoleon is
haranguing in his usual grandiose style: 'Rejoice, ye Frenchmen; the
fruits of my labour has produced a little image of myself. I shall,
for the love I owe your country, instil in my noble offspring the same
principles of lying, thieving, treachery, letchery, murder, and all
other foul deeds, for which I am now worshipped and adored!' The Pope
is kneeling by his side, and pronouncing by way of a benediction over
the infant:--
The owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sight;
The night-crow cry'd, foreboding luckless time;
Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempests shook down trees;
The raven rock'd her on the chimney-top,
And chattering pies in dismal discord sung.
_April 10, 1811._ _A Picture of Misery._ Published by T. Tegg
(70).--The bare and chilling chamber is occupied by a leaden-hued and
sordid-looking miser, opposite to whom is seated an individual of
starved aspect; a pinched and shrivelled old beldame is seen at the
door. A table of interest is the only literature the room can boast.
The miser is crouching before the grate, and snuffing out the single
candle for economy. Above the usurer hangs his own portrait; he is
painted congenially occupied in weighing guineas; a list of securities,
'Stock Ex., Bank Stock, 3 per Cents., Imperial, Omnium, South Sea,
Exchequer, Lottery,' &c., recalls sweet reflections. Below are the
lines:--
Iron was his chest, iron was his door;
His hand was iron, and his heart was more.
_April 12, 1811._ _Puss in Boots, or General Junot taken by Surprise._
Rowlandson del. Published by T. Tegg (71).--A dashing young damsel has
secured the jack-boots, cocked-hat, and long sword of General Junot,
and is assuming valiant airs, dressed in these borrowed plumes, and
threatening the French commander--who is helpless and in bed--with his
own weapons.
_April 14, 1811._ _Nursing the Spawn of a Tyrant, or Frenchmen Sick
of the Breed._ Published by T. Tegg.--The Empress of the French is
in consternation at the precocious fury of her progeny, who, with an
orb in one hand and a dagger in the other, is threatening destruction
around; while the Emperor is listening behind a curtain; the pope and
other Roman-Catholic hierarchs are offering 'composing draughts,' and
suggesting to send the infantine monster to his supposed diabolical
'grandpapa' as quickly as possible. The Empress is thus proclaiming the
terrors of her situation: 'There's no condition sure so curst as mine!
Day and night to dandle such a dragon--the little angry cur snarls
while it feeds; see how the blood is settled in his scarecrow face;
what brutal mischief sits upon his brow. Rage and vengeance sparkle in
his cheeks; the very spawn and spit of its tyrant father. Nay, now I
look again, he is the very picture of his grandfather, _the Devil_!'
_April 20, 1811._ _The Enraged Son of Mars and the Timid Tonsor._
Published by T. Tegg (67).--The picture represents the interior of a
barber's shop, a favourite subject with the caricaturists. A stout
customer is expressing slaughterous intentions; a choleric old boy,
probably an officer of the Militia, with the shaving-cloth round
his short neck, is vowing vengeance on the head of the frightened
barber, who has been so _maladroit_ as to carve a tolerable gash in
the veteran's round cheek. The tonsor's wife, who is also engaged
in the business, is, while holding the soap-bowl and lather, thrown
into consternation at the uproar raised by the damaged client. An
assistant, who is employed in cutting the hair of another customer,
is equally distracted, and, in his trepidation, is threatening the
ears of his unconscious subject. The barber's monkey--for barbers have
in all time enjoyed the credit of being fanciers of live stock--is
lathering his head at a toilette-table, in imitation of the actions
of a venerable personage who has just had his head shaved. Various
blocks, with their attendant wigs, are ranged round the shelves of the
shop, telling of the day when a gentleman's head of hair was sent out
to be dressed, while he kept a change of wigs for convenience-sake;
here we find parsons' blocks, clerks' blocks, doctors' blocks, lawyers'
blocks, and other professional 'caxons,' the heads of the learned
being distinguished by their respective wigs. Various sketches appear
on the walls, the subjects being selected with a view to their trade
appositeness. One picture represents the fate of Absalom, delivered to
destruction by his luxuriant locks: 'O Absalom, my son, my son! hadst
thou wore a wig this ne'er had happened,' &c., &c.
_April 24, 1811._ _Rural Sports. Cat in a Bowl._ No. 1.--The pastimes
of our forefathers, before the establishment of Humane Societies
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, were too frequently of a
barbarous description, and the cruelties then tolerated for mere sport
were undoubtedly most reprehensible. The caricaturist has contrived
to surround these wanton displays with an air of hilarity, and the
spectacle of a 'cat in a bowl,' apart from the brutality of the fun, is
not without its whimsical attractions. A favourite cat, the property
of a distracted spinster, has been launched upon the water in a bowl,
which is shown spinning round with the current, to the terror of
the involuntary voyager, whose dread of immersion combined with her
exertions to escape from this embarrassing situation, which threatens
to capsize the treacherous craft at every turn, seem to afford the
frivolous audience unqualified amusement. A lad is seated on the bank,
with a girl by his side--probably the authors of the mischief--holding
a barking dog, ready to attack the frightened creature if she comes too
near the shore. Parties taking the air in chaises, and promenaders, the
loiterers from the alehouse, pipe in hand, and various rustic groups
gathered round the brink, are intensely diverted at the scene. Not so
the owner of the cat; the horrified old maid, rendered desperate by the
precarious situation of her pet, is pulling up her skirts and plunging
forward in a vain endeavour to reach the slippery bowl, which is out
of her reach; while a second old lady is doing her best to assist
her friend. A little further down the bank the artist has introduced
another reckless episode; a pair of horses are running away with a
tandem, which is being overturned, and the driver and a stout female by
his side are just on the point of being tumbled out without ceremony.
_May 1, 1811._ _A Dog Fight._--There is a note on the proof impression
of this plate in the writer's collection, to the effect that the
print was never published. The spectacle represented is remarkably
animated; the various incidents of the brutal exhibition are seized
with a masterly hand; the enthusiasm and excitement of the audience
are done full justice to. Drinking, betting, squabbling, an irregular
scrimmage, picking of pockets, and similar humours are treated with due
appreciation. The backers of the losing dog are thrown into dismay, as
their faces sufficiently indicate; while the satisfaction which fills
the supporters of the winning side is well expressed. The spirit of
the picture is much increased by the introduction of numerous dogs,
ferocious-looking 'varmints,' struggling to join the fray, and only
held back from the stage of conflict by the most desperate exertions
on the part of their owners; these combatively-minded animals are
probably the heroes of coming tournays. The scene of this cruel sport,
since made unlawful, is probably the 'Westminster pit,'[23] where
such spectacles were constantly held, and attended by persons of rank
and fashion, as well as by the dregs of the sporting and dog-fancying
fraternities, whose presence, as shown in the study, is tolerably
marked.
[Illustration: A DOG FIGHT.]
_May 1, 1811._ _Touch for Touch, or a Female Physician in Full
Practice._--The figure of the fair practitioner is highly spirited,--a
handsome young female, whose person is set off with all the allurements
of fine clothes, well-dressed hair, and waving plumes. A decrepit and
toothless patient is evidently grateful to the doctress; he is filling
the hand of the distinguished physician with gold-pieces before she
leaves the apartment, or more properly consulting-room, which is
further set off with a picture of Danae collecting a shower of gold.
_May 4, 1811._ _Who's Mistress Now?_ Republished. (See 1802.)
_May 16, 1811._ _The Bassoon--with a French Horn Accompaniment._
Published by T. Tegg (75).--A couple of slumberers, with their noses
elevated above the bedclothes, are evidently executing variations in a
snoring fashion more powerful than pleasing:--
Hush ev'ry breeze; let nothing move:
My Celia sleeps and dreams of love!
_June 4, 1811._ _Summer Amusement. Bug Hunting._
_July. 1811._ _A Ghost in the Wine Cellar._ Published by T. Rowlandson,
1 James Street, Adelphi.
_July 14, 1811._ _Easter Monday, or the Cockney Hunt._ Designed,
etched, and published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.--The
old Cockney hunt is in full swing; the hounds are streaming over some
palings in the way of their run; a poor little huntsman, perched upon a
white mare, in attempting the jump has lost his whip, missed his seat,
and is being thrown over the neck of his horse; while a spirited belle
is leaping her horse in true sportsmanlike style.
[Illustration: RURAL SPORTS.]
1811 (?). _Rural Sports._
1811. _The Huntsman Rising._ Republished. (See 1809.) Published by T.
Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.
[Illustration: THE HUNTSMAN RISING.]
1811. _The Gamester Going to Bed._ Republished. (See 1809.) Published
by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi. According to the original
drawing (see Appendix, collection of John West, Esq.) it appears, from
a paper spread before the desperate gambler, that he has been tempted
to give the _coup de grâce_ to his reckless career by committing a
forgery.
[Illustration: THE GAMESTER GOING TO BED.]
_August 20, 1811._ _Love Laughs at Locksmiths._ Designed and published
by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.--The stronghold in which an
old Israelite has confined his treasure has enormous padlocks on the
area gate and the door studded with nails. The proprietor has returned
with provisions for a merry-making; a porter bearing on his head a
basket containing geese, fowls, fish, and fruit, with a flask of wine
in his hand. The old curmudgeon's crutch is leaning against the door,
and he is fumbling over the immense padlock, quite unconscious that a
smart young officer, who has placed a ladder against the window of his
lovely inamorata's apartment, is helping the captive bird to freedom
from the clutches of her jealous jailer.
_August 30, 1811._ _Masquerading._ Published by T. Tegg.--The
comicalities of a masquerade at the beginning of the century, when
this class of entertainment, although declining since the palmy days
of the Pantheon and Madame Cornely's extravagances in Soho Square, was
more prevalent than at present, are set forth with due observation
of the leading characteristics. Prominent among the maskers is a
lady-magician, with her divining-wand and a book of the 'black art,'
confronting a nondescript necromancer and his zany. There is a
nobleman wearing horns as a becoming decoration for his head; and our
old friend Punchinello, with a guitar, putting himself into grotesque
contortions. There is a composite personage, a kind of _Janus_, an
established feature in old _bal masqués_, one side male and the other
female. There is a Folly, a councillor, and the usual attendance of
dominos, masquers, and characters, whose disguises are of a speculative
description.
[Illustration: MASQUERADING.]
_September, 1811._ _Accommodation Ladder._ Published by T. Tegg
(85).--At the feet of a gigantic and finely-built wench is a rotund
yet diminutive Admiral, with cocked-hat, telescope, sword, and all
complete; his broad riband is marked _Death or Victory_. For his
accommodation, that he may be able to reach her countenance within
hailing distance, the lady, who is more than twice the height of her
admirer, is holding a ladder ready for his ascent. The belle wears a
gallant plume, and a streamer with the motto _England expects every man
to do his duty_.
_September 12, 1811._ _Sorrow's Dry, or a Cure for the Heartache._
_September 20, 1811._ _Looking at the Comet till you get a crick in
the neck._ Published by T. Tegg (91).--A slipshod, lean old anatomy,
in dressing-gown and slippers, is straining his ancient crooked neck
staring at a comet through a spyglass. A comely young female, seated
in an armchair at the window, is pointing out the phenomenon to the
gazer; meanwhile a youthful gallant, on his knees beside the lady, is
squeezing her hand, tenderly pressing her foot, and otherwise striving
to enlist her interest by a demonstrative display of affection.
_September 25, 1811._ _Life and Death of the Race Horse._ Published
by T. Tegg (90).--This print is divided into six stages. The first
represents the foal by the side of his dam; in the second he is
pictured as a racer on the course in all the pride of strength and
beauty, blood and limb. In the third stage he has come down to a
hunter; from thence, with old age fast approaching, he is used to run
in a postchaise. In the fifth plate we find the whilom racehorse grown
aged and broken down, and condemned to end his wretched days belaboured
as a pack-horse. In the last stage the racehorse's career is brought
down to his death, and a huntsman has purchased his carcass to feed his
pack.
_September 29, 1811._ _Rural Sports. A Milling Match which took place
at Thisselton Gap, in the county of Rutland, September 28, 1811,
betwixt Cribb and Molineaux, on a twenty-five foot stage, and was
the second public contest between these two pugilists. It lasted
nineteen minutes and ten seconds, and was decisive in favour of Cribb._
Rowlandson del. Published by T. Tegg.--The point from which the picture
is taken affords a good view of the combat, which is about concluded.
Cribb, a massively-built boxer, is dealing the black champion such a
felling blow as, judging from the dismay expressed in the faces of
the two supporters of Molineaux, one of whom is also a man of colour,
will leave the victory in the hands of the striker, whose backer
and bottle-holder are in raptures. Round the raised platform which
constitutes the ring is gathered a very animated throng, amidst which
the artist has depicted the various popular incidents of pushing,
struggling, climbing on shoulders, quarrelling, picking pockets,
cheering, and resenting the encroachments of men on horseback. A
prize-fight would seem to have been an institution in fashion at the
beginning of the century; the streams of vehicles, coaches, tandems,
curricles, and every contrivance 'on wheels' which surround the stage
and line the background give the scene the appearance of a Derby
course. The presence of the fair sex, who seem to appreciate the
performance, keeps up the animation of the picture.
_October 1, 1811._ _Rural Sports. Smock Racing._ Published by T. Tegg.
[Illustration: RURAL SPORTS. SMOCK RACING.]
_October 2, 1811._ _John Bull at the Italian Opera._ Republished. (See
Oct. 2, 1805.) Designed and published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street,
Adelphi.
_October, 1811._ _Rural Sports, or a Game at Quoits._--A village green,
with an alehouse in the rear, is the scene of this diversion. Various
loving couples are disporting themselves on benches and at round-tables
by the alehouse door. The village cobblers, blacksmiths, tailors,
butchers, &c., are neglecting their trades to follow the game; their
injured wives have come to reduce the careless husbands to a proper
sense of their duties. One shrewish spouse, leaning over the paling, is
flourishing a broom with a force of arms that threatens to astonish her
good man, whose attention is occupied in the game. Over the head of the
victim is a board, _Washing and mangling done here_. Various convivial
groups are scattered around.
_October, 1811._ _Rural Sports, or how to show off a well-shaped Leg_,
introduces a rustic pleasure-ground. A rope thrown between two tall
trees furnishes a swing for a well-developed and gaily apparelled
hoyden; another maiden is working the rope which swings her friend;
the attractions of the second lady have absorbed a young gentleman,
whose attentions to the fair rope-puller are 'particular.' A group of
wicked old roysterers are delighted with the prospect of the swinging
hoyden--their pipes and bowls are neglected in their rapturous
attention to the evolutions of the fair occupant of the swing, and
their indignant wives are vainly endeavouring to recall them to a sense
of propriety.
1811. _Twelfth Night Characters_, in twenty-four figures, by T.
Rowlandson.
_October, 1811._ _Rural Sports, or a Cricket Match Extraordinary._
Published by T. Tegg (96).--On Wednesday, Oct. 3, 1811, a cricket
match took place at Balls Pond, Newington. The players on both sides
were women--11 Hampshire against 11 Surrey. The match was made between
two noblemen amateurs of the respective counties for 500 guineas
a side. The performers in the contest were of all ages and sizes.
Such a subject in the hands of Rowlandson afforded almost unbounded
opportunities for the exercise of his grotesque talents and his command
of figure-drawing. The scene is a busy one, as may be conceived; a
certain artistic freedom has been assumed, and there is a liberal
display of limbs in all directions, the skirts of the cricketers being
tucked up for convenience of motion; the performers, however, seem
to enter into the contest with spirit, if not skill. Balls Pond, as
seen in the engraving, is a fair open country, without a trace of a
solitary habitation. A spacious tent, in the background, is erected
for the _Jolly Cricketers_, wherein the noble patrons of the sport are
fortifying the players with huge bowls of punch, restoratives which do
not appear to promote the most orderly proceedings.
1811 (?). _The Jockey Club, or Newmarket Meeting_ (111)
(Betting Room).
1811 (?). _The Sagacious Buck, or Effects of Waterproof._
1811 (?). _Richmond Hill._ After H. Bunbury. (See 1803.)