loyal supporters of the Government and that indomitable British nation
which had declared '_no surrender_ to the Corsican,' and, either in
victory or defeat, had persevered, while their allies were conquered
and their subsidies wasted, were rewarded for the 'outpouring of
blood and treasure abroad' and the hard times and anxieties at home
by finding that at last, after Waterloo, their enemy was at their
mercy. Rejoicings, fireworks, and illuminations became the order of the
day; and our artist, who had traced the varying career of the dreaded
bugbear Boney, now lent his assistance to commemorate his downfall. In
Rowlandson's simple allegory Buonaparte, on his white Arab charger,
is riding his hardest away from the British pursuit; he has lost his
sword, and his crown is shaken off. Wellington, with his sword ready to
smite, is rapidly coming up with the fugitive, whose flight, however,
is unexpectedly brought to an end by finding old Blucher, on his sturdy
charger, drawn up across the very path he is taking. The redoubtable
veteran is discharging a huge blunderbuss full in the face of the
common enemy. Incidents in the pursuit of the routed French legions are
slightly indicated in the background, and a flight of certain gilded
birds are scurrying out of the dangerous vicinity.
_July 28, 1815._ _Boney's Trial, Sentence, and Dying Speech, or
Europe's Injuries Revenged._--Napoleon is arraigned, as a criminal at
the bar, before the Court of Europe and a crowded tribunal; the seat of
chief judge is occupied by Prince Blucher, and the assembled potentates
are seated on the bench, wearing their recovered crowns, which the
prisoner, in his various triumphs, had so often caused to tremble and,
in some cases, had carried off completely. The kings, it is true, do
not make an imposing spectacle; with the exception of the Emperor
Alexander, who is seated beside the Prince Regent, they still seem to
look upon the lately dreaded foe with trepidation. The occupants of the
court and the lawyers are regarding the criminal under sentence with
abhorrence; a _posse_ of tipstaves are drawn up below the prisoner's
bar; and Napoleon, who is trying to move the compassion of his hearers
by hypocritical humility, has a friend at his back, who is ready to
seize his bond--the Black Fiend is his unseen attendant prompter in
person. Old Blucher, clad in his field-marshal's uniform, with the
addition of a judge's wig, is standing up, and, with emphatic gestures,
is pointing to the act of accusation set forth at length on a screen
in the court: 'Napoleon Bonaparte, the first and last by the wrath
of Heaven, ex-Emperor of the Jacobins, and Head-Runner of Runaways,
stands indicted: 1. For the murder of Captain Wright in the Temple, at
Paris. 2. For the murder of the Duke D'Enghien, Pichegru, and Georges.
3. For the murder of Palm, Hofer, &c., &c. 4. For the murder of the
twelve inhabitants of Moscow. 5. For innumerable robberies committed
on all nations in Christendom and elsewhere. 6. For bigamy; and lastly
for returning from transportation and setting the world in an uproar.'
The inflexible judge is hurling forth his condemnation: 'You, Nap
Bonaparte, being found guilty of all these crimes, it is fallen to my
lot to pronounce sentence of death on you. You are to be hung by the
neck for one hour till you are _dead, dead, dead_, and your body to
be chained to a millstone and sunk in the sea at Torbay.' The fallen
Emperor is naturally much moved at this final judgment, and he is
interceding for a respite: 'Oh, cruel Blucher! oh, cruel Wellington!
it is you that have brought me to this end. Oh, magnanimous Emperors,
Kings, and Princes, intercede for me and spare my life, and give me
time to atone for all my sins. My son, Napoleon the Second, will reward
you for mercy shown me!'
_November, 1815._ _Transparency Exhibited at R. Ackermann's, in the
Strand, on November 27, 1815, the day on which the General Peace was
celebrated in London._--As all England was exerting itself to display
its loyalty and the universal delight occasioned by the conclusion
of the Continental wars, Rowlandson contributed a characteristic
cartoon, which appeared, like its predecessors, outside the Repository
of Arts, allegorically commemorating the downfall of 'Boney' and the
second restoration of the legitimate reigning house. The design of
this transparency was arranged in the form of a monument, capped by a
throne; at the base is a trophy; the Prince of Wales's plume is waving
above two gilt tablets, inscribed with the names of the two victorious
generals, Wellington and Blucher, and surrounded by pieces of
dismounted artillery and groups of standards, with the Union Jack and
the Russian and Prussian flags in front. Above this group is a base,
inscribed, 'Peace throughout Europe,' with a tablet, '_Charlemagne,
Nassau, Capet, Bourbon_,' and two wreaths, dedicated to '_Humanity_'
and '_Justice_.' Upon this platform a canopy is raised aloft, festooned
above the throne of St. Louis, with the restored crown; a serpent,
emblematic of eternity, and the three doves; the front of the seat is
supported by bundles of fasces, with double axes, and classic wreaths
and lyres. A flight of steps mounts up to the throne on either side.
On the right is Wellington, supporting Louis XVIII., restored to his
rights; his train are following the ascent of their sovereign, and the
figure of _Justice_ is floating on the clouds above the monarch's head.
_Fame_ is blowing her trumpet on the other side; while Bonaparte and
his baffled supporters are effecting a rapid descent by the left-hand
staircase; Blucher, standing on the top step, is making their defeat
secure by a discharge from his huge blunderbuss. Bodies of the Allied
troops are drawn up at the base; on the right a group of Cossacks, with
Prussian and English cavalry; on the left is a gathering of the various
foot-soldiers. A sturdy Highlander is putting the finishing stroke to
a discomfited plotting Bonapartist with his bayonet, and summarily
stamping out Imperialist intriguers.
_July 14, 1815._ _Easter Monday, or the Cockney Hunt._--Designed,
etched, and published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi. In
clearing a gate, after the hounds, a little antiquated sportsman has
missed his seat and is going over his horse's ears; behind him is a
dashing Diana, who is spurring her horse over the palings of a park in
gallant style.
_November 16, 1815._ _My Ass._ Designed and etched by T. Rowlandson.
Written by Mr. J. Tedir. Published by I. Sidebotham, 96 Strand.--The
adventures of a hawker of vegetables and her faithful donkey, depicted
in a series of six cuts, illustrating the invaluable qualities of the
quadruped. The composition commences thus:--
Who followed me through street and lane,
In spite of hurricane and rain;
While I my daily bread did gain?
My Ass.
The other verses being in the same strain.
1815. _Measuring Substitutes for the Army of Reserve._--In 1815, owing
to the French wars, soldiers were necessarily at a premium; and, from
an advertisement in the justices' room, where the substitutes are being
measured, we learn that the bounty was fixed at 30_l._ per man. Those
great functionaries, a country justice and his clerk, appear seated
in state, to warrant the proceedings. A commanding officer and his
sergeant are labouring prodigiously, for the needs of the service, to
force certain stunted and misshapen rustics, who have been enlisted to
serve their country, up to the military standard. Further relays of
ungainly 'chawbacons' are waiting their turn without.
1815. _A Journeyman Tailor._--A half-clad slave of the thimble is shown
squatting on his board in a squalid hovel; his half-starved 'helper'
is seated by his side; both are pressing garments with hot irons, and
a rough and ragged urchin is heating a further supply of the article
known as 'a tailor's goose' at the grate; while a street hawker, a
blowsy Hibernian, is screaming her wares (cucumbers and cabbages) in
at the doorway. This picture bears some resemblance to a caricature
published by Rowlandson in 1823, under the title _Hot Goose, Cabbage,
and Cucumbers_.
1815. _Neighbours._ Published by T. Tegg (235).--The wooden casements
of two windows, which turn on one post connecting the houses, are
thrown back, and simultaneously a neat-looking young farmer and
a well-favoured young damsel are stooping forward and their lips
meeting in a cheerful salute, to the horror and scandal of two elderly
witnesses, who are expressing their reprobation at the openness of the
proceeding. The young swain at the same moment is trying to hang up a
cage, which appropriately contains a pair of cooing doves.
[Illustration: AN EATING-HOUSE.]
1815 (?). _An Eating-house._
1815 (_about_). _Banditti._--The occupants of the house attacked,
confined to the female members, are sleeping, without suspicion of
the danger which is to surprise them. A band of ill-favoured and
repulsive-featured freebooters, provided with a miscellaneous armoury
of slaughterous-looking weapons, are stealing in on deadly mischief
bent. The scene is dramatic.
1815. _Virtue in Danger._
Careful observers, studious of the town,
Shun the misfortunes that disgrace the clown.--GAY'S _Trivia_.
An old boy who has ventured unprotected--beyond the guardianship of
an umbrella which bears a family resemblance to the holder--amidst
the dangers of the wicked town, is forcibly taken possession of by
two shameless nymphs; one is stealing his money, while the other is
helping herself to his watch. The elderly and corpulent stranger is too
astonished at this barefaced iniquity to offer the feeblest resistance.
The night watchman is going his rounds, and enjoying a laugh at the
expense of the victim; this trustworthy guardian of the streets is
too evidently a confederate of the predative fair, and is personally
interested in the plunder.
1815 (?). _An Unexpected Return, or a Snip in Danger._
1815 (?). _A Musical Doctor and his Scholars._
1815 (?). _Slap-bang Shop._--The interior of an eating-house in the
city. A tall, well-formed, and comely waitress is bringing in the
dinner of a wicked old reprobate, who is leering his admiration of her
personal attractions. All the venerable sinners, amateurs of female
loveliness, shown taking their meals in the various boxes, are turning
their heads to gloat over the charms of this favoured handmaiden, who
is followed by a 'help' carrying pots of beer for the various customers.
1815. _Jack Tar admiring the Female Sex._
1815. _Accidents will Happen._--This, and the following subjects, to
the number of half-a-dozen, are selected from prints in some degree
pirated from Rowlandson, and, although bearing his name in the corner,
in many instances the incidents of well-known caricatures have been
altered, and prints have been issued, engraved in an inferior style, as
new caricatures. The principal of these adaptations, or poor renderings
of drawings, were published by Marks. _Accidents will Happen_
introduces a cellar incident. A maid has begun to descend the stairs to
draw some beer, and has come to grief, probably from fright, as files
of scared rats are scampering away, and a cat is tearing up the wall,
while a mischievous monkey has broken loose from his chain. The shock
has caused the damsel to lose her balance, her pitcher is broken, and
she is sprawling in an attitude which has astonished her master, who,
candle in hand, is coming down the winding stairs of the cellar to
survey the scene of the disaster.
1815. _Sympathy._--This emotion is rendered in the feelings of a stern
functionary, evoked in favour of a lady in Bridewell, who is being led
out of the cells by the warder to be flogged, a punishment which, it
would seem, had not been abolished in Rowlandson's day. The eye of the
coarse and elephantine jailer is gloating over the fair back of the
unfortunate criminal, laid bare for the application of the cat.
1815. _Despatch, or Jack preparing for Sea._--Jack Tar is making the
most of his opportunities on shore; he is surrounded by the delights
which constitute the sailor's elysium; punch and grog galore, a brace
of fiddlers, and a bevy of beauties, florid Pollies of Portsmouth,
towards whom he is making tipsy demonstrations of affection. In those
days, when prize-money fell in golden showers, the valiant sea-dogs
who defended our shores, and made John Bull's name redoubtable on
the ocean, were able to command, in their short intervals on shore,
luxuries after their own hearts, for which, after the dangers and
hardships of active service, they threw away their 'yellow boys' with
the recklessness which characterised their habits, and proved a rich
harvest to the plunderers who were on the watch for seamen just 'paid
off.'
1815. _Deadly Lively._--The coarse humours of a spirit-cellar are
served up with a tragic accompaniment. A young female is stretched
incapable and asleep, sunk in all the degradation of dead drunkenness.
A man who is no longer master of himself is raising his tumbler,
with a tipsy desire to have it replenished. The apparition of King
Death, bony, frightful, and sinister, is grinning over the back of
the soddened tippler's chair, recruiting his legions from a fruitful
source; he is supplying the rummer of the drunken wretch from his own
vial, little more fatal than the fluid which is debasing and deadening
its victims around. A stout woman, also sinking into tipsy apathy,
is roused by the shock of finding the king of terrors added to the
company; she is thrown off her balance with a start, and, falling
backwards on the stone floor of the vault, she will probably break her
neck--as the artist's intention seems to hint--and furnish Death with
another customer.
1815. _The Fort._
1815. (Officer.) _The Military Adventures of Johnny Newcome, with an
account of his Campaigns in the Peninsula, and in Pall Mall, with
sketches by Rowlandson and notes by an Officer._ London: Printed for
Patrick Martin, 198 Oxford Street. 8vo.
He jests at scars who never felt a wound.--SHAKESPEARE.
Frontispiece.--Johnny Newcome starting to join his Regiment.
Johnny Newcome going to lay in stock.
A Bad Billet.
Taking his Breakfast.
Introduced to his Colonel.
Smells Powder for the first time.
Johnny writes an Account of the action to his mother, which
afterwards appears in the _Star_.
Half Rations.
Learning to Smoke and drink Grog.
Poor Johnny on the sick list.
Going sick to the rear.
Johnny safe returned to his Mamma.
Made an A.D.C. 'Dash'd with his suite for Santarem that night.'
Johnny on duty with his chief.
Presenting the Trophies (taken from Joseph Buonaparte) to the
Prince Regent.
1815. _The Grand Master, or Adventures of Qui Hi in Hindostan. A
Hudibrastic Poem in eight Cantos by Quiz. Illustrated with twenty-eight
engravings by Rowlandson._ Plates dated October 1, 1815. (Quiz fecit,
Rowlandson sc.) London: Printed by T. Tegg. The intention of this
work seems an attempt to hold up the Governor-General (the Marquis of
Hastings) to opprobrium, but whether deserved or not, Europeans have
small chance of judging.
Frontispiece.--A new Map of India from the latest authority.
The Governor-General (Marquis of Hastings) and his
Council (Imbecility) mounted on an Elephant. Tusks
(marked Monopoly and Ambition) fettered by Restrictions
(Board of Control and House of Commons) &c.
Titlepage.--The End of the Pagoda Tree, and the ultimate fate of
the Viceroy and his Council, &c. &c.
A Scene in the Channel.
The Modern Idol Juggernaut.
Miseries of the First of the Month.
The Burning System Illustrated.
Missionary Influence, or how to make Converts.
An Extraordinary Eclipse.
Labour in vain, or his Reverence Confounded.
Hindoo Prejudices.
John Bull Converting the Indians.
More Incantations, or a Journey to the Interior. (Nepaul War).
Miseries in India. (Insects.)
The Bear and Ragged Staff. (Viceroy and Council as Idols.)
Hindoo Incantations. A View in Elephanta.
[Illustration: HINDOO INCANTATIONS--A VIEW IN ELEPHANTA.]
The Guide declar'd that often here,
Things supernatural appear;
To prove it he produc'd a book,
From which Qui Hi a drawing took,
Of which the modern true translation,
Is simply 'Hindoo Incantation.'
It states that _some one_, years ago,
Had tried futurity to know,
And he employed an old Hindoo,
To get him but a single view
Of future things--and lo! an hour
Was fixed to show the Brahmin's pow'r,
The place appointed was the spot
Where Qui Hi and his friends had got,
Under Great _Brahma's triple head_,
That then struck unbelievers dead.
The Brahmin, when the Ghurry's sound
Told _one_, was with the idol found,
Soliciting he would assert
His power, and infidels convert.
The stranger now approach'd the place,
With terror pictur'd in his face.
'Infidel!' said the Brahmin, 'now
I shall observe my sacred vow.
Come hither, and you'll shortly see
And tremble at _futurity_!'
Seating the man, he now applies
A magic glass before his eyes;
When, lo! the Elephanta shook,
And Brahma thus in thunder spoke--
'Mark, reptile! the decrees of Fate,
Which, _Brahma says_, he will complete:
Till then your destiny await!'
He said, and, with a stroke of thunder,
The sacred temple bursts asunder;
Seizes the caitiff by the hair,
And hurls him headlong thro' the air.
He tumbled down to whence he came,
_Somewhere_ about the Hooghly stream.
Phantasmagoria. A View in Elephanta.
The Modern Phaeton, or the Hooghly in danger.
Qui Hi arrives at the Bunder Head.
Qui Hi in the Bombay Tavern.
Pays a Nocturnal Visit to Dungaree.
Attends General Koir Wig's Levee.
Qui Hi's Introduction and cool Reception.
Qui Hi shows off at the Bobbery Hunt.
Qui Hi at Bobbery Hall.
All alive in the Chokee.
Last Visit from the Doctor's Assistant.
Qui Hi's last March to Padree Burrows's Go Down.
Strange Figures _near_ the Cave of Elephanta, 1814.
_Auspicio Regis, et Senatus Angliæ._
_June 1, 1815._ _Naples and the Campagna Felice, in a series of letters
(by Lewis Engelbach). With Illustrations by Rowlandson, &c._ 8vo.
Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand. (Reprinted from Repository of
Arts, 1810-13.)
Frontispiece.--The Colonel (Don Luigi) awakened from a sleeping
_tête-à-tête_ by a serenade from his fair, and lately unconscious,
companion.
Se tanto a me piace
Si rara beltà;
Io perdero la pace,
Quando si sveglerà.
If, while entranced in balmy rest,
His charms can give such pain;
When he awakes, my wounded breast
Will ne'er know peace again.
Don Luigi's baggage seized by four Lazzaroni.
Ancient Greek Paintings from Herculaneum: Ariadne, Bacchante and
Satyr, &c.
Don Luigi meets Donna Anna in the Museum.
Ancient Greek Paintings from Herculaneum: Centaurs, Chiron
teaching Achilles to play the lyre, &c.
Sleeping _tête-à-tête_ at a first visit of Don Luigi.
Don Michele getting up the ship's side.
Don Luigi's Ball.
A Bacchanalian Scene at Don Luigi's Ball.
Don Michele preparing for his Triumphal Expedition.
The Letter Writer, Naples.
_The Letter Writer._--'On our way to the mole we had some difficulty
in passing through a crowd of people, who, with great eagerness, and
with Neapolitan clamour, had assembled round a man, sitting with pen
and ink before a frail table, busily employed in committing to paper
the crude thoughts of a country clown in the attitude of dictating to
him; for the noise was too loud to hear what was going forward. A board
above the head of the engrosser proclaimed his calling: '_Qui si fanno
memoriali, lettere, ed altre scritture, nel ottimo stilo moderno._'
(Here are drawn up memorials, letters, and other writings, in the best
modern style.) Ever eager to seize any opportunity of observing the
manners and national character of a people whom I have every reason to
think better of than some of our superficial magpie-tourists, I pressed
forward to obtain a nearer view of the transactions of this universal
secretary, when my companion, Don Michele, pulling me back by the skirt
of my coat, begged I would not demean myself by thus mixing with the
vulgar.
* * * * *
'The composer of letters was just receiving from an elderly woman
the sum of six _grani_ (about threepence) for an epistle he had
indited to her son at _Bari_; after which a farmer, next in rotation,
was admitted into presence. His business appeared to be on secret
service, for the corresponding oracle politely requested some of the
more curious auditors to step a little aside. At first, indeed, the
farmer's instructions were conveyed in a whisper; but as a Neapolitan
loves dearly to talk as loud as his lungs will let him, and to
accompany his sermocinations with the most expressive gestures, it
soon became less difficult to discover that the subject under present
consideration was a horse which had been sold to a cavalry officer,
and for which a balance was still owing; the prompt payment whereof
was to be peremptorily insisted on by a respectful dun. As soon as a
period was happily brought to paper, it was read over to the listening
clodhopper, who, in a manner, beat time to the emphatic and rhythmical
reading of the professor by periodical nods of the head, and at
the end of the sentence expressed his astonishment at the sagacity
with which his obscure ideas had been caught up and classified.
This literary production, owing probably to the importance of the
subject, was disposed of for the valuable consideration of eight
_grani_ (fourpence), paper included; and its possessor, with inward
satisfaction, left the oracular tripod, in order to make room for a
Turkish captain of a _polacca_, whose literary necessities consisted in
a memorial claiming the restitution of some goods illegally seized....
When the document was ready for signature, _Ibrahim Reis_, who could
neither read nor write, was desired to make his _cross_ at foot, which
he refused with religious abhorrence; but, dipping his little finger
into the inkstand, imprinted on the paper a correct facsimile of the
tortuous furrows of his cuticle by way of signet. To my great surprise,
this state paper was valued at no more than one carlin (fivepence),
although engrossed on a folio page and decorated with some fancifully
flourished initials.
[Illustration: THE LETTER-WRITER.]
'The Turk no sooner discharged his literary debt than a well-dressed
young lass gained his place. (This interview is pictured forth in the
artist's illustration.) The despatch, however, which was to be written
for her, must have been on secret and confidential service, for the
instructions she gave to the engrosser were communicated in so low a
whisper that, from my observatory, the scene appeared one of purely
pantomimical action. When I relate that the time employed by this
universal author in the production of the farmer's dun and the Turk's
memorial did not exceed half an hour, and that the contents, although
somewhat fustian, were very much to the purpose, you will agree with me
that Signor Bucatelli possessed talents far above his station. Indeed,
Don Matteo assured me that he was as good a poet as an epistolary
writer, and that his sonnets on any particular occasion, such as for a
wedding, a birthday, &c., may be obtained on the shortest notice, and
at equally reasonable rates; in short, that he could wield his pen on
any subject whatsoever.
'To a publisher in England a man like Signor Bucatelli would be an
invaluable treasure, a host within himself, by the versatility of
his genius and the despatch of his literary labours: his charges of
_authorship_, as you have seen, are consonant with the modesty of
true genius. His elevated style of writing (truly _nel ottimo stilo
moderno_) would soon render him a most popular author with us. I
was just going to step down to give him the substance of a poetical
epistle as a specimen of his abilities, when a little girl brought
him a small dish of stewed Windsor beans, a large raw cucumber, and a
crust of bread. This frugal fare, and a glass of iced water from the
neighbouring stall, well calculated to preserve his intellectual powers
unclogged, Don Matteo informed me, was the whole of his dinner; which,
together with a cigar by way of dessert, interrupted his official
duties for about half an hour, after which, if matters of pressing
service remained to be despatched, he would resume his quill, and
suspend his _siesta_, or afternoon nap, to a late hour of the day.'