In the two following designs Mr. Hogarth has displayed that
partiality for his own country, and contempt for France, which formed
a strong trait in his character. He neither forgot nor forgave the
insults he suffered at Calais, though he did not recollect that this
treatment originated in his own ill-humour, which threw a sombre
shade over every object that presented itself. Having early imbibed
the vulgar prejudice that one Englishman was a match for four
Frenchmen,[96] he thought it would be doing his country a service
to prove the position. How far it is either useful or political to
depreciate the power or degrade the character of that people with
whom we are to contend, is a question which does not come within the
plan of this work. In some cases it may create confidence, but in
others leads to the indulgence of that negligent security by which
armies have been slaughtered, provinces depopulated, and kingdoms
changed their rulers.
These two glaring contrasts were designed at a time when there was a
rumour of an invasion from France. The sober politician treated this
idle report with contempt; but by the credulous it was believed, and
the timid trembled when they heard it. To dispel this phantom of the
day was one motive for Hogarth's publication of these prints. They
are not addressed to the philosopher or the legislator, but to the
soldier and the sailor. They are not designed for the contemplation
of the informed and travelled man, who considers himself as a citizen
of the world; but for the true-born and true-bred Briton, that
believes this to be the only country where man can enjoy happiness,
and thinks an Englishman is the boast of the universe, the glory of
creation, and the paragon of nature!