Rowlandson the Caricaturist; a Selection from His Works. Vol. 2 by Joseph Grego

engraved by Thomas Rowlandson. Republished. T. Tegg. (See 1809.) FOOTNOTE: [22] The satirical humours of this sign, which dates back from a recondite period, find a place in Larwood's valuable _History of Signboards_, who gives us further particulars from his own exhaustive researches. 'In Holland, in the seventeenth century, it was used, but the king was left out, and a lawyer added. Each person said exactly the same as our signboards, but the farmer answered:-- You may fight, you may pray, you may plead, But I am the farmer who lays the eggs-- _i.e._ finds the money. 'This enumeration of the various performances coupled with the word _all_ has been used in numerous different epigrams; an address to James the First, in the Ashmolean MSS., No. 1730, has:- _The Lords_ craveth all, _The Queene_ granteth all, _The Ladies_ of honour ruleth all, _The Lord-Keeper_ sealed all, _The Intelligencer_ marred all, _The Parliament_ pass'd all, _He that is gone_ opposed himself to all, _The Bishops_ soothed all, _The Judges_ pardoned all, _The Lords_ buy, Rome spoil'd all, Now, _Good King_, mend all, Or else _The Devil_ will have all. 'This again seems to have been imitated from a similar description of the state of Spain in Greene's _Spanish Masquerade_, 1589:-- _The Cardinals_ solicit all, _The King_ grauntes all, _The Nobles_ confirm all, _The Pope_ determines all, _The Clergie_ disposeth all, _The Duke of Medina_ hopes for all, _Alonzo_ receives all, _The Indians_ minister all, _The Soldiers_ eat all, _The People_ paie all, _The Monks and Friars_ consume all, And _the Devil_ at length will carry away all.' 1811. _January 18, 1811._ _College Pranks, or Crabbed Fellows Taught to Caper on the Slack Rope._ Published by T. Tegg (53).--Two portly, and highly respectable Fellows of the University, proceeding along their quadrangle, are assailed with a rough practical joke by a party of unruly young undergraduates; a rope is being suddenly lifted up with a hearty good-will by a riotous mob at either end, and the astonished 'dons' are tripped up and turned over like turtles on a memorial-stone--'Here lies the body of _Bishop Bleareyes_.' Squibs, squirts, and whips, in the hands of these disorderly students, are further contributing to the annoyance of the capsized magnates. _February, 1811._ _A Sleepy Congregation._ Rowlandson fecit. Published by T. Tegg (54).--The interior of a parish church. Of the occupants of a family-pew in the foreground the elders are sleeping, while a fair young worshipper's thoughts are evidently wandering; the attentions of one or two buckish youths, seated in the vicinity, seem to be centred on the lady; the clerk is snoring at his desk, regardless of the podgy and somewhat excited preacher over his head, who is quite absorbed in his sermon, which does not seem to interest anyone but the deliverer. _February 12, 1811._ _A Midwife going to a Labour._ Tegg's Caricatures (55).--The stout old nurse, a body of balloon-like expansiveness, is hurrying off, summoned to her duties, at an unearthly hour of the morning. Her head-gear is flowing about in the wind, her hood and cape are caught by the gale; a lantern is held in one hand, a brandy-bottle and a bundle, containing her luggage, are cuddled up in the other, and she is mounted on pattens. The night-watchman is dozing in his box, and a shivering chimney-sweeping lad is crouching along to his early toil, with brushes and bags. _February 16, 1811._ _The Gig-Shop, or Kicking up a Breeze at Nell Hamilton's Hop._ Published by T. Tegg.--According to the picture of this place of 'fast' resort, dancing has given way to much rougher diversions, and, although the musicians are in their gallery, playing away as if the scene below was the regular thing, the place appropriated for the dance is given up to a _mill_ conducted on strikingly professional principles; one of the combatants has 'peeled' in recognised style, and his opponent has stripped to his shirt; the backers and seconders of the fisticuffing bucks (who are freely besprinkled with the ruby fluid) are members of the fair sex; in fact, ladies seem in the ascendant at this entertainment. A ring of delighted spectators are enjoying the fight and the fun from the benches, while other gentlemen are prudently engaged in restraining their fair partners from getting mixed up in the squabble which is raging fast and furious, thick and general, behind the two 'milling' gentlemen; ladies using their fists manfully, kicking, tearing hair, and throwing themselves into desperate warfare with terrific confusion and effect. In the foreground a fair nymph of interesting but dishevelled appearance, probably the _friend_ of one of the combatants, is falling into a fainting fit, from which the attentions of those who surround her seem inadequate to restore her to consciousness. [Illustration: PIGEON-HOLE.] _February 20, 1811._ _Pigeon Hole, a Covent Garden Contrivance to Coop the Gods._ Published by T. Tegg (57).--The miseries consequent on heat and crowding in a restricted space, as displayed in the Pigeon Hole Galleries of John Kemble's newly-constructed Drury Lane Theatre, gave rise to the present caricature, which is further explained under the head of _This is the House that Jack Built_ (Sept. 27, 1809), and _The Boxes_ (Dec. 12, 1809). General dissatisfaction was expressed by all but the privileged subscribers; the lessee's treatment of the humble supporters of the drama, the frequenters of the gallery, gave special offence; and the illiberality of the management which provided such disgraceful accommodation for its patrons was resented by the unruly proceedings known as the _O. P. Riots_, which marked the public sense of the transaction. _February 26, 1811._ _A French Dentist Showing a Specimen of his Artificial Teeth and False Palates._ Published by T. Tegg (58).--It is not easy to determine whether this caricature was intended solely as a satire or as an advertisement for some dental professor who was established here at the time. In Rowlandson's day, however, false teeth were sufficient novelties to be welcome subjects for ridicule. An overgrown and exuberantly corpulent female is serving as a sample of the Frenchman's skill; her widely distended mouth is liberally displaying a wonderful set of masticators. The professor is the typical foreigner of the period, wearing hair-powder, a bag-wig, and earrings. An old beau, looking through a quizzing-glass, is admiring the prospect of securing a decent set of teeth, his own gums exhibiting a very ragged and defective regiment. An advertisement in the rear sets forth: '_Mineral Teeth._--Monsieur De Charmant, from Paris, engages to affix from one tooth to a whole set, without pain. Monsieur D. can also affix an artificial palate or a glass eye in a manner peculiar to himself; he also distils, &c., &c.' _March, 1811._ _Bacon-faced Fellows of Brazen-Nose Broke Loose._ Published by T. Tegg (59).--The persons of learned members of the Universities were not treated with a sparing hand by the satirist. Rowlandson has introduced various incidents of college life into his caricatures; but, throughout the series, the waggishly-inclined artist does not, we are afraid, exhibit any particular respect for _Alma Mater_. The Fellows of Brasenose are drawn, with unusual unction, issuing from their Hall and through the archways of the Colleges, dressed in their academic guise, and pouring forth like a sable stream of erudition. The various expressions and attitudes of the 'big-wigs' are vastly well hit off; their diversified peculiarities of face or motion are full of comicality. These grave sons of the Church are not free from gallant considerations--a buxom wench, with a basket of fruit slung round her shapely neck, is the centre of attraction; the 'Bacon-faced Fellows' are crowded around, bargaining for her ware and leering at the seller with undisguised and clumsy admiration. A reflection is cast on the _Vice_-Chancellor, who is vainly endeavouring to steal into his apartments without being detected by the rest of the sly grinning Fellows, with a weighty folio under his arm, and followed by an engaging young fruiteress, a lump of rustic innocence, bearing her baskets, for better selection from the contents, to the seclusion of the Vice's study. _March 10, 1811._ _She Stoops to Conquer._ Published by T. Tegg (61).--The central room of a prison. Various strong doors and iron-grated windows open on the chamber. Bolts, padlocks, and strings of fetters indicate the nature of the security. Behind a grating is seen a prisoner, on whose behalf a buxom damsel is supposed to 'stoop to conquer,' since by dint of a plentiful repast, renewed strong potations, and those tender cajoleries which are believed to be the special weapons of the fair, the lady is evidently endeavouring to gain possession of the precious keys which will enable her to set her imprisoned swain at liberty. _March 12, 1811._ _The Anatomist._ Published by T. Tegg (60).--The 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._