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

_Plate 2._ Jealousy, rage, disappointment, intrigue, and laughter are here pretty much exemplified, and afford an old Lover a high-seasoned taste of the Miseries of Human Life. _May 6, 1807._ _Monastic Fare._ And why I'm so plump, the reason I'll tell, Who leads a good life is sure to live well, What Baron, or Squire, or Knight of the Shire Lives half so well as a Holy Friar? [Illustration: MONASTIC FARE.] _May 6, 1807._ _Black, Brown, and Fair._ Designed by Sir E. Bunbury. Rowlandson sculp. Published by T. Tegg, 111 Cheapside.--An illustration to the lines:-- With Black, Brown, and Fair, I have frolic'd 'tis true, But I never lov'd any, dear Mary, but you. At the window of a tavern, at Wapping 'Dock Head,' is a bevy of beauties, representing the variations of complexion described by the song-writer. The redundant charms of this collection of beauties are arresting an equally diversified circle of admirers, numbering mulattos, a Chinaman, a Holland skipper, a foreign Jew, and a Virginia nigger. _May 6, 1807._ _The Holy Friar._ Designed by Sir E. Bunbury. Rowlandson, sculp. I am a Friar of orders Grey, And down the valleys I take my way. I pull not Blackberry, Haw, or Hip; Good store of ven'son does fill my scrip. My long Bead-roll I merrily chaunt, Wherever I walk no money I want; And why I'm so plump, the reason I'll tell, Who leads a good life is sure to live well; What Baron, or Squire, or Knight of the Shire Lives half so well as a Holy Friar? After supper of Heav'n I dream, But that is fat pullets and clouted cream; Myself by denial I mortify, With a dainty bit of a Warden pie. I'm cloth'd in sackcloth for my sin, With old Sack wine I'm lin'd within, A chirping cup is my Matin song, And the vesper's bell is my bowl--ding dong! What Baron, or Squire, or Knight of the Shire Lives half so well as a Holy Friar? [Illustration: THE HOLY FRIAR.] _May 16, 1807._ _I Smell a Rat, or a Rogue in Grain._ Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand. An exuberant rustic charmer has been entertaining a fashionable visitor in a granary; a party of rustics, mounting the ladder, have disturbed the interview. A powdered, pig-tailed, and lace-ruffled dandy has sought concealment amidst the sacks of grain; his head appears over the barrier in sheer dismay, for a determined farm help, probably the legitimate swain of the indignant damsel, armed with a formidable pitchfork, is making reckless efforts to impale the trespasser; his fury is slightly restrained by the stalwart exertions of the lady, who has buried her fingers in the village Othello's shock head of hair; at his feet is a scroll with the quotation 'I smell a rat, dead for a ducat.' A bill, pinned on the wall, sets forth 'Rats, pole cats, and all sorts of vermin effectively destroyed.' _May 17, 1807._ _The Old Man of the Sea, sticking to the Shoulders of Sindbad the Sailor._ Vide _The Arabian Nights Entertainments_. Published by T. Tegg, 111 Cheapside.--The dandified Sir Francis Burdett is figured as a discontented Sindbad the Sailor; his preceptor John Horne Tooke, in his clerical garments, is perched on his pupil's shoulders, and he is driving him through _The Mire of Politics_, in which he is wading knee-deep. In the distance is shown the baronet's mansion, _Independence and a comfortable home_. From an upper window a lady is waving back the traveller, who does not relish turning his back on this prospect to encounter the _Ministerial Shoals_ and _Treasury Rocks_ which are opposed to his progress on the other side. Horne Tooke is urging on the career of his _protégé_: 'Persevere! persevere! you are the only man to get through.' Burdett's confidence is wavering: 'This old man will be the end of me at last; what a miry place he has brought me into!' _May 25, 1807._ _A White Sergeant giving the Word of Command: 'Why don't you come to bed, you drunken sot?'_ Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.--A man, past the meridian of life, is calmly enjoying his pipe before his fire, with an agreeable book in his hand, '_Rule a wife and have a wife_.' The young wife is indignantly rating the easy-going husband on his inclination to prefer the fireside to his conjugal couch. _May 29, 1807._ _Comedy in the Country, Tragedy in London._ Published by T. Tegg, 111 Cheapside.--_Comedy in the Country_ is played in a barnlike building to an audience of rustics, whose faces express the most intense appreciation. _Tragedy in London_, as performed in a fashionable theatre, has plunged a very select audience into the depths of grief and misery: tears bedew every cheek, and even the members of the orchestra are weeping profusely. _May 30, 1807._ _Platonic Love._ '_None but the Brave deserve the Fair._' Sir E. Bunbury del., Rowlandson sculp.--An illustration to the lines in Othello wherein Desdemona's wooing is described. A veteran commander, who has lost an arm and both legs, is acting on the advice of his fair, who is tenderly embracing his wooden leg. Although the name of Rowlandson is appended to this plate, the method of its execution bears a closer resemblance to the handling of C. W. (Williams). _June 12, 1807._ _Miseries Personal._ Published by Ackermann, 101 Strand. 'After dinner, when the ladies retire with you from a party of very pleasant men, having to entertain as you can half a score of empty or formal females; then after a decent time has elapsed, and your patience and topics are equally exhausted, ringing for the tea, &c., which you sit making in despair for above two hours, having three or four times sent word to the gentlemen that it is ready, and overheard your husband, at the last message, answer, "Very well, another bottle of wine." By the time the tea and coffee are quite cold, they arrive, continuing as they enter, and for an hour afterwards, their political disputes, occasionally suspended by the master of the house by a reasonable complaint to his lady at the coldness of the coffee; soon after the carriages are announced and the company disperse.' [Illustration: MISERIES PERSONAL.] _June 15, 1807._ _Murphy Delaney._ Woodward del., Rowlandson sculp. Published by T. Tegg, 111 Cheapside.--This caricature is an illustration to the song which is printed below it. It happened to the hero, Murphy Delaney, to find himself, when 'fresh as a shamrock and blind as a bull' from the effects of imbibing a 'skinful of whiskey,' by the side of the quay, which he mistook for the floor of his shed, 'And the keel of a coal-barge he just tumbled over, and thought all the while he was going to bed.' When his body was recovered from the river an inquest was duly held to determine the cause of his end, during which the subject of the deliberation revived, and appeared as a witness; but his testimony being declined, on the ground of his recent decease, the jury appealed to the doctor, who swore that, as Delaney was 'something alive,' it 'must be his ghost. So they sent out of hand for the clergy to lay him, but Pat laid the clergy, and then ran away.' _June 18, 1807._ _A View on the Banks of the Thames._ (No. 177.) Published by T. Tegg. (See illustration, p. 77.) [Illustration: A VIEW ON THE BANKS OF THE THAMES.] _July 1, 1807._ _More Scotchmen, or Johnny Maccree Opening his New Budget._--Lord Melville, on the strength of his re-instalment, has extended his patronage to a swarm of his countrymen; he is dressed in Highland garb, and is opening the mouth of his sack, from whence is issuing an interminable stream of Scotchmen, who are trooping steadily on the road to fortune, through the portals of St. Stephens. 'There ye are, my bonny lads, mak the best o' your way, the door is open, and leave a Scotsman alaine to stick in a place gin he once gains an entrance.' John Bull, who is standing aside, quite overpowered by the spectacle of this Caledonian incursion, is exclaiming: 'Dang it, what a swarm of them there be--enough to cause a famine in any Christian country!' _July 9, 1807._ _A Cure for Lying and a Bad Memory._ Woodward del., Rowlandson sculp. Published by T. Tegg, 111 Cheapside.--A wag at one of the universities has applied to an empiric, on a visit to the neighbourhood, for a cure, as a proof of his skill, for a propensity to tell lies, and a memory which retained no recollection of what its possessor had stated last. In the picture the quack has just administered his _Pillula Memoria_ and _Anti Fibbibus_; the incautious would-be waggish student is very uncomfortable, and declares he has taken _Asafoetida_. 'You speak the truth,' says the doctor, 'you are perfectly cured; and as to your memory, that cure follows of course, for I am sure you will never forget the medicine!' _July 10, 1807._ _The Double Disaster, or New Cure for Love._ Rowlandson del. et sculp. Published by T. Tegg, 111 Cheapside.--This sketch, which is characterised by the artist's usual spirit when dealing with kindred subjects, represents the situation of a rustic swain, whose philanderings have landed him in the midst of the perplexities of a double dilemma. It is seemingly 'washing day,' and the gallant intruder has effected his admission to court the graces of a pretty maiden, who is thrown into consternation at the risk to which her suitor, by an awkward _contretemps_, is suddenly exposed. The pair have evidently been disturbed at the moment the lady was engaged in drawing a mug of ale for the refreshment of her admirer; in the confusion, the tap of the beer barrel is still left running, and all the maid's solicitude is centred in the position of her swain, who has incautiously taken refuge in the copper. A very disagreeable-looking old beldame is kindling a blazing fire in the stove, while a buxom wench is working away at the pump, which is pouring gallons of water into the unlucky Lothario's place of concealment. The youth is hesitating midway between the ordeals of fire or water, and he is struggling to effect his escape from both, at the risk of exposure and its consequences. _July 14, 1807._ _Easter Hunt._ _Clearing a Fence._ (_Easter Monday, or the Cockney Hunt._)