Part 13 (1/2)
This would appear to be the subject which produced George Cruikshank's graphic satire of the _Interior View of the House of G.o.d_, in the first volume of ”The Scourge.” The pulpit is occupied by two fanatics, one of whom rants, while the other snuffs the candles; the devil, in the gallery above, ridicules the proceedings by rasping, _a la_ fiddle, the bars of a gridiron with a poker; among the numerous congregation present we notice some attentive and interested listeners, whilst others evidently attend from mere motives of curiosity. Above the composition appears the quotation, ”Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of G.o.d: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” The satire, _The Examination of a Young Surgeon_, which appears in the same volume, is aimed at the medical profession. One of the examiners is deaf, another has the gout, a third is asleep, while two others (unmistakable Scotchmen) discuss the merits of their respective snuff-mulls. The deaf man calls upon the frightened candidate to ”describe the organs of hearing.” The table is garnished with ”The Cow Pox Chronicle,” and a skull and bones, while the walls are decorated with pictures depicting a fight between death and a pugilist, the Hottentot Venus, a group of various nations wors.h.i.+pping the golden calf, and the lady without arms or legs. The hand of the clock points to the hour of eleven. Judging by the pile of money-bags lying at the foot of the president's chair, and the two members of the court who are busily engaged in counting coin, George would seem to insinuate that the fellows of the college of his time were a decidedly mercenary set.
”THE SATIRIST.”
Of character akin to ”The Scourge” (the ten volumes of which were published between 1811 and 1815 inclusive); is ”The Satirist, or Monthly Meteor,” the thirteen volumes of which made their appearance between the years 1808 and 1813. Both publications, which now command prices very far beyond what they are intrinsically worth, contain a number of satires, of more or less merit (generally _less_), by various satirists, including George Cruikshank; so far as ”The Satirist” is concerned, the designs of the latter are confined to the thirteenth and last volume, and his caricature contributions are of a vastly superior order of merit to any of those by which they are preceded. Besides those in ”The Scourge” and ”The Satirist,” may be mentioned George Cruikshank's comic designs in ”Fas.h.i.+on,” printed for J. J. Stockdale, of Pall Mall, in 1818; and his very admirable series of untinted etchings in ”The Loyalist Magazine; or, Anti-Radical,” a publication exclusively devoted to the ministerial side of the Carolinian scandal, and published by James Wright, of Fleet Street, in 1820.
One of the earliest caricatures I have met with by George is ent.i.tled, _Apollyon_ [_i.e._, Napoleon]_, the Devil's Generalissimo, Addressing his Legions_; it is signed (contrary to his usual custom), ”Cruikshank del.,” and was executed (if I am right in a.s.signing it to him) when he was sixteen years of age.
1813. DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS OF CHARLES I.
The attention of the public in 1813 was, as we have seen, attracted by the Regent's treatment of his miserable wife; and in April the sympathy of the Livery and Corporation of London, and other public bodies, found expression in an address which was presented to Her Royal Highness. On the 28th of March of that year, the remains of Charles the First had been discovered in the vault of Henry the Eighth, at Windsor, a circ.u.mstance which suggested to George Cruikshank his admirable satire ent.i.tled, _Meditations amongst the Tombs_. It shows us His Royal Highness gazing at the recovered bodies, and regretting that while Henry had managed to dispose of many wives, _he_ found it impossible to get rid of one. A figure behind him points to the headless corpse, and significantly remarks, ”How rum King Charley looks without his head!”
The Battle of Vitoria (fought this year) forms the subject of a pair of roughly executed caricatures, ent.i.tled respectively, _The Battle of Vitoria_, and _A Scene after the Battle, or More Trophies for Whitehall_. Other satires of the year, are _Double Ba.s.s_, and _A Venomous Viper Poisoning the R--l Mind_, the latter as coa.r.s.ely and indelicately handled a subject as any caricaturist of the old school might possibly desire.
1814.
_Little Boney gone to Pot_ (Thomas Tegg, May 12th, 1814), is one of the artist's contributions to the series of caricatures which followed the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Here the satirist has seated the emperor (a lean, ragged, forlorn, miserable, diseased object) on a huge article of bedroom furniture, labelled, ”Imperial Throne.” He is in a forlorn condition, suffering from itch, with large excrescences growing on his toes. He is all alone in his island prison (Elba), and tempted by a fiend, who tenders him a pistol--”If you have one spark of courage left,” it says, ”take this.” ”Perhaps I may,” replies Napoleon, ”if you'll take the flint out.” By his side we find a pot of brimstone, numerous medicine bottles, and ”a treatise on the itch, by Dr.
Scratch.”[70] One of the imperial boots, mounted on a tiny carriage, forms a dummy cannon. His back leans against a tree, to which is nailed the ”Imperial Crow,” while from the branches depends a ragged pair of breeches and stockings. It was a sorry libel on the unfortunate emperor, whose courage was undoubted, and who, at this time, instead of being the scarecrow the artist has represented him, had grown extremely corpulent.
_Snuffing out Boney_ follows up the same subject, and represents a cossack snuffing out Napoleon, who figures as a candle; another caricature on the great subject of the year bears the t.i.tle of _Broken Gingerbread_ (Napoleon selling images).
[Ill.u.s.tration: GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. _Published July 11th, 1814, by_ S. W. FORES, _Piccadilly_.
RUSSIAN CONDESCENSION, OR THE BLESSINGS OF UNIVERSAL PEACE.
_Face page 133._]
VISIT OF THE ALLIED SOVEREIGNS.
On the 8th of June, 1814, the Emperor of Russia, with his sister the d.u.c.h.ess Oldenburg, the King of Prussia, and his two sons, with Prince Metternich, Marshal Blucher, General Barclay de Tolly, the Hetman Platoff, and other persons of distinction, arrived in London. The strangers were splendidly entertained by the merchants and bankers of London at Merchant Taylors' Hall, and by the Corporation of London at Guildhall. On the 20th there was a grand review of regulars and metropolitan volunteers in Hyde Park; the ceremony of announcing to the inhabitants of the metropolis the conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace with France took place with all its ancient and accustomed solemnities. On the 25th of July a grand naval review was held at Portsmouth, and on the 27th the ill.u.s.trious visitors embarked at Dover for the Continent. The handsome Russian emperor and his handsome sister acquired great popularity by the condescension and affability they displayed during their short visit. This is commemorated by George Cruikshank in a satire published by Fores on the 11th of July, ent.i.tled, _Russian Condescension, or the Blessings of Peace_, in which a coa.r.s.e woman is represented as kissing the emperor, who is habited in English military uniform. ”There, Sal,” says she to her companion, ”I can boast of what none of the ----s at Billingsgate can, having kissed the king's emperor of all the Russian bears, and he is the sweetest, modestest, mildest gentleman I ever kissed in all my life.” On the other side a huge country gawky shakes hands with the d.u.c.h.ess, whose vast bonnet is a study. ”Dang it,” he says, ”when I goes back and tells the folks in our village of this, law! how they will envy I!” In the distance we see another female in pursuit of the frightened Hetman Platoff.
The reader will remember, that from the state ceremonies and festivities which took place on this memorable occasion the miserable Caroline had been excluded, nor did she of course receive recognition or visits from any of her husband's ill.u.s.trious visitors. The state of social isolation to which she was thus consigned is referred to by George Cruikshank in a very roughly executed caricature ent.i.tled, _The British Spread Eagle_, ”Presented to the northern monarchs as a model for their national banner in consequence of the general peace.” The Regent, holding in his hand a bottle of port wine, turns away from his neglected wife: ”I'll go,” he says, ”to my bottle, my marchioness [of Conyngham], my countess” [of Jersey], who may be seen close at hand in an adjoining thicket; ”and I,”
answers Caroline, ”to my child, my only comfort.” The ”only comfort” is seen coming to her mother's a.s.sistance in the distance, uttering the trite quotation, ”The child that feels not for a mother's woes, can ne'er be called a Briton.”
_The Impostor, or Obstetric Dispute_, a still more roughly executed satire (published by Tegg in September, 1814), refers to the wretched impostor Southcott. Doctors called in to report on her condition ”differed” according to their proverbial custom. Three of these learned pundits may be seen in consultation in the right-hand corner. A blatant and irascible cobbler, standing on a stool, loudly proclaims the woman to be ”a cheat!” ”a f.a.ggot!” ”a bag of deceit!” ”a blasphemous old hag!”
The indignant Joanna, far advanced in her dropsical condition, rushes at him, brandis.h.i.+ng a broom in one hand and her book of prophecies in the other, to the delight of certain members of the ”great unwashed.” The buildings at the back appropriately include ”New Bethlehem,” and the house which the reader may remember was engaged for the purposes of her miraculous _accouchement_. A rougher and coa.r.s.er piece of workmans.h.i.+p, if possible, will be found in _Gambols on the River Thames, February, 1814_ (published also by Tegg), which commemorates the memorable frost of that year.
1815. THE CORN LAWS.
On the 17th of February, 1815, Mr. Frederick Robinson, vice-president of the board of trade, moved for the House of Commons to resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, for the purpose of considering the state of the corn laws. This having been done, he proceeded to lay before the House certain resolutions, three of which related to the free importation of grain to be warehoused and afterwards exported, or to be taken for home consumption when importation for that purpose was allowable. The fourth and most important stated the average price of British corn at which free importation was to be allowed, and _below which it was to be prohibited_, and this for wheat was fixed at eighty s.h.i.+llings per quarter. An exception was made in favour of grain produced in the British colonies, which might be imported when British grown wheat was at sixty-seven s.h.i.+llings. All the resolutions were read and agreed to, with the exception of the fourth, and this in the end also pa.s.sed in the face of every amendment.
On the 1st of March, Mr. Robinson brought in his bill ”to amend the laws now in force for regulating the importation of corn.” By this time very numerous pet.i.tions against the bill were coming in from the commercial and manufacturing districts; riotous proceedings also took place on the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of March, in the course of which the mob cut to pieces many valuable pictures belonging to Mr. Robinson, destroyed and pitched his furniture into the street, and did a variety of mischief to the property of other well-known supporters of the measure. The riots (which were of a most formidable character) were only quelled by the number and determined att.i.tude of the military and constables. In spite, however, of the unmistakable unpopularity of the measure, and of the strenuous opposition to it both in and out of Parliament, the bill pa.s.sed the House on the 10th of March, and the Upper House on the 20th.
The consequences of this measure were not such as were expected either by its promoters or opposers. Former importations, or more probably the effect of two abundant harvests, combined with the greatly extended cultivation of grain, produced a gradual and steady reduction in prices; so that instead of approaching the limits at which alone importation was allowable by the Act, it sunk to a level below that of several years past. The farmers, who were labouring under exorbitant rents in addition to other increased expenses, were general sufferers, and the landlords found it necessary in many instances to make great abatements in their dues. In the result many leases were voided and farms left without tenants.
To this most unpopular measure a satire, published by Fores on the 3rd of March, 1815, has reference. It is ent.i.tled, _The Blessings of Peace, or the Curse of the Corn Bill_, a very rough affair, etched by George (as it appears to me) from the design of an amateur whose hand may be recognised in more than one of his caricatures. A foreign vessel is approaching our sh.o.r.es laden with best wheat at 50_s._ a quarter. A figure with a star on his breast, emblematical of course of the aristocratic influence which was supposed to have dictated the unpopular corn law, forbids the sailors to land it: ”We won't have it,” he says, ”_at any price_. We are determined to keep up our own to 80_s._, and if the poor can't buy at that price, why, they must starve. We love money too well to lower our rents again, tho' the income tax _is_ taken off.”
His sentiments are re-echoed by companions belonging to the same cla.s.s as himself. A farmer and his starving family, however, come forward.
”No, no, masters,” he remonstrates; ”I'll not starve, but quit my native country, where the poor are crushed by those they labour to support, and retire to one more hospitable, and where threats of the rich do not interpose to defeat the providence of G.o.d!” Behind the starving family is a warehouse absolutely bursting with sacks of grain at 80_s._ ”By gar!” says the foreign captain, ”if they won't have [the wheat] at all, we must throw it overboard,” which they accordingly are depicted as doing. The subject is followed up by a still more slovenly affair by the artist himself, bearing the t.i.tle of _The Scale of Justice Reversed_, published by Fores on the 29th of March. An eighteenpenny loaf in one scale is overmatched by the acc.u.mulated weight of taxes in the other.
The overbalanced scale in its descent knocks down and crushes John Bull under its weight. ”The bread,” he cries, ”is out of my reach, and those cursed taxes will break my back. That large one ['duty on manufactories,' which the chancellor is just putting into the scale]