English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 1 (of 2)Ashton, John
History
English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 1 (of 2)
Ashton, John
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Caricatures and cartoons
The Tyrant Consul, then too late,
Dismayed shall mourn th’ avenging blow
Yet vanquish’d, meet the milder fate
Which mercy grants a fallen foe:
Thus shall the British banners fly, boys,
On Albion’s cliffs still rais’d on high, boys,
And while the gallant flag we see,
We’ll swear our watchword still shall be
Britons strike home, &c.
About the last caricature in this month was by I. Cruikshank, who
depicted Napoleon (July 28, 1803) as ‘Preparing to invade.’ He is
pouring himself out a bumper, and soliloquising, ‘I must take a little
Dutch Courage, for I am sure I shall never attempt it in my sober
senses! Besides, when John Bull catches me, I can plead it was only a
Drunken Frolick! Diable! if I not go, den all my Soldiers call me one
Braggadocio, and one Coward, and if I do, begor, dey vil shew me in the
Tower, as one very Great Wild Beast.’
I. Cruikshank (July 28, 1803) tells us ‘How to stop an invader.’
Napoleon, and his army, are represented as having landed, and he is
asking ‘Which is the way to London?’ A countryman replies, giving
emphasis to his words by driving his pitchfork deeply into the Consul’s
breast, ‘Why, thro’ my Body--but I’se be thro’ yourn virst.’ His wife,
as a type of what was expected of the women of England, is emptying
the offensive contents of a domestic utensil over him. Bulldogs are
let loose, and are rapidly making an end of their enemies, in which
laudable enterprise they are materially assisted by prize-fighters and
carters.
The month of August was very fruitful in caricature, for in that month,
and in September, the Invasion scare was at its height.
There was an immense amount of Gasconading and Braggadocio going
about, as senseless as it was improbable. Take this for example: ‘The
Consequence of Invasion, or the Hero’s Reward. None but the brave
deserve the fair. The Yeomanry Cavalry’s first Essay’ (Ansell, August
1, 1803). A stout yeoman is swaggering about, with his sword drawn, and
carrying a pole, on the top of which is Bonaparte’s head, and, lower
down, he grasps some fifteen or twenty bleeding heads of decapitated
Frenchmen. He is saying, ‘There, you Rogues, there! there’s the _Boney
parts_ of them. Twenty more; Killed them!! Twenty more; Killed them
too!! I have destroyed half the army with this same Toledo.’ Women from
all parts are coming to hug and caress him, saying, ‘Bless the Warrior
that saved our Virgin Charms.’ ‘Ah! bless him, he has saved us from
Death and Vileation.’ ‘Take care, I’ll smother him with kisses.’ One
lady says to a man, not a Volunteer: ‘There you Poltroon look how that
Noble Hero’s caressed!’ whilst the poor wretch thus addressed exclaims,
‘Ods Niggins, I wish I had been a Soldier too, then the Girls would
have run after me, but I never could bear the smell of Gunpowder.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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