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
By the favour of Heaven, to our Monarch is given
The power to avert such dire evil,
His subjects are ready, all Loyal and Steady,
To hurl this damn’d Pest to the Devil.
Tol de rol.
An unknown artist (October 11, 1803) gives us ‘The Ballance of Power
or the Issue of the Contest.’ The hand of Providence is holding the
balance, and John Bull, whose good qualities are named ‘Valour,
Justice, Honor, Integrity, Commerce, Firmness, Trade, Heroism, Virtue,’
is rapidly ascending; and, according to his own account, ‘There’s a
sweet little Cherub that sits up aloft, will take care of the fate of
John Bull. But poor Boney, with a heavy burden on his back of ‘Shame,
Disgrace, Obloquy, Cruelty, Murder, Plunder, Rapine, Villainy, and
Hypocrisy,’ is sinking into the earth, which emits flames to consume
him.
‘Thoughts on Invasion, both sides the water,’ by Charles (October 11,
1803), shows us the English coast defended by volunteers. John Bull,
laughing, is seated in a chair, under which is a cornucopia, running
over with corn, wine, beef, and all kinds of provisions. The old boy
is chuckling: ‘I can’t help laughing at the thought of Invasion, but
there is no knowing what a mad man may attempt, so I’ll take care to
have my coast well lined, and I think 80,000 such men as me, able to
eat all the Boney rascals in France, and if they mean Invasion, I have
sent a Specimen of Bombs into Calais!’ The ships are shown in the act
of bombarding that place, while Boney sits very miserable, with a
tricolour foolscap on his head, moaning: ‘I wish I had never promis’d
to Invade this terrible John Bull, but how shall I avoid it, with
Credit to myself and honour to the French Nation? and this bombarding
Calais gives me the Bl---- Blu---- Blue Devils.’ A blue devil behind
him is saying: ‘You must go now, Boney, as sure as I shall have you in
the end.’
‘The little Princess and Gulliver’ is by Ansell (October 21, 1803),
and, of course, the Gulliver is Napoleon, whom a Brobdingnagian
princess (Charlotte of Wales) has plunged into a basin of water, and,
with her fist, keeps beating him as he rises to the top, saying: ‘There
you impertinent, boasting, swaggering pigmy--take that. You attempt
to take my Grandpapa’s Crown indeed, and plunder all his subjects;
I’ll let you know that the Spirit and Indignation of every Girl in the
Kingdom is roused at your Insolence.’
‘The Centinel at his Post, or Boney’s peep into Walmer Castle!!’
(Ansell, October 22, 1803) shows Boney, with a boat-load of troops,
arrived on the English Coast, but they are at once disconcerted by the
appearance of the sentinel, Pitt, who challenges, ‘Who goes there?’
With abject fear depicted on the countenance of Bonaparte and his
followers, the former exclaims: ‘Ah! Begar--dat man alive still. Turn
about, Citoyens--for there will be no good to be done--I know his
tricks of old!!’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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