English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 2 (of 2)Ashton, John
History
English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 2 (of 2)
Ashton, John
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Caricatures and cartoons
‘The downfall of Tyranny and return of Peace’ is by George Cruikshank,
and, although not dated, is undoubtedly of the autumn of 1815. Justice,
with a flaming sword, has banished Napoleon to his rock of St. Helena,
where, chained, he is seized upon by the fiend as his own. Peace with
her olive branch, Plenty with her cornucopia, Agriculture and Commerce,
are welcomed by Britannia with open arms.
Marks (August 1815) drew ‘The Exile of St. Helena, or Boney’s
Meditation,’ in which there is a fairly accurate delineation of the
Rocky Island and its little town. Napoleon is standing with his feet
astride, each planted on a rock on either side the bay; he weeps
copiously, and the expression of his countenance is very rueful.
[Illustration: BONEY’S MEDITATIONS ON THE ISLAND OF ST. HELENA. (AUGUST
1815.)
The Devil addressing the Sun.--_Paradise Lost_, Book IV.]
‘Napoleon’s trip from Elba to Paris, and from Paris to St. Helena’ is
the title of three engravings on one sheet, by G. Cruikshank (September
1, 1815). In the first compartment is shown the battle of Waterloo,
with the French army in full flight. Napoleon is seated on the French
Eagle, which, however, has but one wing, for, as it mournfully
observes, ‘My _left_ wing has entirely disappeared.’ The Emperor, whose
crown and sceptre have fallen from him, clutches the bird round the
neck, exclaiming: ‘Sauve qui peut--the Devil take the hindmost--Run, my
boys, your Emperor leads the way--My dear eagle, only conduct me safe
to Paris this time, as you did from Moscow and Leipsig, and I’ll never
trouble you again--Oh! d--n that Wellington!’
The middle picture shows Napoleon in the stern gallery of the
‘Bellerophon,’ talking to John Bull, who sits by his fireside placidly
smoking his pipe as usual. Says the ex-Emperor: ‘My most powerful and
generous enemy, how do you do? I come, like Themistocles, to seat
myself upon your hearth--I am very glad to see you.’ John Bull replies:
‘So am I glad to see you Mr. Boney, but I’ll be d--d if you sit upon my
hearth, or any part of my house--it has cost me a pretty round sum to
catch you, Mr. Themistocles, as you call yourself, but now I have got
you, I’ll take care of you.’
The third is a sad one. Napoleon is at St. Helena, reduced to the sport
of catching rats. Across his breast he wears a broad leather scarf,
covered with brass rats, and sits moodily before a baited trap, into
which the rats decline to enter. He thus soliloquises:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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