English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 2 (of 2) — John Shaqi
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
On October 18 or 19 Junot entered Portugal, and then it was that John
Bull began to fear for his stock of port wine. This is very amusingly
put in a picture: ‘In Port, and Out of Port, or news from Portugal,’
which is the title of a caricature by Woodward (November 10, 1807),
and it represents Bonaparte seated on a pipe of ‘Genuine Old Port.’
With folded arms he thus speaks: ‘Now Master Jean Bull--more news
for you. You’ll soon be out of Port.’ A miserable-looking ‘Portugee’
approaches John Bull, with cap in hand, saying: ‘I be, d’ye see, de
poor Portuguese. Vat he mean be de Port Wine; which he will be glad to
change for your bag of guineas dere--begar--but dat is mine--between
ourselves.’ John Bull, who is sitting down, smoking, with a jug of ale
and a huge bagful of guineas by his side, replies: ‘D--n him, and his
_Port_ too--I am snug in _Port_, and while I have the port holes of my
wooden walls, and a glass of home brew’d ale, his conquests shall never
trouble me.’
Napoleon, in a decree dated from Hamburg, November 10, and also in
another dated Milan, December 27, again declared England in a state of
blockade, and he made all under his sway to cease all connection with
that country, as far as commercial matters were concerned; and this is
how the caricaturist met it:--
‘Blockade against Blockade, or John Bull a Match for Boney’ (Ansell,
November 1807), shows the different sides of a ‘Wall of Blockade.’ John
Bull is well victualled, and has a fine surloin of beef, and a full
tankard, &c.; and he says: ‘Now Master Boney, we shall see which will
hold out the longest, my wall against yours. Aye, aye, I can see you. I
have left a peep hole. I believe you will soon be glad to change your
Soup Maigre for my Roast beef.’ Boney, with only a basin of Soup Maigre
before him, looks very disconsolate: ‘Who could have thought that he
would build a wall also--I really think I had better have left him
alone--Some how I don’t relish this Soup Maigre.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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