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 March 6, 1813, appeared ‘The Wags of Paris or Downfall of Nap
the Great. “But the circumstance said to have annoyed the Emperor
most, was, some Wags of Paris taking of Dogs, and for sev’ral nights
together, tied Tin Kettles to their tails, and labels round their
necks, with the words ‘Run away from Moscow,’ & giving them liberty,
they ran with velocity, and fury, in various directions, to the great
Entertainment of the Parisians.” _Courier 1 Mar. 1813._’ One of these
dogs has got between Napoleon’s legs, and is throwing him down, while
he calls out, ‘Sacré Dieu!! Plot Anglais!! Not a Dog in Paris but shall
feel my Vengeance!! Shoot! hang them all! Not the Empress’s Favorite
shall escape. D--d John Bull--d--d Russian bears, not content with
hunting Me from the _frightful climate_, but sends Mad Dogs to Hunt
Me in my own Capital!!!’ The Governor of Paris replies, ‘Sire, be
pacified. All the Dogs in Paris shall be tried by a Military Commission
for a Conspiracy against your Sacred Majesty. All John Bull’s bull dogs
shall be destroyed! Pomeranian Danish Mastiffs & all but your Majesty’s
own breed of _Blood hounds_.’
‘Anticipation for _Boney_--or, a Court Martial on the Cowardly Deserter
from the Grand Army,’ by G. Cruikshank (March 6, 1813), is an imaginary
scene of what might happen, did the Emperor meet with his deserts. The
Parisian mob have the upper hand, and a cobbler has been proclaimed
Emperor in his stead. Before this awful being, Boney is dragged by a
ferocious butcher, who, with an enormous axe in one hand, holds in the
other the halter which encircles the neck of poor trembling Boney, who
is on his knees, with upraised, supplicating hands. The _sans-culotte_
Emperor Crispin is seated in a chair, on a _haut pas_; a cap of
liberty, on a pole, behind him. In one hand he holds a hammer, and one
foot rests on a lapstone. Pointing to the wretched culprit, he says,
‘Well! you are found guilty of cowardly deserting from the grand army,
and, by repairing here with your cobbling defence, you have done a d--d
bad job for yourself, and, as your time waxes near its end, I would
have you prepare your Sole for your Last. So off with his head, Mr.
Butcher.’ The butcher looks unutterable things at Boney, saying, ‘Ah,
D--n you we’ll cut off your head, and your Tail too!’ The poor craven
wretch, with streaming eyes, and upstanding hair, pitifully supplicates
that at all events his head should be spared. But the yelling mob cry
out, ‘Off with his head.’ ‘Aye, Aye, he has butchered Millions.’ And
the women and children scream, ‘Where’s my husband, wretch?’ ‘Where’s
my Father?’ ‘Where’s my Daddy?’ &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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