Rowlandson the Caricaturist; a Selection from His Works. Vol. 2Grego, Joseph
History
Rowlandson the Caricaturist; a Selection from His Works. Vol. 2
Grego, Joseph
English wit and humor, Pictorial; Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827
_November 22, 1813._ _The Norwich Bull Feast, or Glory and Gluttony._
Published by T. Tegg (232).--The success gained by the allied armies
over Napoleon and his forces, and the series of French disasters
which had culminated at Leipzig, gave rise to rejoicings all over the
country, in celebration of the supposed final downfall of the Corsican
Emperor, the traditional enemy of England, as the people had been
taught to consider him. Norwich, according to the print, is the scene
of disorderly revelry. A huge bullock has been roasted whole in the
market-place, and the carcase is being cut up and distributed in the
streets; the unruly mob fighting over the morsels and wrenching the
bones from those who are ravenously picking them; scuffles, struggles,
scrimmages, and savage onslaughts are the order of the day. At the
same time a puncheon of beer or spirits is broached for gratuitous
distribution, and a pretty spectacle of misrule is the consequence.
The fair sex are represented as the chief competitors for the drink;
pails, cans, and jugs are eagerly filled, and as greedily emptied;
the contents being poured down the throats of the holders or down
those of their friends, who are opening their mouths to receive the
liquor, which is gushing forth in streams. The incidents surrounding
the liquor-cart are, if possible, more disreputable and degrading than
those transpiring on all sides of the trestles on which the ox is being
dismembered by a pair of butcher's men, armed with a chopper and a
huge carver. Some of the female patriots are reduced to insensibility,
and efforts are being made to revive one poor creature, who is lying
unconscious in the midst of the struggling mass, either overpowered
by the potency of the drink or smothered by the pressure; buckets
of the fluid are being emptied over the prostrate sufferer by tipsy
Samaritans, without alleviating her condition.
The town of Norwich is given up to the gala; flags are flying,
and illuminations and fireworks render the sight more animated. A
tumultuous procession is struggling along, bearing guns, pikes, &c.,
and carrying the effigy of Buonaparte to be gibbeted or burnt at a
bonfire. Flags head the mob, inscribed _Downfall of the Tyrant_; _Peace
and Plenty_, &c.
[Illustration: A LONG PULL, A STRONG PULL, AND A PULL ALL TOGETHER.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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