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
_April 9, 1814._ _Blucher the Brave extracting the Groan of Abdication
from the Corsican Bloodhound._ Published by T. Tegg (322).--The
Corsican has been run down; the sturdy figure of the indomitable
General Blucher is shown acting as his executioner. Having come up
with the enemy and beaten him, the general is shaking the bloodhound
out of his trappings; sword, diadem, and habit are cast aside, and the
creature is swinging in the Prussian's iron grasp, a mere frightened
cur, with nothing of the dreaded 'Boney' left but his head. A boat
is on the shore, and the fugitive, _Brother Joe_, the rejected
'intrusive King' of Spain, in mortal terror is running his hardest to
embark for the Island of Elba; the boatman is loading in the future
provision, £20,000 a year, the income decreed the Corsican for his new
state. Besides the deportation of the Buonapartes another scene is
transpiring: Louis the Eighteenth, a portly and good-natured-looking
sovereign, is received with acclamations from all sides, while his
friends the Allies discreetly remain in the rear; the white flag of
the Bourbons, with its _fleur de lis_, is waving over the restored
descendant of St. Louis; the monarch's legitimate crown is restored,
and the figure of Peace personified is adding a laurel wreath;
Churchmen and some of 'Nap's' old servants are offering their homage,
and the wily Talleyrand has apparently 'ratted' judiciously at the
critical moment, as the change of masters has not displaced the
veteran diplomatist, and he is waiting on the King with a new 'list of
ministers for your Majesty's approval.'
_April 12, 1814._ _Coming in at the Death of the Corsican Fox. Scene
the Last._ Published by R. Ackermann.--Neither the subject nor
its title are altogether original, as, some six years previously,
Rowlandson's contemporary, James Gillray, had chosen to illustrate
the reverses which had attended the French arms in Spain by a similar
cartoon, in which George the Third appeared as the huntsman, holding
out the carcass of the Corsican fox. Both conceptions, in these
instances, as subsequent events proved, were somewhat premature as far
as the conclusiveness of the performance was concerned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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