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
Prince Blucher, the valiant old trooper, has taken the lead of the
field; he has dismounted from his horse, whose bridle he is holding
in his left hand, while his right is locked round the throat of the
Fox, who is struggling and clawing vainly to get free; 'Boney's' face
is turning the pallid hue of deadly fear in sight of the eager pack
of hounds, which are showing their teeth and leaping forward to rend
the vermin to fragments; the dogs are of good strain; on their collars
may be read the names of those generals who finally outwitted the
Corsican--Wellington, Swartzenberg, Kutusoff, Platoff, Crown Prince,
York, &c., &c. The allied Emperors and Kings are riding down to be 'in
at the death,' and in the distance are seen burning towns, which have
been recently devastated by the ravages of the Corsican in his career
of ambition.
_April 12, 1814._ _Bloody Boney, the Carcass Butcher, left off Trade
and Retiring to Scarecrow Island._ Published by T. Tegg (323).--The
exiled general is reduced from his state; he is meanly travelling
Elbawards, and has reached the seashore, whence he is to embark for
his island residence. A gibbet by the way, with a rope in readiness,
is serving as a fingerpost to point the road; vultures, which fly
round this suggestive object, express a desire to pick the bones
of the retiring 'carcass butcher.' All the splendours of 'Boney's'
surroundings are stripped bare; he is riding on a rough-coated donkey,
and wearing a 'fool's cap' in place of a crown; his only provision is
a bag of brown bread; his consort, loose and ragged, is seated at the
crupper on the same beast, which is being unmercifully flogged with
a stick labelled '_Bâton Marcéchal_;' 'Boney' is lost in terror; his
juvenile heir, lately made King of Rome, is preceding the _cortége_,
mounted on a 'Corsican dog.'
A French postilion, of the old school, is jumping about for joy, in
his huge bucket-like jack-boots, flourishing his whip, and rejoicing
to see the backs of the usurping Corsican and his party: 'Be gar, you
_coquin_, now I shall drive my old friends and _bonnes_ customers _de_
English. _Vive le Roi et la Poste Royale!_'
_April 15, 1814._ _The Rogue's March._ Published by T. Tegg (321).
From fickle Fortune's gamesome lap
What various titles flow!
The Emperor of Conj'rors, Nap,
The King of Beggars, Joe!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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