CARICATURE HISTORY
OF
THE GEORGES.
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CARICATURE HISTORY
OF
THE GEORGES.
OR,
ANNALS OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER, COMPILED FROM THE
SQUIBS, BROADSIDES, WINDOW PICTURES, LAMPOONS,
AND PICTORIAL CARICATURES OF THE TIME.
BY
THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ., F.S.A.
A Brandy Drinker.
WITH NEARLY FOUR HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS ON STEEL AND WOOD.
LONDON:
JOffN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY.
[All rights reserved.}
LARGE PAPER EDITION.
A LIMITED NUMBER PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY,
College
Library
D,
&
PREFACE.
TJS application of song, and satire, and picture to politics,
is a thing of no modern date ; for we trace it more or less
among every people with whose history we have much ac-
quaintance. Caricatures have been found in Egyptian tombs.
The song and the lampoon were the constant attendants on,
and incentives in, those incessant political struggles which,
during the middle ages, were preparing for the formation of
modern society ; and many an old manuscript and sculptured
block, whether of wood or stone, show that our forefathers in
those times understood well the permanent force of pictorial
satire. But it is more especially in religious matters that the
middle ages, like antiquity, have shown a full perception of the
importance of appealing through the eye to the hearts of the
masses. In the rapid and temporary movements of political
strife, this weapon could not be adopted with much effect until
after the invention of printing, when, by a quick process, pic-
tures engraved could be multiplied indefinitely. It was in the
latter part of the sixteenth, and especially during the seven-
teenth century, that engraved caricatures became a very for-
midable instrument in working upon the feelings of the popu-
lace. Songs and lampoons, which every tongue could assist in
circulating, have never ceased to show themselves in great
abundance during every political movement since the period
when the small amount of historical information which time
has left us, allows us first to trace them ; and they, as well as
caricatures, have been by far too much neglected as historical
vi PREFACE.
documents, for in them, perhaps, alone can we hope to trace
many of the real motives which caused or exerted an influence
over all the great popular revolutions of the past.
In the wish to show the utility of such records, by illustrat-
ing a given period of modern history from materials entirely
derived from these sources, originated the following picture of
the reigns of the first three Georges. It is to us an interest-
ing period, because in it arose all those distinctions of political
parties, and that peculiar spirit of constitutional antagonism,
which exist at the present day. With it most of the poli-
tical questions now in dispute took their rise. It consists
in itself of two periods ; the first, that in which the House of
Brunswick was established on the throne of England upon the
ruin of Jacobitism, and by the overthrow of the political creed
of despotism ; the second, that in which the same dynasty and
its throne were defended against the encroachments of that
fearful flood of republicanism which burst out from a neigh-
bouring kingdom, and when they thus gained a victory over
democracy. During these periods both the great political
parties in this country came into play ; in the first, the consti-
tution owed its salvation to the Whigs ; in the second, it was
in all probability saved, perhaps not altogether designedly, by
the Tories. It may be necessary to state that in the present
work the political colour of the history has been generally given
more or less as represented in the class of materials on which it
is founded.
This was the period during which political caricatures
flourished in England when they were not mere pictures to
amuse and excite a laugh, but when they were made extensively
subservient to the political warfare that was going on. This use
of them seems to have been imported from Holland, and to have
first come into extensive practice after the revolution of 1688.
Before that time, the art of engraving had not made sufficient
progress in this country to allow them to be produced with
much effect. The older caricatures, those, for instance, upon
Cromwell, were chiefly executed by Dutch artists ; and even in
the great inundation of caricatures occasioned by the South-
Sea bubble, the majority of them came from Holland. It was
PREFACE. vii
a defect of the earlier productions of this class, that they par-
took more of an emblematical character than of what we now
understand by the term caricature. Even Hogarth, when he
turned his hand to politics, could not shake off the old prejudice
on this subject, and it would be difficult to point out worse
examples than the two celebrated publications which drew
upon him so much popular odium, " The Times." Modern ca-
ricature took its form from the pencils of a number of clever
amateur artists, who were actively engaged in the political in-
trigues of the reign of George II. ; it became a rage during
the first years of his successor ; and then seemed to be dying
away, to revive suddenly in the splendid conceptions of Gillray.
This able artist was certainly the first caricaturist of our
country ; during his long career, he produced a series of prints
which form a complete history of the age.
The Work now laid before the public is necessarily but a
sketch ; only the more prominent points of the history of a
hundred years are seized upon, and put forward in relief. The
plan adopted has been to use caricatures and satires in the same
manner that other historical illustrations are commonly used,
by extracting from them the point, or at least a point, which
bears more particularly or directly on the subject under con-
sideration ; thus a few figures are taken from a caricature, or a
few lines from a song. Some of the more remarkable carica-
tures have been given entire, on separate plates. The idea, it is
believed, is new, and I had to contend with the difficulties of
labouring in so extensive a field, where nobody had previously
cleared the way. These difficulties were, indeed, much greater
than I foresaw, for no public collections of caricatures, or of
political tracts or papers, exist. The poverty of our great
national establishment, the British Museum, in works of this
class, is deplorable. As far as regards caricatures, 1 had fortu
nately obtained access to several very extensive private collec.
tions. Unfortunately, no one, as far as I have been able to dis-
cover, has made any considerable collection of political songs,
satires, and other such tracts, published during the last century
and the present. This is a circumstance much to be regretted,
for it is a class of popular literature which is rapidly perishing,
viii PREFACE.
although the time is not yet past when such a collection might
be made with considerable success.
In conclusion, I will merely add, that I have had to deal with
a class of literature which is always more coarse than any other,
and during a period which was celebrated for anything rather
than for delicacy. I have steered clear of this evil as carefully
as I could without infringing on the truth of the picture of
manners and sentiments which this book is intended to repre-
sent. For a similar reason I have avoided entering upon the
religious disputes, which were productive of much caricature
and satire ; but when caricature is applied to such subjects, it
seldom escapes the blot of being more or less profane.
So far I had written as a preface to the first edition of this
book, which appeared in 1843. I have only to add that, for
this new edition, I have carefully revised the whole, and that
I have made corrections where they seemed to be called for. It
is further to be remarked that the title of this book having been
originally tt England under the House of Hanover," it has been
judged desirable, for several reasons, to change it in the second
edition to that which it now bears which, in fact, describes it
to the general reader more intelligibly, as well as more correctly ;
for it is, strictly speaking, the History, by Caricature and Poli-
tical Satire, of the Reigns of the Three Georges.
THOMAS WEIGHT.
Sydney-sired, Brompton,
jDec.1807.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER L
GEORGE I.
STATE OF PARTIES AT THE END OF QUEEN ANNE'S REIGN HIGH-CHURCH AKD
DR. SACI1EVERELL ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. POLITICAL SQUIBS THAT
FOLLOWED ATTACKS UPON THE EX-MIMSTERS ROBERT, THE POLITICAL
JUGGLER AGITATIONS AT THE ELECTIONS JACOBITISH POPULARITY OF
THE DUKE OF ORMOND CARICATURES OF THE PRETENDER JACOBITE
RIOTS AND THE RIOT ACT FAILURE OF THE REBELLION AND EXULTATION
OF THE WHIGS HISTORY OF THE LONDON JACOBITE MOB THE KING'S
DEPASTURE FOB HANOVER . . pp. 134
CHAPTER IL
GEORGE I.
PARTY FEELING AFTER THE REBELLION PREVALENCE OF HIGHWAY ROBBERY
THE MOB BISHOP HOADLY'S SERMON, AND COLLEY GIBBER'S " NON-
JUROR" THE FRENCH MISSISSIPPI SCHEME THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE
SUDDEN MULTIPLICATION OF STOCK- JOBBING BUBBLES FALL OF THE
" PAPER KING " LAW THE SOUTH-SEA BALLAD SOUTH-SEA CARICATURES
BUBBLE CARDS, AND STOCK-JOBBING CARDS KNIGHT AND THE " SCREEN "
ELECTIONS FOR A NEW PARLIAMENT NEW EFFORTS IN FAVOUR OF THE
fBXTBNDEB BISHOP ATTEBBUHY'S PLOT pp. 85 64
CHAPTER III.
OKOBOE I. AND II.
LITERATURE DEBASED BY THE RAGE FOR POLITICS THE STAGE OPERAS,
MASQUERADES, AND PANTOMIMES HEIDEGGER AND HIS SINGERS ORATOR
HENLEY "THE BEGGARS' OPERA*' "THE DUNCIAD " CONTINUED POPU-
LARITY OF THE OPERA POLITICAL USE OF THE STAGE ACT FOB LICENS-
ING FLAYS ATTACKS UPON POPE NEW EDITION OF TUB " DUNCIAD. ''
pp. 6693
x CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
OEORGB II.
IR ROBERT WALPOLE'S ADMINISTRATION PULTENET, BOLINGBROKK, AND THB
" PATRIOTS " ACCESSION OF GEORGE n THE CONGRESS OF SOISSONS
PROSECUTION OP THE " CRAFTSMAN " THE EXCISE INCREASING ATTACKS
UPON WALPOLE VIOLENCE TS THE ELECTIONS THE GIN ACT THE PRINCE
OF WALES LEADS THE OPPOSITION FOREIGN POLICY ; WALPOLE AND CARDI-
NAL FLEURY RENEWED ATTACKS UPON WALPOLE, AND DIMINUTION OF
THE MINISTERIAL MAJORITIES THE "MOTION," AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY WALPOLE IN THE MINORITY, AND CONSEQUENT
RESIGNATION THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY ... pp. 94 142
CHAPTER V.
GEORGE II.
MINISTERIAL CHANGES AND PROMOTIONS UNPOPULARITY OF LORD BATH-
BATTLE OF DETTINGEN NEW CHANGES, AND THE " BROAD-BOTTOM " THE
REBELLION OF '45, AND ITS EFFECTS THE CITY TRAINED BANDS THE
BDTCHEB THE WESTMINSTER ELECTIONS NEW CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY
CONGRESS AND PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE THE HOSTAGES NEW
MINISTERIAL QUARRELS" CONSTITUTIONAL QUERIES " DEATH OF THE
PRINCE OF WALES PP. 143 177
CHAPTER VI.
GEORGE II.
CHANGES IN THE ADMINISTRATION, AND INCIPIENT OPPOSITION OLD INTEREST
AND NEW INTEREST ELIZABETH CANNING THE BILL FOB THE NATU-
RALISATION OF THE JEWS ELECTIONS ; HOGARTH'S PRINTS DEATH OF MB.
PELHAM, AND CONSEQUENT CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY WAR WITH FRANCE
TRIAL OF ADMIRAL BYNG NEW CONVULSION IN THE MINISTRY, AND AC-
CESSION OF WILLIAM PITT TO POWER THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR POPULAR
DISCONTENT ; BEER VCTSUS GIN CONQUEST OF CANADA DEATH OF GEORGE
THE SECOND .......... PP- 178216
CHAPTER VIL
GEORGE II. AND III.
PROGRESS OF LITERATURE: MAGAZINES AND REVIEWS; DR. HItX THE REIGJI
OF PERTNESS PREVALENCE OF QUACKEBY AND CREDULITY: THE BOTTLB
CONTENTS. xi
CONJUROR; THE EARTHQUAKE; THE COCK LANE GHOST THE STAGE AND
THE OPERA; GARHICK AND QUIN ; HANDEL; FOOTE INFLUENCE OF FRENCH
FASHIONS; NATIONAL EXTRAVAGANCE, AND SOCIAL CONDITION EXAGGE-
RATED FASHIONS IN COSTUME : HOOP-PETTICOATS AND GREAT HEAD-
DRESSES: THE MACCAROMS NEGLECT OF LITERATURE, AND QUARRELS OF
AUTHORS : HOGARTH AND CHURCHILL ; SMOLLETT ; JOHNSON ; CHATTER-
TON ...pp. 216 274
CHAPTER VIII.
GEORGE III.
ACCESSION OF GEORGE HI BREAKING UP OF THE PITT MINISTRY RISE OF
LORD BUTE, AND INUNDATION OF SCOTCHMEN THE PEACE BUTE'S RE-
SIGNATION "WILKES AND LIBERTY;" THE MOB THE NORTH BRITON,
AND THE "ESSAY ON WOMAN" ATTEMPT TO TAX THE AMERICANS THE
ROCKINGHAM MINISTRY PITT'S RE-APPEARANCE, AND TEMPORARY RESTO-
RATION TO POWER AS EARL OF CHATHAM OUTLAWRY OF WILKES ; THE
PILLORY BUTE'S SECRET INFLUENCE ; HIS PUPPETS WILKES AT BRENT-
FORD, AND IN THE KING'S BENCH WILKES LORD MAYOR OF LONDON, AND
BIS SUBSEQUENT HISTORY pp. 275 316
CHAPTER IX.
GEORGE III.
VIOLENT POLITICAL AGITATION THE NORTH ADMINISTRATION THE FOXES
REMONSTRANCES AND PETITIONS THE BUTTON-MAKER LIBERTY OF THE
PRESS CARICATURES ON THE AMERICAN WAR ADMIRAL KEPPEL WAR
WITH FRANCS AND SPAIN NO POPERY; THE LONDON RIOTS ATTACKS ON
THE EARL OF SANDWICH AND ON LORD NORTH ; THE POLITICAL WASHER-
WOMAN OVERTHROW OF LORD NORTH'S MINISTRY RODNEY'S TRIUMPHS
ROCKINGIIAM AND 8UELBURNE ADMINISTRATIONS AMERICA pp. 316 362
CHAPTER X.
GEORGE III.
OVERTHROW OF LORD SIIELBURNE THE COALITION ATTACKS ON THE COALI-
TION FOX'S INDIA BILL CARLO KUAN BACK-ST.uitS INFLUENCE THE
1NTKKFEHENCE OF THE KING, AND DISMISSAL OF THE MINISTRY QUARREL
BETWEEN THE CROWN AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS WILLIAM PITT PRIME
CONTEXTS.
MINISTER THE OPPOSITION IN MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE; DISSOLUTION OF
PARLIAMENT THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION THE DUCHESS OF DEVON-
SHIRE CARICATURES AND SQUIBS AGAINST THE DEFEATED COALITIONISTS
pp. 363 401
CHAPTER XT.
GEORGE III.
LOW STATE OF THE OPPOSITION CARICATURES AGAINST FOX AND HIS COL-
LEAGUES THE PROBATIONARY ODES IRELAND; GRATTAN AND FLOOD
THE FORTIFICATION SCHEME INDIA ; WARREN HASTINGS ; THE IMPEACH-
MENT THE PRINCE OF WALES; ROTAL PARSIMONY AND ROYAL EXTRAVA-
GANCE THE TRIAL OF WARREN HASTINGS MINISTERIAL CORRUPTION ;
ANTIPATHY OF PARTIES ; THE INSTALLATION SUPPER FIRST INDISPOSITION
OF THE KING: THE REGENCY BILL pp. 402 137
CHAPTER XII.
GEORGE in.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD EFFECT OF THE REVOLUTION IN ENG-
LAND DESERTION FROM THE LIBERAL PARTY IN PARLIAMENT ; BURKE's
PHILIPPICS REVOLUTIONARY SYMPATHY IN ENGLAND ; DR. PRICE, DR.
PRIESTLEY, AND THOMAS PAINE ANTI-GALLICAN AGITATION SATIRES ON
THE KING AND QUEEN AGITATION THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, AND
GOVERNMENT MEASURES AFFECTING THE LIBERTY OF THE SUBJECT
FOREIGN POLICY; WAR- WITH FRANCE pp. 438 489
CHAPTER
GEORGE III.
CLAMOURS FOR PEACE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES POPULAR SUB-
JECTS OF COMPLAINT; TAXES AND REFORM INSULT UPON THE KING BILL
AGAINST SEDITIOUS MEETINGS GREAT MEETING IN COPENHAGEN-FIELDS
UNSUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE NEW AGITATION AGAINST FRANCE
AND REPUBLICANISM WINE AND DOG TAX THREATENED INVASION IRISH
REBELLION NAVAL VICTORIES ; BATTLE OF THE NILE UNION WITH IRELAND
BUONAPARTE FIRST CONSUL . pp. 490 532
CONTENTS. u
CHAPTER XIV.
GEORGE III.
SOCIETY DURING THE LATTER PART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY COSTUME ;
EXTRAVAGANCE OF FASHIONS THE BALLOON MANIA GAMBLING AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES; LORD KENYON AND THE GAMBLING LADIES REVIVAL OF
MASQUERADES ; MRS. CORNELYS AND THE PANTHEON ; LICENTIOUSNESS OF
THE MASQUERADES THE OPERA, AND ITS ABUSES THE STAGE ; SHERIDAN,
KEMBLE, THE O. P. RIOTS PRIVATE THEATRICALS ; WARCRAVE AND WYNN-
8TAY; THE PIC-NICS THE SHAKESPEARE MANIA; IRELAND'S FORGERIES
AND BOYDELL'S SHAKSPEARE GALLERY ART, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
PETER PINDAR AND THE ARTISTS ; THE VENTIAN SECRET STATE OF THE
PERIODICAL PRESS ; LITERATURE IN GENERAL; BOZZY AND PIOZZI SCIENCE ;
THE SOCIETIES; SIR JOSEPH BANES pp. 533 581
CHAPTER XV.
GEORGE III.
THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT CHANGE OF MINISTRY PEACE WITH FRANCE
NEW STEP IN BUONAPARTE'S AMBITION RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES, AND
THREATENED INVASION DEFENSIVE AGITATION; VOLUNTEERS; CARICA-
TURES AND SONGS RETURN OF PITT TO POWER BUONAPARTE EMPEROR
TRAFALGAR DEATHS OF PITT AND FOX GENERAL ELECTION, WITH WARM
CONTESTS THE SPANISH WAR pp. 582 624
CHAPTER XVI.
GEORGE III. AND THE REGENCY.
.NEW PROSPECTS STRUGGLES OF PARTIES; SIR FRANCIS BURDETT ; JOHN BULL
IN ADMIRATION THE REGENCY THE WAR ; ELBA ; WATERLOO ; ST.
HELENA ENGLAND AFTER THE PEACE ; TAXATION AND REFORM ; THE
DANDIES AND THE HOBBY-HORSES pp. 625 C31
LIST OF FULL PAGE ENGRAVINGS.
GEORGE III. AND BONAPARTE, AS THE RINGS OF BROBDIGNAG AND LILMPCT
To face the title.
THE MOTION . . 128
CITY TRAINED BANDS 165
THE ELECTION CANVASSING FOR VOTES 183
LE MALADE IMAGINAIRE 221
BETTLING THE ODD TRICK 256
CARLO KHAN'S TRIUMPHAL ENTRY .373
THE POLITICAL BANDITTI .421
SMELLING OUT A RAT 452
TWO PAIR OF PORTRAITS 52fi
AN IRISH HOWL 528
ARMED HEROES 593
THE HAND-WRITING UPON THE WALL ........ 603
FROM A MIITIAT17IUE PAJTJTED BY HIMVEI*. BY .1C
CARICATURE HISTORY
OF
THE GEORGES.
CHAPTER I.
GEORGE I.
State of Parties at the end of Queen Anne's Reign High-Church and
Dr. Sacheverell Accession of George I. Political Squibs that followed
Attacks upon the ex- Ministers Robert, the Political Juggler
Agitation at the Elections Jacobitish Popularity of the Duke of
Ormond Caricatures of the Pretender Jacobite Riots and the Riot
Act Failure of the Rebellion and Exultation of the Whigs History of
the London Jacobite Mob The King's Departure for Hanover.
IT was the 3oth July, 1714, when a queen of England had
just sunk upon her death-bed ; and, perhaps, no monarch ever
left the world in the midst of more critical circumstances. Not
that the loss of the Queen herself was the object of any especial
regret ; for we are informed in the papers of the time, that, on
the morning of the 3ist, when it was reported in London that
Anne was dead, the public funds immediately rose three or four
per cent, and that in the afternoon, when it was known that
she was still alive, they fell at once to their former value.
We must review briefly the politics of the years which had
immediately preceded, to understand this singular position of
affairs. Two opposing parties had arisen out of the revolution
of '88. The Whigs, as the natural and stanch supporters of the
new state of things, had continued, with but slight interruptions,
to hold the reins of government, when they were at length
thrown out of power by the intrigues of the Bed-chamber in
1 7 1 o, at a moment when they had every reason to suppose
themselves strong in the confidence and sympathies of their
countrymen. The Tories, even when most moderate, were
a PARTY VIOLENCE.
secret well-wishers to the exiled family ; and this feeling,
cherished more or less strongly, produced various shades or
gradations of party, until it expressed itself in a form little short
of open treason in the non-jurors and Jacobites. There can be
little doubt that the whole Tory party of the reign of Queen
Anne would have ultimately declared in favour of the Pretender,
had he once obtained any certain prospect of success.
The antipathy between the two great political parties was of
the bitterest description; and each endeavoured to render its
opponents odious to the public by personal abuse and calumny,
which were scattered abroad with the scurrilous licence of the
press that had been handed down from the times of the Com-
monwealth and Charles the Second. It is hardly possible to
conceive anything more abhorrent to good feeling than the
virulent language of the political pamphlets of the age of which
we are speaking, which crept even into the more respectable
literature of the day. A Tory newspaper, the Post-Boy of March
30, 1 7 14, observes seriously, that "To desire the Whigs to forbear
lying, we are sensible would be a most unreasonable request ;
because it is their nature, and their faction could not subsist
without it." Their enemies endeavoured to throw upon the
Whigs, as a body, the imputation with which the Common-
wealth men had been stigmatized in the previous century : they
were a hypocritical set of schismatics and republicans, worthy
only to figure on the gallows or the pillory. A song, circulated
in 1712, describes them as a pack of ill-grained dogs.
" There's atheists and deists, and fawning Dissenter ;
There's republican sly, and long-winded canter j
There's heresy, schism, and mild moderation,
That's still in the wrong for the good of the nation ;
There's Baptist, Socinian, and Quakers with scruples,
'Till kind toleration links 'em all in church-couples.
" Some were bred in the army, some dropt from the fleet ;
Under bulks some were litter'd, and some in the street ;
Some are good harmless curs, without teeth or claws ;
Some were whelp'd in a shop, and some runners at laws ;
Some were wretched poor curs, mongrel starvers and setters,
Till, dividing the spoil, they put in with their betters."
The Whigs were by no means backward in throwing similar
dirt in the faces of the Tories, whom they looked upon in the
light of traitors and rebels. Among the clergy, unfortunately,
these political animosities were more acrimonious than among
the laity, and the pulpit everywhere teemed with seditious and
libellous sermons. A considerable portion of the clergy had
BEHAVIOUR OF THE CLERGY. 3
refused to acknowledge King William, and were strongly tainted
with Jacobitism; and a still greater number had only con-
formed to the circumstances of the times, reluctantly and with
mental reservations, in order to preserve the temporal advan-
tages they derived from the Church. Although several of the
bishops, such as Burnet and Hoadly, with a number of the
lower clergy, were distinguished by their liberal and tolerant
feelings, a very large party, who claimed the lofty-sounding
title of the High-Church, hated everything like a Dissenter
with an intense spirit of persecution, and detested the Whigs
as much for the protection they afforded them, as for their
political creed. The Tory papers could hardly allude to a mis-
fortune which had occurred to a Dissenter without a sneer or a
joke. The Weekly Packet of November 12, 1715, has the
following article : " On Monday last, the Presbyterian minister
at Epsom broke his leg, which was so miserably shattered, that
it was cut off the next day. This is a great token, that those
pretenders to sanctity do not walk so circumspectly as they
give out." The other party was by no means slow in retaliating
on the Church, which lost its dignity and its sacred character in
these unseemly disputes. The Whig pamphlets and songs pic-
tured in broad colours the unsanctitied lives of many of the
Church clergy, their venality and greediness ; and one song ends
with the taunt, that
"They swallow all up
Without e'en a gulp :
There's nought chokes a priest but a halter."
Unfortunately, too, many of the leading men on both sides
sullied their great talents by dishonesty and profligacy, and
gave a handle for the malice of their opponents.
The Revolution had been essentially aristocratic in character,
and no appeal had then been made to the passions of the multi-
tude. Hence arose the great strength of the Whigs in the
House of Lords. The first regular political mob was a High-
Church mob, stirred up for the purpose of raising a clamour
against the Whigs, and to influence the elections for Parliament.
This appeal to the lower orders was made through a divine of
very little moral character and no great abilities, the notorious
Dr. Henry Sacheverell, who, a renegade from Whiggism which
had not been profitable to him, was now a violent Tory with a
better prospect of gain ; and, after two or three attacks on the
Government, which had been passed over with contempt,
preached a sermon at St. Paul's before the Lord Mayor and
B 2
4 DR. SACHEVERELL.
Corporation on the 5th of November, 1 709 ; in which, taking
for his text the words of St. Paul, " Perils from false brethren,"
he held up the Whig Lord Treasurer Godolphin to the hatred
of his countrymen under the title of Volpone, attacked in a
scurrilous manner the bishops who were against persecuting the
Dissenters, condemned the Revolution, and asserted in the
broadest sense the doctrine of passive obedience to arbitrary
power. Such of the congregation as listened to the sermon
were offended at the language of the preacher ; and the matter
was brought before the Privy Council, which determined upon
an impeachment, and thus fell into a snare that had perhaps
been laid for them. The seditious sermon was printed, and the
Tories exerted themselves with so much activity in dispersing it
abroad, that no less than forty thousand copies are said to have
been sold. A tedious trial, ill-conducted, ended in the con-
demnation of the sermon (which was burnt by the hangman),
and in the Doctor being inhibited from preaching during three
years. * The trial was the making of Sacheverell ; he was now
held forth by the High-Church party as a martyr for the good
cause ; and it was darkly intimated that the Queen (who had a
strong leaning towards the High Church) secretly approved of
his conduct. Every kind of means was employed to provoke
people to join in the cry, that the Church and the Crown were
in danger from those who now ruled the country, and that
Sacheverell was persecuted because he had stood up in their
defence. Incendiary sermons were preached from the pulpit ;
money is said to have been freely distributed among the mob,
and songs were written to keep up the excitement ; even carica-
tures, which at this time were not so much in use as half a
century later, were made in considerable numbers on this occa-
sion. In fact, it was the first event of English history in the
eighteenth century which furnished a subject for caricatures.
Dean Kennett, in a pamphlet published in 1714,* tells us, that,
" For distinguishing the friends of Dr. Sacheverell as the only
true churchmen, and representing his enemies as betrayers of
the Church, there were several cuts and pictures designed for
the mob; among others a copper-plate, with a crown, mitre,
bible, and common prayer, as supported by the truly evangelical
and apostolical, truly monarchical and episcopal, truly legal and
canonical, or truly Church of England fourteen," who had sup-
* The Witdom of looking backwards, p. 1 3. Several of the prints here
alluded to are in the collection of Mr. Hawkins. In general, they are
equally poor in design and execution. I have not met with a copy of the
" copper-plate " described by Kennett.
SACHEVERELL SONGS. $
ported Sacheverell through his trial. A verse or two will be
quite sufficient as a sample of the Sacheverell songs. One of
them, entitled " The Doctor Militant ; or, Church Triumphant,"
to be sung to the tune of " Pakington's Pound," begins with the
following attack upon the Whigs :
"Bold Whigs and fanatics now strive to pull down
The true Church of England, both mitre and crown ;
To introduce anarchy into the nation,
As they did in Oliver's late usurpation.
In Queen Anne's happy reign
They attempt it again,
Who burn the text, and the preacher arraign.
Sachev'rell, Sacbev'rell, thou art a brave man,
To stand for the Church and our gracious Queen Anne."
It must be confessed that there was little in the doings of the
Whigs of Queen Anne's reign to justify the fear that they were
introducing anarchy. After a few more verses in this strain,
and some allusions to the turbulence under the Commonwealth,
the song ends with a lamentation for the loss of the "golden
days" of King Charles the Second :
" While knaves thus contended to sit on the throne,
The owner had hopes to recover his own ;
And so it fell out in the midst of their jars,
The King's restoration did finish the wars ;
In whose golden days
The Church held the keys,
And kept in subjection such rebels as these.
For there were Sachev'rells, whom God did inspire
To rescue the Church from fanatical fire."
But the allusions of the time show us that there were many
songs of a far more violent, and even treasonable character,
which were sung about the streets, and only printed clandestinely.
Few or none of these have been preserved, but they probably
pointed much more distinctly to the real aim of the party, the
introduction of the Pretender, to the exclusion of the House of
Hanover, which was the covert design of all this abuse of the
Cromwellian period and lavish praise of the reign of the restored
Charles. This design we shall very soon see carried out more
openly. Another song, entitled "High-Church Loyalty," goes
on in the same tone as the one quoted above :
" Ye Whigs and Dissenters, what would ye have done t
Ne'er think of restoring your old '41.
Then fill up a bowl, fill it up to the brim ;
Here's a health to all those whom the Church do esterm !
6 CARICATURES OF SACHEVERELL.
We know the pretence, you for liberty bawl ;
But had you your will, you'd destroy Chuich and all.
Then fill, &c.
* * *
While the Phoanix stands up, and the Bow bells do ring,
Here's a health to Sachev'rell, and God bless the Queen !"
This song was answered and parodied in doggrel about as good
as that in which it was itself written :
"You pinnacle-flyers, where would you advance?
What, would ye be bringing of Perkin from France ?
Instead of a bowl fill'd up to the brim,
A halter for those that would bring Perkin in ! "
The Whigs not only wrote and sung against Sacheverell, but
they caricatured him, and that very severely. In an engraving
THE THREE FALSE BRETHREN.
ot this time the Doctor is represented iu the act of writing his
sermon, prompted on one side by the Pope and on the other by
the Devil, these three being the "false brethren" from whom
the Church was really in danger. The other party, in revenge,
caricatured Bishop Hoadly, the friend of the Dissenters, and one
of the most able of the Low-Church party, in a number of
prints, in which the evil one was pictured as closeted with that
prelate, whose bodily infirmities were turned to ridicule. More-
over, they made a nearly exact copy of the caricature of
Sacheverell, with a bishop mitred in the place of the Pope, and
the Devil flying away in terror at the Doctor's sermon, thus
insinuating that this miserable tool was the great defence of the
Church of Christ against the attacks of Satan. A remarkable
instance of this adaptation of one design to the two sides of the
SACHEVERELL MOBS. 7
question is furnished by the medal, which must have been dis-
tributed in large quantities, having on one side the head of the
preacher surrounded by the words H. BACH. D.D., while the
inscription on the reverse, is FIBM TO THEE, surrounded on
some copies of the medal a mitre, and on others the head of the
Pope, thus being calculated to suit purchasers of all parties.*
The Whigs looked upon him as the trumpeter of the Pope,
while with the Tories he was the champion of the Church of
England. For the Whigs and Dissenters had raised the cry of
" No Popery !" in answer to the Tory outcry of the danger of
the Church ; and every sensible man saw that the contest
between High Church and Low Church was in reality a struggle
for the succession to the crown between the House of Stuart
and the House of Hanover. A large portion of the nation
looked forwards, with a variety of different feelings, to the
possibility of Queen Anne being succeeded on the throne by the
Pretender.
It was clearly with this object that a cabal sought to displace
the Whig ministry. Plunder and mischief were a much greater
incitement than any abstract principles to the class of persons
who composed the mob ; and the Dissenters, who were not per-
secuted for any crimes of their own, but for the pretended
offences of the older age of Presbyterian rule (for under the
tolerant governments of King William and Queen Anne they
had become a quiet and harmless portion of the community),
were deliberately pointed out as objects of attacks. On the
second day of Sacheverell's trial, the mob which had followed
him to Westminster Hall was assembled in the evening ; and,
being joined by a multitude of persons of the very lowest class
of society, proceeded to Lincoln's-Inn Fields, where was the
meeting-house of a celebrated Dissenting preacher, Mr. Burgess,
now known by the name of Gate-street Chapel. The mob burst
into this chapel ; and, amid ferocious shouts of " High Church
and Sacheverell !" tore out the pulpit, pews, and everything
combustible, and with these and the cushions and bibles maue
a large bonfire in the middle of Lincoln's-Iun Fields. They
* The caricatures here alluded <o will all be found in the collection of
Mr. Hawkins. The figure of Dr. Sacheverell was placed on a multitude of
different articles of ornament or use. Mr. C. Roach Smith possesses a
tobacco-stopper, with a medal-formed extremity, bearing the head of
Sacheverell, and the reverse of the mitre, with the same inscription as the
medal described in the text. Amid the virulent party ism of this age, all
kinds of ornamented articles were made the means of conveying caricatures,
and we even find them on seals for letters, and on buttons for people's coats,
aa somewhat later they appear on playing-cards and on ladies' fans.
8 SACHEVERELL'S PROGRESS.
treated in the same manner other well-known meeting-houses
in Long Acre, in New Street, Shoe Lane, in Leather Lane, in
Blackfriars, and in Clerkenwell. In the latter neighbourhood
they mistook an episcopal chapel for a Dissenter's meeting-
house, because it had no steeple, and would have destroyed the
house of Bishop Burnet, had they not met with a vigorous re-
sistance. No stop was put to their proceedings until it was
reported that they were going to attack the Bank, when they
were dispersed by a detachment of the Queen's guards. It was
commonly stated that persons of a higher class of society in
hackney-coaches directed the movements of this mob, and dis-
tributed money. In fact, the High-Church party approved of
these proceedings, and justified them by referring to the attacks
on Popish chapels at the period of the Eevolution. The writer
of a poem " Upon the Burning of Mr. Burgess's Pulpit "
exclaims,
" Invidious Whigs, since yon have made your boast,
That you a Church of England priest would roast,
Blame not the mob for having a desire,
With Presbyterian tubs to light the fire."
The success which had so far attended this plan encouraged
Sacheverell's patrons to carry it further, and to try its effects on
the mobs of other parts of the kingdom. The Doctor made a
progress through various parts of England, marching in a sort of
triumphal procession, and was received in cities and towns as
though he had been some great dignitary.
" Good folks, I pray, have you not heard
Of a criminal of late,
Who has rode through town and country too
In a most pompous state ?
In a most pompous state indeed,
In a train of brainless fools,
All managed by some knaves above,
And made their easy toola"
So says one of the Whig ballads of the day ; and the object of
Sacheverell's progress was apparent to all. Robert Harley and
Henry St. John, who were shortly afterwards raised to the peerage
by the titles of Lords Oxford and Boh'ngbroke, had obtained the
ear of the Queen, and thrown out the Whigs without possessing
the confidence of the nation ; and they seized the moment of ex-
citement thus raised by Sacheverell for the election of a new
Parliament, and succeeded in obtaining a large Tory majority.
It is hardly necessary to describe the reckless manner in which
the new miristry sacrificed the honour and interests of the
DEATH OF QUEEN ANNE. 9
country at Utrecht, or the succession of intrigues which ended
in the disgrace of the Earl of Oxford only three days before the
period mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. Boling-
broke, now at the height of his ambition, and less scrupulous
even than his former colleague, formed a ministry which could
be designed for no other purpose than to sacrifice this country
to France and introduce the Pretender, a ministry of which
more than one-half were subsequently attainted of high treason.
On the ist of August, 1714, Queen Anne died. The plans of
the Jacobite ministry had, in the meantime, been entirely de-
feated by the energetic activity of the Whig nobles, and George I.
was proclaimed King of England without opposition. As
might naturally be expected, the new monarch threw himself
entirely into the hands of the Whigs. To them in a great
measure he owed his throne ; and he could not help looking
upon the Tories as the personal enemies of his family. This
treatment probably drove the latter to unite in stronger
measures of opposition than many of them would, in other
circumstances, have approved.
The exultation of the party now restored to power was soon
visible in a number of lampoons and satirical writings. On the
7th of August, the Flying Post, one of the most violent organs
of the Whigs, gave, instead of its usual proportion of intelligence
and political observations, three songs, under the title of " A
Hanover Garland," the third of which concludes with the
lines,
"Keep out, keep out Han 'a [Hanover's] line,
'Tis only J a [James] has right divine,
As Romish parsons cant and whine,
And sure we must believe them :
But if their Prince can't come in peace,
Their stock will every day decrease,
And they will ne'er see Perkin's face,
So their false hopes deceive them."
The same journal, on the i oth of August, gives a burlesque list
of articles for public sale, among which are, " The Art of
Billingsgate ; or, infallible rules to rail and talk nonsense. In
10 volumes. By Harry Sacheverell. They will be sold cheap
because they are lately damag'd with mum ; " and " Rules for
making a bad peace when an enemy is under one's power ; or,
the way to part with all rather than ask anything. Wrote by
a minister of state to Queen Dido, and dedicated to all fools and
ninny hammers." Both these sarcastic allusions contained inti-
mations of the desire, if not the design, of revenge.
In the moment of his success, Sacheverell is said to have
io CARICATURE OF LOUD OXFORD.
been flattered with the prospect of a bishopric; but the only
preferment he eventually obtained was the good living of St.
Andrew's, Holborn, and he had long been looked upon with the
personal contempt he deserved by those whose tool he had been,
when the accession of the House of Hanover came to excite his
apprehensions. We learn from the newspapers of the day, that
in the first week after the death of Queen Anne, there was
some talk of ejecting the Doctor from his living ; and his name
was brought forward on one or two other occasions. But
he seems to have been cautious of provoking too far a party in
power, when he had evidently much to lose and nothing to
gain ; and, as his own party had soon more illustrious martyrs
to cry up, in the persons of Lord Bolingbroke and the Duke of
Ormond, he was regarded as an object too mean even for perse-
cution, and he was allowed to enjoy what he had until his
death.
It was, however, soon evident that the late ministers were
not likely to escape with the same ease. The cabal by which
they had risen first to power had been peculiarly undignified ;
not only the mode in which they had concluded the war, but
the whole of their administration had been anti-national in the
extreme ; and the persecutions to which they had subjected many
of the distinguished Whigs now led to recrimination and
passions which were not to be pacified without vengeance.
The Flying Post of the loth of August, the same in which
occurs the burlesque just mentioned, contained also the fol-
lowing advertisement : " The traytor's coat of arms, curiously
engraved on a copper-plate : the crest a Welshman strip'd of
his grandeur, playing upon a hornpipe, to lull his senses under
his misfortunes ; an Earl's coronet, filled with French flower-de-
luces, and tipt with French gold ; the Pretender's head in the
middle. The coat, three toads in a black field ; the three toads
are the old French coat of arms, being in reverse denotes
treason in perfection. The supporters are, a French Popish
priest in his habit, with a warming-pan upon his shoulder, and a
penknife in his left hand, ready to execute what the Popish
religion dictates upon Protestants : on the other side a Scots
Highlander, some call him Gregg ; a pack upon his back, and a
letter in his hand, betraying the kingdom's safety ; for his
encouragement and protection, he has his master's magic wand
and borrowed golden angel. The motto, Pour la veuve et
PorpJielin, i. e. For the widow and orphan. Sold by A. Boulter,
without Temple Bar." This was apparently the first English
caricature published during the reign of George I. ; a second
ROBERT, THE POLITICAL JUGGLER. n
edition was advertised shortly after its appearance, and it there-
fore probably enjoyed considerable popularity, yet I have not
been able to ascertain that a single copy is now in existence.
It was of course aimed at the ex-Lord Treasurer, Kobert
Harley, Earl of Oxford, one of whose creatures, a Scot named
Gregg, had been engaged in some unpatriotic intrigues during
the late ministry. The " widow and orphan " were Mary
of Modena and the Pretender. The warming-pan will be
explained a little farther on.
The conduct of Anne's Tory ministry began now also to
be arraigned in political romances and tales, a style of writing
which had been imported from France, and had become
popular since the Restoration. About the end of August
appeared the " History of the Crown Inn, with the death of the
widow, and what happened thereon," dedicated to the Lord
John Bull. The " Secret History of the White Staff" (by De
Foe), and the different pamphlets in answer to it and in defence
of it, in which the character of the Lord Treasurer Oxford
(who, having been the principal mover in the Bed-chamber
plots by which Marlborough and Godolphin had been over-
thrown, was an object of especial odium among the Whigs) was
very freely discussed, also made con-
siderable noise. At the beginning
of the year 1715 was published "A
Second Tale of a Tub ; or, the His-
tory of Robert Powel, the Puppet-
showman," written by Thomas Bur-
net, a son of the Bishop of Salisbury ;
in which the various intrigues by
which Harley and his colleagues had
attained to power are told under
fictitious characters, in a manner
well calculated to take hold upon
the sentiments of an ordinary class
of readers. A second edition of this
book was published within a few
weeks. In the frontispiece, the Earl
of Oxford, the great political juggler
of the time, is caricatured under the
figure of Powel (a man immortalized
in the Spectator as the keeper of a
puppet-show in the Piazza of Covent ROEEBT > m POLITICAl JUGGLKB '
Garden) exhibiting his puppets to
the world. " Well, gentlemen, you shan't be baulk'd. I'll hang
la THE ISLE OF NOSES.
out my canvas too, and like my brother monster-mongers,
well daub'd into the bargain. Stare then and behold the
novel figure. You see what is written over his head, This is
Mr. Powel that's he the little crooked gentleman, that holds
a staff in his hand, without which he must fall. The sight
is well worth your money, for you may not see such another
these seven years, nay, perhaps not this age." In one part of
this book we have a rather ingenious story or vision of an
island of noses, in which the dreamer meets with a large hooked
nose (Marlborough) , covered with rags and dirt, the reward he
had received for beating the enemies of his country. Suddenly -
a procession of flat-noses is seen approaching ; " for a distemper
lately come from France [an allusion to the intrigues of Anne's
last ministry with the French court] has swept away most
of our palates, and sunk our noses in the manner that you will
see, and that is one reason why the high hook-noses have
of late been so much out of fashion." " My friend was going
on, when, at the end of the aforesaid cavalcade, a parcel of
rabble flat Frenchify'd bridgeless noses came and set upon him
in a most base and barbarous manner, and with a snuffling
broken tone, call'd him ' Traytor ! ' Upon which my friendly
Mucterian took to his heels, and by that escap'd their fury. I
eould not but ask in a fret why they dealt with him in that
inhuman manner ; which I no sooner had said, when up comes a
nose quite black and rotten, and in pieces of words tells me that
I am a sawcy fellow to question a thing so well known. 'As
what?' quoth I. 'As what?' says he; why, that fellow you
was in company with is a traytor, for 'tis plain he beat our
enemies, and so prolonged an offensive war. Besides he's a high
hooked nose, and is a traytor of course !' Indeed, I observed my
friend's nose was something high and crooked; but, in all
my life, I never heard the shape of a nose urged as treason
before. In short, these vile flat-noses [the Tories] did not stay
for my answer ; but one of the most stinking among them blew
himself out upon me, and then called me ' Nasty fellow !' and
so left me to wipe up the affront."
The discomfited Tories, who were not generally backward in
taking up the pen, or deficient in able men to use it, were at
first entirely confounded by the sudden and unexpected course
>f events. One of the first lampoons upon the Whigs came
from the pen of the scurrilous publican-poet, Ned Ward.
Marlborough, who had sought quiet in voluntary exile, the
high hooked-nose escaped from the flat-noses, as Thomas Bur'
nett has it, returned immediately on the death of the Queen,
ATTACKS ON MABLBOEOUGH. 13
landed at Dover, and was conducted in triumph to London by a
long train of gentlemen in carriages and on horseback, on the
4th of August. The Hanoverian envoy, Bothmar, writes, that
the Duke " came to town amidst the acclamations of the people,
as if he had gained another battle of Hochstet." Ned Ward
gave vent to the spleen of his party by ridiculing this proces-
sion in Hudibrastic doggrel, under the title of " The Republican
Procession; or, the tumultuous Cavalcade." Ward describes
the Duke's escort as
" Consisting of a factious crew,
Of all the sects in Rosse's ' ' View,"*
From Calvin's Anti-Babylonians,
Down to the frantick Muggletonians ;
Mounted on founder'd skins and bones,
That scarce could crawl along the stones,
As if the Roundheads had been robbing
The higglers' inns of Ball and Dobbin,
And all their skeletonian tits
That could but halt along the streets :
The frightful troops of thin-jaw'd zealots,
Curs'd enemies to kings and prelates.
Those champions of religious errors,
Looking as if the prince of terrors
Was coming with his dismal train
To plague the city once again."
The Tories of that age affected to look with contempt on the
commercial interests of the country, and on the moneyed houses
of the City, for the merchants had placed their confidence in
the foreign policy of the Whigs. Ward, after speaking of the
" Low-Church city elders," says :
" Next these, who, like to blazing stars,
Portend domestic feuds and wars,
Came managers and bank-directors,
King-killers, monarchy-electors,
And votaries for lord-protectors ;
That, had old subtle Satan spread
His net o'er all the cavalcade,
He might at one surprizing pull
Have fill'd his low'r dominion full
Of atheists, rebels, Whigs, and traytors,
Reforming knaves and regulators ;
And eas'd at once this land of more
And greater plagues than Egypt bore."
Under the circumstances of the times, the Tories did not
* Alexan-ler Ross was the author of a book, rather well known at that
time, entitled, "View of all Religions, with a Discovery of all known
Heresies, and Lives of Notorious Hereticks," published in 1696.
14 STREET LIBELLERS.
venture, except in rare instances, to exhibit the extent of their
exasperation by the ordinary way of publicity. They reckoned
again upon the mob to embarrass the Government, and a multi-
tude of low libels and seditious papers were hawked and distri-
buted about the streets for halfpence and pence, which kept the
populace in a perpetual state of excitement. Few of these
papers are now preserved. There is one, in a broadside, " price
one penny," in the British Museum, which, under the title
of " A Dialogue between my Lord B ke and my Lord
W n," (Bolingbroke and Wharton,) contains a satirical
attack on the Duke of Marlborough, when he was returning to
England. Before the end of August a multitude of such penny
and halfpenny libels were spread over the country, in which
the Whigs were compared to the levellers of the days of
Charles I. ; and attacks, as scurrilous and indecent as they were
unprovoked, were heaped upon the Dissenters. " The Tories,"
says a newspaper of the date just mentioned, " who have the
black mob on their side, cry, ' No calves' heads !' ' No king-
killers !' " In November, the political hawkers and ballad-
singers had become extremely troublesome about the streets of
London, and the Lord Mayor was compelled to seize upon many
of them, and throw them into the House of Correction. On
the 1 6th of November, an Order of Council appeared for the
suppression and punishment of " false and scandalous libels "
hawked about the streets ; and on the 24th of the same month
another proclamation to the same purpose was made ; but the
object of these measures appears to have been but partially
effected. The Political State (November, 1714, p. 446) gives
the titles of some of the seditious pamphlets sent abroad in this
manner ; among which appears " The Duke of Marlborough's
Cavalcade," probably the poem of Ned Ward described above.
Some of these papers and ballads appear to have been of a trea-
sonable description. To give instances from a little later date,
out of a great number which might be collected together, we
may mention, that, in the Weekly Packet of January 7, 1716,
we are informed, " Last Monday the Lord Mayor committed a
woman to Newgate for singing a seditious ballad in Gracechurch
Street;" and it is stated in the Flying Post of the ayth of
May immediately following, that " last Saturday" the grand
jury of the City of London " presented a seditious and scanda-
lous paper, called ' Kobin's last Shift, or Shift Shifted,' and the
singing of scandalous ballads about the streets, as a common
nuisance, tending to alienate the minds of the people ; and we
hear an order will be published to apprehend those who cry
ATTACKS ON THE DISSENTERS. 15
about or sing such scandalous papers, They have also presented
such as go about with wheelbarrows and dice, and make it their
practice to cheat people ; and such as go about streets to clean
shoes ou the Sabbath day." Scraps of information like this
give us a curious view of the streets of London nearly a hundred
and fifty years ago.
The prejudices against Dissenters were inflamed in every
possible manner, for the hardly concealed purpose of raising a
new High-Church mob, and exerting through it the same
violent influence over the elections which had been so successful
in bringing together the Parliament that was now separating.
Two agents, opposite enough in their characters, were actively
employed in this work the pulpit and the stage. Before the
end of December it was found necessary, by a royal proclama-
tion, to order the clergy to avoid entering upon state affairs in
their sermons. At the theatre, the plays or the prologues often
contained political sentiments or allusions which led at times to
serious riots. Farces were brought out in which the Dissenters
were exhibited in an odious or degrading light. To quote from
the journals of the period at which the consequent excitement
was pushed up to its highest point, and when mobs were perpe-
trating mischief and destruction in many parts of the kingdom,
we find advertised, in the beginning of June, 1715, "The City
Ramble ; or, the Humours of the Compter. As it is now acted
with universal applause at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
By Captain Knipe." It is added, that the book was "adorned
with a curious frontispiece, respecting a Presbyterian teacher and
his doxy as committed to the Compter." I have not been able
to meet with the book, or the " curious frontispiece," which was
what may be looked upon legitimately as a caricature ; but it
had no doubt an immediate aim, for the theatre in Lincoln's Inn
Fields was in close proximity to the same celebrated Dissenters'
meeting-house which had been so rudely treated by the Sache-
verell mob. Even at Oxford, after a High-Church riot about
this time, a member of the University, in an anonymous tract in
justification of it, stated that an anabaptist preacher of that town
had baptized two young women in the morning, and been found
in bed between them at night, one of those slanderous stories
which had been borrowed from the days of the Cavaliers.
The effect of this incessant agitation was not long in showing
itself; for the first outbreak took place on the clay of the King's
coronation, the 2oth of October, 1714. On the evening of that
day, the citizens of Bristol illuminated their windows, and made
bonfires in the stroots, and the corporation gave a ball. The
i6 VIOLENCE OF THE ELECTIONS.
first signal for the riot which followed is said to have been a re-
port that the Whigs were going to burn the effigy of Sacheve-
rell ; upon which a mob suddenly collected together and rushed
through the streets, breaking the windows that were illuminated,
and putting out the bonfires, at the same time raising ferocious
shouts of " Down with the Roundheads ! God bless Dr. Sache-
verell !" They repaired to the town-hall, and threw large stones
through the windows of the ball-room, to the great danger of
the persons assembled there. The attacks of the mob were now
more especially directed against the Dissenters ; they entirely
gutted the house of one of them, a baker named Stevens, who
was killed by the assailants in an attempt to expostulate with
them. This fatal catastrophe appears to have arrested the mob,
and no further mischief was done ; but several of the rioters
were tried and severely punished. The town of Chippenham, in
Wiltshire, continued in an uproar during several nights, and
houses were attacked and their inmates ill-treated. Other riots,
equally alarming, occurred at the same time at Norwich, Reading,
Birmingham, and Bedford. At Birmingham the mob was very
violent, and their shout was, " Sacheverell for ever ! Down with
the Whigs !" At Bedford, where the proceedings of the mob
seem to have been countenanced by the magistrates, the public
May-pole was dressed in mourning. In spite of a proclamation
against riots, issued on the and of November, the mobs in many
places continued to create disturbances. At Axminster, in
Devonshire, on the 5th of November, the " High-Church rabble,"
as the newspapers call them, shouted for the Pretender, and
drank his health as King of England.
The elections which came on in January were carried on even
with more violence than those of 1710 ; * but times were altered,
and the Whigs obtained an overpowering majority. It was on
these two occasions that English elections of members for Par-
liament first took that character of turbulence and acrimony
which for more than a century destroyed the peace and tran-
quillity of our country towns, and from which they have only
been relieved within the last few years. The Flying Post of
January 27, 1715, gives the following burlesque "bill of costs
Many seditious and treasonable writings were spread about in January,
one of which made much noise, and was vigorously prosecuted. Under the
title of "English Advice to the Freeholders of England," it was a violent
attack upon the Whigs, both personally and collectively, and was particu-
larly rancorous against the Duke of Marlborough ; it pointed out the pre-
tended dangers of the Church from the principles of the House of Hanover,
and exhorted the electors to fly to its aid.
ELECTIONEERING EXPENSES. 17
for a late Tory election in the West," in which part of the
country the Tory interest was strongest :
s. d.
Imprimis, for bespeaking and collecting a mob . .2000
Item, for many suits of knots for their beads . 30 o o
For scores of huzza-men . . . . . . 40 o o
For roarers of the word " Church " . . . . 40 o o
For a set of " No Roundhead" roarers . . . 40 o o
For several gallons of Tory punch on church tomb-
stones . . . . . . . . 30 o o
For a majority of clubs and brandy-bottles . .2000
For bell-ringers, fiddlers, and porters . . . .1000
For a set of coffee-house praters . . . . 40 o o
For extraordinary expense for cloths and lac'd hats on
show days, to dazzle the mob . . . . 50 o o
For Dissenters' damners 40 o o
For demolishing two houses ..... 200 o o
For committing two riots ...... 200 o o
For secret encouragement to the rioters . . . 40 o o
For a dozen of perjury men ..... too o o
For packing and carriage paid to Gloucester . 50 o o
For breaking windows . . . . . . 20 O O
For a gang of alderman-abusers . . . . 40 o o
For a set of notorious lyars 50 o o
For pot-ale 100 o o
For law, and charges in the King's Bench . . . 300 o o
1460 o o
It will be observed in this " bill " that bribery is not put down
as one of the prominent features of an election at this period ;
violence was, as yet, found to be more effective than corruption.
The new Parliament met towards the end of March. The
following statement in the Weekly Packet (a Tory paper)
of April 2, 1715, will furnish an amusing picture, not only of
parliamentary manners outside the house at this date, but of the
wild spirit of party : " Last week the footmen belonging to the
members of the House of Commons, according to the custom of
their masters, (which they had strictly imitated for more than
thirty years,) proceeded to the choice of a Speaker; when those
that espouse the cause of the Whigs chose Mr. Strickland's man,
and the Tory livery gentry the servant of Sir Thomas Morgan.
Hence a battle ensued between the two contending parties,
wherein several broken heads discovered the resolution of each
to abide by its respective choice, though the combatants were at
that time forced to leave the victory undecided (the House
rising). But on Monday last they returned to their former trial
of skill ; and the Tones, after an obstinate resistance from the
i8 JOHN DUNTON.
Whigs, who would by no means show themselves passive, but
disputed their ground inch by inch, had the better of their adver-
saries, and carried their mock Speaker three times round West-
minster Hall. After which, he that was chosen to fill their
chair, as well as his predecessor, according to ancient usage, spent
their crowns apiece in drink at a dinner, which an adjacent ale-
house entertained them with gratis."
No sooner had the Parliament assembled, than the Tories
were alarmed by the threatened impeachment of the late min-
isters. This gave rise to a fierce controversy with the pen,
before it became a matter of debate in the senate : for two or
three weeks, pamphlet upon pamphlet, on both sides of the ques-
tion, issued daily from the press, some written calmly and
moderately, while others were cliaracterized by all the bitterness
and scurrility of the party spirit of those days. Among the
Whig writers, who made the greatest noise in their different
circles, were Thomas Burnett, already mentioned, whose father
the Bishop was now dead, and the more prolific party-writer
John Dunton, whose pamphlets were calculated for wider distri-
bution among a somewhat lower class of readers. Burnett was
rather rudely handled in this controversy, and was made the butt
of several satirical tracts, the writer of one of which undertook to
prove that he was asleep when he wrote his pamphlet in defence
of the impeachment. Dunton was a scheming needy writer ; he
was a broken bookseller, and now, as old age approached, sought
to gain a support from Government by the zeal and number of
his political writings ; he was withal somewhat of a wag. A few
months after the date of which we are speaking, on the ist of
May, 1716, we learn from the Flying Post that John Dunton
and " a devil " (" i. e. a printer's boy : " this appears to be an
early instance of the use of the term) were seen marching
through the streets of London, and distributing a book entitled
" Seeing's believing ; or, King George proved a Usurper." The
citizens, astonished that any one should possess the impudence
to sell such a book openly, probably thought he was mad ; but
he was without delay arrested and carried first before the Lord
Mayor, and subsequently before one of the Secretaries of State.
A rumour was soon spread abroad that Dunton had become a
convert to Jacobitism ; and, while the Whigs were scandalised
at his defection, the Tories rejoiced loudly at having gained so
popular a champion. But their joy was changed into vexation,
when it was made known that the tract in question, instead of
being a treasonable libel, was a bitter lampoon on their own
party ; and Dunton and his friends went to a noted Whig
SONG OF THE DUKE OF OSMOND. 19
tavern in St. John's Lane, to laugh in their sleeves and to drink
loyal toasts.
The history of the impeachments is well known : Bolingbroke
and Ormond fled to France, and openly joined the Pretender, and
they were accordingly attainted. Oxford was thrown into the
Tower ; but, after a wearisome imprisonment, he escaped without
further hurt. The result was advantageous, as far as it secured
the principle that ministers of the Crown are personally respon-
sible for the acts of their administration ; and it forced secret
enemies, who were plotting against the Government, to show
themselves openly. Indeed, this measure, probably more than
anything else, led to the premature outbreak of the Jacobite re-
bellion towards the end of the year.
Ormond was the only one of the late ministers who enjoyed much
popularity, and his name was now substituted for that of Sache-
verell in the cries of the mob. From this moment the Doctor lost
his importance ; and within a few years, at the time when
Hogarth drew his series of the " Harlot's Progress," Sacheve-
rell's portrait was looked upon as a fit companion for that of the
no less notorious Captain Mackheath in the vilest dens of profli-
gacy. The head of " Duke Ormond " now figured as an orna-
ment on articles of common use, as Dr. Sacheverell's had done
before ; and a very remarkable proof of the length of time which
it requires to eradicate feelings and prejudices impressed on the
popular mind in times of great political excitement, is furnished
by the following rather droll song upon the Duke of Ormond,
preserved traditionally in the Isle of Wight and in Kent. The
copy I give here, which is the best I have been able to obtain,*
was still sung, some thirty or forty years ago, by several old
men in the neighbourhood of Maidstone in Kent.
"SONG OF ORMOND AND MARLBOROUGH.
**I am Ormond the Brave, did you ever hear of me,
A man lately forced from his own country,
They sought for my life, and they plundered my estate,
Ail for being so loyal to Queen Anne the great.
CHOBUS And sing, Hey, ho, ho,
I am Ormond, you know,
I am Ormond, you know,
Though they call me Jemmy Butler,
I am Ormond you know.
* It was communicated to me by a gentleman of Mereworth, near Maid-
atone. In the first edition of this book I printed a much more corrupt and
imperfect text, communicated to me by Mr. C. Roach Smith, who had
taken it down, in 1841, from the mouth of an itinerant fishmonger in the Isle of
Wight, who knew no more about it than that it had been sung by his father
c 2
ao SATIRES ON THE PEETENDEB.
" Betwixt Ormond and Marlborough arose a great dispute :
Says Ormond to Marlborough, ' I was born a duke,
And you but a footboy to wait upon a lady;
Tou may thank your kind fortune and the wars which have made ye.'
And sing, Hey, ho, ho, &c.
" ' I never was a traitor, like you, thou false knave,
Nor ever cursed Queen Anne when she lay in her grave ;
But I was Queen Anne's darling, and my country's delight,
And for the crown of England so boldly I did fight.'
And sing, Hey, ho, ho, &c.
"'Begone, then,' says Ormond, 'you cowardly creature,
To rob my poor soldiers, it never was my nature,
Which you have done before, as we well understand ;
You have filled your own purse, and impoverished the land.'
And sing, ' Hey, ho, bo, &c.
"Says Marlborough to Ormond, ' Now do not say so,
Or from the Court I will force you to go.'
Says Ormond to Marlborough, 'Now do not be so cruel,
But draw forth your sword, and we'll end it in a duel.'
And sing, Hey, ho, ho, &c.
" Says Marlborough to Ormond, ' I'll go and ask my lady,
And, if she is willing, to fight you I'm ready.'
But Marlborough went away, and he came no more there,
So this noble Duke of Ormond threw his sword in the air.
And sing, Hey, ho, ho, &c."
It was by songs of this character that the minds of the lower
classes in England were to have been prepared, it was hoped, to
join in a general rising in favour of the exiled house of Stuart.
The Jacobite minstrelsy of Scotland had, no doubt, its counter-
part in this country ; but its effects were much less considerable,
and it was soon forgotten, with the exception of scattered scraps
like that given above. The name of the Pretender was some-
times uttered by the disorderly rabble amid the election riots at
the beginning of the year ; but after the flight of Bolingbroke
and Ormond it was heard much more frequently, and songs and
satires against the Hanoverian family were sought and listened
to with avidity. The Whigs replied to these with a shoal of
pamphlets and papers, reproducing all the old tales of the Revo-
lution, and casting ridicule and contempt upon the son of
James II., whom they insisted on looking upon as a mere im-
postor. The common story was, that the Pretender was the
child of a miller, and that, when newly born, he had been con-
and grandfather before him. I look upon this song as one of the most
curious relics of English Jacobite literature I have yet met with. It was
no doubt one of those sung about the country on the eve of the Rebellion of
1715. I am told that a few years ago this song was commonly sung at the
harvest-homes in the Isle of Wight.
CARICATURES OF THE PRETENDER. at
veyed into the Queen's bed by means of a warming-pan ; and
this contrivance having been ascribed to the ingenuity of Father
Petre, the Whigs always spoke of the Pretender by the name of
Perkin, or little Peter. The warming-pan figures repeatedly in
the satirical literature of the day. The birth of the Pretender
had been the subject of a number of caricatures, chiefly of
foreign growth, in the reign of King William, which were now
as suitable as when first published. In one of these the Queen
TVr
THE CATHOLIC FAMILT.
is represented sitting by the cradle, while her Jesuit adviser
whispers her in the ear, with his hand over her neck in a familiar
manner, which might at least be designated as un peu leste. Ifc
is a complete Catholic family.
The infant has a child's wind-
mill on its bed, to mark the
trade of its real parents ; and a
bowl of milk and an orange are
on the table below. A much
larger caricature, executed in
Holland, represents the child in
its cradle as here, with the wind-
mill also, but accompanied by
its two mothers and the Jesuit,
while the picture is filled with
a host of princes, diplomatists,
ecclesiastics, &c., looking on with
astonishment. It bears the title
' L' Europe allarm6e pour la TRUTH EXPOSING IHX SECRET.
22 HIGH- CHURCH EIOTS IN LONDON.
Fils d'un Meunier." Many satirical medals were also distri-
buted abroad. One of these, a large silver medal of fine execu-
tion, bears on one side a group representing a child on a cushion,
crowned and carrying the pax (as the symbol of Eomanism)
in his right hand ; but Truth, crushing a serpent with her foot,
opens the door of a cupboard or chest under the cushion, in
which we see Father Petre pushing the child up through the
roof.*
The disaffected party now prepared for the dangerous game
they were resolved to play by incessant agitation ; for the poli-
tical maxim, " Agitate, agitate," was known and practised long
before the reigns of King "William and Queen Victoria. The
mob was, as usual, soon urged into open violence by the old cry
of " The Church !" while the Dissenters underwent a much
fiercer persecution than that with which they had been visited
in 1710, and they bore it in general with exemplary moderation.
On the 23rd of April, 1715, the anniversary of the birthday of
Queen Anne, the London mob began to assemble towards even-
ing at the conduit on Snow Hill, where they hung up a flag and
a hoop, and money having been given them to purchase wine,
they collected round a large bonfire. From thence they moved
off in parties in different directions, patrolling the streets during
the whole night, shouting " God bless the Queen and High-
Church ! Bolingbroke and Sacheverell !" and attacking houses,
breaking windows, insulting and robbing passengers, and levying
contributions everywhere. Many of the mob were armed with
dangerous weapons, and several persons were severely wounded.
It was at one time proposed to pull down the Dissenters'
meeting-houses, but this project was for some reason or other
abandoned. The streets continued to be more or less infested
in this manner night after night for some time. The 2pth of
April was the Duke of Ormond's birthday, and that night the
streets of London were the scene of new riots and outrages.
On the night of Saturday, May 28 (the King's birthday), and
on the Sunday night, the 2pth (the anniversary of the liestora-
tion), the mob committed great outrages in different parts of
London, and dangerously wounded some of the constables and
watch. They burnt the effigies of the chief Dissenting ministers,
shouted 'High Church and Ormond !" and publicly drunk the
Pretender's health in Ludgate Street and other places. A riot
* This medal is still not very uncommon. Copies of it will be found in
the collections of Mr. Haggard and Mr. W. H. Diamond. The caricatures
alluded to, with others on the same subject, are in the collections of Mr.
Hawkins and Mr. Burke.
PLOTS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. 23
of a similar character occurred at Oxford on the King's birth-
day, and the Quakers' chapel was attacked and stript by the
mob. Within a few days of this time the same riotous spirit
had carried itself into several of the largest provincial towns.
At Manchester, early in June, the mob had become absolutely
master of the town for several days ; they destroyed all the Dis-
senters' chapels, threw open the prison, drunk the Pretenders'
health, and committed many outrages. There was near the
same time a Jacobite riot at Leeds in Yorkshire. A troop of
soldiers were sent to Manchester, and the Mayor of Leeds, who
was accused of connivance, was brought to London in the cus-
tody of a king's messenger. Yet in July this spirit had become
still more general, and had spread especially through Stafford-
shire, Shropshire, and Cheshire. Very serious tumults occurred
at Wolverhampton, Warrington, Shrewsbury, Stafford, New-
castle-under-Line, Litchfield, West-Bromwich, and many other
places. The meeting-houses of the Dissenters were everywhere
destroyed ; cowardly outrages were committed, and in some
places sanguinary combats ended in loss of life. When the mob
was pulling down the meeting-house at Wolverhampton, one of
their leaders mounted on the roof, flourished his hat round his
head, and shouted, " King George and the Duke of Marl-
borough !" At Shrewsbury, where the old cry of " High Church
and Dr. Sacheverell !" was raised, a justice of the peace and a
substantial tradesman were convicted of being ringleaders of the
mob. At the end of July there was a serious riot at Leek, in
Staffordshire, where much mischief was done ; and there was
another at Oxford as late as the ist of September, when the
mob shouted, " Ormond !" and " No George !" and the Pre-
tender's health was said to have been drunk in some of the
colleges.
These tumults called forth the Riot Act, still in force, which
was passed in the month of June, and which, by making
the offence felony, and obliging the city or hundred to make
good the damages committed, did much towards restoring
order ; but more, perhaps, was done by the wholesale severity
shewn towards the rioters in the trials that followed shortly
after. A newspaper of the 2nd of September tells us, that
" the judges have behaved very bravely." With a view to
other events, which were now literally casting their shadow
before them, troops of horse were quartered in several of the
towns which had shewn themselves most disaffected.
We cannot at the present day feel otherwise than astonished
at the facility with which these riots were carriei on, and
24 PLOTS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT.
the regular communication which must have existed between
the leaders of the mobs in different parts of the country.
It would appear as though there had been no laws to provide
against such emergencies, and no police or military force dis-
tributed through the country to hinder or suppress outbreaks of
popular turbulence. It is true that, in London at least,
the pillory and the whipping-cart were in daily use ; but
these instruments of punishment were robbed of the greater
portion of their terrors when a sympathising crowd (paid, as it
is said, by richer men of the party) escorted the sufferer,
cheered him by their shouts, and carried him away in triumph
when it was over. The Flying Post, a violent Whig paper, in
its intelligence from Coventry of the date of September 10,
gives rather an amusing anecdote of the preventive effect of the
new Riot Act, and of the methods sometimes taken to evade
it for the perpetration of mischief. On the Sunday preceding, a
mob had been collected at Burton-upon-Trent, with the desire at
least of pulling down a Dissenters' meeting-house there at
the time of divine service ; but, informed of the consequences,
they procured a young bull, cut off its ears and tail, tied squibs
and crackers to it, and thus goaded it forwards towards the
meeting-house door. The Whig writer exultingly tells us how
the tortured animal suddenly turned round, and rushed through
the mob, knocking down and trampling upon all who stood
in its way ; and how it then ran nearly two miles and furiously
threw itself into the parish church, where it killed and severely
injured several of the congregation.
These systematic riots were intimately connected with plots
of a more serious character, with which the Government be-
came gradually acquainted during the summer months ; and
these discoveries upon which many persons of distinction were
placed in custody, had a further effect in hastening the com-
mencement of the rebellion, while they destroyed the prospects
of the Jacobites in England. The prisons throughout the
country were soon filled with political offenders, many of whom
were Church of England clergymen. Among other persons
whom it was thought necessary to place under arrest was
Sir William Wyndham, member for Somersetshire (where
the Jacobites were strong), and one of the leaders of the Tory
party in the House of Commons. A song called " The Vaga-
bond Tories," published on the 2oth of August, intimates
the suspicion, that he was preparing to fly into France to
join the Pretender.
SATIRES ON THE JACOBITES. 5
"The knight of such fire
From S tshire,
Who for High Church is always so hearty,
Tho' in England he tarries,
Is equipping for Paris,
To prevent any schism in the party."
Sir Constantino Phipps, the Jacobite ex-Chancellor of Ireland,
who had been Sacheverell's advocate at his trial, and to whom
the University of Oxford had given a degree in a markedly
factious manner on the King's coronation day, is also pointed
out as a conspirator :
"The impudent P pps
Must come in for snips,
Who at Oxford so lately was dubb'd ;
Tho' instead of degree,
Such a bawler as he
Deserv'd to be heartily drubb'd.
"Young Perkin, poor elf,
May promise himself
Two things from the face of that man ;
There's brass within reach
To furnish a speech
And the lid of a warming-pan."
The taunts on those who had not fled are followed by sneers
on those who had :
" What Ormond, with fraud,
Long ago did abroad,
With fear he does over again ;
Tis but an old dance
To leave England for France,
He played the same trick at Denain." *
While the ministry of King George was successfully pur-
suing measures of security, the exultation of the Whig party
sought an outlet in multitudes of songs like the foregoing ; and
their newspapers and pamphlets became more numerous and
more exciting. Most of these songs are set to the tunes
of popular ballads ; one, to the tune of " A begging we will
go," thus speaks of the " High-Church rebels : "
" See how they pull down meetings,
To plunder, rob, and steal ;
To raise the mob in riots,
And teach them to rebel.
Oh ! to Tyburn let them go I
An allusion to the desertion of the allies by the English army, under
the Duke of Ormond, in the year 1711.
26 SUPPRESSION OF THE REBELLION.
"At Oxford, Bath, and Bristol,
The rogues design 'd to rise ;
But George's care and vigilance
There's nothing can surprize.
So to Tyburn let them go I
" Their plot is all discover'd now,
Their treason nought avails ;
The Tow'r and Newgate quite are full,
And all our county jails.
So to Tyburn let them go !*
In another, which was a parody upon a Jacobite song, the
Tories are made to call upon the Pretender in despair :
"To you, dear Jemmy, at Lorrain,
We mournful Tories send,
Unless you'll venture one campaign,
Our cause is at an end :
We've nothing left but to be stout,
For all our plots are now found out.
With a fa la la la," &c.
" We sent you first Lord Bolingbroke,
In hopes to bring you over ;
And then we sent wise Ormond's duke,
That rival of Hanover :
You need not fear if you are beat,
Since he's so good at a retreat !
With a fal la la la, &c."
When the rebellion was entirely suppressed, and the Scottish,
minstrels were lamenting pathetically the departure of their
prince, their brethren in England were indulging in parodies
like the following :
" 'Twas when the seas were roaring
With blasts of northern wind,
Young Perkin lay deploring
On warming-pan reclin'd :
Wide o'er the roaring billows
He cast a dismal look,
And shiver'd like the willows
That tremble o'er the brook."
The Tories at the same time appeared discomfited even
in their writings. The newspapers give no intelligence, and
make no remarks, until, as soon as the rebellion lost all
appearance of success, they begin to talk of the "rebels"
as if they were themselves staunch supporters of the Hano-
verian succession. John Dunton in a pamphlet entitled " Mob
"War," published at this time, says, " Even Abel Boper* now
* The Post Boy, a Tory newspaper.
EXULTATION OF THE WHIGS. 27
grows modest and tender-conscienced. Drunken P tis is
wretchedly dull in his Jacobite Packet,* and there are thoughts
of dismissing him from the service. Whig papers and
pamphlets are only in demand, and the booksellers who engaged
in hereditary right are just a breaking. The Examiner \ has
spent himself quite, and would give five shillings apiece for
political lyes, and three shillings for a probable reflection upon
the present ministry." The Tories in general made their peace
with the powers that were, by taking the oath of allegiance ;
and the Daily Courant of November 30, i7 J 5 contains the
following advertisement of a caricature on this subject, of which
no copy, as far as I can learn, is now preserved : " This day is
published, 'A Call to the Unconverted; being an emblem
of the Tories' manner of taking the oaths.' Price sixpence."
A week after this, the St. James's Post of December 7 contains
the following advertisement : " This day is published, ' An
Argument proving all the Tories in Great Britain to be Fools.'
Price Fourpence."
Amid the uneasiness and alarm which prevailed through-
out the country, the metropolis was the continual scene of riot
and agitation. There appears to have been no efficient police
in London to keep order in the streets, along which it was
unsafe to pass after dusk. We have already seen the ascen-
dancy which the Jacobite mob had gained there in the spring,
and which they seem to have kept undisturbed during the
summer, waiting for the numerous anniversary days in the
autumn to begin again their riotous proceedings. But a
new power was rising up, which though it did not prevent the
riots, prevented some of the mischief to which they might
have led.
Amid the political excitement of the preceding year, which
pervaded every class of society, and seemed to have estranged
people's minds from every other subject, even the taverns and
public-houses of the metropolis had been gradually taking a
political character to such a degree, that about this time a
guide-book was published, under the title of the " Vade-mecum
of Malt-worms," containing a list of all the ale-houses in Lon-
don, with an account of the persons who held them, and the
political principles of each. Some of these, under the name of
mug -houses, became the resort of small societies or clubs of
political partisans, who met there on certain occasions to cele-
brate memorable anniversaries. Two of the oldest Whig houses
* The Weekly Packet, a newspaper we have quoted more than once,
t A violent Jacobite paper, at one period chiefly conducted by Swift.
28 LONDON MUG-HOUSES.
were the Roebuck, in Cheapside, (opposite Bow Church,) and a
mug-house in Long Acre. A society calling itself the Loyal
Society, held its meetings at the Roebuck, after the Accession of
George I. ; and in the history of the London riots in 1715 and
1716 this house obtained an especial celebrity. Next in fame
to these were the Magpie, without Newgate (the Magpie and
Stump still standing in the Old Bailey) ; a mug-house in St.
John's Lane, Clerkenwell ; another in Tavistock Street, Covent
Garden ; one in Salisbury Court, near Fleet Street ; and one in
Southwark Park. The two last became eventually objects of
great hostility with the mob. The Tory ale-houses, which were
less numerous, appear to have stood chiefly about Holborn Hill
(Dr. Sacheverell's parish) and Ludgate Street. The Whig
societies who frequented the mug-houses began in the autumn
of 171.5 to unite in parties to fight the Jacobite mob which
had so long tyrannised over the streets, and they were probably
joined on such occasions by a number of others, who, like the
London apprentices of old, looked upon the whole only as a
rough kind of diversion.
At the end of October and beginning of November, a num-
ber of political anniversaries crowded together. The Prince of
Wales's birthday, the 3oth of October, was celebrated on
Monday the 3ist. The Flying Post, the chief chronicler of
the tumults, informs us that " A parcel of the Jacobite rabble,
such as Bridewell boys, &c., committed outrages on Ludgate
Hill, broke the windows that were illuminated, scattered a bon-
fire, and cried out ' An Ormond ! ' &c. ; but they were dispersed
and soundly thrashed by a party of the Loyal Society, who had
lately burnt the Pretender in effigy." From this time we shall
find the new self-constituted police constantly at war with the
mob. The latter had prepared an effigy of King William to be
burnt on the anniversary of that monarch's birth, Friday, No-
vember 4, and on the approach of night they assembled round
a large bonfire in the Old Jewry for that purpose. But infor-
mation of their design having been carried to a party of the
Loyal Society, who were met at the Roebuck to celebrate King
William's birthday, and who were therefore close at hand, these
gentlemen hastened to the spot, and " gave the Jacks* due
chastisement with oaken plants, demolished their bonfire, and
brought off the effigies in triumph to the Roebuck." On the
morrow, the 5th of November, the Whig mob had their cele-
bration. They had prepared caricature effigies of the Pope, the
* This was the term populaily given to the Jacobites.
MUG-HOUSE RIOTS. 29
Pretender, Ormond, Bolingbroke, and the Earl of Marr, which
were carried in the following order ; " First, two men bearing
each a warming-pan, with the representation of the infant Pre-
tender, a nurse attending him with a sucking-bottle, and another
playing with him by beating the warming-pan." These were
followed by three trumpeters, playing Lilliburlero and other
Whig tunes. Then came a cart, with Ormond and Marr, appro-
priately dressed. This was followed by another cart, containing
the Pope and Pretender seated together, and Bolingbroke as the
secretary of the latter. They were all drawn backwards, with
halters round their necks. The procession, thus arranged, passed
from the Eoebuck along Cheapside, through Newgate Street
and up Holborn Hill, where the Jacobite bells of St. Andrew's
Church were made to ring a merry peal. From thence they
passed through Lincoln's-Inn Fields and Covent Garden to St.
James's, where they made a stand before the palace ; and so
went back by Pall Mall and the Strand, through St. Paul's
Churchyard, into Cheapside ; but here they found that the
"Jacks" had been beforehand with them, and stolen the
faggots which had been pilc-d up for their bonfire. They there-
fore made a circuit of the city whilst a new bonfire was pre-
pared, and on their return burnt all the effigies amid the shouts
of the crowd.
The enmity between the mob and the Loyal Society was em-
bittered by these first encounters, and it soon came to a fierce
issue. On the i7th of November the Loyal Society met at the
Roebuck, to celebrate the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth.
The mob bad also met to celebrate it, but in a different manner ;
and towards seven o'clock in the evening intelligence reached
the Roebuck that they had assembled at St. Martin-le-Grand,
and were preparing, amid shouts of " High Church, and Ormond,
and King James ! " to burn the effigies of King William, King
George, and the Duke of Marlborough, in Smithfield. The
" Loyal " gentlemen immediately marched out, aud overtook
them in Newgate Street, where a desperate fight took place,
and, after twenty or thirty of them had been " knocked down,"
the mob was dispersed. They had concealed their effigies ; but
a boy who had been captured pointed them out to the victors,
who marched back in triumph to the Roebuck. There they
had hardly arrived, when a much greater mob began to assem-
ble, and, after breaking the windows of the Roebuck, as well as
those of the adjacent houses, and pulling down the sign, pro-
ceeded to burst open the door, and threatened summary ven-
geance upon the inmates. In this extremity, a member of the
30 ASSAULT UPON THE ROEBUCK.
Loyal Society fired with a loaded gun down the passage, and
killed one of the assailants, and the Lord Mayor and city
officers coming up at the same time, the mob took to their heels.
The inquest on the body of the man who was killed returned a
verdict that he was slain, while in open riot and rebellion, by
some one who had fired in self-defence. On subsequent nights
the Eoebuck appears to have been exposed to renewed, but less
serious attacks, and the mob war was carried on at least less
ostentatiously during the winter.
In February we hear again of the riotous conduct of the
Jacobite mob, and the mug-houses appear to have been actively
refitting and preparing for a new campaign. New songs were
compiled and printed for the use of the loyal gentry who fre-
quented them, and well suited to keep up the popular excite-
ment. One of these gives the following description of the mob,
and shows that these faction fights were very serious things.
" Since the Tories could not fight
And their master took his flight,
They labour to keep up their faction ;
With a bough and a stick,
And a stone and a brick,
They equip their roaring crew for action.
" Thus in battle array,
At the close of the day,
After wisely debating their deep plot,
Upon windows and stall
They courageously fall,
And boast a great victory they have got.
"But, alas ! silly boys !
For all the mighty noise
Of their ' High Church and Ormond for ever 1*
A brave Whig with one hand,
At George's command,
Can make their mightiest hero to quiver."
Towards spring festive entertainments were given at most of
the mug-houses a sort of house-warming or introduction to the
season, at which the proprietors delivered formal addresses, often
in verse, stating their sentiments and intentions, and boasted of
their former feats against the " Jacks." One of these, the
keeper of the mug-house in St. John's Lane, speaks of his fre-
quent encounters with the mob, and after threatening what he
will do himself, proceeds :
" Nor is it for myself I speak alone :
There is my wife, 'tis true, she is but one,
But, fegs 1 she'll play her part against the tyler's son."
MUG-HOUSE SONGS. 3-1
Several of these addresses will be found in the mug-house song-
books. One of these festivals is thus announced in the Flying
Post of April 12, 1716: "This is to give notice to all gentle-
men who are well affected to the present establishment, and
lovers of good home-brew'd ale, that this present Thursday,
being the iath of April, Mrs. Smyth's mug-house in St. John's
Lane, near Smithfield, will be opened ; when there will be a pro-
logue spoke, suitable to the occasion." And on the 2ist of
April the same paper prints this "prologue," with the following
editorial remark : " The following is inserted at the request of
several honest gentlemen, who are hearty well-wishers to those
useful societys that are carry'd on in Long Acre and St. John's
Lane, for the reformation of Toryism and the propagation of
loyalty to the present happy government." The same news-
paper had shortly before given a new mug-house song, com-
mencing,
" We friends of the mug are met here to discover
Our zeal to the Protestant house of Hanover,
Against the attempts of a bigotted rover.
Which nobody can deny.
"Prepare then in bumpers confusion to drink
To their cursed devices who otherwise think ;
For now that vile int'rest must certainly sink.
Which nobody can deny.
"The Tories, 'tis true, are yet skulking in shoals,
To show their affection to Perkin in bowls ;
But in time we will ferret them out of their holes.
Which nobody can deny."
From this period the members of the Loyal Society send to
the newspapers regular reports of their night's campaign, duly
dated from the head-quarters at the Roebuck. On the night of
the 8th of March, the anniversary of the death of King William,
a considerable mob assembled, to the old cry of " High Church
and Ormond ! " and marched along Cheapside to the well-known
mug-house, where a party of the Loyal Society were met " for
the defence of the house ; " but when these issued forth, to the
number of " about forty," the mob ran away, leaving many of
their sticks behind them. The Loyalists then marched in pro-
cession through Newgate Street, paid their respects to the
Magpie, where another party was met, and proceeded to Lud-
gate Hill in bravado of the "Jacks," who were strong there;
but on their return they found that the mob had been collecting
in greater strength in their rear in Newgate Street, where a
great fight took place, in which the Whigs were again victorious,
3 MUG-HOUSE SIOTS.
after having, to use the words of the newspaper account, " made
rare work for the surgeons." The conquerors returned direct to
the Roebuck, shouting " King George ! " as they went, and
there spent the greater part of the night in drinking loyal
toasts.
The next very serious tumult occurred on the 23rd of April
(the anniversary of the birth of Queen Anne). In the evening
of that day the marrow bones and cleavers, the usual signal of
gathering for the mob, were heard rattling along the streets ;
and, towards seven o'clock, parties were to be seen forming in
Smithfield, the Old Bailey, Ludgate Hill, and Fleet Street, to
shouts of "High Church and Ormond!" "No Rump Parlia-
ment!" and other similar cries. The Loyalists began to as-
semble at the Roebuck about the same time, and by nine o'clock
had become tolerably numerous ; upon which they marched forth
in procession to the Magpie, and thence to Ludgate Hill, where
the mob showed themselves, but would not stand. The Loyal
Society then returned to the Roebuck, from whence they made
a circuit into the city and returned again to the Roebuck with-
out meeting with any opponents. But they had hardly settled
themselves down to their mugs, when news arrived that the
mob was coming up in great force. They then lost no time in
gaining the street, and found the mob already in Cheapside at
the end of Wood Street, where there was a fierce battle, ending
as usual in the discomfiture of the '* Jacks." The heroes of the
Roebuck now marched towards the Magpie ; but at the end of
Giltspur Street they again found the mob, and had a more obsti-
nate fight than before, but with the same result, and they
returned to their quarters with a pile of captured hats and
sticks as trophies.
An anniversary was now approaching which had always been
celebrated with tumults, and such preparations appear to have
been made for the present occasion, as shewed that the mob did
not act solely by their own impulse. On the 2pth of May, the
anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II., green boughs were
carried about the streets and worn on the person ; and there
were large meetings at St. Andrew's (to hear Dr. Sacheverell),
and at the " Jacobites' conventicle in Scroops' Court, over
against it." Towards night the mob became very riotous, and
threatened to pull down the Roebuck and the mug-house in St.
John's Lane. One of the lookers-on says, " There never was
seen such a crew of tatterdemalions, for they looked as if hell
had broke loose. They had gathered together all the blackguard
boys, wheelbarrow-men, and ballad-singers, and knocked down
MUG-HOUSE RIOTS. 33
people that did not carry their badges." They were, however,
"soundly thresh 'd " by the societies which met at the two mug-
houses they had threatened ; and a party of horse guards, which
just then arrived and patrolled the streets during the night, put
an end to the disturbance. Yet on the loth of June, the birth-
day of the Pretender, there were greater riots than ever, and tin*
Loyal Society had to bring their whole force to the struggle. A
Roebuck correspondent of the Flying Post writes some days
after, " You omitted to take notice, that, on the loth of June,
several Whigs of the Loyal Society at the Roebuck, having fur-
nish'd themselves with little warming-pans fit for the pocket, did
ring such a dismal peal with them in the ears of the white-rose
mob, that their flowers soon disappeared, and could not keep 'em
from fainting." The white rose was the Pretender's badge, and
had been worn on this occasion.
From this time we hear less of the Roebuck in the public
prints, although it had hitherto eclipsed the fame of the other
houses. But they also had been engaged with their respective
mobs, especially the mug-house in Southwark, and that in Salis-
bury Court. On the I2th of July following the last-mentioned
exploit of the Roebuck heroes, a mob, armed with clubs,
assembled in Southwark, with shouts of " High Church and
Ormond ! " " Down with the mug-houses ! " and, attacking the
mug-house there, broke the shutters and windows. The society
within, however rushed out, and drove them away. A week
after this, on Friday, the 2oth of July, the London mob, which,
we are told, had " strangely " increased since the King's de-
parture for Hanover, made a desperate attack OH a mug-house in
Salisbury Court. The society then assembled there sent for
assistance to their allies in the mug-house in Tavistock Street ;
and, thus reinforced, they succeeded in driving away the assailants.
A second attack was, however, made by a much stronger mob on
the evening of Monday the 23rd ; but the society held them
successfully at bay till the following morning, when they had
been so much increased that further resistance seemed vain.
The proprietor of the house, named Read, then advanced to the
door with a blunderbuss, and threatened any one who should
attempt to enter the house. Instead of falling back, the mob
rushed towards him with clubs and sticks, whereupon he fired
and shot their ringleader dead. The mob, rendered still more
furious, threw themselves upon Read, and left him to appearance
lifeless: and then broke down the sign, entirely gutted the
lower part of the house, drank as much ale in the cellar as they
could, and let tho rest run out. The magistrates and soldier*
34 PERSONAL LIBELS ON THE KING.
arrived about mid-day, and dispersed the mob, though not till a
soldier and some other persons had been severely injured in the
fray. The Loyal Society, who had barricaded themselves in the
upper part of the house, were thus relieved from their unpleasant
position. The inquest gave a verdict of wilful murder against
Head, and he was brought to trial, but acquitted, and the
Government made good the damage he had sustained. Several
of the rioters were also brought to their trial ; and, convicted of
being active in the work of destruction, they were hanged with-
out mercy. This event appears to have thrown a final damp
upon the spirits of the mob.
At the end of June, the King left England for Hanover. On
his departure a treasonable libel was hawked about the streets,
entitled " King G 's farewell to England ; or, the Oxford
Scholars in mourning." We know little of the contents of the
libels against the King's person which were thus hawked about
the streets ; but to judge from what is preserved in some of the
early Scottish Jacobite songs, the scandals attached to George's
wife and to his mistresses were plentifully raked up. The latter
were often hooted by the mob as they passed through the
streets. Horace Walpole, in his Reminiscences, assures us
that nothing could be grosser than the ribaldry that was
vomited out in lampoons, libels, and every channel of abuse,
against the Sovereign and the new Court, and chaunted even in
their hearing in the public streets.
CHAPTER II.
GEORGE L
Party Feeling after the Rebellion Prevalence of Highway Robbery The
Mob Bishop Hoadly's Sermon, and Colley Gibber's " Non-Juror "*
The French Mississippi Scheme The South Sea Bubble Sudden Mul-
tiplication of Stock Jobbing Bubbles Fall of the " Paper Kin " Law
The South Sea Ballads South Sea Caricatures Bubble Cards, and
Stock- Jobbing Cards Knight and the " Screen " Elections for a New
Parliament New Efforts in favour of the Pretender Bishop Atter-
bury's Plot.
fT^HE hasty and ill-advised and ill-conducted Rebellion of 1715
had effectually strengthened the power of the Whig party, and
had shewn to all reasonable and thinking persons how little was
to be expected from a person deficient in courage and in capacity
as the Pretender had shewn himself. After the excitement
caused by trials and executions of rebels had subsided, the
political strife of the day sank down into a dull and monotonous
war of newspaper abuse and mob sedition, which lasted for
several years, with no other variety than that occasioned by
some accidental outburst of more than ordinary virulence. We
read almost daily of the application of the pillory or the lash to
punish seditious ballad singers and indiscreet individuals,
generally of a low class in life, who had made too open an
exhibition of hostility to the House of Hanover. Almost every
newspaper or periodical, whether Tory or Whig, became in turn
the object of prosecution for letting its party zeal go beyond the
limits of moderation, although the Tory press came in for much
more than an equal share of punishment. Restrained, indeed,
from any more effectual method of showing their hostility,
except in an occasional duel or riot, the language of the
opposition became more violent and scurrilous ; and the lowest
and most trivial occurrences were greedily seized upon as an
opportunity for insulting a political opponent. In the begin-
ning of February, 1717, two street bullies had drawn their
swords and killed a drunken man, and had been hanged for the
murder. Some of the Tory papers stated that the offenders
had been members of one of the Whig societies which met at tho
taverns, or, as they were now familiarly termed " Muggites."
The Whig newswriters indignantly repelled thu accusation, and,
D 2
36 XITrJSBXHSS OF PAETYISM.
in revenge, declared that they were both known to be notorious
Tories, or "Jacks." On the 4th of January, 1718, Read's
Weekly Journal (a violent Whig paper) tells us, that, " Last
Thursday morning, a woman we suppose High Church, coming
out of a Geneva shop in Ked-Cross Street, fell down, and
within some few minutes departed this mortal life for another."
The latter part of the phrase is au example of the loose style of
writing which distinguishes the newspaper literature of the
day. A paper of this period gravely tells us, that " Yesterday
three ladies were brought to bed of a male child,'" and proceeds
to give their names. About the same date last quoted, a Tory
paper, describing the immodest behaviour of some young women
in church, asserts that they belonged to a violent Whig
family ; while the Whig journals made every unfortunate
woman who was committed to Bridewell a Tory. A Whipr
clergyman was stated to have refused to bury a man who died
an " impenitent Tory." This bitterness of party feeling was
often shewn in practical jokes. Read's Weekly Journal of
June 15, 1717, says, "Last Monday being suppos'd to be
the birthday of the sovereign of the white rose, in respect
to the anniversary an honest Whig went from the Roebuck to
St. James's, with a jack-daw finely drest in white roses, and set
on a warming-pan bedeckt with the same sweet-scented commo-
dity, which caused abundance of laughter all the way, to
the great mortification of the knights companions of that
order, and all the other Jacks, to see their sovereign so mal-
treated in the person of his represent a,tive."
The feelings evinced in these few examples tainted and
embittered every class of society, and were also attended by a
general laxity of morals, and, compared with the present day
(or even with almost any other period), an insecurity of
property. Robbery was carried on on a fearful scale in the
streets of London, even by daylight ; housebreaking was of
frequent occurrence by night ; and every road leading to the
metropolis was beset by bauds of reckless highwaymen, who
carried their depredations into the very heart of the town.
Respectable women could not venture in the streets alone after
nightfall, even in the city, without risk of being grossly
outraged. In the beginning of 1720, we learn from the papers
that ladies of condition, when they went out in their chairs
at night at the Court end of the town, were often attended
by servants with loaded blunderbusses " to shoot at the rogues."
The best notion of the state of security of London at this
time will be given by a chronicle of acts of robbery with
HIGHWAY ROBBERY ABOUT LONDON. 37
violence, taken from the newspapers during three weeks at the
end of January and beginning of February, 1720; premising,
that it appears, from several circumstances, that the newspapers
of that time give a very imperfect and incomplete report
of such occurrences. We begin with
Wednesday, January 20, on the night of which day five
liighwaymen robbed a man, coming to London, near Stratford.
Thursday, 21. About five o'clock in the evening, the stage
coach from London to Hampstead was attacked and robbed by
highwaymen at the foot of the hill, and one of the passengers
severely beaten for attempting to hide his money.
Friday, 22. Either on this, or on one of the two preceding
days, it is not very clearly specified, three highwaymen attacked
a gentleman of the Prince's household in his coach near Poland
Street, and obliged the watchman to throw away his lanthoru
and stand quietly by, while they abused and robbed him. Other
highwaymen attacked Colonel Montague as he was passing
along Frith Street, Soho, between twelve and one at night,
and fired at his coachman and wounded one of his horses
because he refused to stand. The Duchess of Montrose,
coming from Court in her chair, was stopped by three high-
waymen well mounted between Bond Street and the New
Building.
Saturday, 23. A man was attacked at night by highwaymen
in Chiswell Street. The same night a house near Bishopsgate
was broken into, and a man murdered.
Sunday, 24. At eight o'clock in the evening two high-
waymen attacked a gentleman in a coach on the south side
of St. Paul's Churchyard, and robbed him.
Monday, 25. As the Duke of Chandos, a nobleman cele-
brated for his courage against this class of depredators, was
coming into town at night from his house at Canons, he was
attacked hy five highwaymen, but his servants were too strong
for them. They had already committed several robberies on the
road.
Tuesday, 26. The Chichester mail, going from London about
three o'clock in the morning, was attacked by highwaymen in
Battersea Bottom, and robbed of its letter-bags.
Wednesday, 27. The Bristol mail was robbed on its way to
London, and a considerable sum of money taken in I tank bills
inclosed in the letters. The same night an extensive robbery
was perpetrated at Acton, and a booty of about two thousand
pounds taken.
Ou one day of this week n lady was stopped in In r chaise near
38 HIGHWAY ROBBERY ABOUT LONDON.
"Barclet" Street by highwaymen, and robbed of her money,
jewels, and gold watch.
Saturday, 30. A house in Bishopsgate Street was broken
into.
Sunday, 31. A gentleman was robbed and murdered in
Bishopsgate Street.
Monday, February i. The Duke of Chandos, coming from
Canons, had another encounter with highwaymen, whom he
captured.
Tuesday, 2. The post-boy was attacked by three highway-
men in Tyburn Road, but the Duke of Chaudos happening to
pass that way, came to his rescue.
Wednesday, 3. The stage-coach going in the evening from
London to Stoke Newington, was robbed by highwaymen near
the Palatine Houses.
On one day of this week " all the stage-coaches coming from
Surrey to London were robbed by highwaymen." And in the
course of the week a gentleman in his coach was robbed near
Chelsea ; another was attacked and robbed at twelve o'clock at
night at the upper end of Cheapside ; a gang of highwaymen by
open day robbed all passengers on the Croydon road for some
hours together ; and several robberies were committed on the
Epping road.
Tuesday, 9. A member of Parliament, with two ladies,
returning in a coach from a party near Smithfield at eleven
o'clock at night, was dogged by three highwaymen mounted
and three on foot till they came to Denmark Street, St. Giles's,
where their coach was stopped, and they were rifled of money
and jewels to the value of about two hundred and fifty pounds.
The robbers drove away the watch, and fired two pistols to
frighten the ladies when they screamed for help.
Wednesday, 10. A man was beaten and robbed in White
Conduit Fields at four o'clock in the afternoon. At night a
gentleman was attacked in St. George's Fields, robbed, and beat
BO severely that his life was despaired of. Three gentlemen in a
hackney-coach were attacked in Denmark Street, St. Giles's,
and robbed of everything but their clothes. A man was robbed
in Cheapside of his coat and money.
This alarming increase of highwaymen about London struck
every class of society with terror, for none were secure except
those few who could go about strongly guarded. A poor man
was stripped of his pence equally with a rich man of his gold.
In one instance, close to London, after having robbed a labourer
of one shilling and four-pence, the highwayman broke his arm
THE MUG-HOUSES DISCOURAGED. 39
with a pistol shot, as a warning of what he might expect if he
ventured to go again abroad at night with so little money in his
pocket. On the 2jrd of January, a proclamation came out,
offering a reward of a hundred pounds, in addition to the pre-
vious inducements, for the capture of any highwayman within
five miles of London ; the main effect of which was to place con-
siderable sums of money in the pockets of the notorious
Jonathan Wild, who secured several offenders in and about the
metropolis within the space of two or three weeks. Of these, it
was observed that several, on examination, proved to be persons
moving in their class of society as honest and respectable men ;
among them are mentioned a tradesman of good repute in
London, the valet of " a great duke," and the keeper of a
boxing-school.
The affair in Salisbury Court, mentioned in our last chapter,
damped considerably the spirits of the mob, although, for a time,
the war between the gentlemen of the Roebuck and the " Jacks"
continued to be carried on upon a less extensive scale. The
Tories began to complain, and with some reason, that the mug-
houses were themselves the chief provocations to these nightly
tumults. It appears that in the beginning of November, 1717,
the society of the Roebuck had fought with the butchers, who
composed the most active part of the mobs of this period. On
the 1 6th of November, the Whig Weekly Journal has the fol-
lowing paragraph : " Whereas the author of the St. Jamer's
Weekly Journal has most grossly scandalized the gentlemen of
the Roebuck Society in his paper of last Saturday ; this is to
satistie the world, that, before the aforesaid loyal body beat the
butchers of Newgate Market to their heart's content, they
assaulted them first for expressing their joy for the birth of the
young Prince, on the 2nd of November last, as will be prov'd by
affidavits that are now making in order to punish the ring-
leaders of all Jacobite mobs." It is evident, however, that the
proceedings of the mug-house societies began to be discounte-
nanced by the less violent Whigs ; and nothing could be more
calculated to keep up the ill-feelings which were tearing society
to pieces, than the satirical processions that were paraded
through London streets on every occasion that ottered itself.
Several of these processions were prepared on a very large scale
in 1717 and 1718, but they were forbidden by the authorities,
and the effigies were exhibited privately at the Roebuck, or were
made public only in printed descriptions. The Tories called
loudly for the suppression of the mug-houses themselves, and
several pamphlets lor and against them appeared in the earlier
part of the year 1717.
<o THE HOADLY CONTROVritSY.
In the mean time, High Church and Low Church continued
to wage unremitting warfare with each other. An unusually
violent controversy was raised iu 1717, by two performances of
Bishop Hoadly of Bangor, a discourse and a sermon preached
before the King, in which he advocated tolerance and modera-
tion towards those who differed in religious opinions, and con-
demned persecution. The convocation of the clergy, which, up
to this period, had met at the same time as the Parliament, took
up the matter with so much fury, that they were suddenly pro-
rogued by the King, and have not since, until very recently,
been called together. The animosity to which this dispute gave
rise soon led to personal slander, in which Hoadly's chief oppo-
nents, Dr. Snape, master of Eton College, and the Bishop of
Carlisle, made certainly an undignified appearance. Perhaps no
one subject of dispute ever gave rise to so many controversial
pamphlets as were published during 1717 and 1718 for and
against Bishop Hoadly ; the affair was made the burthen of
ballads and epigrams, and was taken up by those who of all
others were least able to understand the merits of the case the
ptreet mob, who only distinguished a Dissenters' chapel from a
church by the absence of the steeple. In the Post-Boy of the
6th of June, 17^7, we find advertised, "The Inquisition: a
farce; as it was acted at Child's Coffee House, and the King's
Arms Tavern in St. Paul's Churchyard ; wherein the contro-
versy between the Bishop of Baugor and Dr. Snape is fairly
stated and set in a true light. By Mr. Philips." In the midst
of this controversy, which for nearly two years occupied the
minds of all classes in society, the Non-Jurors, or those who
avoided taking the oaths to the present dynasty, and who were
the extreme of the High-Church party, were unusually active,
and openly erected meeting-houses in diiferent parts of Lon-
don. The " farce" just mentioned was by no means a soli-
tary instance of dragging the religious disputes on the stage.
In the midst of the Hoadly dispute, Colley Cibber brought
out the " Tartuffe " of Moliere, a little changed, in an Eng-
lish clothing, under the title of "The Non-Juror," in which
the author acted with great effect the part of Dr. Wolf, a
Non-Juror and concealed Papist, who by his unprincipled in-
trigues nearly effects the ruin of a rich and respectable family,
and at last is discovered and given up to the punishment he
merits. Read's Weekly Journal of December 7, 1717, informs
us, that " Last night the comedy call'd the ' Non-Juror' was
acted at his Majesty's theatre in Drury Lane, which very natu-
rally displaying the villany of that most wicked and abominable
crew, it gave great satisfaction to all the spectators." The
GIBBERS NON-JUROR. 41
" Non- Juror" had in fact great success; and the anger of the
extreme High-Church party was increased by the circumstances
that the prologue had been written by the poet-laureat, Nicholas
Kowe, that the King and Prince both went to see the play, and
were said to have applauded it heartily, and that the King not
only gave his permission for the printed edition to be dedicated
to himself, but rewarded the author with a gratuity of two hun-
dred pounds. Even this was enough to raise a war of pamphlets,
and a storm of newspaper scurrility ft. 11 upon poor Gibber. In a
pamphlet entitled ' The Theatre Koyal turn'd into a mounte-
bank's stage ; in some remarks upon Mr. Gibber's quack-
dramatical performance, called the ' Non-Juror,' " the writer (it
professes to be written "by a Non- Juror ") complains bitterly
that the stage should be permitted to make a clergyman the
subject of riuicule, while the clergy were forbidden to preach
politics from the pulpit. Another anonymous writer gave to
the world a farce entitled "The Juror," in which were revived
the old woru-out charges of fanaticism and hypocrisy. Other
pamphleteers took part with Gibber: one published "A Com-
plete Key to the Play ;" and another gave " Some Cursory
Remarks" upon it, which conclude with the hope that the
writer would live " to see it as common in every house as a
Prayer Book or Duty of Man !"
All these disputes were, however, shortly to be forgotten in
an extraordinary social convulsion of a totally different kind.
For several years, since the conclusion of the war, there had
appeared a growing taste for money speculations, not only in
.England, but throughout other parts of .Europe. This was
first taken advantage of for state purposes in France, where the
national finances had been thrown into so hopeless a state, that
the government was on the eve of bankruptcy. A Scottish
gentleman of the name of Law, who had killed a man in a
duel, in consequence of which he had retired to France, pro-
jected a company to have a monopoly of the trade of the
country of the Mississippi in North America, on condition that
they should undertake the payment of the state bills. The
Regent established this company in 1717, and made Law prin-
cipal director. The plan went on, without any extraordinary
success, till 1719, when the French India and China Companies
were incorporated with it; and then there was a sudden and
immense rise in the value of the shares, or, as they were called,
actions. Soon alter the Midsummer of 1/19, Mr. Law and the
Regent formed the project of extending the company very
largely, aud then the shares rose still more rapidly, till, in a
short time, they reached twelve hundred per cent. It may bo
4 LAW'S MISSISSIPPI SCHEME.
mentioned, as a proof of the wonderful confidence the French
placed in Law at this time, that the mere report of his heing
seized with a slight indisposition caused a sudden fall in the
funds. The French government now found itself relieved from
all its pecuniary difficulties ; the nobility and courtiers became
immensely rich, and Paris was so full of money, that people
scarcely knew how to employ it. Law was looked upon as the
great European financier ; and, at the beginning of February,
he was admitted into the Privy Council, and was appointed
Comptroller-General of the finances of France.
The success of this scheme in France provoked imitation in
England, where a chartered trading company, called the South
Sea Company, had been established in 1711. The English
Ministry, in conjunction with Sir John Blunt, one of the lead-
ing South Sea directors, conceived the plan of making this com-
pany pay off the national debt, which had become burdensome
by the long war, in the same manner that the Mississippi Com-
pany had just relieved the government of France from its em-
barrassments. Aislabie (the Chancellor of the Exchequer),
Stanhope, and Sunderland were all equally sanguine of the result
of this plan, and it was brought before the House of Commons
in the month of February, 1720. It there met with consider-
able opposition, especially from Sir Robert Walpole, who was
the most profound financier in the House, and was now out of
the ministry ; but the South Sea bill was 'eventually carried by
considerable majorities, and received the royal assent on the 7th
ot April, 1720. The infatuation with which people entered
upon this rash project is perfectly astonishing. In Paris, Law
had already become embarrassed in his financial plans, and it
was evident that the reign of the " paper king " was approach-
ing to a close. The Tory papers in England had already begun
to ridicule both the man and his projects. " If you are ambi-
tious," says Mist's Weekly Journal, early in February, " you
must put on a sword, kill a beau or two, get into Newgate, be
condemned to be hanged, break prison, IF YOU CAN remember
that, by the way get over to some strange country, set up a
Mississippi stock, bubble a nation, and you may soon be a great
man." The same journal tells us, on the 2oth of February,
" Last week, at the masquerade in the Haymarket, appeared a
fine lady in a very odd comical dress ; she told the company
that she came from Mississippi, and was going to be married to
the South Sea." We shall see this disposition to caricature
soon carried to a much greater extent. A few days after the
act was passed, Walpole published a pamphlet, giving a strong
THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. 43
warning of the mischiefs which were to be expected from the
South Sea project ; yet, before the month of April, the rage for
dealing in South Sea shares had become so great, that the
dealers had already become an object of ridicule on the stage.
Among the advertisements in the newspapers of this month
appear a play, entitled " The Stock -Jobbers ; or, Humours of
Change Alley;" and "Exchange Alley; or, the Stock-jobber
turned Gentleman : a tragi-comical Farce." Within a few
weeks South Sea stock rose to above a thousand per cent.
The town now presented an extraordinary appearance. Stock-
jobbing seemed to be the sole business of all classes, and Whigs,
and Tories, and Jacobites, High Church, and Low Church, and
Dissenters, forgot their mutual animosity in the general infatua-
tion. In spite of a proclamation, forbidding the formation of
companies without legal authority, an immense number of stock-
jobbing companies sprung up like mushrooms around the larger
scheme. These soon became known by the popular title of
bubbles, advertisements of which filled the newspapers during
the months of June and July. Many of these were mere gam-
bling, or, more properly speaking, swindling speculations ; and
there were instances in which a man took a room for the day,
opened a subscription book in the morning, taking a very small
deposit on the shares, and in the evening shut up both book and
shop, decamping with a large sum of money. When a new
company was announced, no one thought of inquiring if the
project were a practical one or not : a company was even an-
nounced, and its shares bought, which was merely advertised as
" for an undertaking which shall in due time be revealed."
Square bits of card, with the impression in sealing-wax of the
sign of the Globe Tavern, conveying to their possessors merely
the permission to subscribe some time afterwards to a new sail-
cloth company not yet formed, were actually sold in Exchange
Alley, under the title of " Globe permits," for sixty guineas and
upwards. The Political State of Great Britain gives a list of
these bubbles in July, amounting to a hundred and four, among
which are companies " for assurance of seamen's wages ;" " for a
wheel for perpetual motion ;" " for improving gardens ;" " for
insuring and increasing children's fortunes ;" " for making
looking glasses ;" " for improving malt liquors ;" " for breeding
and providing for bastard children," (the first idea of the
foundling hospital ;) and " for insuring against thefts and rob-
beries." Among t)ther odd projects were companies "for planting
of mulberry trees and breeding of silkworms in Chelsea Park ;"
" for importing a number of large jackasses from Spain, in order
44 AN EARLY STEAM-EXGISE.
to propagate a larger breed of mules in England ;" " for fatten-
ing of hogs." A clergy mail proposed a company to discover
the land of Ophir, and monopolise the gold and silver which
that country was believed still to produce. It would be almost
impossible here to carry the ridiculous beyond what was repre-
sented in matter of fact ; but there were some burlesque lists,
containing companies " for curing the gout," " for insuring
marriages against divorce," and the like. Within two or three
days after they were subscribed for, the shares in these different
companies sold for amazing prices : those in the Water-Engine
Company, on which four pounds were paid, rose to fifty pounds;
the stocking company's shares, for which two pounds ten shil-
lings were paid, sold for thirty pounds ; the shares in a com-
pany "for manuring of land," subscribed at two shillings and
sixpence, sold for one pound ten shillings.
Among the previously existing companies which were dragged
in among the bubbles of this year, was the York Buildings Com-
pany, which had purchased the site of York House in the Strand,
to build works for the supplying of the West End with water
from the Thames. It is a remarkable fact, and one that appears
to be entirely forgotten, that, within two or three years of the
date of which we are speaking, a veritable steam-engine was con-
structed here, which is thus described in the Foreigner's Guide
to London, published in 1729 : " Here you see a high wooden
tower and a water-engine of a new invention, that draws out of
the Thames above three tons of water in one minute, by means
of the steam arising from water boiling in a great copper, a con-
tinual fire being kept to that purpose ; the steam being com-
pressed and condensed, moves by its evaporation and strikes a
counterpoise, which counterpoise striking another, at last moves
a great beam, which by its motion of going up and down, draws
the water from the river, which mounts through great iron pipes
to the height of the tower, discharging itself there into a deep
leaden cistern ; and thence falling down through other large iron
pipes, fills them that are laid along the streets, and *o continuing
to run through wooden pipes,* as far as Mary-bone fit-Ids, falls
there into a large pond or reservoir, from whence the new build-
ings near Hanover Square, and many thousand houses, are sup-
plied with water. This machine is certainly a great curiosity ;
and, though it be not so large as that of Marley in France, yet,
considering its smallness in comparison with that, and the little
* MaT'y of tLe \vooden pipes here alluded to were, just before the publica-
tion of the first edition of tiiis book, taken up in excavations in Brook Sheet,
(>rosvenur Square, and in some oilier plac s al -n- tim line here described.
FIBST EFFECTS OF THE BUBBLES. 45
charge it was built and is kept with, and the quantity of water
it draws, its use and benefit is much beyond that."*
All other trade but that of stock-jobbing was now neglected ;
Exchange Alley was crowded from morning till night with per-
sons of both sexes ; and society seemed for a moment turned
upside-down. In the course of a few days, a multitude of indi-
viduals were raised from indigence to a profusion of wealth,
which many of them expended in luxurious living and in reck-
less profligacy. In the park these upstart gentlemen mixed in
their carriages with the aristocracy of the land ; but they were
singled out as objects of insult and derision by the rabble, and
at first the " stock-jobbers' " carriages seldom appeared in tin;
*As the York Buildings Company's steam-engine appears not to have
attracted much notice in the works on the history of this invention, which
has created so extraordinary a revolution in modern society, it may not be
thought uninteresting to add here a curious burlesque announcement of its
fi-Tjf erection, with one or two other notices of it, taken, from, the journals ot
the day.
in the autumn of 1731, the supply of water to Mary-le-bone was discon-
tinue.!, and the use of the engine was consequently discontinued at the
name time. Read's Journal, in September 1731, announces briefly that
"The York Buildings Company have given over working their fire-engine."
The engine was, however, allowed to remain there for several years,
though inactive, and seems to have been shewn as a curiosity. In an
account of London published in All Alive and Mirry ; or the London Daily
Pout, of Saturday, April 18, 1741, we have the following notice of it:
" There is a famous machine in York Buildings, which was erected to force
water by the means of fire, thro' pipes laid for that purpose into several
parts of the town, and it was carry 'd on for some time to effect ; but the
charge of working it, and some other reasons concurring, nuvie its proprie-
tors, the York Buildings Company, lay aside the design ; and no doubt but
the inhabitants in its neighbourhood are very glad of it ; for its working,
which was by sea-coal, was attended with so much smoak, that it not only
inu-t pollute the air thereabouts, but spoil the furniture."
These apprehensions, which are amusing when we compare them with the
present state of the metropolis, appear to have existed previous to the erec-
tion of the engine, and form part of the foundation of the following jeu
d'etprit. It is advertised as "published this day," price 6d., in the Daily
Courant of December 14, 1725; but it is here reprinted from Read's Weekly
Journal, of December 18, 1/25.
" Tit* York Ruildinys Drmjons ; or, a full and true account of a moxt horrid
and barbarous murder intended to be committed nejct Monday, on thf
butties, goods, and name of the greatest part of his Majesty's lieije sub-
jtrts dwelling and inhabiting between Temple /iar in the East, and St.
James's in the Wen', and between Hunyerjord Market, in the South, ami
St. Mary-la-bonr in the Xorth, by a set of evil- minded persons, who do
assemble twice a week, to carry on their wicked pur-poses, in a jrrivate
room over a stable by the Thames side, in a remote corner of the town.
Now these conspirator* have puchatted two enormous dratroni from tho
of L\ bia of such monstrous aizo lli.it the t.iil ot ..ne of 'cm in it inilo
4<5 FIRST EFFECTS OF THE BUBBLES.
streets without being mobbed. A newspaper of the pth of July
says satirically, " We are informed that, since the late hurly-
burly of stock-jobbing, there has appeared in London two hun-
dred new coaches and chariots, besides as many more now on
the stocks in the coachmakers' yards ; above four thousand em-
broidered coats ; about three thousand gold watches at the sides
of their and their wives ; some few private acts of charity ;
and about two thousand broken tradesmen." In the midst of
and a half long,) which they have brought into this metropolis incognito, by
the assistance of a conjurer, whom they have employed in that matter.
" This conjurer, therefore, by the help of a hunting-whip that has a talis-
man in the handle of it, contrived a means to run these dragons without
paying any duty to the government ; for, by applying this talisman to the
head of each dragon, he shut up all the life within one particular gland of
the head, and then anatomically dissected the two monsters, so that they
could be easily stowed in several ships, and be brought in as coming from
different parts of the world. And accordingly most of the nerves and
sinews came from Sweden ; the greatest part of the head from Norway, by
the help of another conjurer who combined with the first ; the joints, and
veins, and arteries were brought from Derbyshire ; the breast from Worces-
tershire; and the back and wings from Kent, Berkshire, and Hertfordshire;
the belly from Cornwall ; and the greatest part of the tail from the West
country, except the thick end next to the body, which, together with the
snout and teeth, came out of Sussex by sea, and passed at the Custom
House for some outlandish curiosity, imported by some virtuosos of Great
Britain. And you know natural knowledge is so much encouraged, that suck
things never pay any duty, but pass unexamined ; witness Villette's great
burning-glass, the Hugenian telescope, and the wax-work anatomies. Now,
if there had been any astrologers among the Custom House officers, nothing
of this would have happened ; for they are perfectly well acquainted with
dragons' heads and dragons' tails. But what would you have men do that
never saw a dragon in all their lives ? Since there never was any in this
kingdom before, but one, and that was at Wantley, almost two hundred
miles distant from London, who was killed by More, of More Hall, before
he could come southward ; and he was but a little dragon in comparison, for
he only devoured three children, whereas these dragons either have or will
devour whole families.
" But to return to our account. The conjuror and his abettors have
concealed under a large tract of ground, the dreadful tail * of one of these
monsters, and are now vivifying the whole animal by the reunion of its
parts ; and diffusing its life from the glandula pinealis to the very
extremities of the nostrils, wings, and tail.
"On Monday, therefore, the zoth instant, at 14 minutes past 10 in the
morning, a Lancashire wizzard, with long black hair and grim visage, will
for some hours feed the eldest dragon with live coals ; and a Wel>hman,
bred on the top of Penmaenmaur, will lay hold of the bridle to direct the
motion of the creature. Then on a sudden will the monster clap his
* This, of course, is an allusion to the wooden pipes, already mentioned,
extending from the York Buildings to Mary-le-bone Fields, to convey the
Thames water to the great reservoir there.
FIEST EFFECTS OF THE BUBBLES. 47
these doings, about the 2oth of July, news arrived in London
that, on the preceding Wednesday, the rjth, Law had been in-
sulted by the populace of Paris, who were only hindered from
destroying his house in the Rue Quinquenpoix by the timely
arrival of the Swiss Guards; and that they had broken his
coach, beaten his coachman, and obliged him to seek refuge in
the Palais Royal. The great projector was now looked upon by
the populace as the sole cause of the misery in which they found
wings several times successively with prodigious force, and so terrible will
be the noise thereof, that it will be heard as far as Calais, if the wind
set right. All those who have musical ears, within the bills of mortality,
will be struck deaf; those who have no ear will become deaf ; and all who
were deaf before, will start up and run away.
"The next disaster will be occasioned by the Welshman, who will cry
1 Boh ! ' to make the dragon drink, who immediately dipping his two heads
into the Thames, will suck out thence such a prodigious quantity of water,
that barges will never after be able to go through bridges ; the wharfs will
become useless from the Steel Yard to Milibank ; and the tide will not rise
high enough to fill the basin of a set of good-natured gentlemen who have
been at immense pains to serve the new buildings with water.
" The next calamity will be this, That, whereas, the dragon lives upon
Newcastle and Scotch coal, (which, by the bye, will produce scarcity
of coal, by reason of the great consumption,) and other bituminous
substances, and is of himself of a huffing, snuffing temper, he will dart out
of his nostrils perpendicularly up to the skies two such vast, dense,
and opake columns of smoke, that those who live in the Borough will
hardly see the sun at noon-day. Now this smoke being ponderous, will
descend again upon all the neighbouring inhabitants ; being elastic, will
spread and fall upon all the evergreens within ten miles of London ;
and being fuliginous, will so discolor their hue, that it will puzzle a
very nice botanist to determine concerning any leaf within that compass of
ground whether it be of a subfuse or a downright piceous colour after this
accident. Happy will then the ladies be who have papered up all
their furniture before they went out of town ! Happy the stationers
who have timely shut up their shops to preserve their paper ! And thrice
happy the poor washer-women, who have closed up and pointed the garret-
windows where they have hung up their linen clothes to dry. Besides all
this, the sulphureous particles arising from the coals will be so pernicious to
the lungs of all who suck them in, that they will break several blood-
vessels with coughing. Add to all this, that upon the subsiding of this
black pillar, the cities of London and Westminster will lose sight of one
another, though in the clearest day ; so that nobody can possibly receive
any benefit by this contrivance, unless it be the link-boys, who will
be absolutely necessary to conduct people through the smoke.
" Hut the worst consequence of all, and which I almost dread to
relate, is, this dragon s way of poisoning. Through a long proboscis,
something like an elephant's trunk, this creature can at pleasure filtrate and
suck in all the venomous effluvia out of the air, water, and other
fluids. And, therefore, to make up the desolation of this poor city, he will
from the Thames in great abundance draw in all the fffltidocabbageous,
deaddogitiou.i, deadcatitious, Fish-Btteethillious, Drurylanious, issuepUste-
48 FIRST EFFECTS OF THE BUBBLES.
themselves involved, and he was obliged to give way so far to the
General clamour as to resign his office of Comptroller of Finances.
In November he was entirely deserted by the Regent; and, after
securing his great fortune, retired into Italy.
In August the stock of the various London companies was
calculated to exceed the value of five hundred millions. The
first great shock was given by the jealousy of the South Sea
Company, who procured writs of scire, facias to be issued against
some of the unauthorised bodies. The destruction of these ex-
posed the fallacy of the whole, and recoiled almost immediately
on the Inrger company itself. By the end of September, South
Sea stock had sunk in value from 850 to 175 ; and thousands of
families were reduced at one blow to absolute beggary ; " some of
whom," to quote the words of a writer who lived at the time,
rious, excrementitious, and all common-horeitious particles therein con-
tained from time to time ; and having therewith filled his stomach, this
xtygious compound will pass the pylorus, and being carried along the
viscera by the peristaltic motion, will issue out at the anus, (which in this
animal is in the last joint of the tail) with great stench, in vast quantities,
into a large receptacle prepared by the aforesaid conjuror for receiving and
containing this hellish liquor. Now, as this fluid is always to run in,
and never to go out, it is evident to all chemists and naturalists, and
several other ingenious gentlemen besides, that there must be an intestine
motion, because the fluid stands still, and this intestine motion will cause a
fermentation, which fermentation will cast out undequaque such pestiferous
streams and vapours, as will depopulate all the whole neighbourhood in
such a manner that grass will grow in Queen Anne Street, Chandos Street,
Mortimer Street, and all the adjacent streets, till the genius of architecture
comes to the relief of the desolate place. And if it should so happen,
that, by the violent motion of the beast, it should receive any wounds
in its tail, from every wound will issue with impetuosity rivers of this
abominable liquor, which will inundate and render impassable the streets,
drown all those that come within its vortex, and such as venture to look
out of their chamber-windows will be suffocated with the putrid vapour.
" To conclude my dismal story : I must let the world know that these
conspirators are enemies to the souls as well as the bodies of all persona
they can have any influence over, by setting up a new kind of Popery, and
have already persuaded several families to worship these dragons. Among
other things, they have a ceremony much like Transubatantiation ; for, by
the mixture of Ceres and N'eritune, (and what is the Popish Host but bread
and water ?) they huve contrived a consiyillated wafer, which turns paper
into money.
" Now to give my reader a little hope, before I quit this melancholy
tale, 1 must acquaint him that a set of honest and brave gentlemen intend
to prosecute these vile men, who will find themselves deceived in trusting
to the Toleration Act; for that act allows of no image- worship within
ten miles of London, except it be in a foreign amb r's chapel.
" Written by a club of ingenious gentlemen.
" Anodine Necklace, Secretary."
THE SOUTH SEA BALLAD. 49
" after so long living in splendour, were not able to stand the
shock of poverty and contempt, and died of broken hearts ;
others withdrew to remote parts of the world, and never re-
turned."
In the month of August, even before the issuing of the writs
otscire facias, people began to foresee the catastrophe, and somo
prudent men withdrew, after having realized great fortunes.
Towards the end of August "the bubbles" were turned to ridi-
cule in a multitude of songs and satirical pieces. In the first
days of September appeared the celebrated South Sea ballad,
which was sung about the streets of London for months to-
gether, and helped not a little to bring stock-jobbing into dis-
credit.
A SOUTH SEA BALLAD ; OR, MERRY REMARKS UPON
EXCHANGE ALLEY BUBBLES.
To a new tune called "The Grand Elixir ; or, the Philosopher's Stone
Discovered."
I.
" In London stands a famous pile
And near that pile an alley,
Where merry crowds for riches toil,
And Wisdom stoops to Folly.
Here sad and joyful, high and low,
Court Fortune for her graces ;
And as she smiles or frowns, they show
Their gestures and grimaces.
i.
"Here stars and garters do appear,
Among our lords the rabble ;
To buy and sell, to see and hear,
The Jews and Gentiles squabble.
Here crafty courtiers are too wise
For those who trust to Fortune ;
They see the cheat with clearer eyes,
Who peep behind the curtain.
3-
" Our greatest ladies hither come,
And ply in chariots daily ;
Oft pawn their jewels for a sum
To venture in the Alley.
Young harlots, too, from Drury Lane,
Approach the 'Change in coaches,
To fool away the gold they gain
By their impure debauches.
4-
11 Longheads may thrive by sober rules,
Because they think, and drink not ;
50 THE SOUTH SEA BALLAD.
But headlong are our thriving fools,
Who only drink and think not.
The lucky rogues, like spaniel dogs,
Leap into South Sea Water,
And there they fish for golden frogs,
Not caring what comes a'ter.
5-
" 'Tis said that alchemists of old
Could turn a brazen kettle,
Or leaden cistern, into gold,
That noble tempting metal ;
But if it here may be allow'd
To bring in great and small things,
Our cunning South Sea, like the gods,
Turns nothing into all things !
6.
"What need have we of Indian wealth,
Or commerce with our neighbours ?
Our constitution is in health,
And riches crown our labours.
Our South Sea ships have golden shrouds.
They bring us wealth, 'tis granted,
But lodge their treasure in the clouds,
To hide it till it's wanted.
7-
" Britain, bless thy present state,
Thou only happy nation ;
So oddly rich, so madly great,
Since bubbles came in fashion I
Successful rakes exert their pride,
And count their airy millions ;
Whilst homely drabs in coaches ride,
Brought up to town on pillions.
8.
"Few men, who follow reason's rules,
Grow fat with South Sea diet ;
Young rattles and unthinking fools,
Are those that flourish by it.
Old musty jades, and pushing bkdes,
Who've least consideration,
Grow rich apace ; whilst wiser heads
Are struck with admiration.
9-
** A race of men, who t' other day
Lay crush'd beneath disasters,
And now by stock brought into play,
And made our lords and masters.
But should our South Sea Babel fall,
What numbers would be frowning !
The losers then must ease their gall
By hanging or by drowning.
EXPLOSION OF THE BUBBLES. 51
10.
" Five hundred millions, notes and bonds,
Our stocks are worth in value ;
But neither lie in goods or lands,
Or money, let me tell you.
Yet though our foreign trade is lost,
Of mighty wealth we vapour ;
Whea all the riches that we boast
Consists in scraps of paper ! "
From the month of October to the end of the year, songs,
and squibs, and pamphlets of all descriptions, on the misfortunes
occasioned by the explosion of the bubble system, became ex-
ceedingly numerous. Two dramatic pieces, " The Broken
Stock-Jobbers," a farce, " as lately acted by his Majesty's sub-
jects in Exchange Alley," and "South-Sea; or, The Biter Bit,"
a farce, are advertised in the month of October. The general
feeling against the directors was becoming so strong in the
month of November, that we are told it had become a practice
among the ladies, when in playing at cards they turned up a
knave, to cry, " There is a director for you !"
The period of the South Sea bubble is that in which political
caricatures began to be common in England ; for they had be-
fore been published at rare intervals, and partook so much of
the character of emblems, that they are not always very easy to
be understood. Read's Weekly Journal of November i, 1718,
gives a caricature against the Tories, engraved on wood, which
is called " an hieroglyphic," so little was the real nature of a
caricature then appreciated. Another fault under which these
earlier caricatures labour is that of being extremely elaborate.
The earliest English caricature on the South Sea Company is
advertised in the Post Boy of June 21, 1720, under the title of
" The Bubblers bubbled ; or, The Devil take the Hindmost."
It no doubt related to the great rush which was made to sub-
scribe to the numerous companies afloat in that month." I have
not met with a copy of it, but in the advertisement it is stated
to be represented " by a great number of figures. In the adver-
tisement of another caricature, on the 2pth of February in this
year, called " The World in Masquerade," it is set forth, as one
of its great recommendations, that it was " represented in nigh
eighty figures." In France and in Holland (where the bubble-
mania had thrown everything into the greatest confusion), the
number of caricatures published during the year 1720 was very
considerable. In the latter country, a large number of these
caricatures, as well as many satirical plays and songs, were
collected together and published in a folio volume, which is still
a
5 CARICATURES ON THE BUBBLES.
not uncommon, under the title, " Het groote Tafereel der
Dwaasheid " (The gteat Picture of Folly). The greater por-
tion of these foreign caricatures relate to Law and his Missis-
sippi scheme. In one of these, a number of persons of both
sexes, and of all ages and conditions in society, are represented
acting the part of Atlas, each supporting a globe on his
shoulders. Law, the Atlas who supported the world of paper,
V Atlas actieux de papier, as he is termed in the French de-
scription of the plate, bears his globe but unsteadily, and is
obliged to call in Hercules to his aid.
A MODERN ATLAS.
" Roi Atlas, h6 ! pourquoi te fatiguer ainsi?
Permets qu'Hercule vienne, et te donne assistance,
Et t'aide a soutenir ton charge d'importance.
Quoi qu'on dit c'est papier ou du vent, aujourd'hui,
II n'y a en ce temps d'espece si pe'sante ;
Puis qu'en troc et trafic il pese plus que d'or."
So little point is there often in these caricatures, and so great
appears to have been the call for them in Holland, that people
seemed to have looked up old engravings, designed originally
for a totally different purpose, and, adding new inscriptions and
new explanations, they were published as caricatures on the
bubbles. These betray themselves sometimes by the costume.
A large wood-cut which represents the meeting of a King and a
nobleman in the court of a palace, attended by a crowd of
courtiers in the costume of the days of Henry IV. or Louis
XIII., is thus made to represent the crowding of the stock-
jobbers to the Rue Quinquenpoix. In the same manner a large
plate, which seems originally to have been an allegorical repre-
CARICATURES ON THE BUBBLES. 53
eentation of the battle between Carnival and Lent (a rather
popular subject at an earlier period), is here given under the
new title of " The Battle between the good-living Bubble-lords
and approaching Poverty," (Stryd tuszen de smullende Eubbel-
Heeren en de aanstaande Armoede.)
The best of these caricatures is a large engraving by Picart,
which appears in the Dutch volume, with explanations in
French and Dutch, and which was re-engraved with English
descriptions and applications in London. It is a general satire
on the madness which characterized the memorable year 1720.
" Qui," says the inscription,
"Qui le croira ? qui 1'eut jamais pense" ?
Qu'en un siecle si sage un systeme insense
Fit du commerce un jeu de la Fortune !
Et se jeu pernicieux,
Ensorcelant jeunes et vieux,
Rempllt tous lea esprits d'une yvresse commune."
Fortune is here driven in her car by Folly, the car being
drawn by the personifications of the principal companies who
began the pernicious trade of stock-jobbing, as the Mississippi,
represented with a wooden leg ; the South Sea, with a sore leg,
and the other bound with a ligament ; the Bank, treading under
foot a serpent, &c. The agents of some of the larger com-
panies are turning the wheels of the car, and are represented
with foxes' tails, " to show their policy and cunning." The
spokes of the wheels are inscribed with the names of different
companies, which, as the car
moves forward, are alternately
up and down ; while books of
merchandise, crushed and torn
beneath them, represent the de-
struction of trade and commerce.
In the clouds the Devil appears
making bubbles of soap, which
mingle with the " actions " and
other things (good and bad)
that Fortune is distributing to
the crowd. " Those," it is ad-
ded, " that will give themselves
the trouble of examining the
print, may discover many things
which are not here explained, in
order that the curious may have
the pleasure of having some- r/oi BI.E H'-LIJ UT.
54
CARICATUEES ON THE BUBBLES.
tiling to guess at /" In fact there are a number of different
groups in the picture which are not described. On one side,
one of the fox-tailed gentlemen is whispering into the ear of a
simple buyer of actions, while a roguish lad is picking his
pockets behind. Those who brought their money into Ex-
change Alley were exposed to every description of robbery.
Near these, in the original print, a handsome young damsel is
thrown by the sudden frown of Fortune into the longing arms
of an old and ill-favoured but more fortunate worshipper of the
capricious goddess.
" Quand on est jeune et belle, et qu'on a le malheur
D'avoir perdu son bien dans un jeu si funeste,
Gare qu'un billet au porteur
Ne fasse encore perdre le reste !"
We are well assured by the
writers of the time, that the
profligacy which followed this
mad gambling was almost in-
credible. On the other side of
the picture is a group occu-
pied in buying and selling
stock : the seller appears ea-
ger for the purchase-money,
which the buyer is counting
out upon a block, while a Jew
broker transacts the affair.
The word "transfer" is in-
scribed on the block in the
English print. The car of
Fortune proceedsfrom a large
coffee-house, over the door of which, in the original plate,
we read the word " Quinquenpoix ;" in place of which the
English copy has " Jonathan's," which was the great place
of resort in London for bubblers and bubbled. At the other
extremity of the picture, the infatuated crowd is hurrying
forward to fill the three places of its final destination, the
mad-house, the poor-house, and the hospital. The latter is
called, in the English print, " The House of Fools ;" but, in
several particulars of this kind, as well as in artistical execution,
the original engraving of Picart is much superior to the English
copy. Folly is represented with the spacious hoop-petticoat,
patches, and other extravagant fashions of the day, a true
female exquisite of the year 1/20.
The Post-Boy of October 20, 1720 contains an advertise-
TRANSFER.
POLITICAL PL A TING- CARDS.
55
FOLLY IN THE GA.BB OF 1720.
ment of the publication " this
day " of " a pack of bubble
cards," each containing an
engraving relating to one
of the numerous companies
formed or projected during
the summer, and accompa-
nied with an appropriate
epigram, "the lines by the.
author of the ' South Sea Bal-
lad,' and the Tippling Phi-
losopher.'" In the Weekly
Packet and in Mist's Weekly
Journal of December 10, " A
new Pack of Stock-jobbing
Cards" is announced as pub-
lished that day, with lines
by the same author. The price of each pack is stated to be
two shillings and sixpence. The notion of political playing-
cards was not altogether new ; one, at least, had appeared in the
latter times of the Commonwealth, and in the reign of Charles II.
a pack of such cards had been published on the celebrated Popish
Plot, which had caused almost as great an excitement through-
out the country as the bubbles of the year 1720. A set of
bubble cards had also been published in this latter year in Hol-
land ; but whether the Dutch took the hint from the English,
or the English from the Dutch, it is not easy to determine.
These packs of South Sea cards are preserved in the collection
of Mr. Burke. Each of the " bubble cards " contains an en-
graving representing the object of one of the numerous com-
panies that grew up round the greater bubble of the South Sea
scheme, with an epigram in four lines, which is frequently quaint
and amusing. The ten of hearts has a ship freighting with
timber, in allusion to the company for exporting timber from
Germany, and the lines,
" You that are rich, and hasty to be poor,
Buy timber export from the German shore ;
For gallowses, built up of foreign wood,
If rightly us'd, may do 'Change Alley good."
The object of another company was the " curing tobacco for
snuff;" and the card represents two negroes and their overseer
passing the snuff through a sieve, whilst their eyes very unequi-
vocally sutler from the dust :
56 STOCK-JOBBING CARDS.
" Here slaves for snuff are sifting Indian weed,
Whilst their o'erseer does the riddle feed ;
The dust arising gives their eyes much trouble,
To show their blindness that espouse the bubble."
The " stock-jobbing " cards are more decidedly caricatures? than
the others, and they deal more especially with the doings of
the bubblers and their dupes, than with the bubbles themselves.
On the three of clubs we see two stock-jobbers inventing poli-
tical news, and resolving to proclaim the birth of a young Pre-
tender, or rather two, from the marriage of the old one with
the Polish Princess Sobieski, as the news most likely to afi'ect
the value of the funds.
" Two jobbers for the day invent a lie,
And broach the same to low'r the stocks thereby.
One says the Pole 's delivered ; t' other swears
Sl.e's brought to bed of two pretending heirs."
The king of clubs gives a receipt against bankruptcy ; a trades-
man in distress receives counsel from his friend : " I'd advise
you to buy stock, and take it up in fourteen days ; it may
chance to rise, but if it falls you can but then go off." The
tradesman takes the hint : " 'Tis true, one breaking will serve
for all ; but if I succeed, 'twill make me a man ;" and it appears
he is successful.
"A bending tradesman to retrieve his fortune,
Buys stock to take it in a fortnight certain ;
It rises greatly by the time of taking,
And thus the buyer saves himself from breaking."
The nine of hearts tells a different story :
"A merchant liv'd of late in reputation.
But bilk'd by stock, like thousands in the nation,
Goes to the Mint, his bad success bemoaning,
To shun his ruin, saves himself by breaking."
In another card, three bubble directors advise with their lawyer:
one says to his legal adviser, " Sir, if you can evade this act, you
and I may ride in our coaches." " My advice," answers the
lawyer, " is, get what money you can, give me some, and make
off with the rest." The other two bubblers are consulting in a
corner of the room on the most effectual way of securing the
zeal of the lawyer in their cause : " Tell him he shall be a
director," says the one. The verses on the card are not worth
quoting. On the three of diamonds
"A lady pawns her jewels by her maid,
And in declining stock presumes to trade;
Till in South Sea she drowns her coin,
And now in Bristol stones is glad to
ENGLISH CAEICATURES.
57
The greater number of the English caricatures on the follies
of the year 1720 were published in the year following. The
London Journal, April 22, 1721, announces, as "Just publish'd,
six fine prints, representing the humours of the French, Dutch,
and English bubblers and stock-jobbers ; with variety of hu-
mours," &c. These probably included the two " Bubblers'
Medleys ;" and two equally well-known plates, entitled " The
Bubbler's Mirrour," in one of which is represented a figure
joyful for the rise of stock, and in the other a man in deep
mourning lamenting its fall. Both of these latter prints are
surrounded by lists of the bubbles, accompanied with the same
epigrams which appear on the bubble cards. The English
caricatures of this time are but poor imitations of the foreign
ones ; in fact, the taste for them seems to have been imported
from abroad, and the South Sea disaster must be looked upon as
the beginning of the rage for caricatures which appeared in this
country a few years after. It must not be forgotten, that
Hogarth's first political caricature related to the bubbles of
1720, and was published in 1721.
The misery produced by these bubbles in the winter of 1/20,
both in England and on the Continent, can with difficulty be
conceived. Yet, after the space of a century, the same folly re-
appeared in the mania of 1825, and some of the same bubbles
were revived ; but their effects at the latter period were small
in comparison to those of 1720. A German medal in the collec-
tion of Mr. Haggard, struck probably towards the end of the
year last mentioned, represents on one side the momentarj- pros-
perity of the stock-jobbers, and on the reverse the frightful
catastrophe. Suicide by hanging
and drowning, hasty flight, and
despair, as here represented, were
the share of hundreds. The cla-
mour of the sufferers overcame
all other appeals to the Govern-
ment during the year 1721. A
searching examination by a com-
mittee of the House of Commons
exposed to public view many ini-
quitous transactions ; and the
general dissatisfaction was in-
creased by the belief that not
only the ministers of the Crown,
but more e.-pecially the King's
mistresses and his greedy Ger-
THE END OF UUIiBLISd.
58 FLIGHT OF KNIGHT.
man followers, had received bribes in the first instance for
procuring the passing of the South Sea bill, and had afterwards
made great profits by stock-jobbing. The South Sea directors
became objects of hatred and persecution, and their property was
confiscated and themselves imprisoned. The ministry was
broken up ; and, at the beginning of April, remodelled under the
guidance of Mr. Walpole, who, though accused of having pro-
fitted largely by trading in stock himself, was the only man
capable at this moment of bringing a remedy to the evil.
Robert Knight, the treasurer of the South Sea Company, after
undergoing a partial examination, fled (with the book which, it
was believed, contained the greatest secrets of the late transac-
tions) to France, and thence to Brabant, where he was arrested
and confined in the castle at Antwerp. There he remained
during the greater part of the year, for the States of Brabant
refused to deliver him up to the English Government. It was
commonly believed that the flight of the South Sea treasurer
had been contrived by greater persons ; that the attempts to
bring him back to England were not made in earnest ; and that
his arrest in Brabant was a mere act of collusion, the whole
being a screen to hide the conduct of great persons about Court,
whom it was essential to keep from public view. This screen,
and Knight's escape from England, began to be the subject of a
variety of caricatures after the month of April, 1721. In one of
these the fugitive is represented as taking refuge in the infernal
regions, the fittest receptacle, as it was represented, for so de-
tested an individual. In another, entitled " The Brabant Screen,"
Knight is figured in his travelling garb, receiving his de-
spatches, which are given to
him from behind thescreen by
the King's chief mistress, or
left-hand wife, the Duchess of
Kendal, who was said to have
received enormous sums from
the South Sea Company, and
who chiefly was supposed to
hinder Knight from being
delivered to justice. On the
other side of the screen, a
paper lying on a table bears
the words, " Patience, time,
and money set everything
to rights ; " insinuating that
Knight had been designedly
KNIGHT 8 DEPARTURE.
A NEW PARLIAMENT. 59
sent out of the way until the public feeling could be appeased.
Underneath the engraving are some verses, the spirit of which
will be sufficiently shewn by the first half-dozen :
" In vain Great Britain sues for Knight's discharge,
In rain we hope to see that wretch at large ;
If traitors here the villain there secure,
Our ills must all increase, our woes be sure.
Should he- return, the screen would useless be,
And all men then the mystery would see."*
The wise measures of Walpole gradually alleviated the evils
which the South Sea affair had inflicted on society, although
they were felt heavily for some time ; and the name of stock-
jobber has never entirely thrown off the weight of popular odium
which it contracted on this occasion. The effect upon politics
was, however, much less than the opponents of King George's
government hoped for and reckoned upon : but a new subject of
agitation was now approaching, which helped in some measure
to make people forget the former. The first Parliament of
George I. would naturally have expired in 1717; but the
ministers, who" had already experienced on two memorable
occasions the danger of general elections in a moment of
excitement, and imagined that there was much then to be
dreaded from the intrigues of the Jacobites, had obtained in
1716 an act of Parliament repealing the Triennial Act, and
fixing the legal duration of a Parliament to seven years, and the
bill was made to apply to the Parliament then in existence.
By this alteration King George's first Parliament was to end
with the year 1/21 ; and the elections, to all appearance, would
fall amid the still existing excitement of the misfortunes of the
bubble explosion. We find, however, that this subject of com-
plaint was very little agitated in the elections which took place
in the spring of 1722. The chief attack upon the Court party
was made by exciting the old mob-prejudices against the Com-
monwealth and Dissenters. The Tories accused the late Parlia-
ment of a design to constitute themselves another " Long "
Parliament, published lists of those who voted for and against
the repeal of the Triennial Act, and stigmatized the former by
the old and unpopular title of the " Rump." Pamphlets on the
The caricatures mentioned above, and one or (wo others on the same
subject, are preserved in tl/e collection of Mr. Burke and Mr. Hawkins.
The print representing the entiance of Knight into the infernal regions was
probably published later in the year, for a caricature entitled "Robin's
Flight ; or, the ghost of the late S. S. treasurer ferry'd into hell," is
advertised as just published iii a newspaper of Sept 23, 1721.
60 PREPARATIONS FOR THE ELECTIONS.
misdeeds of the Rump Parliament were diligently spread abroad ;
and in some places the old custom of burning rumps was again
practised by the mob, whose usual cry was " Up with the Church,
and down with the Rump !"
But Wai pole brought now into action what yould seem to
have been a new system of electioneering, by which he gained a
signal victory over his opponents, who still placed their depend-
ence on the old plan of raising a popular excitement, which
under other circumstances had proved so eminently successful in
Queen Anne's time, and had embarrassed the Government even
under the disadvantages to the Tories which accompanied the
change of the reigning family. Long before the dissolution of
the Parliament, the Government candidates declared themselves
openly, and personally canvassed the electors ; and no expedient
was left untried to secure their votes. The Tory papers com-
plain bitterly, that, on this occasion, noblemen and gentlemen
condescended to solicit votes with an undignified familiarity.
We cannot now be otherwise than amused at complaints like the
following, published in a Tory paper, Applebee's Original
Weekly Journal of January 6, 1722: " Altho" we think the
appointing general meetings of the gentlemen of counties, for
making agreements for votes for the election of a new Par-
liament before the old Parliament is expir'd, is a most scan-
dalous method and an evident token of corruption, yet we
find it daily practic'd, and, which is worse, publickly own'd, par-
ticularly in the county of Surrey, where the very names of the
candidates are publish'd, and the votes of the freeholders openly
sollicited in the publick prints. The like is now doing, or pre-
paring to be done, for Buckinghamshire ; and we are told, like-
wise, that it is doing for other counties also." In fact, this
deliberate preparing of votes was eminently calculated to coun-
teract the sudden influence of popular agitation and mob excite-
ment throughout the country; and aware, by what had so
recently passed, of the power of money at that time, Walpole is
said to have practised on the present occasion a very extensive
system of bribery.
When the Parliament was dissolved in March, a host of
pamphlets were sent into the world, as had been done before on
similar occasions, to influence the votes of electors ; and the old
system of getting up mobs was again resorted to. These mobs,
in some instances, beat and kept away those who were on their
way to vote for the opposite party : in some cases they carried
them off, and locked them up till the election was over. In
several places, especially at Coventry, fearful riots took place.
ELECTIONEERING CARICATURES.
61
In London there was much agitation ; and, on this occasion,
Westminster began those scenes of uproar which were afterwards
so often repeated. But the influence of the mob diminished
before Walpole's foresight and his gold, and in the new Parlia-
ment the Government obtained an overwhelming majority. The
opposition was reduced to a state of weakness, in which it could
only vent its spleen in political squibs and caricatures. In the
midst of the elections, but when the result was no longer
doubtful, on the 3ist of March, an advertisement in the Tory
Post-Soy announces as just published, price sixpence each, two
prints, under the titles of " The Prevailing Candidate ; or, the
election carried by bribery and the D 1 :" and " Britannia
stript by a Villain ; to which is added, the true phiz of a late
member." The first of these only appears now to be known :*
the right-hand side is occupied by a screen of seven folds, which
are intended to represent the seven almost barren years of the
late Parliament ; while on the left appears the group here repre-
AS ELECTION EPISODE.
ented, which is explained by the verses underneath. This is the
earliest caricature on elections with which I am acquainted.
14 Here's a minion sent down to a corporate town,
In hopes to be newly elected ;
This rare print, which is one of the best of the caricatures of the reign
of George the First, U in tl.e collection of Mr. Hawkins.
6a MOVEMENTS OF THE PRETENDER.
By his prodigal show, you may easily know
To the Court he is truly affected.
" He 'as a knave by the hand, who has power to command
All the votes in the corporation ;
Shoves a sum in his pocket, the D 1 cries ' Take it,
'Tis all for the good of the nation !'
" The wife, standing by, looks a little awry
At the candidate's way of addressing ;
But a priest, stepping in avers bribery no sin,
Since money 's a family blessing.
" Say the boys, 'Ye sad rogues, here are French wooden brogues,
To reward your vile treacherous knavery ;
For such traitors as you are the rascally crew
That betray the whole kingdom to slavery.' "
The more violent Tories, in their despair, seem to have been
thrown again upon dangerous undertakings. We have seen,
that, even in the midst of the bubble mania, the movements of
the Pretender were considered sufficient to affect the public
funds ; and the eyes of Englishmen were constantly fixed upon
him in his retreat at Rome. The joy of the Jacobites was great,
when they learnt, at the end of the year 1720, that his Polish
wife had given birth to a son, a young Pretender, destined to be
brought on the stage when the little energy ever possessed by
his father was gone. They hoped much from the dissatisfaction
and sufferings caused by the disasters of the South Sea scheme,
and they had been signally disappointed in the result of the
elections. The excitement of these had scarcely subsided, when
the English Government received from Prance information of a
formidable conspiracy at home against King George ; and it was
discovered that the Pretender had left Rome, and that the
Duke of Ormond was on his way from Madrid to be prepared on
the coast of Biscay for a descent on that of England. A camp
was immediately formed in Hyde Park, to protect the King and
the metropolis, from which latter all Papists, or reputed Papists,
were warned to depart, by a royal proclamation issued on the
pth of May. At the same time we trace attempts to raise a
new feeling among the mob in favour of the exiled family ; and
it is announced, in Read's Weekly Journal of May 26, that
" The messenger of the press has caused fourteen persons to be
sent to the House of Correction, for crying about the city scan-
dalous and traiterous songs." In perilous undertakings like
this, caricatures were circulated on medals, rather than in prints,
and we have such a medal struck at this time, with a head of
the Pretender on the obverse, and the legend UNICA SALUS, and
on the reverse, under the legend QUID GBAYITTS CAPTA, a distant
ATTERBURY'S PLOT. 63
view of London, with Britannia
weeping in the foreground, and
before her face the horse of
Hanover trampling upon her
lion and unicorn. The Jacobites
pretended that the nation had
been enslaved by the Court in-
fluence in the elections ; and on
the 2oth of September, long
after the English conspirators
had been seized, the Pretender issued a mad declaration, which
was printed and industriously distributed in England, in which
he dwelt especially on the pretended violation of the freedom of
voting. The declaration was ordered by the British Parliament,
which was then assembled, to be burnt by the hands of the
hangman.
A bishop was the principal conspirator in the Jacobite plot of
1722. Atterbury, of Rochester, was a minister of the Crown
under the brief premiership of Bolingbroke in the few last days
of the reign of Queen Anne ; on whose death he alone had been
bold enough to propose that they should proclaim the son, or
reputed son, of James II. as her successor to the throne. He
had been ever since noted for his disaffection to the Hanoverian
government ; and now he seems to have rashly embraced the
hope that a few troops under the Duke of Ormond, landed on
the southern coast, would be enough to overthrow it. At the
end of May, several inferior, but active, conspirators, were taken
into custody; they were, a nou-juring clergyman named Kelly,
an Irish Catholic priest of the name of Neynoe, Layer, (a young
barrister of the Temple,) and another Irishman, (a Jesuit namde
Plunket.) Their examinations led to the arrest of Bishop
Atterbury, who was committed a close prisoner to the Tower on
the 24th of August. The High-Church party were furious at
what they considered the sacrilege of imprisoning a bishop ; and
the Tories declared publicly that the whole plot was a fiction,
that the Pretender had never quitted Rome, and that his party
had no designs against King George's government. This was
soon contradicted by the Pretender's own declaration ; and
documents which have of late years come to light destroy all
doubts that might have been entertained of the guilt of Atter-
bury. In the beginning of 1723 Layer was brought to his trial,
andwas convicted of having enlisted men for the Pretender's
service, in order to raise a new rebellion : he was executed at
Tyburn. The Tories still ridiculed the plot, and as late as the
6 4
THE PLOT DEFEATED.
i6th of April, 1723, we learn from the Daily Journal, that
" diligent search is making after the contrivers and disperscrs of
a seditious copy of verses burlesquing the discovery of the late
wicked conspiracy, * and the methods taken for punishing the
conspirators." In May, however, Atterbury was brought to
trial before the House of Lords ; a bill of pains and penalties
was passed, by which he was deprived of his bishopric, and
banished the kingdom ; and on the i8th of June he was put on
board a King's ship and conveyed to France, where he at once
entered the service of the Pretender. A medal was now struck
to commemorate the defeat of the design, which the Pretender's
medal above mentioned was intended to forward. On the
obverse, the conspirators are represented as seated round a table
in deep consultation, the Bishop presiding and delivering a
paper to them. Above is a legend intimating the determination
to restore the exile to his lost crown DECBETUM EST, BEGNO
BEITO BESTITUATUB ABACTTJS the numeral letters of which
make the date 1722, as that in which the plot was carried on.
On the reverse of the medal, the eye of Providence never asleep,
darts its lightnings among the conspirators, casting the Bishop's
mitre from his head, and striking apparently with death another
conspirator seated on the right, probably intended to represent
the Templar, Layer. The inscription on this side is, CON-
8PIBATE, APERIT DEUS, [oculum], ET VOS FULMINE PULSAT,
the numeral letters of which make the date 1723, the year in
which the plotters were convicted and punished. At the foot
of the model, obverse and reverse, is the inscription CONSPIBATIO
BBITANNICA.*
* This medal as well as the Pretender's medal mentioned before, is in the
collection of Mr. Haggard.
THE PLOT DEFEATED. 6$
From this time the government of King George was relieved
from most of its uneasiness. The ministers, strong in their par-
liamentary majorities, paid little heed to the clamours of the
opposition ; trade went on flourishing, and the Pretender was no
longer in a position to give alarm. The greatest subjects of
political agitation were an Irish squabble about half-pence, or a
Scottish riot against taxes. Even before the elections, the
London newspapers had found leisure to dispute about the
murder of Julius Caesar and the patriotism of Brutus ; and for
several years after the bitterness of party feeling appears to have
cast itself chiefly into the ranks of literature and science.
66
CHAPTER III.
GEORGE I. AND II.
Literature Debused by the Rage for Politics The Stage Operas, Mas-
querades, and Pantomimes Heidegger and his Singers Orator Henley
The "Beggar's Opera" "The Dunciad" Continued Popularity of
the Opera Political use of the Stage Act for Licensing Plays
Attacks upon Pope New Edition of the "Dunciad."
rpHE agitation produced by the year of bubbles was followed
by loud outcries against the alarming increase of immorality
and profligacy, the debased character of the stage, and the low
state of literature, all of which were made alternately the
watchwords of political strife. A long-established opinion, per-
haps not altogether just, has fixed upon the reign of Queen
Anne as the Augustan age of English literature ; but the few
pure models of English composition which that age produced
were scattered stars among a countless multitude of unworthy
scribblers, whose fame was in subsequent times embodied in the
name of Qrubb Street, and who, from a variety of causes, were
gradually driving the more classic writers out of the field. The
first kings of the Hanoverian dynasty had no love for letters ;
and it happened that one or two of the most distinguished
literary names belonged to the party in opposition to their
government. Those only could live by their writings who
would throw themselves into the troubled sea of party, or who
would pander to the depraved taste of the mob of readers ; or,
in other words, who would be the slaves of the newspapers or of
the booksellers. The party newspapers were increasing daily in
scurrility as well as in number ; but, instead of the wit and
elegance of the Spectators and Tattlers, they were filled with
calumny and defamation, or with wearisome tales of gallantry,
varied only by occasional and not unfrequent patches of indecent
ribaldry. It is clear, indeed, that the national taste had become
as vulgar as the national manners, and as corrupt as the princi-
ples of a large majority of the public men of that period. The
works which received the greatest encouragement were scanda-
lous memoirs, secret history surreptitiously obtained and sent
forth under fictitious names, (such as the books which came
STATE OF LITERATURE. 67
froja the pens of Eliza Hay wood, Mrs. Manley, and other
equally shameless female writers, and from the press of Edmund
Curll,) and ill-disguised obscenity.
A great number of the low political writers of the day were
well paid with the government money. The secret committee
appointed to inquire into the sins of Walpole's administration,
after he had retired from office, reported that no less than fifty
thousand and seventy-seven pounds eighteen shillings were paid
to authors and printers of newspapers in the course of ten years,
between February 10, 1731, and February 10, 1741. Of this,
it appears, by the report just quoted, that William Arnall, a
very active political writer, received in the course of four years,
" for Free Britons and writing," eleven thousand pounds out of
the Treasury.
After the employment of writing for Government, the most
profitable was that of writing for the stage. The drama was
suffering perhaps more than any other class of literature by the
debasement of public taste, although it had certainly been raised
in moral character since the days of Charles II. Under his
reign there had been two sets of actors, known as " the King's"
and " the Duke's ;" but, in 1690, these were united in one com-
pany, who, under one patent, had their house in Drury Lane.
Internal dissension, however, soon led to disunion in the com-
pany ; and the seceders, under Betterton, obtained from King
William a licence to act independently, and a theatre was built
for them in Lincoln's Inn Fields. There was, of course, a
zealous rivalry between the two parties, which in the opinion of
Colley Gibber, led each to seek patronage by yielding to the
taste of the mob, instead of being able to guide it : but after
the experience of another century, we have every reason to dis-
agree in the opinion formed by Gibber on this tendency. In
1706 a new and " stately " theatre was provided in the Hay-
market for the Lincoln's Inn company, built under the direction
of Sir John Vanbrugh ; and an attempt was made to effect a
reunion between the two companies, but without effect. The
Haymarket theatre, known under Anne as the Queen's, and
under her successors as the King's theatre, was found not to
answer well its original intention, and it was afterwards appro-
priated to the Italian Opera ; for, as Gibber tells us, " not long
before this time the Italian Opera began first to steal into
England, but in as rude a disguise and unlike itself as possible ;
in a lame, hobbling translation into our own language, with false
quantities, or metre out of measure to its original notes, sung
by our own unskilful voices, with graces misapplied to almost
F 2
68 HEIDEGGER AND THE MASQUERADES.
every sentiment, and with action lifeless and unmeaning through
every character."
After a number of vicissitudes, the licensed companies of
actors remained in nearly the same position towards each other
under George the First. " His Majesty's company of come-
dians," under the joint management of Booth, Gibber, and
Wilks, held Drury Lane ; the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields
had been rebuilt for the opposition company under Kich : and
the King's theatre in the Haymarket was devoted exclusively to
the Italian Opera, under the management of the celebrated John
James Heidegger.* Not long before the rise of the South Sea
scheme, masquerades were introduced at the Opera House as a
new attraction to popularity ; and in a short time they became,
under Heidegger's management, the rage of the town. Every
one seemed to relish the momentary saturnalia in which all ranks
and classes, in outward disguise at least, mixed together in in-
discriminate confusion ; where, to use the words of a contempo-
rary writer,
" Fools, dukes, rakes, cardinals, fops, Indian queens,
Belles in tye-wigs, and lords in Harlequins,
Troops of right honourable porters come,
And garter'd small coal- merchants crowd the room ;
Valets stuck o'er with coronets appear,
Lacquey's of state, and footmen with a star ;
Sailors of quality with judges mix,
And chimney-sweepers drive their coach and six :
Statesmen, so used at Court the mask to wear,
Now condescend again to use it here ;
Idiots turn conjurers, and courtiers clowns,
And sultans drop their handkerchiefs to nuns."
The masquerade soon became more than a figurative leveller
of society ; for sharpers, and women of ill-repute, and others,
gained admission, and the consequence was nightly scenes of
robbery, and quarrels, and scandalous licentiousness. The
general agreement of contemporary writers on this subject can
leave no doubt on our minds of the evil effects of masquerades
on the morality of the day. The South Sea convulsion had
hardly subsided, when a general outcry was heard against the
alarming increase of atheism, profaneness, and immorality, and
an attempt was made to suppress them by Act of Parliament,
but the bill for that purpose was not allowed to pass. The
* There was also a " new theatre over against the Opera, which, in the
latter years of the reign of George I., was held by a party of French
players ; and an unlicensed company of English players acted in a theatre
in Goodman's Fields.
PRESENTMENT AGAINST HEIDEGGER. 69
dangerous effects of masquerades were particularly insisted upon ;
and they soon became the object of severe attacks in the news-
papers, and in satirical as well as serious pamphlets. In spite,
however, of all that could be done, these proscribed entertain-
ments continued to flourish ; and for successive years the most
prominent advertisements in the daily papers were those an-
nouncing where masquerade dresses of every variety were to be
lent for the night on reasonable terms. On Monday, January
6, 1726, the Bishop of London preached in Bow Church, Cheap-
side, before the Society for the lleformation of Manners, a ser-
mon directed especially against masquerades, which made a con-
siderable sensation, and so far drew the attention of Government
to the subject, that it was followed by a royal proclamation
against the favourite entertainments of the town, the only result
of which was, that they were in future carried on under the
Italian title of ridottos, or the English one of balls ; and, in
order to satisfy in some measure the scruples of the authorities,
the public advertisements of each ball contained a paragraph
stating that guards were stationed within and without to prevent
" all disorders and indecencies." The Middlesex grand juries on
several occasions presented these masquerades as public nui-
sances, and complained of the manner in which the King's
orders had been evaded, but without any permanent effect.
George the Second was warmly attached to masquerades, as well
as to the Opera, and he not unfrequently honoured them with
his presence, and showed great favour to Heidegger, whom,
nevertheless, a grand jury in 1729, after describing the ill con-
sequences of these Opera balls, presented, under his name, " as
the principal promoter of vice and immorality, in defiance of
the laws of this land, to the great scandal of religion, the dis-
turbance of his Majesty's Government, and the damage of many
of his good subjects."
The attempts at a reformation of manners were the less effec-
tual, because they were too often mixed up with political parti-
zanship, and were not always distinguished by the prudence and
judicious moderation which ensure success. The Whig Flying
Post, in the August of 1725, contains an attack on the writings
of the poet Prior, for their presumed immoral tendency, com-
plaining that the names of an archbishop, several bishops, and
numerous other dignitaries of the Church, had appeared as sub-
scribers to the new edition of bis works on large paper, and
adducing, as a remarkable proof of the degeneracy of public
manners, that, while Prior's writings were printed elegantly on
the finest paper, any sort of print or paper was considered good
70 CUZZONI AND FAUSTINA.
enough for the editions of the Holy Scriptures ! This pointed
attack upon the poet, then recently dead, is best explained by
the circumstance that he had been Harley's agent in the nego-
tiations connected with the obnoxious peace of Utrecht, that he
had been a prisoner of state at the beginning of King George's
reign, and that up to the last he had been looked upon as a dis-
affected Tory. There was probably a satirical aim in a para-
graph of the London Journal for February n, 1724, which
stated, that, " At the last ridotto or ball at the Opera House in
the Haymarket, a daughter of his grace the Archbishop of
Canterbury won the highest prize."*
The operas had flourished equally with the masquerades, and
were looked upon with jealousy by those who advocated the
dignity of the legitimate English stage. Singers and dancers
from Italy, such as Cuzzoni, and Faustina, and Farinelli, ob-
tained large sums of money, and returned to build themselves
palaces at home, while first-rate actors at Drury Lane or Lin-
coln's Inn Fields experienced a difficulty in obtaining respectable
audiences. The portraits of the former were engraved hand-
somely, and exhibited in every picture-shop. After a serious
dispute between Cuzzoni and Faustina for precedence, in the
summer of 1727, in which the latter appears to have been the
victor, an obscure satirist of the day says,
"Cuzzoni can no longer charm,
Faustina now does all alarm ;
And we must buy her pipe so clear
With hundreds twenty-five a year.
Either we've money very plenty,
Or else our skulls are wondrous empty."
The regular theatres were driven, in their own defence, to seek
some new method of attracting the patronage which seemed to
have been stolen from them by the Italian Opera, and they in-
troduced that class of performances, also of foreign growth, which
has since become so well known under the title of Pantomime.
Gibber, in his autobiographical "Apology," laments the necessity
which obliged them to give way to a taste so contrary to the
interests of the drama, and his contemporaries in general bear
witness that the Drury Lane company opposed the innovation as
far as they could. It was Rich, with his Lincoln's Inn com-
pany, who first attempted to compete with the Opera by intro-
* It appears that gambling of various kinds, as well as lotteries, were
permitted at the masquerades. These, with the intrigues of another de-
scription, not unfrequently led to quarrels, which ended sometimes in duels,
with melancholy results.
CARICATURES ON THE STAGE. fi
ducing singing and dancing, and English operas and English
pantomimes, and what were designated in the play-bills as
" grotesque entertainments." In the winter of 1723 this house
produced " The Necromancer ; or, Harlequin Dr. Faustus,"
which had an extraordinary run ; and the next season they
brought out a " Harlequin Jack Shepherd." The latter was of
course founded upon the exploits of the notorious character,
whose history was then fresh in every one's memory, for it was
the year of his execution. A rival " Dr. Faustus " was brought
out at Drury Lane, and, as it appears, with equal success.
This was not the only instance in which the two theatres per-
formed at the same time pantomimes under the same title ; in
February, 1726, they were both exhibiting a pantomime of
Apollo and Daphne, and other similar instances might be pointed
out. In these fantastic pieces, wild beasts, and dragons, and
other strange personages, made their appearance, such as had
never before trodden upon the English stage ; and the writers of
the- time tell us, with a scornful smile, that on one occasion a
moveable windmill was introduced, and that it produced no
small sensation among the astonished spectators. Nor did the
innovations stop here, for in the whiter of 1726 mountebanks,
and tumblers, and rope-dancers were brought in as a novelty
amongst the " grotesque entertainments " of the theatres.
The character of the stage, thus smothered under a compli-
cated weight of operas, masquerades, pantomimes, and mounte-
bank performances, became more and more an object of attack
for the press ; and the papers of the opposition took up the
subject with the greater zeal, because the evil seemed to be en-
couraged by the patronage of the Court. The stage-managers
themselves were not uufrequently made the objects of galling
personalities, in pamphlets, as well as in the public newspapers.
Caricatures exhibited to the eye in exaggerated drawing the
shortness of Cuzzoni, the tall awkwardness of Farinelli, and the
ugliness of Heidegger.* The manager of masquerades and
operas, whom the King had appointed master of the revels, or,
as he was termed by foreigners, le surintendant des plaisirs de
I'Angleterre, sometimes made a joke of himself as being one of the
ugliest men of his age, and it is not therefore to be wondered at
if his deficiency in beauty was often a subject of ridicule to the
satirist. Fielding, in a satirical poem of his younger days,
* The caricature represented on the next page is said to have been
designed by the Countess of Burlington, and to have been etched by
Goupy ; at least, so we learn from a manuscript note on a copy in the pos-
session of Mr. Burke.
7 HEIDEGGER S UGLINESS.
"The Masquerade," thus passes a joke on Heidegger's face,
which is represented by other writers as having been often mis-
taken for a monstrous mask.
CTZZONI, FARTNELLT, AND HEIDEGGER.
" 'Hold, madam, pray what hideous figure
Advances ? ' ' Sir, that's Count H d g r.*
' How could it come into his gizzard,
T' invent so horrible a vizzard ?'
'How could it, sir?' says she, ' I'll tell ye :
It came into his mother's belly ;
For you must know that horrid phiz is
(Puria natwalibus) his visage.'
' Monstrous ! that human nature can
Have form'd so strange burlesque a man ?' "
Heidegger, who was a native of Zurich, in Switzerland, and
had come to England as a mere fortune-hunter, was much
caressed by the Court and by the nobility, and was now gaining
a large income, much of which he expended in charity. He
lived profusely, and mixed with the highest society, where his
oddness of character and appearance made him sometimes the
subject of practical jokes. On one occasion the Duke of
Montagu invited him to a tavern, where he was made drunk,
and fell asleep. In that situation a mould of his face was taken,
from which was made a mask, bearing the closest resemblance to
HOGARTH. 13
the original, and the Duke provided a man of the same stature
to appear in a similar dress, and thus to personate Heidegger,
on the night of the next masquerade, when the King (who was
apprised of the plot) was to be present. On his Majesty's
entrance, Heidegger, as was usual, bade the music play " God
save the King ; " but no sooner was his back turned, than the
impostor, assuming his voice and manner, ordered them to play
" Charley over the water." On this Heidegger raged, stamped,
and swore, and commanded them to re-commence the loyal tune
of " God save the King." The instant he retired the impostor
returned, and ordered them to resume the seditious air. The
musicians thought their master was drunk, but durst not disobey.
The house was now thrown into an uproar ; " Shame ! shame ! "
resounded from all parts ; and some officers of the guards, who
were in attendance upon the King, insisted upon kicking the
musicians out, had not the Duke of Cumberland, who, as well as
his father, was privy to the plot, restrained them. Heidegger
now came forward and offered to discharge his band ; when the
impostor advanced, and cried in a plaintive tone, " Sire, the
whole fault lies with that devil in my likeness." This was
too much; poor Heidegger
turned round, grew pale, but
could not speak. The Duke
of Montagu, seeing it take
so serious a turn, ordered the
fellow to unmask. Heideg-
ger retired in great wrath,
seated himself in an arm-
chair, furiously commanded
his attendants to extinguish
the lights, and swore he
would never again superin-
tend the masquerade, unless
the mask was defaced and
the mould broken in his pre-
sence. A sketch by Hogarth
has preserved and immor-
talised the face of Heideg-
ger on this occasion, when it
truly merited the descrip-
tion given in one of the sati-
rical attacks on the manager of the Opera :
" With a hundred deep wrinkles impress'd on thy front,
Like a map with a great many rivers upon 't."
HEIDEGGEH IN A KAQE.
74 CAEICATURES ON THE STAGE.
It was the degeneracy of the stage at this period which
brought forward the satirical talents of Hogarth, then a young
man. In 1723, immediately after the appearance of the panto-
mime of " Dr. Faustus " at Lincoln's Inn Fields, he published
his plate of " Masquerades and Operas," with the gate of Bur-
lington House in the background, as a lampoon upon the bad taste
of the age in every branch of the art. On one side, Satan is
represented as dragging a multitude of people through a gateway
to the masquerade and opera, while Heidegger is looking down
upon them from a window with an air of satisfaction. A large
sign-board above has a representation of Cuzzoni on the stage, to
whom the Earl of Peterborough is making an offer of eight thou-
sand pounds. On the opposite side of the picture, a crowd
rushes into the theatre to witness the pantomimes ; and over
this gateway appears the sign of Dr. Faustus, with a dragon and
a windmill, explained by the lines under the picture,
" Long has the stage productive been
Of offspring it could brag on ;
But never till this age was seen
A windmill and a dragon."
In the front of the picture a barrow-woman is seen wheeling
away, as " waste paper for
shops," a load of books, which
appear by the inscriptions to be
the dramatic works of Shake-
speare, Ben Jonson, Dryden,
Congreve, and Otway.
In 1725 Hogarth published
another caricature, entitled " A
just View of the British Stage,"
_ more especially levelled at the
BUBBISH. pantomimic performances of the
theatres of Drury Lane and Lin-
coln's Inn Fields, and suggesting a plan for combining in one
piece "Dr. Faustus" and " Jack Shepherd," "with Scaramouch
Jack Hall the chimney-sweeper's escape from Newgate through
the privy." The three managers of Drury Lane are placed
round a table in the centre of the picture. To the left Wilks,
dangling the effigy of Punch, exclaims, in exultation at the
expected superiority which this expedient is to give them over
the rival theatre, "Poor Rich! faith, I pity thee!" Gibber,
holding up Harlequin Jack Shepherd, invokes the Muses, who
are painted somewhat grotesquely on the ceiling, "Assist, ye
sacred nine 1" Booth, at the other end of the table, is letting
CIBBEE AND WILKS. 75
the effigy of Hall down the passage by which he is said to have
made his exit, and declaring his satisfaction at the new plan by
THEATRICAL CONTRIVANCES.
a coarse exclamation. The ghost of Ben Jonson rises from a
trap-door, and shows his contempt for the new-fangled contri-
vances of the stage in a manner that cannot be misunderstood.
In 1727 Hogarth published a large "Masquerade Ticket,"
bitterly satirical on the immoral tendency of masquerades, as
well as on their manager, Heidegger.
The eagerness with which the public at this period ran after
every new sight, and listened to every new opinion, was an object of
frequent ridicule to the satirical writers of the day, and this pro-
bably made it the age of deistical writers, such as Mandeville
and Woolston, Toland, Tindal, and Collins. There were others
also, who, without being deists, ventured to broach fantastic
notions, which had followers for a time. In the summer of
1726 appeared, what the Political State for that year describes
as " a blazing star, that seemed portentous to the Established
Church." John Henley, a native of Leicestershire, had gra-
duated at Cambridge, but, filled as it would appear with over-
weening vanity and assurance, he defied the authority of the
Established Church, and not only set up a new religious scheme,
which he called Primitive Christianity, but, with a mere smat-
tering of knowledge, undertook to teach and lecture upon all
sciences, all languages, and, in fact, all subjects whatever, on
76 ORATOR HENLEY.
which, to judge from all accounts, he must have talked a great
deal of unintelligible rigmarole. On the i4th of May, 1726,
Henley first advertised his scheme in the public newspapers, and
ou the loth of July, having taken a licence from a magistrate
to deliver public lectures, he established what he called his
" Oratory," in a sort of wooden booth, built over the shambles
in Newport Market, near Leicester Fields, which had formerly
been used for a temporary meeting-house by a congregation of
French refugees. Here, and in Lincoln's Inn Fields ("the
corner near Clare Market"), to which latter place he removed at
the end of February, 1729, Henley continued to hold forth for
some years, preaching on theological subjects on the Sunday,
and on all other subjects on the Wednesday evening, to which
sometimes he added a lecture on Monday and Friday. In spite
of his locality among the butchers, to whom at times he gave
a lecture, which he called his " butchers' oration," the orator
exhibited himself in an ostentatious manner, clad in the full
robes of a priest, attended by his clerk or reader ; and he em-
ployed a man to attend the door, whom he dignified with the
name of his " ostiary," and who took a shilling a head for
admission. On certain occasions he administered what he
termed the "primitive eucharist," and he performed other reli-
gious ceremonies. The clergy were highly indignant at this
man's proceedings, and he met with opposition from other
sources : on the i8th of January, 1729, he was presented by a
grand jury for profaning the character of a priest, by delivering
indecent discourses in clerical robes, which was probably the
cause of his removal to Lincoln's Inn Fields ; but he braved all,
until he gradually lost the popularity which for a while filled
his Oratory with a numerous audience. This man continued
his performances in Clare Market till after the middle of the
century.
When we look over Henley's weekly advertisements in the
newspapers, we cannot but give him credit for singular ingenuity
in selecting subjects calculated to excite general curiosity, both
in his theological discourses on the Sunday, and in his miscel-
laneous lectures on the other days of the week. As he pro-
ceeded, he took up exciting political questions, discussed very
freely the character of the statesmen and the scholars of the
day, made historical parallels, and became abusive, scurrilous,
and licentious in his language, invoking the lowest passions
rather than the reasoning faculties of his hearers. This course
has been attempted in later times, but never with the extra-
ordinary success which for a time attended the discourses of
AN ORATORY BAPTISM. 77
"orator Henley." In one advertisement it is announced that
* The Wednesday's oration will be on Westward Hoe ; or, a
frolick on the water, -fire-new :" in another, " The Wednes-
day's subject will be ' Over the hills, and far away ; or, Prince
Eugene's march.' " On one occasion he states merely that the
subject will be " Something alive ;" on another it is " A merry-
thought ;" and, among the incredible variety of subjects which
composed his long list, it will be quite enough to mention the
following, taken at random : " The world toss'd at tennis ; or,
a lesson for a king;" "Whether man or woman be the finer
creature ;" " A-la-mode de Trance ; or, the art of rising ;" " The
wedding lottery ;" " A Platonic chat on Box-hill, de osculis et
virginilus ;" " The Cambridge jig ; or, the humours of a com-
mencement;" "The Doctors ogling the ladies through their
spectacles ;" " A wonder at Windsor ; or, the dream of a dame
of honour ;" " Jack at a pinch ; or, Sir Humphrey Haveatall ;"
" The triumphs of Tag, Rag, and Bobtail, spick-span new /"
The most common subjects were made seductive by some quaint
and extraordinary title.
We are easily led to doubt the morality of a schemer like
Henley, and the reports of his contemporaries seem to rank it
AH "OBATORY" BAPTISM.
rather low. Hogarth introduced him, according to common
report, among the characters in his "Modern Midnight Conver-
sation ;" and the same satirical artist represented him in
another picture performing the rites of baptism, but evidently
more attentive to the beauty of the mother than to the opera-
78 THE "BEGGARS OPERA."
tion he is performing on the infant. Another rough sketch by
Hogarth represents in burlesque the interior of the Oratory
during service. The orator's fame was, however, so great, that
several engravings were made of him, representing him holding
forth from his pulpit, enriched with velvet and gold.
The dispute between Cuzzoni and Faustina, already men-
tioned, combined with some other circumstances of disagree-
ment, had thrown the Opera management into confusion ; and,
in the earlier months of the year 1728, the newspapers contain
repeated complaints of the neglect into which the Italian Opera
had fallen. It was at this moment that an event occurred,
which, for a time, threw both Italian Opera and pantomime into
the shade. In February, 1728, appeared at the theatre in Lin-
coln's Inn Fields the celebrated "Beggar's Opera," by John
Gay, with a tide of success never equalled by any other single
piece. This success no doubt arose in a considerable measure
from the attractive character of the music, and partly from its
peculiar aptness to the moment at which it was published, wLen
highway and street robberies had been increasing in an alarming
degree, and the characters thus brought on the stage were those
on whom people's attention was daily and painfully fixed. The
" Beggar's Opera" became, in a few days, the universal talk of
the town. Lavinia Fenton, formerly an obscure actress, to
whom was given the part of Polly, became an object of general
admiration, was celebrated in street-ballads, and her portrait ex-
hibited in every shop, and within a short time she became
Duchess of Bolton. The airs of the " Beggar's Opera" were
adopted as the tunes of political ballads. The piece itself was
even performed in a booth at Bartholomew Fair in the autumn
following. It was also acted in various parts of England,
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, an unusual thing for a new piece
in those days ; the favourite songs were printed upon fans for
the ladies ; houses, as we learn from the notes to the " Dunciad,"
were furnished with it in screens ; and, as usual, it became the
origin of a number of inferior imitations which appeared in
different theatres, under the titles of " The Lover's Opera,"
"The Gypsies' Opera," " The Beggar's Wedding," &c.
There were others who cried against the " Beggar's Opera" as
loudly as the town cried it up. Many said, with some reason,
that its extraordinary success was a proof of a degraded national
taste ; others, with much less cause, represented it as an attack
upon public morals, and as having a dangerous tendency ; and,
as it happened that, during the period which followed its repre-
sentation, street robberies in London were unusually frequent,
PERSECUTION OF THE "BEGGAR'S OPERA." 79
they hesitated not to ascribe this circumstance to the influence
of the " Beggar's Opera." Hogarth caricatured it in a print,
representing the actors with the heads of animals, and Apollo
and the Muses fast asleep under the stage. In another cari-
cature Parnassus was turned into a bear-garden ; Pegasus was
drawing a dust-cart, and the Muses were employed in sifting
cinders.
" Parnassus now like a bear-garden appears,
And Apollo there plays on his crowd to the bears :
Poor Pegasus draws an old dust-cart along,
And the Muses sift cinders, and hum an old song.
With a fa, la, &c." '
Among other prints, a medley was published in the style of
those on the South Sea scheme, with the title, "The Stage
Medley ; representing the polite taste of the town, and the
matchless merits of poet G , Polly Peachum, and Captain
Macheath." Other prints, of a similar tendency, were distri-
buted about the town. At least one clergyman preached against
it from the pulpit ; and, even in the latter part of the century,
Ireland, Hogarth's editor, repeats traditionary stories, that, after
its appearance, young practisers in highway robbery were not
unfrequently caught with the " Beggar's Opera" in their pocket.
But there was also a political feeling on the subject, for the Lin-
coln's Inn theatre had the Tory partialities on its side ; and
Gay, slighted by the Whigs, had given dissatisfaction to the
Court, and was looked upon as the friend of Pope, Swift, and
Bolingbroke. The "Beggar's Opera" itself contained some
satirical reflections on the Court ; and the Tory press alone ven-
tured to speak in its favour. Mist's Journal of the 2nd of
March, 1728, observes, "Certain people, of an envious disposi-
tion, attribute the frequency of the late robberies to the success
of the ' Beggar's Opera,' and the pleasure the town takes in the
character of Captain Macheath ; but others, less concern'd in
that affair, and more for the publick, account for them by the
general poverty and corruption of the times, and the prevalence
of some powerful examples"
For these or some other reasons the Court openly discounte-
nanced the " Beggar's Opera ;" and, when its author had com-
posed for the following season a second part, under the title of
" Polly," it was not allowed to be acted. The Duchess of
Queensbury, who had advocated Gay's cause with the King and
the royal family, was forbidden to appear at Court. But the
town took vengeance for their disappointment upon a rival,
though, as it would appear, an unoffending writer. Colley
8o POPE AND SWIFT.
Gibber had just completed a piece, also in imitation of the
" Beggar's Opera," entitled " Love in a Riddle," which he was
preparing to bring out at Drury Lane. A report was indus-
triously spread abroad that Gibber had obtained the prohibition
against Gay's " Polly," in order that he might monopolise the
stage to himself ; and, on the day of Gibber's representation, a
powerful cabal obtained possession of the theatre, and compelled
him to withdraw his performance. Gay published his " Polly"
soon after, with some prefatory remarks, in which he protested
against the injustice with which it had been treated.
By Pope and others Gay was looked upon only as a new
instance of the sacrifice of literary genius to party feelings, and
the treatment he experienced, perhaps, led in some measure to
the appearance of a much more remarkable literary production,
which agitated the world of letters for several years. Pope, and
his friend Swift, equally bitter in their sentiments, and who both
at this period of Whig supremacy lay under a kind of proscrip-
tion, had, within a few months, taken an effective revenge by
the publication of several violent satires against the degeneracy
of their age. In 1727 Swift published the "Travels of Gulli-
ver ;" in which he went on ridiculing statesmen, and scholars,
and men of the world, and every other class of society, until he
ended in one universal libel upon the whole human race. In the
same year Pope gave to the world his " Treatise on the Bathos ;
or, the Art of sinking in Poetry," under the name of Martinus
Scriblerus. These works and their authors were attacked with
almost every kind of weapon that the anger of the multitude of
inferior writers of the press could supply. Pope especially,
whose splenetic and sensitive temper had severed most of his
literary friendships, was subjected to every kind of annoyance,
and was driven to the highest degree of exasperation, for the
judicious but cutting satire of his remarks touched to the quick
almost every poetical scribbler of the day. The newspapers
were filled with attacks upon his writings, and with jests upon
his character, his religion (he had been educated a Roman Catho-
lic), his politics (he was the friend of Atterbury and Boling-
broke), and even upon his personal deformity. Ambrose Phillips,
known chiefly by his Pastorals, is said to have proceeded so far
as to hang a rod up in Button's Coffee-house, with which he
threatened to chastise the poet of Twickenham the first time he
made his appearance there. These attacks were often galling,
especially when they came from a class of persons for whom the
poet professed extreme contempt ; and it was under the irrita-
tion they caused that Pope formed the plan of one general
THE " DUNCIAD." 81
satire, in which he might give vent to all his resentments, just
or unjust ; and which soon afterwards gave birth to the " Dun-
ciad," perhaps the most perfect and finished of his writings.
The wholesale nature of the attack is only justified by our
knowledge of the degraded state of our national literature at
the time he wrote.
In this remarkable poem, which was dedicated to Swift, Pope
celebrates the wide-extending empire of Dulness, and describes
the goddess as holding her court in the neighbourhood of Moor-
fields, which then rivalled in celebrity the literary precincts of
Grub Street.
" Where wave the tatter'd ensigns of Rag-fair,
A yawning ruin hangs and nods in air ;
Keen, hollow winds howl thro" the bleak recess,
Emblem of music caused by emptiness.
Here, in one bed, two shiv'ring sisters lie,
The cave of Poverty and Poetry.
This the great Mother, dearer held than all
The clubs of Quidnuncs, or her own Guildhall.
Here stood her opium, here she nursed her owls,
And destin'd here the imperial seat of fools.
Hence springs each weekly muse, the living boast
Of Curll's chaste press, and Lintot's rubric post:
Hence hymning Tyburn's elegiac lay ;
Hence the soft sing-song on Cecilia's day,
Sepulchral lies, our holy walls to grace,
And new- year odes, and all the Grub-street race.
'Twas here in clouded majesty she shone ;
Four guardian virtues, round, support her throne ;
Fierce champion Fortitude, that knows no fears
Of hisses, blows, or want, or loss of ears ;
Calm Temperance, whose blessings those partake
Who hunger and who thirst for scribbling sake ;
Prudence, whose glass presents th' approaching jail ;
Poetic Justice, with her lifted scale,
Where, in nice balance, truth with gold she weighs,
And solid pudding against empty praise."
The scene is laid at the moment when the poet Settle, the
King of Dulness, was dying, and the goddess is introduced de-
liberating on the choice of a successor.
Lewis Theobald, or, as he was popularly called, Tibbald, was
then an active writer for the stage, but is now chiefly known
by his edition of Shakespeare. Pope, also, had been induced,
for what was then a handsome remuneration, to place his name
to an edition of Shakespeare ; and Theobald, who was far better
versed in the literary antiquities necessary to explain and illus-
trate the text of the great dramatist, pointed out the defects of
Pope's edition and the errors of his notes in a number of arti-
o
8a LEWIS THEOBALD.
cles in the weekly papers. Nettled beyond measure at these
attacks, for the notes to Shakespeare were a sore place in the
poet's reputation, Pope determined to make Theobald the hero
of his poem, and him the goddess chooses as the successor to
the throne of Dulness, after casting her eyes in vain on Eusden
(who then held the place of poet-laureat), " slow " Phillips, and
" mad " Dennis.
" In each she marks her image full express'd,
But chief in Tibbald's monster-breeding breast,
Sees gods with demons in strange league engage,
And earth, and heav'n, and hell her battles wage.
She eyed the bard, where supperless he sate,
And pined, unconscious of his rising fate :
Studious he sate, with all his books around,
Sinking from thought to thought, a vast profound !
Plunged for his sense but found no bottom there ;
Then writ, and flounder'd on in mere despair.
He roll'd his eyes, that witness'd huge dismay,
Where yet unpawn'd much learned lumber lay;
Volumes, whose size the space exactly fill'd,
Or which fond authors were so good to gild,
Or where, by sculpture made for ever known,
The page admires new beauties, not its own."
The description of Theobald's library, and of his sacrifice to
Dulness, is an unjust satire on the class of reading which had
enabled him to detect the errors of
Pope's Shakespearian criticism.
The goddess suddenly reveals
herself to the fortunate aspirant,
transports him to her temple, and
initiates him into her mysteries.
She finally announces the death
of Settle, and anoints and proclaims
him her successor.
"Know, Settle, cloy'd with custard and
with praise,
Is gather' d to the dull of ancient days,
Safe where no critics damn, no duns
molest."
The second book opens with The-
obald's enthronement, in a position
even more lofty than that occcupied
by the orator of Newport Market in
his pulpit, or by the bookseller Curll,
when he was condemned to the pil-
lory for his licentious publications.
" HKNLKY'S GILT-TUB."
CUBLL AND LINTOT. 83
Among a number of prints and caricatures relating to Henley'
one in the collection of Mr. Hawkins represents him as a fox
seated upon his tub, with the words " The Orator " beneath.
A monkey peeps from within, with neck-bands (acting as clerk),
and pointing to money in his hand, the object of the orator's
worship : beneath him is written the word " Amen." Behind
the orator is a curtain, on which Henley is pictured addressing
a large audience, with the inscription INYENTAM ATTT FACIAM,
the vain-glorious motto which he placed on medals struck for
distribution among his followers.
" High on a gorgeous seat, that far outshone
Henley's gilt tub, or Fleckno's Irish throne,
Or that where on her Curlls the public pours
All- bounteous, fragrant grains, and golden show'rs,
Great Tibbald nods. The proud Parnassian sneer,
The conscious simper, and the jealous leer,
Mix in his look. All eyes direct their rays
On him, and crowds grow foolish as they gaze.
Not with more glee, by hands pontific crownM,
With scarlet hats, wide waving, circled round,
Rome in her capitol saw Querno sit,
Throned on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit."
This division of the poem is entirely occupied with a descrip-
tion of the games celebrated by the goddess in honour of " Tib-
bald's " elevation to the throne. The first prizes are contended
for by the booksellers, against whom Pope had proclaimed his
hostility in the preface to his and Swift's " Miscellanies,"
printed in 1727. Curll had provoked him by the surreptitious
publication of some of his letters ; but what was Lintot's
offence, who had been the publisher of his Homer, is not so
clear. These games are described in a style of disgusting
coarseness, too characteristic of the satirical writings and cari-
catures of the period, and which makes it difficult to reproduce
them entire at the present day. When the various prizes of the
booksellers have been disposed of, others are proposed to be con-
tended for by the poets, in tickling, vociferating, and diving :
" The first holds forth the arts and practices of dedicators, the
second of disputants and fustian poets, the third of profound,
dark and dirty authors." The operation of diving takes place
in the muddy waters of the Fleet Ditch, where it emptied itself
into the Thames. The last exercise is reserved for the critics,
who are to listen without sleeping to the dull nonsensical prose
of the orator Henley, and to the everlasting rhymes of Black-
more.
" Her critics there she summons, and proclaims
A gentler exercise to close the games.
O 2
84 THE CRITICS.
1 Here, you 1 in whose grave heads or equal scales
I weigh what author's heaviness prevails,
Which most conduce to soothe the soul in slumbers,
My Henley's periods, or my Blackmore's numbers,
Attend the trial we propose to make :
If there be man who o'er such works can wake,
Sleep's all-subduing charms who dares defy,
And boast Ulysses" ear with Argus' eye
To him we grant our amplest powers to sit
Judge of all present, past, and future wit,
To cavil, censure, dictate, right or wrong,
Full and eternal privilege of tongue."
This trial is too much for the critics, and the whole assembly
is soon buried in profound slumber, in the midst of which the
goddess transports the new king to her temple, whence he is
carried in a vision to the Elysian shades, and there meets the
ghost of his predecessor Settle, who takes him to the summit of
a mountain, whence he is shown the past history, the present
state, and the future prospects of the empire of Dulness. In
the present he beholds the different worshippers of Dulness in
her various walks : on the stage in Gibber ; in the doggrel
minstrelsy of Ward ;
" From the strong fate of drams, if thou get free,
Another Durfey, Ward, shall sing in thee.
Thee shall each ale-house, thee each gill-house mourn,
And answering gin-shops sourer sighs return ;"
in the more presuming writings of Haywood and Centlivre, of
Ralph, Welsted, Dennis, and Gildon ; in the party politics of
Thomas Burnet, who wrote in a weekly paper called Pasquin,
and was rewarded for his zeal with a consulship, and Ducket,
who wrote the " Grumbler," and also received an appointment
under Government ;
"Behold yon pair, in strict embraces join'd :
How like in manners, and how like in mind !
Famed for good-nature, Burnet, and for truth ;
Ducket for pious passion to the youth.
Equal in wit, and equally polite,
Shall this a ' Pasquin,' that a ' Grumbler ' write.
Like are their merits, like rewards they share,
That shines a consul, this commissioner ;"
in the peculiar style of antiquarianism of Thomas Hearne ; and
in the divinity of Henley, who, the phenomenon of his day, as
an apt type of its intellectual character, is again brought for-
ward in the full amplitude of his pretensions :
" But where each science lifts its modern type,
History her pot, Divinity his pipe,
VAGARIES OF THE STAGE. 85
While proud Philosophy repines to show
(Dishonest sight !) his breeches rent below,
Imbrown'd with native bronze, lo ! Henley stands,
Tuning his voice, and balancing his hands.
How fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue !
How sweet the periods, neither said nor sung 1
Still break the benches, Henley, with thy strain,
While Kennet, Hare, and Gibson preach in vain.
O great restorer of the good old stage,
Preacher, at once, and zany of thy age !
O worthy thou of Egypt's wise abodes,
A decent priest where monkeys were the gods !
But fate with butchers placed thy priestly stall,
Meek modern faith to murder, hack, and maul ;
And bade thee live, to crown Britannia's praise,
In Toland's, Tindal's, and in Woolstan's days."
From these spectacles the eye of the visionist is suddenly
turned to the modern vagaries of the stage, on which dragons
and other monsters were brought as actors, and heaven and hell
were made the scenery :
" He look'd and saw a sable sorcerer rise,
Swift to whose hand a winged volume flies ;
All sudden, Gorgons hiss and dragons glare,
And ten-horned fiends and giants rush'd to war.
Hell rises, heaven descends, and dance on earth
Gods, imps, and monsters, music, rage, and mirth ;
A fire, a jig, a battle, and a ball,
Till one wide conflagration swallows all."
Greater wonders than these were now crowded into the
theatres ; and, to complete the absurdity, in one of the pan-
tomimes Harlequin was hatched upon the stage out of a large
egg:
" Thence a new world, to nature's laws unknown,
Breaks out refulgent, with a heav'n its own ;
Another Cynthia her new journey runs,
And other planets circle other suns :
The foreste dance, the rivers upwards rise,
Whales sport in woods, and dolphins in the skies ;
And, last, to give the whole creation grace,
Lo ! one vast egg produces human race ! "
These were the creations of Bich, in his empire in Lincoln's Inn
Fields :
" A matchless youth ! his nod these worlds controls,
Wings the red lightning, and the thunder rolls :
Angel of Dulness, sent to scatter round
Her magic charms o'er all unclassic ground.
Yon stars, yon suns, he rears at pleasure higher,
Illumes their light, and sets their flames on fire.
86 PANTOMIMES AND OPERAS.
Immortal Rich ! how calm he sits at ease
Mid snows of paper and fierce hail of peas ;
And proud his mistress' orders to perform,
Bides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm."
He, too, has his rivals :
" But lo ! to dark encounter in mid-air
New wizards rise : here Booth, and Gibber there.
Booth in his cloudy tabernacle shrined,
On grinning dragons Cibber mounts the wind :
Dire is the conflict, dismal is the din,
Here shouts all Drury, there all Lincoln's Inn."
These are pronounced to be the advanced guards of the host of
Dulness, who is proceeding surely,
"Till raised from booths to theatre, to court
Her seat imperial Dulness shall transport :
Already Opera prepares the way,
The sure forerunner of her gentle sway."
The natural consequence of this general invasion of barbarism
in public taste is, that talent is allowed to starve in the obscurity
of neglect.
" While Wren with sorrow to the grave descends ;
Gay dies unpension'd with a hundred friends ;
Hibernian politics, O Swift, thy fate ;
And Pope's whole years to comment and translate."
Upon the character of the stage Pope's verses had no more
effect than Hogarth's prints ; for masquerades continued to be
THE CHARMERS OF THE AGE, IN
SEDITIOUS PLAYS. 87
the favourite amusements of the town till late in the century,
and pantomimes and operas have never altogether lost their
popularity. The letters of Horace Walpole bear frequent testi-
mony to the attention which the opera excited in fashionable
society : yet satirists of every class continued to attack it, and
among others Hogarth, who, in 1742, showed his inimitable
skill, in giving the character of grotesque coarseness to what so
large a portion of his contemporaries looked upon as attractive
elegance, in a caricature entitled "The Charmers of the Age,"
representing the dancing attitudes of two popular artistes of the
day, Monsieur Desnoyer and the Signora Barberina, who per-
formed at Drury Lane. Underneath the plate Hogarth has
added an observation, of which we hardly perceive the whole
bearing : " The dotted lines show the rising heights."
At the same time the stage became every day, until 1737,
more and more a political agent. The pantomimes, by a harm-
less tendency to satirise the follies of the day, which they have
preserved to the present time, had perhaps some influence in
producing this state of things. In October, 1728, a farce called
" The Craftsman ; or, the Weekly Journalist," alluding to the
scurrilous paper, so celebrated for its attacks on the ministry of
Sir Robert Walpole, was performed at the theatre in the Hay-
market, " with several entertainments of singing and dancing."
Farces, similar in character, appeared frequently during the
following years.
In 1733 Rich and his company left Lincoln's Inn Fields to
take possession of the new and handsome theatre which had
been built for them in Covent Garden ; on which occasion Ho-
garth published a print, representing Rich's triumphal entry
into the new house, with a long train of actors, authors, scenery,
&c. Rich, clad in the skin of a dog, one of the personages in
the harlequinade of " Perseus and Andromeda," is seated with
his mistress in a chariot drawn by satyrs, with Harlequin for
his driver. Before them, Gay is carried into the new theatre on
the shoulders of a porter. The diminutive figure of Pope is
seen in one corner, treating the " Beggar's Opera " in the most
contemptuous manner ; from which we are probably justified in
supposing that the poet, jealous (as was usual with him) of the
extraordinary success of his old friend, had expressed an un-
favourable opinion of his production.
The year 1737 was one more eventful in the history of the
stage. In the preceding year, Fielding (who had begun writing
for the stage in 1727 as a young man) brought out at the Hay-
market Theatre a farce styled " Pa?quin," which was a direct
88 RECEPTION OF THE " DUNCIAD."
lampoon on the Government, and gave no little offence. It may
be observed that this was " the new theatre in the Haymarket,"
which has been already mentioned as occupied, under George I.,
by a company of French actors. Other such pieces attacked
different passing follies in a remarkable style. One, brought on
the stage in the beginning of 1737, under the title of "The
Worm-doctor, with Harleqin female Bonesetter," threw ridicule
upon two remarkable quacks, Dr, Taylor and Mrs. Mapp, who
were then practising upon the credulity of the public. Towards
May, several farces were acted at the Haymarket, which were
open pasquinades on the ministry, and which were universally
spoken of as such. The most remarkable of these was a drama-
tical satire, in three acts, entitled the " Historical Register for
the year 1736," by Fielding, which had a great run during the
month of April. Some say that Walpole was alarmed by the
effects of this piece ; but, according to Smollett, the manager of
a play-house communicated to the minister a still more objec-
tionable farce in manuscript, entitled " The Golden Rump,"
which was filled with treason and abuse upon the Government,
and had been offered for exhibition on the stage. Which of
these might be the real provocation is of little importance ;
Walpole brought the matter before the House of Commons, aud
descanted on the impudent sedition and immorality which had
been of late propagated in theatrical pieces. The result was
the passing of the Act " for restraining the licentiousness of the
stage ;" by which it was ordered that no new play should in
future be brought on the stage without an express license, a
bill which has remained in force to the present time, and under
which was established the office of Licencer of Plays. A great
but ineffectual clamour was raised against this bill, both within
doors and without, particularly by the Craftsman and other
opposition papers, who represented it as a violent attempt upon
the liberty of the press.
Pope's satire upon the literature of his time was more effec-
tual than that upon the stage ; because, though the "Dunciad"
was palpably a mere receptacle for all the poet's personal re-
sentments (which were not always just in themselves), it con-
tained more of absolute truth, and was therefore more generally
felt. English literature soon afterwards began to rise from the
low state to which it had fallen under George I. The " Dun-
ciad" is stated to have been written in 1726; surreptitious
editions, perhaps with the author's connivance, appeared at
Dublin (and were reprinted almost immediately in London)
during 1727 ; but it was not publicly owned by Pope till the
ATTACKS ON POPE. 89
next year, when he gave to the world an authorized and com-
plete edition, with the notes, which conveyed more venom than
the poem itself. The uproar among men of letters which this
satire caused was almost beyond anything we can conceive. The
attack was so general, that almost everybody was up in arms,
and the newspapers brought, with provoking regularity, their
weekly load of banter and insult. At first, Pope is said to have
enjoyed the annoyance he had given to his enemies ; but, in a short
time, his sensitive feelings gained the mastery, and, as the attacks
upon him became more galling, he experienced more and more
the inconveniences usually attendant upon a satirical disposition.
The poet must have been suffering under an extraordinary attack
of sensitiveness, when he condescended to answer a pretended
account of his being horsewhipped as he was walking in Ham
Walks, near Twickenham, by an advertisement like the follow-
ing, which appeared in the Daily Post of June 14, 1728:
" Whereas there has been a scandalous paper cried about the
streets, under the title of ' A Popp upon Pope,' insinuating that
I was whipped in Ham Walks on Thursday last, this is to give
notice that I did not stir out of my house at Twickenham all
that day ; and the same is a malicious and ill-grounded report.
A. POPE."
Among the most determined
of Pope's assailants at this time
was the bookseller Curll, who
was grossly attacked in the
" Dunciad," and who had been
the victim of the poet's practical
resentment on a former occasion.
From his shop issued, within two
or three months, the " Popiad,"
the "Curliad," the "Female
Dunciad," and several others,
in which the private character of
the poet was attacked as freely
as his public doings. Pope's
personal appearance, which was
not prepossessing, was also made
the subject of satire ; and a
quarto pamphlet, entitled " Pope
Alexander's Supremacy and In-
fallibility examined," is prefaced
by an engraving in which his
port rait is placed on the sli oulders
9C ATTACKS ON POPE.
of a monkey the personality of Poet Pug, which was some-
times given to him. A poem called the "Martiniad," in allu-
sion to the assumed title of Martinus Scriblerus, under which
Pope had ushered the " Treatise on Sinking in Poetry " into
the world, gives the following description of his person :
"At Twickenham, chronicles remark,
There dwelt a little parish clerk,
A peevish wight, full fond of fame,
And Martin Scribbler was his name ;
Meager and wan, and steeple-crown'd,
His visage long and shoulders round.
His crippled corpse two spindle pegs
Support, instead of human legs ;
His shrivell'd skin, of dusky grain,
A cricket's voice, and monkey's brain."
We may give the following from Bricks Weekly Journal of
May 2, 1729, as an example of the epigrammatic squibs with
which Pope was constantly assailed in the newspapers.
" A Receipt againtt Popc-ish Poetry.
" Select a wreath of wither'd bays,
And place it on the brow of P ;
Then, as reward for stolen lays,
His neck encircle with a rope.
When this is done, his look will show it,
Which he's most like, a thief or poet."
Pope seems, indeed, to have found few partisans, either
among the writers or among the artists of his time. Hogarth
THE CLC JI6T DACUEH.
POPE BESPATTERING. 91
has introduced him into several of his compositions. In his
caricature of " The Man of Taste," published in 1732, Pope is
introduced in all his diminutive deformity, in the character of a
plasterer, bedaubing the gate of Burlington House with white-
wash, while he is throwing, by his awkwardness, a shower of
dirt on a coach below, which is understood to have been that of
the Duke of Chandos. With his foot he is overturning a pail,
and throwing a part of its contents on a man walking beneath,
who is designated in the picture by the letter B, which is ex-
plained at the foot of the engraving as " anybody that comes in
his way ;" while the hero of the piece is described as " A. P pe,
a Plasterer, whitewashing and bespattering." The poet had
indeed obtained the character of a bespatterer of everybody he
met. A little before the appearance of Hogarth's caricature, he
had, in his "Epistle on Taste," addressed to the Earl of
Burlington, lauded that nobleman's taste in architecture and
the other arts at the expense of that of his old patron, the
Duke of Chandos, who had recently built himself a magnificent
seat at Canons.
The satirist was tormented by the number, rather than by
the strength, of his assailants, very few of whom were for their
talent worthy of his notice, and those who did possess talent
were in general the least deserving of his attacks. In 1730,
when the uproar occasioned by the " Dunciad " was at its height,
a ballad, entitled " The Beau Monde, or the Pleasures of St.
James's," informs us,
"There's Pope has made the witlings mad,
\Vho labour all they can
To pull his reputation down,
And maul the little man.
But wit and he so close are link'd,
In vain is all their pother ;
They never can demolish one,
Without destroying t'other."
In Hogarth's engraving of " The
Distressed Poet," a picture at-
tached to the wall of the Poet's
room, in the first edition of the
print, represents Pope triumphing
over Curll. The contest between
a poet of the rank of Pope, and a
bookseller of the characterof Curll,
carried on in the way in which
their quarrel had been conducted,
had little of dignity ; and Pope has POPE AND ct-nr.t.
pa NEW BOOK OF THE " DUNCIAD."
been often blamed for giving undue importance to his victims, by
the mode in which he treated them. But he was perhaps more to
be blamed for allowing himself, after the lapse of some years, to
republish the "Dunciad" in an altered form, for the purpose, as
it would seem, of making an unjust, and not very provoked,
attack on a man like Colley Gibber. Gibber's " Non- Juror "
had never been forgotten by either of the political parties whom
it concerned ; he had been rewarded by the Court in 1730 with
the place of poet-laureate, and incurred, on the other hand,
during his life, the hatred of the Jacobites and the ill-will of
the Tories. He is said to have offended Pope by passing a joke
on the stage upon the ill-success of a dramatic piece by the
poet, who never forgave him. In 1742 appeared a fourth book
of the "Dunciad," which was already complete in three,
and this fourth book contained a new attack upon Gibber, who
had been lampooned in the former part of the " Dunciad," and
in other satirical writings by the same author. Gibber now at
last winced, and published a violent pamphlet against Pope,
who was so incensed that he immediately revised the whole
" Dunciad," printed it anew, and substituted as its hero Gibber,
in the place of his old enemy " Tibbald."
Pope appears now to have made an entirely new set of anta-
gonists, and in the fourth book of the " Dunciad," the goddess
of Dulness extends her empire over scholars, philosophers, and
statesmen. The satirist lampoons, with a mixture of justice
and injustice, the course of university education ; the corrupting
system (then so generally prevalent) of sending youths of
family and rank to complete their education abroad, by making
themselves proficient in all the vices and follies of continental
society ; and the pursuits at home of the naturalist, the philo-
sopher, and the mathematician. The individual instances are
again selected according to the poet's personal resentments, and
it is enough to say, that among objects of attack with whom
we feel less sympathy, we meet with the names of Bentley,
Mead, Clarke, and Wollaston. The only object of attack in the
first " Dunciad," which reappears here, is the Opera, to which
Pope's hostility remained unabated. The goddess, in the new
book, holds a sort of levee, at which all classes of her worship-
pers attend. The legitimate theatre is present by means of
force only, for Pope was one of those who believed that the
licensing act was a death blow to the stage.
"But held in ten-fold bonds the Muses lie,
Watch'd both by Envy's and by Flatt'ry's eye :
TSE OPERA. 93
There to her heart sad Tragedy address'd
The dagger wont to pierce the tyrant's breast ;
But sober History restrain'd her rage,
And promised vengeance on a barb'rous age.
There sunk Thalia, nerveless, cold, and dead,
Had not her sister Satire held her head."
While the new occupant of the stage enters partly as a willing
attendant, supported by that class of society who had learnt to
f
admire her by an early acquaintance in foreign climes :
" When, lo ! a harlot form soft gliding by,
With mincing step, small voice, and languid eye ;
Foreign her air, her robe's discordant pride
In patchwork flutt'ring, and her head aside:
By singing peers upheld on either hand,
She tripp'd and laugh' d, too pretty much to stand ;
Cast on the prostrate Nine a scornful look,
And thus in quaint recitative spoke."
94
CHAPTER IV.
GEORGE II.
Sir Robert Walpole's Administration Pulteney, Bolingbroke, and the
"Patriots" Accession of George II. The Congress of Soissons
Prosecution of the Craftsman Tiie Excise Increasing Attacks upon
Walpole Violence in the Elections The Gin Act The Prince of
Wales Leads the Opposition Foreign Policy : Walpolo and Cardinal
Fleury Renewed Attacks upon Walpole, and Diminution of the
Ministerial Majorities The "Motion," and its Consequences The
Queen of Hungary Walpole in the Minority, and Consequent Resig-
nation The Committee of Inquiry.
fTHHE misfortunes of the South Sea scheme had, as we have
JL already seen, placed Walpole at the head of the ministry,
upon which the Whigs, who had been divided since his retire-
ment from office in 1717, became again united into one body,
with an overwhelming ministerial majority in Parliament, and
the hopes of the Tory and Jacobite opposition seemed to be
reduced to the lowest ebb. Under Walpole's rule, with com-
parative tranquillity at home and peace abroad, the country was
increasing rapidly in commercial prosperity, and consequently in
riches and strength. It can hardly be doubted by anybody,
that, to the firm and able government of Sir Robert Walpole,
more than to any other cause, the house of Brunswick owed its
permanent establishment in this country, while his pacific policy
counteracted the evils that might otherwise have arisen from
King George's continental partialities, which had been too
much encouraged by the previous ministry. Yet it was Wal-
pole's foreign policy, and his alleged subservience to France,
which the opposition attacked with the greatest pertinacity,
until they drove the veteran from his post, after he had held
the reins of government during twenty-two years.
The bitterest and most galling attacks to which Walpole was
subsequently exposed arose from a new division among the
Whigs, the effects of personal pique and disappointed ambition.
William Pulteney, the friend and constant adherent of Walpole
for many years, and one of the most effective speakers in the
House of Commons, disappointed because his promotion, as he
thought, was not so rapid as his services merited, quarrelled
with his old colleague in 1724, resigned his office of cofferer to
PULTENEY AND BOLINGBROKE. 95
the household, and placed himself at the head of a violent party
of discontented Whigs, who now took the title of " the Patriots."
In the meantime Walpole had been induced to act with leniency
towards the exiled Lord Bolinghroke, who had deceived, betrayed,
and quarrelled with the Pretender and the Jacobites, but had
become enriched, as was said, by a French marriage and by
speculations in the Mississippi scheme, and was now residing
near Paris. A bill was passed in 1724, restoring him to his
forfeited estates, though he was not allowed to recover his seat
iu the House of Lords, in spite of the intrigues of the King's
mistress, the Duchess of Kendal, whose interest he had secured
by liberal bribes. Bolingbroke thus returned to England more
enraged on account of what had been withheld from him, than
grateful for what he had obtained, and he immediately made
common cause with the Tory opposition, and year, after year his
talents and his skill in intriguing furnished the sharpest weapons,
and contrived the most dangerous plots, against the administra-
tion.
Pulteney, with, the ultra- Whigs, or "Patriots," joined the
Tory opposition, whose leader in the House of Commons had
hitherto been that staunch old Jacobite, Sir William Wyndham,
who, in his personal resentment againt Walpole, formed a close
alliance with Bolingbroke. By their means the country was
again filled with seditious attacks upon the Government, in
every variety of shape, and the mob was agaia raised into im-
portance. In the December of 1726, Bolingbroke and Pul-
teney started a political paper under the title of the Craftsman,
which was at first issued daily in single leaves, but in 1727 it
was changed into a weekly newspaper, published under the title
of the Country Journal, or Craftsman, and seems in that form
to have had an extensive circulation. It was edited by Nicholas
Amhurst, under the fictitious name of Caleb d' Anvers. Boling-
broke was, at the same time, pursuing his intrigues with the
King's mistress, and it is impossible to say what might have
been the result of her determined endeavours to overthrow Sir
Robert Walpole, had not her power expired with the sudden
death of George I. in the June of 1727.
Bolingbroke's faction was doomed, on this occasion, to under-
go a succession of disappointments and consequent mortifications.
When the hopes they had derived from the Duchess of Kendal
were overthrown, they hastened to pay their court to the mis-
tress of the new monarch ; but George II. was governed more
by his wife than by his mistress, and Queen Caroline was, to
the end of her life, Walpole's firmest friend. They next placed
96 TEE ELECTIONS.
their hopes in the elections ; but in the Parliament chosen in
1727 the ministerial majority was greater than ever, and the
Tories and Patriots were reduced to vent their harmless rage in
new exclamations against bribery and corruption. One of the
few caricatures of this period, but of which several copies are
preserved, was entitled " Ready Money the prevailing Candi-
date ; or, the humours of an election." The scene is laid in a
country town, where a crowd of voters are receiving bribes in
the most public manner. One allows the price of his vote to
be deposited quietly in his coat pocket, while he is distinguish-
ing himself by the loudness of his cries of " No bribery !" though
he adds, in a diminished tone, " but pockets are free."
The voice of the opposition was now raised chiefly against the
foreign policy of the ministry, who were accused of involving
the country in continental quarrels, and of sacrificing the Eng-
lish interest abroad, to gratify the King's partiality for his
Hanoverian dominions. With a perfect disregard for truth or
honesty, (which appear indeed to have been in no great estima-
tion with any party during this corrupt age,) and heedless of
anything but personal interests and resentments, when the
foreign measures of the Government took a bold and threaten-
ing character, the opposition cried out strenuously for peace ;
and when the ministers were bent upon securing peace, their
opponents were equally clamorous for war. Peace was, how-
ever, established and preserved by the moderation and forbear-
ance of the English and French courts, the councils of the
latter being now ruled by Cardinal Fleury ; and the threatening
combinations which had clouded the foreign politics of the latter
part of the reign of George I. were to a great measure dissipated
in the Congress of Soissons, opened on the loth of June, 1728.
Satisfied with the success of his policy abroad, the minister
retired in the autumn, as usual, to seek a brief relaxation at his
seat of Houghton Hall, in Norfolk, and indulge in his favourite
pastime of hunting. But the Craftsman fell furiously on the
proceedings at Soissons; and as winter and the consequent
meeting of Parliament approached, ballads and papers were
hawked about the streets, turning the foreign measures of the
Court into ridicule, and holding up the minister to contempt as
the dupe of French prejudices and partialities. In November, a
squib in prose, with a fictitious imprint, was distributed abroad
under the title of " The Norfolk Congress ; or, a full and true
account of the hunting, feasting, and merry-making : being sin-
gularly delightful, and likewise very instructive for the public."
This was followed in December by a ballad version, under the
FOREIGN DIET. 97
title of " The Hunter hunted ; or, entertainment upon entertain-
ment. A new ballad." The minister and his adherents, ac-
cording to this squib, repair to the country for the purpose of a
great hunting match :
" To Houghton Hall, some few days since,
All bonny, blithe, and gay,
With menial nobles, like a prince,
Sir Blue-String took his way.
" A mighty hunting was decreed
By this same noble crew ;
The fox already doomed to bleed,
Already in their view."
The fox, we are to suppose, represents the wily court of Spain.
Before the guests depart for the chase their host gives them a
breakfast, which consists of all kinds of foreign dishes. Their
hunting is not very successful, for they only set up a vixen,
which they lost, for it was screened by an eagle (Austria), and
they return disappointed to their dinner, where, instead of find-
ing good English diet, they are again surprised with foreign
dishes :
" Westphalia bacon, many a slice ;
Of English beef a chine :
Dutch pickled hemngs, salted nice,
And truffles from the Seine.
" 'Twas with great cost and charges made,
Yet none could eat a bit ;
For 't would not easily, they said,
On English stomachs sit."
At the middle of the table sat the Cardinal. The taste of the
host was singular :
" The master of the house was seen
jPZwrni-pudding to devour,
And to regale with stomach keen
Ou s<oc&-fish a good store."
Walpole was always looked upon as the great patron of the
monied and funded interests. He is accused of having imbibed
this taste for French dishes only recently :
" At tables once he said and swore,
With manly resolution,
French kickshaws, bad as poison, tore
An English constitution.
" But now French sauces all go down,
And things garreen'd all pass ;
So much a Frenchman he is grown,
So changed from what he was
H
98 TREATY OF SEVILLE.
" Corrupted tongues he daily eats ;
On these bestows his praises ;
With these his bosom friends be treats,
With these his own bulk raises."
At the same time appeared another metrical effusion of a
similar stamp, entitled " Quadrille to Perfection, as played at
Soissons ; or, the Norfolk Congress, pursu'd, versify'd, and en-
liven'd ; by the Hon. W. P., Esq. :" in which the various Euro-
pean powers were introduced playing at cards, and uttering
sentiments expressive of the motives and designs which the
opposition attributed to them. These and other similar produc-
tions were well calculated to excite the feelings of the populace.
With the opening of the year 1729, the prospects of peace
were threatened by new misunderstandings with the Spaniards ;
and then the opposition cried out that the Government was
running the nation into a war ; yet, when these threats ended
only in the treaty of Seville, altogether advantageous to Eng-
land, that treaty was attacked in Craftsman after Craftsman,
and the ministers were held up to hatred and ridicule in pam-
phlets and ballads, as base betrayers of the interests of their
country to the greediness of Spain. On the i3th of September
the Pulteney and Bolingbroke writers issued a tract of twenty
pages of ballad verse, entitled " The Craftsman's Business," in
which they lampooned the ministerial party under the character
of birds, and described Walpole as " a large macaw," parti-
coloured with red and blue.
As the interest of the foreign transactions died away, and
occasions of attack on the Government measures became for a
time less frequent, the satire of the opposition papers became
more personal and more pointed; and in 1730 and 1731 the
country was literally deluged with political ballads, in which
the prime minister was introduced under such names as Sir Blue-
String (alluding to his blue ribbon as knight of the Garter),
Sir Kobert Brass, Sir Kobert Lynn, and still plainer Robin and
Bob ; and held forth as the betrayer and oppressor of his
country, the selfish encourager of corruption in the nation,
one who fattened and grew rich upon the public money. In-
sinuations and rumours of all kinds relating to his domestic life,
which were likely to render the minister unpopular with the
unthinking part of the community, were industriously propa-
gated. On the 7th of November, 1730, while he was enjoying
the relaxation of his country-house, the Craftsman inserted a
paragraph stating, that, "from Norfolk they write that Sir
Robert Walpole keeps open house at Houghton ; and that so
POPULAR EXCITEMENT.
99
numerous are his attendants and dependants, that it is thought
his household expenses cannot be less than 1500?. a week."
The effect of all this was to
raise much political excitement
among the middle and lower
classes. A caricature, entitled
" The Politicians," belonging to
this period, represents the poli-
tics of the day and the conduct
of the Government as the en-
grossing subject of conversation
among tradesmen and labourers
of every kind, each complaining
of some imaginary grievance felt
especially by those of his own
calling. This caricature furnishes
a figure of one of a class of per-
sons whom we have had frequent
occasion to mention, the women
who hawked seditious papers and
political ballads about the streets.
Among other personages, the
proprietor of a newspaper ad-
dresses a Scotchman (an intimation, probably, that his coun-
trymen were among the most active of the mercenary writers
for the press), "Mr. Macdonald will you undertake to write me
a smart remonstrance against arbitrary power r"' and receives
for answer from the wary northern, " By my saul, sir, I canna
do it, for fear of offanding his lairdship ; for ye ken he's a mon
o* muckle authority."
Towards the end of the year last mentioned, as the annual
period of the meeting of Parliament approached, the writings of
the opposition became more violent and more provokingly per-
sonal. The pens of Bolingbroke and Pulteney were unusually
active. Caricatures and satires were handed about more fre-
quently than ever. On the and of January, 1731, the Crafts-
man contained a political letter dated from the Hague, but
generally understood to be written by Bolingbroke, which was
calculated seriously to embarrass the foreign relations of the
country. This was followed by an anonymous pamphlet contro-
versy, begun by Pulteney, in such a libellous tone, that it led,
on the ajth of January, to a duel between that gentleman and
Lord Hervey, who was wrongly supected of being the author of
an attack upon Pulteney. " The duel " was the subject of
11 2
THE POLITICAL BALLAD-SINGER.
ioo FOREIGN POLICY.
caricatures and ballads, and of satirical pieces of other kinds ;
and Pulteney's party sent out a pamphlet under the title of
" lago display 'd," which gave a pretended account of the
causes of the older quarrel between Wai pole and Pulteney, and
a history of the duel, under the feigned names of lago
(Wai pole), Cassio (Pulteney), and Roderigo (Hervey), little to
the credit of the prime minister. The Craftsman continued to
pour on the ministry, and especially on their foreign policy, an
unceasing volley of essays and misrepresented statements, and
verses, and epigrams. They were accused of playing a con-
fused and unintelligible game, which could only turn to the
advantage of foreign courts, and entailed upon England a waste-
ful expenditure of money in foreign subsidies and bribes,
without procuring any advantage. It was, in reality, a system
into which England was necessarily drawn by the uncertain
and unprincipled policy of the different Eurropean powers
during the greater part of the last century, and is not ill
described in the following epigram, which appeared in the
Craftsman of March, 13, 1731:
" Have you not seen at country wake,
A crew of dancers merry-make I
They figure in and figure out,
Go back to back and turn about :
They set, take hands ; they cross, change sides ;
(Each movement a scrub minstrel guides ;)
Around the measured labyrinth trace,
Till each regains his former place.
So certain potentates, (two couple,)
Leagued in alliance night quadruple,
Af er a maze of treaties run,
Are e'en just where they first begun.
I wont affirm who led the dance,
(Yet, for the rhyme, suppose it France,)
But this I dare at least to say,
Old E d must the piper pay."
These attacks in the press were accompanied by an unusually
violent opposition in Parliament to King George's foreign
policy, to his subsidies and the expense of supporting his
Hanoverian troops, in all which Pulteney took a very promi-
nent part. In the course of the spring the political essays
which had appeared in the Craftsman since its commencement
were collected together, and published in seven volumes, with
as many engraved frontispieces, representing, in what were
termed "hieroglyphics," the pretended wickedness of the
premier's career, and his designs against the liberties of the
people. These seven plates were immediately reproduced in
" ROBIN'S REIGN."
101
the form of a broadside, with verses still more provoking than
the prints, under the title, " Robin's Reign ; or, Seven's the
Main : being an explanation of Caleb d'Anvers's seven Egyptian
hieroglyphics, prefixed to the seven volumes of the Craftsman"
The first of these plates represents John swearing obedience to
Magna Charta. In a second, the prime minister is pictured as
a harlequin, the minister of Satan, by whose counsel he
tramples upon the liberty of the press.
" See here, good folks, a harlequin of state,
Trembling with guilt, and yet with pride elate.
To his great patron see the villain sue,
And mark the mi-chief hell and he can do.
Thus Satan speaks : ' Whole quires of w ts [warrants] send,
And for your messenger lo ! here a fiend !
By arts like these you must your foes controul,
Till Justice strike and I receive your soul.' "
The third plate represents the art of printing as the great
support of the liberties and prosperity of the nation. In the
fourth, the courtiers are seen purchasing votes with money.
The fifth is a satire on the foreign policy which was intended to
keep the " balance of power " in Europe : Cardinal Fleury is
outwitting the minister, who is attempting in vain to weigh
down the scale with " whole reams of treaties," while the
Gallic cock is crowing proudly on the back of the sleeping lion.
THE BALAKCE OP POWEB.
In the sixth, Walpole is seen aspiring, by a dangerous path, to
a coronet ; and the seventh represent Caleb d'Anvers as the
oracle of political wisdom. Another version, apparently of
loa PROSECUTION OF THE " CRAFTSMAN."
this series of caricatures, or probably only a different edition,
was published under the title " Eobin's Game ; or, Seven's the
Main." Among the ballads of this period, the titles of which
are preserved, we may mention, " Sir Robert Brass ; or, the
intrigues of the Knight of the Blazing Star," published in Feb-
ruary ; and " The Knight and the Cardinal, a new balled," pub-
lished in June.
The King was so incensed at these virulent attacks, and
at the quarter from whence they came, and especially at the
pertinacious opposition to his foreign measures, that, on the ist
of July, he called for the council-book, and with his own hand
struck the name of "William Pulteney out of the list of privy
councillors. Bead's Weekly Journal of July 10, 1731, informs
us that " three hawkers were on Monday last (July 5) com-
mitted to Tothill Fields Bridewell, for crying about the streets
a printed paper, called ' Robin's Game ; or, Seven's the Main.' '
Two days after, on Wednesday, July 7, the grand jury of Mid-
dlesex presented this same paper, with the seven plates of
" Robin's Reign," described above, some numbers of the Crafts-
man, and several political ballads, as seditious libels. A prose-
cution was immediately commenced in accordance with this pre-
sentment. On the Saturday (joth July) one Collins was taken
into custody on suspicion of being the author of " that scan-
dalous libel" called "Robin's Game;" and Franklin, the pub-
lisher of the Craftsman, with other persons implicated, were
subsequently arrested. The ministers now exerted themselves
to crush the factious journal, and they obtained a severe
verdict of a court of justice against Franklin, which obliged
the writers in the Craftsman to be more cautious for some
time. The newspapers and magazines during the summer were
chiefly occupied in discussing the propriety of legal prosecutions
against the press.
Bolingbroke and Pulteney, in a somewhat subdued tone, con-
tinued their personal attacks upon Walpole. On the 3oth of
March, 1732, the Craftsman, boldly insinuated, "that all the
corruption of this age is owing to one great man now in the
ministry ;" and in May the same journal attempted to throw
odium on the Whigs, by insinuating that they had a design to
get all the lands in England into their own hands, and then
destroy the British constitution. In the autumn a great outcry
was raised in the same qvprter, on the dangers to be appre-
hended from bad ministers. Towards the end of the year a new
cause of alarm was started, which eventually raised the greatest
storm to which Sir Robert Walpole's administration had yet
THE EXCISE.
103
been exposed, the rumour already spread abroad of the minis-
ter's intention of proposing a new scheme of excise.
This scheme, which Pulteney in the House of Commons stig-
matized as " that monster the excise," had nothing very threat-
ening in itself. The trade in wine, and especially tobacco, and
the duties which those articles paid, had been liable to very ex-
tensive and shameful frauds, injurious alike to the planters, to
the merchants, and to the Government : several articles of con-
sumption had long been subject to excise duties, and Walpole's
plan was to extend those duties to wine and tobacco, by which
the frauds on the public would be in a great measure prevented,
and the Government revenue would be considerably increased.
But the name of excise had been unpopular in England ever
since the days of the Commonwealth ; and this circumstance
was eagerly seized upon by the opposition, who, long before the
ministerial plan was made public, spread abroad misrepresenta-
tions of the most extravagant kind, making people believe that
every article of daily use was to be excised under the new plan,
and that it was a base design to crush the people and establish
tyranny. An incredible quantity of pamphlets and ballads, filled
with misstatements, were industriously spread over the country as
early as the months of January and February, although Walpole
did not lay his plan before the House until the i4th of March.
Among the caricatures issued at this period, one represents the
lion and the unicorn, broken-spirited and harnessed, and niarch-
THE NEW MONSTER.
ing in wooden shoes, the usual symbol at this time of French
influence. A soldier rides on the unicorn, and is supported by
104 THE MONSTER.
the standing army, one of the great objects of the attacks
against the Government. The lion is drawing a barrel, on
which sits Excise, in the form of a portly individual, intended
apparently to represent Sir Robert Walpole. On one side trade
leans sorrowfully over a hogshead of tobacco. The plate is
entitled " The triumphant Exciseman." It was now common to
mount caricatures upon fans ; and among the few fan-caricatures
still preserved, there are more than one against the excise,
which, agreeably to the epithet bestowed upon it by Pulteney,
is represented as a bloated monster, fattening itself upon the
goods of the people. In another caricature, the monster appears
in the form of a many-headed dragon, drawing the minister in
his coach, and pouring into his lap, in the shape of gold, what it
had eaten up in the forms of mutton, hams, cups, glasses, mugs,
pipes, and any other articles that fall in its way, while people
are flying from its ravages in every direction. A " new ballad,"
entitled " Britain Excised," one of the numerous effusions of a
similar class which made their appearance early in the year,
speaks of it as a mad project, which already excited the indigna-
tion of the Craftsman (Caleb) :
" Folks talk of supplies
To be raised by excise,
Old Caleb is horribly nettled ;
Sure B [06] has more sense
Than to levy his pence,
Or troops, when his peace is quite settled.
Horse, foot, and dragoons,
Battalions, platoons,
Excise, wooden shoes, and no jury ;
Then taxes increasing,
While traffic is ceasing,
Would put all the land in a fury."
The monster Excise was the most dangerous of them all :
" See this dragon, Excise,
Has ten thousand eyes,
And five thousand mouths to devour us ;
A sting and sharp claws,
"With wide-gaping jaws,
And a belly as big as a storehouse."
He begins, perhaps, with wine and liquors, but his greediness
will not be appeased with these :
" Grant these, and the glutton
Will roar out for mutton,
Your beef, bread, and bacon to boot ;
Your goose, pig, and pullet
He'll thrust down his gullet,
Whilst the labourer munches a root."
THE EXCISE AGITATION. 105
He will leave no corner unturned that is likely to conceal any-
thing from his ravenous appetite, and threatens the same
tvranny which formerly provoked the rebellions of Jack Straw
and Wat Tyler :
"At first hell begin ye
With a pipe of Virginie,
Then search ev'ry shop in his rambles ;
If you force him to flee
From the Custom-house key,
The monster will lodge in your shambles.
" Your cellars he'll range,
Your pantry and grange,
No bars can the monster restrain ;
Wherever he comes,
Swords, trumpets, and drums,
And slavery march in his train.
" Then sometimes he stoops
To take up the hoops
Of your daughters as well as your barrels :
Tho' an army can awe
A Tyler or Straw,
Heav'n keep us from any such quarrels 1"
Such arguments as these were well calculated to prevail with the
rabhle ; and when the minister brought his plan before the House
of Commons, the voice of opposition within doors was nothing in
comparison with the mad clamour of the mob without. Walpole
calmly persisted in his project, and explained the absurdity and
wickedness of the misrepresentations which had gone abroad,
but to no purpose ; the mob increased daily, and even the
minister's life was in danger. During the month of April,
ballad after ballad and pamphlet upon pamphlet deluged the
metropolis. The Lord Mayor, who happened to be a noted
Jacobite, persuaded the Common Council to draw up a violent
petition against the measure ; and several towns in different
parts of the country, such as Coventry, Nottingham, &c., fol-
lowed the example. Awed by the increasing excitement, Wal-
pole at length determined to relinquish his plan ; and, when its
fate was publicly known, the whole country was filled with
rejoicing, as if some extraordinary advantage had been gained.
Bonfires blazed in almost every town, and in London the mob
burnt the effigy of the minister in Fleet Street. In the Univer-
sity of Oxford, which still preserved its reputation for Jacobitism,
the joy at the defeat of the minister was unbounded, and was
openly exhibited in an unbecoming manner. In July, however,
alter the close of the session, Walpole was received in Norfolk
io6 WALPOLE AND PULTENEY.
(where the Excise madness appears to have prevailed least)
with unusual marks of respect, and his entry into Norwich
resembled a triumph. This, in London, was soon made the sub-
ject of satirical ballads, in which he was burlesqued under the
character of " Sir Sidrophel," and his reception by his con-
stituents turned into ridicule.
The overstrained personalities of Bolingbroke and Pulteney
were now exciting indignation among reflecting people, who
began to question their motives and designs. Several biting
epigrams upon them and their Craftsmen appeared during the
month of May. Something like an intimation appears to have
been dropped, of a willingness, on the part of Pulteney, to listen
to conciliatory offers from Walpole ; and the Gentleman's
Magazine for the month of May, 1733, contains the following
parody on the ninth ode of the third book of Horace :
41 A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE EIGHT HON. SIR R T
W LE AND W M P Y, ESQ.
" W. While I and you were cordial friends,
Alike our interest and our ends,
I thought my character and place
Secure, and dreaded no disgrace.
No statesman, sure, was more carest,
Or more in his good fortune blest.
"P. While I your other self was deem'd,
And worthy such renown esteem 'd,
Ere great Newcastle won your heart,
And in your council took such part,
I was the happiest man in life,
And, but with Tories, had no strife.
** W. Newcastle, noble and polite,
Whom George approves, is my delight ;
His loyal merit is his claim,
For him I'd hazard life and fame.
" P. Me St. John now, whom every Muse
And every grace adorns, subdues.
Attached to him, I've learnt to hate
Your person, politics, and state.
" W. What if our former friendship should
Return, and you have what you would ?
If, for your sake, the noble duke
Should be discarded and forsook ?
"P. Though St. John now my fury warms,
And all his measures have such charms,
Though he is fond, indifferent you,
Our ancient league I'd yet renew ;
For you I'd speech it in the house,
For you write Craftsmen and carouse ;
NEW ELECTIONS. 107
For you with all my soul I'd vote,
For you make friends, impeach, and plot ;
For you I'd do what would I not ? "
Read's Weekly Journal of the i2th of the same month con-
tains the following severe lines on the ingratitude of Boling-
broke :
"AYE AND NO.
"When from the axe good D'Anvers flew,
And to his King for mercy cried ;
His generous King the axe withdrew,
And Yes to all he ask'd replied.
'* His monarch's goodness to repay,
When moved to act against the foes
Of him who gave him life 'twas Nay I
And all his voice could breathe were .Vo's.
" O George ! hadst thou this craftsman known,
The sentence had not seem'd amiss,
For life when cringing to thy throne,
Hadst thou said No I instead of Yes /
" Yet though his pen so long has raved,
Let him in time chastise his quill ;
That law whose Ay el has often saved,
May one time have a No I to kill."
Every expedient, lawful or unlawful, was, however, now re-
sorted to for the purpose of raising a mob excitement against
the elections, for the ensuing session was the last of the present
Parliament, and every nerve was strained to render the ministry
unpopular with the electors. The excise agitation had not sub-
sided with the year 1733, and to this was now added an outcry
against the Riot Act, with exaggerated statements of the depreda-
tions which the Spaniards were suffered to commit upon our trade.
Agents of the opposition were employed in various parts of the
country in preparing for the approaching struggle, months before
the dissolution of Parliament. On the jjth of January, 1734,
the Craftsman says, " They write from Shropshire, that the dis-
putes about the ensuing elections run so high there, that the
dragoons are oftentimes called in to appease the disorders."
The opposition candidates made progresses in some of the coun-
ties during January, which were attended with serious riots and
outrages. It has been already observed that caricatures were
now frequently mounted on fans : in January, 1 734, the news-
papers contain repeated advertisements of " a beautiful excise
and election fan." Among the ballads was one in which the
prime minister was satirized as " The Norfolk Gamester."
The self-named Patriots began in return to be attacked se-
io8 SATIRES ON THE " PATRIOTS."
verely, and their patriotism was cried down as mere selfish am-
bition the desire of place, A rhymer in Head's Weekly
Journal of January 7th says
44 You wish, my friend, I'd be so kind,
Sincerely to declare my mind
Of those who talk so loud and wise
Against oppression and excise.
Briefly, the case is now no more
Than what it oft has been before.
The quarrel, that has been so long,
Is not in fact who's right or wrong ;
But this, my friend, no longer doubt,
'Tis who is in, and who is out."
The same journal, on the z6ih of January, publishes an attack
on the opposition under the title of " The Modern Patriots : a
proper new Ballad;" in which the electors are warned against
the evil designs of a faction, the chief leaders of which are pic-
tured in no very flattering colours. Bolingbroke heads the
list:
" Of all these famed Patriots, so tight and so true,
It would take too much time for a thorough review ;
But a few of thet.3 worthies 'tis fit to record :
And the first is a 'squire, that once was a lord.
With a hey derry, &c."
After giving an account of the ex-peer's offences, the ballad
adds, with an allusion to his friend Pope, who had written a play
for the stage, which was unsuccessful
" Whate'er were his faults, they have tatight him the wit
The blots of his neighbours the better to hit ;
As oftentimes poets, whose writings were damn'd,
Have after for critics been notably famed.
With a hey derry, &c."
Next comes Pulteney, who had drawn up the report of the
parliamentary committee against Bishop Atterbury, Boling-
broke's friend :
"The next is a 'squire, who once roasted a bishop,
And an excellent feast to the courtiers did dish up ;
But he turn'd cat in pan, as soon as debarr'd
Of the perquisite sauce, which he thought his reward.
With a hey derry, &c.
" And now ever since he hath warmly espoused
The cause of his country, and liberty roused ;
And he'll rouse it again, for he that's possess'd
With the spirit of envy, can let nothing rest.
With a hey derry, &c.*
THE COUNTRY INTEREST. 109
Wyndham, and one or two others, are described in a similar
strain. The faction led by Bolingbroke and Pulteney seem now
to have discarded their title of Patriots, and adopted that of the
Country Interest, which was their watchword in the elections
of 1734-
During the month of April a greater number of ballads and
pamphlets were sent forth than had probably ever been issued
before in the same space of time. An anniversary of the defeat
of the excise scheme was celebrated by the populace early in the
month. On the i6th the Parliament was dissolved, and the
elections took place at the end of the month and at the begin-
ning of May. The opponents of ministers never exerted them-
selves so much ; and they practised bribery and corruption as
unblushingly as their antagonists. In cases where the corpora-
tion of a town were in their interest, they endeavoured to make
a majority by creating honorary freemen. Their anxiety about
the result is shown strikingly in the following paragraph of the
Craftsman of the 2oth of April : " We are credibly informed it
will be so ordered that the elections of most counties and cor-
porations, where the friends of a certain great gentleman are
most likely to succeed, will be brought on first, by way of pre-
cedent and encouragement to the others. We don't mention
this as any extraordinary piece of news, but only to prevent any
surprise at ihejirst returns." The elections were in most cases
hotly contested, and were unusually tumultuous. There was a
riot even at Norwich ; and the Craftsman states, that when
Walpole mounted the hustings there, to give his vote as an
honorary freeman, "the people called aloud to have the oath
administered to him, that he had received no money for that pur-
pose." Pulteney's faction was again doomed to disappointment;
for, although they had gained a few votes, the strength of the
ministry remained unshaken ; and they did not even attempt
to conceal their mortification. On the i8th of May, a political
pamphlet was advertised, under the title of "The City Gar-
land," " with a curious copper-plate representing the humours
of an election."
It was in the session of Parliament which had closed in April,
that Sir William Wyndham made his famous personal attack on
Walpole in the House of Commons, when the minister retorted
with a no less violent, but truer, character of Bolingbroke. This
is said to have contributed, with several other causes, to drive
the latter from the arena of political strife ; and he soon after-
wards retired to the Continent, with the conviction that his
party was carrying on a hopeless contest. A poet of the Gentle-
no THE OPPOSITION DISCOURAGED.
man's Magazine, in the month of June, compares their unwearied
efforts to the labours of Sisyphus.
" Thus (as ancient stories tell)
Sisyphus, condemn'd in hell,
Up a hill, eternal, toils
To roll a stone, which back recoils.
Since the labour's much the same,
Sisyphus be P y's name.
Ever may he toil in vain,
W le's life or place to gain I
Still to aim, and still to fail,
Striving still, and ne'er prevail !
Be his hell in life and can
Worse befall th' ambitious man t"
Pulteney was, indeed, discouraged and gloomy, and he showed
now some inclination to seek a reconciliation with the minister.
A calm, as usual, followed the political storm ; and during the
rest of the year the only occurrences which made much noise
were some religious disputes, arising chiefly from the ultra High
Church zeal of one Dr. Codex, and the extraordinary celebrity of
the pills of a quack named Ward.
While the opposition were exclaiming loudly against the
dangers to be apprehended from a standing army, the provinces
were suffering from riot and tumult which there was no efficient
superior force to control. In the western counties, and more
especially in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, an active rebel-
lion had for several years been carried on against turnpike-gates,
in which, singularly enough, the insurgents disguised them-
selves in women's clothes, thus presenting a remarkable resem-
blance to those who, at a much more recent period, figured so
prominently under the title of " Eebecca and her Daughters."
We hear of the proceedings of these people as early as 1730 and
1731 ; and, as the excitement of political faction left a moment
of leisure to the newspapers, they convey glimpses of their pro-
ceedings until 1735, when the turnpike destroyers in Hereford-
shire had carried their outrages to so extraordinary a height that
they awed even the county magistrates.*
* The following particulars relating to these insurgents are taken from the
Daily Gazetteer of October 8 and December 9, 1735 :
"Hereford, October 4. There are now committed to the county gaol two,
and more are daily expected, of the Ledbury rioters, who rather deserve the
name of rebels, for they appeared a hundred in a gang, armed with guns
and swords, as well as axes to hew down the turnpikes, and were dressed in
women's apparel, with high-crown'd hats, and their faces blacken'd. I sup-
pose you nave heard of the attack they made at Ledbury on the 2ist of
September, about nine o'clock at night, when in two hours' time they cut
FOEEIGN POLICY. in
With respect to Walpole's foreign policy, the factious character
of the opposition was becoming so apparent, that it now caused
little embarrassment or uneasiness to the Government, and ex-
hibited itself publicly in a way not likely to produce much
effect. At the beginning of 1734, when a peace seemed to be
securely established, the " Patriots" had clamoured for war.
down five or six turnpikes to the ground ; but, before they had gone through
all their work, they were disturbed by a worthy magistrate in the neighbour-
hood, John Skipp, Esq. ; who, being in the commission of the peace, caused
the proclamation to be read against riots, and then the act of Parliament ;
but to no purpose ; for this gentleman, with his servants and neighbours,
going to defend the last turnpike, a skirmish ensued, in which he took two
of those miscreants prisoners, whom he secured for that night in his own
house ; but the whole gang appeared soon after, who demanded the said
prisoners, threatening, in case of refusal, to pull his house down, and burn
his barns and stables, and immediately discharged several loaded pieces into
the house, which happily did no damage. The justice finding himself and
family beset in such a manner, discharged several blunderbusses and fowling-
pieces at them, whereby one was shot dead on the spot, and several so
wounded, that 'tis not believed they will recover. At this the rioters fled
with precipitation, leaving their two companions behind them. But 'tis
fear'd that more blood will yet be spilt, the country being in the greatest
confusion, and I am informed that an attempt is designed upon the county
gaol ; but the quarter sessions being to be held next week, a petition will no
doubt be presented to the justices for relief."
Hereford ', December 6. You have already heard that two men were com-
mitted to the keeper of the gaol of this county, for the riot at Ledbury. I
am now to acquaint you, that on Sunday last above twenty of those turn-
pike cutters or levellers, as they call themselves, though that is a character
by much too good for them, met with the said keeper at the King's Head
Inn at Ross fair, and demanding his reasons for detaining those two men in
custody, without giving him time to return an answer, dragged him out of
the inn into the street, knocked him down several times, and almost mur-
dered him, notwithstanding all that the innkeeper and his servants could do
to prevent it, who were used in a very cruel manner for assisting him. The
villains immediately carried the keeper to Wilton's Bridge, where at first
they concluded to throw him into the river Wye ; but at length they agreed
to carry him to a place where they would secure him till they themselves had
fetched the prisoners out of custody. The better to complete that design,
they dragged him four miles in his boots and spurs, to a place called Hore-
withey, a public-house, where he was kept prisoner, beat in a shameful
manner by those merciless wretches, and obliged to write a discharge to the
turnkey, being threatened, in case of refusal, to be hanged upon the spot.
Four gentlemen from Hereford, who followed them, and endeavoured to
dissuade them from such wickedness and cruelty, were inhumanly beat, and
obliged to ride off for their lives. After they had detained the keeper near
six hours at the house aforesaid, they ferried him over the Wye, walked
him about the country till near four o'clock in the morning, and then robbed
him of his money. Those that robbed him made off, but left others to guard
him, who, quarrelling and fighting about dividing the booty, it gave the
keeper an opportunity to make his escape out of the villains' hands with his
life, but not without bruises in abundance."
1 1 a THE BALANCING MASTER.
A few months after this a war appeared imminent, and then the
same opposition cried out for peace, and complained that the
Government was unnecessarily involving the nation in hostili-
ties with its neighbours. Before the end of 1735 the danger
had vanished, and then the opposition became as warlike as
ever, and the English people was told daily and weekly of the
pusillanimity of its rulers. The " balance of power," which was
the watchword of Walpole's foreign politics and the object of
his negotiations, was made the object of ridicule, and his brother,
Horace Walpole, who was his great negotiator, received the
sobriquet of " the balancing master." When, he returned from
Holland to attend to his parliamentary duties, in the beginning
of 1736, the Craftsman of Jan. 17 published the following sati-
rical announcement :
tl just arrived from Holland,
" THE GREATEST CURIOSITY IN EUROPE !
" Being A fine large dove, of the male kind, lineally descended from that
of Mount Ararat ; which hath had the honour to be shewn in several courts,
and given entire satisfaction.
" His feathers are formed exactly in the shape of olive leaves, with a
little tuft just rising upon his head, somewhat like a coronet. He is of
such a wonderful pacific nature, that, as soon as he begins to coo, the most
inveterate enemies cannot help shaking hands and growing friends again.
He hath not only reconciled several men and their wives, after all other
remedies have proved ineffectual, but also divers great princes, who have
had an hereditary hatred against each other for many generations.
" He likewise sings a variety of merry tunes and catches, to the admira-
tion of all that have heard him.*
" To be seen every day, during the sitting of Parliament, in a room
adjoining to the Court of Requests ; where all gentlemen and ladies are
desired to satisfy their curiosity, before he is sent abroad again"
People in general seem not to have partaken in the warlike
propensities of the opposition papers at this time ; and when the
King went to open the Parliament in the middle of January, he
was greeted by the mob with unusual acclamations. The next
Craftsman let out its spleen in an intemperate article, in which
it accused the mob of being bribed, spoke of " hired huzzas," and
stigmatized those who uttered them as a " ragged rabble." On
this occasion, the following spirited epigram went the round of
the Whig journals :
" Round Brunswick's coach the happy Britons throng,
And bear with grateful shouts their Prince along ;
* Old Horace Walpole was an active speaker in the House of Commons,
though he appears by no means to have possessed the eloquence of his
brother. The opposition affected to laugh at his speeches, which are per-
haps alluded to here as the "merry tunes and catches," that caused so
much admiration.
ATTACKS ON THE "PATRIOTS." 113
Joy fills the skies, with intermingled prayers,
And Europe's general voice seems raised in theirs.
Caleb alone with grief surveys the crowd,
Nor can contain his rage, he vents aloud :
* Are thus my toils repaid, ye witless herd ?
Is Britain's peace at last to mine preferr'd ?
Ye ragged rascals, ye are hired to this ;
Be incorrupt like me, and give a Am.
Huzzah, ye bribed I but give me patriot strife,
And let me, gratis, kiss away my life.' "
The disappointed " Patriots" were now exposed to ridicule in
their turn, and the newspapers contained satirical allusions to
their eagerness to obtain the places held by their opponents.
The following is taken from the Daily Gazetteer of December
*6> 1735'
"AN ADVERTISEMENT.
"To be sold at a stationer's shop in Covent Garden, a neat and curious
collection of well-chosen similes, allusions, metaphors, and allegories, from,
the best plays and romances, modern and ancient ; proper to adorn a poem
or a panegyric on the glorious patriots designed to succeed the present
ministry. The similes 55., the metaphors ten, and the allegories a guinea
each.
"The author gives notice, that all sublunary metaphors, of a new minister
being a rock, a pillar, a bulwark, a strong tower, or a spire-steeple, will be
allowed very cheap ; celestial ones must be disposed of something dearer,
as they are fetched at a greater expense from another world. The new
treasurer (W. W.)* may be a Phoebus, the new secretary (W. S.)f a Mer-
cury, the new general (D. of O d) a Mars, for a moidore each ; and a
tip-top Neptune, to introduce the Chevalier, at the same price. A right
Jupiter, being a capital allusion, and fit only for a prime favourite, will be
rated at a duckatoon. Comets and blazing stars are reserved for privy-
councillors only ; twelve of which are already bespoke and paid for. Mr.
Fog and Mr. A ra' have desired to be each a satellite of Jupiter, at a
penny the satellite, which is granted. A vagrant, thin, whiffling meteor,
dark, yet easily seen thro', is set aside for E. B li, Esq. ; and another
of the same odd qualities, for the author of the ' Persian Letters.' The
belt of Saturn, little worse for wearing, will be sold a pennyworth. The
North Star is bespoke for a hero in the South, || as soon as he arrives next
in Scotland to finish his conquests; and the Great Bear for his first minister
and confessor, ^f All the signs in the zodiac, except Scorpio, will be sold in
* Sir William Wyndham.
t William Shippen, M.P.
J Fog's Journal, the successor to Mist's, was the chief organ of the
Tories after the Craftsman. The latter was, as has been already stated,
edited by Nicholas Amhurst, under the assumed name of Caleb d'Anvers.
Pf rbaps Eustace Budgell, Esq., a writer in the Craftsman, who com-
mitted suici.ie not long after this date. A series of attacks were made on
the English ministry at this period, under the fictitious character of
memoirs of Persian affairs.
II The Pretender.
II Probably Bishop Atterbury.
I
H4 PREVALENCE OF GIN-DRINKING.
one lot ; which, for its biting, stinging, scratching, poisonous quality, is set
aside for a Gi-ay'i-Inn barrister. * For his steady, regular, uniform motion,
W. P.,t Esq., may, with great propriety, be & fixed star of the first mag-
nitude, for five guineas ; and a certain viscouut,J the Syrius ardens of
Horace, or the incendiary euflaming light in capite Leonis, at the same
price.
P.S. The same author has, with great pains and study, prepared a
collection of state satires, enriched with the newest and most fashionable
topics of defamation, which may serve, with a very little variation, to libel
a judge, a bishop, or a prime minister. The maker of these satires, a great
observer of decorums, begs leave to acquaint the public, that he thinks, a
king, in respect to the dignity of his character, ought never to be abused
but in folio, morocco leather, and the leaves gilt ; a queen in quarto, neatly
bound; a peer in octavo, letter' d on the back ; and a commoner in 12 mo.,
stitch'd only.
. "N.B. The same satirist has collections of reasons ready by him against
the ensuing peace, though he has not yet read the preliminaries, or seen one
article of the pacification."
While the violence of opposition appeared to be subsiding, a
new subject of popular discontent suddenly arose in 1736.
The depravity of the lower orders, and the debased state of
public morals, had frequently been made a subject of declama-
tion, and had been attributed to a variety of causes. Many
persons of late had ascribed the worst disorders of the times to
the increasing vice of drunkenness ; and, in fact, the drinking of
gin and other spirituous liquors appears to have prevailed among
the lower classes of society to a degree at once alarming and
revolting. A paragraph in the Old Whig of Feb. 26, 1736,
informs us, " We hear that a strong-water shop was lately
opened in South work, with this inscription on the sign :
" 'Drunk for id.
Dead drunk for id.
Clean straw for nothing.' "
The newspapers of the period contain frequent announcements
of sudden deaths in the taverns from excessive drinking of gin.
Some zealous reformers of public manners formed the project of
putting a stop to this bane of society by prohibiting the sale of
the article which fed it, or, which was the same thing, laying on
it a heavy duty, which would make it too expensive to be pur-
chased by the poor, and at the same time prohibiting the sale of
* Amhurst, the editor of the Craftsman, was of Gray's Inn.
+ William Pulteney.
j ? Lord Carteret.
This inscription was afterwards introduced by Hogarth into his carica-
ture of Gin Lane, and was remembered at the time of the repeal of the Gin
Act in 1743. See Smollett.
THE GIN ACT. 115
it in small quantities. A bill with this object was brought into
Parliament by Sir Joseph Jekyl, and although Walpole seems
not to have given it his entire approbation, was passed, after an
energetic opposition by the Patriots in the House, and by those
whose interests it affected out of the House. This bill was to
come into operation on the 2pth of September following.
It appears to have caused no great excitement at first ; but, as
the time approached when the populace was to be deprived of
their favourite gin, their discontent began to show itself in a
riotous shape, and the opponents of the ministry urged them on
in every possible manner. Ballads in lamentation of " Mother
Gin" were sung in the streets. As early as the 17th July, the
Craftsman announces the publication of a caricature, entitled
" The Funeral of Madam Geneva," with the addition, " who
died, Sept. 29, 1736." As the date last mentioned approached,
the excitement increased, and serious riots were prevented only
by the watchfulness of the authorities. The signs of the liquor-
shops were everywhere put in mourning ; and some of the
dealers made a parade of mock ceremonies for " Madam Geneva's
lying in state," which was the occasion of mobs, and the justices
were obliged to commit " the chief mourners " to prison. The
Daily Gazetteer says, "Last Wednesday (Sept. 29), several
people made themselves very merry on the death of Madam Gin,
and some of both sexes got soundly drunk at her funeral, for
which the mob made a formal procession with torches, but com-
mitted no outrages." The same newspaper adds : " The exit of
Mother Gin in Bristol has been enough bewailed by the retailers
and drinkers of it ; many of the latter, willing to have their fill,
and to take the last farewell in a respectful manner of their be-
loved dame, have not scrupled to pawn and sell their very
clothes, as the last devoir they can pay to her memory. It was
observed, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, that several re-
tailers' shops were well crowded, some tippling on the spot,
while others were carrying it off from a pint to a gallon ; and
one of those shops had such a good trade, that it put every cask
they had upon the stoop ; and the owner with sorrowful sighs
said, ' Is not this a barbarous and cruel thing, that I must not
be permitted to fill them again ? ' and pronounced a heavy woe
on the instruments of their drooping. Such has been the lamen-
tation, that on Wednesday night her funeral obsequies were
performed with formality in several parishes, and some of tht
votaries appeared in ragged clothes, some without gowns, and
others with one stocking ; but among them all, we don't hear of
any that have carried their grief so far, as to hang or drown
12
ii6 WORKING OF THE GIN ACT.
themselves, rather choosing the drinking part to finish their
sorrow ; and accordingly a few old women are pretty near tip-
ping off the perch, by sipping too large a draught. We hear
from Bath, that Mother Gin has been lamented in that city
much after the same manner." Similar scenes were witnessed in
other cities and towns. In reading accounts like these, we seem
to have before our eyes the pictures of Hogarth.
The Gin Act did but little good ; for while, on one hand, it
encouraged a troop of common informers, who became the pest
of the country, it was on the other hand evaded in every possible
manner, and with great facility. Not only was gin publicly
sold in shops, but hawkers carried it about the streets in flasks
and bottles, under fictitious names. The titles thus adopted
were in some cases amusing enough. Read's Weekly Journal of
October 23rd tells us, " The following drams are sold at several
brandy-shops in High Holborn, St. Giles's, Thieving Lane,
Tothill Street, Kosemary Lane, "Whitechapel, Shoreditch, Old
Mint, Kent Street, &c. ; viz. Sangree, Tom Roe, Cuckold's Com-
fort, Parliament Gin, Make Shift, the Last Shift, the Ladies'
Delight, the Baulk, King Theodore or Corsica, Cholick and
Gripe Waters, and several others, to evade the late Act of Par-
liament." Others coloured the liquor, and exposed it in bottles,
labelled " Take two or three spoonfuls of this four or five times
a day, or as often as the fit takes you." Some people set up as
chemists, selling chiefly " cholick-water " and " gripe-water,"
with the further intimation that they gave " advice gratis "
And when some of the evaders of the law were brought before
the courts for examination, and it was observed that the che-
mists' shops were much more frequented than formerly, they are
represented as giving for answer, " that the late act had given
many people the cholic, and that was the reason they had so
many patients."
The gin agitation continued unabated through the years 1737
and 1/38, and gave rise to many a ballad and broadside. In
the July of the former year appeared, among many other similar
productions, " The Fall of Bob ; or, The Oracle of Gin : a tra-
gedy ;" and " Desolation ; or, The Fall of Gin : a poem." It
was not an unusual thing to hear of three or four hundred in-
formations against people for the illegal sale of gin at one time.
The informers were unprincipled people, who not only used all
kinds of snares to decoy their victims, but sometimes laid false
informations, to gratify private revenge. They thus became
objects of extreme hatred to the mob ; and whenever they fell
into the hands of the populace, they were treated in an unmerci-
THE PRINCE OF WALES, 117
ful manner, beaten rudely, rolled in the dirt, pumped upon, and
often carried to some horse-pond outside the town to be ducked.
In some cases this last operation was performed in the Thames ;
and there were instances in which the offender was thrown into
the river, and narrowly escaped drowning. This exercise of
mob-justice had become so frequent in the autumn of 1737, that
it was found necessary in September to issue a proclamation,
offering a reward of 20 for the discovery of any person con-
cerned in such outrages, a measure which had, however, a very
limited effect in checking them.
In the course of 1737 Walpole lost his best supporter in
Queen Caroline, who died on the 2oth of November ; and the
opposition had already been strengthened by the accession to
their ranks of Frederick Prince of Wales, who had first been
led into a violent quarrel with his father, and then took the lead
in all measures likely to embarrass his father's government.
The Prince had taken up his residence at Norfolk House, where,
from this time, all the movements of the opposition were dis-
cussed and resolved upon. Encouraged by this great addition
to their strength, the allied " Patriots " and Tories roused them-
selves for the senatorial strife, and the session of 1738 was
perhaps the most stormy one that Walpole had yet passed.
The object of attack was the foreign policy ; for the opposition
believed, that, if they could only push the country into a war,
the present ministry would be obliged to go out of office. The
English merchant-vessels had been long in the habit of carry-
ing on an illicit commerce on the coast of the Spanish posses-
sions in America, to hinder which the Spanish government had
lately ordered its guarda-costas to be more watchful in their
duties, and the Spanish commanders in carrying out these duties,
seem often to have shown an unnecessary degree of insolence
and severity. The right of search, which has usually been
claimed under such circumstances, was always a tender question ;
and the English merchants, on the present occasion, made loud
complaints of the injuries they were daily suffering. One
Captain Robert Jenkyns pretended, that, when his vessel had
been searched, the Spaniards had, in an insolent and cruel
manner, cut off one of his ears. It was insinuated by the
ministerial supporters, that, if Jenkyns had lost his ear at all,
it had been taken from him on the pillory. He was evidently
the tool of a party. Nevertheless, this story, which Edmund
Burke afterwards called " the fable of Jenkyns' ear," produced
an extraordinary sensation, and the captain was brought forward
to make a statement of his wrongs before the House of Com-
n8
THE CONVENTION WITH SPAIN.
mons. Walpole found himself, to a certain degree, obliged to
give way to the popular clamour, and make a slight show of
\\arlike demonstration. He felt, in fact, that the conduct of the
Spaniards could not in all respects be defended ; but he still
clung to his pacific policy, and carried on negotiations with the
court of Sj ain which led at the end of the year to a convention,
stipulating for the release of some prizes and the payment of
certain sums of money, but which convention was understood
in the light of a preliminary to the arrangement of a subsequent
treaty.
These negotiations were not what the opposition wanted, and
they openly accused the minister of sacrificing the interests of
his country, with uo other object than that of keeping his place.
In November, we find the Craftsman employing its pleasantry
on Walpole's great belly and on his luxurious living, and accus-
ing him of suppressing the truth, in order to conceal the real
extent of the Spanish depredations. Among the most popular
caricatures published at this time, was a series of prints (con-
tinued in the year following) under the title of " The European
Races," which require, what was really printed, a pamphlet to
explain them. Another caricature, entitled " In Place," repre-
sents the minister sitting at his official table, and refusing to
PABIKQ THE NAILS OP THE BRITISH
hear the numerous petitions and complaints, while a man with a
caudle is burning one of the numbers of the Craftsman. A
THE NEGOTIATORS. 119
print, entitled " Slavery," exhibits the well known story of
Jenkyns' ear. Another, published in October, 1738, applies the
fable of the lion in love, and represents Sir Robert Walpole
keeping the lion of England tame, while the Spaniard cuts his
nails. The character of the pamphlets on the same subject
may be surmised from the title of one advertised in the month
of September, " Ministerial Virtue ; or, Long-suffering extolled
in a great man." The negotiations of the minister were sati-
rised bitterly in " The Negotiators ; or, Don Diego brought
to reason : an excellent new ballad ; " which may be cited as an
example of the political ballads made on this occasion. Wai-
pole's negotiations, according to this ballad, must silence the
clamours of the injured merchants :
"Our merchants and tars a strange pother have made,
With losses sustuin'd in their ships and their trade ;
But now they may laugh and quite banish their fears,
Nor mourn for lost liberty, riches, or ears:
Since Blue-String the great,
To better their fate,
Once more has determined he'll negotiate;
And swears the proud Don, whom he dares not to fight,
Shall submit to his logic, and do 'em all right.
"No sooner the knight had declared his intent,
But straight to the Irish Don Diego he went ;
And lest, if alone, of success he might fail,
Took with him his brother to balance the scale.
For long he had known,
"What all men must own,
That two heads were ever deem'd better than one :
And sure in Great Britain no two heads there are
That can with the knight's and his brother's compare."
The Don will not receive them on their first call, but he
admits them on the second day, and the knight (Walpole) states
their business, and petitions lor the delivery of the ships of the
English merchants detained by the Spaniards. Horace recounts
the various secret services which his brother has performed for
the latter power :
" ' Consider how oft himself he exposed,
And 'twixt you and Great Britain's just rage interposed :
When her fleets were equipp'd, you must certainly know,
By him they were hinder" d from striking a blow.
Thus Hosier the brave
Was sent to his grave,
On an errand which better had fitteda slave ;
Being order'd to take (if he could) your galleons,
By force of persuasion, not that of his guns.' "
The Don replies in a tone of astonishment :
120 WAR WITH SPAIN.
" Quoth the Don, ' What you say, my good friends, may be true,
But I wonder that you for such varlets will sue.
Merchants ! ha ! they were once sturdy beggars, I think,*
And, were I in your place, I would let them all sink.
They opposed your excise ;
Then if you are wise,
Reject their petitions, be deaf to their cries ;
And let us like brothers together agree,
You excise them on land, I'll excise them at sea.' "
The minister's answer is in perfect accordance with the senti-
ments of the Don :
" 'Noble Don,' quoth the knight, ' I should heartily close
(For hugely I like it) with what you propose.
Our merchants are grown very saucy and rich,
And 'tis time to prepare a good rod for their breech :
Were I once to speak true,
Give the Devil his due,
I love them as little, nay, far less than yon ;
And would willingly crush them, but that I'm afraid
Of this a bad use by my foes might be made.' "
In the sequel, a private arrangement is made ; the Spaniard
takes a bribe, and agrees to appear more moderate ; and the
King and the nation are equally deceived by a specious story
of the terror inspired by the renown of the British arms.
The outcry against the insolence of the Spaniards continued
unabated in 1 739, and the " convention," signed at Madrid on
the i4th of January, was designated as an "infamous" betrayal
of the natural rights of Englishmen, because it did not insist
upon claims which really had never been allowed by Spain.
When Parliament met, the opposition had increased in violence ;
their clamours against the articles and principles of the " con-
* During the debates on the Excise scheme in the beginning of 1 733, the
House of Commons was beset by a tumultuous mob, who not only solicited
the members to vote against the ministerial measure, but even employed
threats. Smollett informs us, that one day " Sir Robert Walpole took
notice of the multitudes which had beset all the approaches to the House.
He said it would be an easy task for a designing seditious person to raise
a tumult and disorder among them : that gentlemen might give them what
name they should think fit, and affirm they were come as humble suppliants;
but he knew whom the law called sturdy beggars, and those who brought
them to that place could not be certain but that they might behave in the
same manner. This insinuation was resented by Sir John Barnard, [the
member for London,] who observed that merchants of character had a right
to come down to the Court of Requests and lobby of the House of
Commons, in order to solicit their friends and acquaintance against any
scheme or project which they might think prejudicial to their commerce :
that when he came into the House, he saw none but such as deserved the
appellation of sturdy beggars as little as the honourable gentleman himself,
or any gentleman whatever."
DUTCH FRIENDSHIP. 121
vention " were loud in both Houses, and Jenkyns' " ear " made a
greater figure than ever. In this debate William Pitt, then a
young man, first distinguished himself in the ranks of the oppo-
sition. The minister, however, still carried the day by his
majorities ; and a portion of the opposition, led by Sir William
Wyndham, had recourse to the dramatic effect of a public se-
cession from the House, a measure very acceptable to the
Government, and which was far from producing the results
expected from it. But the overbearing conduct of Spain soon
seconded the efforts of the English " Patriots " in hurrying the
two countries into a war, which was declared on the ipth of
October, 1739, amid the enthusiastic shouts of the mob. The
French court showed anything but a friendly aspect towards
England on this occasion ; and, by its threats and persuasions,
Holland was induced to remain neutral, and withhold the aux-
iliary troops which the States were bound by treaties to furnish
to their ally ; so that England was left to fight single-handed,
with a small army and not a well-manned fleet, and a Parlia-
mentary opposition who cried out against every method of in-
creasing the former or raising sailors for the latter, and yet who
began soon to blame the Government for their want of vigour in
carrying on hostilities. The behaviour of the Dutch was the
subject of a caricature, entitled " The States in a Lethargy," in
which they are represented by a lion asleep in a cradle, rocked
by Cardinal Fleury.
DUTCH FRIENDSHIP.
The caricatures began now to be more numerous and more
spirited than at any previous period. Among those which
192 JACK THE GIANT-KILLER.
appeared towards the end of the year, we may mention one,
bearing date the 8th of October, 1739, and entitled "Hocus
Pocus ; or, The Political Jugglers," which is divided into four
compartments. In the first an Englishman is seen fighting
with a Spaniard, while "Hogan" (the Dutchman) takes the
opportunity of picking his pocket. The second compartment
represents Commerce, in the form of a bull, baited by all
the powers concerned on this occasion. In the third, Cardinal
Fleury appears as a negotiator, with money on a table ; while
the fourth represents Gibraltar besieged by the Spaniards.
This port had now begun to be looked upon as one of vital
importance for English commerce. Another caricature, pub-
lished about the end of the year, under the title of " Fee Fau
Fum," and like the former divided into four compartments,
pictures the minister in the character of Jack the Giant-killer.
In the first compartment the political hero has betrayed a
mighty giant, the personification of the Sinking Fund, into a
pit, and is destroying him with his pick-axe. On the giant's
THE POtmCAL JACK THE GIANT-KILLEB.
girdle is inscribed the word "Convention," and round his
garter " The Ear" of course the celebrated ear of Captain
Jenkyns, which, with the subsequent convention, had brought
on the war that had obliged the Government to draw heavily
upon the Sinking Fund in order to defray its expenses. In the
second compartment Jack is encountering the giant Fleury.
In the third he is pursuing a two-headed giant, armed with a
club (? Spain and France.) In the fourth, the minister, in
his character of the hero, is knocking boldly at the castle gate,
while a three-headed giant (Spain, France, and Sweden) is
CAPTURE OF PORTO SELLO.
123
JACK IN HIS GLOBT.
looking upon him from a window above. The English govern-
ment had narrowly escaped a war with
the latter of these three powers ;
France, as we have already seen, acted
a part calculated to excite the appre-
hensions of the English ; and Spain
was engaged in open hostilities, and
inflicting on the merchants much
greater injuries than they had sus-
tained from her guarda-costas.
The war with Spain was carried on
with no great activity ; and the only
event which threw any credit upon it
was the taking of Porto Bello, in the
Isthmus of Darien, on the 22nd of
November, 1 739, by Admiral Vernon,
with six ships of the line. It appears
that this success was owing more to
the cowardice of the garrison, than
to the conduct of the English
admiral, who was a vain man with no great capacity. But
he was a personal enemy of the minister, and he was on
that account cried up by the opposition, and became in conse-
quence the popular hero of the mob, who were made to believe
that the Government was jealous of him because he was a
"patriot." When the news reached home in March, 1740,
his friends in England fed his discontent, by telling him that
Hie Court opposed the public acknowledgment due to his
merits ; and he wrote back to his friends that he was checked in
his victorious career by the neglect of the ministers at home.
It was hinted that the Government would willingly see
Vernon's armament perish in inactivity, as they had suffered
that of Admiral Hosier to die away on the same station
in 1726. This was a means of reviving old clamours and
animosities, for the fate of poor Hosier had excited great
sympathy. A print was published, entitled, " Hosier's Ghost,"
and representing the spectres of the unfortunate brave who had
thus perished in those unhealthy seas, calling upon Vernon's
sailors for revenge ; and a pathetic ballad was distributed, which
has retained its popularity even in modern times, from the circum-
stance of its insertion in the " Reliques " of Bishop Percy. It
was attributed to Pulteney ; but the true writer is understood
to have been Glover, the author of " Leonidas."
124 HOSIERS GHOST.
ADMIRAL HOSIER'S GHOST.
"As near Porto Bello lying
On the gently swelling flood,
At midnight with streamers flying
Our triumphant navy rode ;
There while Vernon sate all-glorioua
From the Spaniards' late defeat,
And his crews with shouts victorious,
Drank success to England's fleet,
" On a sudden, shrilly sounding,
Hideous yells and shrieks were heard ;
Then, each heart with fear confounding
A sad troop of ghosts appear' d,
All in dreary hammocks shrouded,
Which for winding-sheets they wore,
And with looks by sorrow clouded
Frowning on that hostile shore.
" On them gleam'd the moon's wan lustre,
When the shade of Hosier brave
His pale bands was seen to muster
Rising from their watery grave.
O'er the glimmering wave he hy'd him,
Where the Burford* rear'd her sail,
With three thousand ghosts beside him,
And in groans did Vernon hail.
" ' Heed, oh heed, our fatal story,
I am Hosier's injured ghost,
You who now have purchased glory
At this place where I was lost !
Though in Porto Bello's ruin
You now triumph free from fears,
When you think on our undoing,
You will mix your joy with tears.
" ' See these mournful spectres sweeping
Ghastly o'er this hated wave,
Whose wan cheeks are stain 'd with weeping*
These were English captains brave 1
Mark those numbers pale and horrid,
Those were once my sailors bold !
Lo, each hangs his drooping forehead,
While his dismal tale is told.
" 'I, by twenty sail attended,
Did this Spanish town affright :
Nothing then its wealth defended
But my orders not to fight.
Oh ! that in this rolling ocean
I had cast them with disdain,
And obey'd my heart's warm motion,
To have quell'd the pride of Spain !
* The name of Admiral Vernon's ship.
> HOSIER'S GHOST. 125
" ' For resistance I could fear none,
But with twenty ships had done
What thou, brave and happy Vernon,
Hast achiev'd with six alone.
Then the bastimentos never
Had our foul dishonour seen,
Nor the sea the sad receiver
Of this gallant train had been.
" 'Thus, like thee, proud Spain dismaying,
And her galleons leading home,
Though, condeinn'd for disobeying,
I had met a traitor's doom,
To have fallen, my country crying
He has play'd an English part,
Had been better far than dying
Of a grievM and broken heart.
" ' Unrepining at thy glory,
Thy successful arms we hail ;
But remember our sad story,
And let Hosier's wrongs prevail.
Sent in this foul clime to languish,
Think what thousands fell in vain,
Wasted with disease and anguish,
Not in glorious battle slain.
" ' Hence with all my train attending
From their oozy tombs below,
Thro* the hoary foam ascending,
Here I feed my constant woe :
Here the bastimentos viewing,
We recal our shameful doom,
And our plaintive cries renewing,
Wander thro' the midnight gloom.
" ' O'er these waves for ever mourning
Shall we roam deprived of rest,
If to Britain's shores returning
You neglect my just request.
After this proud foe subduing,
When your patriot friends you see,
Think on vengeance for my ruin,
And for England shamed in me !' "
For a while nothing was talked of hut Vernon and Porto
Bello, and even the French were said to have become alarmed at
our rising power in America. A caricature, published in July,
1740, under the title of " The Cardinal in the Dumps, with the
Head of the Colossus," represents Fleury looking with amaze-
ment on the portrait of Admiral Vernon, and exclaiming,
" G d, he'll take all our acquisitions in America ! His iron will
get the better of my gold 1" In the background the head of
Walpole appears raised on a pole, under which is written, "The
PREPARATIONS FOR THE ELECTIONS.
preferment of the Bar-
ber's Block ;" and still
lower, through an aper-
ture of the wall, is seen
the picture of " Poor
Hosier's " [Ghost.]
In several prints is-
sued during this year
Walpole was carica-
tured as the Great Co-
lossus, as the idol to
THE CABDINAL IN THE DUMPS. whom all must bo\V
who would obtain Court
favour ; and the clamour daily became louder against the posses-
sion of too much power by a prime minister.
No actions of importance followed the capture of Porto
Bello, while the merchants suffered much more seriously from,
the Spanish cruisers and privateers than from the petty aggres-
sions of their guarda-costas, and they filled the country with
their complaints against the mismanagement of the war. This,
joined with a great scarcity of provisions in consequence of an
unfavourable season, increased so much the general dissatis-
faction, that riots of the most serious character took place in
different parts of the island, attended in some instances with
bloodshed, and the name of Walpole became exceedingly un-
popular. The opposition looked forward with confident hopes
to the effect of this excitement on the elections, which were to
come on in the spring of 1741, and for which they were making
active preparations before the end of the year. In November
appeared a bitter metrical lampoon on Walpole, entitled, " Are
these Things so ? The previous question from an Englishman in
his Grotto to a Great Man at Court," pointing out all the
political sins ascribed to his administration in very strong
language, and taking for its significant motto the words of
Horace
" Lusisti satis, edisti satis, atque bibisti,
Tempus abire tibi."
It was immediately followed by another pamphlet in the same
strain under the title " Yes, they are ;" and these, with one
or two answers and rejoinders, seem to have made a considerable
sensation. In the beginning of 1741 all the old subjects of
clamour against the Government were revived, and almost
every opposition paper was filled with new attacks on the
THE MOTION.
excise project and on the " in-
famous " convention. Lists of
the members who voted for and
against the latter measure were
industriously spread among the
electors. Amidst a variety of
political squibs, there appeared on
the pth of January a caricature
entitled "The Devil upon Two
Sticks. To the worthy Electors
of Great Britain ;" in which
two of the members are repre-
sented carrying the minister
over a slough or pond upon their
shoulders, whilst some have got
over in safety, though not with-
out evident marks of the wet
and dirt through which they
had passed. Britannia and her
"Patriots" remain behind. Un-
derneath are written the words
"Members who voted for the
vention."
The expectations of the opposition had now become so san-
guine, that they determined not to wait for another session to
impress upon the minister the truth of the motto which had
been applied to him in the title-page just alluded to. Sandys,
one of the most discontented of the discontented Whigs, and
who, for the readiness with which he always put himself for-
ward on such occasions, had obtained the name of " The Motion
Maker," was again chosen to take the lead. On the ijth of
February, 1741, at the conclusion of a long and violent attack
upon Walpole, reviewing the whole of his foreign policy, stig-
matising him as a tool of France, who had sacrificed the real
English interests on the Continent to the aggrandisement of
the House of Bourbon, and charging him with arrogating to
himself the " unconstitutional" place of sole minister, and with
unnecessarily burthem'ng his country with debts and taxes,
Sandys moved an address to the King, " that he would be gra-
ciously pleased to remove the Right Honourable Sir Robert
Walpole from his Majesty's presence and councils for ever."
This motion was seconded by Lord Limerick and warmly sup-
ported by Pulteney, Pitt, and others. As the opposition seemed
to approach nearer to the attainment of power, the discordant
THE DEVIL UPON TWO STICKS.
Excise and against the Con-
128 CARICATURE ON THE MOTION.
materials of which it was composed began to show their want
of cordiality, and on Sandys' motion the Jacobites and many of
the Tories left the house before the division. The consequence
of this desertion was, that the minister, who made an able
speech in his own defence, triumphed by an unusually large
majority. On the same day, Lord Carteret (who had become
one of Walpole's most violent opponents, and aspired to his place)
produced a similar motion in the House of Lords, and was
seconded by the Duke of Argyle, and supported by the Duke of
Bedford and other opposition peers ; but the victory of the
court party was here as complete as in the other house.
The opposition shrunk back confused and mortified ; and
Walpole's friends and supporters set no bounds to their exulta-
tion. Within a few days appeared a print entitled " The Mo-
tion," of which a copy is given in the accompanying plate. It
was one of the most spirited, and became one of the most
celebrated, caricatures of the day. The background represents
Whitehall, the Treasury, and the adjoining buildings, as they
then stood. Lord Carteret, in the coach, is driven towards the
Treasury by the Duke of Argyle as coachman, with the Earl of
Chesterfield as postilion, who, in their haste, are overturning the
vehicle ; and Lord Carteret cries " Let me get out ! " The
Duke brandishes a wavy sword, instead of a whip ; and between
his legs the heartless changeling Bubb Dodington sits in the
form of a spaniel. Their characters are thus set forth in the
verses printed beneath the original engraving :
" Who be dat de box do sit on ?
'Tis John, the hero of North Briton,
Who, out of place, does place-men spit on,
Doodle, &c.
4 ' Between his legs de spaniel curr see,
'Though now he growl at Bob so fierce,
Yet he fawn'd on him once in doggerel verse.
Doodle, &c.
"And who be dat postilion there,
Who drive o'er all, and no man spare ?
'Tis Ph 1 p e le of here and there.
Doodle, &c.
" But pray who in de coach e sit-a ?
'Tis honest J nny C t ritta,
Who want in place again to get-a.
Doodle, &c."
Lord Cobham holds firmly by the straps behind, as footman;
while Lord Lyttelton follows on horseback, characterized equally
-"
CARICATUBE ON THE MOTION. 12$
by his own lean form, and by that of the animal across which
he strides.
" Who's dat behind ? 'Tis Dicky Cobby,
Who first would have hang'd, and then try'd Bobby.
Oh ! was not that a pretty jobb-e ?
Doodle, &c.
" Wbo's dat who ride astride de poney,
So long, so lank, so lean, and bony ?
Oh ! he be the great orator, Little- Toney !
Doodle, &c.
In front, Pulteney, drawing his partisans by the noses, and
wheeling a barrow laden with the writings of the opposition,
the Champion, the Craftsman, Common Sense, &c., exclaims,
" Zounds ! they are over ! "
" Close by stands Billy, of all Bob's foes
The wittiest far in verse and prose ;
How he lead de puppies by de nose !"
To the right, Sandys, dropping in astonishment his favourite
Place Bill (which had been so often thrown out of the House),
cries out " I thought what would come of putting him on the
box!"
" Who's he dat lift up both his handes ?
Oh ! that's his wisdom, Squire S s !
Oh ! de Place Bill drop ! oh ! de army standes !"
The prelate, who bows so obsequiously as they pass, is Small-
brook, Bishop of Lichfield.
" What parson's he dat bow so civil ?
Oh 1 dat's de bishop who split de devil,
And made a devil and a half, and half a devil !''
Several editions of " The Motion " were published, and one, in
the collection of Mr. Burke, is fitted for a fan. Another, very
neatly drawn and etched on a folio plate, and dated February
ipth, contains great variations, and wants much of the pointed
meaning of the genuine print. They here appear to be driving
into a river ; Pulteney and Sandys are omitted ; two prelates
hold on by the straps behind the coach, which seems in no
imminent danger of falling ; yet Carteret cries out to his driver,
u John, if you drive so fast, you'll overset us all, by G d!"
Horace Walpole, who received a copy of " The Motion '.' at
Florence, writes to his friend Conway, " I have received a print
by this post that diverts me extremely ' The Motion.' Tell
me, dear, now, who made the design, and who took the likenesses ;
they are admirable ; the lines are as good as one sees on such
occasions."
130 THE REASON AND MOTIVE.
On the and of March the " Patriots " retaliated with a carica-
ture entitled " The Eeason," in which we have another carriage,
with the portly form of Sir Robert Walpole as coachman :
" Who be dat de box do sit on t
Dat's de driver of G B ,
Whom all de Patriots do spit on."
The verses, as it will be seen by this specimen, are a parody
on those attached to " The Motion," to which it is inferior in
point and spirit. On one side of the foppish and effeminate
Lord Hervey, so well known by
Pope's satirical title of " Lord
Fanny," who had distinguished
himself on the ministerial side
in the debate in the House of
Lords, is represented as riding
on a wooden horse, drawn by
two individuals, one of whom
says, encouragingly, " Sit fast,
Fanny, we are sure to win."
The verses referring to this
figure, are
LOBD RANNT.
*' Dat painted butterfly so prim-a,
On wooden Pegasus so trim-a,
Is something nothing 'tis a whim-a."
Lord Hervey was in the habit of painting his face to conceal
the ghastly paleness of his countenance. Another copy of this
caricature, with some variations, was published so quickly after
the original, that, in the advertisement of the latter in the
London Daily Post of March 3rd (the day after the date en-
graved on the plate), the public are desired to beware of a
" piratical print " under the same title.
Another rather elaborate caricature was published about the
same time under the title of " The Motive ; or, Keason for his
Honour's Triumph ;" directed, like the last, against the minis-
try, and with similar verses at the foot. Walpole, in the same
character of coachman, drives the carriage inscribed as the
" Commonwealth," with the King within it, and, with the Duke
of Marlborough as his second, goads on Merchandize, the Sink-
ing-fund, and Husbandry as his horses. A number of different
groups bear allusion to the various methods by which the bribery
and corruption with which Walpole was charged influenced his
supporters.
THE GROUNDS. 131
On March the 6th was advertised a caricature entitled " A
Consequence of the Motion." The Daily Post announces the
publication, on Saturday the 7th of March, of another carica-
ture against the opposition, under the title of " The Political
Libertines ; or, Motion upon Motion." In this print the coach
is again broken down in front of the Exchequer, and most of
the characters are reproduced who had figured in the former
print of " The Motion," in very similar positions. Lord Lyttel-
ton is as before riding on " poor Rosinante ;" Chesterfield is again
postilion ; Pulteney disapproves of the driver ; and Sandys, with
the Pension Bill hanging from his pocket, shrugs his shoulders
and exclaims, " Z ns ! it's all over ! "
"Grave Sam [Samuel Sandys] was set to put the motion,
For his honour's high promotion,
But the House disliked the notion."
Bishop Smallbrook also makes his appearance again, accom-
panied by a hog, which grunts fiends from its mouth ; while the
churchman says, " I can pray, but not fast ! "
" Next the prelate comes in fashion,
Who of swine has robb'd the nation,
Though against all approbation. "
There are in- the same print many other allusions to the minor
subjects of political agitation of the day. An advertisement in
the same number of the Daily Post (the yth of March) states
that " on Monday next will be published (to supply the defects
of ' The Keason' and The Motive') ' The Grounds ;' a print
setting forth the true reasons of the motion, in opposition to a
print called ' The Motion.' " In the same paper of the loth of
March, " The Grounds" is advertised for sale. This caricature,
which is rather gross, was intended to expose the various ways
in which the minister extorted money from the country, and ex-
pended it in bolstering up his own power in office. He is repre-
sented, under the title of Volpone the Projector, cutting up an
infant, intended to represent the Sinking Fund, on a machine
which is called the money-press. It is drawn by a pack of his
supporters, yoked and harnessed ; and, in its way, manufactures,
trade, honesty, and liberty are crushed under the wheels. Be-
hind it, the Gazetteer and Freeman's Journal, with others of the
minister's paid organs of the press, are beating for recruits. In
the foreground " Bribery and Corruption," personified by a fair
and gaily dressed lady, is distributing bishoprics and law appoint-
ments to orelates and judges, who likewise have yokes round their
necks ; one of the former exclaims " Thy yoke is easy, and thy
132 THE FUNERAL OF FACTION.
burden light;" while a judge says, with equal eagerness, " Tour
will to us shall be a law !" Behind the prelates are a crowd of
yoked excisemen, longing for a general excise ; and on the other
side the officers of the army standing in a similar predicament.
In the distance are Torbay with the English fleet, and the har-
bours of Brest and Ferrol with the fleet of France : Walpole is
emitting two winds, one of which hinders the English fleet from
leaving its station in Torbay, while the other blows the French
fleet on its way to the West Indies. Contrary winds had
delayed Admiral Ogle's departure from Torbay to reinforce
Vernon at this critical moment, which the opposition unjustly
attributed to Walpole's mismanagement.
" De Register Bill he take lately in hand,
Dat de forces by sea, as well as by land,
Might be slaves to his will and despotic command.
Fifteen years he withold dem from curbing deir foes,
AVho plunder and search dem ; den, to add to deir woes,
In place of redress would de convention impose.
Brave Vernon resolve deir proud enemies' ruin ;
But, instead of sending any forces to him,
Both de French and Spanish fleets were let loose to undo him."
This famous " motion" was the subject of several other cari-
catures besides those mentioned above. One, entitled " The
Funeral of Faction," was a satire on the opposition, and had
beneath it the inscription " Funerals performed by Squire
S s" [Sandys]. Two or three are too gross to bear a descrip-
tion. The exultation of the ministerial party was shown also in
a few ballads, and in pamphlets in prose and verse. The old
comparison of Sisyphus, who toiled everlastingly without ap-
proaching any nearer to the object of his labour, was again
applied to the Patriots.
But this comparison was no longer true, for the days of Wai-
pole's reign were already numbered. Age was creeping upon the
veteran statesman ; and that energy, with which for so many
years he had discovered and defeated the intrigues of his enemies,
seemed to be forsaking him. The Court party rated too high
the triumph they had just obtained over the opposition, and lost
themselves by their self-confidence. On the i3th of March the
news of the taking of Porto Bello by Vernon came to raise up the
spirits of his party. The admiral was selected at the same time
for several towns in the general elections in May, which were
carried on with great violence, and in which it was evident that
the so-called " country interest" was gaining ground. The
utmost influence of the Prince of Wales, the heir-apparent, was
THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY. 133
exerted on this occasion. A print in compartments, entitled
" The Humours of a Country Election," advertised in the news-
papers of the 6th of May, 1 741, represents the general demeanour
of the candidates for popular favour, and is thus described in the
"explanation" beneath: "The candidates welcomed into the
town by music and electors on horseback, attended by a mob of
men, women, and children. The candidates saluting the women,
and amongst them a poor cobbler's wife, very big with child, to
whom they very courteously offer to stand godfather. The
candidates very complaisant to a country clown, and offering
presents to the wife and children. The candidates making an
entertainment for the electors and their wives, to whom they
show great respect. At the upper end of the table, the parson
of the parish sitting, his clerk standing by him. The members
elect carried in procession on chairs upon men's shoulders, with
music playing before them, and attended by a mob of men,
women, and children huzzaing them."* It will be seen that a
great change had taken place since, under George I., complaints
were first heard of the indecency of candidates soliciting the
votes of the electors. The election at Westminster in 1741, at
which Admiral Vernon was an unsuccessful candidate, being de-
feated by a large majority, presented a scene of tumultuous riot,
and was the subject of a parliamentary investigation, carried on
with much warmth, at the opening of the ensuing session. It
also was the subject of caricature.
While faction was thus active at home, the affairs of the Con-
tinent were becoming every day more confused and complicated.
The French diplomatists, since the breaking out of the war
between England and Spain, had been actively employed, and
with some success, in forming an European confederacy against
the former power, when new fuel was thrown into the flames by
the death of the Emperor Charles VI., on the 2oth of October,
1 740. By the Pragmatic Sanction, guaranteed by all the great
powers of Europe, the emperor was to be succeeded in all his
hereditary states by his daughter Maria Theresa, who was usually
spoken of in England by the title of Queen of Hungary. At
first, the Elector of Bavaria, who laid claim to a large portion of
the Austrian inheritance, alone opposed her succession, on the
pretence that the female line could not legally inherit. Next,
the King of Prussia revived some old claims to Silesia, and
* It appears, by the advertisements in the newspapers, that this carica-
ture was published separately, and also stitched up with a pamphlet upon
the elections. 1 have not been able to meet with the pamphlet, but a copy
of the caricature is in the collection of Mr. Burke.
134 THE BALANCING CAPTAIN.
invaded it with a powerful army. The King of France was
anxious to obtain a share in the spoils ; and, eventually, England
was the only power which fulfilled its engagements towards the
unfortunate queen, who, however, defended herself against the
formidable confederacy with courage and resolution. In England
the cause of Maria Theresa was very popular ; and when her
claims were brought before the Parliament early in April, 1741,
a subsidy of 300,000? was readily granted for her ; King George
went over to Hanover, and assembled an army upon the Prussian
frontier ; and Russia was also induced to support the injured
queen. But, in spite of this assistance, the Prussian army met
with an almost uninterrupted success, and Maria Theresa was
forced to throw herself entirely upon the devotion of her Hun-
garian subjects. France, anxious now not only to share in the
spoils, but to effect the grand dream of the politics of Louis XIV.,
the entire destruction of the house of Austria, declared herself
more openly, and French armies were poured into Germany.
The King of England, suddenly overcome with fear for his
Hanoverian dominions, concluded a neutrality for one year, and
returned to England without having done anything for his ally.
The French and Bavarians thereupon threw themselves into
Austria, and penetrating into Bohemia, captured Prague before
it could be relieved ; and there the Elector of Bavaria caused
himself to be crowned King of Bohemia. Immediately after-
wards, a diet assembled hurriedly at Frankfort elected him em-
peror as Charles VII. He was crowned in the February of 1742,
when the cause of the Queen of Hungary seemed almost
hopeless.
When the neutrality which George had accepted for Hanover
became known in England, it raised the greatest excitement,
and promised to give as strong a hold to the opposition as the
convention, or even as the excise scheme. Numbers of pam-
phlets and ballads placed before the public the wrongs and
misfortunes of the persecuted queen ; and the English king was
no more spared on this occasion than his ministers. In one
ballad he was attacked under the title of the " Balancing Cap-
tain,"* who yearly, under one pretence or another, took to
Hanover (which had become a sort of bug-bear in English-
men's ears) all the money he could raise among his English
subjects.
"I'll tell you a story as strange as 'tis new,
Which all who're concern'd will allow to be true,
* King George II., on account of his attachment to the army, was com
inouly designated by the Jacobites as "the Captain."
THE GIPSY. 135
Of a Balancing Captain, well known hereabouts,
Returned home (God save him !) a mere king of clouts !
This captain he takes in a gold-ba.lla&ted ship,
Each summer to terra damnosa a trip,
For which be begs, borrows, scrapes all he can get,
And runs his poor owners most vilely in debt.
The last time he set out for this blessed place,
He met them, and told them a most piteous case,
Of a sister of his, who, though bred up at court,
Was ready to perish for want of support.
This Hun-gry sister, he then did pretend,
Would be to his owners a notable friend,
If they would at that critical juncture supply her.
They did but, alas ! all the fat's in the fire !"
In the sequel of the ballad, which is a remarkable example of
the seditious violence that characterized many of these produc-
tions, we are told that the Captain, having fingered the money,
immediately made a peace with his sister's enemies, and left her
to her fate :
" He then turns his sister adrift, and declares
Her most mortal foes were her father's right heirs.
' G d z ds ! ' cries the world, ' such a step was ne'er taken 1'
'Ob, ho !' says Noll Bluff, 'I have saved my own bacon
" ' Let France damn the Germans, and undam the Dutch,
And Spain on Old England pish ever so much ;
Let Russia bang Sweden, or Sweden bang that,
I care not, by Robert 1 one kick of my hat I
******
" ' Or should my chous'd owners begin to look sour,
I'll trust to male Bob to exert his old power,
Regit animot dictis, or nummis, with ease,
So, spite of your growling, I'll act as I please !' "
The conduct of the Captain is represented as calculated to
bring ruin on his owners, unless they look more closely into his
proceedings :
"This secret, however, must out on the day
When he meets his poor owners to ask for his pay ;
And I fear, when they come to adjust the account,
A zero for balance will prove their amount."
The caricatures on the affairs of the Queen of Hungary were
very numerous, both on the Continent and in England ; but the
majority of the foreign ones appear to have been against her,
while the English caricatures were all in her favour. In one,
the background of which shews Prague bombarded, the Queen
is represented as a ragged gipsy (a pun upon the French word
136 THE CARDINAL TURNED' PHYSICIAN.
BoTie.mienne) kneeling before
the King of France, to whom
phe offers her jewels, with
the prayer, "Sire, ayez pitie
d'une pauvre BoTiemienne /"
The King, who thinks them
worthy of the acceptance of
his favourite mistress, replies
disdainfully, " Portez les a
Pompadour." In another
print, entitled "The Slough,"
of which there appeared seve-
ral copies with slight varia-
tions, the Queen of Hungary-
is driven in a coach, with the
King of France as coachman, Count Bruhl riding as postilion,
and the new King of Poland holding on behind as lackey. They
are running head foremost into a slough. The King of Prussia,
who stands near in the character of a sentinel, asks, " Where
are you going, Madame ?" The Queen, in evident consterna-
tion, replies, "Ask my driver." In a third caricature, entitled
" The Negotiators," the various powers who had interfered are
represented as conspiring to ruin the Queen for their own ag-
grandizement. In another, entitled " The Consultation of
Physicians ; or, the Case of the Queen of Hungary," published
A HOTAL GtPST.
THE CUNNING PHYSICIAN.
in February, 1742, the French minister, Cardinal Fleury, in tlie
character of a cunning physician, after having administered a
strong dose of emetic, which is evidently producing its effects,
is proceeding to bleed her with his pen A print, entitled
" French Pacification ; or, the Queen of Hungary stript," pub-
lished also in the beginning of February, 1742, seems to have
DECLINE OF WALPOL&S POWEI2. 137
had an especial popularity ; and a number of imitations ap-
peared, some under the simple title of " The Queen of Hungary
stripped." The Queen is here represented in a state of com-
plete nudity, while the different continental powers are carrying
off portions of her garments, bearing the names of the different
provinces of her empire. Cardinal Fleury, more pitiless than
any, is in the act of depriving her even of the slight covering
afforded by her own hand. The treacherous conduct of France
is severely pointed at in these caricatures, some of which are
not quite delicate. In one print, of a rather later date, while
England is courteously attempting to assist the Queen over a
stile or gate, France takes the moment of defenceless exposure
to proceed to unwarrantable liberties. In another, entitled,
" The Parcae ; or, the European Fates," the intriguing cardinal
CARDINAL "LACHESIS."
is represented under the character of Lachesis, spinning the
web of European politics, on a wheel which bears the title of
" Universal Monarchy ;" while King George, as Atropos, is cut-
ting the thread.
It was in the midst of this hurly-burly abroad, that Walpole's
power was at length broken. The minister had lost much
strength in the elections of 1741, chiefly in Scotland and Cora-
wall ; and in one way or other the opposition had succeeded in
making him unpopular. Long before the session of Parliament
was opened, the opposition papers spoke with more than ordi-
KINO "ATBOPOS."
138 A MINISTERIAL MINORITY.
nary confidence of success, and they
became proportionally violent in their
personal attacks. The mob was encou-
raged, as they had been at the com-
mencement of the reign of George I., to
shew themselves on every favourable
occasion. On the i2th of November
Horace Walpole writes, " It is Admiral
Vernon's birthday, and the city shops
are full of favours, the streets of mar-
row-bones and cleavers, and the night
will be full of mobbing, bonfires, and
lights ;" and he adds in a subsequent
letter, " I believe I told you that Ver-
non's birthday passed quietly, but it was
not designed to be pacific ; for at twelve
at night, eight gentlemen, dressed like
sailors, and masked, went round Covent
Garden with a drum, beating up for a
volunteer mob ; but it did not take, and
they retired to a great supper that was
prepared for them at the Bedford Head, and ordered by White-
head, the author of ' Manners.' " Walpole seems to have been
himself full of apprehension, for his son, who returned from his
travels just in time to witness his father's defeat, writes of him
on the i pth of October, that he who in former times " was asleep
as soon as his head touched the pillow, (for I have frequently
known him snore ere they had drawn his curtains), now never
sleeps above an hour without waking; and he, who at dinner
always forgot he was minister, and was more gay and thought-
less than all the company, now sits without speaking *and with
his eyes fixed for an hour together. Judge if this is the Sir
Robert you knew."
The Parliament was opened on the 4th of December. On the
i6th, on the election of a chairman of committees, by the deser-
tion of some of his supporters and the absence of others, Wal-
pole was in a minority of four. A day or two after he had only
a majority of seven on an election petition ; and on another elec-
tion petition he was again in a minority. The minister seemed
to cling to power more than ever, now that he was on the point
of losing it ; and, instead of taking the advice of his intimate
friends, who urged him to resign, he made an unsuccessful at-
tempt to gain over the Prince of Wales, and then resolved to
make another effort to carry on in the House. On the 2ist of
WALPOLE' S RESIGNATION. 139
January, after the Christmas holidays, Pulteney brought for-
ward a motion with the same object as that of Sandys, which
had been so triumphantly defeated not quite a year before.
Walpole defended himself with as much vigour and eloquence as
ever ; but the motion was rejected only by a majority of three.
On the 28th of January, again, on an election petition, he was
defeated by a majority of one. Walpole now made up his mind
to resign, and the next day announced his intention to the King.
On a division upon the same petition on the 2nd of February,
the opposition majority had increased to sixteen. On the 3rd
the Houses were adjourned, at the King's request, for a fort-
night; on the pth Sir Robert Walpole was created Earl of
Orford ; and on the nth he formally resigned all his places.
The intelligence of Walpole's resignation was received in some
towns in the country with ringing of bells and other demonstra-
tions of joy ; and there were mobs and bonfires in London ; but,
according to Horace Walpole, this feeling was much less general
than might have been anticipated. The more violent of the
opposition newspapers, however, teemed with ungenerous insults
on the fallen minister : they held out threats of inquiry into his
conduct, and talked of hunting him to the scaffold ; and they
advised him to follow the example of Bolingbroke, in flying
from his country. Walpole was almost the only commoner
who had ever been admitted to the order of the Garter, and his
blue ribbon was an especial object of envious attack. The
Champion of February 16, 1742 (a more scurrilous paper even
than the Craftsman), contains the following epigram, which may
be taken as a sample of effusions to which the ex-minister was
exposed daily :
" Sir [Robert], his merit or interest to shew,
Laid down the red ribbon * to take up the blue :
By two strings already the knight hath been ty'd,
But when twisted at [Tyburn], the third will decide."
The more violent of the opposition went so far as to get peti-
tions sent to the House, urging an impeachment ; and, in a
moment of triumph and excitement, it is difficult to foresee
what might have been the result of such a measure, had not the
King stood firm to his old friend, and made it to a certain
degree a condition of the accession of his enemies to power, that
they should screen him from persecution. The Craftsman and
the Champion continued to assail their old enemy with scurrilous
* Sir Robert was created knight of the newly-revived order of the Bath,
before he received that of the Garter.
140 THE MOB.
insults : the latter paper, on the 2.3rd of February, in double
allusion to his former influence among the monied and mercan-
tile interests, and his later unpopularity in the city of London,
published the following paragraph : " In regard to the good
understanding which has so long subsisted between his late
honor and the cify, it is hoped that that great man, in compli-
ment to his old friends, will pass through the principal streets
thereof at noon, in an open landau, on his way to his PALACE of
H n." And the same violent journal, on the i;th of
August, drags the veteran statesman from his retirement at
Houghton : " From the neighbourhood of H n palace.
We are informed that the annual NORFOLK CONGRESS is held
there as usual (though the Gazetteer has not been authorized
to set forth a list of the Powers of which it is composed) ; and
that, if i\\Q puffs still continued in pay are to be depended upon,
ways and means are already concerted to terminate the next
winter's campaign as successfully as the last."
When Walpole was created Earl of Orford, his daughter by
his second wife, but born before their marriage, was given
precedency as an Earl's daughter by a separate patent, a measure
which raised a great storm among the aristocracy of the oppo-
sition, and which excited odium even among the mob. An in-
sulting poem, stated to be written by a lady of " real quality,"
was printed in folio, and distributed abroad, under the title of
" Modern Quality ; an Epistle to Miss M W " [Maria
Walpole]. This clamour, joined with the disappointment of the
Tories and the young " Patriots," who were not allowed to share
in the spoils, obliged the Court to agree, at the beginning of
April, to the appointment of a secret committee to examine into
the conduct -of Walpole during the last ten years of his admin-
istration ; but the inquiry led to no results of any importance.
The populace, however, seem to have been indulged with the hope
of a new state tragedy. On the 8th of April, Horace Walpole
writes : " All this week the mob has been carrying about his
effigies in procession and to the Tower. The chiefs of the oppo-
sition have been so mean as to give these mobs money for bon-
fires, particularly the Earls of Lich field, Westmoreland, Den-
bigh, and Stanhope. The servants of these last got one of these
figures, chalked out a place for the heart, ami shot at it. You
will laugh at me, who, the other day, meeting one of these
mobs, drove up to it to see what was the matter. The first
thing I beheld was a mawking in a chair, with three footmen,
and a label on the breast, inscribed ' Lady Mary.' "
The disappointment of Walpole's persecutors, when they saw
THE SCREEN.
141
that there was no real intention of bringing him to what they
called justice, showed itself in newspaper paragraphs and ill-
natured caricatures. The old device of the screen was brought
up again, and was the subject of more than one print. In one
of these, entitled " The Night- Visit ; or, the Relapse ; with the
pranks of Bob Fox the Juggler, while steward to Lady Brit,
displayed on a screen," the ex-minister is represented in council
with the King at night. George, seated at a table, demands of
his old servant, " What is to be done ? " Walpole replies, " Mix
and divide them." Several other courtiers are introduced, con-
sulting on the change of af-
fairs, one of whom, who
overhears the conversation
just alluded to, remarks, " 'Tis
good advice !" Through the
window are seen a party of
men, who are not courtiers,
gazing on the heathens with
a telescope. One observes,
" It must be a comet !" The
other replies, " No, by Jove !
'tis Robin Goodfellow from
R chm d!" [Richmond]. I ,
A third exclaims, " I wish the Va
telescope was a gun!" The
screen, forming the back-
ground of the picture, repre-
sents all the evil deeds with which Walpole was charged, and
which are described at length in the " Explanation " printed at
the foot. The last compartment represents a distant view of
the gallows, with an axe, and a head elevated on a pole, the
doom of traitors. The devil, for (to judge by the caricatures)
all parties seem to have been convinced that Satan was busy
among them, peeps from behind the screen, and cries out exult-
ingly, " Hah ! I shall have business here again !" This caricature
is dated the 1 2th of April, 1 742.
On the 1 6th of November following, when the cry against
Walpole was still kept up, a caricature was published, entitled
"Bob, the Political Balance-Master." The fallen minister is
here decked in his coronet and seated at one end of a balance
held up by Britannia, who sits mourning over sleeping trade.
At the other end of the balance sits Justice, who is unable to
weigh down effectually the bulky peer, assisted as he is by
his bags of treasure; but, in spite of this help, his position
GOOD ADVICE.
THE POLITICAL BALANCE-MASTER.
is critical, and in his terror
he cries out to the Evil One,
who appears above, " Oh ! help
thy faithful servant Bob ! Sa-
tan gives him a look anything
but encouraging, and, holding
out an axe, replies to his invo-
cation, " This is thy due !"
It was thus that party-spirit
' forgot, as it had so often done,
the feelings of generosity and
justice, and sought vengeance
which could have no other
object than that of gratifying
personal hatred. Within no
great length of time from these
transactions, we shall find individuals, less powerfully defended,
made sacrifices to the same unworthy spirit.
THE BALANCE-MASTER IN DANGER.
143
CHAPTER V.
GEORGE II.
Ministerial Changes and Promotions Unpopularity of Lord Bath Battle
of Dettingen New Changes, and the " Broad Bottom" The Rebellion
of '45, and its Effects The City Trained Bands The Butcher The
Westminster Elections New Changes in the Ministry Congress and
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle The Hostages New Ministerial Quarrels
"Constitutional Queries " Death of the Prince of Wales.
IN one of his speeches during the struggles in the House of
Commons which preceded his fall, Walpole, analysing the
strength of the opposition, had divided it into three classes, the
Jacobites and Tories, the discontented Whigs, and the " Boys."
The chiefs of the Tories in the House of Commons were Sir
William Wyndham (now dead), " honest" Will. Shippen, and
Sir John Hynde Cotton. The discontented Whigs were led in
the Commons by Pulteney and Sandys, and in the Lords by
Carteret and Argyle. Among the Boy Patriots the young
men who were marching fast towards power were William Pitt,
George Grenville, Sir George Lyttelton, and Henry Fox. In
the moment of victory these discordant materials fell to pieces,
and those who had individually done most towards driving
Walpole's ministry out, the leaders of the old " Patriots,"
seemed now to think of nothing but providing for themselves.
Pulteney, Carteret, and Sandys first secured places for them-
selves, before they looked any farther; and then, intimidated
by the threatening looks of their old colleagues, they found
minor offices for a few of the others. The Duke of Newcastle,
(Walpole's jealous and treacherous colleague), his brother Mr.
Pelham and Sir William Youge were allowed to retain their
places. Lord Wilmington was the nominal head of the new
ministry ; Lord Carteret was appointed secretary of state, and,
by flattering the King's propensities, soon engrossed the royal
favour. Pulteney took no place himself, but before the end of
the session he followed Walpole into the other House, by the
title of Earl of Bath ; Sandys was made chancellor of the ex-
chequer, and the Earl of Winchelsea was made first lord of tho
admiralty. The King, who had made a cold reconciliation with
the Prince of Wales, acceded to these arrangements with an
T44 THE NEW MINISTRY.
unwilling consent, and acted by the advice of Walpole, whom
he consulted in secret. The position of the Monarch amid these
changes is well described in a ballad, which made a great noise,
published in the following October, and understood to have been
written by Lord Hervey, one of the old ministers who had lost
his place :
"O England, attend, while thy fate I deplore,
Rehearsing the schemes and the conduct of power ;
And since only of those who have power I sing,
I am sure none can think that I hint at the King.
" From the time his son made him old Robin depose,
All the power of a King he was well known to lose ;
But, of ail but the name and the badges bereft,
Like old women, his paraphernalia are left.
" To tell how he shook in St. James's for fear,
When first these new ministers bullied him there,
Makes my blood boil with rage, to think what a thing
They have made of a man we obey as a King."
In the midst of the royal embarrassments Carteret comes to
the Monarch's relief :
"At last Carteret arriving, spoke thus to his grief :
' If you'll make me your doctor, I'll bring you relief.
You see to your closet familiar I come,
And seem like my wife in the circle at home.'
"Quoth the King, 'My good lord, perhaps you've been told
That I used to abuse you a little of old ;
But now bring whom you will, and eke turn away,
Let but me and my money and Walmoden stay.'*
" * For you and Walmoden I freely consent,
But as to your money, I must have it spent ;
1 have promised your son (nay, no frowns) should have some,
Nor think 'tis for nothing we Patriots come.'"
Carteret then goes on to declare the changes he must have in
the ministry, who are to be turned out, and who to be kept in.
Among the latter, the only one of any consequence was the
Duke of Newcastle :
" ' Though Newcastle's as false as he's silly, I know,
By betraying old Robin to me long ago,
As well as all those who employ'd him before,
Yet I leave him in place, but I leave him no power.
" For granting his heart is as black as his hat,
With no more truth in this than there's sense beneath that ;
* The King's mistress, who had been created an English peeress under
the title of Countess of Yarmouth. George II. is in serious history, as well
as in popular satire, represented as of a very aviiricious disposition.
THE EAEL OF BATH. 145
Yet, as he's a coward, he'll shake when I frown
You call'd him a rascal, I'll use him like one.
" 'And since his estate at elections he'll spend,
And beggar himself without making a friend ;
So whilst the extravagant fool has a sous,
As his brains I can't fear, so his fortune I'll use.' "
Among the new men to be brought in, the most important is
Pulteney
" AH that weathercock Pulteney shall ask we must grant,
For to make him a great noble nothing I want ;
And to cheat such a man demands all my arts,
For though he's a fool, he's a fool witli great parts.
"And, as popular Clodius, the Pulteney of Rome,
From a noble, for power, did plebeian become,
So this Clodius to be a patrician shall choose,
Till what one got by changing, the other shall lose. "
The King is appeased by the flattery of his soldier-loving
propensities :
" ' For, your foreign affairs, bowe'er they turn out,
At least I'll take care you shall make a great rout :
Then cock your great hat, strut, bounce, and look bluff,
For, though kick'd and cuff'd here, you shall there kick and cuff.
" ' That Walpole did nothing they all used to say,
So I'll do enough, but I'll make the dogs pay ;
Great fleets I'll provide, and great armies engage,
Whate'er debts we make, or whate'er wars we wage.'
" With cordials like these, the Monarch's new guest
Reviv'd his sunk spirits and gladden' d his breast ;
Till in rapture he cried, ' My dear Lord, you shall do
Whatever you will, give me troops to review.' "
The new ministers were bitterly satirised in a caricature, en-
titled "The Promotion," and in a clever ballad by Sir Charles
Hanbury Williams, the great political balladist of the day, en-
titled, " A New Ode to a great Number of great Men, newly
made." The satire was most pointedly levelled at the new Lord
Bath, who, in a few months, was exposed to more ridicule than
his whole party had been able to heap upon Walpole during
twenty years. He was everywhere looked upon as having be-
trayed his party for the bribe of a coronet. Some said that he
had been lured into the snare by Walpole ; others believed that
he had been pushed into it by Carteret, who was jealous of his
popularity ; while many supposed that he had been urged into
it merely by the vanity and avarice of his wife, to whom they
gave the satirical title of " The Wife of Bath," and a ballad made
146 LORD ORFORD'S COACHMAN.
upon her under that title is said to have given the Earl great
annoyance.
It was the universal belief that Pulteney and his Patriot
friends had purchased their elevation by an agreement to shield
their predecessors, and to follow in their steps. A singular
accident happened in July, which was quickly seized upon as a
subject for a joke against the new ministers. "Last Sunday,"
Horace Walpole tells us in a letter of this period, " the Duke of
Newcastle gave the new ministers a dinner at Claremont, where
their servants got so drunk, that when they came to the inn
over against the gate of New Park [now .Richmond Park, of
which Lord Walpole was ranger], the coachman, who was the
only remaining fragment of their suite, tumbled off the box,
and there they were planted. There were Lord Bath, Lord
Carteret, Lord Limerick, and Harry Furnese in the coach.
They asked the innkeeper if he could contrive no way to convey
them to town ; ' No,' he said, ' not he ; unless it was to get
Lord Orford's coachman to drive them.' They demurred ; but
Lord Carteret said, ' Oh, I dare say Lord Orford will willingly
let us have him.' So they sent, and he drove them home."
Horace says in the sequel of the letter, " Lord Orford has been
at court again to-day : Lord Carteret came up to thank him for
his coachman, the Duke of Newcastle standing by. My father
said, ' My Lord, whenever the Duke is near overturning you,
you have nothing to do but to send to me, and I will save you.' "
The following ballad, attributed to Sir C. Hanbury Williams,
was published on the occasion. Lord Bath, as the ex-writer in
the Craftsman, retains his name of Caleb: the old coach and its
driver, in the caricature of " The Motion," is not forgotten ;
"THE OLD COACHMAN."
" Wise Caleb and Carteret, two birds of a feather,
Went down to a feast at Newcastle's together :
No matter what wines or what choice of good cheer,
Tis enough that the coachman had his dose of beer.
Derry down, down, hey derry down.
" Coming home, as the liquor work'd up in his pate,
The coachman drove on at a damnable rate.
Poor Carteret in terror, and scared all the while,
Cried, ' Stop ! let me out ! is the dog an Argyle f
Derry down, &c.
" But he soon was convinced of his error ; for, lo I
John stopt short in the dirt, and no further would go.
When Carteret saw this, he observed with a laugh,
' This coachman, I find, is your own, my Lord Bath.'
Derry down, &o.
THE NEPOTISM. 147
"Now the peers quit their coach in a pitiful plight,
Deep in mire, and in rain, and without any light ;
Not a path to pursue, nor to guide them a friend
What course shall they take then, and how will this end ?
Derry down, &c. .
" Lo ! Chance, the great mistress of human affairs,
Who governs in councils, and conquers in wars ;
Straight with grief at their case (for the goddess well knew
That these were her creatures and votaries too),
Derry down, &c.
"This Chance brought a passenger quick to their aid,
' Honest friend, can you drive ?' ' What should ail me !' he said.
' For many a bad season, through many a bad way,
Old Orford I've driven without stop or stay.
Deny down, &c.
** ' He was once overturn'd, I confess, but not hurt.*
Quoth the peers, ' It was we help'd him out of the dirt :
This boon to thy master, then, prithee requite,
Take us up, or here we must wander all night.'
Derry down, &c.
** He took them both up, and through thick and through thin,
Drove away for St. James's, and brought them safe in.
Learn hence, honest Britons, in spite of your pains,
That Orford, old coachman, still governs the reins.
Derry down, &c."
The Duke of Argyle had at first insisted upon forming a minis-
try upon what he termed a "broad bottom," in which all classes
of the old opposition were to have a place ; but this plan was
overthrown by the King's determined hatred of the Tories, who
therefore continued in the opposition. The young Patriots,
after several vain attempts to obtain places in the new ministry,
joined them, and were even more violent against Lord Bath,
who had fast sunk into what Lord Hervey termed a " noble
nothing," than the Tories themselves. This party of the oppo-
sition, from their leaders being chiefly nephews and cousins of
Lord Cobham, was sometimes designated as the " Nepotism."
In the session of 1743 they renewed their attacks upon the old
ministers, chiefly in the hope of embarrassing the new ones ; but
the latter not only had with them the main body of their party,
but they were supported by the adherents of Walpole, and they
carried their measures by large majorities, and often without
divisions. During 1743 and 1744 there was less political agita-
tion than the country had seen for many years ; the old worn-
out question of the Hanoverian troops and an act for the repeal
of the Gin Act alone made any noise. Lord Bath bore the at-
tacks of the press with far less equanimity than had been shown
L a
148 BATTLE OF DETTINGEN.
by Walpole, and complained bitterly of " scurrilous libels." To
him was commonly attributed a pamphlet, published early iu
1743, under the title of "Faction detected," in which the oppo-
sition and its organs were severely attacked, and which made
much noise for a short time, being roughly handled in some of
the opposition papers.
At the close of the session the King went to Hanover, with
his son the Duke of Cumberland and his now favourite minister
Lord Carteret, and joined the army of English and Hanoverians
under the Earl of Stair, which he had already ordered to cross
the Rhine to assist the Queen of Hungary. The affairs of this
Queen had, during the previous year, suddenly recovered from
their desperate posture, and the French and Bavarians were now
in their turn labouring under the reverses of war. England was
nominally at peace with France, and her soldiers were only
fighting under the banners of Austria. The Hanoverian army,
which King George, the Duke of Cumberland, and Lord Carteret
had just joined, was on its way to Hanau, when it was attacked
at Dettingen by the French under the Duke de Noailles, who
were signally defeated. A battle on land gained by English
troops was a new thing in England, for there had been no war
of any importance sinoe the days of Marlborough, and the whole
country resounded with exultation. Dettingen was in a mo-
ment the theme of every ambitious or popular scribbler, and
pamphlets in prose and verse, ballads and songs, and epigrams,
were showered upon the public. But amid this apparently uni-
versal joy were sown the seeds of political disagreement. The
English troops were without provisions, and in an ill condition
to fight ; and, though they did fight bravely, their loss had
been severe. They complained that they had not been properly
supported ; for the horse, which was chiefly Hanoverian, had not
behaved so well in the battle as the foot. The commander-in-
chief, Lord Stair, had strongly urged that the enemy should be
pursued ; but his opinion was overruled by that of the foreign
generals. A second remonstrance, after the troops had been re-
freshed, was equally unsuccessful ; and the Earl, with several
other officers, threw up their commissions in disgust, and re-
turned to England, where a great outcry was immediately raised.
On the 22nd of October was published a caricature, under the
title of " The Hanoverian Confectioner-General," in which the
French are represented as flying from the field hotly pursued by
the British. The former cry out " S'ils nous poursuivent, nous
sommes perdu !" The Earl of Stair, urging on the pursuit,
shouts, " Pursue 'em, lads ! and mow 'em awe !" The King, as
THE THREE JOHNS.
149
the Hanoverian horse, riding on
the starved British lion (a hard
hit, as the discontented party
had always said that England
was starved to fatten Hanover,)
cries out to the Hanoverian ca-
valry, " La victoire est gagnee,
ou vous etes vous fourres ?"
Their commander replies, "N'im-
porte, j'ai conserve nos gens ;"
while his soldiers exclaim, " We
will not be commanded by the
English. An Austrian comman-
der, who is equally urging the
pursuit, calls them "cowardly
mercenaries." A label from the
lion's mouth bears the words
" Starv'd on Bonpournicole."
The opposition, and many (
who were not actually in opposi-
tion, rejoiced in these divisions ;
they talked ironically of making THB BRITISH UON OCT OF ORDKR -
Carteret commander-in-chief (he is said to have remained in his
carriage in the neighbourhood of the battle all the day, without
showing any fear, and he wrote a vaunting despatch) ; and jokes
passed about on the trio of successive Johns John Duke of
Argyle, who had refused the place because he was not allowed
to bring any Tories into the ministry, John Earl of Stair, and
John Lord Carteret. The following lines "on the Johns" ap-
peared in some of the papers :
" John Duke of Argyle
We admired for a while,
Whose titles fell short of his merit.
His loss to repair,
We took John Earl of Stair,
Who like him had both virtue and merit.
"Now he too is gone ;
Ah ! what's to be done !
Such losses how can we supply !
But let's not repine ;
On the banks of the Rhine
There's a third John his fortune will try.
" By the Patriots' vagary
He w: 8 m de S ; [secretary]
By himself he's P M [prime minister] made ;
1 50 THE TRIUMVIRATE.
And now, to crown all,
He's made G 1, [general]
Though he ne'er was brought up to the trade.
At the same time the death of Lord "Wilmington, who had
presided at the Treasury board, gave rise to new changes in the
ministry, in which Lord Orford's secret influence soon overthrew
the schemes of Carteret and Lord Bath. Pelham, who had held
the office of Paymaster of the forces, became first Lord of the
Treasury, and was allowed to bring into inferior places his
friends Henry Fox and Lord Middlesex. Lord Gower resigned
the Privy Seal, which was given to Lord Cholmondeley. Pelham
also obtained the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, which
was taken from Sandys, who was appeased with a place in the
household and a peerage. The following verses on "the Trium-
virate" in the London Magazine for January, 1744, (the maga-
zine which had been set up in opposition to the Gentleman's
JUagazine, and which had been from the first the monthly advo-
cate of the country party,) show the public estimation in which
Carteret, Sandys, and Pulteney (Lord Bath) stood at that
time :
"John, Sam, and Will combined of late
To form a new triumvirate ;
To share authority and money,
Like Caesar, Lepidus, and Toney.
But mark what followed from this union :
John left his countrymen's communion,
And, though in office he appear'd,
Was neither honour'd, lov'd, or fear'd.
Sam in the sunshine buzz'd a little ;
1 hen sank in power, and rose in title.
Will with a title out would set,
But place or power ne'er could get.
So Will and Sam obscure remain'd,
And John with general odium reign "d."
Towards autumn it became publicly known that serious dis-
sensions existed in the Cabinet between Carteret, who had now
by his mother's death become Earl Granville, and the Pelhams ;
and, in the sequel, the Duke of Newcastle and his brother com-
pelled the King to dismiss Granville, who had lost his political
influence, on the 23rd of November. Lord Winchelsea, General
Cavendish, and the other Lords of the Admiralty, with some
other inferibr placemen, also resigned. The Pelhams now
effected their long- projected plan of a " broad-bottomed" cabinet.
Lord Harrington succeeded to the place of Lord Granville ; the
Jacobite Sir John Hynde Cotton was made Treasurer of the
Chamber in the royal household; the Tory Lord Gower was
ADMIRALTY APPOINTMENTS. 151
made Privy Seal ; Lyttelton obtained a seat at the Treasury
board ; Bub Dodington was appointed Treasurer' of the Navy ;
Pitt joined in supporting the Government, on the promise of
being made Secretary at War as soon as the King's personal an-
tipathy could be overcorile ; and Lord Chesterfield, who was also
personally disliked by the King, was made Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland ; the Duke of Bedford was made first Lord of the Admi-
ralty, with the Earl of Sandwich as second Commissioner ; and
Mr. Grenville was made one of the junior Lords of the same
board. The arrangement of the Admiralty seems to have
given most difficulty from the number of applicants ; and it
formed the subject of a caricature, entitled " Next Sculls at the
Admiralty," published on the 2jth of December, 1744, which
contains a number of figures, all evidently intended for portraits.
In the back is a view of the
Admiralty, with Winchelsea,
Cavendish, and their col-
leagues " going out." Win-
chelsea, with his character-
istic spectacles, advances
forwards, gravely observing,
"We shall see," (apparently
intended as a pun upon his
name ;) while Cavendish,
with his hand raised to his
mouth in the attitude of
bidding adieu, and exclaim-
ing "I must eat," turns off
to one side. One of the
groups in front, of those who
are " coming in," or wanting
to come in, represents to the
left the Duke of Bedford in GOING OUT.
a stooping posture, exclaiming " Bed for 't." In the middle the
tall upright figure of Anson, who had in the course of the year
arrived from his circumnavigation of the world, says, " Round
the world and not in."* Before him, an older man resting on a
staff, but not so easily identified, cries out " Next scull !" In
this " broad-bottomed" coalition every party, except the small
number of adherents of Carteret and Lord Bath, had a represen-
tative ; and the consequence was, that, during the ensuing ses-
* Anson had a rough unpolished manner, and it was said jokingly of him,
that he had been all round the world, but not in it. He Lad amassed great
wealth by his voyage.
i5 POPULAR DISSATISFACTION.
gion, there was scarcely a division. Lord Orford, who had been
called to town by the King to give him his advice in his minis-
COMINQ IN.
terial embarrassments, returned to Houghton, and died there on
the i8th of March, 1745.
This " broad-bottomed" ministry had, however, very little
substantial unanimity in itself ; the chief tie by which its mem-
bers were linked together seems to have been the mere love of
place, to which they had sacrificed the principles that many of
them had been supporting boisterously for so many years ; and,
f there was not much opposition in the House, there was abun-
dance of dissatisfaction without. During the formation of this
ministry, Horace Walpole represents the aspirants to place as
standing like servants at a country fair to be hired ; and he
adds, '' One has heard of the corruption of courtiers ; but, believe
me, the impudent prostitution of patriots, going to market with
their honesty, beats it to nothing. Do but think of two hundred
men, of the most consummate virtue, setting themselves to sale
for three weeks !" Within a few days after the publication of
the caricature mentioned above, on the ijjth of January, ap-
peared a "New Ballad," entitled the " Place-book ; or, the Year
1745," which was soon followed by a bitter lampoon on the
people in power, under the title of "The Triumvirate ; or, broad-
bottomry." Several other caricatures, among which we may
particularize one, entitled "The Claims of the Broad-bottoms,"
exhibit the venality complained of by Horace Walpole. The
ministry soon became distracted by internal jealousies and dis-
REBELLION OF '45. 153
sensions ; and these, with the disappointments of the old Tories,
again raised the spirit of Jacohitism, which had been so long
kept under by the policy of Sir Robert Walpole. The partizans
of the exiled family abroad were further encouraged by the
battle of Fontenoy, which, though not inglorious to the British,
arms, was a defeat, and was exaggerated beyond measure in
France, Spain, and Italy.
In the summer of 1745 the minstrel of the north began again
to chant aloud his hatred to King George and the Whigs, and
his wishes for the return of the Stuarts. The arrival of Prince
Charles Edward, the young Pretender, on the coast of the high-
lands of Scotland, in the latter days of July, was the signal for
the rising of the clans, and he soon found himself at the head of
an army, the more formidable, because the authorities in Scot-
land were taken by surprise, and not only that country but
England itself were in no posture of defence. Having passed the
small English army under Sir John Cope, the Pretender entered
Perth in triumph on the 4th of September ; and in the middle
of the same month, still leaving Cope behind him, he obtained
possession of Edinburgh. On the 2ist Cope was defeated in the
brief but celebrated battle, known as that of Preston Pans, from
whence, with a small portion of his army, he fled to Berwick, and
Scotland was left almost in the power of the rebels. After re-
maining some time in Edinburgh, the castle of which was still
in the hands of the English garrison, the Pretender began his
March on the ist of November, with an army considerably rein-
forced by new supplies of Highlanders, towards the English
borders, and, crossing the Tweed at Kelso, moved directly into
Cumberland ; and the Scots made themselves masters of Carlisle
on the 1 5th, and, proceeding into Lancashire, they reached Preston
on the 27th and Wigan on the 28th, and the same day an
advanced party entered Manchester. By this time, however,
the royal troops were in motion, numerous volunteers were armed
in most of the southern and eastern counties, and Dutch and
English troops, under the Duke of Cumberland, had been hastily
brought over from the Continent ; so that by the time the rebels
had reached Derby, they became aware of the perils with which
they were surrounded, and began a rapid retreat, closely pursued,
towards Scotland. Prince Charles re-crossed the border on the
aoth of December, and his army was collected together at
Glasgow by the end of the year. On the i^th of January the
English troops in Scotland met with as signal a defeat on Fal-
kirk Moor as they had previously experienced at Preston Pans;
but better troops and more experienced commanders were rapidly
154 CARICATURES AGAINST THE PRETENDER.
approaching the scene of action, and the hopes of the Jacobites
in Scotland were destined to have a speedy and fatal con-
clusion.
In England the contradictory and vague information daily
spread abroad caused the greatest consternation, ill concealed
even to us by the contemptuous manner in which the press
generally treated the rebellion. The citizens of London showed
their fears rather than their courage by their anxious precautions ;
and their alarm was so great on the day when intelligence was
brought of the advance of the rebels to Derby, and of their con-
sequent position between the Duke of Cumberland's army and
the metropolis, as to cause it to be long remembered as the
"Black Friday." A rush was made upon the Bank, the fatal
effects of which it is said to have escaped only by the expedient
of refusing to pay in any other coin than sixpences, which
enabled the directors to gain time until the panic was over.
The songs of exultation and scorn which resounded in Scotland
were, however, replied to by satirical caricatures and loyal songs,
of which there was no want in the south. In one of the former
the British lion is represented as the true support of King
George and the Protestant succession against the designs of the
French King. The Pretender addresses
the King of France, the Pope, and the
devil, who were looked upon popularly
as the grand encouragers of this enter-
prize, " We shall never be a match for
George, while that lion stands by him."
The popularity of the Pretender was
not assisted in England by the belief that
he was bringing with him the religious
principles of Rome and the political
principles of France. The feeling on
this subject is strongly exhibited in a
caricature, entitled "The Invasion; or,
Perkin's triumph," in which the Pre-
tender is represented triumphantly dri-
ving in the royal stage-coach, drawn by
six horses, which are named Superstition,
Passive Obedience, Rebellion, Hereditary
THE PROTESTANT CHAMPION. llight> Arbitrary Power, and Non-Re-
sistance, and riding over Liberty and all the public funds.
The Pope acts as postilion, and the King of France as coachman ;
two monkeys and the devil perform the office of footmen, and
various disastrous consequences of the success of the rebellion are
represented in different parts of the picture. A group of Scot-
CARICATURES AGAINST THE PRETENDER. 155
tish soldiers follow a standard, on which are figured a pair of
wooden shoes and the motto "Slavery." St. James's palace
occupies the background, with Westminster Abbey on one side,
and on the other Smithfield and a martyr at the stake. This
print was from the pencil and graver of C. Mosley.
Another print is entitled "Britons' Association against the
Pope's Bulls," and was published on the 2ist of October, 1745.
The river Tweed divides the picture
in two. On one side the Pretender
is trying to force over the river an
importation of bulls, from the
mouths and nostrils of which issue
lightning mixed with decretals,
" massacres," " rods and whips,"
" everlasting curses," the " fire of
purgatory," &c. The Pretender,
with the exclamation " Now or
never!" holds by the horns, and
drags towards the river, a bull
laden with indulgences, penances,
confessions, absolutions, holy water,
and a whole cargo of such Popish
furniture. In the distance, Edin-
burgh Castle appears, well manned
with loyal troops, and beneath it a AN POBTATION.
group of Highlanders following their standard with some
reluctance, their different opinions showing the want of una-
nimity in the directors of the rebellion. One says "I'll go
home !" while his companion cries " To Newcastle !" and the
recommendation of a third to " Cross the Tweed" is backed by
the words " Good plunder !" uttered by another. The devil,
booted and spurred, and mounted on a broomstick, approaches
this group, and accuses them of treason, adding, " I'll tell
France, Spain, and the Pope." The other side of the picture
represents a troop of volunteers, issuing from a city gate,
(perhaps intended to represent London,) and preparing to hin-
der the Pretender from invading their land. They are led by a
man armed with a spear and equipped as a commander, who
proclaims, somewhat ostentatiously, " I am your independent
officer!" One, who does not seem very eager in advancing,
cries, "King and country! Shop and family!" A drummer
says, " I wont go out of the parish !" His next companion,
with more valour, exclaims, " O God, I'd go five miles to fight !"
while another moves on rather doggedly, with an exclamation
of regret, " I wish they'd go to dinner !" This portion of the
BEITANNIA LEARNING TO DANCE.
print appears intended to convey no very
flattering picture of the courage and zeal
which are supposed to have characterized
the volunteer defenders of their country
in this pressing emergency. In the dis-
tance we have a view of the ocean covered
with British shipping, and Britannia
seated on an islet and encouraged by
Neptune. This print, which is tolerably
well executed, and is a fair example of the
style of caricatures of this period, is ac-
companied by the following verses, more
remarkable for reason than rhyme:
" I Perkin, young and bold,
My father me has sent here ;
He is himself too old,
And tim'rous, too, to venture.
"His spirit sad '15
To break did much contribute,
When many friends were seen
To grace the fatal gibbet.
" He open'd then his coffers,
And shew'd 'era what rewards
To those he freely offers,
Who seize the king and guards.
" Pack up your awls, and post,
And homewards wisely run ;
Or in a month at most,
By GEORGE, you'll be undone t "
AN INDEPENDENT OFFICER.
BRITANNIA DANCING TO A NEW TUNE.
THE PLAGUES OF ENGLAND. 157
Another caricature published at this period was entitled " The
Plagues of England ; or, the Jacobites' Folly," and was aimed
especially at the conduct of our French allies on this occasion.
The Pope, the devil, and the Pretender are here raised up as
idols, and worshipped by Jacobite devotees. The King of France
acts as fiddler, while Britannia is seen
dancing to a French tune, led by Folly,
who is carrying Poverty on his back.
Behind them, Industry lies " neglected"
and almost famished. A satirical me-
dal, in the collection of Mr. W. D.
Haggard, represents on the reverse the
same personages as those which the
caricatures figure as the prime movers
of the rebellion (the Pope, the devil,
and their associates), here overcome by BEBELLION DEFEATED.
the force of truth. The obverse exhibits a bust of the King
in armour, with the inscription " GEOEGIUS II. D. G. REX."
A caricature, which had been published in the March of this
year, when the Jacobite rising was already foreseen, but it was
at least wished to be believed that the grand conciliation of
" broad-bottomry " would be a sufficient defence against it, re-
presented the King on his throne, attended by his two sons, the
Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Cumberland. On each side,
the Lords and Commons are offering their swords and fortunes
for the defence of the crown. In the foreground, a party of
Jacobite conspirators are unmasking themselves and taking to
fight. One cries, " All's lost !" another, " Detected !" a third,
"D n their unanimity!" and so on. On the walls of the
apartment are two pictures, one representing English bull-dogs
fighting among themselves ; while, in the other, they are united
in attacking a bull, distinguished as " the Pope's bull ;" the in-
scription which runs under the two paintings is, " English bull-
dogs, united against the enemy." This print, entitled " Court
and Country united against the Popish Invasion," is dated the
6th of March, 1744 (i.e. 1744-5).
This unanimity, however specious in appearance, was but an
imaginary one, and we shall soon find the pretended patriotism
of ministers and placemen giving way to their personal interests
and jealousies in the very midst of the dangers which threatened
their country. The question of national rights and liberties,
which wise men saw involved, was looked upon as a secondary
matter by those whose only banner was political or religious
party, or the still more unworthy one of place and emolument.
158 SIB JOHN COPE AND THE ROYAL TROOPS.
In a print which appeared in the autumn of 1745, under the
title of " A Hint to the Wise ; or, the surest way with the
Pretender," the church militant is represented on one side offer-
ing but a weak resistance to the Pretender, while the standard
of broad-bottom, set up by the courtiers against the Jacobites,
promises no great strength of resistance, but the mass of the
people crowd together to fight successfully under the banner of
liberty. The Church was represented by Herring, Archbishop
of York, who, after the defeat of Sir John Cope at Preston
Pans, had exhibited extraordinary activity in raising and review-
ing in person the volunteers of his diocese, though his troops
did no great service in the sequel. The warlike prelate is re-
presented in a caricature, entitled " The Mitred Soldier ; or, the
Church militant." The raising of volunteers was carried on
with the more activity, as it was made a profitable job even by
many of the nobility, who obtained the pay of officers in the
army. In one county the fox-hunters were formed in a corps
and armed. One of the Scottish Jacobite (or at least semi-
Jacobite) songs of the day gives the following amusing descrip-
tion of the forces collected together from all quarters to suppress
the rebellion :
" Horse, foot, and dragoons, from lost Flanders they call,
With Hessians and Danes, and the devil and all ;
And hunters and rangers led by Oglethorpe ;
And the Church, at the bum of the Bishop of York.
And, pray, who so fit to lead forth this parade,
As the babe of Tangier, my old grandmother Wade T
Whose cunning's so quick, but whose motion's so slow,
That the rebels march' d on, while he stuck in the snow !"
Cope himself, the object of so much satire in the Scottish
Jacobite songs, was not spared in the English caricatures, one
of which, entitled " A race from Preston Pans to Berwick," is
accompanied by a parody on the well-known old ballad against
Sir John Suckling. Among the many whose behaviour at this
time exposed them to satire, the Duke of Newcastle, whose
conduct as minister had made him a general object of derision,
was not spared ; he was well known to be attached to the plea-
sures of the table, and was one of the few who then kept French
cooks, and on his own cook, named Cloe, who was both a French'
man and a Catholic, he set especial store : it was pretended that
this hero of the kitchen would be included in the proclamation
ordering Papists and others to be removed from the metropolis,
and the chagrin of the Duke was portrayed in a caricature,
entitled "The Duke of Newcastle and his (French) Cook," in
DUTCH NEUTRALITY. 159
which the Duke is made to exclaim " Cloe ! if you leave me,
I shall be starved !"
This rebellion, while it caused in England more fear than
hurt, had been a very advantageous diversion for our enemies
abroad, and our foreign relations were suffering considerably.
Even the Dutch had entered into a neutrality, and gave no
further assistance than they were absolutely obliged to do by
the strict words of existing treaties. A caricature, published on
THE BENEFIT OF NEUTRALITY.
the z6th of December, 1745, under the title of " The Benefit of
Neutrality," was especially directed against our allies of Holland.
France, Spain, and England were represented as struggling to
obtain more shadowy advantages, while Holland in the meantime
was enriching herself with the substance :
" Ambitious France and haughty Spain
Unite, the horns of power to gain ;
Against them England drags the tail,
While the sly Dutchman fills his pail."
In the beginning of the year 1746 the war in Scotland con-
tinued to be carried on in the same careless and unskilful man-
ner, which, in the previous year, had chieQy contributed to the
temporary success of the insurrection, until, towards the end of
January, the Duke of Cumberland was sent to the north to take
the command of the English forces. The Prince had scarcely
arrived in Scotland, when he received intelligence that the dis-
content of persons and party in the South had broken out in a
ministerial revolution. Lord Granville still enjoyed in private
the King's favour and confidence, and was suspected of secretly
thwarting many of the ministerial measures. It was said to
160 THE GAME OF BOB-CHERRY.
have been by his advice that the King neglected the Scottish
rebellion so long, and thus allowed it to gain head. The minis-
ters, on the other hand, eager to get rid of Granville's influence,
made an attempt to turn out those of that party who still re-
mained in office, and bring in more of their own supporters.
The King refused to accede to their wishes on this point, and,
perceiving from other symptoms that Lord Granville's party
was intriguing against them, on the loth of February the
Pelham administration resigned. Lord Granville madly under-
took to form a new administration, and Lord Bath accepted the
Treasury and Exchequer, Lord Carlisle the Privy Seal, and Lord
Winchelsea returned to the Admiralty. But this strange ad-
ministration went no further, for its chief, finding himself with-
out influence in the Houses, and seeing that it was impossible to
carry on, made a sudden retreat, after having remained in power
only three days. The old administration were restored imme-
diately to their places, and the King, feeling his own weakness,
gave up his friend Granville to their resentment, and allowed
them to bring in those whom, a few days before, he had posi-
tively refused to admit to his councils. Among these was
William Pitt, who was making rapid strides towards that emi-
nence and popularity which has given him so much celebrity as
Earl of Chatham. One of the best caricatures relating to these
transactions was published in March, un-
der the title of " The noble Game of Bob-
cherry, as it was lately played by some
unlucky boys at the Crown, in St. James's
parish." It appears to have been a very
popular print, for there are two or three
different copies of it, probably pirated
editions, with some variations in the
figures and grouping. The would-be
ministers are represented as jumping at
offices represented by cherries, whilst the
chief members of the late administration
and some of their friends are looking on.
Lord Winchelsea, known by the capa-
cious wig for which he was celebrated,
and his spectacles, is making a jump at a
cherry labelled as Secretary of State.
Lord Bath has just made an unsuccessful
attempt at another, which is labelled
" High Treasurer ;" and Chief Justice
BOB CJIERHY. Willes is preparing to jump at one marked
BATTLE OF CULLODEN.
161
" High Chancellor." The Earl of Granville, who had swallowed a
cherry marked <; Secretary of State," is seized with a fit of sickness,
which obliges him to disgorge it. Behind him stands the old Tory
and half Jacobite, Sir John Hynde Cotton, holding a cherry in his
hand, and looking with a smile at the efforts of the eager can-
didates for the others. Cotton had already obtained a place in
the ministry, and he seems to have cared
little for the changes which were taking
place. William Pitt and Mr. Walpole
are standing by, laughing at the vain
efforts of the candidates for cherries ;
and on the other side of the picture the
two brothers and ex-ministers, the Duke
of Newcastle and Mr. Pelham, are look-
ing quietly on. Among the numerous
political pamphlets and prints brought
forth by this sufficiently ridiculous trans-
action, we may specify, " A History of
the Long Administration," published in
a very diminutive size, "price one
penny."
The Duke of Cumberland, who was
warmly attached to the old Whig prin-
ciples, to which he looked for the support
of his House on the throne, aud who
had been alarmed by the intelligence of
the ministerial crisis, was relieved from all his fear?, when, a
few days afterwards, he heard of the restoration of the Pelhams,
and he proceeded vigorously with the work with which he was
now entrusted in the north. The fear and anxiety which had so
long prevailed throughout England were entirely expelled by the
news of the sanguinary and decisive battle of Culloden, fought
on the 1 6th of April ; and for several weeks the English papers
and prints were filled with nothing but congratulatory poems
and songs on the Duke of Cumberland, and satires on the un-
fortunate Scots ; and these subjects, with the trials and execu-
tions of the rebels, occupied public attention through this and a
great part of the following year. It need hardly bs stated that
the weak, and we may probably add worthless, Pretender, after
passing through many dangers and hardships, disappointed his
enemies by making good his escape to France. One of the
English ballads sums up his enterprise, by telling us punningly
that
A CHERRT IN HAND.
i6a AGITATION IN LONDON.
" His descent was from Sky,* as thereby he'd declare,
His design was strange castles to build in the air."
London had, during these events, presented a strange physiog-
nomy. With perhaps more general excitement, there was less
of street-mobbing than in 1715 ; but the consciousness of dan-
ger seems to have been stronger. The pamphlet shops were
filled with tracts against Popery and tyranny, and similar pub-
lications were hawked about the streets ; and the newspapers
spread abroad daily a new cargo of exciteable matter. The
Penny London Post, for example, had the words " No Preten-
der ! No Popery ! No slavery ! No arbitrary power ! No
wooden shoes !" printed round its margins in conspicuous let-
ters. Prints, exhibited in the shop windows, represented the
Popish cruelties and massacres, the ceremony of cursing by bell,
book, and candle, and a variety of similar performances, which,
it was said, were to be re-enacted on the Pretender's arrival in
the metropolis. In the beginning of 1746, although the Pre-
tender had returned to Scotland, yet people were so far from
believing that the danger was entirely averted, that the news-
papers and magazines gave directions and illustrative figures for
exercising volunteers in the use of their arms. The gates of
London were regularly closed at an early hour in the evening,
and the city trained bands were kept in constant movement.
Troops, both regulars and volunteers, were brought together in
the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and a strong camp was
formed on Finchley Common to protect this part of the king-
dom from danger. Yet, in spite of all these precautions and
preparations, Jacobite agents were actively employed in spread-
ing sedition even in London : numbers of people were arrested,
as iu 1715, for drinking the health of the Pretender; ballad-
women and low persons were seen vending seditious papers, not
only in the streets of London, but in the very heart of the
camp ; and, in the latter, agents of the Pretender were actually
detected in attempting to seduce the soldiers from their duty.
It is not surprising, that, in such a state of things, the victory
of Culloden should have given universal and deep-felt joy, and
that the victor should have become widely popular throughout
England. Within a few months the Duke of Cumberland's head
was a tavern sign in every country town ; and his name contri-
buted to give popularity to one of the prettiest of our common
garden- flowers. Some verses, current at this time, told us that
* The Young Pretender first put foot on Scottish ground in the Isle of
Skye.
SWEET- WILLIAM. 1 63
" The pride of France is lily white ;
The rase in June is Jacobite :
The prickly thistle of the Scot
Is northern knighthood's badge and lot ;
But, since the Duke's victorious blows,
The lily, thistle, and the rose
All droop and fade, all die away,
Sweet- William, only rules the day
No plant with brighter lustre grows,
Except the laurel on his brows."
" The agreeable Contrast between the British Hero and the
Italian Fugitive," a caricature published shortly after this
event, represents the Pretender on one side, his hopes defeated
and broken, and on the other the portly Duke, who exclaims,
"Britain gave me life; for her safety I will readily risk it!"
Underneath is inscribed the distich
" Here happy Britain tells her joyful tales,
And may again since William's arm prevails."
It was this period of agitation which suggested to Hogarth
the admirable picture of the march of the guards to Finchley,
on their way to the north against the Scots. The disorder and
want of discipline, which characterized the movements of the
troops on this occasion, are shewn in the most striking manner.
Here you have a group in which
the actors appear unconscious of
the riot and confusion with which
they are surrounded : it repre-
sents, we are told, a French spy,
who is communicating to a dis-
guised Jacobite a letter of in-
telligence, announcing that the
King of France had sent ten
thousand men to the assistance
of his party. There, theft and
dishonesty and licentiousness,
though on a small scale, tell
us but too plainly of the low
moral character of the British
army little more than a century ago. Here, again, a sturdy
grenadier is exposed to a disagreeable cross-fire from a brace
of females, who are selling ballads. An old explanation of this
engraving states that these are the soldier's wife, whom he has
deserted, and a woman whom he has deceived, and that they are
upbraiding him for his treachery and inconstancy ; but they are
M a
PRIVATE INTELLIGENCE.
164 CITY TRAINED BANDS.
evidently two ballad-singers of different political parties, for
one carries a paper inscribed "God save our noble King,"
and a print of the Duke of
Cumberland, while the other
holds up a number of the
Remembrancer, a journal in
opposition to the Govern-
ment. Hogarth's print was
given to the world in 1750,
several years after the events
it commemorates: the paint-
ing was exhibited to George
II., as it is said, at that
monarch's own request ; but
his only feeling appears to
have been that of anger, that
his favourite soldiers should
be exposed to ridicule, and
he returned it without an
observation. Hogarth, in-
dignant at the little patro-
nage he received from the
Court, satirically dedicated
his engraving to the King of Prussia.
There were, however, soldiers exposed to much greater
ridicule than those who on this occasion marched through
Finchley, or even than those who had fled at Preston and
Falkirk, and those were the warriors of the city companies, the
trained bands of London. The municipal troops of the
capital, which had presented so formidable an array in the
middle ages, and which had acted no unimportant part in
the civil commotions of the seventeenth century, had dege-
nerated from their ancient character ; but they still continued
to be mustered and exercised for the defence of the metropolis,
and during the earlier part of the century they had been
from time to time drawn out in the outskirts of the town
to perform battles and sieges, in harmless imitation of the
movements of the more dangerous armies on the Continent.
They were especially active during the first years after the
accession of the House of Hanover to the English throne, and
the newspapers of that period contain frequent paragraphs
detailing satirically their pretended exploits. As late as
the year 17.31, Read's Weekly Journal, of September n,
announces, that, " On Tuesday, the Cripplegate, Whitechapel,
CROSS-FIRE.
F.W.Fairliolt.F S A
CITY
CITY TRAINED BANDS. 165
St. Clement's, and Southwark grenadiers rendezvous'd in
Bridgewater Gardens ; from whence they marched through the
city, and afterwards attacked Cripplegate, both posterns, and
Great Moorgate, with their usual bravery, and thence pro-
ceeded to attack a dunghill near Bunhill Fields, which
gloriously completed their exercise of arms." We have already
seen these domestic troops, in a caricature on the invasion
of the Pretender, exhibited as loving better the enjoyments
of home than the rude service of war. They figure in the last
plate of Hogarth's series of the " Idle and industrious Appren-
tices," and in several caricatures of the time. In one of these,
in the collection of Mr. Burke, (without
date or title,) these city troops appear,
some of them, armed with pipes as well
as guns ; others on duty in undress,
and some deficient of legs and eyes.
A large and rather well-drawn cari-
cature, also in the possession of Mr.
Burke, and of which the accompa-
nying engraving is a reduced copy,
represents these troops under the cha-
racters of different animals, led by the
self-important and ponderous elephant,
with the hog for a standard-bearer,
their device being the good roast beef and ^-//^
plum pudding of Old England. They are ^^
assembled at the sign of the Hog-in-
Armour,* and one of the troop carries a TBAINED BANDS.
bill with the proclamation
" Come, taylers and weavers,
And sly penny shavers,
All haste and repair
To the Hog in Kag Fair,
To 'list in the pay
Of great Captain Day,
And you shall have cheer,
Beef, pudding, and beer."
Underneath this print, which is dated in 1749, are the
lines :
* There was an inn with the sign of the Hog-in-Armour on Saffron HilL
It may be observed, that, as the figures are all lelt-handed, and the city
arms reversed, the artist probably drew the sketch on copper without
reversing it ; so that, as far as it may be supposed to represent a locality, it
is reversed in the print. This w;is an ordinary practice with Hogarth,
many of whose priuts are thus reversed.
1 66 WILLIAM PITT.
" Hark, now the drum assaults our ears,
Thus beating up for volunteers ;
Who fight, besiege, and storm amain,
And yet are never hurt or slain.
Sad work ! should this tame army meet
The late pacific Spithead fleet."*
As the danger of the Eebellion passed over, the Pelham
administration, shaken internally by personal jealousies and
intrigues, began to be assailed from without by the outcries of a
violent, if not a powerful opposition. It was supported by its
great parliamentary influence, which the accession of William
Pitt to office had rendered complete ; and it was carried on with
quite as much corruption as had ever characterized the govern-
ment of Sir Robert Walpole. The breaking out of the
Rebellion had furnished an excuse for the repeal of the Habeas
Corpus Act ; and the power thus obtained being exercised
more frequently against those who attacked the ministry
than against the enemies of the Crown, had increased the
unpopularity of the former. William Pitt, who had not long
touched a legacy of io,oooZ., left him by the old Duchess
of Marlborough for his " patriotic " opposition to the favourite
measures of the Hanoverian dynasty, followed the example
of so many patriots who had preceded him, and was assailed on
every side for the " unembarrassed countenance " with which he
suddenly, on his admission to office, advocated the very
measures he had been condemning so long and with so much
perseverance. In the caricatures of the day, the ghost of the
deceased Duchess is represented as reproaching him for his
apostacy. The " unembarrassed countenance " was the subject
of a caricature and of a ballad. The latter sneers at the
eloquence of " a fellow who could talk and could prate," and
tells us how, before his accession to the ministry,
" He bellow'd and roar'd at the troops of Hanover,
And swore they were rascals who ever went over ;
That no man was honest who gave them a vote,
And all that were for them should hang by the throat.
Derry down, &C.**
By his apparent zeal in this cause he soon extended his
popularity through the land.
" By flaming so loudly he got him a name,
Though many believed it would all end in shame ;
* Alluding to a recent naval expedition, which had returned without per-
forming any exploit of consequence.
THE " UNEMBARRASSED COUNTENANCE" 167
But nature had given him, ne'er to be harrass'd,
An unfeeling heart, and a front unembarrassed.
Derry down, &c.
"When from an old woman, by standing his ground,
He had got the possession of ten thousand pound,
He said that he cared not what others might call him,
He would shew himself now the true son of Sir Balaam.*
Derry down, &c."
Keproaches or rebukes had little effect upon him, we are told,
whether they came from friend or foe ; and, having once cast
the die, he outdid every one in his barefaced dereliction of his
former principles.
" Young Balaam ne'er boggled at turning his coat,
Determin'd to share in whate'er could be got ;
Said, ' I scorn all those who cry, impudent fellow !
As my front is of brass, I'll be painted in yellow.'^
Derry down, &c,
" Since yellow's the colour that best suits his face,
Old Balaam aspires at an eminent place ;
May he soon in Cheapside stand fix'd by the legs,
His front well adorn'd and daub'd over with eggs.
Derry down, &c.**
Pitt's apostacy was celebrated in oth^r ballads equally bitter,
and he was violently attacked in the opposition papers, especially
in an evening paper entitled The National Journal, or Country
Gazette, which was commenced on the 22rid of March, 1746, and
the object of which seems to have been chiefly to expose the
false and exaggerated information relating to the affairs of Scot-
land published by the Government news-writers. The misuse of
the Duchess of Marlborough's legacy, the " unembarrassed
countenance" of the orator, (the term had been first applied to
him in the House of Commons,) and a variety of other circum-
stances, are dwelt upon with increasing banter by the writer of
this journal, who makes a lengthened comparison of Orator
Pitt with Orator Henley. But all was in vain : Pitt's eloquent
" oratory" swayed the senate, ministerial bribes defeated oppo-
sition without, and on the 1 2th of June the printer of The Na-
tional Journal was thrown into Newgate, whence he escaped
only upon the expiration of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus
Act, in February, 1747.
In the midst of the intrigues of the cabinet, the Prince of
* An allusion to the character of Sir Balaam in Pope's Moral Essays,
Epist. iii. 1. 339360.
+ A list of the names of those who voted for the Hanover troops two
years before, which Pitt had then vehemently opposeil, and which he now
as vehemently advocated, had been printed in yellow characters.
1 68
NEW OPPOSITION.
Wales, dissatisfied with the ministry, in the formation of which
he had had so large a share, and jealous of the popularity of his
brother, again threw himself into the opposition. From this
moment there was not only a sensible increase in the attacks
against the Government, but every expedient was tried to
blacken the character of the Duke of Cumberland. The cruelties
exercised against the Scottish rebels were pressed on people's at-
tention in every manner, and with every kind of exaggeration ;
and the victor of Culloden became generally known by the
epithet of " The Butcher." Even his fatness, and the lowness
of some of his amours, were turned to derision. The caricature
of "The agreeable Contrast," mentioned above as published after
the battle of Culloden, was responded to by a parody entitled
" The agreeable Contrast shews that a greyhound is more
agreeable than an elephant, and a genteel person more agreeably
pleasing than a clumsy one, a country lass better than a town
trollop, and that Flora was better pleased than Fanny." The
allusion is to the adventures of Flora Macdonald in aiding the
escape of Prince Charles Edward, and to a woman of low origin,
who had been taken into keeping by the Duke. An extraordi-
THE BEAU.
nary notion of the elegant figure and graceful manners of
the Pretender was zealously spread abroad by the Jacobite
emissaries, and in this caricature he is represented as the accom-
plished beau, emblematically figured by his attendant, the courtly
greyhound. He, too, is made to proclaim, " Mercy and love,
peace," &c. ; while Flora exclaims, " Oh ! the agreeable creature I
What a long tail he has I" On the other side of the picture
THE BUTCHER.
WESTMINSTER ELECTION
stand the bloated " Butcher"
and his attendant emblem,
the elephant. The Duke is
made to exclaim, " B d
and w ds !" and a lady
near him expresses strongly
her dissatisfaction at his
figure.
All the political passions
found a full vent in the
general elections in 1747,
which were unusually violent
throughout the country ; and
the ministers are understood
to have attained their majo-
rity only by the most lavish
expenditure of the public money. At Westminster the two
parties were brought into violent collision, and the Duke and
the Prince of Wales are said to have taken an active part on the
two sides. The Government candidates were Lord Trentham,
the eldest son of Earl Gower, and Warren, who were elected by
a considerable majority, against the opposition candidates,
Phillips and Clarges. This party struggle was the subject of
several spirited caricatures, in which the " Butcher" is made to
cut a prominent figure. One
of the best of these, pub-
lished in June, 1747, bears
the title of " The Two-shil-
ling Butcher," and alludes
to the open bribery carried
forward on this occasion. It
is described in an advertise-
ment in the journals as " a
curious parliamentary print."
The Duke gravely observes,
" My Lord, there being a
fatality in the cattle, that
there is 3000 above my cut,
though I offered handsome."
The individual thus ad-
dressed, an elegantly dressed
figure, intended apparently
to represent Lord Trentham, THK TWQ-SHILLINQ BOTCHES.
exclaims in reply, dissatisfied
170 FRENCH " STROLLERS."
at the low price which the Duke had offered for votes, " Curse
me ! you'd buy me the brutes at two shillings per head, bond
fide." On one side of the print a person is seen picking Britan-
nia's pocket, to give the money to Phillips and Clarges, while
Britannia exclaims, "0 God! what pickpockets!" Among
other caricatures on this election, one published in July bore
the title, " The Humours of the Westminster Election ; or,
the scald miserable independent electors in the suds." The
agitation of a Westminster election was, however, soon to be
renewed with still greater violence. In 1749, Lord Trentham
having been appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty,
had to vacate his seat, and every exertion was made by the
opposition to hinder his re-election. " Those who styled them-
selves the independent electors of Westminster," says Smollett,
" being now incensed to an uncommon degree of turbulence by
the interposition of ministerial influence, determined to use their
utmost endeavours to baffle the designs of the Court, and at the
same time take vengeance on the family of Earl Gower, who had
entirely abandoned the opposition, of which he was formerly one
of the most respected leaders. With this view they held con-
sultations, agreed to resolutions, and set up a private gentleman
named Sir George Vandeput as the competitor of Lord Trentham,
declaring that they would support his pretensions at their own
expense ; being the more encouraged to this enterprise by the
countenance and assistance of the Prince of Wales and his adhe-
rents. They accordingly opened houses of entertainment for
their partisans, solicited votes, circulated remonstrances, and
propagated abuse : in a word, they canvassed with surprising
spirit and perseverance against the whole interest of St. James's.
Mobs were hired, and processions made on both sides, and the
city of Westminster was filled with tumult and uproar."
This election occurred in the midst of a violent popular anti-
Gallican feeling, which had been shewn particularly against a
company of French players who were performing at the Hay-
market, and who were spoken of by the mob as the " French
vagrants." An attempt had been made to binder them from
acting, and they had been protected only by a mob hired by
Lord Trentham, who appears to have affected Gallic manners,
and to have been vain of his proficiency in the French language.
The night after his ministerial appointment there was a great
riot at the French theatre, in which Lord Trentham was accused
of being personally active, although he denied it to the electors.
This was made the most of by his opponents, who stigmatised
him in ballads and squibs as "the champion of the French
LORD TRENTHAM. 171
strollers;" and common people said that learning to talk French
was only a step towards the introduction of French tyranny.
In one of the ballads they said,
" Our natives are starving, whom nature has made
The brightest of wits, and to comedy bred ;
Whilst apes are caress'd, whom God made by chance,
The worst of all mortals, the strollers from France."
Admiral Vernon, who took an earnest part in the opposition,
said in a letter, which was printed and extensively circulated,
" For the patrons of French strollers, a nation who are now
undermining us in our commerce, and endeavouring to deprive
us of it, I heartily detest them, as I think that every honest
Briton should that wishes for the prosperity of his country."
Lord Trentham's party retaliated by accusing Sir George
Vandeput of being a Dutchman, and a partisan of the Dutch,
who were at the moment not much more popular than the
French ; and all the sins of that people, from the time of the
massacre at Amboyna, were raked up and published. This West-
minster election is said to have been one of the most expensive
contests that the Government had as yet experienced. The fol-
lowing epigram described a supposed conversation between Lord
Trentham and his father :
" Quoth L d G r [Lord Gower] to his son, ' Boy, thy frolic and place
Full deep will be paid for by us and his g e [grace] :
Ten thousand twice over advanced !' ' Veritable,
Mon plre^ cry'd the youth ; ' but the D e [die] you know's able :
Nor blame my French frolics ; since all men are certain,
You're doing behind, what I did 'fore the curtain.' "
An immense number of papers of different kinds, some of
them in the highest degree scurrilous, were printed and circu-
lated by both parties. The Ministers were accused of having
set at liberty prisoners confined for small debts, that they might
secure their votes ; numbers were brought to the place of polling
on horseback, and every kind of dishonest trickery was practised
on both sides. The same person was, in many cases, smuggled
in to vote more than once, and such notices as the following
were placarded on the walls :
"This is to inform the publick, that there is now to be seen in Covent
Garden the celebrated Mr. More, so well known to the curious for his
astonishing variety of voices, who we hear intends to give them all in
favour of Sir G. V 1."
" This day ii publish' d,
"An Essay on Multiplication, wherein it will be incontestably proved,
that man, like those surprising creatures called Polypuses, may be cut into-
i; WESTMINSTER ELECTIONEERING.
6, or 10, or more pieces, and each piece become a perfect animal ; as is
exempfify'd in the case of several voters for the present W election,
now living in the parishes of St. Clement's and St. Martin's le Grand."
At the conclusion of the polling there appeared a majority for
Lord Trentham, but his opponents demanded a scrutiny ; and
this scrutiny proved so laborious and difficult, or the parties in-
terested in opposing the Court threw so many obstacles in the
way, that it led to a quarrel with the House of Commons, which
Listed some months, and gave a double celebrity to the West-
minster election of 1749.
In spite, however, of the popular dissatisfaction without,
which was thus from time to time exhibited in scenes of uproar
and turbulence, the opposition in Parliament was weaker than it
had ever been before, and its voice was still further silenced
about this time by the admission of the Duke of Bedford into
the administration. But, while thus enlarging itself by the ad-
mission of not very accordant materials, a consequent division
was gradually manifesting itself within the cabinet, which was
soon formed into two distinct and rival parties, one represented
by Mr. Pelham, the Duke of Bedford, and Fox, and the other
by the Duke of Newcastle, who was jealous of his brother's
talents and influence, and Pitt, who already looked forward to
stepping over their quarrels to the summit of power. These
discussions were gradually mixed up with the foreign transac-
tions of the country, until they became in a manner identified
with the two questions of peace and war.
The war into which England had been hurried after the
downfall of Sir Robert Walpole was carried on unskilfully, and
had produced no advantages to this country, although the latter
had been involved in an enormous expenditure. The rebellion
in Scotland had been a most advantageous diversion for the
enemy ; and at its close the French were capturing fortress after
fortress in the Low Countries, until the fears and the turbulent
dissatisfaction shewn by people throughout Holland obliged the
Dutch to elect the Prince of Orange to the office of Stadtholder.
The King of Prussia held aloof, attentive only to his private
views of aggrandisement ; the movements of the Russians and
Austrians were too slow to be effective ; and a number of petty
allies were only enriching themselves with English subsidies.
On the and of July, 1747, the allied army under the Duke of
Cumberland was entirely defeated at the battle of Lauffeld,
which spread a general feeling of discouragement. About the
same time an English caricature, under the title of " Europe in
Masquerade; or, the Royal farce," threw deserved ridicule on
EUROPE IN MASQUERADE. 173
this war without principle, in which the peace and welfare of
Europe were sacrificed to the intrigues of its cabinets. The fol-
lowing lines, under the same title, were reprinted in the Found-
ling Hospital of Wit, and describe with tolerable accuracy the
state of politics in the latter part of 1747 :
" The States, at last, with one accord,
Have made themselves a sov'reign lord.
For public good ? Be not mistaken,
It was to save their own dear Bacon.
The King most Christian does his work,
By leaguing with the heathen Turk ;
The haughty Turk and Kouli Khan
Are friends or foes, as suits their plan ;
The Russian lady plays her game,
As fits her interest or fame.
You've seen two curs for bone at bay,
A third has run with it away ;
Just so the Pr n [Prussian] silly watches,
While others fight, the prey he snatches.
At home behold a mighty pother,
Friends worrying friends and brother brother,
Pushing and elbowing one another.
To Westminster but turn your eye,
And the whole mystery you'll descry:
The independents there you'll see
Bawling aloud for liberty ;
But if you follow in the dance,
They'll lead you blind to Rome or France."
The reverses of the allies on the Continent were, however,
balanced by several decisive victories gained by the English at
sea, which destroyed the commerce of France, and crippled her
resources so much that the French monarch shewed a strong in-
clination to treat for peace. The English prime minister was also
desirous of a pacification ; but his brother, the Duke of New-
castle, joined with the King and the Duke of Cumberland in
wishing for a continuation of the war ; and it was not until
many petty difficulties and obstacles had been overcome, that
the congress at Aix-la-Chapelle was agreed upon. The negotia-
tions were continued through the greater part of the year 1748,
and the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was not signed until the 7th
of October.
The English ministers were too much occupied with their
own cabals and private interests to take care of the interests of
their country, and her allies alone gained any advantages by the
peace. The moment the preliminaries were announced, they be-
came an object of attack, and the newspaper and pamphlet war-
fare was carried on long after the war itself had ceased. That
174 PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.
part of the treaty which caused the greatest discontent in this
country was the stipulated restoration to France of Cape
Breton, which had been taken by the English shortly before the
breaking out of the Scottish rebellion ; and this discontent was
very considerably heightened by the English government having
submitted to the indignity of sending two noblemen, the Earl
of Sussex and Lord Cathcart, to France as hostages until the
restitution of this conquest should be completed. In the begin-
ning of 1748 a loud cry was also set up against ministers, for
allowing English bread to be exported to our enemies of France,
who were suffering from famine, which was partly a consequence
of the protracted hostilities. The popular arguments on this
occasion may be summed up in an epigram printed in the General
Advertiser of Feb. i :
" To fast and pray, that heav'n our arms may bless,
Is wise and pious we can do no less ;
We might howe'er, methinks, something more do :
' What's that, pray ? ' Why, sir, make the French fast too."
In the same journal, two days later, is advertised a caricature
on the same subject, entitled " The Political Bitters ; a satirical
print." Another subject of complaint, and a more reasonable
one, was the practice of insuring French ships in England, so
that this country was actually making good the losses which
the French merchants sustained in the capture of their ships by
the English cruizers. In May, 1748, appeared a caricature, en-
titled " The Preliminary Congress," directed especially against
the surrender of Cape Breton, and against the unsatisfactory
conclusion of the sacrifices made by England, who is helping the
empress queen over a stile, while France is seizing the oppor-
tunity of her exposed position to take liberties with her person. '
A print published at the same time was entitled " The Congress
of Beasts ; or, the milch cow." In another caricature, under
nearly the same title, " The Congress of the Brutes at Aix-la-
Chapelle," the different powers are represented under the forms
of animals assembled in council, the Gallic cock presiding, to
whom the British lion is, with all due humility, offering his
recent conquest : " Pray accept Cape Breton !" In November,
after the treaty was signed, appeared " The Grimier from Aix-l-a
Chapelle ;" and in December appeared a number of spirited cari-
catures on the subject of the hostages, under such titles as " The
two most famous Ostriches ;" " The Hostages ; a political Print,"
&c. In one of these, entitled " The Wheelbarrow Crys of Eu-
rope," the Earl of Sussex and Lord Cathcart are represented in a
barrow wheeled by King George, who cries, " Hostages, ho !
THE HOSTAGES.
173
THE HOSTAGES.
two a penny before they go !" And
in another, dated December 8,
Cromwell appears on the scene with
furious threats, which he is only
hindered from executing by the
devil ; but he exclaims in his wrath,
" Was it for this 1 sought the Lord
and fought ?" In January, 1749,
appeared " The Hostages ; an hero-
ico-satirical poem ;" and at the end
of the same month was advertised
a pamphlet, (accompanied with a
large caricature,) entitled " The
Congress of the Beasts, under the
mediation of the Goat, for nego-
tiating a peace between the Fox,
the Ass wearing a Lion's skin, the
Tygress, the Horse, and other
quadrupeds at war." At the same time appeared a number
of pamphlets and ballads against the surrender of Gibraltar,
which it was pretended that the English government contem-
plated yielding up to Spain. In the British Magazine for
January, 1 749, is announced " A humorous print, called the
Peace-o'ffering."
Yet, in spite of these marks of dissatisfaction at the terms of
the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, peace under any form appears to
have been acceptable, and it was followed by general demonstra-
tions of joy. The fireworks in the Green Park were unusually
magnificent, and these and the jubilee masquerade at Ranelagh
were represented in multitudes of prints, which were eagerly
bought by the multitude. In one of these prints the fireworks
are satirically called " the grand whim for posterity to laugh
at." The Dutch, who had been reduced to a far worse position
than the other allies, and who were now almost destitute of
money and resources, rejoiced louder than anybody else, and
their fireworks far exceeded those of the Green Park in magnifi-
cence. The British public thought that Holland had been too
much favoured in the treaty, and that power was suspected of
having had the intention of treating in private for its own inte-
rests. These extravagant demonstrations of joy by the Dutch
were accordingly caricatured somewhat ungenerously in an Eng-
lish print, entitled " The Contrast," in which the prosperity of
England (for England had really been increasing rapidly
in commercial importance and wealth) is represented under
176 PUBLIC REJOICINGS FOR THE PEACE.
the form of a portly individual, with his pockets full of
money, laughing at the miserable figure of a Dutchman with
his empty pockets turned
out. The inscription under
the Englishman is, " Money
with Commerce;" that under
the Dutchman, " No money
with fireworks !"*
In the midst of these po-
pular subjects of discontent,
the divisions in the ministry
were becoming every day
more apparent, and the open
accession of the Prince of
Wales raised again the spirits
of the parliamentary opposi-
tion. The old intriguer Bo-
lingbroke was again brought
into play, and new plots were
constantly hatching, either
at his house at Battersea or
at the Prince's at Leicester
House. It was not long before
the ministry was weakened
by several defections ; Bubb Dodington first relinquished his
place of treasurer of the navy, and returned to a post he had
formerly held in the Prince of Wales's household, and he took
the lead in the Prince's party. A regular opposition was now
again organised in the House of Commons, and the printed
attacks on measures and persons became more energetic, as well as
more numerous. One of the most violent of these, published
under the title of " Constitutional Queries," was levelled at the
Duke of Cumberland, who was compared in it to the " crook-
backed" Richard III., and it was generally supposed to have
come from Leicester House, and to have been written by Lord
Egmont. These " Queries" raised a violent heat in the two
Houses; the open attempt to sow dissension between the two
royal brothers was strongly animadverted upon, and the paper
in question was ordered to be burnt by the common hangman,
* In the British Magazine for May, 1749, a caricature is announced
under the title, "The Contrast ; or, such is the folly of no money with fire-
works, or money with commerce." I am uncertain if this be the same
print as the one described above, or (as was not unusual) a different edition
of it.
PEACE AND PT.EXTT.
DEATH OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. 177
and measures were taken, but in vain, to discover and punish
the author. But the Prince's party in the House opposed these
proceedings, and Sir Francis Dashwood and others spoke in pal-
liation of the libel. These party intrigues occupied the whole
of the year 1750, and were proceeding with increased activity in
the beginning of 1751, when the opposition received a sudden
blow from an event totally unexpected. On the 5th of February,
1751, appeared the royal proclamation of a reward of a thousand
pounds for the discovery of the author of the " Constitutional
Queries." The Prince of Wales died suddenly on the 2oth of
March, after a short illness, and relieved his father's ministry
from one of its most dangerous opponents.
For several years after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the pub-
lication of political caricatures seemed almost suspended, and we
shall find them of comparatively rare occurrence till the breaking
out of the war in 1755. In the October of 1749 appeared " The
true Contrast between a Royal British Hero and a frighted
Italian Bravo," occasioned by the movements of the Pretender
on the Continent, (who was shut out from France and Spain by
the treaty of peace,) and shewing that his name still excited
some interest in England ; and " The Laugh ; or, Bub's compli-
ments to Ralpho," alluding, probably, to some circumstance in
the opposition movements, of which Dodington was so active a
promoter.
The opposition sustained a further loss in Lord Bolingbroke,
who died on the ij>th of December. The old actors, who had
played their parts under George I., were rapidly disappearing
from the stage, and we are entering upon the politics of an en-
tirely new generation.
i 7 8
CHAPTER VI.
GEOEGE II.
Changes in the Administration, and Incipient Opposition Old Interest and
New Interest Elizabeth Canning The Bill for the Naturalization of
the Jews Elections ; Hogarth's Prints Death of Mr. Pelham, and
Consequent Changes in the Ministry War with France Trial of
Admiral Byng New Convulsion in the Ministry, and Accession of
William Pitt to Power The Seven Years' War Popular Discontent ;
Beer versus Gin Conquest of Canada Death of George the Second.
THE incipient opposition at Leicester House, as we have just
seen, was overthrown by the death of the Prince of Wales ;
and its ostensible leader, Bubb Dodington, and others, tried to
sell themselves at the highest price they could to the people in
power. All the great political questions which had so long
agitated the country seemed, indeed, now to have become ex-
tinguished, and to have given place to a far less honourable
partisanship of private jealousies and private interests, in which
it was the object of the minister to strengthen himself, by giving
place to as many individuals as he had any reason to fear in the
opposition, and the simple and only object of opposition was to
establish a claim for admission to place. This was so univer-
sally felt, that, instead of the old distinctions of Whig and Tory,
Hanoverian and Jacobite, or Court Party and Country Party,
the supporters of ministers and the opposition had almost in-
voluntarily taken the distinctive titles of the New Interest and
the Old Interest ; the New Interest being that of men in place,
the Old Interest that of men who wanted to be in place. The
parliamentary opposition, however, raised its head a little in the
June of 1751, upon the dismissal of Lord Sandwich, and the
consequent resignation of the Duke of Bedford and Lord Trent-
ham. Lord Granville was again admitted into the ministry as
one of the secretaries of state, and Anson was placed at the
Board of Admiralty. The year 1751 passed off with great
quietness ; and the only remarkable parliamentary act in the
portion of the session which closed it was the alteration of
style, by correcting the calendar according to the Gregorian
computation, then adopted by most other nations in Europe, it
being decreed that the new vear should begin in future on the
ALTERATION OF THE STYLE. 179
ist day of January, and that eleven intermediate nominal days,
between the 2nd and I4tli days of September, 1752, should lor
that time be omitted ; so that the day succeeding the 2nd should
then be denominated the i4th of that month. An alteration so
useful in every point of view did not pass without some show of
discontent ; it was declaimed against as a Popish innovation,
and long afterwards many people adhered tenaciously to the old
practice.
In 1752, the opposition, though weak, shewed more signs of
life. At the end of January, the Duke of Bedford attacked the
subsidiary treaty with Saxony, by which the elector was bribed
to give his vote for the Archduke Joseph as King of the Romans,
the question which was now agitating Germany, and which paved
the way for the celebrated Seven years' war. The Pel hams,
alarmed, now tried to buy over Bubb Dodington ; but the nego-
tiation again failed, and the opposition became a little more
spirited, and it shewed itself much stronger on two bills for the
naturalization of Jews, and the regulation of marriages. Fox
gave violent offence to the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke by his
conduct in opposing this latter bill, which, to use the words of
Horace Walpole, was " invented by my Lord Bath, and cooked
up by the chancellor." It may be observed, en passant, that, on
the 4th of February, 1752, died Sir John Hynde Cotton, the last
of the English Jacobites who had displayed any activity.
In the midst of this political calm, the newspapers and politi-
cal essayists, which had increased in number, were obliged to
seek matter for agitation in the passing incidents of the day ;
and these shew us how easy it was, in the last century, to set
the passions of the multitude in a flame. A young woman of
respectable connexions, named Mary Blandy, was executed at
Oxford, in the beginning of 17.53, for poisoning her father, and
her crime had been attended with remarkable and somewhat
romantic circumstances. She persisted at the scaffold in assert-
ing her innocence ; a number of pamphlets were published by
persons who took part for or against her, and it became the
subject of a warm public dispute. This was soon followed by a
still more singular affair. A girl named Elizabeth Canning,
who lived with her mother at Aldermanbury. in London, de-
clared that on the night of the ist of January, 1753, two ruf-
fians seized on her as she was passing under Bedlam wall,
stripped her of her outer apparel, secured her mouth with a
gag, and conveyed her on foot about ten miles, to a place called
Enfield Wash, where they brought her to the house of one Mrs.
Wells, where she was robbed of her stays, and, because she
i8o ELIZABETH CANNING.
refused to become a prostitute, confined in a cold and unfurnished
apartment, where she remained a whole month, without any
other food than a few stale crusts of bread and a gallon of
water, till at last she forced her way through a window, and
ran home, almost naked, to her mother's house, in the night of
the 2pth of January. The story was an improbable one ; but,
perhaps, on this very account it gained more popularity, and
money was subscribed to prosecute the persons concerned in the
outrage. Of three persons charged, Wells (the mistress of the
house) was punished as a bawd ; her servant, Virtue Hall, turned
evidence for Canning to save herself, but afterwards recanted ;
and an old gipsy woman, named Squires, was convicted of the
robbery of the stays, though she produced undeniable evidence
that, at the time the offence was said to have taken place, she
was at Abbotsbury, in Dorsetshire. At the trial, the court was
surrounded by an enraged mob, which threatened with the
utmost violence all who were brought as evidence for the ac-
cused, or who did not sympathize with Canning. The Lord
Mayor, Sir Crispe Gascoigne, made a clear and impartial state-
ment of the case ; and at his representation the gipsy woman,
Squires, received the royal pardon. This only added fuel to the
popular fury. Some of the leading journals had taken up Can-
ning's cause with considerable warmth, and they now turned
their resentment against the Lord Mayor. An incredible num-
ber of pamphlets, both serious and satirical, on both sides of the
question, with many prints and caricatures, issued from the
press ; and the faction raised throughout the kingdom on this
trifling subject was so great, that, to use the words of a contem-
porary writer, " it became the general topic of conversation in
all assemblies, and people of all ranks espoused one or other
party, with as much warmth and animosity as had ever in-
flamed the Whigs and Tories, even at the most rancorous period
of their opposition." Prosecutions for perjury were commenced
on both sides ; and, in the end, after Virtue Hall's recantation,
Canning herself confessed that the whole story was a fabrica-
tion, and she was condemned to transportation. But her sup-
porters, even now, did not give up her cause ; those who were
least zealous asserted that she had not acted voluntarily, but
that she had been the tool of others ; and they subscribed money
for her, provided her with every comfort on her voyage, and en-
sured, her a good reception in America.
People's minds were drawn off" from this affair by a new sub-
ject of political agitation. The act of parliament of 1752, to
permit the naturalization of foreign Jews, which was the work
THE JEW BILL. j8i
of the Pelhams, had not passed without a violent opposition in
the House of Commons ; and, although the bishops had offered
no opposition to it in the House of Lords, the clergy out of
doors raised such a general outcry, as reminded people of the
High-Church agitation of the days of Sacheverell. The alarm
of the Church party had been further excited by the deistical
tendency of the posthumous works of Lord Bolingbroke, whom
while alive they had almost sanctified as their political cham-
pion. The merchants of London began also to be alarmed at
imaginary commercial advantages which the Jews were to de-
rive from the measure. As the period for the general elections
was now fast approaching, the excitement increased tenfold.
Multitudes of controversial tracts were published on this sub-
ject, as well as others, the more immediate design of which was
to inflame the passions of the mob. Among these were his-
tories of the Jews, written in a partial spirit, and magnifying
their pretended sins : fearful prognostications of their increasing
power, and of their encroachment on the liberties and on the
commercial power of the country ; and strange imaginary pic-
tures of the state of the country under Jewish supremacy,
when it was supposed that the Jews would gradually have
made themselves masters of the estates and property of the
English nobility and gentry. Caricatures against the Jews
were exhibited in the windows of the print-shops, and ballade
equally bitter were sung about the streets. Thus, in August,
1753, a caricature is advertised under the title of "The Cii-cum-
cis'd Gentiles ; or, a Journey to Jerusalem," stated to be " en-
graved by Issachar Barebone, Juu r ;" and in December another
caricature was announced, entitled " The Racers Unhors'd ; or,
the Jews jockey'd." One of the ballads, entitled " The Jew's
Triumph," and set" to a popular tune, gives a melancholy ac-
count of the disasters of the year :
" In seventeen hundred and fifty-three,
The style it was changed to P p ry [Popery 1,
But that it is lik'd, we don't all agree ;
Which nobody can deny.
" When the country folk first heard of this act,
That old father Style was condemned to be i :.ckM,
And robb'd of his time, which appears to be fact,
Which nobody can deny ;
" It puzzl'd their brains, their senses perplex'd,
And all the old ladies were very much vex'<),
Not dreaming that Levites would alter our text ;
Which nobody can deny."
The faults of the Jews, and the dangers to be apprehended
i8a THE ELECTIONS.
from them, are portrayed in equally doggerel verses, and ven-
geance is finally called down upon those who had now advocated
their cause.
" But 'tis hoped that a mark will be set upon those
Who were friends to the Jews, and Christians' foes,
That the nation may see how Deism grows ;
Which nobody can deny.
" Then cheer up your spirits, let Jacobites swing,*
And Jews in their bell-ropes hang when they ring
To our sovereign lord great George our king ;
Which nobody can deny."
" The Jews naturalized ; or, the English alienated : a ballad :"
breathes the game spirit, and ascribes the passing of the Natura-
lization Act to that extensive system of bribery with which
everybody was then familiar. Even the clergy preached against
the Jew bill from the pulpit ; and the ministry became so
alarmed for the elections, that they weakly yielded to the foolish
clamour, and repealed their own act at the commencement of
the session at the end of 1753.
The elections, which took place in the April following (1754),
were less clamorous than it was expected, and, with the excep-
tion of a violent contest in Oxfordshire, the opposition the court
had to contend with was not great. The chief party-cries re-
lated to the Jews, to the alteration in the style, and to the
Marriage Act.f The new Parliament, to use the words of
Horace Walpole, was selected " in the very spirit of the Pel-
hams." The revival of the opposition in Parliament, and the
agitation naturally attendant on elections under such circum-
stances, produced a few caricatures, which possessed little merit.
In February was announced " The P. [Parliament /] Race ; or
the C. [court~\ jockeys." We are better acquainted with a cari-
cature published on the nth of June, under the title of
" Foreign Trade and Domestic compared ;" in which one of two
compartments represents the King of France raising up French
commerce upon the ruins of that of Great Britain ; while, in
the other compartment, the Duke of Newcastle, as minister, is
* Alluding to the execution of Dr. Cameron this year, which had excited
compassion rather than exultation, even among a mob which appears to
Lave b. <an especially greedy of such sights.
+ The act for the regulation of mairiages had met with great opposition,
and it was f;ir from popular witli the multitude. On the banner seen
through the window, in one edition of Hogarth s print of " The Election
PiniH'i," we see the words, " Marry and multiply in spite of the "
In April, on the eve of the elections, a caricature appeared under the title
of "The Eccl st 1 Millers ; or. the funeral of Private Matrimony ;" and
in the October following was published "The Marriage Act, a Novel/"
THE ELECTIONS. 183
oppressing our own trade, and sacrificing our merchant navy, by
loading commerce with an accumulation of oppressive taxes.
The journals of the month of September announce, among other
new prints, a caricature, entitled " The Differences of Time be-
tween those times and 'these times" no doubt designed in the
same spirit.
But the elections of 1754 will ever be memorable in the
history of art, as having given rise to Hogarth's four capital
prints of the humours of an election, the first of which was
published in 1755, and the other three in the following years,
and which contain several allusions 'to circumstances Connected
with the great contest in Oxfordshire. The first of these prints,
as every reader will be aware, represents an election dinner,
which was now one of the first and most necessary steps of the
candidate towards popular favour. The inscription on the
banner, and the effigy of the- Duke of Newcastle, with the
words " Ho Jews " (seen through the window), allude to the
popular subjects of agitation, and show that one candidate be-
longs to the " Old Interest." The second plate, which contains
more of political satire than the others, represents the canvass
for votes. Two Inns, the Royal Oak and the Crown, are the
head-quarters of the rival candidates ; and a third, the Porto
Bello, appears to be neuter. The Royal Oak is evidently in the
Old Interest, and a large caricature painted on cloth hangs from
the sign-post; in the upper part of which the height of the
Treasury is contrasted with the squat solidity of the then new
Horse-Guards, the arch of which is^so low that the state-coach-
man risks his head in attempting to drive under it, while the
turret at the, top is drawn like a beer-barrel. This was designed
for a satire on Ware, the architect. Money is thrown from the
Treasury window, to be put in a waggon for carriage to the
country. In the compartment below, " Punch, candidate lor
Guzzledown," has a wheelbarrow full of gold, which he is dis-
tributing to the electors with a ladle.
" See from the Treasury flows the gold,
To shew that those who' re bought are sold I
Come, Perjury, meet it on the road
'Tis all your own a waggon-load.
Ye party fools, ye courtier tribe,
*v "\N"i;o gain no vote without a bribe,
*'! ' Lavishly kind, yet insincere,
Behold in i'uncb yourselves appear
And you, ye fools, who poll for pay,
Ye little great men of a day,
For whom your favourite will not care,
) ' Observe how much bewitchM you are. "
i8 4
THE ELECTIONS.
The candidate is purchasing trinkets of a Jew to conciliate
the favour of the ladies, whilst a messenger brings him a letter,
addressed, " Tim Parti-toole, Esq." The Crown, which is
stated also to be the excise-office, is attacked by a mob, who are
pulling down the sign, which threatens to crush them in its
fall ; while the landlord is shooting at them from the window.
In front an elector is receiving bribes from both parties, whose
agents are presenting him with invitations to dinner at the rival
inns. The only sign of political activity at the third inn con-
sists in two men seated at a table, drinking, and arguing on the
capture of Porto Bello, one of them explaining to the other,
with pieces of tobacco pipe, how the place was taken with six
ships only. At the door of the inn of the opposition member
is a wooden lion, devouring a fleur de Us, intimating that the
Old Interest were already urging to those hostilities with
France, which soon followed the period of the elections.
" Oh, Britain, favourite isle of heaven,
When to thy sons shall peace be given f
The treachery of the Gallic shore
Makes even thy wooden lions roar."
The third plate of Hogarth's series represents the various
tricks and frauds used in " polling for the votes ;" and, in the
fourth, the successful can-
didate is chaired, and en-
joying his turbulent, and
apparently somewhat pe-
rilous triumph, amidst a
scene of wild uproar. It
is generally understood
that Hogarth's successful
candidate, who is of the
New Interest, is intended
to represent the celebrated
Bubb Dodington, the in-
triguing manager of the
Leicester House opposi-
tion. In the plate the
artist has represented a
goose flying over his head,
which is said to be designed for a parody on Le Brun's engrav-
ing of the battle of the Granicus, in which an eagle is repre-
sented hovering over the head of Alexander the Great.
On the eve of the elections, an event occurred which opened
a door for new intrigues among the younger statesmen, who
1HE SUCCESSFUL CANT1DATE.
THE FRENCH IN AMERICA. 185
were struggling for power. The prime minister, Henry Pelham,
died on the 6th of March, 1754. His brother and colleague,
the Duke of Newcastle, who had long divided the cabinet by
his personal rivalry, succeeded in obtaining the premiership, and
at the same time provoked the hostility (concealed for a while)
of two other rivals in ambition, Pitt and Fox, who were left in
their subordinate places, although one of Pitt's friends, Mr.
Legge, was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, while Sir
Thomas Robinson succeeded Newcastle as Secretary of State.
The Duke had indirectly fomented the King's dislike to Pitt
and Fox. In the course of the autumn these two statesmen
formed a private coalition against the ministry, under which
they held place, and it was a secret article of their league, that,
in case of success, the latter should be placed at the head of
the Treasury, while the former was to be Secretary of State.
Pitt and Fox, together, were all-powerful in the House of Com-
mons ; and when the Duke of Newcastle was made aware of
the coalition, he hazarded a desperate attempt to separate them,
and succeeded in detaching Fox, by introducing him into the
cabinet as one of the secretaries of state.
Amid these intrigues at home, Europe began again to be
threatened with a general war, in which England was made
more especially interested by the encroachment of the French
upon our colonies in North America, and by their intrigues
against us in India. In America, without any declaration of
war, the hostilities of the French had been carried so far, that
when the Parliament assembled in November (1754), the King
was obliged to ask for extraordinary supplies for the defence of
our possessions. All the measures of the ministry now began
to take a more warlike tone, and the Duke of Newcastle, al-
though he was far from showing any eagerness for hostilities,
became more popular with the multitude. England and France,
were, however, soon at war in different parts of the globe, while
each pretended to be at peace, and endeavoured to throw the
blame of hostilities on the other. The French Government
dissimulated its real designs, while hastening forwards its arma-
ment with the greatest vigour ; the English ministers were
wanting in vigilance and foresight, and had been neglecting the
navy and the colonies ; they even now spoke slightingly of the
latter, and of the folly of being plunged into a war for them.
In March, 1/55, they no longer concealed their belief that hos-
tilities were inevitable, and they sent a fleet, under Boscawen,
to North America, although they were so completely deceived
by the demonstrations of the French, that they anticipated the
1 86
THE BRITISH LION ROUSED.
attack at home, in England, or at least in Ireland. Boscawen
missed the French fleet, which had preceded him, but two
French men-of-war were captured, and the news, on its arrival
in England, was received with the greatest exultation. This
event, which appears to have been equally unexpected to the
courts of England and France, made a further complication in
their relations, and forced the former into more decided hostili-
ties. Although the English cruisers captured French ships
wherever they met them, both governments still persisted in
stating that they hoped to preserve peace between the two
countries. The backwardness of the Duke of Newcastle in
supporting British rights against French encroachments had
already been made the subject of a caricature, published on 1 he
4th of April, entitled " The Grand Monarque in a Fright ; or
THE BRITISH LION ROUSED.
the British Lion roused from his lethargy." Newcastle is re-
straining the angry animal, who is hardly pacified by the assur-
ance, " Peace, peace, my brave fellow ! Be quiet ; rely on the
equity and veracity of the most Christian King, and all things
shall be adjudged by the commissaries of both nations." The
equity and veracity of the French court were certainly not
at this moment generally believed in. The capture of the
two French ships, and the intelligence brought by every
new arrival of preparations in our colonies, raised still further
the national spirit, and people began already to dream of
the expulsion of the French from America. On the nth of
August, another caricature, entitled "British Rights maintained ;
or, French, ambition dismantled," represented the Gallic cock
THE GALLIC COCK PLUCKED.
187
THB GALLIC COCK PLUCKED.
plucked of his feathers by the British lion, and compelled to
utter a sorrowful " Peccavi !" The feathers under the lion's
paw are severally inscribed with
the names of the French forts
in North America, " Beau Se-
jour," "Fort St. John's,"
" Crown Point," "Ohio," "Que-
bec," &c. Britannia, bearing
the cap of liberty on her spear,
is encouraging her lion, while
behind, Mars and Neptune are
carving put for her portions in
the map of North America
with her sword and trident. A
negro boy laughs at the un-
fortunate cock, and exclaims,
" Pretty bird, how will you get
home again ?" On the other
side of the picture stands ano-
ther group. The genius of France, weeping, exclaims, " Ave
Maria ! que ferrons nous ? After our massacres and persecu-
tions, must heretics possess this promised land, which we so
piously have called our own ?" On a hill in the distance is
seen a martyr burning at the stake. A Frenchman, with cha-
grin marked in his countenance and attitude, who is designated
as " Mons. le Politicien," bites
his hat in his spite, and ex-
claims, " Garni bleu ! If our
fleet had not been lost in a
fog, we should have trompe
les f Anglois out of tout
1'Amerique Septentrional." A
British "jack-tar," taking him
by the shoulder, and calling
his attention to the operations
of Neptune and Mars on the
map, says, " Hark ye, Moun- ,
seer! was that your map of'.
North America ? What a vast
tract of land you had ! Pity
the right owner should take it
from you !" In the distance,
the comet of " universal monarchy," represented as the grand
object of French ambition, is falling into the sea.*
In the previous month of July, another caricature had appeared rela-
FBANCE IN THE DUMPS.
1 88 PITT IN OPPOSITION.
Shortly after the appearance of this caricature, the public ex-
ultation was considerably damped by the arrival of the news from
America of the disastrous result of General Braddock's expedi-
tion against the French on the Ohio ; and other news, equally
dispiriting, that followed in quick succession, raised a cry of dis-
appointment in the mother-country, which fell heavy upon
ministers In November, as the session of Parliament ap-
proached, another caricature appeared, attacking the half-mea-
sures of the English court, and described in the advertisement as
" Two Utopian scenes, called Half Peace, Half War."
The opposition was evidently gaining force ; and when Parlia-
ment met, on the i3th of November, Pitt, who had long been
coquetting with popularity, and who, although he retained his
office of Paymaster of the Forces, had been brooding over his dis-
appointments, suddenly dragged his colleague Legge, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, into open opposition to the measures of
the court. In one of his grandest outbreaks of eloquence, Pitt
assailed the whole system of foreign negotiations pursued by the
ministers, and attacked the subsidy treaties with the continental
powers with the same anti-Hanoverian spirit he had displayed in
his younger days. A week after, on the 26th of November, Pitt
and Legge were dismissed from their offices. Pitt had already
formed a close alliance with the Leicester House faction, and he
now became the acknowledged leader of the opposition, weak as
it still was, in the House of Commons. The ministry, however,
still held on with its large, and, as it was said, paid majorities,
and Fox was left to display his talents in contending in the arena
of oratory with his powerful antagonist. Horace Walpole, in a
letter dated the i2th of February, 1756, describes the House of
Commons as then "divided into a very dialogue between Pitt
and Fox."
In the preceding year, in a letter dated August 4, Walpole,
speaking of the recriminations between the courts of France and
England upon the capture of the French ships in America, had
said, with a sneer, " Mirepoix [the French Ambassador] com-
plained grievously, that the Duke of Newcastle had overreached
him ; but he is to be forgiven in so good a cause ! It is the first
person he ever deceived !" The Duke's incapacity and unfitness
to guide the councils of his country, under the difficult circum-
stances in which she was now placed, became more apparent
every day. By pretended preparations to invade England, the
ting to the hostilities in America, entitled "The American Moose Deer; or,
away to the river Ohio." Copies of it are in the collections of Mr. Hawking
and Mr. Burke.
PORT MASON IN DANGER. 189
French court had completely drawn off the attention of the
English ministry from its real preparations, on the most ex-
tensive scale, for the invasion of Minorca and reduction of Port
Mahon, a possession which the English people had been taught
latterly to consider as second only to Gibraltar. When our
ministers were repeatedly warned of the danger, and when they
were fully assured of the intentions of France, they still persisted
in keeping our ships at home, and in leaving the weak garrison
at St. Philip's Fort, which protected Port Mahon, without rein-
forcements. At length, with the beginning of January, 1756,
the alarm became general ; odes and poems on the honour and
bravery of Britons were bandied about during the following
month ; and the newspapers inform us, that, on Wednesday, the
3rd of March, " the hottest press began for seamen that ever was
known." It was determined to send forthwith a fleet to the
Mediterranean. On the i8ih of March, Horace Walpole writes,
" We proceed fiercely in armament." The ministers now com-
mitted a new fault, in appointing to the command of the Medi-
terranean fleet an officer of very mean capacity, and with little
experience Admiral Byng, the son of old Admiral Byng of
Queen Anne's days, who had been raised to the peerage by the
title of Earl of Torrington. Byng sailed on the 5th of April,
with ten ships of the line (Newcastle had been persuaded by
Anson to send no more), and a small body of troops to reinforce
Blakeney's small garrison. The fleet lost some time on its way
to Gibraltar, and there it did not receive the additional troops it
expected. Owing to these delays, Byng did not reach Minorca
till the 1 8th of May, when the French fleet had preceded him,
and landed 16,000 men, who immediately formed the siege of
the fortress held by Blakeney. Byug had hardly arrived, when
the French fleet, consisting of thirteen ships of the line and four
smaller vessels, made its appearance, and the two hostile arma-
ments were formed in line of battle, and watched and manoeuvred
till night. Next morning the French fleet had disappeared. It
returned towards the middle of the day, when the two fleets
again formed in order of battle ; and about two o'clock Byng
gave the signal to engage, but in so contradictory a manner, that
it only caused confusion among his ships. Bear-Admiral West,
the second in command, acting upon the intention of the order,
and not upon the letter, bore away with his division, attacked
the enemy with the greatest bravery, and had already driven
several of their ships out of the line, when, unsupported by the
rest of the English fleet, he was obliged to return. Had the
whole fleet followed the example of West, it is probable that the
190 LOSS OF PORT MASON,
French would have been defeated, and Minorca saved : but Byng
seems to have acted in the utmost confusion ; his own ship, the
Intrepid, had become for a moment unmanageable, and driven on
the next ship in position ; and, in spite of the expostulations of
his captain, Byng refused to advance for fear of breaking his
line. The French Admiral, De la Galissoniere, who appeared to
be no more desirous of fighting than the English, took advantage
of this slowness to effect his retreat. Byng then gave orders
for the chase, but the French ships were in better condition, and
were soon out of sight. Next day Byng called a council of war,
represented to them the bad condition of his fleet, and the
superiority of the enemy in men and guns, and it was determined
to leave Blakeney to his fate, and return to Gibraltar. The
brave little garrison of Fort St. Philip held out five weeks
longer against its horde of besiegers, and then made an honour-
able capitulation.
In England the greatest anxiety was shewn for the fate of
Port Mahon, and the public were encouraged in forming extra-
vagant expectations of the success of the expedition under Admi-
ral Byng. When, therefore, his despatch arrived in the month
of June, the ministry were overwhelmed with consternation, and
the country was thrown into an absolute fury. The public ex-
asperation was increased on the arrival of the French accounts,
which exulted over the defeat of the English fleet, their own fleet
having returned on Byng's disappearance ; for, though neither
party could establish any fair claim to a victory, it was evident
that both had run away.
" We Lave lately been told
Of two admirals bold,
Who engaged in a terrible fight ;
They met after noon,
Which I think was too soon,
As they both ran away before night."
So said one of the popular epigrams of the day ; and it wa? at
first the general belief that Byng had betrayed his country by
his pusillanimity, and that, if he had fought, Port Mahon would
have been saved.
The English ministers, to whose improvidence and ill-manage-
ment the loss of Port Mahon was chiefly to be ascribed, in their
terror, attempted to save themselves by throwing the odium on
the unfortunate admiral. Anson, who presided at the Admiralty,
was especially active in fanning up the popular flame. Artful
emissaries, we are informed by the writers of the time, mingled
with all public assemblies, from the drawing room at St. James's
BYN&S DESPATCH. 191
to the inob at Charing-Cross, expatiating on Byng's insolence,
folly, and cowardice, and exaggerating the losses which were
believed to be occasioned by it. His despatch, which was cer-
tainly a very lame explanation of his conduct, but which it was
pretended the ministry had curtailed of sundry passages reflecting
on their own share in the disaster, was everywhere turned into
ridicule, and was even versified in a variety of shapes, of which
the following may serve as a sample.
"THE LETTER OF A CERTAIN ADMIRAL.
" Mr. C [Cleveland*], I pray, to their L a [lordships] you'll say,
We are glad and rejoice above measure :
When you've read what is writ you, you'll laugh till it split you,
And so give me joy of my pleasure.
" We'd a wind, you must know, as fair as could blow,
And therefore in days just eleven,
We had sail'd from the shore full ten leagues or more,
And saw nought but the ocean and heaven.
" Then seventeen ships came licking their lips,
And crying out 'Fee, faw, and /urn,-'
Biger each than St. Paul ; guns, the devil and all ;
And, egad, looking wondrous glum.
" But no matter for that, who says pit a pat !
We tack'd, and we stood to the weather ;
We tack'd quite about, right and left, brave and stout,
And so we were sideways together.
" Souls five score and two, maugre all they could do,
We took in a tartan alive ;
Six hundred did sail in the vessel so frail,
But our hundred had eat up the five.
" But of this by the bye ; for now we drew nigh
To each other quite close nay, 'tis true :
Six times two of the line, large, grand, bright, and fine ;
Five frigates ! but look'd rather blue.
" Fair Honour, quoth I, in thy arms let me die,
And my glory burn clear in the socket ;
Not an ounce more of powder, or a gun a note louder,
So the d [directions ?] I put in my pocket.
" Brave W [ West] led the van, I followed amain ;
Such closing and raking, and work,
With foresails and braces all flutt'ring in pieces,
'Twould have melted the heart of a Turk,
" But the devil, in spite, to blast our delight,
Got aboard the I d [Intrepid], his daughter,
Made her jump, fly, and stumble, reel, elbow, and tumble,
And drove us quite out of the water.
* The despatch was directed to Mr. Cleveland, the Secretary of tho
Admiralty.
I9 BYNG PLACED UNDER ARREST.
" And now, being tea-time, we thought it was the time
To talk over what we had done ;
So we put on the kettle, our tempers to settle,
And presently set the fair sun.
" Our c 1 [council] next day, in seemly array,
Met, sat, and debated the story ;
We found that our fleet at last might be bpat,
And then, you know, where is the glory }
" Moreover, 'twas plain, three ships in the van
Had their glasses and china all broke ;
And thit gave the balance, in spite of great talents,
Against us, a damnable stroke !
" Without fear of reproaches, as sound as your roaches,
Of glory we've saved our whole stock ;
"Twere pity, indeed, to lose it, or bleed,
For a toothless old man and a rock."
The ministers had sent out two new admirals, Hawke and
Saunders, to take command of the fleet of the Mediterranean
When Byng learnt that he was recalled, he wrote a recri-
minatory letter to the Admiralty, which increased the fears and
anger of the Government. Orders were immediately des-
patched to Admiral Hawke to place Byng under arrest, and
send him home a prisoner. On his arrival at Portsmouth, the
fury of the mob was so great, that it required a strong guard to
hinder him from being torn to pieces. His effigy had been
already burnt in almost every town in England ; and the
number of pamphlets both serious and burlesque, of satirical
poems and incendiary ballads, of prints and caricatures, that
were launched into the world on this question, during the
autumn and winter, is almost incredible. It was long since the
nation had been in anything like such a state of excitement and
fermentation.
The ministers soon found that they were themselves in
danger of being overwhelmed by the storm which they had
thus conjured up ; for the tide of unpopularity was running
fast against them, especially against Fox and Anson, while Pitt
had become the idol of the multitude. The loss of Oswego,
and some other successes of the French in America, came soon
after to increase the dissatisfaction against the men who were
now openly blamed for their want of foresight, for their
disregard of the American settlements, and for the ignorance
they had exhibited in the direction of the naval force of the
country. One of the popular tracts for street sale, (or, as they
are more techically called, chap-books,) published at this time,
bears the title of " A Rueful Story ; or, Britain in tears : being
THE DEVIL'S DANCE.
193
FOX AND GOOSE.
the conduct of Admiral B g. . . . London: Printed by
Boatswain Hawl-up, a broken-hearted sailor." A large folding
broadside, which serves as a frontispiece,
is adorned with a coarse wood-cut, repre-
senting Byng in chains, with the ghosts
of his slaughtered sailors appearing to him
in his prison, and surrounded by doggerel
verses ; and the body of the tract consists of
an inflammatory report of Byng's conduct,
in which he is represented as the willing
tool of ministerial mismanagement ; with
the addition of a number of doggerel bal-
lads in the same spirit. One of the more
remarkable of the caricatures, published
under the title of " The Devil's Dance
set to French music,' 1 of which there is
a copy in the collection ov Mr. Hawkins,
represents the trio, Fox, Byng, and
Newcastle, with cloven hoofs. Fox, with
the head and tail of the animal
designated by his name, carries a goose,
the representative of An son, (by a miser-
able pnn upon his name anser being the Latin for a goose,) and
is treading under foot a bundle of papre siuscribed, " Honour "
"Law," "Justice," "Honesty," "Li-
berty," "Property." The Duke of
Newcastle is trampling on " Magna
Charta," and "The Constitution;"
while Byng, who is dressed as a French
beau, in the highest cut of the fashion,
with a flenr de lis in his heart, is
dancing gaily upon "Port Mahon,"
and the various treaties and great ex-
ploits of former commanders. In an-
other caricature, entitled " A Court
Conversation," Fox and Anson, with
the heads of a fox and a goose, the
latter leaning on a broken anchor, and
pointing to the London Gazette, are
conversing upon the ill success of their
attempt to ward off the storm from
themselves by garbling the admiral's
despatches: the goo-e-head has an THB CLOVEN-FOOTED ADHIBAU
admirably reproachful look.
194 CARICATURES ON BYNG.
"Quoth Anser to Reynard, ' Methinks you had better
Have not made RO free with this cursed letter.'
Sly Reynard replied, ' Yet your Lordship must own,
Not Byng had been burnt, if the truth had been known.'"
Behind this group is the council-table, where three of the
members are disturbed by the fall of a picture of the siege
of Port Mahon, which is the cause of the overthrow of the
table. A map of North America hangs covered with cobwebs ;
and a pile of useless subsidiary treaties lie near a " place
and pension ledger." Byng appears to have been known
at home as a fop and man of fashion, (a class which, as
imitators of French manners, were themselves unpopular with
the mob) and as a great boaster ; and it appears that he was a
collector of china-ware, which explains one allusion in the
metrical version of his letter given above.
In another caricature Byng is represented
"at home" and "abroad." In the
first compartment he appears in the
full garb of a "beau," with the
muff, and every other accessory to
that character, exclaiming gaily, " Pray,
my lords, let me go, and I'll perform
wonders." At the side is a parcel of
china, with the inscription " China-ware-
house." In the other compartment, Byng
"abroad" is represented in chains, with a
halter round his neck, and beneath him the
inscription a "Lost Sheep." In another
print, entitled " The Contrast," in which
Byng is placed in disadvantageous contrast
with Blakeney, the fatal halter is again an
accessory, and the distich which accom-
panies it appears to bear allusion to the " lost sheep " of the
former.
" 'Tis Britannia's doom, here's a halter for B ,
As he fought like a sheep, like a dog let him swing."
In several other caricatures Byng is represented either as
designed for the gallows, or, at least, as worthy of it ; and
in one, entitled "Byng Triumphant," which appears to
have been especially popular, the unfortunate Admiral is con-
ducted in a sort of mock triumph through Temple Bar, on
which the emblems of the traitor's fate are fearfully con-
spicuous, to the place of execution, hooted and pelted by
THE BEAU ADMIKAL.
CARICATURES ON BYNG.
'95
the attendant mob of English, Irish, and Scots, while a French-
man exclaims in astonishment, " Le diable ! la monseur le grand
monarque no serva Monsieur Grallisouiere so as dese, for sava his
fleet."
It was the universal opinion, un-
til his character in this respect was
cleared by the court-martial, that
Byng had behaved with cowardice ;
but it was almost as generally be-
lieved that he had been treacherous
to his country, that French gold
had secured the capture of Minorca ;
and in this charge the ministry bore
their full share. A medal* was
circulated, representing on the ob-
verse a figure of Admiral Byng
receiving a bag of money from a
hand belonging to a person concealed, with the inscription,
" Was Minorca sold
By B for French gold !"
On the reverse Blakeney is represented holding a flag before
a fort, from which three guns are fired, and a ship is seen in the
distance. The inscription is,
" Brave Blakeney reward,
But to B give a cord."
It was represented that the people who governed the country
were so much addicted to French luxuries and French vices,
that they would willingly have allowed our enemies to get pos-
session of Minorca, and blink at their encroachment in America,
rather than have a war, which would cut off the supplies that
peace with France administered to their vanities. A clever
caricature appeared on the a^th of November, entitled " Bird-
THB SCRAMBLER OVERTHROWN.
This medal is in the collection of Mr. Haggard.
ip<5 ANSON THE GAMBLER.
ime for Bunglers ; or, the French way of catching fools ;" in
which the French intriguer is emptying out of a large bag,
money, mixed with articles labelled " wine," "cooks," "valets,"
" dancers," " fiddlers," &c. The English ministers are scram-
bling for the prize. Byng is prostrate, crushed by the weight
of the fallen ministers ; he grasps in his right hand two
articles inscribed " wine" and "a tartans," the latter an allusion
to Byng's captures ; while the unlucky Admiral, who has lost
his wig in the fall, exclaims, " Oh, the devil take your lime !
I am limed and twigg'd too, with a p to you ! Murder !
murder ! was it for this that I had the pleasure of saving
the K 's ships ?" Upon Byng lies Fox, with a bag contain-
ing three millions in his left hand, yet still in his prostrate posi-
tion stretching out his right hand for more. Under his knee is
a label inscribed, " Large Fees for the bottomless Pitt ;" and he
exclaims, " In for a penny, in for a pound ; for I find I cannot
draw back my paw in time." The Chancellor, Hardwicke,
greedily snatches at the money with both hands, exclaiming, in
allusion to his marriage bill, " Have not I saved thousands from
the lime-twigs of matrimony, and shall not I have my fees ?"
Underneath the picture is written, " Oh ! how the mighty are
fallen !" The caricature was, in fact, published when the minis-
try was in dissolution. The French distributor of these good
things observes, " By Gar, dis lime vil stick longer to deir ribs
den deir fingers ; and, now I ave found .de grand secret, I vil not
only trap de Auglois, but tout le monde." Behind him stands
a figure, evidently intended to represent Newcastle, grasping in
his hand a bag containing eight millions, and remarking gravely,
" An excellent way, 'faith ! I find a Fox may be caught as easily
as an. old woman." The unpopularity of Fox had in some mea-
sure relieved Newcastle. On
the other side of the picture
appears Lord Anson, rushing
eagerly to share in the
spoils; but, encumbered by
an E. O. table, an allusion
to his passion for gambling,
he cries out, " E. O., my
heart of gold, tip us a hand-
full, for I have had a d d
bad run." Above him is a
tablet, " To the memory of
A. B. [Admiral Bynq] May
2ist, 1756;" and near it,
THB CAUDIDATE ENCUMBERED. on the wall of the apart-
FOX'S RESIGNATION. 197
ment, the picture of Justice is obscured by an immense cobweb,
in which a large spider exclaims,
** Sure no vast difference betwixt us lies,
Since you catch men as I catch flies."
Among the numerous caricatures and satirical tracts published
during this period of excitement, it will be sufficient to mention
the titles of the following : In September, a caricature, " The
Fox in the Pit ;" in October, a tract entitled " The Resigna-
tion ; or, the Fox out of the Pitt, and the Geese in, with
B y at the bottom ;" and two caricatures, " The Auction of
the Effects of John Bull " (his foreign possessions offered by
his rulers for sale to the highest bidder), and " The Downfall,
as it will shortly be performed, to the tune of ' M y's
\Murray's*~\ Delight ;' " and, in November, a pamphlet, " The
History of Reynard the Fox, and Bruin the Bear," &c.
To explain these titles, it will be necessary to state, that, on
the 27th of October, Fox, terrified at the approach of the new
session of Parliament under such a load of unpopularity, and
feeling that he was in danger of becoming a scape-goat to some
of his colleagues, resigned his place of Secretary of State. The
Duke of Newcastle, in his distress, made overtures to Pitt, who
now, in the pride of his own strength and popularity, refused to
join in any ministry of which Newcastle formed a part. After
several vain attempts to form an administration, the Duke was
obliged to resign, and he was immediately followed by the Lord
Chancellor, Lord Hardwicke. The King was now placed under
the necessity of calling in Pitt, against whom he had always in-
dulged strong hostile feelings. Pitt, who had profited by the
experience of the consequence of his former eagerness to accept
place, and now determined not to lose his popularity, showed
no anxiety to listen to the call, but suddenly took upon himself
a fit of the gout. Pitt's demands were at first considered so
unreasonable, that a new attempt, equally unsuccessful with the
former, was made to raise a ministry without him. At length
the King was compelled, much against his inclination, to accept
an administration in which Pitt succeeded Fox as principal
Secretary of State ; his friend Legge was again made Chancellor
of the Exchequer ; his brother-in-law, Lord Temple, succeeded
Lord Anson at the Admiralty ; and all the other places were
filled up by his friends and partisans. The King opened the
* Murray was the Attorney-General, one of the best speakers in the
House of Commons, who was now going to the upper House as Lord Chief
Justice, under the title of Lord Mansfield, and leaving the ministers to
fight their own battles in the Commons.
198 EXECUTION OF ADMIRAL BYNG.
Parliament at the beginning of December, with a speech far
more English in his sentiments than he had ever been made to
utter belore ; and Pitt and Temple thwarted the royal inclination
in several of his favourite foreign measures, which were distaste-
ful to the English people. But the ministers joined (probably
with foresight) in aiding the King of Prussia, who was now
fairly entered into that celebrated war which tore Europe to its
entrails during seven years. The new ministry met with consi-
derable opposition, besides being disagreeable to the King ; for
they were beaten in some of the elections rendered necessary by
their accession to office, and even their royal speech was ridiculed
in a production of so libellous a character, that it was ordered
to be burnt in the Palace Yard by the common hangman, and
the printer was thrown into prison. The King, who did not
conceal his dislike to his ministers, is said to have expressed his
opinion in private society, that the libellous speech was better
than the original.
In January, 1757, Admiral Byng was brought to his trial
before a court-martial, and was found guilty of not having done
the utmost he might have done to perform the duty imposed
upon him ; and therefore his judges were obliged, by a recently
enacted and very oppressive law, to condemn him to be shot to
death ; but they fully absolved him of having shown any want
of courage, and he was strongly recommended to the royal
mercy. The utmost exertions were made by the Admiral's
friends, and even by many who were not his friends, to obtain
his pardon ; but the gates of mercy had been already shut to
him. The Duke of Newcastle had led the King, when peti-
tioned by the city of London, at the moment of greatest ex-
citement, into a eokmn promise that he would allow justice to
t:ike its course ; and now, on the one side, the ministers who
were out were anxious to sacrifice him, in order to turn the blame
of misconduct from themselves, while those who were in had
not the courage to risk their own popularity by saving him.
An agitation was got up in the city, and the King was
publicly called upon to fulfil his promise; and on the 3rd
of March papers were fixed on the Exchange, with the words
"Shoot B\ng, or take care of your King." This was com-
monly ascribed to the emissaries of Lord Anson. At length,
after much hesitation, the sentence was carried into execu-
tion on board his prison-ship, the Monarque, off Spithead, on
Monday, the i4th of March. The feeling of the nation at
large, as is always the case when a length of time elapses
before the passions of the populace are indulged, had been
A NEW TRIUMVIRATE.
199
gradually subsiding, or, at least, people had begun to lose sigbt
of Byng in their anger against the late ministers ; and the heroic
fortitude with which he met his fate moved universal compas-
sion, and rendered his enemies still more unpopular. People
now spoke openly of Byng as the scape-goat of ministerial mis-
conduct, and they pitied and lamented his fate in a number of
epigrams and short poems which appeared in the daily prints
during several months after his death. We meet also with a
caricature, published about this time, entitled " Byng's Ghost
to the triumvirate." The triumvirate here represented was
composed of Newcastle, Anson, and Hardwicke. But, in speak-
ing of this triumvirate, the name of Fox, at this moment the
most unpopular of all the late ministers, commonly took the
place of that of Lord Anson. In a print published at this
time, the three heads of the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Hard-
wicke, and Fox are represented joined together in a piece of
stone, as a remarkable specimen
of a lusus naturae, or " A curious
Petri-faction." The allusion is
to the Duke of Newcastle's secre-
tary, Andrew Stone, who had
been appointed sub-governor of
the Prince of Wales, and who,
accused of Jacobitism, had re-
cently been the cause of high dis-
putes at court : he was looked
upon as the Duke's creature ; and
in a collection of caricatures to
which we shall shortly allude, one
represents Newcastle as the old
woman of the fable riding on
his ass, Stone. In the '' lusus
naturae," we are told that the two outside faces (Newcastle and
Fox) represent " two heads imperfect and of a black hue, sup-
pos'd to have been wood." The one in the middle (Lord Hard-
wicke) is " a stone head, not esteem'd and very dull." The
stone on which they are placed is " a sort of petrified fungus, to
which they adhere."
Pitt's popularity had increased in the same extravagant de-
gree that Fox had become unpopular ; but during the winter
which followed his accession to power he was paralysed by con-
tinued attacks of the gout, a disease to which he was constitu-
tionally subject. It was commonly said that Pitt's gout was of
a convenient kind, and that its attacks were often assumed as
A LUSUS NATUR.E.
200 PITT DISMISSED.
excuses for not attending upon the King, with whose aversion
for him he was well acquainted. The public, however, believed
otherwise, and they looked with the greatest anxiety for his
recovery from what they fancied was the sole impediment to his
taking ample vengeance on our foreign enemies for the disasters
of the previous year.
" The land to rescue from impending fate,
Pitt rose, the smooth-tongued Nestor of the state.
The world in prospect saw our fame advance,
Our thunder rolling through the realm of France.
But heav'n (in mercy to the trembling foe)
Bade the gout seize his senatorial toe.
Thus, when Tydides swept the ranks of fight,
And drove opposing hosts to realms of night,
Swift from young Paris flew a whizzing spear,
Stopt the stern hero in his fell career,
Quick gliding, through the foot an entrance found,
And nailed the bleeding warrior to the ground."
So wrote a poet in the Gentleman's Magazine on the izth of
February. At this very time, the King, who hated his ministry
the more from the humiliation he felt at having had it forced
upon him by the Leicester House faction (for it was the Princess
of Wales and her new favourite, the Earl of Bute, who had been
chiefly instrumental in forming it), was making a vain attempt
in private to form another more to his own taste ; and his deter-
mination to get rid of Pitt was fixed by the refusal of the Duke
of Cumberland to take the command of the allied army in Han-
over while that minister remained in power. The King first
tried the Duke of Newcastle, who declined hazarding himself
until the public discontent had been allowed time to subside ; he
then commanded Fox to form an administration in concert with
the Duke of Cumberland. But the plan Fox at first drew up was
neither practicable in itself nor altogether satisfactory to the
King, on account of the unreasonable demands made by the
maker for his own friends and family. When the King had
been brought to consent to it, Fox found that only one of the
persons he had pitched upon for ministers, Bubb Dodington,
would venture to enlist under his banners. The King then,
driven to desperation, prevailed upon Lord Winchelsea to take
the Admiralty, and dismissed Pitt's brother-in-law, Lord Temple.
About a week after this, still urged on by the Duke of Cumber-
land, the King dismissed Pitt himself, who was followed by his
friend Legge and several others, who resigned their offices.
The cabinet was now virtually broken up, without even the
prospect of a ministry to succeed it. Pitt became at once the
MINISTERIAL INTERREGNUM.
201
idol of the people : a few days after his dismissal, the city of
London determined to present the freedom in gold boxes to
him and Legge ; and the example of London was followed by a
number of other cities. People compared Pitt's disinterested
patriotism with the time-serving greediness of Fox and his
friends ; and, among a variety of political epigrams and squibs
on the occasion, it was suggested in one that a division of the
popular offerings might be made, to the satisfaction of both
parties.
" The two great rivals London might content,
If what he values most to each she sent ;
111 was the franchise coupled with the box ;
Give Pitt the Freedom, and the gold to Fox."
The embarrassment into which the court was now thrown,
without a ministry, and unable to form one, and the consequent
intrigues within and excitement out of
doors, gave rise to a swarm of political
squibs and caricatures. Among the
most remarkable of the latter was a
caricature, said to be by the Hon. George
Townshend, published about the middle
of April, and entitled " The Recruiting
Sergeant." It was intended to ridicule
Fox's abortive attempt to form a cabi-
net, and represents that statement lead-
ing his few ill-assorted recruits towards
an altar, on which is placed the fat Duke
of Cumberland, crowned with laurel.
One of the foremost is Winchelsea, who
had so readily accepted the Admiralty.
Then comes the lean figure of Lord
Sandwich, carrying his cricket-bat*
on his shoulder, and exclaiming, " I
love deep play ; this or nothing !"
He is followed by Bubb Dodington,
who was one of those readiest to take
office under Fox, and whose extraordi-
nary corpulence was as remarkable as
the leanness of the Earl of Sandwich.
Bubb, overcome with the fatigue of the march, cries with an
imploring look, " I can't follow this lean fellow much longer,
* Lord Sandwich was a noted cricket-player. It may be observed that
several copies or imitations of this caricature appeared, and the different
characters were also published on separate cards.
A LEAN BECRCIT.
202
MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES.
A TAT FOLLOWER.
that's flat."* Early in May was pub-
lished a pamphlet under the title of
" The Chronicle of the short Reign
of Honesty," as his admirers called
Pitt's administration. In the same
month, as we learn from Horace Wai-
pole, came out a bitter caricature
against the Pitt party, entitled " The
Turnstile." In June, among other
satirical prints on the embarrassments
in the formation of a ministry, were
two, entitled " The Distressed States-
man," and " The Treaty ; or Shabear's
administration."
The country remained more than
eleven weeks without a ministry. At
first the King tried some men of in-
ferior rank as statesmen, but met with
nothing but refusals ; and then he made
a new application to the Duke of New-
castle, who attempted a coalition with
Pitt and with the Leicester House party.
Pitt refused to join in a ministry in which the chief power was not
placed in his own hands ; upon which Newcastle formed the plan
of an administration from which Pitt and his friends were to be
entirely excluded ; but this also failed. Then followed a new
negotiation between Newcastle and Lord Bute for the Leicester
House party ; and a plan was drawn up, in which Pitt and Lord
* On the oth of April, Horace Walpole speaks of this caricature in the
following terms in a letter to Sir Horace Mann :
" Pamphlets, curds, and prints swarm again : George Townshend haa
published one of the latter, which is so admirable in its kind, that I cannot
help sending it to you. His genius for likenesses in caricature is asto-
nishing ; indeed, Lord Winchelsea's figure is not heightened ; your friends
Dodington and Lord Sandwich are like ; the former made me laugh till I
cried. The Hanoverian drummer El, is, is the least like, though it has
much of his air. J need say nothing of the lump of fat, crowned with
laurel on the altar. As Ttnvnsend's parts lie entirely in his pencil, his pen
has no share in them ; the labels are very dull except the inscription on the
altar, which, I believe, is his brother Charles's. This print, which has so di-
verted the town, has produced to-day a most bitter pamphlet gainst George
Townshend, entitled 'The Art of Political Lying.' Indeed, it is strong."
It is remarkable that two of these figures, those of Bubb Dodington and
Lord Winchelsea, were found among the pencil drawings of Hogarth, and
engraved in Ireland's "Supplement." Hogarth had written, under Bubb
Dodington, "spoil'd," and under Lord Wiuchelsea "spoil'd also." It
may be su pected that Townshend copied the rough sketches of Hogarth.
PITTS ACCESSION TO POWER. 203
Temple were to take office with Newcastle, and Fox be excluded ;
but the King refused to listen to it. George, now deserted by
every person on whose assistance he had calculated, called Lord
Waldegrave, (who enjoyed his confidence in an especial degree,)
and ordered him to form the best ministry he could. At first
the Dukes of Devonshire and Bedford, the Earl of Winchelsea,
old Lord Granville, and Mr. Fox, were ready to join him ; but
after a few days spent in meetings and hesitations, they also
broke down, and left the King entirely at the mercy of Pitt, with
whom and the Duke of Newcastle new negotiations were opened,
which were brought to a conclusion in somewhat more than a
fortnight. On the 2pth of June the Gazette announced the re-
appointment of Pitt as principal Secretary of State, and he took
office with greater power than ever. The Duke of Newcastle,
with the mere shadow of power, was made First Commissioner
of the Treasury ; Anson was placed again at the Admiralty, with
a board composed entirely of Pitt's friends ; Lord Granville was
made President of the Council ; and Fox, to appease the King,
was made Paymaster of the Forces.
The intrigues and embarrassments of the few months which
intervened between the overthrow of the Duke of Newcastle's
administration in 1/56, and the final establishment of Pitt's
power in the summer of 1757, presented, as we have already
hinted, a favourable field for the ingenuity and wit of the cari-
caturist ; and a great number of political prints and, as they
were then termed, cards, were distributed about. These were
often the productions, not of common draughtsmen, but of some
of the distinguished political actors of the day, and especially of
George Townshend. Many of these caricatures appear to have
perished ; but two years afterwards upwards of seventy of them
were collected and published on a diminished scale, under the
title of A Political and Satirical History of the years 1756 and
1 757. These are all directed against the party of Newcastle and
Fox, or rather of Fox and Newcastle, for Fox was now generally
looked upon as the leading man in the old ministry ; and the
bitterness of political rancour is shown in the constant allusions
to the axe and the rope. In one, by the side of the heads of
Fox and Newcastle stand two gallowses, entitled the " Pillars of
the State," supporting a reversed ship with a 'cock crowing over
it the navy of England made a sacrifice to the vanity ot France.
The four most obnoxious ministers, Newcastle, Fox, Hardwicke,
and Anson, were published under the characters of the four
knaves of cards. In a caricature entitled " Punch's Opera, with
the Humours of Little Ben the Sailor," are hung up the wooden
204
FRENCH INFLUENCE.
figures of Anson with his box and dice, in the character of Little
Ben ; Sir George Littleton, as Gudgeon ; Fox, as Mr. Punch ;
Newcastle, as Punch's wife Joan ; and Hardwicke as Quibble.
They are all semee (to use the heraldic expression) with fleurs-de-
lis, to shew the popular belief in their devotion to French
interests. Sir George Littleton (created Lord Littleton in the
spring of 1757, by which title he
obtained a distinguished place in
English literature) had provoked
the enmity of the popular party
by deserting to the ministerial side
a few months before, and his ec-
centric figure, as well as his weak-
nesses and vanities, offered a ready
butt for satire. In one print the
portrait of this orator of the party
(for after Fox he was looked upon as
one of their better speakers in the
House of Commons) is caricatured
under the name of Cassius. In ano-
ther he is drawn at full length, prof-
fering the support of his tongue, and
declaring that CASSIUS.
" What oratory can do shall be done ;
But then, good sir, you know I am but one."
The influence of French councils (and even of French gold) on
this side of the Channel, is a frequent subject of satire in this
collection of prints, and the figures of the Duke of Newcastle and
his ministers seldom appear without the characteristic mark of
the fleur-de-lis. In one caricature, Newcastle, Fox, and Byng
are represented as entrapped into their own destruction by
golden baits laid before them by the evil one. In another, the
ministers have addressed Britannia in gavvdy French garments
of the newest fashion, which fit so tight, that she complains of
being unable to move her arms. Newcastle, as her femme-de-
chambre, tells her that she has no need to move her arms, since
there is nothing for her to do. Fox offers her a fleur de-lis, as
a becoming ornament to place over her breast. Two pictures are
suspended in the room, one that of an axe, the other representing
a halter, the rewards of traitorous ministers. Poor Britannia is
indeed cruelly baited with the various vanities and vices of her
governors. In one caricature she is seated in a chariot, drawn by
geese and turkeys, and driven by the devil. Britannia is getting
THE TKIUMPS OF NEPTUNE. 205
angry, as she reflects upon her ridiculous position ; while a
Frenchman by the way-side is clapping his hands and laughing
at her. Among the patrician extravagances of the year 1756,
Lord Rockingham and Lord Orford had made a match of 500?.,
about the middle of October, between five turkeys and five geese,
to run from Norwich to London. The geese and the turkeys
were easily seized upon by the caricaturists, and were applied to
the statesmen of that day with persevering ingenuity. In
others of these prints the ministers are bitterly attacked for
sending out money instead of men to fight our battles abroad,
for bringing foreign troops into this country, and for their
neglect of the navy, the natural defence of Great Britain. Their
ill-arranged and ill-directed armaments are burlesqued in a cari-
cature entitled " The Triumph of Neptune." The ship " The
Old England," in a dreadful state of dilapidation, with the word
" neglect " under it, is seen out at sea, with three French sail in
the distance. Winchelsea, as the head of the Admiralty in one
of the attempted ministerial combinations, is putting out to sea
in a tub, in tow of " The Old England." A personage swimming
behind him, apparently intended to represent the Duke of New-
A GRAND EXPEDITION.
castle, cries " Hard a port, Sir ! Blood ! you run all to leeward I"
Winchelsea replies, " Don't you see I am in tow, and the wind
sits exactly as it did when Matthews and Lestock did the
thing ?" * Another personage, who swims in front of the tub,
with a speaking-trumpet, hails Fox, who is perched on the poop
of the ship, " Huzza ! all we ; we shall soon head the French if
we hold on! Keep your loof, Reynard, we have the weather
gage." The Fox replies, " Thus and no nearer." The fat
* An allusion to the ill-conducted naval expedition to the Mediterranean,
when Lord Winchelsea was at the head of the Admiralty in 1743, which
ended in a quarrel between the two admirals.
206 FOX AND PITT.
figure of Bubb Dodington is seen sinking in the sea, and crying
out for help: "Oh! oh ! I'll give it up. Help! help! or I
sink !" Beneath the group is inscribed the distich,
" Will France pretend to face us now ?
No, no, not they, by Jove ! Bow, wow !"
Anson is treated with great severity in these caricatures, and
his gambling propensities are made the most of; while the at-
tacks upon his unfortunate victim, Admiral Byng, are equally
severe. In one, the Admiral is represented letting the cat out
of the bag against his employers, (which he had made bold
threats of doing :) the ministers are in a panic, none of them
quite sure on whom the enraged animal will fix itself; but Fox
shews the greatest terror, and rushes to the door, exclaiming,
" S' blood! open the door ! Let me out, or I'll break out!" an
allusion to his resignation, the first signal of the dissolution of
the ministry of which he had formed so prominent a part. His
rival Pitt appears everywhere triumphing over him, and raised
up on the favour of his countrymen, the patriotic statesman.
In a caricature entitled " The Fox in the Pit," Justice riding
upon Integrity is pursuing Fox, who falls into a deep pit,
weighed down by a heavy sack inscribed " 8,000,000," in allu-
sion to Fox's known eagerness for the spoils of office. In
another, the motto of which is " Magna est veritas, et prceva-
lebif," Pitt alone in one scale is made to weigh down a whole
scale-full, including Newcastle, Fox, Hardwicke, Anson, and
Littleton. The volume concludes with a portrait of the popular
orator, with Justice and Truth for his supporters.
These hot political contentions gave birth to two or three
periodical papers, among which the most remarkable was the
Test, commenced on the 6th of November, 1756, under the
editorship of, and chiefly written by, Arthur Murphy. This
paper, an organ of the ex-ministers, was a barefaced and violent
attack upon Pitt ; and was followed by another paper, on the
other side, entitled the Con-Test, which attacked Fox in a
manner no less outrageous. Horace Walpole observes, with
justice, that the virulence of these papers made him " recollect
Fogs and Craftsmen as harmless libels." The Test, in its
weekly attacks upon the " unembarrassed orator," raked up all
his old political offences, and even made his constitutional gout
an object of sarcastic burlesque. In one paper, about the begin-
ning of 1757, it satirised his pretensions to political skill under
the character of a quack doctor, by the name of Gulielmo Bom-
SATIRES ON PITT. ao;
basto de Podagra, in allusion to his oratory and to his gout, and
he is made to put forth the following
" Advertisement.
11 Lately arived in this town the celebrated Gulielmo Bombcuto de Podagra,
the roost renowned physician now in Europe. He hath made the system of
the animal oeconotny his study for many yearn past : he restores health and
vigour to a decayed constitution, makes an old body young, and gives firm-
ness and strength to weak members; and promises instant relief in all cases
whatever the more difficult the better.
"N.B. As the doctor does not love money, he gives his advice gratit.
Beware of counterfeits, for such are abroad."
It is further added, in allusion to his almost constant confine-
ment by the gout during the session, " P.S. The doctor re-
ceives visits in bed." Among the " cases" which are given as
proofs of the physician's skill, the following may be cited as an
example :
"John Bull had eat too much Newcastle salmon, was troubled with a
Stone, * contracted a scorbutic habit by a voyage round the world, f and was
held by his lawyer J to be non compos mentis. His friends advised him to
have recourse to exercise, and follow a Fox, without suffering himself,
as heretofore, to be thrown out, but to see the Fox frequently. Doctor
Bombasto being sent for, orderid him to abstain entirely from Newcastle
salmon, unless he had a mind to have the jowl, and absolutely forbad him
ever to see a Fox. He then prescribed quiet to the old gentleman, and
promised to go to bed for him ; which he accordingly did : and we hear
from White's that the knowing ones have pitted the old gentleman against
the most healthy person now in Europe."
The virulence of the Test is especially exhibited in its attacks
upon Byng, who was made an object of cruel ridicule, even while
he lay under sentence of death. On the 2oth of March, when
the ministerial interregnum was commencing, it attacked Pitt's
pride and haughtiness in the following paragraph :
' ' Minutes of one of a Great Mans Valetudinarian Soliloquies.
" Tes, I dare, I dare, I dare I I am exceedingly glorious, even beyond the
scale of intellectual beings. I will not henceforward use any word that is
not compounded. What ! do the wretches kick at the draught 1 They shall
swallow it ; and yet I must keep some measures with them at the next
audience they shall kiss my slipper but who first ? Sir John or the alder-
man ? Let the reptiles adjust their own ceremonies. I am tired of tramp-
ling on such base necks. The neck of the most august is the best remedy
for an inflamed toe. [Hiatus valde dejlcndus.]
An allusion to Andrew Stone, Newcastle's private secretary, men-
tioned above, and who now and subsequently was active in the under-
current of the political intrigues of the day.
f An allusion to Lord Anson.
$ Lord Chancellor Ilardwicke.
208
WARLIKE SPIRIT INCREASING.
The thirty-fifth number of the Test was published on the pth
of July, 1757, after which time it was discontinued, for the men
it advocated were nearly all taken into Pitt's ministry.
The difficulty of forming a ministry being settled, people
began again to turn their thoughts to foreign affairs ; for the
spirit of the nation had been growing more warlike amid its par-
tial reverses and disappointments. Hogarth gratified this rising
spirit in 1 7 56 by his two prints of" France' '
and " England ;" in the former of which
the Frenchmen are represented roasting
frogs and preparing for their threatened
invasion of England, that threat which
had so entirely misled the Duke of New-
castle and his colleagues. The French
standard bears the inscription, " Ven~
gence et le bon bier et bon beuf de Angle-
tere ;" and the still existing horror of
Popery represented the invaders as bring-
ing over with them all the instruments
of persecution. In the other print, the
alacrity with which recruits joined the
standard of their country, to resist the
invader, appears in a youth apparently
under age and under height, who is doing
his best to prove his qualifications. The
courage which was believed to animate
the nation at this conjuncture is shewn
by the manner in which they turned to
A. WILLING BECBUIT.
THE PATRIOTIC PATNTEB.
BEER VERSUS GIN.
aop
ridicule their expected invaders: a merry group are looking
on whilst a soldier is drawing a caricatured figure of King
Louis holding a gallows in his hand ; and on a label issuing
from his mouth are written the words, " You take my fine ships,
you be de pirates, you be de tiefes ! Me send my grand armies
and hang you all ! Morblu !" It is hardly necessary to say that
this is a satire upon the memorial of the French king to the
English ministers on the captures made by our ships.
There was, nevertheless, during this period much discontent
throughout the country, which was increased by a prevailing
scarcity of corn and provisions, and which made people lay hold
of the slightest cause for complaint. The importation of a body
of Hanoverian troops as a defence against the expected invasion
was loudly reprobated; and the somewhat severe law passed at this
time for the protection of game was represented as an expedient
for disarming the people, under pretence of forbidding the keeping
of guns for poaching, and thus rendering them incapable of resisting
Hanoverian tyranny. Yet, singularly enough, when the Militia
Act was passed, and the country was placed under the protec-
tion of a truly constitutional force, that was looked upon popu-
larly as an act of insupportable tyranny, and in many counties
the attempt to put it in force was the signal for alarming riots.
The gin question had also risen again into notoriety, and during
the latter years of the reign of George II. there had been going
on a vigorous contest between two parties, on the relative effects
of gin-drinking and beer-drinking. Gin has been long the bane
of society among the lower classes in London. In 1751 appeared
a revived print of the " Funeral Pro-
cession of Madame Geneva." The same
year Hogarth attacked the prevalent
vice in his two prints of " Beer Street"
and " Gin Lane," the latter of which
is a fine but revolting picture of the
horrible consequences of the facility
given to the sale of spirituous liquors,
for the heavy prohibitive duties estab-
lished in the time of Sir Robert Wai-
pole had now been taken off". A new
law was passed restricting the granting
of licences, which seems to have had lit-
tle effect in correcting the evil. A cari-
cature was published in 1752, entitled
" A Modern Contrast," which appears
to have been designed as a satire on the
ENGLISH BEBH.
a io THE SEER-DRINKING BRITON.
Government for its interference, and represents a licensed seller
of good English beer, the wholesome effects of which are shewn
in the plumpness of the landlord and his wife, exulting over a
dealer in spirituous liquors, who is seized for selling without
licence, and his family turned out and his liquor staved. The
beer-drinkers carouse without fear, but the gin-drinkers are in
distress ; and poor Justice lies prostrate in the street, in a state
of total drunkenness. Under the peculiar political bias of the day,
every subject of discontent was in some way or other identified with
the popular hatred of the French. Thus, it was said that beer was
the natural beverage of Englishmen, and that wine and spirituous
liquors were mere French inventions, calculated to corrupt and
destroy British bravery and patriotism. A song was very popular
in the May of the year 1757, under the title of
"THE BEER-DRINKING BRITON.
" Ye true honest Britons, who love your own land,
Whose sires were so brave, so victorious, and free ;
Who always beat France whea they took her in hand
Come join, honest Britons, in chorus with me.
Let us sing our own treasures, Old England's good cheer,
The profits and pleasures of stout British beer ;
Your wine- tippling, dram-sipping fellows retreat,
But your beer-drinking Britons can never be beat !
" The French with their vineyards are meagre and pale,
They drink of the squeezings of half-ripen'd fruit ;
But we who have hop-grounds to mellow our ale,
Are rosy and plump, and have freedom to boot,
Let us sing our own treasures, &c.
" Should the French dare invade us, thus arm'd with our poles,
We'll bang their bare ribs, make their lanthorn-jaws ring.
For your beef-eating, beer-drinking Britons are souls
Who will shed their last blood for their country and king.
Let us sing our own treasures, &c. "
There was, however, a commercial interest involved in this
question, which it was necessary to consider. In 1 758, at the mo-
ment when the scarcity of corn was felt most severely, a bill was
passed hastily through the House for the temporary prohibition
of its exportation and of the distillation of spirits, which it was
believed tended much to increase the scarcity. In 1760 the
question of continuing or repealing this law as far as regarded
distillation was discussed with considerable animosity. Petitions
were got up in the country, stating that since the prohibition
the lower orders had become more sober, healthy, and indus-
trious ; and it was observed by grand juries in the metropolis,
that not only had individual cases of violence, murder, and sui-
STATE OF THE NAVY. an
cide followed the use of spirituous liquors hi numerous instances,
but that the gin-shops were known to be the constant harbour
of highwaymen and rogues of every description, and that some
of the most extensive robberies of the time had been planned in
them. The malt-distillers made their counter-petitions, and,
besides shewing the inexpediency of the prohibition in a com-
mercial point of view, and as it affected the revenue, they repre-
sented that the excessive use of malt liquors might be as
injurious to the moral character of the population as gin-
drinking, yet no person ever thought of prohibiting the practice
of brewing in order to prevent the use of ale. The dispute was
carried on with some warmth ; a number of pamphlets were
published on both sides ; the old prints against gin became
popular again, and new ones were added to them, among which
was one, which appeared in January, entitled " Beelzebub's
Oration to the Distillers." Public opinion, indeed, appeared to
be against the distillers, and the prohibition was continued.
The ill-concerted measures of the Newcastle administration,
for the defence of the country and the defeat of its enemies, had
become an object of derision to all people of sense, and had made
all feel the necessity, under the present circumstances, of a more
vigorous government. It is true that England had fleets ; but
her sailors were ill-fed and neglected, and were commanded by
officers who had obtained their promotion by money and court
favour, and most of whom were distinguished rather by their
foppery, or ignorance of naval affairs, than by any of the requi-
site qualifications of a naval commander. He who would under-
stand the character of the English navy in the middle of the
last century, must study it in the novels of Smollett. The un-
certain kind of hostilities which had been carried on during the
latter part of 1755, and the beginning of 1756, had given satis-
faction to none, for it had exposed the country to all the incon-
veniences of war, without any of its advantages. Even the
prizes were not allowed to be confiscated for the benefit of the
captors, but were placed under embargo until the two govern-
ments of England and France should choose to determine
whether they were really at war or at peace. A caricature,
already alluded to, published November i3th, 1755, and entitled
" Half- War," ridicules this state of things under the figure of
an Englishman, who is committing an assault upon a French-
man, from whom he is snatching rolls of paper inscribed " Mer-
chantmen" and "Nova Scotia." The Englishman exclaims,
" By way of reprisals only !" and the Frenchman, instead of de-
fending himself, is satisfied with the reflection, " Westphalia
p 2
212 WARLIKE SPIRIT FOSTERED BY PITT.
shall pay for this!" for the French seemed more intent on
making acquisitions in Germany, than on resenting the insults
HALF-WAB.
to which their flag had been subjected at sea. In the back-
ground are seen the different European powers, looking on in
expectation of English subsidies. The inscription at the bottom
of the print, " By our own native foreigners betray'd," exhibits
the popular belief that the backwardness of the rulers of the
destiny of Britain at that time in making war, had for its only
motive the fear that it would cut off the supply of the
foreign luxuries which they valued more than the honour of
their country. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising
that Pitt's popularity as a minister was established by the
energy which distinguished his foreign policy. He soon gave
full scope to the warlike spirit of the country ; and, as he had
silenced opposition by admitting into his ministry the chiefs of
the different parties, he found no further obstructions to his will.
He pacified and conciliated the King, by giving a greater sup-
port than ever to his German politics ; while he carried into our
other foreign relations that vigour and activity which had been
so signally wanting under his predecessors. William Pitt, in-
deed, was the minister of war, as Wai pole had been the minister
of peace. Yet the first hostile operations under Pitt's adminis-
tration were singularly unsuccessful. The Duke of Cumberland
had, at the commencement of his father's ministerial embarrass-
ments, gone over to Hanover to take the command of the con-
federate army assembled for the defence of the electorate. The
Duke took the field towards the end of April. After a number
HASTENBECK AND CLOSTER- SEVEN. 213
of unskilful movements and useless skirmishes, he retired before
the French, and passed the Weser ; and on the 26th of July he
was totally defeated in the battle of Hastenbeck. The French
now became virtually masters of Hanover; and the Duke of
Cumberland, allowing himself, by his want of foresight, to be
driven into a corner from which he could not escape, was com-
pelled on the 7th of September to sign the disgraceful conven-
tion of Closter-Seven, by which the electorate was to be left in
the hands of the French till the conclusion of a peace, and the
Hanoverian army was to lay down its arms, and be dispersed
into different cantonments, under the obligation of remaining in-
active during the rest of the war. King George, although he is
said to have privately authorized this transaction, expressed openly
the greatest anger ; and the Duke of Cumberland came home, re*
signed all his appointments, and retired from an active part in the
political intrigues. The name of Hanover was far from popular
in England, and the Duke's disastrous campaign soon became
a subject of scorn and ridicule.
In one of the bitter caricatures
published on this occasion, a
Frenchman is seen on one side
of a river, carrying off a horse,
the emblem of Hanover ; while
on the opposite bank the portly
figure of the Duke exclaims in
dismay, " My horse ! my horse !
a kingdom for a horse!" The
Frenchman retorts by promis-
ing to give the horse something
" better than turnips." It had
been for some years a standing
joke to call Hanover the King's
turnip-field ; and in another ca-
ricature Hanover is represented
as the city of Turnipolis, on the bank of a river, on one side of
which the French general with his troops, in pursuit, invites the
Duke to halt, " Sar, sar, mon ami ! Vat ! you no stay for me ?
Stay one little vile, den I come." The Duke, carrying a
standard with the Hanoverian emblem of the horse, is running
at his utmost speed on the other side of the river (the Weser,
of course), and exclaims, "Oh! for my recruiting-sergeant,
with more men and money !" The recruiting-sergeant was
Fox, in whom, as minister, the Duke of Cumberland had
placed his confidence. In a third caricature on the Duke's
A GENERAL IN DISTRESS.
214 BRITISH VICTORIES.
disaster, the city, placed in the same position as in the foregoing,
has over it the inscription, " Save our turnips, oh !"
Another failure came almost at the same moment to increase
the popular excitement, and was also made the subject of
ridicule and caricature. Pitt had hoped to distract the atten-
tion of the French from Germany, by making a descent on their
coast nearer home, and in the summer a secret expedition was
sent out, with much mystery, against the town of Rochefort ;
but, owing to disagreement among the commanders, the fleet
returned home at the beginning of October, without having
achieved any of the objects for which it was sent. The conse-
quence was another court-martial, which ended in the acquittal
of those who were brought to trial. Pitt had gained strength
by the mishaps of the Duke of Cumberland in Hanover, and his
popularity was now so firmly established, that the blame of the
failure of the naval expedition was easily thrown from his own
shoulders upon the agents who conducted it. The successes
of the King of Prussia emboldened the King of England
to break the convention of Closter-Seven, on pretext of the out-
rages committed by the French, and the electorate was soon re-
covered out of their hands. The nation was cheered by the
intelligence of great and substantial advantages gained by our
armies in India ; and Pitt was taking active steps to secure our
possessions in America. The two following years presented a
constant succession of victories by sea and land, which shed an
unusual glory on the administration of William Pitt, while they
ruined the finances of France at home, destroyed her navy and
her commerce, and stripped her of her distant colonies. In 1758
the French settlements in Senegal were captured by a small
English force ; Cape Breton was recovered from the French ;
and other advantages were gained on the continent of America.
In 1759 the French Islands in the West Indies were taken pos-
session of; the capture of Quebec, by the brave but ill-fated
Wolfe, made England master of North America ; the victories
of JBoscawen and Hawke completed the destruction of the French
navy ; and the British empire in India had been firmly estab-
lished by the wonderful successes of Clive, and the brave officers
who were acting with him. The expulsion of the French from
North America was in a measure Pitt's own work ; and, as
Wolfe was one of his own military proteges, the public exultation
on the taking of Quebec raised still higher the minister who had
planned it. The battle of Minden added to the glory of the
British arms on the continent of Europe. In the beginning of
1760 rumours had already spread abroad of approaching negotia-
DEATH OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 21^
tions of peace ; and the English people, in their exultation at the
extensive conquests of the last two years, hegan to express their
fears lest any of these advantages should be relinquished, in the
same manner in which it was believed that so much had been
unnecessarily surrendered in former treaties.
It was in the midst of this glory of conquest that George the
Second quitted the stage. He died suddenly and quite unex-
pectedly, on the morning of the a^th of October, 1760, leaving
his family at length firmly established on the throne of England.
2l6
CHAPTER VII.
GEORGE H. AND IIL
Progress of Literature : Magazines and Reviews ; Dr. Hill The Reign of
Pertness Prevalence of Quackery and Credulity : the Bottle Con-
juror ; the Earthquake ; the Cock Lane Ghost The Stage and the
Opera : Garrick and Quin ; Handel ; Foote Influence of French
Fashions ; National Extravagance, and Social Condition Exaggerated
Fashions in Costume : Hoop- Petticoats and Great Head-Dresses : the
Macaronis Neglect of Literature, and Quarrels of Authors : Hogarth
and Churchill ; Smollett ; Johnson ; Chatterton.
T ITERATURE continued to experience the neglect of the
LJ court through the whole of the reign of George II., and it
had been entirely excluded from the palace after the death of Queen
Caroline. Some countenance was, it is true, shewn to literary
men in the opposition court of Leicester House, but it was
rather a parade of patronage, than an efficient or judicious
encouragement, and produced little more than a few panegyrical
odes. At the same time the literary taste of the day was
gradually improving, and it was spreading and strengthening
itself in new classes of publications. The newspapers had long
been in the habit of devoting a portion of their space to litera-
ture, in a form somewhat resembling the French feuilletons of
the present day, but this was most frequently filled with
burlesque, ill-natured criticism, or half-concealed scandal; or,
when such productions were harmless, they were of so dull and
flimsy a character, as to give us a very low estimate of the taste
of the readers who could receive any satisfaction from their peru-
sal. The Gentleman's Magazine, the first attempt at a monthly
repository of this kind, was begun by Cave, in 17,31 : its main
object at first being to give a summary of the better literary
\ essays which had appeared in the more perishable form of the
daily and weekly press, although this part of the plan was soon
made subservient to the publication of original papers. This
magazine was looked upon as belonging politically to the Whig
party, then in the plenitude of power under Sir Robert Walpole,
and the London Magazine was immediately set up in opposition
to it. The success of these two publications led in the course of
a few years to a number of imitations, and in 1750 we count no
REVIEWS AND ESSAYS. 217
less than eight periodicals of this description, issued monthly,
under the titles of the Gentleman's Magazine, the London
Magazine, the British Magazine, the Universal Magazine, the
Travellers' Magazine, the Ladies' Magazine, the Theological
Magazine, and the Magazine of Magazines. The latter was an
attempt, by giving the pith of its monthly contemporaries, to do
the same by them as the Gentleman's Magazine had first done
by the newspapers. .
With these periodicals there gradually grew up a new class of
writers, known as the Critics. The magazines had from the first
given monthly lists of new books, and these lists were subse-
quently accompanied by short notices of the contents and merits
of the principal new publications, while longer notices and
abstracts of remarkable works were given as separate articles.
This was the origin of the reviews, in the modern sense of the
title, which were becoming fashionable in the middle of the last
century. In the year 1752 there were three professed reviews, the
Literary Review, the Monthly Review, and the Critical Review,
the latter by the celebrated Smollett. The critics formed a self-
constituted tribunal, which the authors long regarded with
feelings of undisguised hostility ; and an unpalatable review was
often the source of bitter quarrels and desperate paper-wars.
Their design was looked upon as an unfair attempt to control
the public taste. There can be little doubt, however, that the
establishment of reviews had an influence in improving the
literature of the country.
About the same time that the reviews began to be in vogue,
the periodical essayists came again into fashion, and a multitude
of that class of publications represented in its better features by
the Adventurers, Connoisseurs, Ramblers, &c., that have outlived
the popularity of the day, were launched into the world, most of
them combining political partisanship with a somewhat pungent
censorship of the foibles and vices of the aga This class of
periodicals became most numerous soon after the accession of
George III. Besides the personal abuse with which many of
them abounded, they published a large mass of private scandal,
which was perfectly well understood, in spite of the fictitious
names under which it was issued, and which formed probably the
most marketable portion of the literature of the day. Even in
the highest class of the romances of that age, those of Smollett
and Fielding, as well as in a multitude of memoirs and novels of
a lower description, the greatest charm for the reader consisted
in the facility with which he recognised the pictures of well-
known individuals, whose private weaknesses were there cruelly
218 DOCTOR SILL.
brought to light in false or exaggerated colours. It was this
peculiar taste in literature which gave the character to the mode
of life of that class of writers who then lived by their pen : their
days and nights were spent in the coffee-house, the theatre, or the
rout, in raking up scandalous anecdotes and intrigues, which they
lost no time in drawing up for the papers, which were in daily
readiness to receive them. Among the earlier of the essayists
of the class alluded to was the Inspector, which first brought
into notoriety the celebrated Sir John Hill, the " orator Henley"
of the literature of his day, who may be taken as the type of the
literary quackery of the age of which we are now speaking. The
original orator Henley was just quitting the scene in which he
had gained so much celebrity he died in 1757.
John Hill was born in 1716. His father, who was a clergy-
man, placed him as apprentice with a surgeon at Westminster,
and, having married early, he set up for himself in that profes-
sion, but soon dissatisfied with it, he applied himself to the study
of botany, and obtained the patronage of the Duke of Richmond
and Lord Petre. This pursuit he also relinquished, and he next
applied himself to the stage, and made several unsuccessful
attempts as an actor at Drury Lane, and the little theatre in the
Haymarket ; in the latter of which he performed the part of the
quack-doctor in "Romeo and Juliet." He afterwards indulged
the spleen occasioned by this failure by decrying the best actors
of the day, and he wrote a book on the art, under the title of
" The Actor," chiefly with this object. Hill now returned to
surgery and botany, and was taken up by Martin Folkes, the
president, and some other leading members, of the Royal Society,
and under their auspices published, in 1746, a tolerably well-
executed translation of Theophrastus on Gems. He became
thus introduced to the booksellers, and was employed to write a
Natural History in three folio volumes, to compile a supplement
to Chambers's Dictionary, and then to edit the British Maga-
zine. With the latter Hill set up in the full character of a
popular writer, and at the same time broke with his patrons in
science. On the publication of his Supplement to Chambers, he
made an attempt to obtain admission into the Royal Society ;
but, his unprincipled character being now well known, he was
rejected, and, in revenge, abused Folkes and his former friends,
and attacked the Society in a scurrilous review of its publica-
tions, and published a hoax upon it in a clever though ridiculous
pamphlet (under the pseudonym of Abraham Johnson) entitled
" Lucina sine Concubitu," in which he pretended to shew that
generation might take place without the intercourse of the sexes.
THE INSPECTOR. 219
This book made some noise at the time, and gave birth to
several other pamphlets. Hill now obtained a foreign diploma of
doctor in medicine, drove about in his chariot, and took upon
himself all the airs of a fashionable author. His overweening
vanity made him an object of ridicule : he strutted about with
an affected air, was a regular attendant at the theatres and
places of amusement, exhibited himself at the fashionable
lounges, aped the manners of a fop, and pretended to enjoy
the favours of ladies of quality. Yet he was a ready and pro-
lific writer, and he now attempted to shine in almost every walk
of literature, as well as in science. The so oft parodied lines
were again applied to him, in connexion with orator Henley and
a noted quack of the time named Eock :
" Three great wise men in the same era born,
Britannia's happy island did adorn :
Henley in cure of souls displayed his skill,
Rock shone in physic, and in both John Hill ;
The force of nature could no farther go,
To make a third she join'd the other two."
Of his lighter productions, the " Memoirs of Lady Frail " (a
false history of the frailties of Lady Harriet Vane) made con-
siderable noise. In fact, no writer was so unscrupulous as Hill
in publishing private scandal, and in adding to it from his own
invention. After a while he was seized with a passion of writ-
ing for the stage ; but it was not till 1758, that he prevailed on
Garrick to bring out his farce of " The Rout," which was
damned on the second night. Garrick's epigram on the occa-
sion will not soon be forgotten :
" For physic and farces, his equal there scarce is :
His farces are physic, his physic a farce is. "
Perhaps no man was ever so bold an adept in literary quackery
as Dr. Hill. As if with the intention of throwing all his con-
temporary essayists in the shade, he commenced, in the spring
of 1751, a daily essay, under the title of the Inspector, which
was first published in the Daily Advertiser, and was afterwards
collected into two octavo .volumes. During this year the pen
of Dr. Hill was so active, that he is said to have cleared by his
writings no less a sum than fifteen hundred pounds ! Some of
the Inspectors consisted of essays on subjects connected with
natural history (especially of microscopic observations), de-
scribed in an absurdly conceited and pompous style.* On the
* In some of his scientific (?) essays in the Inspector, Dr. Hill attained
the very perfection of the bathos. Some of his antagonists delighted in
220 HILL AND WOODWARD.
Saturday of each week he gave a sort of moral discourse,
intended to be suitable for the following day. But many of the
essays were composed of the scandal which he had gathered up
in his daily or nightly perambulation of the town ; others con-
tained unprovoked and unjust attacks on his contemporaries ; in
some he hinted at his own successes among ladies of quality ;
and by no means unfrequently he wrote letters to himself, set-
ting forth in no measured terms the praise of his own talents
and virtues. It is not to be wondered at if he thus provoked
hostility in every quarter. One of the first persons who shewed
his resentment was Woodward, the actor, who went to George's
coffee-house with the intention of giving Hill a public castiga-
tion ; but missing his man, he first published a violent pamphlet
against him, in which he made public all his early disappoint-
ments in seeking stage notoriety, and then he brought him on
the stage in a farce under the character of the " Mock Doctor."*
Another quarrel took a still more serious character. The In-
spector of the 3oth of April embodied a scurrilous attack upon
an Irish gentleman of the name of Brown, giving, as usual, a dis-
torted account of some private transactions, and holding up that
gentleman in the character of a rake, a coxcomb, and a coward.
Although Brown's name was not mentioned, the allusions could
not be mistaken, and he called upon Dr. Hill for an explanation.
The latter made a shuffling answer, treated Brown with inso-
lence, and in another Inspector gave a vain-glorious account of
his own conduct, and treated the character of his offended anta-
gonist with greater contempt than ever, accusing him, among
other things, of being so illiterate that he could not write his
mother-tongue correctly. On the evening of the 6th of May
Brown went to Kanelagh, and meeting Dr. Hill in the passage,
he demanded proper satisfaction for the attack, and, on this
being refused, insulted him publicly by pulling him by the ear.
Dr. Hill made a great uproar, procured a warrant against his
pointing out descriptions like the following. Speaking of a little stream or
ditch : " The translucent waves coursed one another down the light decli-
vity, with an inexpressibly pleasing variety of form, and a confused but very
soft noise of bubbling, lashing, and murmuring, among, against, and along
the inequalities and meanders of its rough sides and various hollows." Of
a pond : " The surface of the bason was a polished plane, unfurrowed by the
least motion, unruffled by the gentlest breeze ; the setting sun threw a glow
of pale splendour over one half of it, the rest was silent shade." Of weeds,
&c. gathered to one corner of a ditch : " The fresh breeze had blown
together into this part of the watery expanse whatever floated on or near
its surface," &c.
* The "Mock Doctor" was given repeatedly at Drury Lane in 1 751 or 1 752.
!LE MAI.ABE JLMA.G-S.WA.l'RZ.
HILL AND BROWN. aai
assailant, pretended that an attempt had been made to murder
him, that he had been overpowered by numbers and beaten till
he was seriously injured, and took to his bed. Brown surren-
dered himself to the magistrate, and, it being stated that Dr.
Hill was in no danger, he was allowed to give bail for his appear-
ance on a future day, to answer any charge brought against him;
and, when thab day arrived, no one appearing against him, he
was discharged. But Dr. Hill and his friends published and
spread abroad sedulously all kinds of false statements, magnify-
ing his own courage and the brutality of his pretended assail-
ants, and making up a story that was aptly compared with Fal-
stafTs relation of his encounter with the redoubtable men in
buckram. The affair made an extraordinary noise, and a multi-
tude of pens and pencils were raised against the unpopular
Doctor. On the apth of May two large caricatures were pub-
lished ; the first of which represents a view of the entrance to
Ranelagh, in which Brown is seen pulling the ear of the Doctor,
whom he addresses with the words, " Draw your sword, swag-
gerer ! if you have the spirit of a mouse !" Hill replies,
" What ? 'gainst an illiterate fellow, that can't spell ! I prefer
a drubbing ;" and imploringly calls for constables. Two ot
these are seen hastening to the spot, between whom the follow-
ing brief conversation takes place : " 'Zounds, Dick, the I r
[Inspector] has no money to pay us withal!" "No matter,
Tom ; we'll swear through thick and thin to put him in cash."
In the other print the Inspector is shewn in bed, the subject of
a consultation of doctors, and supposed to be near his end.
They are probably portraits of some of the eminent medical
practitioners of the day. They seem to be embarrassed with his
case, but above all unwilling to let him off without paying his fees,
while a friend proposes that he should raise money by selling
his sword, which is " only an encumbrance." It was said that
Hill produced a quantity of blood, which he pretended that he
had lost by the injuries inflicted upon his person at Rauelagh.
In the picture before us the face of a man is peeping from behind
the bed, and interrogating another who is entering by the door :
" Dick, did you get the three basons of blood we sent you for ?"
The latter informs him, with some concern, " Lord, sir, we're
out of luck ! Fay, whom you and I swore against, went to Ire-
land three weeks before the affair happened." About the bed
and the floor are a number of labels, with inscriptions relating
lo Hill's pusillanimous conduct and assumed danger. The print
is entitled " Le Malade Imaginaire ; or, the consultation." A
satirical tract agaiust Hill (under the fictitious appellation of
aa HILL AND FIELDING.
Dr. Atall) appeared about the same time, parodying the title of
one of his own books by that of " Libitina sine Conflictu ; or, a
true narrative of the untimely death of Dr. Atall, who departed
this life on Wednesday the 13th of May, 1752 : with some ac-
count of his behaviour during his illness." This tract gives a
burlesque account of the whole affair, and intimates that it was
probably a deeply-laid plot of the French government to get out
of the way a political writer of such overwhelming importance as
the English Inspector.
Although this affair had turned greatly to Dr. Hill's disgrace,
it put no check upon his personal criticisms. Among others
who were outraged by his pen were Fielding and Garrick, the
latter of whom he attempted to depreciate in comparison with
his rival Quin. Fielding, under the assumed name of Sir Alex-
ander D.rawcansir, in retaliation, commenced the Covent Garden
Journal, in which he treated the character of Dr. Hill with the
greatest contempt, and proclaimed a general war against the old
forces of Grubb Street, and the new squadron of the critics
headed by Smollett. It was a spirited attack on the depraved
popular taste. These literary quarrels always merged into the
great rivalries of the day, and such was the case in the present
instance ; for Fielding not only entered on a crusade against
Hill and literary quackery, but he took up the cudgels for
Garrick and Drury Lane against Quin and Rich, who occupied
the rival stage at Coveiit Garden. Dr. Hill also found partisans
THB INSPEOTOB GLOBIFIED.
to support him. As the Inspector had been brought on the
stage in one theatre, so now there wa* performed on the boards
HILL AND 8MAET. 223
at Covent Garden, " A new dramatic satire, called ' Covent
Garden Theatre ; or, Pasquin turned Drawcansir, censor of
Great Britain.' " A. scurrilous opposition paper was also
started, under the title of Have at you all ; or, the Drury Lane
Journal. The Covent Garden Journal was carried on for several
months, until Fielding's declining health obliged him to relin-
quish it: he died in 1754. The Inspector was attacked from a
variety of other quarters, and the two prints above described
were not the only caricatures in which he figured. A print un-
dated appears to represent this pseudo-philosopher occupied in
his morning studies, with papers before him on some of his
trifling subjects of natural history, and surrounded by the books
from which he compiled his lucubrations. The figure of folly,
with the ears of an ass, is decking his vain head with peacock's
plumage.
Dr. Hill's personal criticisms became every day more and
more petulant and general, until at length he actually made an
attack upon himself. On the i3th of August, 1752, he pub-
lished the first number of a new periodical, under the very
appropriate title of the Impertinent, in which he wrote a cri-
tique on himself, Fielding, and Christopher Smart, a contempo-
rary poet of some repute, but now nearly forgotten, the object
of which was more especially to abuse the writings of the latter.
The critique commenced with stating, in his flippant style, that
" There are men who write because they have wit ; there are
those who write because they are hungry ; there are some of
the modern authors who have a constant fund of both these
causes ;" and proceeds to illustrate the sage remark by observ-
ing, " Of the first, one sees an instance in Fielding ; Smart, with
equal right, stands foremost among the second ; of the third,
the mingled wreath belongs to Hill." The Impertinent never
reached a second number. As soon as its failure was publicly
known, the Inspector, with matchless effrontery, took notice of
it in the following terms :
"Of all the periodical pieces set up in vain during the last eighteen
mouths, I shall mention only the most pert, the most pretending and short-
lived of all. 1 have in vain sent for the second number of the Impertinent.
There must have been indignation superior even to curiosity, in the sen-
tence passed on this assuming piece ; and the public deserves applause of
the highest kind, for having crushed in the bud so threatening a mischief.
It will be in vain to accuse the town of patronizing dulness or ill-nature,
while this instance can be produced, in which a load of personal satire
could not procure purchasers enough to promote a second number. It will
not be easy to say too much in favour of that candour, which has rejected
and detpued a piece that cruelly and unjustly attacked Mr. Smart," &u.
HILLIAD.
Within a few days it was generally known that the author of
the first number of the Impertinent was the same Dr. Hill who
thus exulted over its fall in the Inspector ; and the magazines,
at the end of the month, joined together in making still more
public this instance of literary cowardice in the man who, when
his new attempt had been thus contemptuously rejected, joined
in the popular censure, " as a detected felon, when he is pursued,
cries out ' Stop thief !' and hopes to escape in the crowd that
follows him." The person more especially attacked, Christopher
Smart, turned round upon his assailant, and published a bitter
satire under the title of " The Hilliad," in which his principles
and pursuits are set forth under the character of Hillario. This
rather remarkable poem opens with an indignant address to the
prototype of its hero :
" thou, whatever name delight thine ear,
Pimp ! Poet ! Puffer ! 'Pothecary ! Player!
Whose baseless fame by vanity is buoy'd,
Like the huge earth self-center' d in the void.
Hillario is brought into communication with a fortune-telling
gipsy, whose prophecy of future celebrity induces him to fly
from the apothecary's shop. On his entrance to publicity he
is received and welcomed by a group of assistants, " the miscella-
neous throng," consisting of Petulance, Dulness, Malice, Scandal,
Nonsense, Falsehood, Vanity, and their associates. The subjects
on which he was accustomed to hold forth, and which were to
support his fame, are next described :
" Moths, mites, and maggots, fleas (a numerous crew !)
And gnats and grub-worms, crowded on his view ;
Insects, without the microscopic aid,
Gigantic by the eye of dulness made."
The noise Hillario makes in the midst of these occupations dis-
turbs the gods in their conclave above, and Jupiter inquires
angrily what the turbulent creature is. Mercury (the patron of
thieves), and Venus, whose favour the vain Doctor pretended
that he enjoyed, speak in his favour. The goddess dwells espe-
cially on the foppery of his character :
"If there be any praise the nails to pare,
And in soft ringlets wreathe th' elastic hair,
In talk and tea* to trifle time away,
The mien so easy and the dress so gay
* Tea was still an article used only in fashionable society ; and Dr. Hill,
in his writings, seeks every occasion of letting his readers know that he
indulges in this beverage in the morning, that they may appreciate the kind
of society he wishes it to be understood he moves in, and the fashionable
elegance of his private life.
THE PASQUINADE. 225
Can my Hillario's worth remain unknown ?
With whom coy Sylvia trusts herself alone ;
"With whom, so pure, so innocent his life,
The jetlous husband leaves his bosom wife.
\Vhat though he ne'er assume the port of Mara,
By me disbanded from all amorous wars,
His fancy (if not person) he employs,
And oft ideal countesses enjoys.
Though hard his heart, yet beauty shall controul
And sweeten all the rancour of his soul ;
While his black self, Florinda ever near,
Shows like a diamond in an Ethiop's ear."
Other deities interfere, and speak with contempt of the hero ;
and it is proposed that he shall be allowed to proceed in his
course, as a thing too insignificant to occupy the attention of
the celestials. Momus, the god of ridicule, at last gives him
his true character, and Fame blows it abroad.
Nevertheless, in the latter years of the reign of George II.,
Hill obtained the favour of Lord Bute ; and, his literary repu-
tation failing him, he returned to surgery and botany, obtained
a temporary establishment in the gardens at Kew, was knighted,
and was enabled, by Lord Bute, to give to the world some mag-
nificent, if not very meritorious, botanical works. He married,
in second wedlock, a sister of Lord Kanelagh, who, after his
death (which occurred in 1775), published a pamphlet which
seemed to say that he had not derived any permanent advantage
from the patronage of Lord Bute. In 1779, an extravagantly
panegyrical memoir of Sir John Hill was printed at Edinburgh,
price sixpence.
Dr. Hill has deserved our notice, as a somewhat exaggerated
type of the fashionable literary men of the latter half of the
reign of George II. Dulness, the goddess who presided over
Grub Street in the days of Pope, was resigning her sceptre to
another goddess not less fatal to good taste, Pertness, who was
removing the seat of power farther west. It was a sovereignty
which had risen up with the critics and feuilletonists. A popu-
lar satire that appeared about the end of 1/52, under the title
of "The Pasquinade," when the notoriety of Hill was at its
height, has celebrated this new empire. This poem opens with
an invocation to the doctor, with allusions to his Chloes,
Daphnes, and Amandas :
" chief in verse ! ev'ry Muse's care !
Pride of each mortal and immortal fair !
Whether enraptur'd with Urania's charms,
Or sunk in (Jhloe or Amanda's arms ;
Q
226 THE REIGN OF PEETNESS.
Whether eternal bays thy temples grace,
Or thy lac'd night-cap well supplies tlieir place ;
Whether with goddess, or with earthly qual,
You saunter down Parnassus, or the Mall ;
Or, in philosophy profoundly wise,
You pore intent with microscopic eyes,
New worlds discover in a Catherine pear,*
Or monsters animate in sour small beer."
Hill boasted perpetually of his familiarity with the Muses,
who are therefore invoked for their pretended favourite :
" Hear, then, ye daughters of immortal Jove !
By the soft vows of your Inspector's love,
If not, too jealous of each other's flame,
You slight the lover for a rival's claim ;
Or, if his gallantry superior charms,
And all the nine, in concert, fill his arms,
Like his familiar Daphnes here below,
Blessing at once the poet and the beau ;
Hear and support me in your favourite's cause,
Inspire my song, and crown me with applause. "
Dulness, whose empire had been placed by Pope among " the
tatter'd ensigns of Rag-Fair," now raised her head higher and
took possession of the Mansion House and the city, when the
new sovereign appeared and established her head-quarters in
the vicinity of May-fair. The latter had for her subjects the
critics and the journalists, and she was sometimes obliged to seek
support even among the boxers of Broughton's.
" Where now behold, in glitt'ring pomp ascend
A sister queen, a goddess, and a friend :
Immortal Pertness, sprung from chaos old,
Inconstant, active, giddy, light, and bold,
Restless and fickle as her rumbling sire,
Blind as her mother, Night, could well desire.
Wrought by some power divine, in equal pride,
Her throne ascended by her sister's side.
Where hunted ducks traverse the muddy stream,
And dogs initiate their whelps to swim,
Monsters and fools assemble once a year,
And juggling Hymen+ celebrates May-Fair,
* In one of the Inspectors the Doctor had detailed some extraordinary
observations made on a rotten pear, in an affected style of extravagant and
bombastic description, of which the following may be taken as a specimen :
" It was but a very small portion of the covered surface of the pear that
could be brought within the area of the microscope ; but this appeared,
under its influence, a wide extent of territory, varied with hills and lawns,
with winding hollows, open plains, and shadowy thickets."
f An allusion to Keith's chapel, where the Marriage Act was evaded on
a very extensive scale. These lines describe the district of May- Fair as it
appeared in the middle of the last century. The "palace" was May-Fair
THE REIGN OF PEETNESS. 237
This goddess dwelt. Just raised above the ground,
Her palace varnish'd, silver deck'd around.
Here stood her Mercury, here slie nursed her apes ;*
Here magpies chatter'd in a hundred shapes ;
Jackdaws and parrots join'd the unmeaning noise
Of templars, coxcombs, prigs, and 'prentice boys.
Far hence the goddess spreads her kingdom wide,
To Dulness, as in birth, in power allie 1.
She, from her native Grub Street to Rag- Fair,
South to the Mint and west to Temple-Bar,
Included every garrieon'd retreat
Bedlam, Crane-court, the Counters, and the Fleet :
Her sister boasted as extensive sway ;
Fierce Broughton's bruizing sons her power obey ;
St. Giles's, George's, and the famous train
Of Bedford, Bow Street, and of Drury L me.
Even to the licens'd Park her chiefs resort,
And seize the priv'lege of great George's court."
The two goddesses determine upoii a strict alliance, celebrate
a grand festival, and review their several forces, consisting of a
multitude of obscure names, then active in their different de-
partments in the field of literature, but now so entirely forgotten,
that it would be of little utility to rehearse their titles. At
length Pertness discovers her favourite Hill :
"All these the sister queens with joy confess* d,
For lo ! their essence glow'd in every breast 1
But Pertness saw her form distinctly shine
In none, immortal Hill ! so full as thine.
Drinking thy morning chocolate in bed,
She saw thy Daphne's neck support thy head ;
Saw thee slip on thy night-gown, and retire
To muse profoundly by thy parlour fire :
By turns thy slippers dangling on thy toes
Slippers that never were disgraced from shoes !
Saw where thy learning in huge volumes stood,
Part letter'd sheep, part gilt and painted wood."
The goddess points him out with pride to her sister Dul-
ness :
" When thus the goddess of May-Fair bespoke
Her royal sister : ' Gentle sister, look ;
See where my son, who gratefully repays
Whate'er I lavish'd on his younger days ;
Wells, where there was a private theatre, much resorted to by "clerks and
'prentices," where young aspirants to dramatic fame made their appearance.
Hill, before he attained so much celebrity, is said to have acted here, but
unsuccessfully.
* Pope had said of Dulness, " Here stood her opium, here she nurs'd her
owls." The difference between the attributes of Dulness and Pertness, of
the old school and the new one, is marked.
5ta8 ENGLISH QUACKERY.
Whom still my arm protects to brave the town,
Secure from Fielding, Machiavel, or Brown ;
Whom rage nor sword e'er mortally shall hurt
Chief of a hundred chiefs o'er all the Pert !
Rescued an orphan babe from Common-sense,
I gave his mother's inilk to Confidence,
She, with her own ambrosia, bronz'd his face,
And changed his skin to monumental brass :
This Shame, or Wit, successless shall oppose,
Unless, so will the Fates, they seize his nose.
This luckless part the young Achilles lick'd ;
And though he cannot blush, he may be kick'd.
Yet still his pen provokes the Fates' decree,
In scandal dipt and elemental tea.' "
Dulness and Pertness agree to adopt this hero as their
common favourite, and to put an end to the war between their
respective hosts ; and the former promises to stifle the ire which
had been nursed in the breast of her Smart, whose rivalry with
the new constellation had agitated so violently their different
realms.
Dr. Hill stands forth as a type not only of literary but also
of medical quackery, the wide prevalence of which was among
the distinguishing characteristics of the period of which we are
now speaking. We have, in the pages of " Roderick Random," a
good picture of the usual character of the medical practitioners
of the middle of the eighteenth century. Amid the general
venality, degrees and honours were not always a proof of merit
in the individual upon whom they were bestowed ; and from this
cause, or from the wide-spread spirit of credulity, people sought
with more eagerness the nostrum of the quack than the experi-
ence of the proficient. Under these circumstances, a host of
pretenders preyed upon the health and constitutions of their
fellow-countrymen, and the newspapers are filled during many
successive years with the never-failing virtues of the panaceas of
Dr. Rock, of the Anodyne-Necklace man (Burchell), and their
fellows. For several years, about the middle of the century, a
sort of diminutive crusade was carried on against quackery, but
with little success, and it seems in a great measure to have
turned upon, or dwindled into, personal quarrels. A number of
serious pamphlets on the pernicious effects of the system of pills,
powders, and draughts, which were trumped forth into the world
by newspaper advertisements, were published under respectable
names, or anonymously ; while satires and burlesques tended to
turn them to ridicule, and the more remarkable quacks of the
day were set forth in their true colours and attributes in prints
FAMILY PILLS. 229
and caricatures.* In a mock letter from Dr. Rock " to a physi-
cian at Bath," the popular empiric is made to improve upon the
extraordinary properties of the numerous quack medicines then
in vogue. " Imprimis," he says, " there is my famous sympathe-
tical family pill. Let the master of any family, or the mistress
if she be master, take one of these at night going to bed, and
another in the morning fasting, and they shall not only be well
purged themselves, but the whole family, men, women, and
children, shall equally participate of the same benefit." Among
the various other advantages of these pills, we are told, " For
instance, when a fine lady has been to go to a rout or to a
ridotto, what does the ill-natured husband do, but take my
pills very privately, and then, poor soul, she dares not venture
out of doors, and, if she did, can have neither coachman nor
footman to attend her." After these are, " Secondly, my inten-
tional purging pills The person who takes them need
only say to himself, ' It is my intention these pills should purge
my wife as much as they do me ; my boy Jack half as much as
they do me; my daughter Molly once less than Jack; that
liquorish hussey Nan, that steals half the sweetmeats, and eats
half the fruit in the garden, ten times as much as they do me ;
and that rascal Tom, that is perpetually at the ale-house, twenty
times as much as they do me, for five days successively.' Upon
this the wished-for event infallibly follows." There was perhaps
in this a sly sarcasm at the doctrine of sympathies, which
merged into animal magnetism.
Among the multitude of nostrums of doubtful efficacy or of an
injurious character which were manufactured at this period, sprung
up some of the best recommended remedies, and the greatest
improvements in modern medicine, which were as much satirised
and objected to at first as the claims of the lowest pretenders.
At the time when there was an absolute rage for Bishop Berke-
ley's tar-water, the introduction of inoculation for the small-pox
was cried down with the most persevering obstinacy. The
fever-powder of Dr. James, a man of high respectability in his
profession, was long violently opposed by the faculty ; in spite
of which (perhaps we might say, by favour of which) it quickly
rose in popularity, and enriched its inventor. Horace Walpole
was an enthusiastic votary of James's powder, which he seems
* A general satire on the Medical profession, under the title of "The
Quack.ide, by Whirligig Bolus, Esq.," was published in 1751 ; but its
allusions are too obscurely personal and uninteresting, to call for any
further notice here.
230
JAMES'S FEVER POWDER.
to have regarded as a sovereign preventive for almost all diseases.
He writes to Sir Horace Mann, in October, 1764, "James's
powder is my panacea, that is, it always shall be, for, thank
God, I am not apt to have occasion for medicines ; hut I have
such faith in these powders, that I believe I should take it if
the house were on fire." "When Dr. James's opponents found
that they could not hinder the sale of his powders, they turned
round and said that he was not the inventor, but that he had
stolen the recipe from a man named
Baker, who had it of a German Baron
Schwanberg. In a caricature pub-
lished against him in 1724, entitled
" A Reply for the present to the un-
known Author of Villany Detected,"
the Doctor is represented stepping
from his carriage to act the part of a
highwayman towards the right claim-
ant to the secret, who is administer-
ing charity to a poor man, and receiv-
ing his blessing in return. Dr. James
takes the opportunity of stealing the
powders from his pocket (some of the
packets falling to the ground), and
at the same time holds a dagger to
THE MEDICAL HIGHWAYMAN, strike him, while he says, aside, " By
which I keep my chariot, in luxury
live, and think of no hereafter." The ghost of a man (perhaps
the German baron) rises from the ground beside him, and ex-
claims, " Thou perjured villain ! thou hast robbed my friend of
the fever-powders !"
The easy credulity and superstition of the English people at
this period, cherished and increased by the preaching and
writings of a number of fanatical sectarians, was exhibited in
many other circumstances besides their belief in quack medicines,
and made them the dupes of several practical jokes, and inten-
tional or involuntary impositions. The ridiculous imposture of
the ralbit-woman of Godalming, which had been favoured by
some members of the medical profession, had afforded a striking
instance of national credulity in the earlier part of the century.
The " gullibility " of the public was illustrated in a still more
remarkable manner in 1749, when some facetious individual (who
he was has never been discovered) put in effect a practical
joke of no ordinary description. On the i6th of January, the
THE BOTTLE- CON JUROR. 231
daily papers contained the following advertisement, slightly
varied : *
"At the New Theatre in the Haymarket, this present day, to be seen a
person who performs the several most surprising things following ; viz.
First he takes a common walking cane from any of the spectators, and
thereon he plays the music of every instrument now in use, and likewise
sings to surprising perfection. Secondly, he presents you with a common
wine-bottle, which any of the spectators may first examine ; this bottle is
placed on a table in the middle of the stage, and he (without any equivoca-
tion) goes into it, in the sight of all the spectators, and sings in it : during
his stay in the bottle, any person may handle it, and see plainly that it does
not exceed a common tavern bottle.
" Those on the stage or in the boxes may come in masked habits (if
agreeable to them), and the performer (if desired) will inform them who
they are.
"Stage, 7. 6d. Boxes, 5*. Pit, 3*. Gallery, 2.
''To begin at half an hour after six o'clock."
It was added in a postscript, that the performance had been
witnessed by most of the crowned heads of Asia, Africa, and
Europe ; and the operator promised, for a further gratuity, some
other extraordinary exhibitions. In spite of the absurdity of
this announcement, and of another advertisement in some of the
papers, of the arrival of the wonderful Signer Jumpedo, who,
among other things, undertook to jump down his own throat, no
suspicion appears to have been entertained of the real character
of the hoax, and at the hour advertised a very crowded audience
had assembled in the theatre, a large portion of which consisted
of persons of quality, and among them was the Duke of Cumber-
land. There was no music, and the only apparatus on the stage
was a table covered with green baize, with a common quart
bottle on it. The company sat quietly till towards seven
o'clock, when they became extremely impatient, and the house
resounded with cat-calls and other equally intelligible expressions
of dissatisfaction. A man then came forward to announce that
the performer had not yet made his appearance, and some one
(it was said to have been Samuel Foote, who performed at this
theatre, and was then in the boxes), apparently with the idea of
pacifying the audience, said " that the money would be returned
if he did not come." A man in the pit shouted out at the same
time waggishly, that if they would come again the next night,
and double the price, the conjuror would go into a pint bottle.
Upon this a candle was thrown from one of the boxes on the
stage, which was the signal for a general uproar. The ladies and
the more peaceful visitors rushed out of the theatre, and escaped
* It is here given from the General Advertiser of Jan. 16, 1749.
23* THE BOTTLE-CONJUROR.
only with a general loss of hats, coats, &c. The Duke of Cum-
berland lost his diamond-hilted sword ; and on this being known,
some in the crowd shouted, " Billy the Butcher has lost his
knife !" Those who remained in the theatre proceeded from one
outrage to another, until they had broken up the boxes, benches,
and every particle of woodwork that could be removed, and
torn down the curtains and scenes, which were soon piled up
in the street before the house in one immense bonfire. In
the meantime the alarm had been given, and a party of foot-
guards hurried to the spot ; but the rioters had fled, and the
soldiers arrived only in time to warm themselves at the fire.
The next day John Potter, the proprietor of the theatre,
inserted a letter in the newspapers, making an apology to the
public for having let the house unwittingly to the impostor, and
complained of the injustice done to him personally by the des-
truction of his property ; and Foote, who was suspected by some
of having been accessory to the imposition, wrote a similar letter
excusing himself. These letters were continued as advertise-
ments during several days. But others took up the matter
much less seriously, and lor a week or two alter the newspapers
contained not unfrequently burlesque announcements of extra-
ordinary performances, like the following, which is found in
the General Advertiser of the 2ist of January :
" Lately arrived from Ethiopia.,
The most wonderful and surprising Doctor Beninibe Zammampoango,
oculist and body surgeon to the Emperor of Monoenumgi, who will perform
on Sunday next, at the little P in the Hayniarket, the following sur-
prising operations ; viz.
" ist. He desires any one of the spectators only to pull out his own eyes,
which as soon as he had done, the doctor will shew them to any lady
or gentleman then present, to convince them that there is no cheat, and then
replace them in the socket as perfect and entire as ever.
" 2nd. He desires any officer or other to rip up his own belly, which
when he has done, he (without any equivocation) takes out his g>.ts, washes
them, and icturns them to their place without the person suffering the
least hurt.
3rd. He opens the head of a J of P [justice of peace"], takes out
Lis brains, and exchanges them for those of a call ; the brains of a beau, for
those of an ass ; and the heart of a bully, for that of a sheep ; which
operations render the person more sociable and rational creatures than they
ever were in their lives.
" An.l to convince the town that no imposition is intended, he desires no
money until the performance is over.
"Boxes, 5 gu. Pit, 3. Gal., 2.
N.B. The famous oculist will be there, and honest S F .*
* This probably means Samuel Foote. The next initial perhaps refers to
Dr. Hill. The oculist was a noted quack of the tune, and the orator was of
EARTHQUAKES IN LONDON. 233
H will come if he can. Ladies may come masked, so may fribbles.
The faculty and clergy gratis. The Orator would be there, but is
engaged."
"The Man in the Bottle" became immediately the hero of
several satirical pamphlets on the folly and credulity of the age,
besides making his appearance in ballads and caricatures. Two of
the caricatures, published in the course of January, were entitled
" The Bottle-Conjuror from Head to Foot, without equivoca'
tion," and " English Credulity ; or, ye 're all bottled." In the
latter Folly is leading by a string to the bottle-conjuror's table,
a group of characters distinguished in arms, law, physic, &c.
A sword, alluding to the Duke of Cumberland's loss, is flying
away, and a fiend is in pursuit for the proffered reward of thirty
guineas. Britannia turns away her face in shame " Oh ! my
sons !" In another print, as a companion to the Bottle, harle-
quin is represented in a very ingenious manner, jumping down
his own throat. On the 26th of January, and for some time
after, the play-bills added to the announcement of the pantomime
of Apollo and Daphne, " In which will be introduced a new
scene of the escape of harlequin into a quart-bottle ;" and in the
summer, a new comedy, called " The Magician ; or, the bottle-
conjuror," was acted at the smaller theatres. For many years
afterwards the bottle-conjuror was a standing joke upon English
folly. Yet, within a year, the credulity of our countrymen was
again exhibited in a still more extraordinary occurrence. Several
smart shocks of earthquakes were felt throughout England about
the middle of the last century. The beginning of the year 1750
had been unusually stormy and tempestuous. On the 8th of
February, the inhabitants of London were alarmed by a rumbling
noise, and a shock, which shook all the houses with such violence
that the house-bells rang, and the furniture and utensils were
moved from their places. On the same day of the next month
a second shock was felt, between the hours of five and six in the
morning, which was considerably more intense than the former,
and caused the greater consternation, because it awoke people
from their sleep. Smollett, who was present in London at the
time, tells us that it was preceded by a succession of thick, low
flashes of lightning, and a rumbling noise like that of a heavy
carriage rolling over a hollow pavement. " The shock itself," he
says, " consisted of repeated vibrations, which lasted some
course Henley. It is a satire on the different sorts of quackery then pre-
valent. During this year the quacks were brought on the Ktage in several
farces, such as "The Muck Doctor," at Covent Garden, "The Anatomist,
or the Sham Doctor."
434 THE EARTHQUAKE PANIC.
seconds, and violently shook every house from top to bottom.
Many persons started from their beds, and ran to their doors
and windows in dismay." The alarm occasioned by these two
earthquakes was seized upon by the religious enthusiasts of the
day as an opportunity for admonishing their fellow-countrymen
against the immorality and profaneness which then so widely
pervaded English society, and they hesitated not to declare that
the earthquakes had been sent as special marks of the displeasure
of heaven against the prevailing sins of the people. The Church,
in some degree, caught up the same cry, and a pastoral letter of
the Bishop of London became the subject of severe strictures.
Books on earthquakes and their effects were bought up with
great eagerness, and issued from the press with equal rapidity ;
and people began to look forward with apprehension to the
probability of a third shock, which might be still more severe.
These apprehensions were gaining ground towards the end of
March, when a soldier of the life-guards, who had been driven
mad by attending the preaching of religious enthusiasts, ran
about the town, crying out that on the same day four weeks
after the last shock (which would be Thursday, the ^th of April)
another earthquake, of a much more formidable character, would
swallow up the whole metropolis and destroy its inhabitants, as
a punishment for their sins ; and that Westminster Abbey would
be buried in the ruins, and disappear for ever. The prophet was
arrested, and placed in a mad-house, but this did not calm the
fears of the multitude, which increased as the fatal day ap-
proached ; and even many of those who had at first combated
these ridiculous fears, began insensibly to imbibe the contagion.
The popular credulity was so great, that on the ist of April
eome hundreds of people went through a heavy rain to Edmon-
ton, upon the report that a hen had laid an egg there the day
before, on which was inscribed in large capital letters the words
" eware of the third shock /" During the following days,
many people, who possessed the means of absenting themselves,-
left London under different excuses, and repaired to various
parts of the kingdom. Read's Weekly Journal of the 7th of
April informs us, that " Thirty coaches, filled with genteel-
looking people, were, at Wednesday noon, at Slough, running
away from the prognosticated earthquake;" and adds, "and it
is known that 34 P s, 94 C rs, and two P ds of
, fled to different parts of the kingdom this week on the
same account, in order to avoid the vengeance denounced against
them by a late pastoral letter." All the roads leading from
London to the country were thronged ; and in the course of
THE EARTHQUAKE PANIC. 235
Wednesday afternoon, whole families locked up their houses,
and went into the open fields outside the metropolis, which were
filled with an incredible number of people, assembled in chairs
and carriages as well as on foot, who waited in trembling
suspense until the return of day convinced most of them of
the groundlessness of their apprehensions. Many, however,
still insisted that it was a mistake in the day, and that the
earthquake would occur on Sunday the 8th, as they should have
counted the day of the month, and not that of the week.
The ridicule thrown upon this affair, after the day was past,
was as great as the apprehensions which had preceded it. In
the account given in the Universal Magazine, we are told, " It
is observed by the hackney-coachmen and chairmen, that none
of the great folks went out of town to avoid the fulfilling of the
madman's prophecy about the earthquakes, but such whose
curiosity led them to see the conjuror creep into the glass
bottle." Lists of the " nobility, gentry, and others," who had
fled from the town, were printed and handed about ; and sati-
rical tracts were published under such titles as " A full and true
Account of the dreadful and melancholy Earthquake," which
were so arranged as to furnish a meal of political and private
scandal to those who loved to fatten on such food. Other
pamphlets dwelt more seriously on the impiety of setting up to
be interpreters of the inscrutable designs of Providence. In the
course of the month of April this event produced two carica-
tures, the first entitled " The Military Prophet ; or, a flight
from Providence ;" the other, " The Panick ; or, the force of
frighted imagination."
For twelve years, English credulity was allowed to spend
itself in trifling ebullitions, and it offers little to arrest our at-
tention. But at the end of that period, an affair more ridiculous,
if possible, than any of the preceding, agitated the public ; it
had had its conjuror and its earthquake the new subject of at-
traction was a ghost. The fame of the Cock Lane ghost has in
some sort outlived the memory of bottle-conjuror or military
prophet. A Mr. Kent, who lived with the sister of his deceased
wife, had occupied lodgings in Cock Lane, Smithfield, at the
house of a Mr. Parsons, but, having quarrelled with his land-
lord, he removed to a house in Clerkenwell, where his com-
panion, who is known in the story by the name of Miss Fanny,
died of the small-pox. Parsons, to revenge himself upon Mr.
Kent, declared that the ghost of Miss Fanny haunted the room
of his daughter, (with whom she had slept during Kent's ab-
sence from town,) and had charged Kent with having poisoned
23 <5 THE STAGE: GARRICK.
her. On examination, mysterious knockings and scratching^
were heard at night about the girl's bed ; and the report being
spread abroad by papers and pamphlets, a concourse of people,
many of them of the highest rank and character, visited the
house during successive nights ; the surrounding streets were
filled with mobs, and an extraordinary sensation was created
throughout London. Suspicions of trickery, however, soon
arose among the more sensible part of the visitors ; the child
was removed to another house, and separated from her friends,
when the result was unsatisfactory, and the ghost failed in its
promise to signify its presence in the vault where Miss Fanny
was buried, which had been visited by a select party. After
this, the child was detected, and made a confession, and all the
persons concerned in the imposture were prosecuted and severely
punished. The details of this affair, which occurred in the be-
ginning of the year 1762, are too ridiculous to deserve repeating ;
it gave rise to a number of pamphlets ; made ghost stories popu-
lar throughout the country for several months, and brought
them on the stage ; and produced the long rambling satirical
poem of " The Ghost" from the pen of Churchill.
The stage was exciting public attention in an unusual degree
for some years, at the middle of the last century, from a variety
of circumstances ; and the moral tendency of the stage itself,
the policy of its advocates, the characters of the performers,
their personal disputes, and the rivalry of different companies,
afforded matter for a continual issue of pamphlets in prose and
verse, and a few prints and caricatures. The general character
of the performances differed little since the reign of George I. ;
for pantomimes and burlesques had established themselves per-
manently in popular favour, and they now went on hand in
hand with the regular drama. Amid the rivalries alluded to,
and supported by some of the best actors who have ever trod
the English stage, the plays of the great English bard were
gaining daily in popularity.
It has already been noticed, that, besides the licensed theatres,
there was a theatre far east in Goodman's Fields, where a com-
pany of players had long been allowed by forbearance to act, be-
cause it was thought probably that they did not much affect the
audiences of the houses at the West End. It was here that
amateurs sometimes gratified their vanity without risk, and it
served also as a sort of school for many who afterwards figured on
the boards of Drury Lane and Coveut Garden. It was at this
theatre, that, on the ipth of October, 1741, David Garrick
first made his appearance on a London stage ; and, in the cha-
THEATRICAL CONTENTIONS, 237
racter of Richard the Third, he gained such universal admira-
tion, that within a few days the larger theatres were almost
deserted, and Goodman's Fields presented the unusual spectacle
of crowds of carriages from St. James's and Grosvenor Square.
Quin, who had been engaged at Drury Lane, had hitherto been
considered as the first tragic actor on the English stage, anil,
alarmed at Garrick's success, he did all in his power to cry him
down, but in vain. The patentees of the two great theatres
were still more alarmed at the deficiency of their receipts, and
they prepared at last to take those measures against the unli-
censed theatre of the east end, that forced the latter into a com-
position, which ended, some months after, in Garrick's final
removal to Drury Lane. About the same time, Quin went over
to Covent Garden, to oppose Garrick, his jealousy of whom con-
tinued unabated. The patent of Drury Lane was at this time
in the hands of Charles Fleetwood, who had bought it at a mo-
ment when the mismanagement of the former proprietors had
reduced it to a very low state, and driven away the best per-
formers. The latter had opened the little theatre in the Hay-
market, with some success, but they returned to Drury Lane
under Fleetwood, and left their theatre in the Haymarket to a
company of French actors. Fleetwood was a man utterly devoid
of dramatic taste, and, to the disgust of Garrick, he had brought
the tumblers and rope-dancers of Sadler's Wells on the boards
of Drury. Other ill-conduct on the part of Fleetwood drove
the Drury Lane company to a new revolt ; they seceded from
the theatre under Garrick and Macklin, and tried to obtain a
new patent from the Lord Chamberlain, but in vain. The con-
sequence was, that they were obliged to come to terms with
Fleetwood, in which Macklin was made a sacrifice, and quar-
relled with Garrick for deserting him. The town took part
with Macklin ; and when Drury Lane re-opened towards the
end of 174,3, the theatre presented, for two or three nights, a
scene of violent uproar between the partisans of the two actors,
which threatened, at one moment, to put a stop to Garrick's
acting. Garrick. spent the year 1745, and part of 1746, in
Dublin, from whence he returned in the May of the latter year,
and engaged himself at Covent Garden, under Rich. Fleetwood
had, meanwhile, sold his interest in Drury Lane, and it was
now under the management of Lacy, who had a good share in
the proprietorship.
In 1747 began the great rivalry between the two large
theatres, under Rich and Lacy, which agitated the theatrical
world for some ensuing years. Rich, much against his will, had
238 ROMEO AND JULIET.
made a momentary sacrifice of his passion for pantomime, in
favour of the regular drama, and engaged Garrick, Quin, Wood-
ward, Mrs. Gibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and several other good
actors. The Drury Lane company numbered among its c^iief
performers, Barry and Macklin, Yates, Mrs. Clive, and Peg
Woffington. It was the first time that Garrick and Quin had
played together, and the superiority of the former was soon ac-
knowledged, to the great mortification and discontent of his
rival. Yet, in spite of the superiority which the great actor had
given Covent Garden over the rival theatre, Rich was weak
enough to treat him with neglect ; and Mr. Lacy having ob-
tained a new patent for Drury Lane, ceded one half of it to
Garrick, who thus, in the summer of 1747, became joint pro-
prietor and stage-manager of Drury Lane theatre. Mrs.
Pritchard, Mrs. Gibber, and others, followed Garrick to Drury
Lane, which was opened with great eclat on the aoth of Sep-
tember, 1747 ; and the following season witnessed a complete
revival of Shakspeare and the older dramatists on the stage.
Jealousies and frequent quarrels, however, soon broke out in
Garrick's company, which furnished materials for the carica-
turist during the season of 1 748, and the consequence of which
was the desertion of Barry and Mrs. Gibber to Covent Garden
in 1749, where they joined with Quin and Mrs. Woffington, and
thus formed under Rich a dangerous rivalry to the other theatre.
In October, 1749, the Covent Garden company opened the
theatrical campaign with " Romeo and Juliet," a play in which
Barry, and especially Mrs. Gibber, had shone with peculiar
excellence. Garrick had armed himself for the contest ; he had
prepared a rival actress in Miss Bellamy, and he produced, to
the surprise of his opponents, the same play of " Romeo and
Juliet" at Drury Lane, ou the very night it came out at Covent
Garden. It was a repetition of the war of rival harlequins in
the preceding reign. The town was divided for a long time be-
tween the two " Romeo and Juliets," which produced a mass of
contradictory criticism, and finished by almost emptying both
houses, for everybody began to be tired of the monotonous repe-
tition of the same play. A popular epigram of the day spoke
distinctly the public feeling
" On the Run of ' Romeo and Juliet.'
" ' Well, what's to night ? ' says angry Ned,
As up from bed he rouses ;
' Romeo again ! ' and shakes his head,
' Ah ! plague on both your houses ! ' "
Personal jealousies, not only among the actors themselves,
ANTI-GALLICISM. 239
but between them and their manager Rich, soon broke up the
harmony of the Covent Garden company. Garrick retaliated on
their efforts to outshine him by attacking Rich in his own pecu-
liar walk ; and at the beginning of 1750 brought out a new pan-
tomime, entitled " Queen Mab," in which Woodward acted the
part of harlequin. The great success of this piece, which brought
crowded houses for forty nights without intermission, gave rise
to a very popular caricature, entitled " The Theatrical Steelyard,"
in which Mrs. Gibber, Mrs. Woffington, Quin, and Barry, are
outweighed by Woodward's harlequin and Garrick's Queen Mab.
Rich, dressed in the garb of harlequin, lies on the ground ex-
AN EXPIRING HARLEQUIN.
piring. The rivalry of the two theatres continued in this state
in the year 1752, in the literary warfare of which period we
have seen them so deeply involved. Garrick's backwardness in
bringing out new plays had embroiled him with several of the
critics of the day.
But, in the middle of his success, an untoward accident came
to disturb the triumphs of the English Roscius. The popular
feeling against the employment of French actors, which had
been shewn so remarkably in the Westminster election of 1 749,
was now at its height, having been kept up by several squibs
and caricatures. One of the latter, published in 1750, under
the title of " Britannia disturb'd ; or, an invasion by French
vagrants," represents the foreigners forced on Britannia by a
band of aristocratic rioters, while she holds in her lap her fa-
vourite English players and pantomimists. In 1754, with the
hope of raising still higher the theatrical pre-eminence of Drury
Lane, Garrick first planned his grand spectacle, brought out in
the beginning of November, 1755, under the title of "The
Chinese Festival." It had been found necessary to employ a
great number of French dancers in this spectacle, the report of
240 THE ROSCIAD.
which having gone abroad, while the hatred of the French \vas
increased by the breaking out of hostilities and by their conduct
in America, a mob assembled in the theatre or, the first night
with the determination of putting a stop to the performance.
Garrick, who had expended a large sum of money on this enter-
tainment, did his utmost, but in vain, to appease the ill-humour ;
but the fashionable people in the boxes took his part, and the
war between the two parties continued with doubtful success
during five nights. The sixth night of representation was an
opera night, and the strength of the boxes was weakened by the
absence of many people of quality. When the riot began several
gentlemen of rank jumped from the boxes into the pit, and at-
tempted to seize the ringleaders, and the ladies, who remained in
the boxes, pointed out to them the obnoxious persons ; but after
a long and rude contest, in which some blood was drawn, the
united pit and galleries triumphed, and they now wreaked their
vengeance on the materials of the theatre, demolished the scenes,
tore up the benches, broke the lustres, and soon effected a damage
which it required several thousand pounds to repair.
The young writers who had formerly found a great part of
their employment in writing new pieces for the stage, became
more and more irritated at the dramatic taste which deprived
them of a part of their bread, by raising up Shakspeare and the
older drama, and, being mostly connected with the different
papers, magazines, and reviews of the day, they took their re-
venge by severe and often unfair criticisms on the different
performers, which made them objects of dread among the players.
The natural consequence of this was, that the stage attracted
more and more the attention of the literary world, until, in the
March of 1761, the first, and one of the most remarkable poems
of one of the most remarkable poets of that day, the " Rosciad"
of Charles Churchill, stole anonymously into the world. In this
poem, distinguished by remarkable vigour of design and execu-
tion, the poet introduces the actors of the day contending for
the throne of Iloscius, and he satirises with great critical seve-
rity the individual defects of the players, as well as those of the
writers for the stage. Garrick, whose claim is allowed as the
successor of Roscius, was the only one who escaped his lash.
This poem, to which the author affixed his name in a second
edition, met at once with the most extraordinary success, and
passed quickly through a great number of editions, although it
was bitterly attacked by the critics, not only in the reviews, but
in an incredible number of pamphlets, under every form that the
provoked anger of the disputants could imagine. These are too
CHURCHILL AND THE REVIEWERS. 241
obscure and too dull to merit even that their titles should be
enumerated. But Churchill was stung to the quick, and in
another poem, under the title of the " Apology," he attacked
with extreme bitterness the reviewers and the stage in general, to
which he attributed the shoal of abusive pamphlets that had
been showered upon him for his theatrical criticisms He stig-
matises the critics as an upstart brood of literary assassins, who
from their dark concealment stabbed at unprotected genius,
when it had with difficulty escaped from the coldness of the
great and the persecutions of bigotry :
" Unhappy Genius ! placed by partial Fate
With a free spirit in a slavish state,
Where the reluctant Muse, oppressed by kings,
Or droops in silence, or in fetters sings.
In vain thy dauntless fortitude hath borne
The bigot's furious zeal and tyrant's scorn.
Why didst thou safe from home-bred dangers steer,
Reserved to perish more ignobly here ?
" Thus when, the Julian tyrant's pride to swell,
Rome with her Pompey at Pharsalia fell,
The vanquished chief escaped from Caesar's hand,
To die by ruffians in a foreign land."
The extraordinary power which the critics, though self-
elected, had now usurped, is next glanced at :
" How could these self-elected monarchs raise
So large an empire on so small a base ?
In what retreat, inglorious and unknown,
Did Genius sleep when Dulness seized the throne T
Whence, absolute now grown, and free from awe,
She to the subject world dispenses law.
Without her licence not a letter stirs,
And all the captive criss-cross-row is hers."
He next attacks the reviewers for dragging people's names
from intentional concealment, whilst they remain themselves
carefully screened from view : they had, in fact, attacked several
persons by name, as the authors of the " Rosciad," before
Churchill had affixed his own to it. This seems at first to have
been the great complaint of the authors against the reviewers ;
for, while they did not flinch from the old wars of pamphlets,
they objected to being regularly brought for judgment by a hid-
den and irresponsible conclave, who were not accessible to re-
taliation.
" Founded on arts which shun the face of day,
By the same arts they still maintain their sway.
Wrapped in mysterious secrecy they rise,
And, as they are unknown, are safe and wise.
B
4 CHURCHILL AND THE ACTORS.
At whomsoever aim'd, howe'er severe,
The envenom'd slander flies, no names appear :
Prudence forbid that step : then all might know
And on more equal terms engage the foe.
But now, what Quixote of the age would care
To wage a war with dirt, and fight with air f '
The poet then turns with increased rage upon the actors,
whom he accuses of having a troop of mercenary writers in their
pay to cry up their deserts, and of wishing thus to impose upon
the taste and judgment of the public :
" Doth it more move our anger or our mirth,
To see these things, the lowest sons of earth,
Presume, with self-sufficient knowledge graced,
To rule in letters and preside in taste ?
The town's decisions they no more admit,
Themselves alone the arbiters of wit,
And scorn the jurisdiction of that court
To which they owe their being and support.
Actors, like monks of old, now sacred grown,
Must be attack' d by no fools but their own."
The lighter amusements of the town had not lost their popu-
larity amid what certainly must be looked upon as the regenera-
tion of the legitimate drama ; and, in spite of the severe attacks
of the moralists, with which they had been assailed at their first
introduction into this country, masquerades or ridottos long con-
tinued to sustain their ground. In the summer of 1730, a day
masquerade in the open air was introduced as a novelty at Vaux-
hall, under the name of a ridotto alfresco, and, although it pro-
voked new outcries against the immoral tendency of this sort of
entertainment, it was for a time extremely popular, and made
considerable noise. On the first day (Wednesday, the yth of
June) there were about four hundred persons in masquerade
dresses, and it was announced in the newspapers that one of
them had his pocket picked of fifty guineas. The taste for
ridottos alfresco seems soon to have subsided ; and indeed night
was best calculated for the multitude of intrigues that were con-
stantly carried on at these assemblies. It is impossible to enter
into the history of fashionable society at this period, without
perceiving the injurious effects of the passion for masquerades on
the public morals. To keep outward decorum, it was necessary
to announce in the advertisements and bills that guards were
stationed in the rooms to prevent any offensive conduct. A few
years later, the indignation of the moralist was again excited by
the report that ladies were in the habit of frequenting the mas-
querades in men's clothing ; and even greater improprieties than
MASQUERADES AND RIDOTTOS. 243
this appear to have been at times perpetrated. The satirical
Drury Lane Journal, of April 9, 1752, contains the following
burlesque announcement :
' ' ADVERTISEMENT.
" Whereas there will be a very splendid appearance at Ranelagh Jubilee,
C. Richman takes leave to inform the nobility, and no others, that he can
furnish them with
" New-invented masks for those who are ashamed of their own faces, or
have no face at all.
" Naked dresses, in imitation of their own skin,
" And all other natural disguises."
Only three years previously to this announcement, in 1 749,
one of the Princess of Wales's maids of honour, Elizabeth Chud-
leigh, afterwards the notorious Duchess of Kingston, had carried
the second of these ideas into actual practice, by appearing at a
masquerade given by the Venetian ambassador at Somerset
House, in the character of Iphigenia, in a close dress of flesh-
coloured silk, so as to expose, unembarrassed by the covering of
her looser garments, much more than strict delicacy allowed.
The Princess gave her a gentle rebuke by throwing her own
veil over her ; but the story soon became public, and was tor-
tured into a variety of shapes, and a number of prints appeared
pretending to be portraits of the maid of honour in her " naked
dress," some of which would make us believe that she had ex-
hibited herself almost in a state of nature.* This exaggeration
of immodesty seems to have thrown the masquerades into some
disrepute, and a vigorous stand was made against them in the
spring of 1750, on occasion of the panic caused by the earth-
quakes in London ; the attempt to suppress them, defeated now
but repeated again after the fearful earthquake which effected
the destruction of Lisbon, at the end of 1755, was in the latter
case so far effectual, that we hear little of masquerades for seve-
ral years. Horace Walpole says, in a letter dated March 22,
1762, "We have never recovered masquerades since the earth-
quake at Lisbon." Yet, in the first year after the accession of
George III., the example of reviving them began to be set by
the court. On the 7th of June, 1763, Walpole, with the earth-
quake still in his recollection, describes the magnificence of the
masquerade and fireworks given at Richmond House : " A
* It is said that on this occasion, the King, provoked by the wayward
damsel's costume, having requested permission to place his hand on her
breast, she replied that she would put it to a still softer place, and immedi-
ately raised it to his royal forehead.
it a
44 MUSIC. HANDEL.
masquerade," he says, " was a new sight to the young people,
who had dressed themselves charmingly, without having the
fear of an earthquake before their eyes, though Prince William
and Prince Henry were not suffered to be there." When the
King of Denmark was in England in 1768, he gave a masque-
rade at Ranelagh " to all the world ;" and Walpole observes
sarcastically, " The bishops will call this giving an earthquake ;
but, if they would come when bishops call, the Bishop of Rome
would have fetched forty by this time. Our right reverend
fathers have made but a bad choice of their weapon in such a
cold, damp climate." An unsuccessful attempt was made to
revive public masquerades in J77 1 -
As Rich had found a successful rival in Garrick, so Heidegger
was eventually eclipsed by a great composer, who, towards the
middle of the century, introduced a new style of musical perfor-
mance. George William Handel settled in London about the
year 1710. He soon obtained the patronage of the Earl of Bur-
lington ; and subsequently, in connexion with Senesino and some
others, set up what he called an academy of music in the Hay-
market. This, however, was broken up, in consequence of his
quarrels with his colleagues, and, finding little patronage in
England, where the fashionable world were still mad after the
Italian singers, he retired to the Continent. He returned to
England in the beginning of 1 742 ; and in the subsequent years
he produced those noble oratorios, which soon gave him celebrity
and riches. Handel, who was celebrated for his love of luxuri-
ous living, and his power of deglutition, was as remarkable for
his corpulence as Heidegger had been for his ugliness ; and in
"The Scaudalizade," a satirical poem published in 1750, when
Handel was at the height of his celebrity, the former is intro-
duced ridiculing the unwieldy figure of his rival.
" 'Ho, there ! to whom none can, forsooth, hold a candle,'
CalTd the lovely-faced Heidegger out to George Handel,
' In arranging the poet's sweet lines to a tune,
Such as God save the King 1 or the fam'd Tenth of June 1
How amply your corpulence fills up the chair
Like mine host at an inn, or a London lord-mayor ;
Three yards at the least round about in the waist ;
In dimensions your face like the sun in the west.
But a chine of good pork, and a brace of good fowls,
A dozen-pound turbot, and two pair of soles,
With bread in proportion, devour' d at a meal,
How incredibly strange, and how monstrous to tell !
Needs must that your gains and your income be large,
To support such a vast imsupportdble charge 1
Retrench, or ere long you may set your own dirge.' "
THE CHARMING EBUTE.
245
The composer retorts on his antagonist, and expresses indig-
nation at the charge of over-eating, which appears not to have
been exaggerated, in the foregoing lines :
" ' Wouldst upbraid with ill-nature, as monstrous and vast,
My moderate eating and delicate taste,
When I paid but two hundred a year for my board ?
True, my landlord soon after the bargain deplor*d ;
Withdrew, became bankrupt, a prey to the law,
His effects swallow d up in disputing a flaw
* Mong counsel, attorneys, commissioners, and such,
And all the long train so accustom' d to touch.
Put what is this matter of bankrupt to me ?
All folks must abide by the terms they agree :
If guilty my stomach, my conscience is free.''
In two prints, nearly alike, and evidently copied from the
other, published in 1754, Handel is represented under the title
of " The Charming Brute," as an overgrown hog, performing on
his instrument, in the midst of a vast assemblage of his favourite
provisions, hung round the apartment and against the organ.
THE CHARMING BRUTE.
The opera, during the theatrical wars, had lost none of its
popularity among fashionable society, and was regularly re-
cruited by a succession of Italian singers and dancers, who fur-
nished subjects of ridicule to the multitude in their personal
quarrels, or in their impertinent vanity. Among the " cargoes
of Italian dancers" announced by Horace Walpole on the loth
of November, 1754, as having newly arrived in the London
market, was the celebrated Mingotti, whose rivalry with Van-
neschi subsequently disturbed the peace of the theatre in the
Haymarket as much as those of Cuzzoni and Faustina had done
in former days. Walpole, who noted all these important trifles
in his correspondence, says, in the October of 1755, " I believe I
24<5 FIRST APPEARANCE OF FOOTE.
scarce ever mentioned to you last winter the follies of the opera:
the impertinences of a great singer were too old and too common
a topic. I must mention them now, when they rise to any im-
provement in the character of national folly. The Mingotti, a
noble figure, a great mistress of music, and a most incomparable
actress, surpassed anything I ever saw for the extravagance of
her humours. She never sang above one night in three, from a
fever upon her temper ; and never would act at all when Riccia-
relli, the first man, was to be in dialogue with her. Her fevers
grew so high, that the audience caught them, and hissed her
more than once : she herself once turned and hissed again. . . .
Well, among the treaties which a Secretary of State has negoti-
ated this summer, he has contracted for a succedaneum for the
Mingotti. In short, there is a woman hired to sing when the
other shall be out of humour !" The contest between Mingotti
and the manager, Vanneschi, which ended in the ruin of the
latter, made the proud dame sovereign of the opera, and her airs
were proportionally increased. A caricature published on the
8th of October, 1756, represents this creature of fashionable
adoration under the title of " The Idol," raised on a stool in-
scribed with " 2000 per annum," and receiving the homage of
her worshippers of all classes. A fashionable lady, with a pug-
dog, exclaims, " 'Tis only pug, and you I love !" A divine, on
his knees before the stool, ejaculates, " Unto thee be praise, now
and lor evermore !" A nobleman, bringing his subscription of
2000, says to his lady, "We shall have but twelve songs for
all this money." His lady replies, " Well, and enough, too, for
the paltry trifle !" Other persons are expressing their admira-
tion in various ways. The idol, from her throne, sings with
contempt
" Ha, ru, ra, rot ye,
My name is M [Mingotti] ;
If you worship me notti
You shall all go to potti."
The moral of the whole is told in a distich below :
" Behold with most indignant scorn the soft enervate tribe,
Their country selling for a song : how eager they subscribe ! "
While the old drama was thus progressing side by side with
the more recently established opera, another class of pieces
became extremely popular in the hands of Samuel Foote, who
then a young actor, had joined Macklin, when, after his quarrel
with Garrick in 1743, he betook himself to the little theatre in
the Haymarket, where Foote made his first appearance on the
PEP SON AL SATIEE ON THE STAGE. 247
6th of February, 1744. We have had frequent occasions for
observing how the passing events of the day were carried on the
stage in comedies and pantomimes, as objects of satire. This
species of farce was brought to perfection by Foote, whose great
talent was that of mimicry, and who delighted his audience by
the exact manner in which he imitated the peculiarities and
weaknesses of individual contemporaries. He was in all respects
the great theatrical caricaturist of the age. The personality of
the satire was the grand characteristic of Foote's performances,
and one which rendered them dangerous to society, and certainly
not to be approved. An affront to the actor was at any t'me
enough to cause the offender to be dragged before the world ; and
matter in itself of the most libellous description was published
without danger, under the fictitious name of a character, the
resemblance of which to the original was sufficiently evident to
the town. From such tribunals, neither elevation in society, nor
respectability of character, are a protection. After working a
few years together, Foote and Macklin disagreed, and the latter
left him to set up an oratory, under the title of " The British
Inquisition," for Henley's success had made the name of oratory
popular, and a sort of passion was at this time springing up for
lecturing and speechifying. Several oratories arose about the
same time, besides a variety of debating clubs, like the celebrated
Robin Hood Society. Horace Walpole says, on the 24th of
December, 1754, "The new madness is oratories." Foote im-
mediately brought out " Macklin and the British Inquisition" on
the stage at the Haymarket. From the Haymarket, Foote
went to Drury Lane, and enlisted for a while under Garrick,
with whom, however, he was never on terms of cordial friend-
ship. His " Englishman in Paris," at the commencement of his
Drury Lane connexion, was extremely popular ; but another
piece, " The Author," although equally well received by the
mob, was eventually stopped by the Lord Chamberlain, at the
complaint of an individual who was unjustly attacked in it.
The Haymarket was an unlicensed theatre, and Foote evaded
the law by serving his audience with tea, and calling the per-
formance in his bills, " Mr. Foote's giving tea to his friends."*
Churchill, who attacked Foote with some bitterness in his
* Foote's advertisement ran, "Mr. Foote presents his compliments to
his friends and the public, and desires them to drink tea at the little
Theatre in the H*} market every morning, at playhouse prices." '1 he
house was always crowded, and Foote came forward and said, that, as
he had some young actors in training, he would go on with his instructions
while tea was preparing.
248 THE MINOR.
" Rosciad," and who judged rightly that his performances
tended to lower the character of the stage, alludes to this
circumstance, and to the similar character of Tate Wilkinson,
whom he looked upon as Foote's shadow :
" Foote, at Old House, for even Foote will be
In self-conceit an actor, bribes with tea ;
Which Wilkinson at second-hand receives,
And, at the New, pours water on the leaves."
At the beginning of the reign of George III. Poote occupied
the house alluded to more regularly as a summer theatre, and
brought out his farce of the " Minor," which, independent of its
personalities, was a violent satire upon the Methodists, and
through them upon the more religious part of the community,
and contained a considerable quantity of coarse language, and
some rather exceptionable morality. The appearance of this
piece was the signal for a violent paper war. Foote and his
farces were attacked in every way, and the moral tendency of the
stage was thus again brought into question under disadvantage
for itself. The clergy interfered, and the " Minor" was no
longer allowed to be acted. In 1766, Foote obtained a patent
for the theatre in the Haymarket, upon which he purchased and
pulled down the old house, and built the new one, which was
ever after known as the Haymarket Theatre.
The course of the theatrical caricaturist was, however, any-
thing but smooth. In 1762 Foote brought out " The Orators,"
the design of which was to ridicule the prevailing taste for
speechifying, the affair of the Cock Lane Ghost, and especially
the debating society held at the Robin Hood. Among other
persons who were to be exposed to satire and ridicule on this
occasion, was Dr. Johnson, who had taken an active part in the
investigation of the Cock Lane Ghost, and contributed to the
exposure of the imposture : Johnson was informed of Foote's
design before the farce came out, and intimated to him immedi-
ately, that he should be in the theatre with a stout cudgel,
ready to fall upon the first person on the stage who attempted
to mimic or throw ridicule upon him. The character of the
Doctor was omitted, when " The Orators" appeared on the stage.
In 1772, Foote's farce of "The Nabob," a satire on the East
India politics, nearly involved him in a serious quarrel with
some of the directors of the India Company. In 1775, having
gathered abroad some scandalous anecdotes of the Duchess of
Kingston, he wrote a farce, entitled " The Trip to Calais," in
which that notorious woman was grossly caricatured under the
name of " Lady Kitty Crocodile." The attack was cruel,
FRENCH IMPORTS. 249
because the Duchess was in the midst of her embarrassments
relating to the trial for bigamy ; and she had sufficient influence
with the Lord Chamberlain, to obtain a refusal to allow it to be
acted. Foote expostulated in vain with the Lord Chamberlain,
and then threatened the Duchess he would print the farce, unless
she gave him two thousand pounds to suppress it. The haughty
dame entered into a war of letters with him, and showed that
she was no match in caustic satire ; but there is a certain
brutality in his way of trampling on an unfortunate woman,
which makes us feel how pernicious to society a character like
Foote must ever be. A Rev. Mr. Jackson, a writer in some of
the newspapers of the day, was the Duchess's agent in her
transaction with Foote. The latter, finding he was likely to
get nothing out of the Duchess of Kingston, altered the name
of his farce to " The Capuchin," omitted all that related to the
Duchess, but brought in her agent, the parson, on whom he
expended his full measure of scorn and ridicule, and it was thus
brought on the stage the following summer. Jackson (it was
said, at the instigation of the Duchess of Kingston,) revenged
himself by charging Foote with a revolting offence ; and,
although he was honourably acquitted, the disgrace bore so
heavy upon his mind, that he never recovered it. Foote died
on the 2ist of October, 1777.
A good print, by Boitard, entitled " The Imports of Great
Britain from France ; humbly addressed to the laudable associa-
tions of Anti-Grallicans, and the generous promoters of the
British arts and manufactories," and published March 7, 1757,
exhibits some of what the mob considered the most objectionable
articles which France sent over to corrupt the manners and
principles of Englishmen. The various groups are described at
the foot of the engraving. The rage for French fashions is
represented by " Four tackle porters staggering under a weighty
chest of Birth-Night Clothes" addressed to a right honourable
viscount in St. James's, and doubtless comprising a magnificent
costume for the ball on the King's birthday. The love of
French cookery appears in " several emaciated high liv'd epicures
familiarly receiving a French cook, acquainting him, that, with-
out his assistance, they must have perished with hunger." The
affected conceit of a French education is pictured in " a lady of
distinction, offering the tuition of her son and daughter to a
cringing French able, disregarding the corruption of their reli-
gion ; so they do but obtain the true French accent ; her frenchi-
fied well-bred spouse readily complying, the English chaplain
regretting his lost labours." The passion for French artistes
FOREIGN MERCHANDIZE.
appears in "another woman of quality, in raptures, caressing a
French, female dancer, assuring her that her arrival is to the
honour and delight of Eng-
land ;" the negro page is
laughing at the strange taste
of his mistress. The other
prominent features of the pic-
ture are described as follows :
" On the front ground, a cask
overset, the contents, French
cheeses from Normandy, being
rajfinie, a blackguard boy stop-
ping his nostrils, greatly offend-
ed at the haut-gotit; a chest well
crammed with tippets, muffs,
ribbons, flowers for the hair, and
other such materiel bagatelles ;
JOBEIGN MEKCHANDIZB. underneath, concealed cam-
bricks and gloves ; another chest, containing choice beauty-
washes, pomatums, 1'eau d'Hongrie, 1'eau de luce, 1'eau de carme,
Ac. &c. &c. ; near, French wines and brandies. At a distance,
landing, swarms of milliners, tailors, mantua-makers, frisers,
tutoresses for boarding-schools, disguised Jesuits, quacks, valet-
de-chambres, &c. &c. &c." Such was the merchandize, which,
it, was popularly believed, hindered English ministers from
defending our national honour from the insults of our neigh-
bours.
The outcry against the influence of French fashions and prin-
ciples was indeed at its height at the time of publication of this
print, and not altogether without reason. Corruption had been
progressing so long, that society seemed to be rotten to the very
heart, and to require some violent remedy before it could be
restored to its normal state. The evil was deeply rooted in the
manners of the age, and was imbibed with the first rudiments
of fashionable education, of which it was considered a necessary
part that young men of family should make the continental
tour with a tutor before they were introduced into society at
home. They were thus snatched from the indulgences of a
university life, to be thrown, unrestrained, amid the vices of
France and Italy, which they returned to practise in their own
country. The evils of this system were generally felt, and many
a moral sermon or bitter satire was written against it, but in
vain. The travelling tutors, who were frequently as immoral as
their pupils, and encouraged, rather than restrained, them in
LOW STATS OF ENGLISH MANNERS. 151
their worst propensities, went popularly by the title of bear-
leaders. In England, the common life of a man of fashion,
presented a strange mixture of frivolousness and brutality the
day spent over the toilette, or at the boudoir of women of
fashion, whose principles were no more delicate than their own,
lisping scandal and gallantry, and trifling with a pantin,* or
some other equally childish plaything, ended commonly in
tavern debauchery and street riot, the object of emulation
being
" To run a horse, to make a match,
To revel deep, to roar a catch ;
To knock a tottering watchman down,
To sweat a woman of the town."
In these riots blood was frequently shed, and they sometimes
ended fatally, for the sword was always ready in the fray. The
exaggeration of this spirit of riot and debauchery produced
private associations like the " Hell-fire Club," of the earlier part
of the reign of George II., and the fraternity whose voluptuous
devotions at Medmenham were so notorious at the beginning of
that of George III.
The peculiar frame of society tended to diffuse the evil ; for
what was looked upon as the beau-monde then lived much more
in public than now, and men and women of fashion displayed
their weaknesses to the world in public places of amusement and
resort with little shame or delicacy. The women often rivalled
the men in libertinism, and even emulated them sometimes in
their riotous manners. It was this publicity of manners that
made the fashionable world collectively and individually, as it
were, the property of the town, and not only caused the latter
to take a personal interest in it, but produced numerous imita-
tors on an humbler scale among the middle and lower classes,
and thus spread the poison through every vein. This filled the
literature of the day with so much personal scandal ; and hence
arose the great success which attended Foote's attempt to drag
* A puppet of pasteboard, strung together so that by every touch of the
finger it was thrown into a variety of grotesque attitudes. From 1748
to 1750, it was in high vogue among the beau-monde as a diverting play-
thing for gentlemen and ladies. The pantin was the subject of several
caricatures and ballads in 1748, the year in which it came into fashion in
England : one of the former, published in September 1748, was entitled,
" Pantin a la Mode : or, Polite Conversation." Another, published in
August 1749, is advertised as "A new emblematic print in high taste,
representing Folly playing with his pantin." I have not seen these prints,
which appear to be very rare. This of course was also one of the fashion-
able importations from France.
453 EXTRAVAGANCE OF FASHION IN DEESS.
it on the stage. Every man (or woman) who made himself re-
markable in fashionable society was a public character, and the
satire cast upon him by the writer or by the actor needed no
explanation to make it understood. The scandal and disgrace
which were thus heaped so plentifully on those who provoked
public observation by their extravagance, although long set at
defiance, must, in the end, have contributed towards changing
the tone of society, by forcing vice to retire into privacy.
The general extravagance showed itself in nothing more re-
markable than in the fashions of dress, which furnished a subject
of never-failing satire from the earlier part of the reign of
George II. to the middle of that of his grandson. The hoop-
petticoats had been a subject of scandal in the time of George I.,
but the circular hoops of that period were moderation itself in
comparison with the extent of robe given to the ladies of the
following generation. At the middle of the century, the hoop
began to be made of an oval form, instead of circular, and an
immense projection on each side of the body made some of the
satirists of the day compare a fashionable woman to a donkey
with a pair of panniers. The unsightliness of this costume was
increased by the use of a loose flowing robe, called a sack.* In
1747 the great objects of scandal in the dress of the ladies were
hoop-petticoats and French pockets, both of which are repre-
sented as being very indecorous. The hoop-petticoat and its in-
conveniences, were made the subject of innumerable caricatures,
many of them in the highest degree indelicate. A print, en-
titled " The Review," without
date, but evidently of the latter
part of the reign of George
II., exhibits the inconvenience
of the hoop-petticoat in a va-
riety of ways, and suggests
different methods of remedy-
ing it. One of the most in-
genious is, that of coaches with
moveable roofs, and a frame
and pullies to drop the ladies
in from the top, so as to avoid
the decomposing of their hoops,
which necessarily attended
their entrance by the door.
MODEBN CONTRIVANCES. The great outcry at this time
was occasioned by the practice
* An example of this dress will be seen above in the cut on p. 250. For
CABRIOLET HEAD-DRESSES. 253
of leaving bare too much of the neck and shoulders, and wear-
ing the hoop-petticoats short. A poetical description of the
ladies' dress, in 1773, directs,
" Your neck and your shoulders both naked should be,
Was it not for vandyke, blown with chevaux de-frise,
* * * *
Make your petticoats short, that a hoop eight yards wide
May decently shew how your garters are tied."
But the attention of the satirist was shortly to be called from
the garb of the body to that of the head. Hoop-petticoats dis-
appeared early in the reign of George III., and were followed
by enormous head-dresses. The poem just quoted describes the
dress of the head as being at that time by no means a very
prominent part of the costume.
/'Hang a small bugle cap on, as big as a crown,
Snout it off with a flower, vulgo diet, a pompoon."
The first grand advance in decorating this part of the person,
was made at the same time with the introduction of cabriolets,
in 1755. Horace Walpole writes on the i5th of June of thit
year, " All we hear from France is, that a new madness reigns
there, as strong as that of Pantins was. This is la fureur des
cabriolets, Anglice, one-horse chairs, a mode introduced by Mr.
Child :* they not only universally go in them, but wear them ;
that is, every thing is to be en cabriolet ; the men paint them
on their waistcoats, and have them embroidered for clocks to
their stockings ; and the women, who have gone all the winter
without anything on their heads, are now muffled up in great
caps, with round sides, in the form of, and scarce less than, the
wheels of chaises." The fashion was quickly communicated to
England, where the cabriolet head-dress was soon improved into
post-chaises, chairs and chairmen, and even broad-wheeled wag-
gons I The following description is taken from a short poem,
entitled " A Modern Morning," written in 1757 ; the lady, after
taking her chocolate, has arisen from bed.
" Then Coelia to her toilet goes,
Attended by some fav'rite beaux,
Who fribble it around the room,
And curl her hair and clean the comb,
And do a thousand monkey tricks
That you would think disgraced the sex.
& more full account of the dress of this period, the reader is referred to Mr.
Fairholt's excellent work, "Costume in England," 8vo. 1846. It will only
be necessary to notice on the present occasion some of its more extravagant
features.
* Josiah Child, brother of the Earl of Tilney.
54 THE ELEVATION OF HAIR-DRESSING.
' Nelly ! why, where "s the creature fled?
Put my post-chaise upon my head.'
Your chair-and- chairmen, ma'am, is brought.'
' Stupid ! the creature has no thought ! '
' And, ma'am, the milliner is come,
She's brought the broad-wheel* d-waggon home,
And 'tis the prettiest little thing,
Upon my honour ! * ' Bring ! bring ! bring !
How can you stand and talk about it?
You know I die, I die without it ! '
In broadrwheel'd-waggon thus array'd
By beaux, and milliner, and maid,
Dear Coelia treads the toilet round,
In her fair faithful glass 'tis found,
And so employs her every sense
Twould take a team to draw her thence."
A satirist of the day foretells the speedy adoption of similar
head-dresses by the gentlemen, and suggests that, as emblema-
tic of the political consistency of the day, the men of one party
should wear windmills, and the others weathercocks.
With the commencement of the reign of George III. hair-
dressing became an intricate and difficult science, and was made
the subject of several elaborate publications. To raise up the
lofty pile of hair, and fill it out with materials to give it due
elasticity, to arrange the vast curls that flanked it, and to give
grace to the feathers and flowers with which it was crowned,
was not within the capacity of every vulgar coiffeur. The in-
terior of the mass which rose above the head was filled with
wool, tow, hemp, &c., and the quantity of pomatum, and other
materials used with it, must have produced an effect calculated
to disgust all who were not absolutely mad upon fashion. An
ode to the ladies in 1768, printed in the " New Foundling Hos-
pital for Wit," describes the lover's astonishment at his mis-
tress's head-dress :
" When he views your tresses thin
Tortur'd by some French friseur ;
Horse-hair, hemp, and wool within,
Garnish'd with a diamond skewer.
" When he scents the mingled steam
Which your plaster VI heads are rich in,
Lard and meal, and clouted cream,
Can he love a walking kitchen ?''
When we consider that the great labour of arranging this
strange structure hindered its being refreshed often, and that it
was sometimes kept two or three weeks before it was broken up,
being merely retouched externally, and covered with fresh
ENORMOUS HEAD-DRESSES. 255
odours, to conceal any disagreeable smell which might issue from
the interior, we shall readily believe the accounts given by those
who wrote and preached against the ridiculous enormities of
fashion, and who assure us that the interior of the ladies' head-
dresses was commonly filled with vermin. In the London Ma-
gazine for August, 1768, a correspondent on this subject says,
" I went the other morning to make a visit to an elderly aunt of
mine, when I found her pulling off her cap, and tendering her
head to the ingenious Mr. Gilchrist, who has lately obliged the
public with a most excellent essay upon hair. He asked her
how long it was since her head had been opened or repaired. She
answered, not above nine weeks. To which he replied, that that
was as long as a head could well go in summer, and that there-
fore it was proper to deliver it now ; for he confessed that it
began to be a little hazarde."
The description of the open-
ing of the head which fol-
lows is almost too disgusting
to repeat.
The caricaturists, as might
be expected, were busy with
these monstrous decorations
of the head, and they did
their best to improve upon
the originals. A print pub-
lished on the 8th of May, V
1777, represents what is de- -V
scribed as " a new-fashioned
head-dress for young misses
of three-score and ten," which
is a picture not much ex-
aggerated of the fashion
prevalent in that year. Two
men are required to place
the enormous fabric in situ.
The large nosegay, and the
long waving plumes are
strictly in character.
A HEAD-DKESS IN 1777.
"But above all the rest
A bold Amazon's crest
Waves, nodding from shoulder to shoulder ;
At once to surprise,
And to ravish all eyes,
To frighten and charm the beholder."
256
A FASHIONABLE PARTY.
A NEW OPERA-GLASS.
The satirists of the day lament over the devastation committed
throughout the feathered creation in order to supply this bor-
rowed plumage; and represent the unfortunate bipeds of the
wing wandering about in
unnatural and unprovoked
bareness, while their two-
legged rivals in the ranks of
humanity were rendering
themselves no less ridiculous
in thus appropriating their
spoils.
The immense curls on each
side of the head were peculiar
also to the year just men-
tioned. In a spirited carica-
ture entitled "A new opera-
glass for the year 1777," it is
suggested that these spacious
curls should be turned to a
useful purpose.
" Behold how Jemmy treats the fair,
And makes a telescope of hair !
How will this suit high-headed lasses,
If curls are turned to optic glasses !"
The extravagant costume of this and the following years is
best caricatured in a plate representing four ladies playing at
cards, a reflection, at the same time, upon the violent passion
for gaming which characterized this
age, and which was attended with so
many tragical consequences. Two of the
ladies are here quarrelling ; one having
accused the other of bad play, her anta-
gonist is preparing to decide the dispute
with the candlestick. This print, en-
titled " Settling the odd trick," was
" published by M. Barley, Feb. 26,
1778."
Caps now came into fashion to cover
the immense heap of hair; and these
were equally remarkable for their ex-
travagance, rising high above the head,
A BIRD OF P.EADISE. a ?, d fading out at the sides into a
pile ol nbands and ornament. In these,
caricature could hardly improve upon the strange unwieldy form
FWras-icut.FSA
THE CALASH.
257
of the originals, and it will be enough to give two or three
specimens of the fashionable head-dresses, as they were actually
worn. The first, of the date 1780, is taken from a print entitled
" The bird of Paradise," but is understood to represent the cele-
brated Mary Anne Robinson (the Perdtta of the amorous history
of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV). A card beside
her, inscribed, "Admit Mrs. M to the masked ball," shows
that she is in full dress ; yet there is nothing extravagant in her
costume except the enormous coiffure and
cap, which look as though they had been
stolen from some gigantic dame of the
land of Brobdignag. Another cap, equally
preposterous, and of nearly the same
date, is represented in our next cut, which
is said to be a portrait of Mrs. Cosway,
the artist. It would be in vain to go on
giving examples of the different forms of
head-dresses which now came into vogue ;
for the characteristic of fashion seems to
have become suddenly variety instead of
uniformity, and it was almost impossible to
meet two ladies of high ton the outlines of
whose costume at all resembled each other.
"Now drest in a cap, now naked in none,
Now loose in a mob, now close in a Joan ;
Without handkerchief now, and now buried in ruff;
Now plain as a Quaker, now all of a puff,
Now a shape in neat stays, now a slattern in jumps ;
Now high in French he. Is, now low in your pumps ;
Now monstrous in houp, now traplsh, and walking
With your petticoats clung to your heels, like a maulkin ;
Like the clock on the tower, that shews you the weather,
You are hardly the same for two days together."
One description of cap or bon-
net continued, however, for a XU- \\
J"? /ime in favour. It was Mflff^N \\
called a calash, and is said to
have been invented in 1765, by
the Duchess of Bedford. The
calash was formed like the
hood of a carriage, and was
strengthened with whalebone
hoops, so that by means of a
string in front, connected with
the hoops, it could either be
MISS CALASH IN CONTEMPLATION.
25 8 THE MACARONI CLUB.
drawn forwards over the face, or it might be thrown backwards
over the hair. In the above cut, taken from a print engraved in
1 780, the calash is thrown back, and the string hangs loosely over
the face. In the next cut the calash is shown as drawn forwards ;
and the second lady wears another of the numerous extravagant
head-dresses of the day. This group is taken from a print
published in 17 83, and entitled " A Trip to Scarborough." Several
other ladies, with equally grotesque head-dresses, though dissimi-
lar, are of the party. Within
a few years, however, after
this date, these extravagances
had disappeared, and the heads
of our fair countrywomen were
reduced somewhat nearer to
their natural size.
Extravagance in male
fashions, among the more re-
stricted number of individuals
who indulged in it, followed
close upon the heels of extra-
vagance in the other sex.
The grand phenomena of the
years 1772 and 1773 were the
Macaronis. Men of fashion
in the earlier part of the reign
of George II. had been com-
monly designated by the ap-
pellation of beaux ; about the
year 1 749 they began to be termed Ji 'ibbles, a name which con-
tinued in use during the first years of the reign of George III.
Then a number of young men who had made the tour, and had
returned from Italy with all the vices and follies they had
picked up there, formed themselves into a club, which, from the
dish which peculiarly distinguished their table, was called the
Macaroni Club. The members of this club soon became distin-
guished by the title of Macaronis ; it was their pride to carry
to the utmost excess every description of dissipation, effeminacy
of manners, and modish novelty of dress. The Macaronis first
inundated the town in the year 1772, as just stated. "One
will naturally inquire," says a satirical writer in the Universal
Magazine for the April of that year, " whence originated the
prolific family of the Macaronis ? who is their sire ? To which I
answer, that they may be derived from the Homunculus of Sterne ;
or it may be said the Macaronis are indeed the offspring of a
LADIES OF FASHION.
THE MACARONIS. 259
body, but not of an individual. This same body was a .many-
headed monster in Pall Mall, produced by the demoniac com-
mittee of depraved taste and exaggerated fancy, conceived in the
courts of France and Italy, and brought forth in England."
Horace Walpole, writing in the same month of April, 1772,
gave a somewhat different pedigree ; he ascribed the growth of
this monster to the enormous wealth imported from our con-
quests in India, and its extravagance was already converting
back wealth into poverty
" Lord Chatham begot
the East India Company ;
the East India Company
begot Lord Clive ; Lord
Clive begot the Maca-
ronis ; and they begot po-
verty ; and all the race
are still living." The
Macaronis, in 1772, were
distinguished especially by
an immense knot of arti-
ficial hair behind, by a
very small cocked-hat, by
an enormous walking-
stick, with long tassels,
and by jacket, waistcoat,
and breeches, of very close
cut. The accompanying
caricature is taken from
the number of the Uni-
versal Magazine above al-
luded to.
A MACARONI IN 1772.
The Macaronis soon made an extraordinary noise ; everything
that was fashionable was a la Macaroni. Even the clergy had
their wigs combed, their clothes cut, "their delivery refined," <i
la Macaroni. The shop-windows were filled with caricatures
and other prints of this new tribe ; there were portraits of " turf
Macaronis," and " Parade Macaronis," and " Macaroni divines,"
and " Macaroni scholars," and a variety of other species of this
extensive genus. Ladies, who carried their head-dress to the
extreme of the mode, set up for female Macaronis. Macaronis
were the most attractive objects in the ball, or at the theatre.
Macaroni articles abounded everywhere. There was Macaroni
music, and there were Macaroni songs set to it. The most
popular of these latter was the following :
B 2
THE MACARONIS.
THE MACARONI.
" Ye belles and beaux of London town,
Come listen to my ditty ;
The Muse in prancing up and down
Has found out something pretty,
With little hat, and hair dress'd high,
And whip to ride a pony ;
If you but take a right survey,
Denotes a Macaroni.
* Along the street to see them walk,
With tail of monstrous size, sir,
You '11 often hear the grave ones talk,
And wish their sons were wiser.
With consequence they strut and grin,
And fool away their money ;
Advice they care for not a pin,
Ay, that's a Macaroni !
" With boots, and spurs, and jockey-cap, , "
And breeches like a sack, O ;
Like curs sometimes they'll bits and snap.
And give their whip a smack, O.
When this you see, then think of me,
My name is Merry Crony ;
I'll swear the figure that you see
Is called a Macaroni.
" Five pounds of hair they wear behind,
The ladies to delight, O ;
Their senses give unto the wind,
To make themselves a fright, 0.
This fashion who does e'er pursue,
I thitik a simple-tony ;
For he's a fool, say what you will,
Who is a Macaroni."
The fashion of the Macaronis was too
extravagant to last long. Their dress re-
ceived some alterations between 1/72 and
1773, the most remarkable of which were
the elevation of the hair, and the adoption
of immense nosegays in the bosom. Wai-
pole writes, on the I7th of February, 1/73,
"A winter without politics even
our Macaronis entertain the town with
nothing but new dresses, and the size of
their nosegays. They have lost all their
money and exhausted their credit, and can
no longer game for twenty thousand
pounds a-night." The accompanying cut
of a Macaroni of this period, with his lofty
A MACABONI IN 1773.
THE PRESENT AGE. 261
head-dress and large nosegay, is taken from a print published on
the 3rd of July, 1773, and is stated to be " a real character at the
late masquerade." Soon after this period, men of fashion gave
up the name of Macaroni, and returned to their original title of
beaux.
A large print, bearing the date 1 767, and entitled "The present
Age," " addressed to the professors of driving, dressing, ogling,
writing, playing, gambling, racing, dancing, duelling, boxing,
swearing, humming, building, &c." represents the chief subjects of
complaint in the manners of the first years of the third George.
In the background are three large buildings ; the first of
which has the sign, " The academy of the noble art of boxing.
N.B. Mufflers provided for delicate constitutions." Through the
window, a nobleman, with ribbon and star, is seen giving his
personal encouragement to the " noble art." The next building
is a theatre, with people of all ranks and professions crowding to
the door : on a stage in front Folly is pointing with his bauble
to the bill of performance, which is inscribed " Britannia
humm'd ; or, the Tragedy of the Secret Expedition, a mock
tragedy ; to which is added a farce, called the Pregnant Rabbit-
Woman; together with the adventures of the Bottle Conjuror
and the Polish Jew ; as likewise the taking the standard at the
battle of Dettingen." Behind the figure of Folly are seated on
a bench, Elizabeth Canning and the witch, the rabbit-woman,
the bottle-conjuror with the quart-bottle on his head, the Polish
Jew, and an English dragoon with the captured standard, as so
many witnesses of English credulity and gullibility. The third
building is a great man's mansion, a sample of taste in modern
architecture, " the Corinthian, Venetian, Gothic, and Chinese,
huddled in one front;" while, from a garret-window, an old
woman is warning a group of individuals from the door this is
described as " modern hospitality in the character of old age,
left to take care of furniture, and answer duns, that the family is
in the country." The foreground is filled with a number of
groups, all described in the margin. In front is a carriage Cull
of ladies in the height of the fashion, described as " British
nobility disguised." They are accosted by a foppish personage,
with cringing politeness, stated to be one "returned from the
polite tour." Near them a French valet is beating an old
soldier, who, crippled by the loss of an arm and a leg, is aban-
doned to beggary ; it is " foreign insolence, expressed by the
French valei-de-chctmbre, daring to insult English bravery in
distress, reduced to ask alms in his native country, after having
courageously lost his limbs in defence of it on board a privateer,
a6a THE PRESENT AGE.
and unjustly kept out of his prize-money." Another fop, look-
ing unmoved on this scene through an eye-glass, is designated
as " the optical ogle, or polite curiosity." Behind the coach is
seen a hearse, stated to contain " the corpse of a blood, who
boldly lost his life in a duel defending the reputation of a pros-
titute." In the background two individuals are weighed in a
scale " the balance of merit in this happy climate for useless
exotics, a French dancing-master obtains eejoo per annum, and
A PLATER.
a clear benefit, worth nearly ^300 more, while the ingenious
English shipwright, though assistant to the honour, profit, and
defence of his country, barely obtains ^40
per annum." In the far distance, the sea
appears covered with ships, one of which is
marked as " one British buss, of more service
to the community than ten Italian singers."
On the other side of the picture is the door
of a gentleman's house, " the industrious
tradesman thrust off with contempt, expecting
a just debt to be paid, to make room for a high-
life gambler, politely ushered in to receive his
debt of honour" In front appears "a player,"
carried in a chair, and preceded by his footman ;
while still more prominently " an author"
walks on foot, the picture of want and misery.
Literature was not, indeed, the most lucra-
tive profession dunng the period of which we
AIT AUTHO] are 6 P ea king ; the House of Hanover was never
THE WAGES OF LITEBATUBE. 263
its patron, and the booksellers were not in general liberal
paymasters. Even Dr. Johnson was reduced at one period to
depend upon what he derived from contributions to the maga-
zines and newspapers, and the memorandum found in the pocket-
book of the unfortunate Chatterton, of receipts apparently scat-
tered over several weeks, shows us how such contributions were
remunerated :
"Received to May 23, of Mr. Hamilton for Mid
dlesex [Journal]
of B.
*. d.
in 6
123
o 10 6
of Fell, for the Consuliad
,, of Mr. Hamilton, for Cand dus am
Foreign Journal . 016
of Mr. Fell . o 10 6
,, Middlesex Journal . 086
Mr. Hamilton, for 16 songs (!) o 10 6."
Politics was the only subject that found much encouragement ;
and even this brought but the hope of future reward from the
party who were aiming at power, or from those who had obtained
it. There was truth in the statement contained in one of Chat-
terton's letters : " Essays fetch no more than what the copy is
sold for," which we have just seen was not much; "as the
patriots themselves are searching for a place, they have no gra-
tuities to spare. On the other hand, unpopular essays will not
be accepted, and you must pay to have them printed ; but, then,
you seldom lose by it. Courtiers are so sensible of their defi-
ciency in merit, that they generally reward all who know how
to daub them with an appearance of it." The unproportionate
rewards bestowed upon literature and the stage, satirised in the
print described above, had become a subject of invidious remarks,
and produced a pamphlet by Ralph, under the title of " The case
of authors by profession," which attracted some notice. The
generally debased condition of the press, weighed down by poli-
tical faction, is dwelt on in " The Author," a poem by one of
those who made most by the profession, Charles Churchill, who
describes his fellow-writers as
" The slaves of booksellers, or (doom'd by Fate
To baser chains) vile pensioners of state."
Lord Bute had, indeed, after his accession to power under the
young king, caused pensions and places to be bestowed, with the
professed object of encouraging literature and art, but his choice
had been made without judgment, and those on whom it fell
only became involved in the popular odium gathered round the
name of their patron. A print, dated in 1762, and accompanied
2-54 SUIT'S PATRONAGE OF LETTERS.
with doggerel verses, represents the unpopular favourite distri-
buting his rewards to a motley crew, described as " the hungry
mob of scribblers and etchers." Bute seems to have formed the
project of establishing a body of political writers in defence of
the court, and of breaking down that formidable power of the
press of which almost every ministry of the preceding reign had
felt the effects, thougli all affected to treat it with neglect ; but
he contrived feo bring to notice principally Jacobites and Scotch-
men, two classes of personages especially unpopular at that time,
and the patronage bestowed on them led to many desperate lite-
rary quarrels. Among Lord Bute's pensioners of the better
class were, Hogarth, Johnson, Smollett, Shebbeare (who had
suffered in the pillory during the preceding year for his virulent
attacks upon the House of Hanover,)* Arthur Murphy (the
quondam editor of the Test), and others.
No single person, entirely unconnected with state affairs, was
perhaps ever so much caricatured as the grand caricaturist,
Hogarth. He had done in picture what Foote practised on the
stage; and his constant practice of introducing contemporaries
into his moral satires had procured him a host of enemies on the
town, while his vain egotism, and the scornful tone in which he
spoke of the other artists of the age, offended and irritated them.
The publication of Hogarth's portrait by himself, with his well-
known dog in the corner, exposed the painter to an attack in the
Scandalizade (written in 1750), which shews that even then he
was not popular in the literary world. To a doubt expressed as
to the meaning of the picture,
" Quoth a sage in the crowd . . . ' I'd have you to know, sir,
'Tis Hogarth himself, and his friend honest Towser,
Insep'rate companions ! and, therefore, you see
Clieek by jowl tliey are drawn in familiar degree;
Both striking the eye with an equal eclat,
The biped this here, and the quadruped that.'
'You mean the great dog and the man, I suppose;
Or the man and the dog be't just as you chuse.' "
A dispute on this point is settled abruptly,
It is amusing to hear Smollett (in his History) speak of the sufferinr*
of "this good man," ' for having given vent to the unguarded effusions ci
mistaken zeal, couched in the language ot passion and scurrility." The
"Letters to the People," for one of which Dr. Shebbeare was placed
in the pillory by the ministers of George II., abound in language like the
following, here applitd to King -George's foot grenadiers, who bore on the
front of their caps the Hanoverian symbol of the while horn. "Such
confusion and dread dwelt on the dastard faces of all who, sold to the
H n interest, stand branded in the forehead with the while horse,
tbe ignominious mark of slavery."
HOGARTH* S ANALYSIS OF BEAUTY. 265
"Split the difference, my friend, they're both great in their way.
* they're alike, as it were,
A respectable pair ! all spectators allow,
And that they deserve an inscription below
Iii capital letters, Behold we are twol"
The publication of his " Analysis of Beauty," at the end of
1713, became the signal for a general attack; and what was
termed his line of beauty, an S-shaped curve, in which he seems
to have fancied that that quality chiefly consisted, and which he
had illustrated by two very droll plates, became an object of un-
ceasing ridicule. A great number of caricatures were, in conse-
quence, launched forth against him in the course of the year
1754. In one, entitled " A new Dunciad done with a view of
[fixing] the fluctuating ideas of taste," the painter is represented
with a stupid, vacant face, playing with a pantin, with a fool's
cap on the ground, adorned with the line of beauty in front : a
black harlequin standing behind him. In another he is repre-
sented as the mountebank painter, demonstrating to his admirers
and subscribers that crookedness is the test of beauty : the
hump-backed and deformed are crowding forward to attract his
notice. In a third, entitled (in allusion to his having turned
scribbler,) " The Author run mad," he is pictured as a maniac,
chained by a foot to the floor, while, with his line of beauty in
one hand, he is painting wild subjects on the wall. Another, in
allusion to the title of his book, represents
the unfortunate "analyst" in great con- r~
sternation and distress, resting his book
upon his celebrated line of beauty, while
in the distance copies of it are being
thrown into the caves of Dulness and
Oblivion. In a larger and more finished
print, Hogarth is represented in the act
of undermining the sacred monument of
all the best painters, sculptors, &c., in
imitation of the Grecian Herostratus,
who is seen in the distance setting fire
to the Temple of Diana, to gratify his
morbid desire of fame. A portly in-
dividual is lighting Hogarth at his
envious work, perhaps intended to AN UNFORTUNATE ANALYST.
represent Dr. Morell, who assisted him
in passing his work through the press. Other caricatures
represented him in his studio, painting after coarse and ugly
models, burlesqued his attempts at historical painting (such as
266 A PAINTER IN DISTRESS.
the picture of Paul before Felix), or parodied some of his famous
works. Thus, in a print entitled " The Painter's March from
Finchley," Hogarth is seen pursued from the village by every
kind of persecutor, biped and quadruped, and assailed by a
A PAINTEB TO DISTRESS.
mingled din produced from the various vocal organs of woman
and child, goose and donkey, cow and pig. Underneath we read
the lines :
" Patrons of worth, encouragers of arts,
Lo ! from his seat the sou of folly starts
At Nature's call. How cheap is come?
For see a wit holds burlesque for his .
O Hogarth, born our wonder to engage,
Thou low refracting mirror of the age !"
Tn 1758 Hogarth was exposed to a new onslaught of carica-
tures. In the previous year the question of founding an
academy for the fine arts had been agitated (a plan which was
carried into effect some years later by George III.), and some
steps were taken towards a general encouragement of art in this
country. The interest caused by this project is shown by
several prints relating to the progress of the arts, published at
that time. Hogarth set his face violently against it, and again
provoked the imputation of enviously keeping back artists in
general, in the fear that they might in the end intrench upon
his own fame. One or two new caricatures against him appeared
in consequence, in which he is represented as the patron of
coarseness and ugliness, surrounded with models in which those
qualities are set out in the most forbidding forms. In one of
AND BUTE. 267
these, entitled " Pugg's Graces, etched from his original
daubing," the painter is re-
presented executing a picture
of Moses before Pharaoh's
daughter, his pug's legs rest-
ing on three volumes, the
lowest of which is his own
" Analysis of Beauty." His
fat encourager (Dr. Morell ?)
is directing his attention to
his model Graces, three
naked females, whose forms
exhibit everything that is
coarse and revolting. Near
him lies an open book, on
one page of which is the
title, " Reasons against a
Public Academy, 1758," and
on the other the words " No
Salary." Above, among the
models of various kinds, flies
a head in the fashionable
coiffure of the day, with the
line of beauty in its mouth, described as " a modern cherubim."
Another of the painter's patrons leans in admiration against his
chair, holding in his hand the book in which the line of beauty
is set forth. Among the different grotesque articles scattered
about the room are several described as " A Diana's crescent ;
B. A multiplying glass ; 76. A gammon of bacon ; 14. Rays of
light ; 4. Beauty stays (a pair of stays, to give elegance to the
female shape) ; 68. A jack-boot." This print is accompanied
with the lines,
" Behold a wretch whom Nature form'd in spite ;
Scorn 'd by the wise, he gave the fools delight.
Yet not contented in his sphere to move,
Beyond mere instinct and his senses drove,
From false examples hoped to pilfer fame,
And scribbled nonsense in his daubing name.
Deformity herself his figures place,
She spreads an ugliness on every face,
He then admires their elegance and grace.
Dunce connoisseurs extol the author Pug,
The senseless, tasteless, impudent hum-bug."
From the introduction of the jack-boot into the print just
described, we may presume that Hogarth already enjoyed, or
PAINTEB PUO.
.63 HOGARTH AND WILKES.
was believed to enjoy, the patronage of Lord Bute, before the
death of George II. The slight shown to his talents by that
monarch was enough to procure him favour in the household of
his grandson. Soon after the accession of the latter to the
throne, when the chief power had been lodged in Bute's hands,
Hogarth was appointed to the office of Serjeant painter to all his
Majesty's works, which his enemies jeeringly interpreted as chief
" pannel-painter ;" and this mode of distinguishing talent and his
historical painting of Sigismunda, executed about the same
period, were subsequently made the ground of no little ridicule.
The picture was parodied in a vulgar print entitled, " A harlot
blubbering over a bullock's heart; by William Hogarth."
In an unlucky hour, Hogarth's zeal in the cause of his patron,
or, as others said, the desire of obtaining an increase in his pen-
sion, led him into the arena of politics, from which he had
hitherto kept tolerably clear, and he entered the field against his
old ft iends, Wilkes and Churchill. In the September of 1762
appeared the political print of " The Times," which was labelled
''No. I.," as though intended only to bo the first of a series. It
was an attack upon the ex-minister, Pitt. Europe was repre-
sented in a conflagration, and the flames were already communi-
cating to Great Britain. Pitt was blowing the fire, which Lord
Bute, with a party of soldiers and sailors, assisted by High-
landers, was endeavouring to extinguish ; but he was impeded in
his design by the Duke of Newcastle, who brought a barrow-full
of Monitors and North Britons to feed the flames. Wilkes" had
received information of the intended caricature before its
publication, had expostulated in vain with Hogarth, and had
threatened retaliation ; the Saturday after the appearance of
" The Times," Wilkes fulfilled his threat in the seventeenth
number of the North Briton, an attack upon Hogarth, written
with so much bitterness, and striking not only at his professional
but at his domestic character, that he appears never to have
recovered it. A coarse woodcut portrait of Hogarth headed
this paper, the motto of which was,
" Its proper power to hurt each creature feels,
Bulls aim their horns, and asses lift their heels."
In his anger, Hogarth repaired to Westminster Hall, when
Wilkes was the second time brought thither from the Tower,
and, in Wilkes' own words, " skulked behind the counter in
the Court of Common Pleas;" he thence sketched a caricatured
portrait of the pretended " patriot," in which his ill-favoured
features are made ten times more demoniacal than the ori-
BATRIOT.
HOGARTH AND CHURCHILL. 269
ginal. The publication of this portrait drew another combatant
into the field, Wilkes' friend,
the poet Churchill; who, soon
after its appearance, in the sum-
mer of 1763, published that bit-
terest of poetic invectives, the
" Epistle to William Hogarth."
This piece added canker to the
wound which already rankled in
Hogarth's breast ; he again took
up the pencil, and produced a
picture of Churchill under the
figure of a canonical bear, with a
pot of porter in one hand, and a
knotty club in the other, each
knot being labelled as "lie i,"
"lie 2," &c. In one corner
below, Hogarth's own dog is
treating the "Epistle" in the
most contemptuous manner.
Other emblems are scattered
about ; and in a second edition he
added on a label a group repre-
senting himself as a bear-master
forcing the bear, Churchill,
and the monkey, Wilkes, to
dance, under the infliction of a
severe castigation. The mon-
key holds a North Briton in his
hand. The picture was en-
titled, "The Bruiser, C. Churchill, (once the Rev.,) in the
character of a Russian Hercules, regaling himself after having
killed the monster Caricatura, that so severely galled his virtuous
friend, the heaven-born Wilkes."
This quarrel drew upon Hogarth another flood of caricatures,
which held him up now as the pensioned dauber of the
unpopular Lord Bute, and the calumniator of the friends of
liberty. In one, entitled " The Butyfier, a touch upon the
Times," Hogarth is represented on a large platform, daubing an
immense boot, (the constant emblem of the obnoxious minister,)
while in his awkwardness he bespatters Pitt and Temple, who
happen to be below. It is a parody on Hogarth's own satire on
Pope. Beneath the scaffold is a tub full of Auditors,
Monitors, &c. labelled " The Charm : Butifying Wash." A print
A BEAR-MASTER.
270
CARICATURE ON HOGARTH.
entitled " The Bruiser Triumphant," represents Hogarth as an
ass, painting the Bruiser, while Wilkes comes behind, and
places horns on his head an allusion to some scandalous inti-
mations in the North Briton. Churchill, in the garb of a
parson, is writing Hogarth's life. A number of other attri-
butes and allusions fill the picture. A caricature entitled " Tit
for Tat," represents Hogarth painting Wilkes, with the unfor-
tunate picture of Sigismunda in the distance. Another "Tit
for Tat," " Jnv* et del. by G. O'Garth, according to act or
order is not material," represents the painter, partly clad in
Scotch garb, with the line of beauty on his palette, glorifying a
boot surmounted by a thistle. The painter is saying to
himself, " Anything for money : I'll gild this Scotch sign, and
make it look glorious, and I'll daub the other sign, and efface its
l)eauty, and make it as black as a Jack Boot." On another
easel is a portrait of Wilkes,
"Defaced by order of my L
by O'Garth," and, in the fore-
ground, " a smutchpot to sully
the best and most exalted cha-
racters." In another print,
" Pug the snarling cur" is being
severely chastised by Wilkes
and Churchill. In another, he
is baited by the bear and a
dog ; and in the background is
a large panel, with the inscrip-
tion, " Panel painting." In one
print Hogarth is represented
going for his pension of eS^oo
a-year, and carrying as his
vouchers the prints of " The Times," and Wilkes. " I can paint
an angel black and the devil white, just as it suits me." " An
Answer to the print of John Wilkes, Esq." represents Hogarth
with his colour-pot, inscribed " Colour to blacken fair cha-
racters ;" he is treading on the cap of liberty with his cloven
foot, and an inscription says, " sS^oo per annum for distorting
features." Several other prints, equally bitter against him,
besides a number of caricatures against the Government, under
the fictitious names of O'Garth, Hoggart, Hog-ass, &c., must
have assisted in irritating the persecuted painter.
Hogarth died on the 26th of October, 1764, as it was
generally believed of a broken heart, caused by the persecution
to which he had exposed himself. He left an engraving of
THE BEAUTIFIES.
SMOLLETT AND THE " BRITON." 371
" The Times, Plate II.," in which Wilkes was represented on
the pillory by the side of " Miss Fanny," but it was not given
to the world till many years after his death. He was soon
followed by his adversary, Churchill, who died at Calais on the
4th of November, 1764, in consequence of a sudden attack of
fever.*
Among the writers whom Lord Bute, on his appointment to
the head of the ministry, employed in his Quixotic crusade
against the opposition press, was Doctor Smollett, who was not
only a Scotchman, but whose principles leaned strongly towards
Jacobitism. Smollett had no regular pension ; but he was paid
to write the Briton, a violent weekly paper, the object of which
was to abuse Pitt, and all the popular party. It was this inju-
dicious government paper which provoked the publication, by
Wilkes and Churchill, of the North Briton, which has attained
to so much celebrity in the history of the earlier years of
this reign. Churchill detested Smollett both as the Critical
Reviewer and as the author of the Briton, and speaks of him with
bitterness in several passages in his poems. After the appear-
ance of the North Briton, Bute set up another rather scurri-
lous paper in support of his Briton, which was named the
Auditor, and which was written or edited by Arthur Murphy,
an author of small merit and chiefly known as a translator and
adapter of plays from the French to the English stage. The
first number of the Briton appeared on the 2pth of May,
1762 ; the North Briton came out on the 5th of June; and the
first number of the Auditor followed it on the loth of June.
A shoal of popular papers, bitterly attacking Bute and his
" hirelings," was roused by this new Government organ, and
literature was suddenly drawn into the troubled arena of
politics far more fiercely than had ever been the case before.
The " pensioners," as they were termed, were held up to public
scorn in every possible shape. Smollett especially, the paid
Scottish advocate of Scotchmen, was an object of general
attack ; and in a caricature published at the end of May, imme-
diately after the appearance of the Briton and the North
Briton, under the title of " The Mountebank," in which Lord
Bute, in the character of the quack-doctor, is boasting of the
efficacy of his gold pills, Smollett acts the part of the inounte-
* Dr. Johnson persisted in looking upon Churchill's poetry with un-
merited contempt. It in too temporary in its allusions to be generally
interesting to the present age ; but Mr. Tooke, in his recent edition (3
vols. Pickering, 1844), has done much to make it popular among modern
readers.
273
THE MOUNTEBANK.
bank to call atteution to them. They are on a stage, addressing
a multitude of people. The following speech is put into the
mouth of Smollett, who holds under his arm a roll which
is inscribed as the Briton, while the North Briton lies under his
TOE MOUNTEBANK.
feet : " By my saul, laddies, I tell ye truly I went round about,
and I thank my geud stars I found a passage through Wales,
which conducted me to aw the muckle places in the land, where
I soon got relief, and straightway commenced doctor for the
benefit of mysel and countrymen. See here, my bra' lads, in
these bags are contained the gowdeu lozenges, a never-failing
remedy, that gives present ease famous throughout the known
world for their excellent quality. Now, as ye are a' my coun-
trymen, and stand in most need of a cure, I will gie every mon
o' ye twa or three thousand of these lozenges once a year,
to make ye hauld up your heads, and turn out muckle men."
The quack-doctor, Bute, adds, " Awa wi' ye to the deel, ye
southern loons ; but aw ye bonny lads fra the north o' Tweed,
mak haste and come to me, I am now in a capacity to gie ye aw
relief, I ken fu' weel your distemper, I donna mean that so
peculiar to our country, occasion'd by the immoderate use
of oatmeal. But it is the gowden itch wi' which ye are
troubled (and, in truth, most folk are,) that I learnt the art to
cure. I mysel was ne'er fra' this muckle itch while I liv'd in
the North, but having a geud staff to depend upon, 1 resolved
to travel into the South to seek a cure." A female figure looks
DR. JOHNSON AND WILKE9. 273
from behind the curtain, intended to represent the Princess-
Dowager of Wales (who was popularly called the witch).
Neither the Briton nor the Auditor endured many months,
for it was soon found that they answered ill the purpose for
which they had been started. But their authors, and the other
pensioners of Lord Bute, continued to serve against the popular
cause with political pamphlets, and by other means. Dr. John-
son continued long silent, and his pension seemed only to
have rendered him mute. Churchill, who hated Johnson, and
ranked him among the " vile pensioners of state," makes the
distinction between those who were paid to write, and those who
only abstained for their pay :
" Some, dead to shame, and of those shackles proud
Which Honour scorns, for slavery roar aloud ;
Others half-palsied only, mutes become,
And what makes Smollett write, makes Johnson dumb."
Johnson had, in fact, given an unfortunate definition of the
word pensioner in his dictionary, compiled when he received
nothing from government, which laid him open to the sneers of
the popular party; but it was not till 1770 that the doctor
ventured openly to enter the field of politics by an attack on
Wilkes in a pamphlet entitled " The False Alarm." It is pro-
bably to that period that we must ascribe a caricature repre-
A PATRIOT WORRIED.
senting the "patriot" Wilkes, worried by two dogs, one of
which (that to the left) bears the features of the lexicographer,
and the other, those of some other writer of the court-party, of
74
THE LITERARY OWL.
AN OWL.
the identity of whom we are less certain. Dr. Johnson, the
general decrier of talent in others, was by no means a favourite
amono- the writers on the popular side in the great political war-
fare of the last century, and he was made the subject of a
variety of caricatures, most of
them published at a later period
than that of which we are now
speaking. One of these, pub-
lished on the loth of March,
1782, on the occasion of the
prejudiced character of some of
his lives of the English poets,
represents the doctor, in the
shape of an owl, standing upon
the " Lives of the Poets " and
the Dictionary, and leering at
Milton, Pope, &c., who are sur-
rounded with starry rays. It
is entitled, "Old Wisdom
blinking at the stars."
Johnson himself partook violently in those strong political pre-
judices which were the bane of literature at the commencement
of the reign of George III., and which then were felt still
more injuriously, because they even influenced the judgment of
the critics in those new tribunals, the reviews, who too often
punished the political creed of the writer by speaking bitterly
or contemptuously of his talents as an author. It is to be
wished that the effects of this political barbarism had died with
the age which produced it. But it is too certain that literature,
in this country, neglected by the first two monarchs of the
house of Hanover, and persecuted at the commencement of the
reign of the third, has never since been allowed to obtain its
fair share of court or ministerial favour.
One of the most remarkable victims to the neglect of litera-
ture at this period of political strife was the unfortunate,
though talented Chatterton. Genius was, in this instance, as in
so many others, drowned in the rage of party. The young poet
threw himself upon the world, reckoning for success on his own
talents. He gave way to the prevailing taste for virulent
satire, and, amidst a profusion of hopes and promises, he found
himself, like so many of his contemporaries in the profession he
had chosen, reduced to hopeless poverty, and he escaped from it
by a crime which was then fearfully common among all classes
of society, and which had closed the career of several other
votaries of the Muse suicide.
275
CHAPTER VIII.
GEORGE IIL
Accession of George HI. Breaking up of the Pitt Ministry Rise of Lord
Bute, and Inundation of Scotchmen The Peace Bute's Resignation
" Wilkes and Liberty ;" the Mob The North Briton, and the " Essay
on Woman " Attempt to Tax the Americans The Rockingham Minis-
try Pitt's Re-appearance, and Temporary Restoration to Power as
Earl of Chatham Outlawry of Wilkes ; the Pillory Bute's Secret
Influence ; his Puppets Wilkes at Brentford, and in the King's Bench
Wilkes Lord Mayor of London, and his subsequent History.
PTIHE political heroes of the first ten years of the reign of
J_ George III. were William Pitt, Lord Bute, and John Wilkes.
It was a period at which faction raged with extraordinary
violence ; and which carried off from the scene nearly all the
great political intriguers that remained of those who figured in
the events contained in the former part of the present volume.
When George III. ascended the throne, he had entered his
twenty-third year ; his education had been notoriously neglected,
and, from the character of his instructors, it was generally be-
lieved that they had instilled into him very exalted notions of
the prerogatives of the crown, if they had not taught him to
aspire to arbitrary power. Everybody knew the pains which
had been taken to keep him under the influence of his mother ;
and the close connexion between her and Lord Bute, which
had been made a subject of scandal alternately by all parties,
led most people to look forward with apprehensions to a reign
of favouritism, apprehensions which were not calmed by the
good promises under which it opened.
John Stuart, Earl of Bute, was originally a poor Scotch
nobleman, by disposition proud and ambitious, but not remark-
able for his talents. He first attracted the notice of Frederick
Prince of Wales at a private dramatic entertainment, given by
the Duchess of Queensbury, where he performed the part of
Lothario in " The Fair Penitent." Frederick invited him to
Leicester House, and took him into favour ; and after the Prince's
death, he became the still more special favourite of the Princess-
Dowager, who made him her groom of the stole, and he was the
chief actor in all the Leicester House intrigues. We have no
T 2
276 THE EAEL OF BUTE.
reason to doubt that, from the moment George III. ascended
the throne, Lord Bute's ambition led him to grasp at the chief
power, but he began cautiously, and his plans were assisted by
the old and treacherous rivalry of the Duke of Newcastle and
some other members of Pitt's administration. At first the only
changes were made in the Bed-Chamber. Horace Walpole has
handed down to us a bon-mot of a lady observer, who said at
the beginning of December 1760, that the great question was
whether the King would burn in his chamber Scotch-coal, New-
castle-cod, or Pitt-coal; and he adds that "a bon-mot very
often paints truly the history or manners of the times." At
the beginning of January people were already complaining of
the undue partiality shewn to Scotchmen. The scandal attached
to Bute's intimacy with the Princess-Dowager was not allowed
to die. Walpole, who has preserved so much of the political
small-talk of the day, writes on the 3rd of March, 1761,-
" There has been a droll print : her mistress [the princess]
reproving Miss Chudleigh [one of the maids of honour, after-
wards Duchess of Kingston] for her train of life ; she replies,
' Madame, chacun a son But /' ' Within a few days after this
date, Legge was suddenly dismissed from the Chancellorship of
the Exchequer, and Lord Holderness was ordered to give up the
Seals, which the King immediately delivered to Lord Bute. All
this was done without consulting Pitt, who, however, shewed
no resentment. The parliament was dissolved towards the end
of March, and faction seemed to have been so entirely subdued
under Pitt's administration, that the elections were attended
with none of the usual excitement. But when the new parlia-
ment had been ensured, the favourite proceeded towards his
object more boldly and openly.
Many circumstances connected with the resignation of Pitt
at the beginning of this reign, bore a close resemblance to those
of the fall of the Whigs under Queen Anne. In each case, the
ministry had become popular by a long and glorious war, which
their successors closed by a hasty and not very advantageous
peace ; and in both, the revolution was brought about by the
insidious influence of favouritism. In the latter case, as well
as in the former, we shall see that an attempt was made to
influence the mob ; but the circumstances of the times had
changed, and rendered the latter part of the project less practi-
cable. In both cases, too, the court influence in the House of
Lords was strengthened by a numerous creation of new peers,
France, reduced almost to despair by the successive losses of her
colonies, which were but slightly balanced by what she had
EESIGNATION OF PITT. 277
gained in Germany, and impoverished by her exertions in the
war, began to talk of peace with England immediately after the
accession of the new King, and the French ministers soon opened
negotiations, and evidently thought that they might obtain it
on easy terms from Bute. But Pitt haughtily and obstinately
demanded greater concessions to the glory of England than they
seemed willing to make. His opponents immediately set up the
cry, that he advocated war merely because his own position as
minister depended upon it. It was soon, however, found that
France was insincere in its proceedings, and that, under cover of
negotiations for peace, that government was secretly forming an
alliance with Spain to make that power a party in the war
against England in the colonies. The "Family Compact" be-
tween the two countries was signed on the 1 5th of August, 1761,
and ratified on the 8th of September, and Pitt, aware of this
circumstance, and informed of the great preparations carried on
in Spain, proposed a bold and decisive line of conduct for this
country. It was his advice to recal our ambassador from
Madrid, unless a satisfactory explanation were given by the
Spanish- government, and to issue an immediate declaration of
war against Spain. But Pitt's advice was overruled in council,
which preferred temporizing, and when he declared that he
could not remain in office and be responsible for measures which
were not his own, he found that his power in the ministry was
gone, and on the 6th of October he delivered up his seal of
office. The King offered him, through Lord Bute, any rewards
in the power of the crown to bestow, and he accepted a pension
of ^3000. a year, with a peerage for his wife, who was created
Baroness of Chatham. Pitt was followed iu his resignation by
his friend and brother-in-law, Lord Temple.
Although the resignation of Mr. Pitt spread alarm among a
large portion of that class which we are in the habit of calling
thinking people, the popular excitement occasioned by it was
much less than might have been expected. The City of London,
indeed, voted public thanks to the ex-minister, instructed their
members in parliament to look to him as their leader, and took
every opportunity of shewing their strong sympathy ; and two
or three other cities followed the example. Even the popular
newspapers were far from violent, although they were not want-
ing in warm expressions of regret and apprehension. At the
coronation, which had taken place on the 22nd of September,
one of the largest jewels had fallen from the crown, which was
looked upon by superstitious people as a sinister omen ; and now
there were many who saw its fulfilment.
278 COEINNA VINDICATED.
" When first, portentous, it was known,
Great George bad jostled from his crown
The brightest diamond there ;
The omen-mongers, one and all,
Foretold some mischief must befall,
Some loss beyond compare.
M Some fear this gem is Hanover,
"Whilst others wish to God it were ;
Each strives the nail to hit.
One guesses that, another this,
All mighty wise, yet all amiss ;
For, ah ! who thought of Pittt"
Another similar effusion, which was afterwards reprinted in
the " New Foundling Hospital for Wit," made the following
recapitulation of the various ministers who had held rule under
the House of Hanover ; Walpole, the Pelhams, Newcastle or, as
it was more generally considered, Fox and Pitt :
"COEINNA VINDICATED.
" COBINNA, Virtue's child, and chaste
As vestal maid of yore,
Nor sought the nuptial rites in haste,
Nor yet those rites forswore.
" Her, many a worthless knight to wed
Pursued in various shapes ;
But she, though choosing not to lead,
Would not be led by apes.
" Roysters they were, and each a mere
Penelope's gallant ;
They ate and drank up all her cheer,
And loved her into want.
" See her by Walpole first address' d,
(But Walpole caught a Tartar) ;
Him while an ill-earn'd riband graced,
She wore a nobler garter.
" A pair of brothers next advance,
Alike for business fit ;
The filly 'gan to kick and prance,
And spurn the Pelham bit.
" But who comes next ? Ah ! well 1 ken
Him playing fast and loose.
Cease, Fox, the prey will ne'er be thine,
Corinna's not a goose.
" See last the man by heaven design' d
To make Corinna bless'd ;
To every virtuous act inclined,
All patriot in his breast.
" He woo'd the fair with manly sense,
And, flattery apart,
ATTACKS ON PITT. a 79
By dint of sterling eloquence
Subdued Corinna's heart.
" She gave her hand but, lest her hand
So given should prove a curse,
The priest omitted, by command,
for better and for worse."
It was the court-party which now blew the spark of faction
into a new blaze. No sooner had Pitt quitted his office, than
he was attacked by a host of carica-
tures, newspapers, and pamphlets, in
the interest or pay of Bute. They
represented him as the " distressed
statesman," disappointed and over-
thrown in his ambitious projects, and
now obliged to retire from public ob-
servation to conceal his chagrin. They
spoke of him as the general incen-
diary, the demon of war, who cared
not how he burdened or embroiled his
country, while he gratified his love
of slaughter and confusion. They
blazoned forth his venality, and ex-
patiated continually on his pension THE DISTRESSED STATESMAN.
and his wife's peerage. They talked
of his factiousness, and of his intended measures of opposition.
In one of the caricatures, entitled " Gulliver's Flight, or the
GTTLLTTEB'S FLIGHT.
Man-mountain," the " Great Commoner," as he was popularly
a8o STATE OF EUROPE.
termed, is represented flying away from St. Stephen's upon his
own bubbles, amid the acclamations of the multitude below.
The large bubble on which he is seated, is inscribed with the
words, " Pride, Conceit, Patriotism, Popularity." The smaller
ones beneath it, are "Vanity," "Adulation," "Self-importance."
Those just falling from him, are inscribed, " North America,"
"Spanish War," "Honesty," as being the bubbles that pre-
ceded his resignation. And the one just issuing from the pipe
is " Moderation," a sneer at the moderation which he professed
after his resignation. This print is accompanied by a violent
attack on Pitt's political conduct, in the form of an allegory or
dream.
These attacks upon the great statesman were ill-timed, and
only produced a violent reaction in his favour. The opposition
papers began to take a bolder tone ; portraits of Pitt, and
pictures that glorified him, had a ready sale ; and the carica-
tures upon Bute and his Scotchmen became more numerous and
more violent. In one of the prints alluded to, Pitt, carrying
the cap of Liberty, and treading on Faction, is presented to Bri-
tannia by Pratt Lord Camden, and is supported by Justice and
Victory. The ministry of Pitt, during the last years of George
II., seemed, indeed, to have trodden faction under foot ; and
party, which had for some years been a mere distinction of ins
and outs, appeared to be almost extinguished. It was now that
the name of Tories, which had always been considered as iden-
tical with Jacobites, and which had scarcely been heard of for
some time, again made its appearance. In the late reign, the
crown had been a moderator of parties ; it now entered the field
of political warfare as a party in the strife, and the early pre-
judices of youth identified George III., during the rest of his
reign, violently and obstinately with those who, modified con-
siderably from the old Jacobites, were henceforward denominated
Tories.
The wisdom and foresight of William Pitt was as quickly
demonstrated by the course of events. The English govern-
ment temporized and showed its weakness during three months ;
it gave Spain time to make all its preparations for war, and
receive all its treasures from America, which came at this period
of the year ; and then, at the end of December, it was obliged,
under disadvantages, to make the declaration of war which Pitt
would have made under every advantage at the beginning of
October. The manifesto of the King of Spain, was a personal
attack upon Pitt, and did not fail to raise him in the estimation
of his countrymen ; the English government was obliged to
STATE OF EUROPE. 281
tread in the very steps which he had been obliged to resign for
indicating ; yet the ex-minister was still abused for his warlike
propensities. The state of foreign relations in 1761 is repre-
sented in a rather popular caricature of the day, entitled " The
present state of Europe, a political farce of four acts, as it is
now in rehearsal by all the potentates, A.D. 1761." The dis-
tant part of the print represents the island of Corsica, and the
bombardment of Bastia. On the left a weeping Genoese sighs
and exclaims, "I see and bewail the error too late of my country's
severity to these brave islanders." Considerable sympathy
was felt at this time in England for the Corsicans, who were
struggling under their brave general Paoli against the French.
In the same part of the picture, the Russian bear growls against
a Danish dog gnawing a bone. A Swedish dog stands and
snarls over Pomerania, at a Prussian attempting to throw a
collar over his neck, charging him to " fly from our Prussian
Pomerania, or else, you meddling cur, I'll chain you." The
King of Prussia plays the Black Joke on a flute ; and the Queen
of Hungary, dancing to it, falls, exclaiming, " Deuce take his
joke, I have crack'd my crown by it !" The Empress of Russia
says, calmly, " Oh, sister, keep it up for the joke's sake." The
British Lion treats the Gallic Cock with contempt, and behind
stands a quadruple alliance of the pope, the kings of France and
Spain, and the devil. The pope urges the Spaniard, " My son,
assist your most Christian brother against the heretics ; it will
be more meritorious than a crusade." The Spaniard replies,
"I own I love them not, but dread their power." France
entreats, " Dear brother, assist me now, or I am lost for ever !"
Satan consoles them all, by promising them a retreat in his
dominions.
In " The present state of Europe ; a political farce in four
acts, part four; published at the commencement of 1762, the
designs of the King of Spain appear to be still doubted. The
monarchs of Europe are playing at dice. King George and the
King of Prussia sit in close alliance at one end of the table ;
the former throwing the dice, with his drawn sword in his hand,
is made to say, " Play on, brave Prussia, proud Poland's down.
Faithful Britons will never submit to sharpers." The King of
Poland and Elector of Saxony, has made a bad throw, and his
crown is falling from his head. He cries, " I am undone,
d n Bruhl I've lost my own by playing a game for that
ambitious Hungary Queen." At the other end of the table sit
the Kings of France and Spain ; the former urges his br tlier
monarch to ri?k a bold stroke for Gibraltar, in order to ensure
282
BUTE PRIME MINISTER.
DUTCH POLICY.
to himself Hanover at the end of the contest, but the wily King
of Spain is made to reply, " Most Christian Brother, I will re-
cover Gibraltar establish my right to the fishery, but as to your
conquest of Hanover, I would not
venture an ounce of logwood to it."
The King of Spain is, however,
himself a victim, and a personage
described as "The sure gamester
Minheer Trickall, a Dutch politi-
cian, with his pockets full of ducats
and louis-d'or " (to show his cun-
ning and the profit he was making
out the war), is represented pick-
ing the King of Spain's pocket of
a bag of " dollars," with the re-
flection, " Let them play on, mine
is the sure game Minheer shall
win from all without hazard."
Behind him appears the Genoese,
reduced to distress by his exertions
for the assistance of France ; and
at the extreme left, the devil is
peeping in, and exulting over the scene thus laid open to his
view.
The King's first speech to parliament had, indeed, expressed
the old sentiment of attachment to the King of Prussia, and
sympathy in his cause, which was still that of England. But
as soon as Pitt was got rid of, these sentiments were rapidly
modified, and Bute openly declared the intention of deserting
our German allies in the same manner that they had been
deserted by the Tory ministry of Queen Anne. Some of the old
ministry were, however, opposed to this dishonourable conduct ;
and at length, on the 26th of May, 1762, the Duke of New-
castle, the nominal head of the administration, indignant at the
intended treatment of the King of Prussia, and not till it seems
that he had received broad hints that he was no longer accept-
able, resigned his office, upon which, the same day, Lord Bute
was made first Lord of the Treasury. This was a change which
had evidently been contemplated for some time. Lord Egre-
mont had been appointed to the place of Secretary of State,
vacated by Pitt ; George Grenville was now made the other
Secretary of State ; and Lord Bute's creature, the dissipated
and incapable Sir Francis Dashwood, Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
SCURRILITY OF THE POLITICAL PAPERS. 283
The popular attacks upon the favourite, through the instru-
mentality of the press, had been gradually increasing in number
and violence, before he made himself Prime-minister. The
complaints against the patronage of Scotchmen were especially
loud. As early as the i2th of January, 1/61, the newspapers
advertise " A new copper-plate ballad called Boot-all ;" with an
additional announcement of " A new collection of Scotch collops,
screens, curtains, &c., with those curious prints of the Quere,
and We are all a coming." After Lord Bute had become
Prime-minister, the number of caricatures increased amazingly,
and the mere titles of the political prints issued during the next
two or three years would almost fill a volume. A large propor-
tion of them, however, are ill-designed, and still worse engraved,
and some of them revolt us by their gross indecency.* Yet
they answered their purpose in inflaming the passions of the
mob. Walpole writes on the aoth of June 1762, "The new
administration begins tempestuously. My father was not more
abused after twenty years than Lord Bute is after twenty days.
Weekly papers swarm, and, like other swarms of insects, sting."
Bute's attempt to combat the opposition of the press with its
own weapons only added fuel to the fire. The Monitor, the
warm advocate of Pitt and his measures, contained on the 2 2nd
of May (two days before Newcastle's resignation) a bitter
article on royal favourites. Bute established the Briton, the
first number of which contained a reply to the Monitor, and
this, as well as another government paper, the Auditor, con-
tinued weekly to pour forth a torrent of not very delicate abuse
on all the popular party. The Briton, as it has been already
stated, produced the North Briton, edited by Wilkes and
Churchill, which attacked the court party with quite as much
scurrility as distinguished the government organs, and which
eventually contributed not a little towards overthrowing the
Bute administration.
Bute seemed intoxicated with his power, and, paying little
attention to the popular complaints, he set no bounds to his
injudicious patronage of his countrymen, heaping preferment on
his brother, James Mackensie, to whom he gave, in 1 763, the
highest offices in Scotland. Bute's patronage of his brother and
countrymen is satirized in a caricature entitled "The flying
* A newspaper paragraph of October 15, 1762, reprinted in the Oentle-
inans Magazine for that month, very justly says, "Many of the repre-
sentations that have lately appeared in the shops, are not only reproachful
to government, but offensive to common sense ; they discover a tendency to
inflame, without a spark of fire to light their own combustibles."
a 84
PATRONAGE OF SCOTCHMEN.
machine from Edinburgh in one day, performed by Moggy
Mackensie at the Thistle and Crown." A northern witch is
A JOCIINEY FROM THB NOBTH.
conducting the Scottish adventurers to the land of promotion,
on a monstrous broomstick :
" On broomstick, by old Moggy's aid,
Full royally they rode,
And on the wings of northern winds,
Came flying all abroad."
Other caricatures represent the high roads from the north,
crowded with ragged Scots who were deserting their bleak and
barren mountains for the milder climes of the south ; while
in others ship-loads sought the land of promise by sea. Even
the post from the north-country was suspected of bringing its
share of the noxious importation ; and one of the caricatures of
A SCOTCH MISSIVE.
a somewhat later period represents a Scotchman dispatched to
London under cover of a franked envelope.
THE JACK-SOOT. 285
The favourite himself, who was commonly spoken of as the
" Thane," was attacked under every shape that inveterate hatred
could suggest. He was the "jack-boot" (a poor pun on his
name) from which all our mischiefs flowed, the thistle, the
" political bag-piper." The " boot" was the favourite object in
caricatures. One of these, entitled " The Whipping Post," repre-
sents poor Britannia stripped naked and bound to the whipping-
post, while a Scotchman is scourging her mercilessly with thistles.
The caricatures and satires on Bute's private relations with the
young King and his mother, the Princess of Wales, were
libellous in the highest degree, and not unfrequently obscene.
He was compared with Mortimer, the favourite of Queen Isabel,
and a celebrated mock dedication to him by Wilkes, of a new
edition of the tragedy of Mortimer, expresses the wish that he
might share that wicked favourite's fate. Others parodied a
scene in Hamlet, and represented our " thane" instilling poison
into the royal ear, in order that he might rule in his stead. In
one caricature, entitled " The royal dupe," the Princess of Wales
is seated on a sofa, lulling the young king to sleep in her lap,
while Lord Bute is stealing his sceptre, and Fox is represented
picking the king's pocket. Two pictures on the wall of the
apartment represent the garden-scene in Hamlet and the Fall of
Mortimer.
Pitt's old rival, Henry Fox, was the minister who enjoyed
chiefly the confidence of the favourite, and who promoted his
measures with the greatest zeal, and, as might be expected,
shared largely in his unpopularity. His name became as closely
identified with the Bute administration as it had formerly been
with that of the Duke of Newcastle. This statesman seems to
have been equally remarkable for the looseness of his private
morals, and the dishonesty of his public conduct ; and, during
the long period he held the lucrative office of paymaster of the
forces, he became extravagantly rich out of the plunder of the
public money. In 1769, the petition of the city of London for
the redress of public grievances adverted especially to his defal-
cations, and stigmatized him as " the public defaulter of unac-
counted millions," an expression which was long attached to
his memory. In one of the caricatures which appeared before
Newcastle's resignation, entitled " The State Nursery," where
the Bute ministry are occupied in children's games, Fox, as the
whipper-in of the ministerial majority in the Commons, is
mounted on the back of Bute
" First you see old sly Volpone-y
Riding on the shoulders brawny
Of the niuckle favourite Sawney."
286 PROPOSALS FOR PEACE.
The Duke of Newcastle is employed in rocking the cradle.
From this time Fox and Bute are constantly joined together,
and even after they had been driven from
ostensible power, they were popularly
believed to share in secret influence. In
another caricature, entitled "The ever-
memorable Peace-Makers settling their
accounts," Fox and Bute are joined in a
trio with the king. The book in which
Fox is writing bears the inscription,
"Unaccounted Millions;" and the rolls
before the King are entitled " West In-
dies," "North America," "Manillas,"
&c. In the original print, the devil, with
an axe in one hand (the reward of trea-
son), holds the inkstand, from which Fox
replenishes his pen.
The great aim of the court intrigues
appears, indeed, to have been to gain
popularity for the favourite by making
him the author of peace ;* and as soon
as he had been raised to the nominal
head of the ministry, he began to make
THI FOX ELEVATED. indirect advances for the renewal of the
negotiations. The condition in which
Pitt had left the national forces, and the energy which he had
impressed on all their operations, continued to produce their
THE PEACE-MAKEUS.
* On the renewal of negotiations for peace, Bute's first step was to write
a letter to the lord mayor of London, to inform him of his intentions, with
the evident intention of conciliating the City.
THE CONGRESS. 287
effect, and the war with Spain was, on our part, a series of
brilliant successes, which made us roaster of the Havanna and
Manillas, and most of the Spanish and French West Indian
islands ; so that the two powers were glad to listen to offers of
peace on almost any terms. Bute had begun his administration,
at least not very honourably, by deserting the King of Prussia
and our German allies, and they were now left out of the treaty,
to make terms for themselves. No doubt England might have
exacted much more advantageous terms ; for she gave up a large
portion of her conquests ; but she retained all Canada, with Cape
Breton, (which had been so often a bone of contention,) and
other possessions, which rendered the British empire in Northern
America compact and safe.
Whatever might have been the general wish for a peace, the
popular feeling in England was not in favour of a peace to be
made by Lord Bute, and it was easy to raise an outcry against
the extent of the concessions made to our enemies. As soon as
the negotiations were formally opened, in the month of September,
1762, caricatures, and ballads, and pamphlets, flew about in
rapid succession. In one of the former, entitled " The Congress ;
or, a device to lower the Land Tax, to the tune of Doodle,
doodle, do," advertised on the i.^th of September, 1762, the
favourite is represented treating with the Frenchman, and giving
up Guadaloupe, Martinico, &c., while he retains merely " barren
Canada," and " part of Newfoundland." A Scotchman carries
the standard of the boot and petticoat. Bute is made to say,
" Tak aw again, Monseir, and gie us back what ye please ;" to
which the Frenchman replies, " Der is Canada and N. F. Land ;
now tank de grande monarch for his royale bountee." The
British lion is held down by a chain, with the Auditor and
Briton weighing heavy upon his neck ; and on the other side of
the picture is a tombstone, with the inscription, " English glory.
Obiit 1 762." The following song is attached to this caricature :
" Here you may see the happy congress,
All now is done with such a bon-grace,
No English wight can surely grumble,
Or cry, our treaty- makers fumble.
Doodle, doodle, do, &C.
Who would not for a peace like this,
Replete with every kind of bliss,
Give all our conquests, all our gain- a,
And glory in the Highland Thane-a t
Doodle, &c.
44 Our manners now we all will change-a,
Talk Erse and get the Scottish mange-a,
288 " THE TIMES."
An oatmeal haggise we will feed- a,
And Smithfield beasts no more shall bleed a.
Doodle, &c.
14 A tartan plaid each chield shall wear-a ;
With bonnets blue we'll deck our hair-a ;
And make an act that no one may put
A felt or beaver on his caput.
Doodle, &c.
"Then strut with Caledonian pride ;
Shakspeare and Milton fling aside ;
On bagpipes play, and learn to sing all
TV achievements of the mighty Fingal.*
Doodle, &c.
"In gratitude all this we owe-a,
For saving us from beaten f'oe-a ;
And 'tis the least we surely can do,
For to regain lost Newfoundland-o.
Doodle," &c.
Another caricature, published in the course of September, was
entitle^ " The Caledonian Pacification ; or, All's well that ends
well." Bute is here seated by a muzzled lion, on an elevation ;
he holds the sceptre, and proclaims, " Be this our r 1 [royal]
will and pleasure known." The Kings of France and Spain are
making their own terms. Pitt and his friends are going to the
assistance of Britannia, who sits weeping in a corner. It was
at this time that Hogarth published his caricature, or rather
emblematical print, of " The Times," defending Bute's peace,
and stigmatizing Pitt, Temple, and Newcastle as public
incendiaries. This print, as we have already seen, only served
to increase and embitter the attacks on the government.
Immediately after its publication, appeared a large print, entitled
" The Raree Show, a political contrast to the print of The Times
by William Hogarth," in which the Scots are seen on one side
dancing and rejoicing at the fire which is consuming John Bull's
house. The centre of the picture is occupied by a great acting-
barn, from the upper window of which Fox shews his cunning
head, and points to the sign representing Dido and ^neas going
into the cave, and announcing that the play of these two
worthies is acted within. This is, of course, an allusion to the
presumed intimacy between Bute and the princess-dowager, who
are exhibited as the hero and heroine on a scaffolding in front,
Smollett on one side, blowing a trumpet, entitled " The Briton,"
and Murphy on the other, beating a drum, entitled " The
* Macpherson's "Ossian " had been published in this year, 1761, and was
now exciting general attention.
FURTHER CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY. 289
Auditor" There are many other groups allusive equally to the
political events of the day. In one corner sits the mercenary
Dutchman, receiv-
ing the wages of his
interested neutrality
from " mounsieur."
It appears that
even the members
of the cabinet were
not unanimous in ap-
proval of the peace ;
at least some of them
were unwilling to
compromise them-
selves by signing it. NEUTRALITY.
This led to some
changes in the ministry, the most important of which was
the resignation of the Duke of Devonshire at the beginning of
November ; upon which the king in council ordered the duke's
name to be struck out of the council book, an act of ignominious
treatment totally unmerited, and said to have been intended to
intimidate others from following his example. This resignation
was followed by those of the Marquis of Rockingham and the
duke's relatives, Lord George Cavendish, and Lord Besborough.
The Duke of Cumberland, who had received some slights, also
joined the opposition, which tended to increase its popularity.
At the end of November, when the parliament met, Lord Bute
could not pass the streets without being hissed and pelted by
the mob, and a strong guard was necessary to secure his person
from still greater violence.
Parliament met on the 2^th of November, and the prelimi-
naries of the treaty were laid before both houses. Pitt, who was
suffering from his gout, came to the House of Commons, wrapped
up in flannels, to attack the peace, and the debate there was very
animated, but the ministers found themselves secure of a large
majority. In the Lords, Bute gloried in his own work, and de-
clared that he wished tor no other epitaph to be inscribed on his
tomb than that he was the adviser of this peace. The phrase
was snatched at by the opposition, and gave rise to an epigram,
which was soon in everybody's mouth :
"Say, when will England be from faction freed T
When will domestic quarrels cease t
Ne'er till that wisbed-for epitaph we read,
'Here lies the man that made the peace.' *
U
290 THE PEACE OF FONTAINES LE AIT.
The moment Bute felt assured of his majorities in parliament,
he shewed his resentment against his opponents by tyrannically
ejecting from their offices, even to the lowest, every person who
bad received an appointment from the Duke of Newcastle and
other leaders of the opposition when in office.
Between one hesitation and another, the peace was not con-
cluded until the month of February, 1763 ; and perhaps no
peace was ever received by the body of the people with greater
dissatisfaction. The popular hatred of the French increased
with the cessation of hostilities ; and there was a new cry against
the importation of French fashions, which, it was pretended,
were the only return we should receive for so many sacrifices.
Churchill expressed the popular feeling
" France, in return for peace and power restored,
For all those countries, which the hero's sword
Unprofitably purchased, idly thrown
Into her lap, and made once more her own ;
France hath afforded large and rich supplies
Of vanities full-trimmed ; of polish'd lies,
Of soothing flatteries, which through the ears
Steal to and melt the heart ; of slavish fears
Which break the spirit, and of abject fraud
For which, alas ! we need not send abroad."
The minister tried to console himself for the unpopularity of
his peace by getting up addresses* of congratulation, but they
found few who would address, and they met everywhere with
discomfiture. An address was very reluctantly wrung from the
city of London, and was carried to St. James's on the i2th of
May, by Sir Charles Asgill (as locum tenens in the absence of
the lord mayor), accompanied by six other aldermen, the re-
corder, sheriffs, chamberlain, and town-clerk. The procession
was accompanied by a great mob, which hissed and hooted
during the whole route ; as it passed along Fleet Street the
great bell of St. Bride's began to toll, and a dumb peal struck
up ; and it received a similar salutation from Bow-bells on its
return. When the mob approached the palace, they became
still more uproarious, and the whole transaction tended only to
throw disgrace on its promoters, and make them an object of
the popular ridicule and contempt. Churchill, in the fourth
book of " The Ghost," published shortly after this event, speaks
of processions which move on slowly
" to the melancholy knell
Of the dull, deep, and doleful bell,
* There were several caricatures on these patched-up addresses, the best
of which is entitled, "A sequel to the kuights of Bay the, or the One-
Leaded Corporation."
THE TAX UPON BEER. api
Such as of late the good Saint Bride
Muffled, to mortify the pride
Of those who, England quite forgot,
Paid their vile homage to the Scot,
Where Asgill held the foremost place,
Whilst my lord figured at a race."
Caricature prints of the procession for the proclamation of the
peace were circulated under the title of " The Proclamation of
Proclamations," in which the proclaimer was represented with a
large loot on one leg, and riding upon a donkey (the latter being
the mob emblem of the young king.). Beneath were the dog-
gerel lines :
" See here, fellow-subjects (so fine and so pretty)
A show that not long since was seen in the City,
With marshals, and heralds, and horse grenadiers,
And music before 'em to tickle our ears ;
To tell us proud Sawney has patched up a peace,
That our foes may take breath and our taxes increase.
Oh ! who could have thought we should e'er see the dav
When a Scotchman should over the English bear sway,
Thus bully and swagger and threaten and dare,
Till the credulous lion falls into the snare.
But though coward-like from his post he has fled,
Let's hope yet his lordship wont die in his bed."
Lord Bute had, indeed, after a short but stormy reign, deserted
his post. The arrears and various liabilities incurred by the
war, had produced the necessity of new taxation, the odium of
which fell entirely upon the Scotch minister. Early in 1 767, a tax
was laid upon beer, which raising the price of that article, had exas-
perated the mob, on whom such a tax fell with disproportionate
heaviness. The tax was made immediately the subject of ballads
and caricatures against the king and his favourite ; and the
popular discontent was shewn in several instances in a way
which could not fail to reach the royal ears. The Royal Maga-
zine, under the date of February 15, informs us that " some
evenings ago, while their majesties were at Drury Lane Theatre,
to see the Winter's Tale, as Garrick was repeating the two fol-
lowing lines of the occasional prologue to that celebrated
piece :
" For you, my hearts of oak, for your regale,
Here's good old English stingo, mild and stale,"
an honest fellow cried out of the shilling gallery, ' At threepence
a pot, Master Garrick, or confusion to the brewers!' which," it
is added, " was so well received by the whole house, as to pro-
duce a plaudit of universal approbation." Several other taxes
u a
292
BUTE'S RESIGNATION.
were proposed or talked of; but in the spring of 1763, Bute
suddenly proposed an excise on cider, and a law was passed,
rather hastily and ill-digested, in spite of the most violent oppo-
sition and the most threatening demonstrations in some parts of
the country. People compared the rash disregard of popular
opinion with which this measure was pushed through, with the
conduct of Sir Robert Wai pole, who had bowed to the public
demonstrations against his far wiser system of excise ; and when
the resignation of Lord Bute was suddenly announced on the
8th of April, 1763, many ascribed his retreat to the terror raised
by the popular indignation on this occasion. Others (and this
seems to have been the general opinion) said that he had been
driven out by the Duke of Cumberland, who, with the Duke of
Newcastle, led the oppo-
sition in the House of
Lords. A caricature, en-
titled " The Roasted Ex-
ciseman; or, the Jack
Boot's exit," represents
the enraged mob burning
the effigy of a Scotchman
suspended on a gallows ;
a great worn boot lies in
the bonfire, into which a
man is throwing an " ex-
cised cider barrel" as fuel.
A Scotchman, in great
distress, cries out, "It 'u
aw over with us now,
and aw our aspiring hopes
are gone." In one corner
is Liberty drooping over
her insignia and a number of the North Briton, and comforted
by a portly personage, apparently intended for the Duke of
Cumberland : she says, " your R. H gh ness was always my
firm friend, and I well know feels for my distress." Another
caricature published on this occasion is entitled " The Boot and
the Blockhead. Oh! Garth fee*. 1762." A wooden head raised
upon a boot, and adorned with Hogarth's line of beauty, is
erected as the idol to be worshipped. Hogarth with his print of
" The Times" as a shield, is defending it against the attacks of
Churchill, armed with the North Briton. It is attended by a
crowd of worshippers, who are chiefly Scotchmen. Through an
entrance doorway to the right a bright sun is seen rising, and
THE FRIEND OP LIBERTY.
THE WOE SHIP OF THE BLOCKHEAD.
2 93
the Duke of Cumberland enters with a whip in his hand, followed
by a sailor. The duke turns back to his companion, and says,
" Lend 's a hand, Ned, to scourge the worshippers of a blockhead !
I'll warn 'em presently, as I did in '45." The
sailor cries, "I'll lend you a hand, my prince of
bold actions !" Others said that the minister ""^7
had been killed politically by the North Briton. (T
The truth, however, probably is, that Lord Bute
was suddenly terrified at the degree of popular
hatred to which he had exposed himself, and
thought that he should escape it by giving up
his place. We can hardly help feeling convinced
that in the first years of the reign of George III.
a desperate attempt was made to raise the royal
prerogative to a very undue position in regard
to the constitution, and that no means were left
untried to secure success ; the experiment was
a dangerous one, and it failed ; Bute is said to
have confessed that he was terror-struck at the
perils with which he was surrounded, and that
he was afraid of involving the king in his own
fate.
The fallen minister, however, soon recovered
his courage, and the only difference was that he
ruled from behind the curtain, instead of reign-
ing in public. Fox, who seems to have shared
in the panic, retired at the same time, and was
raised to the peerage, under the title of Lord Holland. Sir
Francis Dashwood, Bute's
incompetent chancellor of the
exchequer, also resigned, and was
created Lord Despenser. The
other changes were trifling ;
George Grenville was made first
lord of the treasury and chan-
cellor of the exchequer ; and
the machine of state was still
guided secretly by the hand of
Bute.
The court seems to have been
provoked in the highest degree
by the opposition which its
measures had received from the
press ; and it now began a
THE IDOL.
TUB IDOL'S scocnci.
294 " THE NORTH SSITON, NO. XLV."
violent persecution, the only effect of which was to give an
unusual importance to the mob, of which for many years after
no efforts could deprive it On the ipth of April, three
days after the change in the ministry, the King closed the
session of Parliament with a speech in which he dwelt upon
the advantages of the peace. On the 23rd of April appeared
the celebrated " No. XLV." of the North Briton, which con-
sisted of a very severe criticism of the King's speech, taken,
as it is always considered, as the speech of the minister,
and of a violent attack (but less so than many previous ones)
on the public conduct of the Earl of Bute. There is nothing
treasonable or unusually libellous in this paper, or which had
not been said over and over again in the House of Commons ;
its only fault is a want of moderation in language. But the
North JBriton had contributed very largely in raising the popular
hatred which had forced Lord Bute to resign ; and the court,
blinded by resentment, rushed headlong and inconsiderately on
the prospect of vengeance. A general warrant, to seize all per-
sons concerned in the publication of the North Briton, without
specifying their names, was immediately issued by the secretary
of state, and a number of printers and publishers were placed in
custody, some of whom were not concerned in it. Late on the
night of the 2pth of April, the messengers entered the house of
John Wilkes (the author of the article in question), and pro-
duced their warrant, with which he refused to comply. The
next morning, however, he was carried before the secretary of
state, and committed a close prisoner to the Tower, his papers
being previously seized and sealed, and all access to his person
strictly prohibited. The warrant was considered as an illegal
one, and had only been resorted to in one or two intances, and
under very extraordinary circumstances, of which there were
none in the present case. Wilkes's friends immediately obtained
a writ of habeas corpus, which the ministers defeated by a mean,
subterfuge ; and it was found necessary to obtain a second before
they could bring the prisoner before the court of King's Bench,
by which he was set at liberty, on the ground of his privilege as
a member of parliament. He then opened an angry correspon-
dence with the secretaries of state on the seizure of his papers,
which led to no result. But in the meantime, the attorney-
general had been directed to institute a prosecution against him
in the King's Bench for libel ; and the King had ordered him
to be deprived of his commission as colonel in the Buckingham-
shire militia. The King further exhibited his resentment by
depriving Lord Temple of the lord-lieutenaucv of the same
WILKES AND " THE NORTH BRITON." 295
county, and striking his name out of the council book, for an
expression of personal sympathy which had fallen from him.
George Grenville's administration had hardly lasted three
months, when it was weakened by the death of one of the secre-
taries of state, Lord Egremont ; upon which, without any com-
munication with the ministers, and to the surprise of everybody,
Lord Bute, by the King's command, repaired to Mr. Pitt to
negotiate his return to office, and the formation under him of a
new cabinet. Pitt consulted his friends, and waited twice upon
the King, but the latter insisting on certain arrangements to
which the statesman would not agree, the negotiation failed;
and Grenville remained minister. The Duke of Bedford, whose
name was very unpopular in connection with the peace, was
now brought into the ministry, and the Earl of Sandwich was
made secretary of state.
When the parliament met on the i^th of November 1763, its
attention was at once called to the affair of Wilkes, whose cause
was taken up warmly by the opposition. The court, however,
was still master of large majorities in the house, and it was re-
solved that the article in the North Briton was a " false, scan-
dalous, and seditious libel," and that it should be burnt by the
hands of the common hangman. It was further proposed to expel
Wilkes from the house, and they talked of condemning him to
the pillory. Wilkes replied by a complaint of the manner in
which the privileges of the house had been violated in his
person, and raised a question, the consideration of which was
postponed for a week. The court party, however, was not satis-
fied with the fair open course of proceeding which lay before
them, but they had a new attack in store, intended to throw a
moral odium on their victim, and got up in a manner which
threw disgrace on every one concerned in it. Although he has
probably been condemned more severely than he deserved,
Wilkes's moral character, like that of many of his eminent con-
temporaries, was very low. But he appears to have learnt his
immorality in the society of Lord Sandwich, Sir Francis Dash-
wood (Lord le Despencer), Thomas Potter, M.P. for Ayk-sbury,
and son of Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury, and some other
men of fashion and dissipation, who formed with him a club,
which, in its private meetings, held at Medmenham, in Buck-
inghamshire (the seat of Lord le Despencer), set all religion and
decency at defiance. Potter and Wilkes together composed an
obscene parody on Pope's Essay on Man, which they entitled
"An Essay on Woman;" and which, in imitation of Pope's
poem, was accompanied with notes under the name of Bishop
a 9 <5 " TEE NORTH BRITON" BURNT.
Warburton. Wilkes had read this production to Lord Sand-
wich and Lord le Despencer, who highly approved of it, but he
had communicated it to no other person. He had printed
twelve copies of it at a private press in his own house, which
were to be distributed among the members of the club, and he
had taken the greatest precaution to hinder its being carried
abroad by his workmen. One of them, however, had purloined
some fragments of it, and shown them to a needy parson named
Kidgell, who gained his living by writing for the press, and who
was employed by the government to obtain a copy of the work
alluded to by bribing one of Wilkes's compositors, in which, with
some difficulty, he succeeded. On the very day when Wilkes's
alleged libel was brought before the House of Commons, the
stolen copy of the " Essay on Woman " was laid before the
lords, and, of all other persons, the notoriously profligate Earl
of Sandwich, who had privately approved of this very produc-
tion, was selected to bring it forward, and comment upon its
profane indecency. This was as bad a burlesque as the book
itself; and it only led to the publication of a load of scandalous
stories of the impiety and immorality of the hypocritical
accuser ; for Lord Sandwich is said to have been expelled Irom
the Beefsteak Club for blasphemy ; and Horace Walpole tells
us, on this occasion, that " very lately, at a club with Mr.
Wilkes, held at the top of the play-house in Drury Lane, Lord
Sandwich talked so profanely that he drove two hailequins out
of the company." To make matters worse, Kidgell, the minis-
terial tool in this unworthy affair, published a quarto pamphlet,
giving an indecent account of Wilkes's poem, which was t-pread
abroad rather copiously, and brought Kidgell and his employers
into equal contempt.
In parliament the ministerial majorities were supreme, and
both houses joined in the severest censures on the North Mriton
and on the poem. But it was different out of doors, where the
court persecution of Wilkes had made him a perfect idol with
the mob. When, on the jrd of December, the Sheriff of Lon-
don, Alderman Harley, with the City officers and hangman,
proceeded to carry into effect the sentence of the House of
Commons against the North Briton, by burning it in a tire in
Cheapside, the mob attacked them with the greatest violence,
forced the sheriffs to make a hasty retreat to the Mansion
House, drove away the officers from the fire, and, snatching from
the hangman the half-burnt " libel," carried it in triumph to
Temple Bar, where they made a bonfire and burnt a large jack-
boot, for all these unpopular acts were laid to the account of
THE FLIGHT. *tf
the favourite. Among the numerous epigrams passed about on
this occasion, one of them shows strongly the popular sentiment
in this respect ;
" Because the North Briton inflamed the whole nation,
To flames they commit it, to shew detestation :
But thioughout old England how joy would have spread,
Had the real North Briton, been burnt in its stead !"
In consequence of this riot, the government nearly quarrelled
with the City ; and to increase the mortification of the former,
Wilkes and the printers arrested by the general warrant, who
had all commenced prosecutions for illegal imprisonment,
obtained rather heavy damages from the under secretary of state,
who had put the warrant in execution ; and a violent opposition
to the system of general warrants was raised in parliament,
which ultimately effected their abolition. The opposition to
the proceedings against Wilkes was headed in the House of
Lords by the l)uke of Cumberland.
Wilkes himself did not again lace his opponents in the House
of Commons. In a duel, which arose out of the debate on the
first day, he had received a severe wound, which afforded an
excuse for not attending ; and, when the parliament met after
the Christmas holidays on the ipth of January, 1764, he had
made his retreat to Paris, from whence he sent medical certifi-
cates that he could not come back. The House of Commons
thereupon passed a vote of censure on the North Briton, and
then proceeded to expel Wilkes from the house. Kidgell about
the same time became involved in some discreditable money
transactions, and was obliged also to leave the country, and this
double elopement gave rise to the following epigram :
" When faction was loud, and when party ran high,
Reliyiou and Liberty joiu'd in the cry ;
But, grief of griefs I in the midst of the fray,
Religion and Liberty both ran away."
It ia difficult to conceive the excitement produced by this
affair, which continued during the spring. The debates in par-
liament were angry and obstinate ; Pitt came frequently to his
place in the house, wrapped in flannels, to head his party in
defending the constitutional liberty of the subject which had
been infringed by the proceedings of the government ; and three
remarkable men (besides others), who acted a prominent part in
subsequent events, were pettishly turned out of their places, and
two of them deprived of their commissions in the army, for
joining in the opposition, Lord Shelburne, Colonel Barre, and
298 THE EXECUTION OF JUSTICE.
General Conway. The court carried this sort of intimidation
to such an excess, that a writer in the Royal Magazine in
February 1766, informed us that "a curious gentleman" had
made a calculation that down to that time since Legge had been
discharged in May 1761, there had been no less than five
hundred and twenty-three changes of places by ministerial
influence.
Few of the popular party effusions produced by the prosecu-
tions against Wilkes appear to be preserved ; and the caricatures
connected with it are not of great interest. In one, published
in 1764, under the title of "The Execu-
tion," Lord Sandwich, who was known by
the sobriquet of Jemmy Twitcher, is repre-
sented dragging Justice to execution. He
is treading on the British lion, which lies
muzzled and chained ; and a figure on one
side cries to him, " Twitch her, Jemmy,
twitch her !"
George Grenville, the prime minister, had
also (like most of his colleagues) his sobri-
quet. In the debate on the cider bill, the
last measure of Bute's administration, Gren-
ville contended that the government did
not know where else to lay a tax, and turn-
ing to Pitt, who was warm in the opposi-
tion, exclaimed, " Let him tell me where
only tell me where !" Pitt replied only by
humming in his place the words of a popular
tune, "Gentle Shepherd, tell me where!" The house was
thrown into a roar of laughter, and ever after the minister
carried with him the title of the Gentle Shepherd. It was this
gentle shepherd who now, when the affair of Wilkes was for
the present ended, by a new scheme of taxation, laid the founda-
tion of the American war and the loss of those important colo-
nies which now form the United States. The magnitude of the
question seems not at first to have been fully appreciated in this
country, and the opposition, though brisk, was not very strong,
to a measure which was, nevertheless, felt to be neither consti-
tutional nor politic, the taxing of a people who were not repre-
sented in parliament, except as far as, as was suggested by one
member, North America was considered, by a sort of constitu-
tional fiction, as forming parcel of the manor of Greenwich, in
Kent. Even Pitt was not present at these debates. The cus-
tom duties on goods imported into America now levied, and the
THE EXECUTIONER.
AMERICA IN A FERMENT. 299
threat of a stamp-tax, excited a violent ferment in America, and
met with a resolute opposition there ; yet in the next session
(January 1765), the King's speech urged the parliament to per-
sist in taxing the Americans, and in enforcing obedience.
In the meantime the English government became involved in
new changes. In the summer of 1764 Pitt, who appears to
have been more and more ambitious of being thought above the
partizanship of faction, emancipated himself from the league he
had formed with the Duke of Newcastle, and declared his inten-
tion of acting entirely upon his own judgment in opposing or
supporting the measures of ministers. The apparent disorganiza-
tion of the opposition alone saved Grenville's ministry during the
remainder of the year. In February 1765, the American stamp
act was carried through parliament, in spite of the representations
of Benjamin Franklin and a deputation sent from America to
expostulate ; but still Pitt, suffering under the gout, kept away.
Immediately after it had passed, in the latter part of March, the
young king experienced the first attack of that derangement
under which he laboured in the latter years of his life, and, on
his recovery, ministers brought in a hasty and ill-digested plan
of a regency bill, by which they grievously affronted the
Princess of Wales, and gave little satisfaction to the king.
From this moment their doom was certain, and it was said that
Bute fixed the king's determination. In the middle of May, the
king sent for his uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, and dispatched
him to Mr. Pitt, at his seat at Hayes, in Kent, to beg him to
form a new ministry, but he refused. The duke then, by the
king's desire, tried to form a ministry among the opposition, but
nobody would engage without Pitt. The monarch was then
driven to the alternative of asking his old ministers to remain ;
which they now refused to do, unless the king would promise
never again to consult Lord Bute, to dismiss Bute's brother,
Mackensie, from his office in Scotland, and Fox (Lord Holland)
from his place of paymaster of the forces, (which he still re-
tained,) and appoint Lord Granby captain-general. The king
gave a flat refusal to the first and last of these demands, and his
ministers were satisfied by the sacrifice of Lord Holland and Mr.
Mackensie, and the promise that Bute should not be permitted
to interfere. The king, however, was still determined to get rid
of his ministers, and towards the end of June he made a new
communication to Pitt, who now took some steps to form an
administration, which were rendered abortive by the objections of
Lord Temple. Upon this the Duke of Cumberland again
addressed himself to the more moderate part of the opposition,
<joo TUE ROCKINGHAM ADMINISTRATION.
and succeeded in forming an administration under the Marquis
of Kockingliam, who brought into parliament Ins private secre-
tary, the celebrated Edmund Burke, and raised to the peerage,
as Lord Camden, the popular chief-justice Pratt.
During the ministerial changes the country was in a troubled
state, which was increased by several causes of popular excite-
ment. The disputes with the American colonies was a hindrance
to commerce, and was felt heavil}- by the merchants, and thus
their cause found advocates in England. The English mob was
increasing in power and insolence, and the Grenville ministry
persisted in provoking it by unpopular exhibitions. Wilkes had
escaped the pillory by retiring to France, and the other persons
concerned in the original publication of the North Briton had
beaten their persecutors, with the exception of Kearsley, the
bookseller, who had been ruined, but who was re-established in
trade in the beginning of 1765, by the exertion of some
of Wilkes's partizans. Another bookseller, named Williams,
re-published about this time the set of the North Britons in two
small volumes. He was immediately prosecuted by the court, and
sentenced to stand in the pillory in Palace Yard for one hour, which
was put into execution on the ist of March, 1765. Williams
was conducted to the place of punishment amid the shouts
and acclamations of a vast concourse of people, in a hackney-
coach, numbered 45.* When he mounted the pillory, as well as
when quitting it, he bowed to the spectators, and during the
whole time he held a sprig of laurel in his hand. While he
stood there, the mob erected a gallows of ladders opposite to
him, on which they hung a jack-boot, an axe, and a Scotch
bonnet ; which articles, after a while, were taken down, the top
of the boot cut off with the axe, and then both boot and bonnet
thrown into a large bonfire. In the meantime a gentleman drew
out a purple purse, adorned with orange-ribbons, and made a
collection of two hundred guineas for the sufferer, who was con-
* The number of the North Briton was the more popu'ar from its for-
tuiious Coincidence with that of the year of the great Scottish rebellion.
Long alter the events themselves had ceased to be a matter of general
iiitere&t, patriotic tradesmen continued to give populaiity to their merchan-
dize liy distinguishing it with the favoured number 45. It is paid that even
within a lew years the favourite article in a snuff-shop in Fleet-street, was
extracted from a canister maiked 45, and the mixture known by no other
name. Mr. Tooke, from whose notes to Churchill this fact is taken, adds,
that, on the other Land, so obnoxious were these numerals to royalty itse f,
as well as its retainers, that the young Prince of Wales, in 1772, thought
he could not exhibit his rebentment for some privation or chastisement he
had undergone more provokiugly towards his royal father than by roaring
out repeatedly the popular cry, "Wilkes and No. XLV. for ever I"
THE PILLORY. 301
ducted from the scene of his punishment in the same triumphal
manner in which he had been brought there. One of the spec-
tators took out a pencil and wrote on the scaffold the extempo-
rary lines :
" Martyrs of old for truth thus bravely stood,
Laid down their lives, and shed their dearest blood ;
No scandal then to suffer in her cause,
And nobly stem the rigour of the laws :
Pulpit and desk may equally go down,
A pillory's now more sacred than a ." [crown."]
The popular excitement caused by this new act of ministerial
(and, as it was interpreted, Scotch) persecution, raised a greab
clamour. Ballads were sung about the streets on Williams and
on the pillory ; and several prints appeared, representing the
various circumstances of the exhibition in New Palace Yard, with
a fair sprinkling of caricature. On one of them the pillory is
entitled the "Scotch Yoke;" and the print is accompanied with
a ballad, which, as this was one of the affairs that threw the
pillory into disuse as a punishment for political offences, is
perhaps worth repeating : it is entitled
"THE PILLORY TRIUMPHANT; OR, No. 45 FOR EVER.
"Ye sons of Wilkes and Liberty,
Who hate despotic sway,
The glorious forty-five now crowns
This memorable day.
And to New Palace Yard let us go, let us go.
u An injur'd martyr to her cause
L T ndaunted meets his doom :
Ah ! who like me don't wish to see
Some great ones in his room ?
Then to New Palace Yard let us go, let us go.
" Behold the laurel, fresh and green,
Attract all loyal eyes ;
The haughty thistle droops its head,
Is blasted, stinks, and dies.
Then to New Palace Yard let us go, let us go.
"High mounted on the gibbet view
The Boot and Bonnet's fate ;
But wbere's the Petticoat, my lads!
The Boot should have its mate.
Then to new Palace Yard, let ua go, let us go.
'What acclamations burst around !
Victoria is the cry :
Hear, hear, oh Jeffreys I and turn pale,
Thy malice we defy.
Then to New Palace Yard let us go, let us go.
3 02 THE COUEIER.
" Look up and blush with guilt and shame,
Ye vile informing crew,
While Williams thus with honour stands,
The gallows groans for you.
Then to New Palace Yard let us go, let us go.
" When wicked ministers of state
To fleece the land combined,
As guardian of our liberties,
The Press was first designed.
Then to New Palace Yard let us go, let us go.
" But now the scum is uppermost,
The truth must not be spoke ;
The laws are topsy-turvy turn'd,
And justice is a yoke.
Then to New Palace Yard let us go, let us go.
" In vain the galling Scottish, yoke
Shall strive to make us bend ;
Our monarch is a Briton born,
And will our rights defend.
Then to New Palace Yard let us go, let us go.
" For ages still might England stand,
In spite of Stuart arts,
Would heaven send us men to rule
With better heads and hearts.
Then to New Palace Yard let us go, let us go.
At the same time there was much rioting in different parts of
the country, against the exportation of flour, and for other sup-
posed grievances. A little later, in May, when the ministerial
embarrassments commenced, the London weavers arose in great
numbers, and attacked the house of the Duke of Bedford, whom
they accused of having negotiated the obnoxious peace which
had brought French silks and poverty into the land, and they
were not dispersed without bloodshed!
THE COURIER.
The rest of the year passed over quietly ; and a few carica-
tures without much point, shew that there was the latent will
THE GOUTY COLOSSUS.
303
to stir up mischief, without the resolution to act. The party
who had been thrown out of power besfan to exert themselves to
destroy the reviving popularity of Pitt, and some attacks were
made upon him in print, accompanied by several caricatures.
One of these, under the title of " The Courier," makes a joke of
the Duke of Cumberland's unsuccessful visit to the gouty foot
at Hayes : the sign is that of a blown bladder, inscribed " Popu-
larity," with the further inscription "By W. P." underneath.
When the Parliament reopened in January, 1766, the gout
was gone, and Pitt again made his appearance in the house, and
delivered one of his grand philippics. He condemned all the
measures of the late ministry, and stigmatized in the strongest
terms the attempt to tax the Americans, in which the king in
his opening speech had just recommended the house to perse-
vere. He expressed his personal regard for the members of the
new administration, but declared his want of confidence in it as
a ministry ; and then burst into an eloquent attack upon the
THE COLOSSUS.
secret influence, which he intimated had paralyzed his own
efforts in the service of the country, and had been the cause of
all the mischief that had happened since. Ministers denied
the secret influence ; but the nation believed implicitly in it,
and Pitt became again the idol of the mob on this side of the
Atlantic, and of the dissatisfied and angry colonists on the
other. The attacks on the popular orator by the court-pasty
304 PITT AND TEMPLE.
now increased in violence. In the month of February appeared
a poem, entitled " The Demagogue," stated to be written " by
Theophilus Thorn," in which Pitt is attacked as a mere pre-
tender to patriotism, and he is accused of stirring up mischief
in America with the mere object of gaining the shouts of the
mob. A caricature, published about the same period, under the
title of "the Colossus," represents the statesman raised on lofty
stilts, his gouty leg resting on the Royal Exchange, in the
midst of London and Westminster, which are surrounded by a
cloud of bubbles, inscribed " War," " Peace," &c. ; this stilt is
called "Popularity." The other stilt, called "Sedition," he
stretches over the sea towards New York (the town seen in the
distance), fishing for popularity in the Atlantic. The long staff
on which he rests, is entitled " Pension." Above the orator's
head hangs the broad hat of the commonwealth, and raised in
the air on one side, Lord Temple is occupied in blowing the
bubbles which support the " great commoner's " fame. Below
are the lines :
" Tell to me, if you are vitty,
Whose wooden leg is in de city,
Eh bien drule, 'tis de great pity.
Doudlo do.
" De broad-brim hat he thrust his nob in,
De while St. Stephen's throng are throbbing,
One crutch in America is bobbing.
Doodle do.
* But who be yonder odd man there, sir 1
Building de castle in de air, sir?
Oh ! 'tis de Temple, one may swear, sir 1
Doodle do.
" Stamp act, le diable ! dat's de job, nir,
Dat stampt it in de stiltman's nob, sir,
To be America's nabob, sir.
Doodle do.
" De English dream vid leetle vit, sir ;
For de French dey make de Pit, sir,
'Tis a pit for them who now are bit, sir.
Doodle, noodle, do."
The acts of the Rockingham administration were in general
popular ; but it was feeble in itself, and was soon further
weakened by defections. Early in July, 1766, Pitt again
received a message from the king, desiring him to form a new
administration, and on this occasion the king left him to make
his own terms. The orator now found his greatest difficulty in
-getting together his own party. He quarrelled with Lord
PITT LORD CHATHAM. 305
Temple, who seems to have thwarted him rather largely in his
plans ; and at length he was obliged to compose a motley
ministry, formed of men taken from several parties, and the
chief tie of which consisted in his own name, the popularity of
which was suddenly diminished by his reception into the House
of Lords, under the title of L)rd Chatham. Lord Chatham's
ministry, however, brought together a number of young states-
men who figured more prominently in subsequent times. He
himself took the office of lord privy seal ; Lord Camden was
made chancellor ; Lord Shelburne one of the secretaries of state,
and General Conway the other ; the Duke of Grafton was made
first lord of the treasury ; Lord North was associated with Mr.
George Cooke in the office of paymaster-general ; Mr. Willes
was made solicitor-general ; and the Duke of Portland was
lord-chamberlain. It was in every respect a liberal government,
and it is difficult to account for the extraordinary odium which
was attached to Pitt's elevation to the peerage. Few attempted
to defend the "great commoner's" ambition to sit in the House
of Lords. An almost solitary epigram, amidst a heap of abuse,
made a half apology.
" The Tories,* VI rat 'em,
Abuse my Lord Chatham,
For what for commencing a peer
But is it not hard
He should lose his reward,
Who has purchas'd a title so dear I"
" In every station
Mr. Pitt serv'd the nation,
With a noble disdain of her pelf ;
Then where's the great crime,
When he sees a fit time,
If a man should for once serve himself F'
But the populace looked upon the peerage as a bribe, for which
Pitt had sold himself to the Scotti.-h favourite, and they refused
to look upon him as anything more than a tool of the court. In
spite of everything that could be said to the contrary, it was
still confidently believed that Bute rulecl there, and that none
could be ministers, except by placing themselves at his disposal ;
and the mob would probably never have been persuaded to the
* The name of Tories (it has already been observed), which had been
alwayn an unpopular one, and had generally been combined more or less
with Jacobitisrn, was almost lost in the latter years of George II. Bute
brought it up again by introducing into p:ace professed Tories, and within
a few years the tit!e, with a modified meaning, became the general appella-
tion of the supporters of court influence).
X
306
THE WIRE-MASTER.
contrary, except by the public hanging or beheading of the
object of their hatred. A caricature given with the Political
Register for October 1767 (the publication of Wilkes's friend
Alinon) represents, under the title of " The wire-master and his
puppets," the membei-s of the present ministry as so many
puppets moved by wires directed by the Scotch favourite from
THE WIRE- MASTER AND HIS POPPETS.
the palace of St. James's. The gouty Lord Chatham stands
prominent in front, with one of his crutches broken. On one
side Lord Holland (who was believed to have had a hand in
Lord Bute's secret influence) peeps in, and gives his signal "A
little more to the left, my lord." On the other side Britannia
sits weeping, and exclaims, " It is sport to you, but death to me."
Below, those who are out of place, among whom the Duke of
Newcastle is conspicuous, are looking on at the performance,
while the devil is pulling away the prop of the stage on which
the puppets are moving; to make greater diversion for the specta-
tors. Four lines from Swift explain the scene :
" The puppets, blindly led away,
Are made to act for ends unknown ;
By the mere spring of wires they play,
And speak in language not their own."
It is a matter of considerable doubt at what time the Earl of
Bute's influence at court really ended ; but it is certain that it
THE BLESSED THISTLE.
307
was popularly believed in long after it had ceased to exist. It
can hardly be supposed that Lord Chatham would have sub-
mitted, as represented by his enemies, to be the mere tool of
what was described at that very time as
" that haughty, timid, treacherous thing,
Who fears a shadow, yet who rules a king."
When the Duke of Cumberland died rather suddenly, in Sep.
tember, 1765, he was sincerely regretted by the popular party,
who believed that he was the most
powerful opponent to the influence of
the Scottish " thane," and prints and
caricatures immediately subsequent to
that event, represented the latter as
dancing over the prince's tomb, re-
joicing in the recovery of power. In
one of these an inscription on the tomb-
stone describes the deceased duke as the
defeater of Scottish treason and sup-
porter of the Protestant throne, and
adds, in allusion to the formation of the
then existing Rockingham ministry,
that he had " elected a ministry out of
those virtuous few, who gloriously with-
stood general warrants, America-stamps,
stamps of excise, &c." In 1767, there
began to be great talk among the medi-
cal profession of the virtues of the
carduus benedictu*, or blessed thistle,
as a universal remedy; and the
plant worshipped by the quacks was
soon adopted as an emblem of that
thistle to which it was pretended that
all Englishmen were to be forced to
bow the head. Bute was said to have
been aiming at the recovery of power
on the resignation of Lord Chatham in THB CARDUUS BENEDICTUS.
1768. A caricature subsequent to this
period, at a time when Lord North and Mansfield were in place,
represents the thistle glorified, and the two nobles just mentioned
looking on and admiring ; behind them, Satan attends as musi-
cian, playing on the bagpipe. A print, dated in 1770, and
suggested as a design for a new crown-piece, gives the converse
and reverse of the coin. On the latter, Britannia is repre-
z a
308
ented in
THE GRAFTON MINISTRY.
bonds, while Bates
THB REIGNING TRIO.
tramples on her shield, and
the sun is shining brightly
upon a thistle: the inscription
around it is, ' Le soleil d'Ecosse
aux Angloises feroce." The
other side represents the head
of Bute between those of the
king and the Princess of Wales,
with the inscription, " Tria
juncta in ano." Still later,
when Wilkts was elected Lord
Mayor of London in 1 7 74, a me-
dal was struck in his honour,*
bearing on the obverse a bust of
the popular idol in his mayoralty
robes, and on the other side
the figure of Bute's head sur-
mounting a jack-boot, with the axe by its side, and the
inscription, " Britons strike
home ;" a device and motto
which had been frequently
used in the earlier period of
the excitement raised by the
proceedings against Wilkes.
Lord Chatham's ministry
went on slowly and ineffi-
ciently till 1768, without
enjoying the confidence of
the country, although com-
posed of men, most of whom
were regarded as patriotic
in their principles. Lord
Chatham, confined with the
gout, took no share in public
business ; and the Duke of
Grafton, who was at the head of the treasury, and whose admi-
nistration it was commonly called after 1767, gave most of his
attention to Newmarket and to his mistresses. Other offices
were filled with as little efficiency. Nevertheless, after Lord
Chatham's resignation, the Duke of Grafton remained at his post
as prime minister, until the change in 1770 placed Lord North
at the head of affairs.
. It was during the least active period of Chatham's adminis-
* This medal is in the collection of Mr. Haggard.
THB BOOT.
THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION. 309
tration, that John Wilkes again made his appearance. Having
suffered the indictment against him in the Court of King's
Bench to run to an outlawry, he had been residing at Paris ever
since, and had made several vain attempts to get the sentence
reversed. He arrived in London early in February, but did not
shew, himself publicly until the dissolution of parliament in
March, when he suddenly presented himself as a candidate for
the City of London. He was received by the mob with boiste-
rous enthusiasm, and people paraded the streets with poles on
which were suspended a boot and a yellow petticoat, but he was
unsuccessful in the poll ; upon which he immediately offered
himself for Middlesex, the election for which took place at
Brentford, on Monday the 28th of March, 1768. Before day-
break on that day, Piccadilly and all the roads leading to
Brentford were occupied by mobs, who would suffer no one
to pass without blue cockades and papers inscribed " No. 45,
Wilkes and Liberty," and who tore to pieces the coaches of the
two other candidates. They are said to have been provoked to
this violence by the appearance of the latter at Hyde Park
Corner, accompanied with a procession carrying flags, on which
were inscribed " No blasphemy !" and " No sedition !" A news-
paper of the day says, that " There has not been so great a
defection of inhabitants from London and Westminster, to ten
miles distant in one day, since the lifeguardsman's prophecy of
the earthquake, which was to destroy both these cities in 1750."
At Brentford, Wilkes had sufficient influence over the mob to
keep it quiet, but, it being announced at the close of the poll
that he was far a-head of his opponents, they behaved with some
violence on the way back, stopping people's carriages and
chalking them all over with " No. 45," and forcing everybody
to shout for Wilkes. At night they compelled people to illu-
minate, and broke the windows of those who refused ; and
violent attacks were made on the Mansion House (the lord
mayor having displayed hostility towards the popular candi-
date), and the house of Lord Bute in Audley Street, the rioters
being only at length dispersed by the arrival of the guards.
Next day Wilkes was returned member for Middlesex ; and at
night the mob rose again, the illumination was still more general,
and further outrages were committed. The turbulence of the
mob was not confined to London ; in many parts of the country
the elections were unusually riotous, and a number of persons
were killed. It was said that some of the leaders of the opposi-
tion in parliament encouraged the popular demonstration ; there
were many wise enough to see that there was little to fear in it.
3 io WILKES IN PRISON.
The Duke of Newcastle is said to have declared that he loved a
mob, tliat he had once been the leader of a mob himself, and that
he thought a mob inseparable from the true interests of the
Hanoverian succession. Yet the court was suddenly seized with
great a|>]>rehen>ions ; and imprudent threats were held out
against VVilkes and the populace. It was this unwise persecu-
tion alone that made Wilkes a hero.
After he had secured his election, Wilkes declared his inten-
tion of surrendering himself to the court which had outlawed
him ; for this purpose, he presented himself in the court of
King's Bench on the 2oth of April ; but, in consequence of some
legal informalities, he was then allowed to depart, and a writ
having been issued, he was brought before the court on the 27th,
and then committed to the custody of the marshal of the King's
Bench prison. He left the court in a hackney coach, but the
mob, which was again numerous and riotous, took off' the horses
at Westminster Bridge, and after forcing the marshal in whose
custody he was, out of the coach as they passed Temple Bar,
drew their favourite through the city to a public-house in
Spitalfields. But as soon as the mob had partially dispersed,
Wilkes escaped at midnight by a back door, and repaired to the
King's Bench prison, where he surrendered himself into the
marshal's custody. When it was known next day that he was
in prison, a mob collected outside the walls, and shouted all day
for Wilkes and Liberty. A body of horse-guards, sent to the
spot, and stationed near the prison, only served to irritate the
populace ; the latter, who assembled daily at the same place,
committed, as we are told, no further riot than shouting
" Wilkes and Liberty," yet the guards were always brought out
in an ostentatious manner to watch them, and each party
abused and threatened the other, until the loth of May, when
the new parliament was to meet, and when the mob believed
that Wilkes was to be taken out of prison to attend in his place
in the house. They accordingly attended in greater numbers
than usual. A large force of soldiers had been stationed in
front of the prison, and, by an uniortunate coincidence, they
were a Scottish regiment, and they appear to have shewn some-
what too openly their hatred of the English mob. The latter
became exceedingly riotous, and dirt and stones were thrown.
Two of the Surrey magistrates read the riot act, but it is said
not to have been heard ; the soldiers fired, as it appears, with
great haste and rashness, and many of the mob were killed and
wounded. Three of the soldiers quitted their ranks, to follow
one of the rioters whom they had singled out, and at some
MASSACRE OF ST. GEORGE'S FIELDS. 311
distance from the scene of riot entered a cow-house, where
they deliberately shot a young man named Allen, who had
taken no part whatever in the proceedings of the day. The
mob now became infuriated, and they added to the general
excitement by parading the body of Allen through the streets.
Prosecutions for murder were lodged against the soldiers and
an officer implicated in the death of Allen, and against the
Surrey magistrates, who had ordered soldiers to fire at the mob,
and verdicts were given against the former ; but they were
screened by the court, which, in a very unadvised manner,
publicly approved and praised the conduct of the soldiers,
whereas the three who had killed Allen were at least guilty of a
breach of military discipline in quitting their ranks. This only
added to the popular irritation : the riot was long remembered
as the " massacre of St. George's Fields ;" and the mob increased
in strength, and became more violent.
Several other mobs arose in London at the same time, who,
as Horace Walpole observes, " only took advantage of so
favourable a season. The coal-heavers began, and it is well,"
Walpole observes, " it is not a hard frost, for they have stopped
all coals coming to town. The sawyers rose too, and at last the
sailors, who had committed great outrages in merchant ships,
and prevented them from sailing. The last mob, however, took
an extraordinary turn ; for many thousand sailors came to
petition the parliament yesterday (May n), but in the most
respectful and peaceable manner; desired only to have their
grievances examined ; if reasonable, redressed ; if not reasonable,
they would be satisfied. Being told that their flags and colours
with which they paraded were illegal, they cast them away.
Nor was this all ; they declared for the king and parliament,
and beat and drove away Wilkes's mob." These riotous pro-
ceedings dwindled into a sort of civil war between the sailors
and coal-heavers, which, strange to say, was allowed to continue
for several weeks, although many lives were lost. On the 22nd
of June, Walpole writes, " The coal-heavers, who, by the way,
are all Irish whiteboys, after their battles with the sailors,
turned themselves to general war, robbed in companies, and
murdered wherever they came. This struck such a panic, that
in Wapping nobody dared to venture abroad, and the city began
to find no joke in such liberty." It required again the active
intervention of the guards to quell this disturbance.
In the meanwhile the court of King's Bench had reversed
Wilkes's outlawry on account of some informalities in the pro-
ceeding : and judgment was given on the original sentence, by
3ia NEW MIDDLESEX ELECTION.
which he was condemned to pay a fine of 500?., and be imprisoned
ten calendar months for writing the North Briton, No. 45, and
to pay another fine of 5oo/., and be imprisoned twelve calendar
mouths in addition to the 1'ormer term of imprisonment for
pul lishing the " Essay on Woman," which in reality had heen
published by the ministers. Whatever excuse may be made (or
the fust part of the sentence, none can he found lor the extreme
injustice of punishing a, man for the publication of what he had
carefully concealed from public view, and a copy of which had
only been procured by the basest treachery. The natural con-
sequence was, that \Vilkes, in his imprisonment, became a more
formidable opponent than when at liberty, and that he only sank
into insignificance when he ceased to be an object of persecution.
Soon alter the Middlesex election, Cook, the other member,
died, and on the issuing of a new writ, \Vilkes, from his prison,
recommended his friend and supporter, Serjeant Glynn, who
heat the court candidate. Sir "William Proctor, by a large ma-
jority. The latter had recourse to Wilkes's own weapons, and
hired a mob, which acted with so little moderation, that one of
the popular party, named Clarke, was killed. Two of Proctor's
chairmen were immediately brought before a jury at the Old
Bailey, charged with murder, and one of them, turning out to be
a Scotchman, was condemned, but received a pardon, to the
great disappointment of the London mob. On the meeting of
parliament in November, the affair of Wilkes was again debated
fiercely during several weeks, and on the 3rd of February, 1769,
he was again ex| elled the House of Commons. It was on this
occasion that Edmund Buike, who spoke with great force
against the expulsion, described the proceedings of the govern-
ment, as " the lil I h act of the tragi-comedy a( ted by his majesty's
servants, for the benefit of Mr. Wilkes, at the expense of the
constitution."
A new writ was issued for Middlesex, and Wilkes again
offered himself as a candidate. Ihe election took place at
Brentford, on the loth of March, when a Mr. Dingley under-
took to be the ministerial champion, but he could not approach
the hustings or find any one who would venture to propose him,
and Wilkes was re-elected without opposition. The ministerial
majority in the House of Commons flew into a rage, and, after
another violent delate, declared the prisoner incapable of re-
election, and issued a new writ next day, and Colonel Luttrell,
then member lor Bossiney, was engaged to stand lor Middlesex.
Wilkes, however, was again elected by a large majority, and
London was as usual illuminated. But on this occasion the
MINISTERIAL MORTIFICATIONS. 313
house voted that the sheriff had made a wrong return, and that
Luttrell's name should be inserted instead of that of Wilkes as
the member for Middlesex. Thus ended the war between "the
two kings of Brentford," * as people jokingly termed King
George and John "Wilkes.
The mortifications of the court were not, however, confined
to the " war" at Brentford ; the ministers had again tried the
unwise experiment of getting up a popular demonstration in
their own favour. The first attempt was made in the county of
Essex, "which," Horace Walpole observes, "being the great
county for calves, produced nothing but ridicule." Dingley,
the unsupported candidate for Middlesex, was the hero of this
attempted demonstration, which miscarried through his own
imprudence. Another attempt was made, and some signatures
were obtained to a loyal address, which was to be presented to
the king on the 22nd of March, by a procession of six hundred
merchants and others. They set out amid hisses and outcries
of every description, but they made their way in tolerable order
as far as Temple Bar. There the mob had assembled in great
force, and, having closed the gates against them, received them,
with a shower of mud and stones, which obliged them to disperse
and save themselves in any streets and lanes that were not
blocked up. This was popularly termed " The battle of Temple
Bar." About a third of the loyal addressers re-assembled at
some distance in advance of the scene of their discomfiture, and
formed again in procession ; but they were soon overtaken by
the mob, which had obtained a hearse drawn by four horses, on
one side of which hung a large escutcheon, with a coarse
representation of the " massacre of St. George's Fields," while
a similar escutcheon on the other side, represented the slaughter
of Clarke at Brentford. This was marched slowly at the head
of the procession, and thus, in the midst of a dreadful uproar,
they reached St. James's, where the mob became more riotous
than ever. The king and his ministers were obliged to wait a
considerable length of time before the address could be presented ;
the mob had tried to seize the important document, and they
had so pelted the chairman of the committee of merchants with
mud that he was unfit to appear with it. Lord Talbot came
down end seized one of the rioters, but the mob pressed round
him bad broke the steward's staff in his hand. Other unpopular
nobLmen received ill-treatment. At length, after fifteen persona
had been captured by the guards, the mob dispersed, and the
* An allusion, of course, to tl:e two kinps of Brentford, introduced in the
Duke of Buckingham's celebrated satire, "The Rehearsal."
WILKES LORD MAYOR.
address was presented. In the popular prints representing these
disturbances, which were sold in great numbers, the tumult before
St. James's is entitled " the sequel to the battle of Temple Bar."
It was about this period of agitation that some of the most
violent of the political caricatures were ushered into the world,
with a host of publications of different kinds, calculated to
inflame people's minds. Political magazines were now established,
such as the Oxford Magazine and the Political Register, bring-
ing their monthly cargoes of caricatures and inflammable matter,
and the engravings which had appeared singly during the earlier
years of the reign were re-published, and in several instances
collected into volumes. But new political heroes were coming
on the scene, as objects of popular worship or hatred. Wilkes's
career may be said to have closed with his release from imprison-
ment in 17/0. A committee of men who called themselves
" The supporters of the Bill of Eights," raised a subscription
which relieved him from the pecuniary embarrassment into which
he had been thrown by his own improvidence as much as by the
persecutions to which he had been exposed ; and a week after
he left the prison he was admitted an alderman of London. In
1774, he and his friend Serjeant Glynn were elected members
for Middlesex without opposition, and he was now allowed to
take his seat in the house unmolested. The same year he was
elected lord mayor, and he subsequently obtained the more
lucrative and permanent office of chamberlain. In 1780, he was
re-elected for Middlesex, and in 1788 he obtained a vote of the
house to expunge from its journals the
declarations and orders formerly passed
against him. He had now, however, be-
come a very insignificant member of the
House of Commons ; and, having made
the most of his patriotism, he exhibited
himself as a remarkable instance of ter-
giversation, disclaiming his own acts, and
making no scruple of expressing his con-
tempt for the opinions of his former
friends. In 1 7 84, several caricatures cele-
brated the reconciliation of the "two
kings of Brentford." The best of these,
published on the ist of May, of that year,
is entitled "The New Coalition," and
represents the king and Wilkes em-
bracing, the latter holding the cap of
THB RECONCILIATION, liberty reversed. The patriot says to
DEATH OF WILKES. 315
the monarch, "I now find that you are the best of princes."
King George replies, " Sure ! the worthiest of subjects, and most
virtuous of men !" Another caricature, published on the 3rd
of May, represents the King, Lord Thurloe, and Wilkes, leagued
in amity together ; while a third, the work of some unscrupulous
democrat, represents Wilkes and the king hanged on one tree,
with the inscription, "Give justice her claims." The " two kings
of Brentford" were now indeed equally unpopular with the mob ;
and at the general election in 1790, Wilkes received the most
humiliating defeat on the very hustings where he had so often
triumphed in his days of " patriotism." He died on the 26th of
December, 1797, and was interred in a vault in Grosvenor Chapel,
South Audley Street, where a plain marble tablet, described him
simply as " a fiieud of liberty."
316
CHAPTER IX.
GEORGE III.
Violent Political Agitation The North Administration The Foxes Re-
monstrances and Petitions The Button Maker Liberty of the Press
Caricatures of the American War Admiral Keppel War with France
an<l Spain No Popery ; the London Riots Attacks on the E.ul of
Sandwich and on Lord North ; the Political Washerwoman Overthrow
of Lord North's Ministry Rulne^'s Triumphs Rockinghi_3i and Shol-
burne Administrations America.
AT the moment that John Wilkes was losing his personal
importance, Lord Chatham re-appeared on the stage with
m;oubkd energy, and he continued for several years to support,
by his voice and example, the opposition in Parliament. The
result was a continuance of stormy sessions, such as had seldom
been seen in either house before ; and attacks were made within
the walls of St. Stephen's not only on the ministers, but on the
Crown also, which far exceeded anything that had appeared in
the North tirifons without. The latter also were succeeded by
papers of a still more violent character ; and the language with
which the press had attacked Bute was feeble in comparison with
the powerful and fearless hostility of the celebrated Junius, or
the abuse of the Whisperer, a political paper established at the
beginning of 1770, which seldom deigned to apply to the king's
ministers more gentle epithets than that of " diabolical villains."
This journal contained articles openly exciting the people to re-
bellion ; and indeed everything seemed to threaten a great
national convulsion.
The opposition made its muster in attacking the address at
the opening of parliament in the beginning of January, 1770,
and shewed strong in talent, if not powerful in numbers ; and
this first question was productive of important, and, as appears,
rather unexpected results. The opposition was, moreover, acting
with greater unity than had distinguished it for some time ; for
Lord Chatham had formed a close alliance with the Kockingham
party, and the Marquis of Kockingham, who carried weight by
his integrity of character and his parliamentary abilities, was
THE MARQUIS OF XOCKINGKA3T.
317
The two
THE MARQUIS OF ROCKING HAM.
personally a valuable ally in the House of Lords.*
principal subjects of contention
were, the ministerial policy with
regard to America, where affairs
were progressing fast towards
civil war, and, at home, the in-
fringement of the constitution in
the case of Wilkes and the Mid-
dlesex election. On the first de-
bate on this question in the House
of Lords (Jan. 9), the chancellor,
Lord Camden, to the surprise of
everybody, seconded Lord Cha-
tham, expressed his opinion
strongly against the proceedings
of the ministers in the case of
Wilkes, and declared that, as a
minister of the Crown, he had
long disapproved the arbitrary
measures pursued by his colleagues. Lord Camden was, as
might be expected, immediately deprived of the seals, and one
of the only men who brought any popularity to the court party
was thus thrown into the opposition. The place of Lord Chan-
cellor of England, refused by everybody, literally went a-begging,
and, after the suicide of the Hon.
Charles York, who had been with
difficulty prevailed upon to accept
it, was at length put in commission.
Among the foremost leaders of
the opposition in the House of Lords
were now, after Lord Chatham, the
Marquis of Rockingham, the Dukes
of Richmond, Portland, and Devon-
shire, and Lords Shelburne and
Temple. In the lower house, the
principal leaders and ablest speakers
were Edmund Burke, Colonel Barre,
George Grenville, Dowdeswell, and
others. Colonel Barre was particu-
larly distinguished by the boldness
* The subjoined portrait of the Marquis of Rockingham, as well as that
of Colonel Barre" which follows, is taken frnrn the series of slightly carica-
tured portraits etched by Sayer, and published in 1782. They are valuable
keys to the caricatures of the day.
COLONEL BARRE.
3i8 THE NORTH ADMINISTRATION.
and vehemence with which he attacked the measures of govern-
ment. He had been first thrown into the opposition by per-
sonal slights received from the Court ; and his resentment was
afterwards embittered by ill-treatment which he experienced in
his profession, the army. The debate on the address produced
effects in the House of Commons similar to those we have just
seen in the House of Lords ; the Marquis of Granby, the popu-
lar commander-in-chief of the army, joined the opposition, and
subsequently threw up his appointment. The opposition was
here further strengthened by the acquisition of Mr. Wedderburn,
the solicitor-general, who followed his friend, Lord Camden, and
by several other defections from the ministry. The latter, how-
ever, seemed but little weakened, when suddenly, at the end of
January, the Duke of Grafton gave in his resignation as prime-
minister. Upon this the ministry underwent some slight modi-
fications, and Lord North was raised to the dignity of premier.
The celebrated North administration thus began on the 28th of
February, 1770.
At this moment some of the men began to take their place
on the political stage, whom we shall find acting a prominent
part in the stirring events of the latter part of the century.
Among these was the celebrated Charles James Fox, the second
son of Lord Holland, who, now little more than a youth, was
exerting his extraordinary talents in support of the measures of
the Duke of Grafton and Lord North, and he thus began the
world under the weight of unpopularity which had attached
itself to the names of those ministers. Charles Fox, as well as
his elder brother, had been early initiated into the dissipations
of the time by their father ; and his passion for gambling had
already reduced him to neediness. He was under age at the
time he entered the House of Commons, where the hope of place
made him a staunch supporter of the Court ; and he was the
most energetic opponent of Burke (his subsequent friend) in
the debate on the address. In the changes which followed the
Duke of Grafton's resignation, Fox was made a junior lord of
the Admiralty, and within three years after he was made a lord
of the Treasury. Horace Walpole writes, on the and of Feb-
ruary, 1770, the day after Fox's first appointment to office,
" Charles Fox shines equally there [at the hazard-table] and in
the House of Commons ; he was twenty-one yesterday se'nnight,
and is already one of our best speakers. Yesterday he was
made a lord of the Admiralty." A few months later (April
1772), Walpole went to the house to hear the young orator, and
he tells us that " Fox's abilities are amazing at so very early a
CHARLES JAMES FOX. 3*9
period, especially under the circumstances of such a dissolute
life. He was just arrived from Newmarket, had sat up drinking
all night, and had not been in bed. How such talents make one
laugh at Tally's rules for an orator, and his indefatigable appli-
cation ! His laboured orations are puerile in comparison of this
boy's manly reason." On the 2jth of November, 1773, Wai-
pole writes again, " Lord Holland is dying, is paying Charles
Fox's debts, or most of them, for they amount to one hundred
and thirty thousand pounds ! Ay, ay ; and has got a grandson
and heir. I thought this child a prophet, who came to foretell
the ruin and dispersion of the Jews ; but while there is a broker
or a gamester upon the face of the earth, Charles will not be
out of debt."*
While Fox continued in his speeches sneering openly at " the
voice of the people," it is no wonder that, with his father's un-
popularity hanging over him, he became a mark for the popular
satirists and caricaturists, who gave him the title of " the Young
Cub," and made the most of his private vices. A print in the
Oxford Magazine for February, 1770, immediately after Charles
Fox's appointment to a seat at the Admiralty board, is entitled
" The Death of the Foxes." It represents an old fox and a
young fox hanged side by side on a gallows, while the farmer,
John Bull, and his wife, are rejoicing at the liberation of their
poultry-yard from such vermin. The youthful statesman was
already remarkable for his corpulence. The same number of the
Oxford Magazine, which is illustrated by the print just men-
tioned, contains a series of political cross-readings from news-
* At this period the passion for gambling was carried to absolute mad-
ness among the young aristocracy. The magazines and papers of the day
contain numerous examples of their extravagances. Thus, in the Oxford
Magazine for October, 1770, we are told, "A few days since some sprigs of
our hopeful nobility, who were dining together at a tavern at the wesj end
of the town, took the following sensible conceit into their heads after
dinner. One of them observing a maggot come from a filbert, which,
seemed to be uncommonly large, attempted to get it from his companion,
who not choosing to let it go, was immediately offered five guineas for it,
which were accepted. He then proposed to run it against any other two
maggots that could be produced at table. Matches were accordingly
made, and the poor insects were the means of five hundred pounds being
won and lost in a few minutes." On another similar occasion, some hun-
dreds of pounds were hazarded on the relative velocity of two drops of rain
running down a pane of glass, which, however, disappointed the gamesters
by joining in one before they reached the appointed goal. Statesmen and
prime-ministers were affected with the same infatuation. We are told in
the Town and Country Magazine for March, 1770, that "the late premier
(the Duke of Grafton) was at one period of his life so addicted to gaining 1 ,
that he lost his seat of ii-hall (Euston-hall) one night to the lalo Duke
320 THE NEST OF FOXES.
papers, one of which is, " Speakers on the side of Admin n,*
the Hon. C. Fox, Esq. He is reckoned the fattest man in
England next to Mr. Bright." In December, 1773, the Oxford
Magazine published another caricature against the family of the
Fuxes. The old fox is seated at the table, apparently giving
the young ones his serious advice, to which the son and heir,
seated to his left, appears to listen with attention. The "young
A KEST OF FOXES.
cub," Charles, who, from his dark visage had already obtained
the nickname of Niger, sits on the other side, picking his
father's pocket. In the original, over his head, is the inscrip-
tion " Hie niger est ;" beneath him, on the ground, lie Hoyles
Games and a brace of dice, and the devil concealed under the
table, holds him chained by the feet. The inscription under
the plate is, " Robbed between sun and sun." The old Fox,
Lord Holland, died at the beginning of July, 1774; but his son
Charles, who seems to have been no longer held in check by the
paternal politics of the house, had already quarrelled with the
minister, and was throwing himself into the ranks of the
patriots. On the 24th of February, 17/4, Walpole announces to
of C d (Cumberland), who generously returned it to him, on condition
of his never losing above a hundred pounds at one sitting." Horace
Walpole, July 10, 1774, tells of a still more extravagant amusement. One
of these gamblers, he informs us, "has committeJ a murder, and intends to
repeat it He betted 1500 that a man could live twelve hours under
water ; hired a desperate fellow, sunk him in a ship, by way of experiment,
and both ship and man have not appeared since. Another man and ship
are to be tried for their lives, instead of Mr. Blake, the assassin."
* Administration. Parliament, and especially the court party, was at this
time so jealous of any publication of what passed within doors, that it was
necessary thus to make indirect or concealed allusions even to the names of
the speakers.
POLITICAL AGITATION. 321
hi? correspondent in Italy, " The famous Charles Fox was this
morning turned out of his place as lord of the Treasury, for
great flippancies in the house towards Lord North. His parts
will now have a full opportunity of showing whether they can
btilance his character, or whether patriotism can whitewash it."
It is due to Fox's character to say, that from this moment he
continued during his life steady and consistent in the political
principles he now embraced.
While things were going on anything but peaceably within
the walls of the legislature, the agitation through the country
without was increasing, and the North administration soon
found itself engaged in a violent war with the city, and involved
in the most vexatious and unprofitable hostilities with the old
enemy of the court the press. The year 1769 had seen the
commencement of the letters of Junius ; and at the end of May
in the same year a petition from the city of London was pre-
sented to the King in full levee, violently attacking the court
measures, and asking for the dismissal of ministers and the dis-
solution of the Parliament, which by its venality had lost the
confidence of the country. Many of the counties, cities, and
towns throughout the kingdom followed the example of the
capital ; but the King, who seemed resolved to push the war
between royal prerogative and popular freedom to a crisis, re-
fused to listen to their complaints, and, in opening the session at
the beginning of 1770, the King's speech spoke of a disease
that prevailed among horned cattle, instead of alluding to the
violent agitation under which the kingdom then laboured. This
was greedily seized upon by the satirists of the day ; it was
commonly said, that the King cared more for his own farmyard
than for the interests of his subjects; and from this time he
was often sneered at under the title of " Farmer George." It
was further understood, that the royal leisure at Kew was often
occupied in turning on the lathe and other similar amusements,
and that royal ingenuity had gone so far as to construct " a
button ;" and the crime of button-making was in popular ridi-
cule long coupled with the dignities of the British crown. The
caricaturists made the horned cattle story tell upon other
branches of the royal family; for the Duke of Cumberland, one
of the King's brothers, had just been surprised at St. Alban's
in an intrigue with Lady Grosvenor, for which he paid clear ; and
before many days had passed over the royal speech, a caricature
on the court appeared under the title, " The Trial of Mr. Cum-
berland for spreading the distemper among the horned cattle at
St. Alban's and other parts."
T
3 22 THE LONDON REMONSTRANCE.
The King himself seemed bent upon desperate measures. The
Whisperer (of Feb. 24, 1770) asserts, that, "when the Marquis
of Granby resigned his employments, the King said to him,
' Granby, do you think the army would fight for me ?' To
which the marquis nobly replied, ' I believe, sir, some of your
officers would, but I will not answer for the men.' " Whether
this be true or not, it is certain that Lord Marchmont, one of
the most zealous of those whom the King now began to term
" his friends," was so indiscreet as to talk in the House of Lords
of the possible necessity of calling in foreign assistance. Ex-
pressions like these were repeated and commented upon abroad;
and the citizens of London, who had voted the petition to which
no answer had been returned, were further irritated by a report
that some high persons about the throne had designated them
as " the scum of the earth and dregs of the people" They
determined to lay their complaints again before the King ; and
a very strongly-worded document was got up, under the title of
an " Address, Remonstrance, and Petition," which complained
of the dangers to which the country was exposed from secret
and evil counsellors and a corrupt majority of the House of
Commons, and called to the King's memory the fate of Charles
the First and James the Second. The King is said to have con-
sented only with extreme reluctance to receive this remon-
strance : it was carried to St. James's on the I4th of March by
the lord mayor, attended by a numerous body of the common-
councilmen and city officers, and accompanied by an immensr
mob ; and the King received it on the throne, but he is said tt
have shown a lowering countenance, and he returned a rebuking
answer, concealing his anger with difficulty. Some of the cour-
tiers also are said to have used impatient gestures, and to have
held out indecent threats of depriving the city of its liberties.
The court, indeed, at once resolved to proceed with rigour
against the persons chiefly concerned in getting up this petition ;
and some very angry proceedings took place in the House of
Commons; but these were subsequently relinquished by the
urgent advice of Lord North and the more moderate of the
ministers. The King is said to have complained in private that
his ministers had not supported him in bridling the insolence of
his subjects.
A number of caricatures, in rapid succession, exhibited the
bitter sentiments of the popular party on the treatment experi-
enced by their petitions and remonstrances. The Oxford Maga-
zine for April, 1770, contains a caricature, entitled "The
Button-Maker," which represents the mayor and sheriffs pre-
THE BUTTON-MAKEE. 323
seating their " Remonstrance," to which the King refuses to
listen, exclaiming, as he shews his buttons to two noblemen in
attendance, " I cannot attend to your remonstrance ! Do not
you see that I have been employed in business of much more
consequence ?" One of the noble attendants observes, " What
taste ! what elegance ! Not a prince in Europe can make such
buttons !" while the other courtier, in the same strain, adds,
" What a genius ! why, he was born a button-maker !"
However rude the language of petitions and remonstrances in
speaking of the House of Commons may hare appeared, the
great corruption of that branch of the legislature, at the period
of which we are now speaking, was notorious ; and it was the
money of the court only that overbalanced the eloquence of the
opposition. The latter only became more violent by the con-
sciousness of its numerical weakness. .In the March of 1770
the popular leaders in both houses were again declaiming against
the secret influence behind the throne, and the cry was quickly
caught by the mob, and chalked up against every wall in execra-
tions against the Dowager Princess of Wales. Men who had
been ministers declared openly that their counsel had become
unpalatable to the royal ear the moment it savoured of consti-
tutional liberty. On the 2jrd of May, the lord mayor (Beck-
ford), with some aldermen, and a numerous train of city worthies,
presented a new remonstrance to the King, less violent in its
language, but complaining of their treatment on former occa-
sions. The reply was, a new rebuke ; upon which the bold lord
mayor obtained leave, in the confusion of the moment, to make
an extempore speech, which roused the King's anger so much,
that he immediately issued orders that no lord mayor should be
allowed thus to address the throne again. The indignation of
the city was so great, that, if some moderate men of their own
party had not persuaded them otherwise, they were on the point
of refusing to congratulate the King on the birth of a Princess ;
but very shortly afterwards, on the 2ist of June, city patriotism
experienced a serious loss in the death of Beck ford. About a
fortnight before this event, the Princess Dowager of Wales, the
object of so much popular odium, had left England on a visit to
Germany an event which, as we learn from Horace Walpole,
was immediately sung about the streets in a ballad, the burden
of which was " The cow has left her calf!"
Although these events were succeeded by an appearance of
tranquillity, the fate of the city remonstrances continued long to
be a subject of discontent ; and the occupation of button-making
was sung about the streets in ballads and lampoons with obsti-
Y a
THE BUTTON- MAKERS IN TREATY.
nate perseverance. Most of these, to judge by an example now
in my possession, entitled " A New Dialogue between the Devil
and Mr. King, the Button-maker," were too scurrilous and dog-
gerel to be quoted. A rather extensive class among the popular
literature of this period consisted of jest-books, which were some-
times fertile in political satire. Thus, in the April of 1770 was
published a collection entitled, in allusion to the sobriquet of
Lord Sandwich, " Jemmy Twitcher's Jests." In the following
November appeared " The Button-maker's Jests," with a coarse
caricature on the King for a frontispiece. We may perhaps rest
satisfied with the opinion expressed in a contemporary review,
that it was a piece o " low scurrility." But the subject was
revived again and again in a variety of forms ; and in February,
1771, when the peace between England and Spain was nearly
broken by the quarrel concerning the Falkland Islands, the two
monarchs, said to have been both distinguished for the same
sort of mechanical ingenuity, are introduced in a caricature in
the Oxford Magazine, settling their differences over a paper of
buttons. The bag of money on the Spanish King's lap is
described as " A bribe for the P D of W s ;" and
BOTTOH-MAKEBS.
the Don says, " His M m 's directions are very good : we'll
let him breathe a little, while she and I undermine the constitu-
tion." The mind of King George is entirely absorbed with one
subject : he exclaims to his rival, " I say you never made so good
a button in all your life." The preceding number of the same
magazine contains one of the latest caricatures on the petitions,
entitled " The Fate of City Remonstrances," in which the King
is represented as giving the petitions of his subjects to the
boyish Prince of Wales as materials for kites. In another print,
published a few weeks later, Farmer George is seen in slovenly
PROSECUTION OF THE PRESS. 3*5
garb, attending to his nursery and the state of the weather, and
utterly unconscious of the grievances of his country.
It was just at this moment that a new source of contention
arose to embroil the ministers with the city of London. The
former were constantly occupied with prosecutions against the
Letters of Junius and other violent political papers, from which
they derived no advantage, and which passed over without at-
tracting more than a very temporary notice ; but there were
strong things said within the walls of Parliament, which it was
the interest of ministers, satisfied with carrying all their measures
by a large bought majority, to keep from the public ears. At no
period was the English Parliament so absurdly jealous of the
publication of its proceedings as at this time, when the licence
of the press out of doors was almost unbounded ; and the most
extraordinary precautions were taken to conceal what was said
within from the knowledge of those without. At the beginning
of 1771, some newspapers ventured on giving reports of the par-
liamentary debates, notes of which they of course obtained
through members of the house, when Col. George Onslow, one
of the lords of the Treasury, who had been spoken of by his
popular nickname of "Cocking George," brought forward the
question of privilege in rather an angry manner. At the end of
February and the beginning of March, there were several warm
debutes on the subject, and warrants were issued to arrest the
printers, who dwelt in the city. The latter also stood upon its
privileges : no one would give information where the offenders
were to be found ; and when some of them were seized, they
were set at liberty by the city magistrates. Another person
arrested was not only set at liberty, but he charged the mes-
senger of the House of Commons with an assault ; upon which
the lord mayor (Crosby) with two aldermen (Oliver and Wilkes)
signed a commitment against him, and he was obliged to find
bail. On the i8th of March, the House of Commons, in a heat,
summoned the lord mayor to attend in his place, which he did
the next day, attended thither by a prodigious mob. Some
members who had been insulted by the mob, such as Charles
Fox, spoke in great anger. Every day, while the house was
occupied with this question, it was surrounded by the infuriated
populace, who hissed and hooted the members distinguished by
their support of the court. Within the house the debates be-
came at last almost as stormy as the riot without. A party of
the opposition publicly seceded, and Colonel Barre" told the
house that their conduct was infamous, that no honest man
could sit amongst them, and then walked away. On the 28th
326 VIOLENT MOBS.
of March it was resolved to commit the lord mayor and Alder-
man Oliver to the Tower. The house avoided attacking Alder-
man "VVilkes, who was probably the chief offender. The mob on
this day had been unusually violent, having dragged Charles
Fox and his brother from their chariot, and assaulted them
violently ; and Lord North's chariot was destroyed and he him-
self narrowly escaped being torn to pieces. The next day the
King went to the house, when the mob, which is said to have
assembled to the number of at least eighty thousand, hissed and
insulted his Majesty, and again attempted to vent their fury on
Charles Fox, a large stone thrown at him having passed through
both windows of his carriage. Fox was looked upon as one of
the chief promoters of these violent measures ; and one of the
daily newspapers tells us, that " the resentment of the populace
would probably not have been carried so far as it was, but for
the indecent and most shocking behaviour of Mr. Charles Fox,
who is supposed to have great influence with his Majesty, and
already assumes the style and post of minister. This youth, for
about half an hour, was leaning out of a coffee-house window in
Palace Yard, shaking his fist at the people, and provoking them
by all the reproachful words and menacing gestures that he
could invent. George Selwyn stood behind, encouraging him,
and clapping him on the back, as if he was a dirty ruffian going
to fight in the streets." The prisoners remained in the Tower
till after the prorogation of the^Parliament, and were quite as for-
midable there as in the Mansion House. The fashionable toast
in London was, in allusion to Alderman Oliver, " Success to
Oliver the Second !" Mobs continued to encumber the streets.
At mid-day, on the jjth of April, two carts, preceded by a hearse,
were dragged in slow procession through the city to Tower Hill,
amidst a vast concourse of people. The two carts had each a
gallows stretched across, with large pasteboard figures hung
upon them ; those in the first cart being labelled on the back
"L d B n" (Lord Barrington), " L d H x" (Lord
Halifax), and "Alderman H ," the latter being an unpopular
member of the court of aldermen, from his known attachment
to ministers. The figures in the second cart were labelled
"L the Usurper," "De G y" (De Grey), J y T r"
(Jemmy Twitcher, i.e. Lord Sandwich), and "C g G e"
(Cocking George, i.e. Col. Onslow). At the Tower Hill, the
gallowses and figures were committed to the fire; and the dying
speeches of " some supposed malefactors" were subsequently
cried about the streets. A rudely engraved print of this mock
procession, with the speeches put into the mouths of the male-
factors, is in the collection of Mr. Hawkins.
JUSTICE FIELDING.
The court party now made an attempt to strengthen them-
selves a little in public opinion, by working upon the fears and
prejudices of the populace, and by other similar means, and with
a certain degree of success. They raised suspicions of foreign
designs on this country, and excited jealousy of foreign aggran-
dizement, as well as of domestic treason. Among reports used for
this purpose, was a pretended plot to embarrass our naval pre-
parations by burning Portsmouth dockyard, and two or three
very humble individuals were arrested on this charge. This
affair seems to have caused no great excitement ; and we hardly
trace it in the journals of the time, except by a caricature pub-
lished in the Oxford Magazine for September, 1771, designed as
a satire upon the venality and partiality of the police-courts
under the celebrated Justice Fielding. Fielding had occupied
his prominent seat on the magisterial bench for a great number
of years ; and he was now old, and remarkable for his fatness
and his blindness. In a satirical list of imaginary masquerade
characters in the Westminster Magazine, for December, 1/72,
the watchful, but now blind magistrate, is thus introduced
" Argus, whose eyes were sealed by Mercury, Sir J. Fielding."
The caricature alluded to is entitled, " The blind justice, and the
secretaries One-eye and No-head examining the old woman and
little girl about the firing Portsmouth dockyard." Justice
herself is represented as fat and
bloated, and as venal as her
official representative. The
latter, blind as he is, addresses
himself to the prisoners : "I see
plainly you are guilt}', you have
a hanging look." One of the
secretaries of state, who has
his eye covered, adds, " Some-
body must be hanged for this,
right or wrong, to quiet the
mob and save our credit." The
other secretary, being repre-
sented not only as intellectually
but bodily without a head, says
nothing. The woman accused
replies, " No more than your
worships have: I'm a poor
honest woman : my betters JUSTICE.
know more of the fire than I."
The ministers were now actively working in the city of Lon-
don, by indirectly influencing elections, &c. to obtain a majority
328
THE AGITATION SUBSIDES.
or at least a greater influence, in the city councils : and in this
they had at times considerable success. The death of Beck ford,
in the summer of 1770. had shaken the strength of the city
patriots; and their weaknesses had been increased by division
among themselves. In May, 1772, we find a caricature on the
ministerial influence in the city under the title of " The difference
of weight between court and city aldermen ;" in which their
regard for the principles they profess, is estimated at a very low
rate. On one side the cap of liberty is treated with the utmost
disgrace ; and in a framed picture on the wall above, poor
Britannia, whom we have so often
seen abused and ill-treated by one
party or the other, is repre-
sented as having arrived at
the last degree of ignominy, by
being hanged on a gallows. In
the October of the same year we
have another caricature, entitled
"The City junta, or, the ministerial
aldermen in consultation." These
political divisions in the city were
productive of serious domestic
riots ; and at the lord mayor's
feast in 1772, the civic party were
disturbed at their festivities in
Guildhall by the violence of the
mob without.
Several of the caricatures we have been describing were pub-
lished with different monthly magazines, which from 1769 to
1772, had been largely illustrated with such subjects. The lull
of political agitation is at this time made evident by the altered
tone of these publications, which become suddenly tamer in style,
and contain less of politics, and the caricatures give place to
views of towns and of gentlemen's seats, or to pictures of birds
and flowers. Caricatures, indeed, begin now to be scarce, and in
general spiritless, till the violence of political agitation began to
be felt again about 1780, towards the end of the North admi-
nistration. The convention with Spain in 1771, and the man-
agement of our increasing Indian empire about the same time,
were the subjects of consideralle discontent, and gave rise to a
few prints ; and, when the agitation excited by the remonstrances
and the imprisonment of the lord mayor began to subside, the
ministers were attacked more generally for their suppoit of
arbitrary power at home, and for the want of dignity in their
AN EXECUTION.
NEGLECT OF THE NAVY. 329
foreign policy, and especially for their neglect of the navy, the
natural defence of this country, which was under the direction
of the unpopular Lord Sandwich. The first number of the
Westminster Magazine for December, 1772, contains a political
satire, entitled, " A conversation which passed between the lion
and the unicorn at St. James's, after the meeting of Parliament
in 1772." It is a bitter complaint against the corruptions of
the Government, and sneers at the King's taste for making
snuff-boxes and buttons, instead of occupying himself with the
wants of his subjects. The neglect of the navy is accounted
for by the supposition that the King cared only for the defence
of his own person against his subjects, for which soldiers were
far more necessary than sailors, and it exhibits a little of the
old jealousy against a standing army. Sandwich, says the lion,
cared little how the sailors were provided for :
"LION.
" Ah, the sailors are what Master George should observe ;
But Sandwich declares all the heroes shall starve :
For by keeping them hungry, you keep 'em all keen,
That like half-famish'd crows, which on carrion you've seen,
They will fly at the French with the stomachs of hogs,
And, like storks, in a trice clear the sea of the frugs.
" UNICORN.
" 'Tis a comical maxim, and much out of nature,
For me, Master Sandwich, faith, never shall cater ;
But if they don't quiet these terrible storms,*
All our men and our ships will be eat by the worms.
"LION.
"The ships ! what are they to our sensible master ?
'Tis the horse and the foot which devour all the pasture.
Will shipping defend him at London and Kew ?
No, then what, pray, with shipping has Georgy to do 1
" Tis the soldiers, my boy, upon Wimbledon Common,
That tickle hia eye, and the gigg of each woman ;
Their buttons he makes, and he cocks all their hats,
With them he rides out too, and merrily chats."
The same magazine, for February, 1/73, contains a caricature
entitled " The state cotillion," founded on the rage for dancing
then prevalent, and conveying a general satire on the adminis-
tration. Lord Mansfield, the chancellor, is represented dancing
on Magna Charta ; and North is dancing on the national debt
and on bills of grievances. Other bills are trampled upon by
different ministers. The King peeps through a door on one
side, and seems to enjoy the sport. On the other side, Lord
* The weather that season was extraordinarily tempestuous, and a gieat
Lumber of ships of all sorts had perished.
330 AMERICA : TROUBLES IN BOSTON.
Bute is represented playing on the bag-pipes the tune of "Over
the water to Charley. " The Oxford Magazine of the following
May was adorned with a caricature representing the King with
North and Sandwich in council, getting up a sham war, as an
excuse for raising money for the court, while they receive secret
subsidies from France to keep the nation quiet.
It was at this time, however, that our ioreign relations were
becoming every day more complicated and threatening. The
dispute with the American colonies had now continued for
several years ; and it became almost the sole question in debate
between our political parties at home. But, even among those
who complained most of the want of foresight shewn by our
ministers in their measures with regard to the Americans, the
cause of the latter was not everywhere viewed in the same light;
for many condemned equally the violent conduct of the insur-
gents, and the evident design, already encouraged by a number
of ambitious men amongst them, to throw off their allegiance to
the English Crown. This was the real hindrance to a recon-
ciliation. There were others, however, in the mother-country
who took up the cause of the colonists with less reservation.
Among the numerous pamphlets on this subject announced in
the month of May, 1770, soon after the first collision between
the mob aud the soldiers in Boston, in which the blame most
A STRONG DOSE OP TEA.
certainly belonged to the former, two bear the titles of " A short
narrative of the horrid massacre in Boston," and "Innocent
blood crying from the streets of Boston." Prints of these, and
of other alleged acts of violence, were distributed abroad ; yet the
subsequent conduct of the Bostonians, and of the inhabitants of
THE WHITEHALL PUMP. 331
Rhode Island, exasperated the English peo'ple, and gave un-
popularity to the cause of the Americans. This, however, did
save the English ministers from the charge of obstinate folly
and imprudence ; while conciliation might have availed, they
were insolent and tyrannical, and while they provoked the
Americans more and more to resistance, they overlooked the
magnitude of the question, and took measures of defence totally
inadequate to avert the danger which was thus allowed to gain
head, until conciliation was no longer available. The tea bill was
represented in popular squibs and caricatures as a bitter dose,
which Lord North was forcing upon an unwilling patient usque
ad nauseam. One caricature represents America held down by
Lord Mansfield, the lord-chancellor, and compiler of the late
obnoxious acts against the colonies, while Lord North pours
the tea down her throat ; Britannia is seen behind, weeping at
her distress. In another caricature, published with the West-
minster Magazine for
April, 1774, under tlie
title of " The White-
hall Pump," poor Bri-
tannia is thrown down
upon her child, Ame-
rica, while Lord North,
who was remarkable
for his shortness of
vision, viewing her
through his glass, is
pumping upon her,
and appears to be en-
joying her distress.
Underneath fallen Bri-
tannia, a multitude of
acts and bills are scat-
tered over the ground,
bearing the titles of
"Magna Charta,"
"The Bill of Rights,"
" Coronation Oaths,"
" Remonstrances," " Petitions," &c. The chancellor, Lord Mans-
field, holding an act of Parliament in his hand, stands by the
prime-minister, to encourage and support him. The other mem-
bers of the cabinet, who are also in attendance, have joy marked
strongly on their countenances. The pump is surmounted by
the not very intellectual features of King George. Other pec-
BEITANNIA IN DISTBESS.
33*
ENGLAND AND AMERICA.
CONCORD.
were many shades of opinion with regard to
America deceived by the outward de-
clarations of the colonists, seized upon
every new breath of apparent concilia-
tion to preach up the advantages of
amity and concord. A caricature, un-
dated, entitled "A Political Concert,"
represents Britannia and her disobedient
daughter reconciled, and united in sup-
porting the cap of liberty. It was, in-
deed, the common outcry of the extreme
opposition in this country, that the at-
tack upon the civil rights of the Ameri-
can colonists was only a step towards the
destruction of popular liberty at home.
Among the caricatures on ministerial
improvidence, one published in October,
1774, represents Lord North in the cha-
racter of blustering " Boreas" (the sobri-
quet which was commonly applied to him), eyeing the distant colo-
nies through his glass, and shewing his ignorance of the difficul-
ties with which he had to contend by the flippant and vaunting
threat " I promise to reduce the Americans in three months."
It was the American question
which finally, in 1774, placed
Charles James Fox in opposition
to the ministers, and which stirred
up the ancient fire of Lord Chat-
ham's eloquence during the latter
years of his life. The English
Parliament, with bill after bill,
irritated the colonists, until they
threw themselves into open war
with the mother-country ; while
the insulting language of the
Americans only gave an excuse
for the English acts of Parliament
against them, and so much dis-
gusted the people of England, that the strength of the English
ministry was daily increased. The general election of 1774
added so much to their majority in the House of Commons, that
they were relieved of all fears from the opposition there. The
war with America, which may now be said to have commenced,
was a series of blunders and lollies, which involved this country
\
BOREAS.
LOED CHATHAM'S PROPHECY. 333
in perpetual disasters. The memorable battle of Bunker's Hill
was fought on the i6th of June, 1765 ; and the same year the
"United States of America" made their declaration of inde-
pendence. The war was now carried on with great animosity
during this and the following year, the Americans no longer
concealing the real object of the struggle, which was not relief
from a trifling grievance, but the resolution to break their alle-
giance to the mother-country, and establish themselves as a
separate empire. Now the popular complaint against the
ministers was, that their preparations to reduce the colonists to
obedience were inadequate and ill-directed, and that England
was betrayed into danger by her own rulers. In a caricature
published in April, 1776, under the title of "The Parricide,"
Young America is represented in the act of making a ferocious
attack on her mother, Britannia, who, held down by the
ministers, is unable to defend herself. The British lion is
roused into a state of furious agitation, ready to throw himself
upon the assailant, but he is bridled and restrained by Lord
Mansfield. There were many who already foresaw what must
be the ultimate result of the contest ; and they looked forward
with apprehension to a period when liberty and civilization
would fly from the shores of Britain, to establish themselves in
greater glory in the New World. The following spirited poem,
published in the June of the year 1776, and placed in the
mouth of Lord Chatham, embodies these ideas:
LORD CHATHAM'S PROPHECY.
" When boasting Gage was hurried o'er
To dye his sword in British gore,
And plead the senate's right,
E'en Chatham, with indignant smile,
Harangued in this prophetic style,
Illumed by freedom's light !
"Your plumed corps though Percy cheers,
And far- famed British grenadiers,
Renowned for martial skill ;
Yet Albion's heroes bite the plain,
Her chiefs round gallant Howe are slain,
And fallow Bunker's Hill.
" Some tuneful bard, who pants for fame,
Shall consecrate one deathless name,
And future ages tell,
For Spartan valour here renown'd,
Where laurels shade the sacred ground,
Heroic Warren fell !
*' Erewhile a Howe indignant rose,
Against his country's, free 1 urn's foes ;
Those glorious days are past.
334 LORD CHATHAM'S PROPHECY.
A coward's orders to perform,
Lo, yon sea-Alva.* rides the storm,
And drives the furious blast.
"Though darkness all the horizon shroud,
And from the east yon thunder-cloud
Menace destruction round ;
Yet Franklin, versed in Nature's laws,
From her dire womb the lightning draws,
And brings it to the ground.
"Around him Sydneys, Hampdens throng ;
His ardent philosophic tongue
Can Roman zeal inspire ;
The Amphyctyon council, hand in hand,
Like the immortal Theban band,
Catch its electric fire.
" Can fleets or troops such spirits tame,
Although they view tlieir cities flame,
And desolate their coast ?
'Midst distant wilds they'll find a home,
Far as the untamed Indians roam,
And freedom's luxury boast.^
"Midst the snow-storm* yon hero shines,
Pierces your barrier, breaks your lines,
With splendour marks his days;
He falls, the soldier, patriot, sage !
TTia name illumes th' historic page,
Crown'd with immortal praise.
" Brighten the chain, the wampum tie,
Those painted chiefs raise war's fell cry,
And hail the festive hour ;
The Congress binds the savage race,
As Heaven's own aether rules through space,
Arm'd with attraction's power.
" Canadians scorn your vile behest, ||
Indignant passions fire each breast,
And freedom's banner waves ;
* Lord Howe.
h An allusion to the words of the " Address of the twelve United Pro-
vinces to the Inhabitants of Great Britain : " " We can retire beyond the
reach of your navy, and without any sensible diminution of the necessaries
of life, enjoy a luxury, which from that period you will want the luxury of
being free."
+ The account of the attack on Quebec, published by the Congress, said,
"When evertliing was prepared, the general waited the opportunity of a
snow-storm to carry his design into execution, being obliged to take
a circuit, the signal for an attack was given, and the garrison alarmed
before he reached the place; however, pressing on, he forced the first
barrier, and was just opening to attempt the second, when he was unfortu
nately killed."
General Montgomery, who was slain in the attack on Quebec.
|| The Canada, or lawyer's bill, as it was called, the work of Lord
Mansfield.
LORD CHATHAM'S PROPHECY. 335
Whole years they felt her flame divine ;
Its cheering light can they resign,
And sink again to slaves ?
" No more will kings court Britain's smil J3,
No longer dread this Queen of Isles,
No more her virtues charm ;
See her pursue th' ignoble strife
By the dire Indian's scalping-kuife,
And by the bravo's arm.
" Vain France, and Spain's vindictive power,
Exulting, wait the auspicious hour,
To spread war's dire alarms,
No more our fleets triumphant ride ;
This i-le of bliss with all her pride,
May feel the Bourbon arms.
"America, with just disdain,
"Will break degenerate Britain's chain,
And gloriously aspire ;
I see New Lockes and Camdens rise,
Whilst other Newtons read the skies,
And Miltons wake the lyre.
" Behold her blazing flag unfurl'd,
To awe and rule the western world,
And teach presumptuous kings,
Though lull'd by servile flattery's dream,
The people are alone supreme,
From whom dominion springs 1
" Heaven's choicest gifts enrich her plain,
The red'ning orange, swelling grain,
Her genial suns refine ;
For her the silken insects toil,
The olive teems with floods of oil,
And glows the purple vine t
" Her prowess Albion's empire shakes ;
Her cataracts, her ocean' d lakes,
Display great Nature's hand ;
And Europe sees with dread surprise,
Ethereal tow'ring spirits rise
To rule the wondrous land I
"Bold Emulation stands confest ;
Through the firm chief's and yeoman's breast
The heroic passion runs ;
Imperial spirits claim their placet
No venal honours lift the base,
When Nature ranks her sons!
"Lo, Britain's ancient genius flies
Where commerce, arts, and science rise,
And war's dire horrors cea.se ;
Exulting millions crowd her plains,
Escaped from Europe's galling chains
To liberty and peace ! "
33<5 RESIGNATION OF THE DUKE OF GRAFTON
In the beginning of November, 1775, the Duke of Grafton,
disagreeing with his colleagues, was dismissed from the ministry,
and joined the opposition. This was followed by other changes
in the cabinet, the most important of which was the appoint-
ment of the unpopular Lord George Germaine (the Lord George
Sackville of Minden notoriety) to be secretary of state for
America. The war there dragged on with various vicissitudes,
sometimes flattering the British government with the hope of
recovering its supremacy, while at other times it promised the
immediate independence of the colonies ; but the final result
each year seemed more and more discouraging to the British
cause. At length, on the 3rd of December, 1777, the Court
was thunderstruck with the disastrous intelligence of the sur-
render of General Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga, on the
1 7th of October. The opposition could hardly conceal their
exultations; the disgrace and loss which had fallen on the
British arms were exaggerated, and chanted about the streets in
doggerel ballads. An " Ode on the Success of his Majesty's
Arms," written in December and printed in the Foundling Hos-
pital for Wit, celebrates, ironically, the glorious results of the
campaign, and the skill and prudence of the ministers at home,
and ends with a congratulation on the old tale of King George's
mechanical amusements :
"Then shall ray lofty numbers tell,
Who taught the royal babes to spell,
And sovereign arts pursue ;
To mend a watch, or set a clock,
New pattern shape for Hervey's frock,
Or buttons make at Kew."
In Parliament, the opposition burst into a violent storm ;
they reproached ministers with the imbecility of their measures,
and laid all the faults and disasters on Lord George Germaine,
with whom they were said to have originated. The thunder of
Chatham's eloquence was again heard in the House of Lords,
undiminished in force ; and Burke, Fox, and Barre overwhelmed
the ministerial organs in the House of Commons. A new
ground of complaint against the manner of conducting the war
had now presented itself in the employment of the American
Indians in the British army, whose cruel ravages on former
occasions were still remembered with feelings of horror. It
does not appear that the Indians now employed in the British
army had committed any serious disorder ; but the opposition
not only saw them burning and massacring the King's own sub-
jects men whose veins flowed with English blood, but they
TIIE ALLIES.
337
conjured up fearful pictures of cannibalism ; and in a caricature
(in the collection
of Mr. Burke)
entitled, "The
Allies par no-
lile fratrum"
King George,
whose private
will, it was uni-
versally be-
lieved, governed
in the cabinet,
was represented
in close league ins ALLIES.
with his savage
ally, gnawing the remains of the revolting feast.
Lord Chatham directed all the movements of the opposition
on this important question. Indignation at the way in which
the American war was misconducted seemed alone to keep the
veteran statesman alive. Whenever there was to be an attack
upon the ministers on that subject, he was carried into the house,
wrapped up in flannels, and supported on crutches, and he rose
up like a ghost from the grave to thunder forth his condemna-
tion of the past, and his warning for the future. On these
occasions he seemed suddenly
animated with the full vigour of
his youth. General Burgoyne,
liberated on his parole, had now
returned to take his place in the
ranks of the opposition in the
House of Commons, of which
he was a member ; and he was
said to be a better debater than
a general ; it was, indeed, com-
monly reported, that his appoint-
ment to the command of the
army in America was a mere
stratagem of the ministry to get
him away from his place in the
house. When he made his re-
appearance there, in the month
of March, 1778, he declared his
willingness to undergo any kind
of trial, and threw the blame of the failure of the expedition on the
GENERAL BURGOYNK.
338
ADMIRAL KEPPEL.
secretary for America, Lord George Germaine. A grand de-
bate was expected in the House of Lords on the 5th of April ;
and then Chatham was again in his place, but he looked more
like a man that was come there to die, than one who would take
any part in the political passions which agitated his country.
There had been a division in the ranks of the opposition, and
some now believing that the reduction of the colonies to obedi-
ence was hopeless, advocated the immediate acknowledgment of
their independence. Chatham arose, and, held up by two of his
friends, spoke with eloquence and indignation against the threa-
tened separation of the colonies from the mother country.
When he had resumed his seat, the Duke of Richmond, who
represented that portion of the opposition which now looked
upon that separation as inevitable, spoke against him, and
when he had ended, Lord Chatham rose to reply. But, over-
powered by his feelings, his strength failed him, and the orator
fell back into the arms of his friends, and was carried out of
the house in a state of insensibility. He was taken next day
to his seat at Hayes in Kent, where, after lingering a little
more than a month, he died on
the nth of May, at the age of
seventy years.
At this very moment secret
negotiations were going on be-
tween the American colonies and
France to obtain the assistance
of the latter country against'
England. The former had al-
ready received indirect encou-
ragement, and it appears to have
been only the reluctance of Spain,
which had such extensive colo-
nies of its own in the other
hemisphere, to join with France,
that hindered an open acknow-
ledgment of American indepen-
dence. By the month of June,
the English government was fully
informed that a treaty had been
concluded between the rebellious
colonies and the French King,
and a fleet was immediately sent out to watch the French coasts,
under Admiral Keppel,* another active member of the opposition,
* The portraits of Admiral Keppel and that of General Burgoyne,
ADMIRAL KEPPEL.
KEP PEL'S ACTION WITS THE FRENCH. 339
whom the Court was glad to remove from his place in the House
of Commons. Keppel at once commenced hostilities, and after
making two or three small captures, he discovered that a large
French fleet was at Brest, ready to put to sea. He immediately
returned to Portsmouth for reinforcements. On the pth of
July both fleets put to sea, Keppel's forces being considerably
inferior to those of the French under the Count d'Orvilliers.
The two fleets came in sight of each other on the 23rd, but the
French being unwilling to fight, and having the advantage of
the wind, Keppel could not engage them till the 2/th, when a
dark squall brought them close together off Ushant ; then the
order was given for engaging, and a furious cannonade was kept
up for full two hours as the fleets ran past each other, in which
the French lost many men, and the English ships sustained
considerable damasre in their rigging, especially the division
under Sir Hugh Palliser. When Keppel attempted to renew
the engagement, Palliser was unable or unwilling to obey the
signal, and the delay thus occasioned enabled the French fleet
to escape.
This action led to events that again raised up the mob of the
metropolis, which, not many months afterwards, was urged into
acts of violence of a more serious character than any of which
a London mob had been previously guilty. In his official dis-
patches, Keppel had generously screened Sir Hugh Palliser from
blame in not having seconded him properly in pursuing the
enemy. It has already been hinted that Keppel, as one of the
opposition, was an object of aversion at Court ; while Palliser,
"that black man," as Horace Walpole styles him, was not only
in favour at Court, but one of the lords of the Admiralty.
Rumours had gone abroad, and letters had appeared in the news-
papers, which were less sparing of Palliser's character than his
superior officer had been ; whereupon Sir Hugh wrote a letter in
vindication, and demanded of Admiral Keppel an authentication
of all his statements, which the latter declined to give. The
subject was brought before the House of Commons at the be-
ginning of December, and led to a rather angry debate, in which
Palliser charged his superior officer with misconduct. The
Court seized on this question in the hope that they would be
able to crush Admiral Keppel, and the Admiralty ordered him
to be brought to trial before a court-martial ; a proceeding winch
gave great dissatisfaction to the officers of the navy in general,
and which was indignantly condemned by the popular party.
given above, with others in this chapter, are taken from the series pub-
lished by the caricaturist Sayer in 178].
z a
340 WATt WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN.
The trial began at Portsmouth on the yth of January, 1779,
and lasted thirty-two days ; the result, which was an honourable
acquittal of Keppel, was made known on the nth of February.
The mob of London, which had been all along in a state of
agitation, waited impatiently for this intelligence, and, when it
arrived, between nine and ten o'clock in the evening, the popular
exultation knew no bounds, and, between joy at the event, and
fear of the populace, every house in London is said to have been
illuminated before eleven. The houses of Lord North and Lord
George Germaine were attacked, and the windows broken. The
windows of the Admiralty were also broken, and the large gate
forced off its hinges ; besides other violence. The effigy of Sir
Hugh Palliser was hanged and burnt in various parts of the
town. His house in Pall Mall was protected by a strong body
of soldiers till after midnight; but, they having been then
wholly or partially withdrawn, the mob burst in, and carried all
the furniture into St. James's Square, where they burnt it.
Young men of rank gave encouragement to, and even joined
with, the populace. Mr. Pitt, who began his political life in the
ranks of the popular party, is said to have assisted in breaking
windows, and the young Duke of Ancaster was taken among
the rioters, and passed the night in the watch-house. The next
day was one of triumph to Keppel : the city of London voted
him its freedom, to be presented in a box made of heart-of-oak,
richly ornamented, and votes of thanks to the admiral were
passed in both houses of Parliament. Another general illumina-
tion took place the following night, but with less rioting.
Palliser resigned his seat at the Admiralty board, and vacated
his seat in the House of Commons ; and he also was brought to
trial before a court-martial ; but the influence of the Court is
said to have been exerted to save him from a severe sentence.
From this moment the King looked upon Admiral Keppel as a
personal enemy, and it is said that at the subsequent elections
the influence of the Castle was used in the most undisguised
manner to hinder his re-election to represent the borough of
Windsor.
The attempt at individual persecution had by no means
increased the strength of the ministry ; Keppel's triumph led to
a violent attack on the board of Admiralty, and especially on the
first lord, Lord Sandwich ; and the cabinet was not a little em-
barrassed by the united attacks of naval and military com-
manders, including among the latter the two commanders in the
American war, Generals Burgoyne and Howe, who now stood
forth with the opposition, and laid all the misfortunes in
THE STATE PILOT.
34'
America to the charge of ministerial imbecility. The King of
France was now at open war with us, and the summer of 1779
brought the King of Spain into the hostile confederacy. A
popular song of the Americans long afterwards continued to speak
of Louis XVI., as a mark of their gratitude for the assistance
thus bestowed, by the title of the " patriot" King:
" Let us in rapture sing,
Of Louis the patriot King,
Virtue's support :
Who with unshaken zeal
Aided our common weal,
And fixed friendship's seal
To the New World."
The two monarchs derived in the sequel little advantage front
this war, into which they had entered unprovoked ; and it may
be doubted if it was of any great benefit to the Americans.
Although the final independence of the American colonies was a
thing which everybody now foresaw, the campaigns of 1/79 and
1780 were not favourable to their cause.
Amid the incessant attacks to which its foreign policy expo^,ed
LBITAIN'S STATE PILOT.
it, the North administration was gradually losing its strength.
Some of its own supporters began to feel that the weight of in-
34*
THE BOTCHING TAILOR.
creasing taxation was hardly compensated by any advantages
gained by the extravagant expenditure which called for it ;
others began to desert it merely because the opposition was
gaining force, and promised ere long to be the surest way to
place ; and thus its numerical majority in the House of Commons
became daily less. Towards the end of June, 1779, when
an open rupture bad taken place with France and Spain, and the
friendship of Holland was already doubtful, appeared a rather
boldly executed caricature, representing " Britain's State Pilot
foundering on Taxation Rock, to the great amusement of Lewis
Baboon, Don Strut, and Nic Frog." These three personages (the
frog emblematical of the Dutchman^) are looking on in mockery,
while North, in the character of the sloth, (he was remark-
able for his laziness,) is piloting Britannia's boat, which,
its sail torn from its hold by the wind, is striking on the
fatal rock. At the masthead is the unpopular thistle, the
influence under which it was pretended the state boat sailed ; for
Bute still presented an object of apprehension. In allusion to
this, the engraving bears the inscription "Stuart pinxit
Yanky fecit." A few months later, (December, 1779,) in a cari-
cature, entitled " The Botching Tailor cutting his cloth to cover
a button," King George is again accompanied by his Scottish
assistant, cutting up his cloth (the United Kingdom), while
Lord North and his cabinet are looking on. Under the stall,
are the Bill of Rights,
Magna Charta, Re-
monstrances, &c., cut
into shreds and
thrown away. The
walls of the tailor's
ehop are ornamented
(as was usual) with
broadside ballads, on
one of which we read
the title, "Taxation
no Tyranny, a new
song, as sung at the
Theatre Royal ; the
words by Jocky Stewart." Another is entitled " The Button-
maker's downfall; or, Ruin to Old England; to the tune of
Britons Strike Home;" a third proclaims the virtue of "Dr.
Cromwell's effectual and only remedy for the king's ev 4i ;" and
at the foot of the fourth, which contains a parody on' "The
Highland Laddie," is seen the popular emblem of the boot. A
THE BOTCHING TAILOR.
"NO POPERY." 343
picture suspended behind, is a parody on the flight into Egypt,
and represents the King and his family making a hasty exit ou
their way " to Hanover." Between the dates of these two
caricatures, there had heen one or two resignations in the
cabinet, which shewed that even among the ministers there was
not entire unanimity. Lord Gower, who had resigned the
presidency of the council, declared, in his first speech in the
ranks of the opposition at the end of November, that " he had
seen such things pass of late at the council-table, that no man of
honour or conscience could any longer sit there." The unusually
large expenditure of the last few years, and the consequent in-
crease of the national debt, and of the taxation of the country,
began now to excite loud complaints, and associations were
formed throughout England, with the object of opposing the
extravagance of the government, and obtaining a reform in the
parliamentary representation, the corruptions of which, people
began to look upon as one of the principal causes of the evils
under which they suffered. But these complaints were rather
suddenly interrupted by a new subject of excitement, which led
to fearful scenes of violence in the metropolis. For some time
the dread of popery had been gaining ground, excited in some
degree by the outcries of those who were opposed to the question
of Catholic emancipation, which was now beginning to be
agitated. Some bigoted people were even weak enough to
believe that King George himself had a leaning towards the
Church of Rome. This was especially the case in Scotland,
where there had been serious no-popery riots in the beginning of
1779. It was a Scottish madman, the notorious Lord George
Gordon, whom Walpole designates as " the Jack of Leyden of
the age," who led the cry in England, and who had placed him-
self at the head of what was called the Protestant Association.
After having troubled the House of Commons with inflammatory
speeches during the whole of this session, Lord George gave
notice on the 2<5th of May, 1780, of his intention on the 2nd of
June to present a petition against toleration of Roman Catholics,
signed by above a hundred thousand men, who were all to
accompany him in procession to the House. We are told that
the only precaution taken against the threatened mob was an,
order of the privy council on the previous day, empowering the
first Lord of the Treasury to give proper orders to the civil
magistrates to keep the peace, which the first lord of the
Treasury forgot to put into effect.
On Friday, the 2nd of June, an immense multitude assembled
in St. George's Fields, where Lord George addressed them in an
344 THE GORDON EIOTS.
inflammatory style, and then they marched in procession, six
abreast, over London Bridge and through the city to Old
Palace Yard, where they behaved in a most riotous manner.
Many members of both houses were ill-treated, and one or two
narrowly escaped with their lives. The confusion within doors,
especially in the House of Lords, was very great ; the Lords
broke up without coming to any resolution, and made their
escape. The House of Commons behaved with more firmness.
But it was not till late in the evening that the mob was
prevailed upon to disperse. In their way home, they attacked
and burnt two Catholic chapels, that of the Bavarian ambassador
in Warwick Street, Golden Square, and that of the Sardinian
ambassador in Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. The mob
assembled again on the night of Saturday, in the neighbourhood
of Moorfields, and continued during the night to molest the
Catholics who inhabited that part of London. Some military
were ordered to the spot on Sunday morning, but no efficient
measures were taken to suppress the rioters, and on Monday
morning, when there was a drawing-room for the King's birth-
day, the disturbances had become much more serious. Under
the cry of "No Popery," all the worst part of the population of
the metropolis had now collected together, and London was
entirely in their power during the rest of the day and the whole
of the following night. Early on Monday morning they robbed
and burnt the house of Sir George Saville, in Leicester Fields,
because he had been the prime mover of a proposed act for
shewing religious tolerance towards the Catholics. Several
chapels and some private houses were plundered and destroyed,
and fires were seen in various parts of the town. Both houses
met, but some of the members were attacked on their way, and
Lord Sandwich fell into the hands of the populace, and was with
difficulty torn from them after he had been severely hurt. The
House of Lords adjourned immediately, but in the Commons
there were hot debates, and several strong resolutions were
passed. As evening approached, the mob, which had increased,
and consisted now of all the lowest rabble of London, rushed to
.Newgate, set fire to the prison, which was entirely destroyed,
and liberated all the criminals. These joined the rioters, who
now became more ferocious, and went about ravaging and plun-
dering in the most fearful manner. A print of the time
has given us a characteristic portrait of these would-be re-
liyious reformers.* The new prison at Clerkenwell was also
* He is in the act of shouting, " Down with the Bank 1" The print is
entitled "No Popery, or Newgate Keiormens."
LORD GEORGE GORDON. 345
broken into, and the prisoners set at liberty. They next at-
tacked and plundered the house
of Sir John Fielding, the police
magistrate, and they burnt
down the house of Lord Mans-
field, in Bloomsbury Square,
destroying in it, among other
things, a valuable library of
ancient manuscripts. All day
on Tuesday, and through Tues-
day night, the populace went
about robbing and burning, and
drinking, and this latter occu-
pation only added to their fury.
On Wednesday, the King's
Bench, the Fleet, and the other A MOB BEIORMEB.
prisons were burnt, and two at-
tacks were made on the Bank of England, but the assailants were
driven back with great loss by the soldiers who guarded that im-
portant building. Various other public buildings were marked for
destruction. People, now, however, began to recover from their
panic, and voluntarily armed in defence of their property, and
troops, as well of the regulars as of the militia, were pouring
into London ; yet during the Wednesday night the town was
on fire in no less than thirty-six places, and the destruction of
property was immense. On Thursday the 8th of June, after
many had been killed by the soldiery, and a still greater number
had perished through intoxication in the burning houses, tran-
quillity was restored, and the capital was saved from the hands of
a mob which seemed at one moment to threaten its entire de-
struction. On Saturday, Lord George Gordon was committed to
the Tower ; and he was subsequently brought to trial for high-
treason, but was allowed to escape conviction, and he eventually
shewed sufficient proofs of mental derangement.
These dreadful riots had been allowed at first to gain head
entirely by the culpable negligence and pusillanimity of the
civil authorities, who seem to have lost all presence of mind ;
and by a want of foresight on the part of the government.
The conduct of the city rulers, with the exception of Wilkes,
had been especially disgraceful, and the lord-mayor was punished
for his cowardice. A lew coarse and not well executed carica-
tures, and some ballads and songs, held tlu-m up to public ridicule
and indignation. Lord Amherst, who, after Wolfe's death, ob-
tained the credit of conquering Canada from the French, and who
LOUD AHHEBST.
346 LORD AMHERST.
was now a courtier, an active man in the politics of the day,
directed the military operations against the rioters, and became
unpopular for his severity.* He was made
the butt of a considerable number of cari-
catures, in one of which he is represented
as killing geese, and, in allusion to some
threat which he had uttered, he is made to
declare, " If I had power, I'd kill twenty in
an hour." The King, as we have already
seen, was openly stigmatized as being a
Catholic at heart. A caricature, published
at this time, and entitled " A great man at
his private devotions," represents him kneel-
ing before an altar, and wearing the dress of
a monk, embroidered with the words " The
holy Roman Catholic faith ;" a crucifix
stands on the altar, and portraits of Boreas
and Jemmy Twitcher decorate the walls of
his private chapel. A picture of the pope
hangs above an open door, and petitions
from Surrey and Middlesex lie within it as waste paper. A
print of Martin Luther drops in neglected fragments from the
wall. Burke, as the great advocate of Catholic emancipation,
was especially odious to the fanatical party ; and he obtained on
this occasion the character which was so often afterwards applied
to him of being a concealed Jesuit.
The "No-Popery!" cry was coupled with new apprehensions
(though not very generally felt) of the Pretender, at whose
return the imaginary Scottish influence was supposed now to
aim. I have already mentioned a caricature in which this is
slightly alluded to. In another caricature published this year,
under the title of " Argus," King George is lulled into a pro-
found slumber, while some cunning plunderers are stealing his
sceptre, and others, apparently Scotchmen, are cautiously lifting
the crown. One of them, in a plaid and bonnet (Bute), asks of
another, in a large wig and ermiued robe, " What shall be done
with it ? " the reply is " Wear it yoursel', my laird." But
another of the party exclaims, "No, troth, I'se carry it to
Charley, and he'll not part with it again." A miserable figure
in rags on the opposite side, supposed to be a personification of
the English community, clasps his hands, and cries, "I have
let them quietly strip me of everything." An Irishman, de-
* This caricature portrait of Lord Aniherst is taken from the series hy
Sayer.
PREROGATIVE DEFEATED.
347
BRITANNIA IN SOUKOW.
parting, protests " that he will take care of himself and family."
An American, leering upon the
dozing sovereign, says, " We in
America have no crown to fight
for or lose." Behind the hedge
which forms the background, a
Dutchman feeds upon honey,
during the ahsence of the bees
from their hives. In one cor-
ner Britannia sits weeping, and
her lion reposes in chains close
to a map of Great Britain, from
which America is torn.
The strength of the adminis-
tration was evidently in a rapid
decline, and its popularity had
not been assisted by the turbu-
lent scenes we have just de-
scribed, or by any favourable
change in the prospects of
the war. Before the London riots, the government had
been embarrassed by a signal defeat on a question of a very
significant character. The petitions crowding in from all parts
of the country had already alarmed the Court; when, on
the 6th of April, Mr. Dunning moved in the House of Commons
his famous resolution against the overgrown influence of the
Crown, which was carried against the Court, and was followed
by the adoption of other motions equally unpalatable. On the
loth of April the opposition was still in the majority, and other
strong resolutions against prerogative were passed. Everybody
was in astonishment, and expected an immediate dissolution of
the cabinet and a change of measures. A caricature on this
occasion, published on the 2oth of April, and entitled " Prero-
gative's defeat; or, Liberty's triumph," is in the collection of
Mr. Hawkins; it represents the downfall of Scottish influence,
while Ireland and America are both rejoicing, the latter exclaim-
ing, " Now we will treat with them." But the ministers had
had time to recover from their surprise, and an adjournment of
the house to the 24th of April was employed in negotiating with
those who had on this occasion deserted their ranks. On that
day the ministers recovered their majorities, although they were
not now very large ones. In another caricature, entitled " The
Bull over-drove; or, the drivers in danger," the British bull is
represented in a rage, kicking at the ministers, one of whom
343
ADM1EAL RODNEY.
(Lord George Germaine) exclaims, " This is worse than the
battle of Minden ! " The Kings of France and Spain stalk
away, the former exclaiming, " By gar ! my friend America, I
must leave you ; dis bull will play le diable ! " the other, " I
wish I was safe out of his way ; he beats the bulls of Spain."
America replies, " I fear, monsieur, I shall get little by your
friendship."
The ill-treatment which Keppel and other liberal officers re-
ceived from the Court brought unpopularity on those who were
put forward by the ministry, and this often embarrassed them in
their operations. Rodney had begun the year prosperously by
a decisive victory over the Spanish fleet oft' St. Vincent on the
1 6th of January, which was followed by the relief of Gibraltar,
now besieged by the Spaniards; but the unwillingness of his
captains to obey a Tory commander deprived him, in the middle
of April, of gaining a much more signal victory over the French
fleet in the West Indies. The French escaped, and took shelter
,~, in a friendly harbour,
and both sides boasted
of the superiority. A
caricature, entitled
" National Discourse,"
published after the in-
telligence of these
events arrived in Eng-
land, represents the
mutual feelings of the
sailors of the two na-
tions on this occasion ;
the lean and vain-glori-
ous Frenchman's taunt,
"Ha, ha, we beata you!"
receives from the sturdy
Englishman the some-
what unpolite reply,
"You lie!" Rodney's
miscarriage led soon
after to the junction of the French and Spanish fleets, and
nothing but the sickness which fell upon them and weakened
them, and the mutual mistrust between' these two allies, saved
our West Indian islands from conquest. The close of this year
saw Holland openly added to the number of our enemies. In
America the events of the war continued to be in general dis-
couraging to the colonists, until the latter part of the year 1781,
NATIONAL DISCOURSE.
SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. 349
when it suddenly took a decided turn to their advantage, and
the capture of Lord Cornwallis and his army may be looked
upon as having left no longer any doubt in people's minds as to
what must be the final result.
At the beginning of the year (on the i7th of January, 1781,)
when the prospects of the British arms in America seemed to
be in the highest degree
promising, a caricature
was published, represent-
ing Britannia and her
enemies weighed in the
balance. America is
seated in one scale in an
attitude of sorrow, sigh-
ing forth the unwilling
avowal, "My ingratitude
is justly punished." The
Spaniard and the French-
man stand in the scale
with her, and the Dutch-
man is hanging on with
his whole weight in the
effort to pull it down.
The first of these ex-
claims, " Rodney has
ruined our fleet !" The
Frenchman addresses
himself to their new ally
the Dutchman, " Myn-
heer, assist, or we are ruined ;" and receives for reply, " I'll do
anything for money." But the Dutchman is a loser, apparently
unknown to himself, for his money is falling from his pocket,
with papers inscribed, " Demerara," " Essequibo," " St. Eustatia,"
" St. Martin," and other colonies which had fallen into the
hands of the British. In spite of their exertions, Britannia,
standing alone in the other scale, is outweighing them all ; sKe
holds a drawn sword, inscribed " Justice," in her hand, and ex-
claims, " No one injures me with impunity." Other carica-
tures, marking the popular exultation, appeared about the same
time.
In the general elections in the autumn of 1780, the minis-
terial majority was not as usual (and, perhaps, as was expected),
increased. The opposition, feeling its strength, commenced a
resolute at tack onthe ministry, criticising its measures abroad
A LIGHT COMPANY.
35
A GENERAL ELECTION.
LORD SANDWICH.
and at home, and exaggerating its errors, and the consequences
that resulted from them. They fell
first upon Lord Sandwich, and
brought forward the old grievance
relating to Admiral Keppel and
Sir Hugh Palliser, the latter of
whom had been rewarded with the
governorship of Greenwich Hos-
pital. They next entered upon
the alleged ill-management of the
navy, and complained that it ha 1
been deprived of some of its ablest
officers in a time of great danger,
by the political partialities of the
Court. After Christmas, they re-
turned to the charge, and accused
the ministers with having unne-
cessarily driven this country into
a war with Holland. The charge
of mismanagement of the navy
was then renewed. Burke next
brought forward a motion for
economical reform, with a view also to a reform in the represen-
tation of the country, founded on the petitions of the different
political associations now formed throughout England ; he was
supported by the whole force of the eloquence of the opposition,
and the debate, on the second reading of his bill, on the 26th of
February, 1781, brought on his legs, for the first time in the
house, young William Pitt, the second son of the great Earl of
Chatham, who entered the political arena as a disciple of Charles
Fox. Sheridan and Wilberforce also made their first speeches
on this occasion, as zealous members of the opposition. The
next subject of attack was Lord North's financial arrangements.
Through all these attacks, and many more which followed, the
ministers were supported by the encouraging accounts of the
success of our arms in America and other parts ; but in the
autumn even this prop began to give way, and when, on the
a^th of November, the news of the surrender of Lord Corn-
wallis's army arrived, they were filled with dismay. Parliament
opened two days afterwards, and the debates occasioned by this
disaster were violent in the extreme. Until the Christmas
recess, the house was almost entirely occupied with the
American war, and the state of the navy. In the midst of this
\
PEETINACITY OF THE OPPOSITION. 351
warfare of words, young William Pitt was rising daily into dis-
tinction.
After Christmas, the war between the opposition and the
ministry was renewed with increased vigour. Lord Sandwich
was again the first object of attack. Charles Fox moved for an
inquiry into the causes of the constant ill success of our naval
forces, and a bitter declamation was made on the improvidence
of the Admiralty, and on the narrow policy which had deprived
our ships of some of their best commanders, such as Keppel,
Howe, and others, because their political opinions were not
agreeable at Court. Ministers agreed to the inquiry, and there
was no division ; but in a motion for a vote of censure on the
Admiralty board, a few days afterwards, the ministerial majority
was only twenty-two. After the arrival of the news of Lord
Coruwallis's surrender, most people began to look forward to a
total change in the cabinet as not far distant ; and the venal
supporters of the Court in the House of Commons were already
beginning to desert, to join those who were likely to succeed to
power. On the 2oth of February, Fox renewed the attack ou
Lord Sandwich, and the ministerial majority was reduced to
nineteen.
It was evident that the affairs of America would not long be
allowed to remain untouched, and, at the beginning of February,
Lord George Germaine had been allowed to resign the colonial
secretaryship, and as a reward for his staunch support of the
King's policy, he was raised to the peerage by the title of
Viscount Sackville. On the 22nd of February General Comvay
moved for an address to the King, praying him to put an end to
the American war : and on this occasion, after a long and warm
debate, the ministerial majority was only one. Still, however,
North did not resign, but on the 2^th of February he calmly
brought forward his budget. The opposition was furious, and
attacked his ways of raising money in the most violent terms.
Some new taxes proposed on this occasion were very unpopular
out of doors, especially one on soap, which was made the subject
of a host of ballads and caricatures, that continued to be hawked
about long after North's ministry had fallen. In these the
premier was ridiculed under the title of " Soap-suds," the poli-
tical " Washerwoman," and a variety of other similar appella-
tions. It was pretended that people would now have to learn
to wash without soap ; and in one of the caricatures, entitled
'The M-n-s-r reduced ; or, Sir Oliver Blubber in his proper sta-
tion," the new washerwoman, is occupied, as it appears, in
35*
THE POLITICAL WASHERWOMAN.
TDK WASHERWOMAN.
this experiment, for, on the wall behind is the notice, "Linen
wash'd 50 per cent, cheaper than at any other place in London,
by Mary North, author of
the treatise upon washing
withoutsoap, and many other
ingenious performances." At
a window before the portly
figure of the metamorphosed
minister, two washerwomen
of the old practice are look-
ing in at his work and laugh-
ing.
Two days after the an-
nouncement of the budget,
on the 27th of February,
General Conway made a new
motion for an address for
pacification with America,
when, after another warm
debate, ministers were in a
minority of nineteen. When
this was known next day,
the town was filled with manifestations of joy ; many houses
were illuminated in the evening, and papers were cried about
the streets announcing " Good news for England ! Lord North
in the dumps, and peace with America!" The King re-
turned rather an evasive answer to the address, on which the
ministers, instead of retiring, as it was expected they would do,
proposed to bring forward some half measures, with the hope of
appeasing the opposition. The lafter now raised a loud cry
against the obstinacy with which Lord North clung to his place,
and Charles Fox in particular, whose unfortunate love of dissi-
pation and gambling had reduced him to necessitous circum-
stances,* could hardly conceal his eagerness to get the ministers
* Fox, as we learn from various sources, was at this time in great pecu-
niary difficulties. Towards the end of May, 1781, Walpole writes, "As I
came up St. James's Street, I saw a cart and porters at Charles's door ;
coppers and old chests of drawers loading. In short, his success at Faro
had awakened his host of creditors ; but unless his bank had been swelled
to the size of the Bank of England, it could not have yielded a sop for
each. Epsom, too, had been unpropitious, and one creditor had actually
seized and carried off his goods, which did not seem worth removing. As
I returned full of this scene, whom should 1 find sauntering by my own
door but Charles. He came up and talked to me at the coach-window, on
the Marriage Bill, with as much sangfroid as if he knew nothing of what
RESIGNATION OF LORD NORTH. 353
out, that he might share in the spoils. On the 8th of March,
Lord John Cavendish again brought forward the question of
American mismanagement, and moved a direct vote of censure
on the English ministry ; the latter on this occasion had a ma-
jority of ten. On the i ^th, Sir John Rouse made a new and
still more direct attack, in a motion declaring that the house no
longer placed confidence in the present ministers, whose majority
was now only nine. Lord Surrey immediately gave notice that
he should bring forward another motion to the same effect on
the 2oth ; but when that day came, the debate was prevented
by Lord North's announcement to the house of the resignation of
ministers.
The tenacity with which Lord North apparently clung to
office through so many defeats was generally attributed, and in
all probability with justice, to the King's unwillingness to accept
his resignation. It was widely believed that the King's will had
for some time been the rule according to which his ministers
shaped their measures, and that he showed the greatest reluc-
tance to admitting to any share in the government of the country
those who were not " his friends." Most of the leaders of the
liberal party were to him objects of personal animosity.
The opposition itself, since Lord Chatham's death, had become
more clearly divided into two sections, one of which acknowledged
Lord Rockingham for its leader, whilst the other was ranged
under the banners of Lord Shelburne ; the former numbered in
its ranks Charles Fox, Edmund Burke, and Admiral Keppel,
while with Lord Shelburne were Colonel Barre and the young
and aspiring William Pitt. The rivalry of these two parties
was at present rather personal than founded on any especial
principle ; but the King had less repugnance to the Shelburne
party, because they still shared in Chatham's objections to
acknowledging the independence of the Americans ; while the
Rockingham party insisted that the time was now come when
peace must be made with the Americans at any rate, and
they called for the sacrifice of all claims to supremacy on the
part of the mother-country. The King is said to have tried to
negotiate privately with Lord Shelburne ; but, the only leader
under whom, the whole opposition could be brought to serve
had happened. I have no admiration for insensibility to one s own faults,
especially when committed out of vanity. Perhaps the whole philosophy
consists in the commission. The more marvellous Fox's parts are, the
more one is provoked at his follies, which comfort so many rascals and
blockheads, and make all that is admirable and amiable in him only matter
of regret to those who like him, as I do."
A A
354 BODNErS VICTOET.
being Lord Rockingham, he was sent for, and he undertook the
task of forming a new cabinet. The only one of the old ministers
whom the King was allowed to retain was the lord-chancellor
Thurlow, and he remained but as a thorn in the sides of his
colleagues, for he was never prevailed upon to act cordially with
them. It appears that, even at last, the negotiations between
the King and Lord Rockingham were carried on in great part
by the mediation of Lord Shelburne, which increased the jealous
feelings of the more liberal party towards the latter. The new
ministers were, Lord Rockingham as first lord of the Treasury ;
the Earl of Shelburne and Mr. Fox, secretaries of state ; Lord
Camden, president of the council ; Lord Thurlow, chancellor ;
the Duke of Grafton, privy seal ; Lord John Cavendish,
chancellor of the Echequer ; Admiral Keppel, created a viscount,
tirst loiu ot the Admiralty; General Couway, couiuiaiider-m-
chief ; the Duke of Richmond, master-general of the Ordnance ;
and Dunning, now created Baron Ashburton, chancellor of the
duchy of Lancaster. Burke, without a seat in the cabinet, was
made paymaster ; Colonel Barre, treasurer of the Navy ;
William Pitt, who refused to take a subordinate place, was
allowed to stand aloof, and was evidently looking forward to
greater things. Three conditions had been insisted upon in
forming the new administration, and had been conceded by the
King ; they were, i . peace with the Americans, and the
acknowledgment of their independence ; 2. a substantial reform
in the civil-list expenditure ; and 3. the diminution of the
influence of the Crown.
The ministers proceeded immediately to carry out their
projected reforms, and evidently with good-will, but that they
were not especially palatable to the King was sufficiently clear
from the constant opposition they received from the Chancellor
Thurlow, with whom Fox had expressed great reluctance to
take office. Keppel brought at least new vigour into the
Admiralty department ; and many of the old veteran officers,
who had resigned after Keppel's trial, were restored to the
service. Rodney, a staunch Tory, who had not yet performed
what was expected from him with the fleet in the West Indies,
was recalled, and Admiral Pigot was sent out to supersede him.
Rodney was at this time so little popular in England, that his
constituents in Westminster, which he represented in Parliament,
had declared their intention of nominating Mr. Pitt in his place
for the next election. The position of England at this moment
was discouraging on every side ; and our enemies, both in
America and in Europe, refused to treat except on humiliating
EODNEY AND DE GRASSE.
355
conditions. In the midst of these embarrassments, on the i8th
of May, the whole country was struck with astonishment, and
thrown into what has been described as "a delirium of joy,"
by the arrival of the news of the glorious victory of the I2th of
April gained by Rodney over the French admiral De Grasse,
which in one day restored England to the sovereignty of the
oceun. The English ministers, who had blamed so much all
the naval schemes and operations of their predecessors, were
much embarrassed by this success, the honour of which really
belonged to Lord North, and by their own proceedings with
regard to Rodney. An express was sent to prevent Admiral
Pigot sailing, but it was too late. A cold vote of thanks was
given by both houses to the victorious Rodney, and he was
raised to the peerage, but only as a baron, and was voted a
pension of but 2,oooZ. a-year. Such were the effects of the
violence of political faction in this country under George III.
The other officers received honours and rewards in different
degrees.
The popular rejoicings on Rodney's victory turned less against
the ministry than might have been expected, but they were
attacked with vigour
by their predecessors,
who were now in the
opposition, and they
were glad to make
the best excuses they
could. Those sure con-
comitants of a struggle
of parties in this
country, the carica-
tures, had already been
launched against them,
and Rodney's suc-
cesses furnished abun-
dant materials. One
of these, entitled,
"Rodney introducing
De Grasse," published
on the ;th of June,
represents the con-
queror presenting his
illustrious captive at
the foot of the throne. Ou one side of the sovereign stands
Admiral Keppel ; on the other, Fox. The latter is represented as
A A 2
BODNET AND DB GRASSE.
EEWARD.
35<5 THE SHELBUENE CABINET.
soliloquizing, " This fellow must be recalled ; he fights too
well for us ; and I have obligations to Pigot, for he has lost
17,000?. at my faro bank." The insinua-
tion thus conveyed against the secretary
of state was to all appearance perfectly
unjust. Keppel is represented as jealous
of Rodney's glory ; he is reading a list
of the captures, among which we can dis-
tinguish the name of the Ville de Paris
(De Grasse's ship), and he observes, " This
its the very ship 1 ought to have taken on
the 27th of July." Another caricature,
published on the 1 3th of June, is entitled
" St. George and the Dragon." St. George
(Sir George Rodney) is overcoming a
mighty dragon, and forcing it to disgorge
a quantity of frogs (perhaps an allusion to
the Dutch). King George is running
towards him with the reward of a baron's
coronet, and exclaims (in allusion to Rod-
ney's recall and elevation to the peerage),
" Hold, my dear Rodney, you have done enough ! I will now
make a lord of you, and you shall have the happiness of never
being heard of again." These two prints are reckoned to be the
first attempts of the celebrated Gillray, whom we shah 1 soon
find for many years almost monopolizing, by his remarkable
talent, this branch of art.
The somewhat sudden death
of the Marquis of Rockingham,
on the ist of July, brought on
quite unexpectedly a new minis-
terial crisis. It was soon known
that the King, who always pre-
ferred communicating with Lord
Shelburue, intended to place him
at the head of the ministry.
The Rockingham party, and
more especially Fox and Burke,
(the former was accused by his
opponents of aiming at the place
himself), held a meeting, and
most of them determined to
resign. Fox had already com-
plained that he was in a situation
LORD BHSLBUENK.
STATE PENSIONS. 357
where he was thwarted in his principles by a superior power,
and, although in a position of great pecuniary difficulty, he
refused under any condition to act in a ministry of which Lord
Shelburne was head. He was followed by Burke, Lord John
Cavendish, John Townshend, and others. Colonel Barre took
Burke's place, and was himself succeeded by Dun das ; Thomas
Townshend succeeded Fox as foreign secretary ; and William
Pitt was raised to the post of chancellor of the Exchequer, in the
place of Lord John Cavendish. Thus began the Shelburne
administration, with no great hopes of success, for it was
notoriously weak in parliamentary influence.
These changes led to acrimonious recriminations in the House
of Commons, in which Pitt shewed the commencement of his
future hostility towards Fox. The King is said to have received
the resignation of the latter with unconcealed satisfaction ; all
kinds of abuse were thrown upon Fox and Burke out of doors, and
the most selfish and factious motives were attributed to them.
One of the earliest caricatures by Sayer, a large print published on
the iyth of July, and entitled "Paradise Lost," represents the
unfortunate pair cast out of the gate of the ministerial paradise,
which is adorned with the faces of Shelburne, Barre, and .Dunning.
" To the eastern side
Of Paradise, so late their happy seat.
Waved over by that flaming brand, the Gate
With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms !
Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon.
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and providence their guide.
They, arm in arm, with wand'ring steps, and slow,
Thro' Eden took their solitary way."
Dunning and Barre had both received pensions through Lord
Shelburne, the latter upwards of 3,000^. a-year, and they were
naturally among his most staunch supporters. The large pension
given to Colonel Barre, for no apparent services to the state,
was made the subject of loud and bitter complaints by the
Tories, who compared it with the smaller reward which had
been doled out to llodney for one of the most glorious victories
of the age. Another large print by Sayer, published on the 24th
of August, under the title of " Date obolum Belisario" repre-
sents the colonel receiving his pension from. Lord feholburue at
the Treasury door.
" Rome's veteran fought her rebel foea,
And thrice her empire saved ;
Yet through her streets, bow'd down with woes,
An Luuible pittance craved.
358 CARICATURES ON FOX.
" Our soldier fought a better fight,
Political contention ;
And grateful ministers requite
His service with a pension."
ENVY.
One of the few efforts of Gillray
at this early period of his career,
related to the hostilities of faction,
and was aimed against Fox, who
is represented in a parody on
Milton's Satan, envious of the
happy pair, Shelburne and Pitt,
who are counting their money on
the Treasury table.
"Aside he turned
For envy, yet with jealous leer malign
Eyed them askance."
These are but a small portion of
the caricatures of which Fox and
his irieiid were now made the
butt. In one, the discomfited
ex-secretary of state is seen under
the character of " Ahitophel in
the dumps," -riding away dole-
fully on his mule towards a gal-
lows and block. In another, Fox
AHITOPHEL IN THK DCMPS.
NEGOTIATIONS FOB PEACE.
359
HUDIBRAS AND HIS BQUIRK.
and his staunch supporter Burke, are placed in the stocks
as personifications of Hudibras and his squire.
The Parliament, however,
was prorogued on the nth
of July, and the summer and
autumn were occupied in
fruitless negotiations to se-
cure a majority for the Shel-
burne cabinet in the ensuing
session. Their apprehensions
were so great, that, as the
time for the opening of
Parliament approacned, Pitt
was employed in a private
interview with Fox to gain
him over to the ministry, but
he persisted in his resolution
of not taking office under
Lord Shelburne.
His party, indeed, now began to fear that, elated by Rodney's
victory over the French fleet, Lord Shelburne, who had always
been opposed to the recognition of American independence,
might be induced to yield to the King in countenancing the
sovereign's favourite measure of the war against America. The
signal overthrow of the French navy had struck the Americans
with dismay, and some of them began to despair ; but they were
encouraged by the conduct of Washington, and they still looked
with coldness on all conciliatory advances. On this side the
Atlantic, the King of Spain had risen almost to an imbecility of
self-confidence in the magnitude of his preparations for the re-
duction .of Gibraltar ; and he and the King of France put for-
ward pretensions to which the English ministry could on no
conditions listen. Other successes, however, attended our fleets
at sea ; and the hopes of our confederated enemies were at length
entirely broken down by the wonderful defeat of the Spanish
armament against Gibraltar in the grand attack on the i3th of
September 1/82, and by the subsequent arrival of the fleet
under Lord Howe for the relief of the garrison, actions which
have made the names of General Elliot and Admiral Howe im-
mortal. All parties began now to talk with more sincerity of
their desires for peace ; and the signing of preliminaries, which
was executed by the Americans and their European allies inde-
pendent of each other, was hastened by their mutual jealousies.
The independence of the United States of America was thus
360 AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
acknowledged ; but King George acceded to the wish of his sub-
jects on this point with a very bad grace, and his ill-humour
was even shewn in the speech with which he opened his Parlia-
ment at the beginning of December. The King long detested
the very name of anything American ; and his personal hatred
of Franklin, who had certainly been one of the least conciliating
and least candid of the factious " patriots" on the other side of
the water, was afterwards exhibited even in the peculiar colour
given to his patronage of science and literature. It is said that
Sir John Pringle was driven to resign his place as president of
the Royal Society by the King's urgent request that the Royal
Society should publish, with the authority of its name, a contra-
diction to a scientific opinion of the rebellious Franklin ; the
president replied, that it was not in his power to reverse the
order of nature, and resigned, and Sir Joseph Banks, who, like a
true courtier, advocated the opinion which was patronized by
the King, succeeded him in the society's chair.
Feelings like these, long persisted in, tended to perpetuate
that estrangement of interests between the mother- country and
her now separated colonies, which was naturally enough gene-
rated by a long and obstinate war, which, considered from the
beginning as a civil war, was accompanied with all that bitter-
ness of animosity that usually accompanies civil contentions.
The royalists and the Tories of this country, long after the con-
test was over, could think and speak of the Americans only as
rebels ; and the latter, who seemed to have adopted * their
national character too much of the bullying manners and pas-
sions of the worst of the demagogues who urged them into the
war, never forgave the insult which they felt to be conveyed to
them by this reproachful term. They expressed their senti-
ments of unabating hostility in many a lampoon upon their
ancient brethren in Britain. The following ballad, founded upon
an incident that occurred while Philadelphia was in the hands of
the royalist troops, was especially popular ; and, as will be seen,
particularly in the latter stanzas, expresses in a marked manner
the irritation occasioned by the indiscriminate use of the term
" rebel" among the officers of the British army.
THE BATTLE OF THE KEGS.
(Tune Maggy Lawder.)
"Gallants, attend and hear a friend
Trill forth harmonious ditty ;
Strange things I'll tell, which late befell
In Philadelphia city.
THE BATTLE OF THE KEGS. 361
" 'Twas early cUy, as poets say,
Just when the sun was rising,
A soldier stood on log of wood,
And saw a sight surprising.
"As in amaze, he stood to gaze,
The truth can't be denied, sir,
He spied a score of kegs, or more,
Come floating down the tide, sir.
"A sailor, too, in jerkin blue,
The strange appearance viewing,
First d d his eyes, in great surprise,
Then said ' Some mischief's brew ing.
" 'These kegs now hold the rebels bold,
Packed up like pickled herring ;
And they're come down t' attack the town,
In this new way of ferrying.'
" The soldier flew, the sailor too,
And, scared almost to death, sir,
Wore out their shoes, to spread the news,
And ran till out of breath, sir.
" Now up and down, throughout the town,
Most frantic scenes were acted ;
And some ran here, and some ran there,
Like men almost distracted.
" Some ' fire ' cried, which some denied,
But said the earth had quaked ;
And girls and boys with hideous noise,
Kan through the town half naked.
" Sir William,* he, snug as a flea,
Lay all this time a-snoring ;
Nor dreamt of harm, as he lay warm
In bed with Mrs. L g.
" Now, in a fright, he starts upright,
Awak'd by such a clatter ;
He rubs both eyes, and boldly cries,
1 For God's sake, what's the mat tor V
"At his bed-side he then espied
Sir Erskinef t command, sir ;
Upon one foot he had one boot,
And t' other in his hand, sir.
" 'Arise I arise !' Sir Erskine cries,
' The rebels more's the pity
Without a boat, are all on float,
And rang'd before the city.
" ' The motly crew in vessels new,
With Satan for their guide, sir,
Pack'd up in bags, or wooden ke?s,
Come driving down the tide, sir.
* Sir William Howe, who comaianded in America from 1776 to 1778.
t Sir W. Erskine.
THE BATTLE OF THE KEGS.
' ' Therefore prepare for bloody war :
These kegs must all be routed,
Or surely we despis'd shall be,
And British courage doubted.'
" The royal band now ready stand,
All ranged in dread array, sir,
With stomach stout, to see it out,
And make a bloody day, sir.
" The cannons roar from shore to shore t
The small arms matte a rattle :
Since wars began, I'm sure no man
E'er saw so strange a battle.
* The ' rebel ' vales, the ' rebel ' dales,
With ' rebel trees surrounded,
The distant woods, the hills, and floods,
With 'rebel' echoes sounded.
*' The fish below swam to and fro,
Attack 'd from ev'ry quarter :
1 Why sure, ' thought they, ' the devil 'a to pay
'Mongst folks above the water.'
"The kegs, 'tis said, though strongly made
Of ' rebel ' staves and hoops, sir,
Could not oppose their powerful foes,
The conquering British troops, sir.
" From morn to night, these men of mighty
DispLy'd amazing courage ;
And when the sun was fairly down,
Retir'd to sup their poi ridge.
"A hundred men, with each a pjn,
Or more, npon my word, sir,
It is most true, would be too few
Their valour to record, sir.
" Such feats did they perform that day
Upon these wicked kegs, sir,
That years to come, if they get home,
ILey'll make their boasts and brags, sir. 1 *
CHAPTER X.
GEORGE in,
Overthrow of Lord 'ohelbnrne The Coalition Attacks on the Coalition
Fox's India Bill Carlo Khan Back-stairs Influence The Interfe-
rence of the Kinu, and Dismissal of the Ministry Quarrel between the
Crown and the House of Commons William Pitt Prime Minister
The Opposition in Majority in the House ; Dissolution of Parliament
The Westminster Election The Duchess of Devonshire Caricatures
and Squibs against the Defeated Coalitionists.
fT^HE peace put an end to the weak administration of Lord
__|_ Shelburne. From the moment the leaders of the old
Rockingham party separated from Shelburne, the latter was
looked upon by most people as little more than a provisional
minister ; and young William Pitt, who had been aiming at
popularity by his repeated advocacy of reform in the parlia-
mentary representation (which was now beginning to be the
watchword of a party), seems already to have been fixed in the
King's mind as the minister of his choice. But William Pitt
was hardly yet in the position to command a party, even though
backed by the King.
Shelburne's party were evidently embarrassed by the secession
of so many of the old Whigs, and they did not attempt to con-
ceal their anger ; Pitt, especially, exhibited an irritability which
he was not in the habit of shewing. We have seen with what
bitterness the conduct of Fox and his friends was criticised in
the caricatures, which represented Fox hurled from his hopes of
treasury profits to the poverty and wretchedness of the gambler,
and Burke retiring to his supposed Jesuitical reflections in the
privacy of his chamber. One of the best of those on the latter
subject, published on the 23rd of August, 1/82, is entitled
" Cincinnatus in retirement ; falsely supposed to represent Jesuit
Pad driven back to his native potatoes." The metamorphosed
orator is taking his frugal meal out of an utensil, inscribed
" Kelic No. i, used by St. Peter," surrounded with various em-
blems of fanaticism and whisky-drinking. Fox and Burke, in
return, accused Lord Shelburne of treachery and selfishness;
and these charges were re-echoed in satires which came more direct
from the Tories, and attacked indiscriminately both divisions of
BECB1MIWATTOH.
364 STATE OF PARTIES.
the Whigs. Thus, in a print entitled " Guy Vaux and Judas
Iscariot," Shelburne, in the
latter character, is walking
off with a bag inscribed
" Treasury," while the Guy
is detecting the traitor by
the light of his lanthorn.
The Fox exclaims, " Ah !
what, I've found you out,
have I ? Who armed the
high priests and the people ?
who betrayed his mas . . . ?"
Judas retorts, " Ha, ha !
poor Gunpowder 's vexed
he, he, he ! Shan't have the
bag, I tell you, old Goose-
tooth." With similar sentiments, others looked upon these rapidly
changing ministries as so many
parties of mischief-makers ;
and in one caricature, published
during the present year, King
George is seen slumbering on
his throne, while his ministers
are dispatched rather uncere-
moniously to a very warm ha-
bitation.
As the time for the meet-
ing of Parliament approached,
people began to look with
more anxiety to the position
which each of the three par-
ties that now divided it was
likely to take. It was roughly
estimated that the ministerial
votes in the House of Com-
mons were about a hundred and forty, that about a hundred
and twenty members followed the standard of Lord North, and
ninety that of Fox, the remainder being uncertain ; and it was
evident, under these circumstances, that Fox could give the
majority in the house to either of the two parties with which
he chose to join. Lord North professed moderation, and a wish
to stand on neutral ground ; and he did not threaten the Court
with any serious attack. When Parliament met on the ^th of
December, the preliminaries of the peace were made known, and
the King's speech was warmly attacked by Fox and Burke, to
A BLCMBEKING MONABCH.
THE COALITION. 365
whom a spirited reply was made by Pitt ; but the opposition
shewed itself but slightly till after the Christmas recess. When
the house met again towards the end of January, the interval
had produced a union of parties which seems to have struck
most people with surprise. The preliminaries of peace had been
signed at Paris on the 2oth of January (1783), and their consi-
deration in the House of Commons was fixed for the i7th of
February, when the ministers moved an address of approval.
The amendment, which accepted the treaty, but demanded
further time to consider the terois before expressing a judgment
upon them, and was evidently intended as a mere trial of
strength, was moved by Lord John Cavendish. The debate
which followed was long and animated, and merged into strong
personalities. The famous coalition between Fox and North,
which had for some days been talked of, was now openly avowed,
and both parties attacked the peace with the greatest bitterness.
It was observed that, during the earlier part of the debate, Fox
and North spoke of each other in terms of indulgence to which
they had long been strangers ; and the ministerial speakers, in
their reply, fell with the greatest acrimony upon what they
termed the monstrous alliance between two men who had pre-
viously made such strong declarations of political hostility.
Burke first spoke, in defence of the coalition ; he was followed
by Fox, who openly avowed it, and both he and Lord North de-
clared that, even when they were most opposed to each other,
they had regarded one another personally with mutual respect ;
that their ground of enmity the American war being now at
an end, it was time for their hostility to cease also, and that they
had joined together for the good of the country. The debate
was prolonged through the whole night, and it was nearly eight
o'clock in the morning when, on a division, the amendment was
carried by a majority of sixteen. Four days after this, on the
list of February, the united opposition brought forward a mo-
tion of direct censure on the tern.s of the treaty and on the con-
duct of ministers, which lasted till after four in the morning,
and was carried by a majority of seventeen. The coalition was
again the main subject debated ; it was now defended warmly by
Lord North, and bitterly attacked by Pitt, who called it " a
baneful alliance" and an "ill-omened marriage," dangerous to
the public safety.
This second defeat was the death-blow of the administration,
and Lord Shelburne immediately resigned. The King, who
literally hated Fox, and who was enraged at the coalition, made
a fruitless attempt to form a ministry under Pitt. In the
beginning of March, the King had several interviews with Lord
366 PARLIAMENTARY STRUGGLE.
North, whom he attempted to detach from his new alliance, and
then he tried to form a half coalition ministry, from which Fox
was to be excluded. On the 24th of March, when the country
had remained more than a month without a Cabinet, an address
was voted in the House of Commons almost unanimously, pray-
ing the King to form immediately such an administration aa
would command the confidence of the country. The King,
however, remained obstinate in his personal animosities ; and, on
.the 3 ist of March, another and much stronger address was
moved by the Earl of Surrey ; upon which Pitt, who had all
this time retained his office of chancellor of the Exchequer, and
whom it was evidently the King's wish to make prime minister,
announced that he had that day resigned. On the 2nd of
April, the King again sent for Lord N-rth, and, through him,
gave full authority to the Duke of Portland, who was consi-
dered as the head of the Rockingham party, or old Whigs, to
form an administration. The Duke of Portland himself was
made first lord of the Treasury, with Lord North as Secretary
of State for the Home Department, and Fox as Secretary for
Foreign Affairs. Lord John Cavendish was made chancellor of
the Exchequer ; Keppel, first lord of the Admiralty ; Lord tJtor-
mont (the only person admitted into the Cabinet to please the
King), president of the council ; and the Earl of Carlisle lord privy
seal. Lord Thurlow was rejected, and the great seal was put in
commission, the commissioners being Lord Loughborough, Sir
W. H. Ashurst, and Sir Beaumont Hotham. The other mem-
bers of the ministry were, the Earl of Hertford, lord chamber-
lain; Viscount Townshend, master-general of the Ordnance;
the Honourable Richard Fitzpatrick, secretary at war ; Edmund
Burke, paymaster of the forces; Charles Townshend, treasurer
of the Navy ; James Wallace, attorney-general ; Richard Brins-
ley Sheridan and Richard Burke, secretaries to the Treasury;
the Earl of Northiagton, lord-lieutenant of Ireland ; William
Wiudham, secretary for Ireland ; and William Eden, who is
said to have been the chief negotiator in the formation of the
coalition, vice-treasurer.
There seemed to be much greater cordiality in this alliance of
two parties than had been visible in any former coalition of the
same kind; and, to all appearance, the new ministry might have
been an efficient one, and beneficial to the country, had it not
been regarded from the first with bitter dislike by the King,
who took little pains to conceal his intention of getting rid of
it as soon as possible. Still there was something anomalous in
its character, which was far from giving general satisfaction, and
at first the liberal leaders lost much of their popularity. Cari-
CARICATURES AGAINST THE COALITION. 367
catures were hurled against them in greater numbers, and in a
better style of execution, than had been witnessed for several
years. In the windows of the print-shops the heads of the two
leaders were contrasted in their new fraternity in a variety of
shapes, so as to exhibit the opposite character of their passions
and qualities. The sleek face and fashionably-dressed and pow-
dered hair of Lord North seemed to reject all comparison with
the dark countenance and the black and disordered locks of
Charles Fox. In one of these, by
Sayer, the profiles of the two
chiefs of the coalition are joined
together on the face of a medal-
lion ; in another, by the same
artist, entitled " The Mask," and
inscribed "fronti nulla fides" the
coalition is pictured by a full face
formed of one half of the face of
each joined in a vertical line ; that
of Fox, on the left, is made to
convey a rather vulgar intimation
of successful cunning, while the
more candid features of Lord
North represent a strange compound of vexation and satisfaction.
COALITION.
WAS.
Among the earliest of the caricatures against the coalition is
one by Gillray, published on the pth of March, representing in
two compartments the position which the coalescing parti .-s
3<58 THE COALITION DANCE.
held towards each other before and after their union. The first
is entitled "War," and exhibits Fox and Burke thundering
against North, as minister, their eloquent denunciations, and
stigmatizing as " infamous " the very idea of their ever consent-
ing to act under the same banner with him. North's condem-
nation of his two adversaries is equally energetic. Beneath
the figures, which give us a characteristic sketch of the orato-
rical attitudes of the three speakers, are inscribed extracts from
their speeches when thus opposed to each other. In the second
compartment, or plate, entitled " Neither Peace nor War," the
three orators, now united in one cause, are placed in the same
attitudes, attacking the articles of the preliminaries, from
beneath which a dog makes its appearance and barks with an
angry look at the trio.* Under them we read the words, " The
astonishing Coalition." A caricature by Sayer, published on
the i/th of March, represented North painting white the dark
features of his new friend, alluding to his declaration in the
house, " I have found him a warm friend, a fair though formid-
able adversary." The motto of the print is, " Qui color ater
erat, nunc est contrarius atro" One of the rarer prints of
Gillray, published in the month of April, 1783, satirises the
new administration under the representation of a " coalition
dance," in which the principal characters in it figure under the
various garbs given to them by the prejudices of party faction.
Edmund Burke appears here
as the concealed Jesuit, a
character which, as we have
already seen, the extreme Pro-
testant party had conferred
upon him ever since his exer-
tions for Catholic emancipa-
tion. A large caricature by
Sayer, published on the ^th of
May, is founded on a speech
made by one of the opposition
lords in the upper house im-
mediately after the formation
of the new ministry, who,
speaking of Lord North, had
expressed himself in these
terms: "Such was the love
of office of the noble lord,
that, finding he would not
* The dog is eaid to be intended as an allusion to an occurrence in the
A JESUIT.
" RAZOtfS LEVEE."
be permitted to mount the box, he had been content to get
up behind." The new Whig coach, with the Fox's crest on
the panels, is drawn by two meagre hacks of horses through a
rough road, jogging every minute against some of the great stones
thrown in its way by the opposition, by which one of its wheels
has received a serious fracture. Lord North is riding behind, with
an air of alarm ; whilst Fox and the Duke of Portland, seated
together on the box, are joining in
their efforts to draw in the reins. A
guide-post indicates the way they
are going, " To Bulstrode, through
Bushy Park." On the 2ist of April,
Sayer had satirized the whole min-
istry in a caricature, entitled,
" Razor's Levee ; or, the heads of
a new Whig Ad n on a broad
bottom." The scene is the shop of
a barber, who is busily engaged in
arranging a number of block-heads,
representing the members of the
coalition ministry. He is especially
occupied on the heads of North and
Fox, joined on one stand. On the
wall, immediately behind, are sus-
pended in juxtaposition the portraits
of Cromwell and Charles I., to inti-
mate that the principles now
brought together were in reality as hostile to each other as those
two historical personages. Distributed through the room are
the heads of Lords Portland, John Cavendish, Storraont, Car-
lisle, and Keppel, and Edmund Burke, each on its separate
stand. A broadside ballad is stuck against the wall immediately
behind Keppel, of which enough is legible .to inform us that it
is " Rule Britannia, set to a new tune," on the " 2;th July ;"
an allusion to Keppel's partial engagement with the French,
which the Tories still threw in Keppel's teeth as an act of inca-
pacity, if not of cowardice. Over the fire-place is " A new
House of Commons during the last defensive declamation of Lord North,
on the eve of his resignation. A dog, which had concealed itself under tue
benches, came out and set up a hideous howling in the midst of his
harangue. The house was thrown into a roar of laughter, which continued
until the intruder was turned out ; and then Lord North coolly observed,
"As the new member has ended his argument, I beg to be allowed to con-
tinue mine." The <lo_, r is made to accompany Lord North in some of the
subsequent caricatures.
B B
THE DRIVEBS OP THE STATE.
37
THE DUKE OF GRAFTON.
map of Great Britain and Ireland," from which Ireland is
nearly torn away. The celebrated publican and politician, Sam
House, whom we shall soon meet again
as a prominent actor in politics, sits in
front with a pot of beer in his hand,
and looks on admiringly. Under the
barber's table are thrown away three
blocks, Shelburne, Dundas, and the
Duke of Grafton. The latter, who
had formed a part of so many succes-
sive ministries, and who was accused
by his enemies of deserting or betray-
ing them all, seemed now to have fallen
entirely in political importance.
Among the miscellaneous caricatures
against the coalition we may mention
one which represents the three chiefs,
Portland, Fox, and North, as a strange
THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. lusus natures, examined by the King, who
refers it for further examination and dissertation to " his friend
Jenkinson." Mr. Jenkinson, afterwards Earl of Liverpool, was
popularly looked upon as the hero of the back-stairs influence by
which this administration was eventually overthrown. In
another, represent-
ing Fox and North
partaking of their
bowl of pottage,
the fox is made to
take the place of
the satyr of the
fable, who found a
host who blew hot
and cold with the
same breath. Ano-
ther large print, or
rather series of
prints, in nine divi-
sions, is entitled
" The loves of the Fox and the Badger ; or, the Coalition
Wedding," and represents a burlesque pictorial history of the
friendship between Fox and Lord North, the latter of whom
was commonly designated by the sobriquet of " the badger."
Another caricature in compartments is entitled, " Slides to the
State Magic Lantern," and ridicules the history of the coali-
BOOH COMPANIONS.
THE NEW STATE IDOL. tfi
tion. In one of the divisions, the two political friends are
joined under one coat, and placed
on a pedestal as the new idol of
the state, which everybody was
required to worship. The crown
and sceptre are thrown on the
ground ; and, indeed, it was
clear to all that the idol was
only allowed to stand because
the King could not help him-
self, and that to him it 'was not
an object of voluntary worship.
The caricaturist would have us
believe that it was equally un-
acceptable to the country ; and
another of the slides represents
the two candidates for power
rejected by Britannia, who points
to a distant view of the gallows
and the block as their proper THE NEW STATE IDOL.
destination.
The first acts of the coalition ministry showed, however, that
it was strong in parliamentary influence. A rather heavy loan,
THE COALITION CANDIDATES BEJECTED.
rendered necessary by the condition in which Lord Shelburne
had left the finances of the country, and a stamp-duty on
receipts, were carried by large majorities, in spite of the violent
efforts of the opposition ; and the favourite measure of William
Pitt, whenever he was out of office, a motion for parliamentary
reform, which he now brought forward to embarrass the cabinet,
BB a
37* FOX' S INDIA SILLS.
was thrown out in a manner equally decisive. In the middle of
July, parliament separated, and the new ministers were left to
prepare in quiet the great measures which they intended to bring
forward for the consideration of the legislature.
The chief of these were two bills for the better regulation of
our extensive possessions in the East. The public had been
long dazzled by the brilliance of our conquests in Asia, and
astonished at the riches which were daily brought home ; but,
in the transition from a company of traders to a body which
held sovereign power over mighty empires, the India directors
now stood in a position which called for the interference of the
British legislature. India had hitherto been looked upon chiefly
as an extensive field of plunder and aggrandizement, and it was
known to the mother-country principally by the so-called Eng-
lish " nabobs," who returned home with immense fortunes, which
they had amassed by every description of injustice and rapacity.
The vices of this system had attracted attention for some time,
and the measures now brought forward by Fox were intended to
bring a remedy. He proposed to vest the affairs of the East
India Company in the hands of certain commissioners, for the
benefit of the proprietors and the public, who were to be nomi-
nated first by the Parliament, and subsequently by the Crown,
and whose power was to last during limited periods ; and to add
to them other officers for the more immediate government of
India, with powers, and under responsibilities, which were calcu-
lated to put an end to tyranny and oppression, and to improve
the condition of the people throughout our Indian possessions.
The plan was, of course, obnoxious to the company, and they
employed freely their immense riches in raising up opposition
to it : it was even hinted at by many that the King himself had
indirectly taken money from the company to overthrow it.
Parliament met on the nth of November, and then the first
measure brought forward was the bill for the regulation of India.
Pitt, Dundas, Jenkinson, and other members of the opposition,
spoke with warmth against it, yet it passed through the House
of Commons with large majorities, the third reading taking
place on the 8th of December. But anxiety was already felt
for its fate in the Lords. Walpole writes on the 2nd of Decem-
ber, " The politicians of London, who at present are not the
most numerous corporation, are warm on a bill for the new
regulation of the East Indies, brought in by Mr. Fox. Some
even of his associates apprehended his being defeated, or meant
to deieat him ; but his marvellous abilities have hitherto
triumphed conspicuously, and on two divisions in the House of
CARLO KHAN'S TRIUMPHAL KIOTOf INTO ILEAJOEITHAiLIL S?
OPPOSITION TO THE INDIA BILLS. 373
Commons he had majorities of 109 and 114. On that field he
will certainly be victorious ; the forces will he more nearly
balanced when the Lords fight the battle ; but though the
opposition will have more generals and more able, he is confident
that his troops will overmatch theirs ; and in parliamentary
engagements a superiority of numbers is not vanquished by the
talents of the commanders, as often happens in more martial
encounters. His competitor, Mr. Pitt, appears by no means an
adequate rival. Just like their fathers, Mr. Pitt has brilliant
language, Mr. Fox solid sense, and such luminous powers of
displaying it clearly, that mere eloquence is but a Bristol stone
when set by the diamond reason."
The main grounds of opposition to this India bill were, that
it was an infringement of vested rights as regarded the company,
and that its tendency, and, probably, its object, was, by the
immense influence it gave to ministers, who had the appoint-
ment of the India governors, to increase their power to such an
ex'tent as to make them independent of the Crown. Some
people hesitated not to say that Fox aimed at establishing in
his own person a sort of supreme India Dictatorship, and they
gave him the title of Carlo Khan. Caricatures, squibs, pam-
phlets, were showered upon him from every side. In a caricature
by Sayer, published on the 2^th of November, and entitled, "A
Transfer of East India Stock," Fox is represented as a giant
carrying the India House on his shoulders to St. James's.
Sayer was courting the favour of William Pitt, who was now
evidently on the point of grasping at power, and a few days
after the appearance of the caricature last mentioned, on the
5th of December, he published hie more celebrated print of
" Carlo Khan's Triumphal Entry into Leadenhall Street," his
most famous production, though certainly much inferior to many
of his subsequent works. Fox, in his new character of Carlo
Khan, is conducted to the door, of the India House on the
back of an elephant, which exhibits the full face of Lord North,
and he is led by Burke as his imperial trumpeter ; for he had
been the loudest supporter of the bill in the House of Commons.
A bird of ill-omen from above croaks forth the would-be mon-
arch's doom. Fox is said to have acknowledged that his India
Bill received its severest blow in public estimation from this
caricature, which had a prodigious sale, and its effect was in-
creased by the multitude of pirated copies and imitations.
When Pitt came into power he rewarded the author with a pro-
fitable place.*
* James Sayer was the son of a captain merchant at Yarmouth, and
374 CARLO JTHAN.
The sentiment which is said to have weighed most with King
George, after his personal dislike to his ministers, was the dread
of diminishing the influence of the Crown, which was often and
carefully instilled into him by Lord Thurlow ; for the King held
private communication with the chiefs of the opposition, with
whom he was concerting measures for bringing them back to
power. The King's behaviour to his present ministers was,
indeed, most uncandid. He never informed them that be dis-
approved of the India Bill; yet when the i5th of December,
the day appointed for the second reading in the House of Lords,
approached, he gave Lord Temple, with whom he had had
several private interviews, a note in his own handwriting to the
effect " that his majesty would deem those who voted for the
bill not only not his friends, but his enemies ; and that if Lord
Temple could put this in still stronger words, he had full au-
thority to do so." This note was shewn pretty freely to all
those peers who were supposed to be influenced by the royal in-
clinations ; and the King further commanded the lords of the
Bedchamber to vote against liis ministers. The consequence
was that the latter were beaten by a majority of eight. On the
1 7th of December the bill was finally thrown out by a majority
of nineteen. Jn the night of the i8th the King dismissed his
ministers, and gave the seals into the hands of Lord Temple.
The opposition which, in this instance, was the Court party
burst into loud exultation, which was as loudly re-echoed by
the newspapers, and trumpeted forth by their agents in a variety
of different shapes. On the 24th of December, appeared a sequel
to Sayer's caricature, with the title of " The Fall of Carlo
Khan," in poor imitation of Sayer's style ; the elephant, goaded
by the opposition, has thrown its rider, Carlo, who is falling to
the ground with the words, " secret influence" in his mouth.
Burke, having thrown down his trumpet, and a large sack, in-
scribed " plans of economy," is running away at full speed.
Sayer himself now produced a series of prints, in the first of
which, entitled " The Fall of Phaeton," and published on the
6th of January, 1784, Fox is represented as falling headlong
from the car of state, the reins of which are held by the hand
of royalty. In another, published on the i2th of January,
under the title of " Pandemonium," the caricaturist has again
was by profession an attorney, but having a moderate independency, he did
not much pursue business. Pitt gave him the offices of marshal of the
Court of Exchequer, receiver of the sixpenny duties, and cursitorship. He
was the author of many political songs and squibs. He died -in the earlier
part of the present century, no long time after his patron, Pitt.
RESENTMENT OF THE COMMONS. 375
attempted a parody on a passage of Milton, by exhibiting Fox
as the political Satan, surrounded by his satellites, Lords Port-
land, Carlisle, Cavendish, Keppel, North, and Burke, &c. with
rueful countenances, whom he is encouraging after their fall.
" All these and more came flocking, but with looks
Downcast and damp, yet such wherein appeared
Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found their chief
Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost
In loss itself, which on his countenance cast
Like doubtful hue ; but he, his wonted pride
Soon recollecting, with high words that bore
Semblance of worth, not substance, gently raised
Their fainting courage and dispell'd their fears."
At this time, indeed, the representatives of the nation were
rallying round the ex-ministry, and throwing the court into the
greatest embarrassment. The King was in the somewhat
difficult position of having appointed a ministry in opposition to
the majority in the House of Commons, at the same time that
he had thrown their predecessors out by a manifest unconstitu-
tional interference with parliamentary privileges. Some strong
remarks on back-stairs influence, and on the note understood to
have been given by the King to Lord Temple, were made in the
House of Lords ; but the House of Commons proceeded much
more energetically. On the 1 7th of December, the very evening
when this underhand influence was brought into play in the
other House, a violent debate arose upon the subject in the
Commons, and they passed, by a majority of nearly two to one
(the numbers being one hundred and fifty-three to eighty), a
resolution, " That it is now necessary to declare, that, to report
any opinion, or pretended opinion, of his Majesty upon any bill,
or other proceeding, depending in either House of Parliament,
with a view to influence the votes of the members, is a high
crime and misdemeanour, derogatory to the honour of the
Crown, a breach of the fundamental privileges of Parliament,
and subversive of the constitution of this country ;" and further,
" that this House will, upon Monday morning next, resolve
itself into a committee of the whole House, to consider the state
of the nation." This was followed by a resolution equally
strong, and carried by a majority in the same proportion,
declaring the necessity of a legislative act for the government
of India. On the i pth of December, after the ministers had
been dismissed, the Court party, on a question of adjournment,
found themselves in so small a minority, that they did not dare
to divide. On Monday, the 22nd, it was notified that Earl
Temple, who had been appointed one of the new secretaries of
STRONG RESOLUTIONS.
state, had resigned his office in consequence of what had trans-
pired in the House on the ipth. A very strong address to the
King was then voted without a division, and was presented on
the 24th, to which the King returned an evasive answer, but
made a distinct declaration that he would not prorogue or
dissolve the Parliament. On the lath of January, the first day
of meeting after Christmas, when there was a full attendance of
members, the Court having made every exertion to increase its
number of votes, there was a majority of thirty-nine against the
ministers, on the question of going into committee to consider
the state of the nation. Fox then stated, that it was necessary
to come to some specific resolution to prevent the present
ministry from making an improper use of their power " the short
time they had to exist ;" and moved, " That it was the opinion
of the committee, that any person in his Majesty's treasury,
exchequer, pay-office, bank of England, or any person whatever
entrusted with the public money, paying away, or causing to be
paid, any sum or sums of money voted for the service of the
present year, in case of a dissolution or prorogation of Parliament,
before a bill, or bills, were brought in for the appropriation of
such sums, would be guilty of a high crime and misdemeanour,
highly derogatory to the honour of the House, and contrary to
the faith of Parliament." This resolution was carried without
a division, as well as another, " That it is the opinion of the
committee, that there should be laid before them an account of
all sums of money expended for the use of the public service
between the iyth of December, 1/8.3, an d the i2th of January,
1784, specifying each sum, and for what expended." In moving
this resolution, Fox said that it might appear an extraordinary
method ; but, as extraordinary measures had been taken by the
present ministry to come into power, it required extraordinary
motions to prevent them doing mischief now they were in power.
Other resolutions were passed, especially two moved by the Earl
of Surrey, " That it is the opinion of the committee, that in the
present situation of his Majesty's dominions, it is highly necessary
that such an administration should be formed as possesses both the
confidence of this House and of the public ;" and " that it is the
opinion of the committee, that the late changes were preceded by
extraordinary rumours, dangerous to the constitution, inasmuch
as the sacred name of Majesty had been unconstitutionally used
for the purpose of affecting the deliberations of Parliament ; and
the appointments that followed were accompanied by circum-
stances new and extraordinary, and such as were evidently
calculated not to conciliate the affections of that House."
PITTS INDIA BILL THROWN OUT. 377
This last motion was violently opposed by Pitt, Dundas, and
Scott (afterwards Lord Eldon), but it was carried by a majority
of fifty-four. On the ijth of January, Pitt obtained leave to
bring in his India bill. On the i6th the House again resolved
itself into a committee ; and, after a very warm debate, the
following resolution was passed by a majority of twenty-one :
" That it is the opinion of this committee, it having been
declared by this House, that, in the present situation of his
Majesty's dominions, an administration should be formed, which
possessed the confidence of this House and the public ; and the
present administration being formed under circumstances new
and extraordinary, such as were not calculated to conciliate the
affections or engage the confidence of this House ; that his
Majesty's present ministers still holding high and responsible
offices, after such a declaration, is contrary to true constitutional
principles, and injurious to his Majesty and his people." The
debates on these resolutions were sometimes exceedingly violent,
and led to much personal recrimination, especially between Pitt
and Fox; but the former bore everything with the passive cold-
ness for which he was remarkable, and the King remained
obstinate in pursuing his own course. On the 23rd of January
Pitt's India bill was thrown out by a majority of eight, and
Fox obtained leave to bring in a new bill on the same subject.
The House was still labouring under the fear of a dissolution;
and, on the 26th of January, a resolution was passed to avert it,
on which Pitt declared that he should not advise his Majesty to
dissolve the Parliament. An attempt was now made by some
persons of influence, who were alarmed at the threatening aspect
of affairs, to form a new coalition ; to which the King and Pitt
professed themselves favourable ; but it was soon seen that this
was merely done for the purpose of gaining time, and in the
hope of being able to soften down the opposition. On the 2nd
of February, Mr. Grosvenor, who had been the chief actor in
this attempt, declared to the House his failure, and moved a
resolution, which was carried without a division, setting forth
the necessity of an " united administration." This was followed
by a much more important resolution, moved by Mr. Coke of
Norfolk, and carried, after a warm debate, by a majority of
nineteen, " That it is the opinion of this House, that the con-
tinuance of the present ministry in power is an obstacle to the
formation of such an administration as is likely to have the con-
fidence of this House and the people." Next day it was resolved,
by a majority of twenty-four, that a copy of the resolutions of
the preceding day should be laid before the King. On the day
378
CARICATURES ON THE COALITION.
after (Feb. 4), the House of Lords passed a resolution, by a
majority of forty-seven, that it was contrary to the letter and
spirit of the constitution that one branch of the legislature
should pass any resolutions impeding the progress of the whole,
and tending to deprive the Crown of its prerogative in nomi-
nating and keeping in office its own servants ; and, on the 5th,
a loyal address of the House of Lords was presented to the King.
The Commons resented this with warmth, and passed a string of
resolutions in defence of their own conduct. On the i8th of
February, Mr. Pitt coldly informed the House " That his
Majesty, after considering the present situation of public affairs,
had not dismissed his ministers, nor had those ministers re-
signed." On the 2oth, another resolution agaiust the ministers
was passed by a majority of twenty, and an address to the King
in the same spirit was passed ; and similar motions and addresses
were repeated, until, on the 24th of March, the Parliament was
prorogued, with a discontented speech from the throne, and it
was dissolved on the day following, March zjjth. Thus ended
for the moment this threatening contest between the Crown and
the most important branch of the Legislature ; and the result of
the elections hindered it from being revived in the subsequent
session.
During these rough proceedings within doors, the nation
without was violently agitated,
and the press entered hotly into
the dispute, and dealt largely
in personal abuse. The minis-
terial caricaturists were not
inactive. On the pth of
February, Sayer engraved a
plate representing the heads
of Fox and North, decapi-
tated and laid on the table of
the House, with a parody on
Fox's motion for the adjourn-
HEADS. ment of the consideration of
the mutiny act :
" Cui lono t publico bono.
"Die Lunce, 9 Februarii, 1784.
" In a committee on the sense of the nation, Moved that for prevent-
ing future disorders and dissensions, the heads of the Mutiny Act be
brought in, and suffered to lie on the table to-morrow.
" Ordered.
" That all further proceedings upon the act for dividing the Commons,
&c. be adjourned sine die. " Ordered.
"Vox POPULI, Clcr. Par."
YOUNG HERCULES. 379
One or two other clever prints by Sayer were produced on
this occasion. An engraving by Giliray, published in the
month of February, represented Pitt under the character of the
infant Hercules, strangling the two serpents of the coalition,
TOCKR HERCOLES AND THE SEKPENTS.
Fox and North. The coalition was attacked in songs and
ballads, as well as in caricatures ; and the political tergiversa-
tions, either real or pretended, of the chiefs of the opposition,
were chanted incessantly, not only in public, but even in private
parties.
" Lord North, for twelve years, with his war and contracts,
The people he nearly had laid on their backs ;
Yet stoutly he swore he sure was a villain,
If e'er he had bettered bis fortune a shilling.
Derry down, down, down, deny down.
" Against him Charles Fox was a sure bitter foe,
And cried, that the empire he'd soon overthrow ;
Before him all honour and conscience had fled,
And vow'd that the axe it should cut off bis head.
Derry down, &c.
"Edmund Burke, too, was in a mighty great rage,
And declared Lord North the disgrace of the age ;
His plans and his conduct he treated with scorn,
And thought it a curse that he'd ever been born.
Derry down, &c.
" So hated he was, Fox and Burke they both swore,
They infamous were if they enter'd his door ;
But, prithee, good neighbour, now think on the end,
Both Burke and Fox call him their very good friend I
Derry down, &c.
" Now Fox, North, and Burke, each one is a brother,
So honest, they swear, there is not such another ;
No longer they tell us we're going to ruin,
The people they terve in whatever they're doing.
Derry down," 0,
,380 THE UNFORTUNATE ASS.
Against the evils under which the country was in danger of
being brought by this confederacy, there was, it is pretended,
only one hope of salvation.
" But Chatham, thank heaven ! has left us a son ;
When he takes the helm, we are sure not undone ;
The glory his father revived of the land,
And Britannia has taken Pitt by the hand."
The Court party, indeed, did all they could to have it be-
lieved that the opposition was a mere faction, unpopular
throughout the country ; and they expressed with great con-
fidence that an appeal to the nation would end in their own
favour. A boldly-drawn carica-
ture, entitled " Britannia Aroused ;
or, the coalition monsters de-
stroyed," represents Britannia
hurling the two chiefs of the
coalition from her, as enemies to
that liberty of which she carries
the symbol by her side.
The coalition had, indeed, for a
time become unpopular, not only
: from a sort of repugnance to the
sudden union of parties who had
been so bitterly opposed to each
other, but from the pertinacity of
the attacks which had been di-
rected against it. There were
others who held back in a certain
degree of neutrality, equally op-
posed to the extension of the pre-
rogative on one side, and fearful on the other that the violence
of the other was paving the way for the encroachments of demo-
BEITAKNTA AKOUSED.
A LOKG FULL AND A STRONG PULL.
CARICATURES AGAINST THE COURT. 381
cracj. The voice of this party is heard at times, but not very
loud. A caricature, entitled "The Unfortunate Ass," pub-
lished on the nth of March, 1784, burlesques the long struggle
between King Greorge and Charles Fox, which had preceded the
dissolution of Parliament. The ass represents the people laden
with taxes ; the King, armed with the sword of " prerogative,"
is pulling in one direction, which is designated by a finger-post
as the " road to absolute monarchy." Fox is pulling with equal
obstinacy in the other direction, which is similarly pointed out
as the "road to republicanism." Fox exclaims, "I humbly insist
upon the management, or else will not grant any supplies."
The popular party had also its numerous caricaturists, who
held up to scorn not only the measures and designs of the new
ministers, but the means by which they had been brought into
power. In one of these, published on the I2th of January, the
King is represented with two faces, giving his hand openly on
one side to Fox, who has the India bill in his hand, and to
North, while with the other face he thrusts his hand through a
screen to a lord who has mounted by the back-stairs. Behind
North and Fox a picture is suspended on the wall, representing
Bute in the character of a Scottish cat, booted, with an inscrip-
tion in French, intimating that it is " the celebrated Scottish
cat which obtained a place in the royal cabinet twenty-four
years ago : it is represented booted, and fierce, especially to the
King's ministers." Over the back-stairs entrance is an empty
frame, with the inscription, also in French, " The frame for the
companion to the Scottish cat, which is not yet found."
Among a number of patriotic caricatures which appeared
during the parliamentary struggle described above, and on the
eve of the elections, we may mention three, which bear con-
siderable resemblance to the style of Rowlandson, and are pro-
bably to be reckoned among his early works. In the first, pub-
lished on the nth of March, Fox is represented as "The Cnam-
pion of the People," armed with the sword of justice and the
shield of truth, and combating the many-headed hydra, whose
various mouths breathe forth " Tyranny," " Assumed preroga-
tive," " Despotism," " Oppression," " Secret influence," " Scotch
politics," "Duplicity," and "Corruption." The two latter,
with some others, are already cut off. Behind the dragon, the
Dutchman, Frenchman, and other foreign enemies, are seen
dancing round the standard of sedition. The champion has on
his side strong bodies of English and Irish, bearing aloft the
" standard of universal liberty ;" the former shout, " While he
protects us, we will support him ;" the latter, " He gave us a
THE STATE AUCTION.
free trade, and all we asked ; he shall have our firm support."
Still nearer him, the East Indians are on their knees praying for
his success. The second of these caricatures, published on the
a6th of March, is entitled, " The State Auction." Pitt, as the
young auctioneer, is knocking down with the hammer of " pre-
rogative" most of the valuables of the constitution. Dundas,
as his assistant, is holding up for sale a heavy lot, entitled "Lot
i. The Eights of the People." Pitt cries, " Shew the lot this
way, Harry a' going, a'going speak quick, or it's gone hold
up the lot, ye Dund-ass !" To which the assistant replies, " I
can hould it na higher, sir." On the left, the " chosen repre-
senters," as they are termed, are leaving the auction-room, mut-
tering complaints, or encouragements, such as, " Adieu to
liberty!" "Despair not," "Now or never!" Fox alone stands
his ground, and makes a last effort, " I am determined to bid
with spirit for lot i ; he shall pay dear for it that outbids me !"
Beneath the auctioneer stand what are termed the " hereditary
virtuosis;" the foremost of whom (apparently intended to re-
present the lord-chancellor) leads them on with the exhortation,
" Mind not the nonsensical biddings of those common fellows."
The auctioneer's secretary observes, " We shall get the supplies
by this sale." The third of the caricatures alluded to, published
on the 3ist of March, when the elections were beginning, alludes
more especially to the dissolution which had just taken place.
It is entitled " The Hanoverian Horse and British Lion ; a
scene in a new play, lately acted in Westminster with distin-
guished applause, act 2nd, scene last." Behind is the vacant
throne, with the intimation, " We shall resume our situation
here at pleasure, Leo Rex." In
front, the Hanoverian horse, with-
out bridle or saddle, neighing
"pre - ro - ro - ro - ro-rogative," is
trampling on the safeguards of
the constitution, and kicking
out with violence its "faithful
commons." The young minister,
mounted on the back of the
prancing animal, cries " Bravo !
go it again ! I love to ride
a mettled steed ; send the vaga-
bonds packing." On the oppo-
site side of the picture, Fox is
borne in, with more gravity, on
THE BBITISH LION AND ITS RiuEB. the back of the British lion, and
PITT'S MINISTRY. 383
holding a whip and bridle in his hand. The indignant beast
exclaims, " If this horse is not tamed, he will soon be absolute
king of our forest !" The lion's rider warns his rival horseman
of his danger, " Prithee, Billy, dismount before ye get a full,
and let some abler jockey take your seat."
William Pitt, though only in his twenty-fifth year, was thus,
by the royal will, firmly established prime minister of England.
His colleagues were either those who were already well known
as " The King's friends," or those young aspirants to power
who were willing to tread in their steps. Pitt joined in himself
the offices of first lord of the Treasury and chancellor of the
Exchequer. Lord Camden was president of the Council ; Vis-
count Sydney and the Marquis of Carmarthen, secretaries of
State for Home and Foreign Affairs ; Earl Gower, privy seal ;
Earl Howe, first lord of the Admiralty ; Lord Thurlow, chan-
cellor ; the Duke of Richmond, master-general of the Ordnance ;
Mr. W. Grenville and Lord Mulgrave, joint paymasters of the
Forces ; Mr. Dundas, treasurer of the Navy ; Mr. (afterwards
Lord) Kenyon, attorney-general ; and Mr. Pepper Arden, soli-
citor-general. The opposition were fully aware of the disadvan-
tages under which they would labour in a general election at the
present moment, and they had been anxious to avert a dissolu-
tion ; their fears were confirmed by the event. The elections
were in many cases obstinate ; but Court influence, and even the
King's name, were used openly, and from being the majority,
the party which had been led by Fox and North numbered but
a comparatively small minority in the House of Commons. A
few passages from Horace Walpole's Correspondence will give
us the best picture of the feelings of the day. On the 3oth of
March, he writes, " My letters, since the great change in the
administration, have been rare, and much less informing than
they used to be. In a word, I was not at all glad of the revolu-
tion, nor have the smallest connexion with the new occupants.
There has been a good deal of boldness on both sides. Mr.
Fox, convinced of the necessity of hardy measures to correct
and save India, and coupling with that rough medicine a desire
of confirming the power of himself and his allies, had formed a
great system, and a very sagacious one ; so sagacious, that it
struck France with terror. But as this new power was to be
founded on the demolition of that nest of monsters, the East
India Company, and their spawn of nabobs, &c., they took the
alarm ; and the secret junto at Court rejoiced that they did.
The Court struck the blow at the ministers ; but it was the
gold of the company that really conjured up the storm, and has
384 THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION,
diffused it all over England. On the other hand, Mr. Pitt hate
braved the majority of the House of Commons, has dissolved
the existent one, and, I doubt, given a wound to that branch of
the legislature, which, if the tide does not turn, may be very
fatal to the constitution. The nation is intoxicated ; aud has
poured in addresses of thanks to the Grown for exerting the
prerogative against the palladium of the people. The first con-
sequence will probably be, that the Court will have a consider-
able majority upon the new elections. The country has acted
with such precipitation, and with so little knowledge of the
question, that I do not doubt but thousands of eyes will be
opened and wonder at themselves." And, on the nth of April,
" The scene is wofully changed for the opposition, though not
half the new parliament is yet chosen. Though they still con-
test a very few counties and some boroughs, they own them-
selves totally defeated. They reckoned themselves sure of 240
members ; they probably will not have i^o. In short, between
the industry of the Court and the India Company, and that
momentary phrenzy that sometimes seizes a whole nation, as if
it were a vast animal, such aversion to the coalition, and such a
detestation of Mr. Fox, have seized the country, that, even where
omnipotent gold retains its influence, the elected pass through
an ordeal of the most virulent abuse. The great Whig families,
the Cavendishes, liockinghams, Bedfords, have lost all credit
in their own counties ; nay, have been tricked out of seats where
the whole property was their own : and, in some of those cases,
a royal finger has too evidently tampered, as well as singularly
and revengefully towards Lord North and Lord Hertford ....
Such a proscription, however, must have sown so deep resentment
as it was not wise to provoke ; considering that permanent fortune
is a jewel that in no crown is the most to be depended upon."
The most remarkable event in the history of these elections
was the obstinate contest for Westminster, which agitated the
metropolis in the most extraordinary manner during several
weeks. Westminster had been represented in the Parliament
just dissolved by Pox and Sir Cecil Wray, who had been nomi-
nated by Fox, but he had deserted the standard of his political
leader. The Court was resolved, if possible, to turn Fox out of
the House, and Wray and Lord Hood (the admiral) were on the
present occasion proposed for Westminster, the former being more
especially held forth as the antagonist of the "man of the
people." The poll was opened on the ist of April, and
continued without intermission until the ijth of May. For
the first few days, in consequence of the extraordinary exer-
tions of their party, the two ministerial candidates were
ELECTION MOBS AND RIOTS. &$
decidedly in the majority : but afterwards Fox gradually gained
ground, until, at the close of the election, he had a majority of
236 votes over his rival, Sir Cecil. For a great portion of the
six weeks during which this contest lasted, the western part of
the town and, more especially, the streets in the neighbourhood
of Covent Garden, (where the election for Westminster always
took place), presented a scene of indescribable riot and confusion.
At the beginning of the election, Lord Hood had brought up a
considerable body of sailors, or, as others represented them, they
were chiefly hired ruffians dressed in sailors' clothes, who occupied
the neighbourhood of the hustings, and hindered many of Fox's
friends from approaching to register their votes. When not
thus employed, they paraded the streets, insulting and even
striking Fox's partizans. On the third day they came in greater
numbers, armed with bludgeons, and surrounded the Shakespeare,
where Fox's committee met, and committed various outrages
during the day. At night they besieged the Shakespeare still
more closely, until the gentlemen within, provoked by their
insulting behaviour, sallied out and beat them away. This
defeat only added to the excitement, for on the morning of the
fourth day of the election the sailor mob made its appearance
with a great accession of force, and took up its position about
the hustings as usual. But there was a mob on the other side
also, for the hackney-chairmen, a numerous body, who were
chiefly Irishmen, were almost unanimous in their support of
Fox ; and, aggravated by the conduct of the sailors, when the
latter began at the close of this day's poll to return to their
usual outrages, the chairmen, whom the newspapers in the
interest of the opposition termed the " honest mob," fell upon
them and handled them so roughly that we are told that several
had their skulls fractured, and that others were afterwards picked
up with arms, legs, and ribs broken. The sailors then left the
neighbourhood of Covent Garden, and proceeded to St. James's
Street, where chiefly the chairmen plied for custom, with the
avowed intention of breaking their chairs; but the chairmen
beat them again, and the riot was at length put an end to
by the arrival of a body of the guards. The next day, which
was Tuesday, the sailors re-assembled in a threatening attitude
in Covent Garden, but when, towards the end of the poll, the
rival mob, composed now of a multitude of butchers, brewers, and
other people, in addition to the chairmen, made its appearance, the
sailors left Covent Garden, and hastened towards Charing Cross, to
intercept Fox, who was understood to be on his way to West-
minster to canvass. Fox escaped by taking refuge in a private
c C
386 BOUGH BEHAVIOUR OF THE CONSTABLES.
house ; and the mob, having visited Westminster without
meeting with the object of their search, returned to the Strand,
where another combat took place between the adverse factions,
and the sailors were again defeated. They met with no better
success in two other battles that occurred in the course of the
same evening. Wednesday presented the same scenes of riot,
and, in the evening, a still more obstinate battle was fought in
Covent Garden between the two mobs, in which the sailors were
utterly defeated, and no less than twenty or thirty of them are
said to have been carried to the hospitals with severe injuries.
Next day few sailors made their appearance, and no more serious
rioting occurred until measures were taken by the civil
authorities to prevent any violent outbreak of popular feeling
which might occur at the close of the poll. The special con-
stables were assembled at the places where Hood and Wray's
committee met, and behaved in a manner so evidently hostile to
the friends of Fox, that their presence tended rather to provoke
riot than otherwise. On the loth of May, a party of constables
from Wapping were brought by order of Justice Wilmot,* in
opposition, it was said, to the opinions of the other magistrates,
and they went about shouting "No Fox!" and impeding and
insulting the liberal voters. Just as the poll closed, a slight
disturbance gave the excuse for an attack by the constables.
The sound of marrow-bones and cleavers, the old signal for an
insurrection of the populace, was immediately heard, and a
rather serious scuffle ended in the death of one of the constables.
The party of Fox's opponents endeavoured to fix the death of
the constable on some individuals of the Foxite mob, who were
indicted for the murder, but acquitted ; and it appeared pretty
evident on the trial that the victim had been knocked down by
mistake by one of his fellow-constables in the heat and confusion
of the moment. But the violence of party faction was so great,
that one or two men of notoriously bad character were brought
forward, apparently hired, to swear that they had seen the
constable killed by the persons indicted ; and a further attempt
was made to create a new affray, by carrying the body for
burial to Covent Garden church, attended by a tumultuous
* "Justice Wilmot" appears to have had no great reputation for the extent
of his judicial capacity. One of the Foxite newspapers pretends that, a
short time before the catastrophe mentioned in the text, he had addressed
to one of the chief booksellers in London a note worded as follows :
"Ms. EVANS,
" Sir, I expects soon to be calld out on a Mergensey, so send me all
the ax of parlyment re Latin to a Gustis of Piece. I am,
" Yours to command , &c.
" GUSTIS
WRAY AND FOX. 387
cavalcade, with flags, and incendiary handbills, on the i4th of
May, in the midst of the day's polling. This was prevented by
the firmness of the parish officers, and by the proposal to close
the poll at two o'clock on that day.
Perhaps no single occasion ever drew forth, in the same space
of time, so many political squibs, ballads, and caricatures, and so
much personal abuse on both sides, as this election for Wjst-
minster. The newspapers were filled daily with this subject,
which seemed exclusively to occupy all the wits and fashionable
politicians of the metropolis. The popular charges against Sir^
Cecil Wray were, his ingratitude towards Fox, for which his
opponents treated him with the title of Judas Iscariot ; a pro-
posal which he was said to have made to suppress Chelsea
Hospital ; and a project of a tax upon maid-servants. To these
were added the more general cries against his party, of undue
elevation of the prerogative and back-stairs influence. The
particular crimes laid against Fox, were the Coalition and the
India-bill ; but he was taxed with private immorality and with
revolutionary principles. His opponents represented that his
attack on the East India Company's charter was but the com-
mencement of a general invasion of chartered rights of corporate
bodies :
" This great Carlo Khan,
Some say, had a plan
To take all our charters away ;
But his scheme was found out,
And you need not to doubt,
Was opposed by the staunch Cecil Wray. *
It was but a new link in his chain of political delinquencies ;
his whole life, they said, had been characterized by the same
want of sober principles :
11 When first young Reynard came from France,
He tried to bow, to dress, to dance,
But to succeed had little chance,
The courtly dames among ;
Tis true, indeed, his wit has charms ;
But his grim phiz the point disarms,
And all were fill'd wiih dire alarms
At such a beau garfon.
" He left the fair, and took to dice ;
At Brooks' s they were not so nice,
But clear' d his pockets in a trice,
Nor left a wreck behind.
Nay, some pretend he even lost
That little grace he had to boast,
And then resolved to seize pome post,
Where he might raw the wind.
OC2
388 POLITICAL SQUIBS AGAINST FOX.
" In politics he could not fail ;
So set about it tooth and nail ;
But here again his stars prevail,
Nor long the meteor shone.
His friends, if such deserve the name,
Still keep him at a losing game ;
Bankrupt in fortune and in fame,
His day is almost done."
The grand enemy of the Crown, the Court agents said, was
no doubt at his last gasp, and they began already to sing their
triumph over his grave :
"Dear Car, is it true,
What I've long heard of you ?
'The man of the people,' they call you, they call you!
How comes it to pass,
They're now grown so rash,
At the critical moment to leave you, to leave you t
" Oh ! that curs'd India bill !
Arrah, why not be still,
Enjoy a tight place and be civil, be civil ;
Had you carried it through,
Oagh ! that would just do,
Then their charters we'd pitch to the Devil, the Devil"
The other party, by dwelling continually on Sir Cecil's
project of saving money to the state by abolishing Chelsea
Hospital, arrayed against him the numerous class who, one way
or other, derived benefit from that establishment ; and they
loudly represented that his proposed tax on maid-servants
would throw a great number of servants out of places, and that
it would thus not only produce great distress, but that it would
indirectly increase the prevalence of prostitution. There was
also a satirical story of his keeping nothing in his cellar but
small-beer, and some other little incidents, which were stretched
one way or another into objects of ridicule, if not of odium.
The sort of papers that were daily placarded and distributed
about, may be conceived from the following specimen, belonging
to a class of parodies which were then not uncommon :-
The first Chapter of the Time*.
r " i. And it came to pass, that there were great dissensions in the West,
amongst the rulers of the nation.
" i. And the counsellors of the back -stairs said, let us take advantage
and yoke the people even as oxen, and rule them with a rod of iron.
" 3. And let us break up the Assembly of Privileges, and get a new one
of Prerogatives ; and let us hire false prophets to deceive the people. And
they did so.
" 4. Then Judas Iscariot went among the citizens, saying, ' Choose me
one of your elders, and I will tax your innocent damsels, and I will take
the bread from the helpless, lame, and blind.
SQUIBS AGAINST WE AY. 389
" 5. ' And with the scrip which will arise, we will eat, drink, and be
merry.' Then he brought forth the roll of sheep-skin, and came unto the
gin-shops, cellars, and bye-places, and said, ' Sign your names,' and
many made their marks.*
' ' 6. Now it came to pass, that the time being come when the people
choose their elders, that they assembled together at the hustings, nigh unto
the Place of Cabbages.
" 7. And Judas lifted up his prerogative phiz, and said, ' Choose me,
choose me !' But the people said, ' Satan, avaunt ! thou wicked Judas !
hast thou not deceived thy best friend ? would'st thou deceive us also ? Get
thee behind us, thou unclean spirit ?
"8. ' We will have the man who ever has and will support our cause,
and maintain our rights, who stands forth to us, and who will never be
guided by Secret Influence /'
"9. And the people shouted, and cried with an exceeding loud voice,
saying, ' Fox is the man !'
" 10. Then they caused the trumpets to be sounded, aa at the feast of
the full moon, and sang, ' Long live Fox ! may our champion live
for ever ! Amen.' "
Every new proclamation or placard issued by Fox's party
harped on the story of Chelsea Hospital and the maid-servants ;
nor was the old symbol of France and slavery wooden shoes
forgotten. The following, put out early in the canvass, may
serve as an example; the allusion being more especially to
the extensive polling of soldiers for Hood and Wray at the
beginning of the election :
" All Borse-guards, Grenadier-ffuards, Foot-guards, and Black-guards,
that have not polled for the destruction of Chelsea Hospital and the tax on
maid-servants, are desired to meet at the Gutter Hole, opposite the Horse-
guards, where they will have a full bumper of ' knoclc-me-down, ' and plenty
of soap-suds, before they go to poll for Sir Cecil Wray, or eat.
" N .B. Those that have no shoes or stockings may come without, there
being a quantity of wooden shoes provided for them."
The obnoxious tax upon the maids was a sufficient set-off to the
new taxes, especially that on receipts, which had been proposed
by Fox while in office, and were loudly cried down by his Tory
opponents :
" For though he opposes the stamping of notes,
"Tis in order to tax all your petticoats,
Then how can a woman solicit our votes
For Sir Cecil Wray ?"
The ladies are, therefore, especially warned against counte-
nancing such a pretender, whose only claim was the love of
* This alludes to a loyal address sent from Westminster a little while
before the election, and said to have been smuggled by Sir Cecil Wray
without the knowledge of the greater part of the electors, aud signed only
by a few ignorant people.
390 INTERFERENCE OF THE KING.
bacc-stairs intrigue, and whose crooked politics were not embel-
lished even by generous feelings :
" For had he to women been ever a friend,
Nor by taxing them, tried our old taxes to mend,
Yet so stingy he is, that none can contend
For Sir Cecil Wray.
" The gallant Lord Hood to his country is dear,
His voters, like Charlie's, make excellent cheer ;
But who has been able to taste the small beer
Of Sir Cecil Wray ?
"Then come ev'ry free, ev'ry generous soul,
That loves a fine girl and a full flowing bowl,
Come here in a body, and all of you poll
'Gainst Sir Cecil Wray !
" In vain all the arts of the Court are let loose,
The electors of Westminster never will choose
To run down a Fox, and set up a Goose
Like Sir Cecil Wray."
The exertions of the Court against Fox were of the most
extraordinary kind. The King is said to have received almost
hourly intelligence of what was going on, and to have been
affected in the most evident manner by every change in the
state of the poll. The royal name was used very freely
in obtaining votes for Hood and Wray, even in threats. On
one occasion, two hundred and eighty of the guards were sent
in a body to give their votes as householders, which Horace
Walpole observes, " is legal, but which my father (Sir Robert),
in the most quiet seasons, would not have dared to do." All
dependents on the Court were commanded to vote on the same
side as the soldiers. When the popular party cried out against
this sort of interference, their opponents charged Fox and his
friends with bribery, and with using various other kinds of im-
proper influence ; they insulted his voters by describing them
publicly as the lowest and most degraded part of the popula-
tion ; and their language became more violent as Fox gradually
rose on the poll. " It is an absolute fact," one of their papers said,
" that if a person, on going up to the Shakespeare, can shew a
piece of a shirt only, the committee declares him duly qualified."
Another paper announces, " This day the elegant inhabitants of
Borough-clink, Rag-fair, Chick-lane, &c., go up with an address
to Mr. Fox, at his ready-furnished lodgings, thanking him for
his interest in the late extraordinary circulation of handker-
chiefs" Forgetting their own sailors, they exclaimed against
the employment of persons of no better character than Irish
TRIUMPH OF THE FOXITES. 391
chairmen ; and after the unfortunate affair on loth of May,
they headed their bills with such titles as, "No murder! no
club-law! no butchers' law! no petticoat government!" It was
now, however, the turn of the Foxites to triumph in their
increasing numbers of votes, and a shower of exulting squibs
and songs fell upon their opponents. Placards like the following
were scattered abroad before the eud of April :
" Oh I help Judas, lest he fall into the Pitt of Ingratitude 1 1 1
" The prayers of all bad Christians, Heathens, Infidels, and Devil's- agents,
are most earnestly requested for their dear friend,
JUDAS ISCABIOT, Jcniyht of the back-stairs,
lying at the period of political dissolution ; having received a dreadful
wound from the exertions of the lovers of liberty and the constitution, in the
poll of the last ten days at the Hustings, nigh unto the Place of Cabbages."
They published caricatures, in which the unsuccessful candidate
was driven away by a maid-servant's broom and a pensioner's
crutch ; or pursued by a hooting crowd, bearing on their
banners "No tax on maid-servants," &c. ; or riding dolefully on
a slow and obstinate ass, while the successful candidates are
galloping onwards to the end of the race, on high-mettled
horses, and leaving him far in the distance. Even the Irish
chairmen were given their fling at the discomfited candidate in
a " new " ballad, entitled " Paddy's farewell to Sir Cecil :"
"Sir Cecil, be aisy, I wont be unshivil,
Now the Man of the Paple is chose in your stead ;
From swate Covent-Garden you're flung to the Divil,
By Jasus, Sir Cecil, you've bodder'd your head.
Fa-ra-lal, &c.
" To be sure, much avail to you all your fine spaiches,
'Tis nought but palaver, my honey, my dear,
While all Charly's voters stick to him like laichea,
A frind to our liberties and our small beer.
Fa-ra-lal, &c."
The ladies are then represented as rejoicing in his defeat, with
the exception of his canvassing friend, Mrs. Ilobart ; and
the songster concludes :
" Ah now ! pray let no jontleman prissent take this ill,
By my truth, Fat shall nivir use unshivil wards ;
But my varse sure must plaise, which the name of Sir Cecil
II amis down to oblivion's latest recards.
Fa-ra-lal, &c.
39 8AM HOUSE.
11 If my shelf with the tongue of a prophet U gifted,
Oh ! I sees in a twinkling the knight's latter ind i
Tow'rds the varpe of his life div'lish high he'll be lifted,
And after his death, never fear, he'll discind.
Fa-ra-lal, &c."
The young Prince of Wales, who was now the intimate
friend of Fox, and the warm supporter of the coalition, exerted
himself as actively against the Court in this Westminster
election, as his father's ministers did in favour of it, and his con-
duct is said to have given extreme provocation to the King and
Queen. Members of his own household were employed in can-
vassing for voters ; and some of the ministerial papers, which, in
their paragraphs shewed little respect for his character, declared
that he had canvassed in person ; one of them states, with an
appended observation, the wit of which is not very remarkable,
that " The Prince appeared at Ranelagh last week with a Fox
cockade in his hat, and a sprig of laurel; if he should ever be
sent a lird's-nesting by Oliver, it is to be expected he will
prefer the laurel to the oak" At this time is said to have
arisen the hostile feeling which the Prince ever afterwards
entertained towards Pitt, and which was increased by the
minister's stiff and haughty bearing towards him. The Prince
gave a magnificent party in
honour of Fox's triumph at
Westminster.
Another active and re-
markable partizan of Fox
was "honest" Sam House*
the publican, an old resident
in this character in West-
minster, remarkable for his
odditiesf and for his political
zeal. During this election he
kept open house at his own
expense, and was honoured
with the company of many
of the Whig aristocracy.
An early caricature by Gill-
ray, entitled " Returning
from Brooks's," represents
the Prince of Wales in a
A PATBIOTIC PUBLICAN. st * te of considerable ine-
briety, wearing the election
The picture of Sam House occurs in many caricatures of the time.
Ihe cut given above is copied from a plate by Gillray.
t bam House was remarkable for his clean and perfectly bald head, over
THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE.
393
cockade, and supported by Fox and the patriotic publican. The
wit of the ministerial papers was often expended on honest
Sam. At the beginning of the election, when Fox seemed to be
in a hopeless minority, one of them inserted a paragraph stating
that the publican had committed suicide in his despair. He
is said to have been a very successful canvasser in the course of
the election.
" See the brave Sammy House, he's as still as a mouse,
And does canvass with prudence so clever :
See what shoals with him flocks, to poll for brave Fox,
Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever, for ever, for ever !
Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever !
"Brave bald-headed Sam, all must own, is the man,
Who does canvass for brave Fox so clever ;
His aversion, I say, is to small beer and Wray I
May his bald head be honour'd for ever, for ever, for ever !
May his bald head be honour'd for ever !"
But the most active and successful of Fox's canvassers, and
the most ungenerously treated by the opposite party, was the
beautiful and accomplished Duchess
of Devonshire (Georgiana Spencer).
Attended by several others of the
beauties of the Whig aristocracy, she
was almost daily present at the elec-
tion, wearing Fox's cockade, and she
went about personally soliciting votes,
which she obtained in great num-
bers by the influence of her personal
charms and by her affability. The
Tories were greatly annoyed at her
ladyship's proceedings ; they accused
her of wholesale bribery ; and it
was currently reported that she had
in one instance bought the vote of
a butcher with a kiss, an incident
which was immediately exhibited to
people's eyes in multitudes of pic-
tures, with more or less of exagge-
ration. But nothing could be more BBIBEBT.
disgraceful than the profusion of
which he never wore hat or wig. His unvaried dress consisted of nankeen
jacket and breeches, brightly polisl.ed shoes and buckles, and he had his
waistcoat constantly open in all seasons, and wore remarkably white linen.
His legs were generally bare ; but, when clad, were always in stockings of
the finest quality ot silk.
394 INSULTS ON THE DUCHESS.
scandalous and indecent abuse which was heaped upon this noble
lady by the ministerial press, especially by its two great organs,
the Morning Post and the Advertiser. The insult in some
cases was merely coarse, such as the following from the Morning
Post : " The Duchess of Devonshire yesterday canvassed the
different alehouses of Westminster in favour of Mr. Fox ; about
one o'clock she took her share of a pot of porter at Sam
House's in Wardour Street." The same paper makes her write to
the candidate : " Yesterday I sent you three votes, but went
through great fatigue to secure them ; it cost me ten kisses for
every plumper. I'm much afraid we are done up, will see you
at the porter-sJiop, and consult about ways and means." Others
of these newspaper paragraphs were more pointedly insulting to
the feelings of a virtuous female, such as " We hear that the
D ss of D grunts favours to those who promise their
votes and interest to Mr. Fox." "A certain beautiful lady of
quality, who has for some days past canvassed on foot for
her favourite candidate, met lately with such a reception as she
might reasonably expect; one man offered a hundred votes
for one of her favours." " A certain lady of great beauty and
high rank, requests that in future when she condescends to
favour any shoemaker, or other mechanic, with a salute, that he
will kiss fair, and not take improper liberties." Multitudes of
these paragraphs contained inuendos and aspersions far too
infamous to allow of their being transferred to our pages;
we merely quote as one of the least objectionable, " Ladies of
Pleasure have ever been of prodigious service to conspirators;
not only Catiline, but also the famous Jacques Pierre, and
several other contrivers of mischief, have carried on their
operations through the medium of a courtezan."
But the newspaper paragraphs were nothing in comparison
with the disgraceful manner in which the duchess was treated
in the caricatures, in many of which she was figured and
exhibited to public view in the shop windows, in indecent
postures, accompanied with allusions of the most infamous
kind. The Queen, who had all the caricatures on this occasion
brought to her, and was extremely amused with the manner in
which the opponents of the Court were turned to ridicule, is
said to have been much shocked by some of these coarse carica-
tures against the Duchess of Devonshire, which had been acci-
dentally brought to her among the other political prints. The
"canvassing duchess" figured also in many caricatures of a
much less objectionable character. Thus, in one entitled " Wit's
Last Stake, or, the cobbling voters and abject canvassers," the
CARICATURES ON THE DUCHESS.
395
duchess is represented seated on Fox's knee, and holding her
shoe to be mended by a cobbler, for which she is paying his wife
A GROUP OP CANVASSERS
with gold ; Fox is shaking hands with another voter, who is
treated by Sam House with a pot of porter. In others she is
represented marching about with
troops of canvassing ladies, bearing
banners with appropriate mottoes ;
or practising various arts to con-
vince unwilling voters. In a cari-
cature published immediately after
the election, entitled "Every man
has his hobby-horse," the successful
candidate is carried in triumph by
his fair and zealous supporter.
Charles Fox may truly be said to
have been carried into the House
of Commons in 1 784 by the Duchess
of Devonshire.*
We ought not to pass over an-
other zealous actor in this exciting
scene of turbulence, who helped at
least to enliven it-the celebrated raB 8UCCK8SFUL CAOT)n)Am
convivial songster, Captain Morns,
whose effusions were unfortunately not always of an unexception-
* An immense mass of newspaper paragraphs, placards, squibs, songs,
&c. , relating to this election, with a certain number of caricatures, were
published collectively under the title of a " History of the Westminster
Election ;" and, although but a selection, they form a large quarto volume
Jn small print. On the whole, these records of party feeling are much more
distinguished by scurrility than by wit. The following anecdotes of Fox's
personal canvass are related, lie and his friends were often subjected to
SONG AGAINST PITT.
able character. We shall soon meet with him again as one of
the boon companions of the heir apparent. The captain had
begun his career as a political songster in the ranks of the
Tories, and had composed a bitter song against the Fox and
North administration, under the title of " The Coalition Song."
His conversion to the other party was probably effected by the
example of the Prince of Wales. During the Westminster elec-
tion of 1784, he was a constant attendant at Fox's convivial
parties, for which several of his best political songs were com-
posed, especially one against the King and his young minister
Pitt, entitled " The Baby and Nurse," which was enthusiasti-
cally called for over and over again at the election dinners, and,
oddly enough, while he was himself singing this new song to the
Whigs, the Tories were singing his old song against the coali-
tion. Another song against Pitt, by Captain Morris, was popu-
lai during and after the election, under the title of
"BILLY 'S TOO YOUNG} TO DEIVE US."
" If life's a rough journey, as moralists tell,
Englishmen sure made the best on 't ;
On this spot of earth they bade liberty dwell,
While slavery holds all the rest on 't.
They thought the best solace for labour and care,
Was a state independent and free, sir ;
And this thought, though a curse that no tyrant can bear,
Is the blessing of you and of me, sir.
Then while through this whirlabout journey we reel,
We'll keep unabused the best blessing we feel,
And watch ev'ry turn of the politic wheel
Billy 's too young to drive us.
" The car of Britannia, we all must allow,
Is ready to crack with its load, sir ;
And wanting the hand of experience, will now
Most feurely break down on the road, sir.
Then must we, poor passengers, quietly wait,
To be crush'd by this mischievous spark, sir t
Who drives a d d job in the carriage of state,
And got up like a thief in the dark, sir.
Then while through this whirlabout, &c.
personal insult ; but this was one of the charms of electioneering in the
olden time.
" Mr. Fox, on his canvass, having accosted a blunt tradesman, whom he
solicited for his vote, the man answered, ' I cannot give you my support ; I
admire your abilties, but d n your principles!' Mr. Fox smartly replied,
' My friend, I applaud you for your sincerity, but d n your manners !' "
" Mr. Fox having applied to a saddler in the Haymarket for his vote and
interest, the man produced a halter, with which, he said, he was ready to
oblige him. Mr. Fox replied, ' I return you thanks, my friend, for your
intended present ; but I should be sorry to deprive you of it, as I presume
it must be a jamily piece.' "
THE WESTMINSTER SCRUTINY. 397
"They say that his judgment is mellow and pure,
And his principles virtue's own type, sir ;
I believe from my soul he's a son of a ,
And hia judgment more rotten than ripe, sir.
For all that he boasts of, what is it, in truth,
But that mad with ambition and pride, sir,
He 's the vices of age, for the follies of youth,
And a d d deal of cunning beside, sir.*
Then while through this whirlabout, &o.
"The squires, whose reason ne'er reaches a span,
Are all with this prodigy struck, sir ;
And cry, ' it's a crime not to vote for a man
Who 's as chaste as a baby at suck,' sir.
* *
"It's true, he 's a pretty good gift of the gab,
And was taught by his dad on a stool, sir ;
But though at a speech he 's a bit of a dab,
In the state he 'a a bit of a tool, sir.
For Billy's pure love for his country was such,
He agreed to become the cat 's paw, sir ;
And sits at the helm, while it 's turn'd by the touch
Of a reprobate fiend of the law,+ sir.
Then while through this whirlabout," &c.
The Westminster election of 1784 was the most remarkable
struggle of the kind that has ever been witnessed in this country,
and is an event of importance in the political history of the last
century, because it was the only very serious check that the
Court met with at this time in its successful attempt to obtain
a strong Tory House of Commons. The superior power of the
Crown in the legislature, and the political influence of William
Pitt, were from this moment firmly established J The principal
measures of the new ministers during the present year (1784)
were (with the exception of Pitt's India-bill, a performance so
* To explain some parts of this song, it may be necessary to state, that,
although very strongly addicted to the bottle, Pitt, who was of a cold,
phlegmatic disposition, had none of the wild habits of the young men of
his day, and was held up by the Court as a contrast to the irregularities of
Fox and his companions. Two stanzas and a half are omitted.
t An allusion to Lord Thurlow, who was celebrated for his swearing
propensities.
J The hostility against Fox at Westminster did not end with the
election ; the Court party had, from the first, declared their intention of
demanding a scrutiny if Fox succeeded, because it was known that, under
the circumstances, this would be a long, tedious, and expensive affair. The
returning officer acted partially ; and, on the demand of Sir Cecil Wray
for a scrutiny, refused to make a return. Fox had been elected member
for Kirkwall in Scotland, so that he was not hindered from taking his seat
in the House ; and, after some months' delay, the high-bailiff was not only
obliged to return him as member for Westminster, but Fox brought an
action against him, and recovered heavy damages.
398
PITT AND TAXES.
crude that his own friends were obliged to emendate it from
beginning to end as it passed through the House, and several acts
were subsequently called for to explain it,) of a financial charac-
ter ; and their object was to provide for the debts incurred in
the late war by new taxes, or commutations of old ones. A
feeble opposition was made to the government plan of taxation,
and the public began to cry loudly against the burthens under
which they laboured. " Master Billy's Budget" was the burthen
of more than one satirical song ; and the following lines
" On the Taxes," published towards the end of the year, give a
tolerably comprehensive view of the various items of which it
consisted :
" Should foreigners, staring at English taxation,
Ask why we still reckon ourselves a free nation,
We'll tell them, we pay for the light of the sun ;
For a horse with a saddle to trot or to run ;
For writing our names ; for the flash of a gun ;
For the flame of a candle to cheer the dark night ;
For the hole in the house, if it let in the light ;
For births, weddings, and deaths ; for our selling and buying ;
Though some think 'tis hard to pay threepence for dying ;
And some poor folks cry out, ' These are Pharaoh-like tricks,
To take such unmerciful tale of our bricks ! '
How great in financing our statesmen have been,
From our ribbons, our shoes, and our hats may be seen ;
On this side and that, in the air, on the ground,
By act upon act now so firmly we're bound,
One would think there's not room one new impost to put,
From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot.
Like Job, thus John Bull his condition deplores,
Very patient, indeed, and all cover'd with sores."
The opposition, indeed, seemed at this moment to be sunk so
low in public opinion,
that the patriot's
"occupation" might
truly be said to be
gone. The serious pa-
pers andthe burlesque
caricatures joined in
treating the efforts of
the country party
with contemptuous
derision. The support
they derived from the
Prince of Wales was
the only thing which
PBECEPTOR AND PCPIL.
THE PATRIOT TURNED PREACHER. 399
gave uneasiness; and it provoked the King and Queen to the
highest degree. They looked upon Fox with abhorrence as
the corruptor of the royal youth ; and a caricature, published
in May, at the conclusion of the Westminster election, entitled
"Preceptor and Pupil," represents the opposition leader,
in loathly form, whispering his doc-
trines into the ear of the sleeping heir
to the throne. Fox's friend and ally,
the sleepy and inactive Lord North, is
figured in another caricature as " Ig-
navia," the personification of Sloth.
Burke was equally an object of attack
to the resentful exultation of his poli-
tical opponents. His warmth of feel-
ing and his splendid eloquence made
him one of the foremost champions in
the desultory warfare which was carried
on against the ministerial majorities in
the House of Commons ; and the cari-
caturists made war upon his pretended
Jesuitism, and even upon his wordiness ;
and they pictured the writer on the IONAVIA.
Sublime and Beautiful as a raving demon
of sedition, one of the foremost of the followers of the political
Satan, who is seen on the other side of the picture smarting
under the mortification of his defeat, yet still rallying his
dispirited troops, and urging them
on to the attack.
The Tories, in their derision, re-
commended the opposition leaders
to turn their talents to more pro-
fitable labours ; a ballad, addressed
to their leader, in October, and a
nearly contemporary caricature*
embodying the same sentiment,
recommend him to turn his talents
to preaching, and, since the sinners
had left him in the lurch, to aim at
the support of the saints. The
various pretences of the opposi-
tion, says the song, were quite SOME oir BATANB, TROOPS.
worn out :
* Entitled, "More ways than one; or, the Patriot tum'd Preacher,"
published on the lud of November, 1 784.
400 THE PATRIOT TURNED PREACHER.
" Dear Charles, whose eloquence I prize,
To whom my every vote is due,
What shall we now, alas ! devise
To cheer our faint desponding crew t
"Well have we fought the hard campaign,
And battled it with all our force :
But self-esteem alone we gain,
Outrun and jockey'd in the course.
" Within the Senate, and without,
Our credit fails ; th' enlighten' d nation
The boasted Coalition scout,
And hunt us from th' Administration.
" We've carp'd at this, and carp'd at that,
And who hath heeded what we said I
The house is coy, they smell a rat,
The time is past, and we are sped.
" And shall we then, like fools, despair ?
Can we no thriving scheme invent ?
Yes : let cameleons feed on air,
Such diet will not thee content.
" But why invent ? the plan is ready,
Fonn'd by a wag of late in jest :
Let us adopt it, firm and steady,
And, drowning, clasp it to our breast."
" Foi, the Preacher," occupies the pulpit, and has assumed his
most engaging and persuasive looks :
" Quick let thy soul with grace be fill'd 1
Expect no other call but mine ;
With penitence I see thee thrill'd,
With new-born light I see thee shine.
" I see subscribers throng around,
(Can Brook s's e'er supply such prizes T)
The pious Heed and from the ground,
Behold a Tabernacle rises ! "
The sleek and good-humoured North is placed in the seat
below :
"How spruce will North beneath thee sitl
With joy officiate as thy clerk !
Attune the hymn, renounce his wit,
And carol like the morning lark !
" Or, if thy potent length of prayer,
By chance induce a kindly doze,
Wake in the nick with accent clear,
To cry, amen ! and bless the close 1 "
THE PATRIOT TURNED PREACHER. 401
Sheridan, who now shone as one of the opposition leaders, is to
act as pew-keeper :
"To comic Richard, ever true,
Be it assign'd the curs to lash,
With ready hand to ope the pew,
With ready hand to take the cash."
Burke, who has passed through
another metamorphosis, puts on
the garb of feminine devotion, and
leads in the harmonious chorus :
' For thee, beauteout and sublime I
W T hat place of honour shall we find f
To tempt with money were a crime ;
Thine are the riches of the mind.
"Clad in a matron's cap and robe,
Thou shalt assist each withered crone !
And, as the piercing threat shall probe,
Be 't thine to lead the choral groan !
" Thine to uplift the whiten'd eye,
And thine to spread th' uplifted hand !
Thine to upheave th' expressive sigh,
And regulate the hoary band I"
Such a plan as this, it was represented, could not fail to be
profitable to the ranks of the defeated opposition, and might
raise up in another sphere those whose ambition seemed for ever
disappointed in the arena of politics :
" Dear Charles, with speed this plan essay,
On dreams of power no longer muse ;
For, faitu ! thou'rt in a piteous way,
And not a moment hast to lose ! "
BUUKE.
b I)
402
CHAPTEE XI.
GEORGE ILL
Low State of the Opposition Caricatures against Fox and his Colleagues-
The Probationary Odes Ireland ; Grattan and Flood The Fortifica-
tion Scheme India ; Warren Hastings ; the Impeachment The
Prince of Wales ; Royal Parsimony and Royal Extravagance The
Trial of Warren Hastings Ministerial Corruption ; Antipathy of
Parties ; the Installation Supper First Indisposition of the King ;
The Regency Bill*.
nnHE consequences of the defeat of the liberal party in the
_|_ elections of 1784 were very apparent in the Parliamentary
session of 1785, and are best described in a few words of Horace
Walpole, written on the 2nd of February : " The Parliament,"
he says, " is met, but as quietly as a quarter-session ; the oppo-
sition seems quelled, or to despair." Rarely indeed has so
entire a change in popular feeling been effected in so short a
space of time ; but, like all sudden changes, it was not long
before it began to experience a gradual reaction. Under the
absurd persecution of the Westminster scrutiny, the popularity
of Charles Fox was already beginning to revive ; and the proud
and scornful bearing of the young minister were not calculated
to conciliate people's esteem. When, at the beginning of April,
the scrutiny ended in favour of Fox, the defeat of the Court was
celebrated by a general illumination on two successive nights,
attended with some rioting.
The overbearing temper of the minister on one side, and the
mortification of the opposition on the other, caused the debates
in the House of Commons during the present session to degene-
rate much more than was usual into attacks and recriminations
of a personal character. On the pth of February, 1785, when
Fox complained in sufficiently gentle terms of the Westminster
scrutiny as an act of persecution against himself, Pitt, turning
up his nose with more than usual scorn, (a characteristic of the
orator which is never forgotten in the caricatures in which he
figures,) fell upon his rival in the following insulting language :
"I am not surprised if he should pretend to be the butt of
ministerial persecution ; and if, by striving to excite the public
compassion, he should seek to reinstate himself in that popularity
THE MODE EN CATILINE.
43
which he once enjoyed, but which he so unhappily has forfeited.
For it is the best and most ordinary resource of these political
apostates to court and to offer themselves to persecution for the
sake of the popular predilection and pity which usually fall upon
persecuted men. It becomes worth their while to suffer, for a
time, political martyrdom, for the sake of the canonization that
awaits the suffering martyr ; and, I make no doubt, the right
honourable gentleman has so much penetration, and at the same
time so much passive virtue about him, that he would be glad
not only to seem a poor, injured, persecuted man, but he would
gladly seek an opportunity of even really suffering a little perse-
cution, if it be possible to find such an opportunity." Such
scenes were of frequent occurrence. On one occasion, the pth of
March, when the same subject was in debate, Fox broke into an
ironical commendation of the present Parliament, a large portion
of which consisted of new faces that had never been in the
House before.* He said, that he highly approved of their
general conduct, although they had been " called together by an
unfortunate political delusion." " They were gentlemen with
whom he was entirely unacquainted, men whose faces were un-
known to any person ; but,
emerged from obscurity as they
had, he was happy to find that
they possessed great candour
and impartiality." Pitt replied
in rather an angry tone, which
led to another violent alterca-
tion.
A scene of this description was
the foundation of a print by
Sayer, published on the i ;th of
March, under the title, " Cicero
in Catilinam." The leader of
the opposition, in the character
of Catiline, is represented as
seated on the opposition benches,
quailing beneath the eloquent
invective of the political Cicero,
Pitt. Lord North is seated by
his colleague, his face concealed
* No less than a hundred and eighty of Fox's ordinary supporters had
been thrown out in the election of 1 784, and replaced by new members,
who had not been in the House before. The rejected candidates received
the popular appellation of Pox's Martyrs.
D D a
CATILINE REPREHENDED.
404
POLITICAL MUSICIANS.
in a bundle of papers in which his attention appears to be absorbed.
In another caricature, by the same artist, the two leaders (Fox
and North) are represented blowing up the fire of opposition
and discontent, fed by a host of petitions, &c., to burn the
Irish emblem of the harp, and the ministers' " Propositions"
relating to the sister isle. A few days before (April 6), Sayer
had represented the eloquent but rather discursive Burke, setting
the House asleep by the length of his perpetual invectives
against ministers. He is supported on the shoulders of two of
the most active members of the opposition in the present Parlia-
ment Powis and Sawbridge the former holding in his hand a
bundle of papers inscribed " Memoranda of important observa-
tions for reform in the representation, &c." The print is
entitled "* * * (Burke) on the Sublime and Beautiful,"
alluding to the celebrated work published by the orator before
he had become distinguished as a statesman. In another larger
print by Sayer, published on the ;th of June, the opposition are
joining their strength to get
up a concert. Fox and one
of his colleagues are prac-
tising on the fiddle; the
former treading the music of
" God save the King" under
his foot. The Duke of Port-
land is occupied with the
piano ; Burke plays the
trumpet ; North performs
jupon the trombone; the
Earl of Derby figures with
the pipe and tabor ; and so
on with the rest, not omitting
the celebrated parliamentary-
dog which joins its howl
with the general concert.
Against the wall hangs a pair
of bagpipes, the representa-
tive of Lord Loughborough. The portrait of the Prince of
Wales is suspended behind, with a large picture on each side,
representing, in one, Fox exhibiting a dancing bear, and in the
other, North playing the pipe to three dancing dogs, while Fox
is teaching a hare to beat the tabor. On the chimney-piece lie
the " Probationary Odes for the Laureateship," and the " Kol-
liad" and " Critique on the Rolliad," witty satires against the
ministers, which had just been published, the work of some
PRACTITIONERS.
THE PROBATIONARY ODES. *Q$
young aristocratic poets of talent, but too minute in their per-
sonal allusions to have much interest at the present day.* The
"Probationary Odes" were especially clever; the vacancy in the
laureateship was supposed to have called forth a host of candi-
dates in rivalry of Thomas Warton (who succeeded to it), and
each of his Majesty's ministers enters into the competition, and
contributes an ode more or less characteristic of himself, or des-
criptive of his political conduct. First in the list of candidates
stands Sir Cecil Wray, who appears by the election squibs of the
preceding year, to have been guilty of some attempts at poetry,
and who now takes a magnificent flight in the regions of namby-
pamby. After a somewhat magniloquent exordium, he goes on
to flatter the King,
" Yes, Joe and I
Are em'lous ! Why I
It is because, great Caesar, you are clever
Therefore we 'd sing of you for ever !
Sing sing sing sin^
God save the King !
Smile then, Caesar, smile on Wray !
Crown at last his poll with bay !
Come, oh ! bay, and with thee bring
Salary, illustrious thing !
Laurels vain of Covent Garden,
I don't value you a farding.
Let sack my soul cheer,
For 'tis sick of small beer !
Csesar ! Caesar ! give it ! do !
Great Caesar, giv *t all ! for my muse 'doreth you I"
After being wrapt for a while in the poetical contemplation of
his own grandeur, he ends by a sublime threat against the pre-
sumption of his rival.
* Horace Walpole writes on the 3oth of October, "As to your little
knot of poets. . . we have at present here a most incom, aia'-l- net,
not exactly known by their names, but who, till the dead of Rummer, kept
the town in a roar, and I suppose, will revive by the meeting of Parliament.
poems are all anti-ministerial, and the authors very youiiij men, and little
known or heard of before. I would send them, but you would want
too many keys : aud, indeed, I want some myself; for, as there are
continually allusions to parliamentary speeches and events, they are often
obscure to me till I get them explained." The principal writers of tt.ese
satires were, we are told, Mr. Ellis, a lawyer named Lawrence, Colonel K.
Fitzpatrick, and John Townshend, second son of George V scount
Townshcnd.
406 DUNDAS AND THURLOW.
" Yet if the laurel prize,
Dearer than nay eyes,
Cursed Warton tries
For to surprise,
By the eternal God, I'll scrutinize/"
A number of candidates of obscurer name follow. Michael
Angelo Taylor, who had obtained the nickname of "the
Chicken," stands forth as "a Chicken of the Muse," and
rejoices in the figure he makes in the House,
" Lo ! how I shine, St. Stephen's boast !
There, first of chicks, I rule the roast/
There I appear,
Pitt's Chanticleer,
The bantam-cock to oppositions f
Or like a hen,
With watchful ken,
Sit close and watch the Irish propositions !"
These minor constellations are all thrown into the shade by
the appearance of the Scot, Dundas,
" Hoot ! hoot awaw !
Hoot ! hoot awaw !
Ye Lawland bards ! wha' are ye aw ?
What are your sangs ? what aw your lair to boot ?
Vain are your thooghts the prize to win,
Sae dight your gobs, and stint your senseless din ;
Hoot ! hoot awaw ! hoot ! hoot !
Put oot aw your attic feires,
Burn your lutes, and brek your leyres ;
A looder and a looder note I'll streike :
Na watter drawghts fra Helicon I heed,
Na wull I mount your winged steed,
I'll mount the Hanoverian horse, and ride him whare I leike I"
Among the candidates of higher note comes the profane-
swearing chancellor, of whose ode the exordium, as being the
least outrageous portion, may serve as a specimen.
" Damnation seize ye all,
Who puff, who thrum, who bawl and squall !
Fired with ambitious hopes in vain,
The wreath, that blooms for other brows, to gain.
Is Thurlow yet so little known ?
By G d ! I swore, while God shall reign,
The Seals, in spite of changes, to retain,
Nor quit the woolsack till he quits the throne.
And now, the bays for life to wear,
Once more, with mightier oaths, by G d, I swear ;
Bend my black brows, that keep the peers in awe,
Shake my full-bottom wig, and give the nod of law."
Jn the conclusion, the chancellor's ode loses itself in a
IRISH PROPOSITIONS. 407
magnificent phalanx of wild comminations against " the
factious crew" collectively and individually. Among the
especial objects of his hostility are Lord Loughhorough, whose
ambitious eye was fixed upon the woolsack " D n Lough-
borough ! my plague, would his lagpipe were split." Lord
Loughborough was regarded as the leader of the opposition in
the House of Lords, and as the iuciter and backer of Lord
Stormont, who also was now a bitter opponent of the ministry.
On the 3oth of July, 1/85, a discussion arose on the Irish
Propositions, in which Stormont (for himself and Lord Lough-
borough, who was absent) threw some obstacle in the way of
the arrangements proposed by Lord Sidney, the Secretary for
Home Affairs. Next day (July i) appeared a caricature by
Sayer, in which "yesterday's business" is represented in the
light of " boring a secretary of State." Lord Loughborough,
whose face is turned away, is represented as using his instru-
ment, Lord Stormont, to bore Lord Sydney, who appears as a
--^. -
A BOBB.
piece of timber with two knots, inscribed " ist Proposition" and
" and Proposition."
Among the difficult questions with which the new ministry
had to contend, the state of Ireland was by no means the least.
The discontented inhabitants of the sister isle, amongst whom
agitation had been more or less actively at work since the
beginning of the century, had watched the progress of the
American insurrection with interest, and shewn a great inclina-
tion to follow the example. The clamour for free-trade and
exemption from duties had drawn concessions even from Lord
North ; and a caricature published in 1780, represents Hibernia,
with the acquisition of her free-trade, exposed to the cajolery
and flattery of a host of foreign suitors, who demand an entrance
into her ports. In 1782, Grattan received from the Irish
Parliament a very handsome grant, in consideration of his
exertions in securing its independence. Grattan continued to
408
G RATTAN AND FLOOD.
shine conspicuously among the Irish patriots for many years;
but his patriotism was not of the ultra-violent character which
was now alone gaining credit among the Irish democrats, who
began to rebel even against
their own legislators. The
leader of these ultra-patriots
was the celebrated Henry
Flood, Grattan's rival and
opponent. Delegates of this
party were chosen throughout
Ireland, and held a sort of
national convention in Dublin,
which began by demanding a
radical reform of their own
Parliament, and urged their
countrymen to arm for the
purpose of obtaining it. Flood,
who, like Grattan, was a mem-
ber of the Parliament, laid their
complaints and demands before
the legislative assembly ; but
they were rejected by large
majorities, indignant at the
kind of intimidation which was
debates were often violent and
One of these scenes is represented
GRATTAN.
held out towards them. The
personal in the highest degree.
in a print published in London, on the 25th of November, 1783,
in which a violently caricatured portrait of Grattan, copied in
the cut above, is represented exposing the
principles and designs of the Irish agitator
of the day. An equally caricatured figure
of Flood, launches as violent an invective
against his assailant, as he walks doggedly
out of the House. The convention, which
afterwards, in still closer imitation of the
Americans, took the title of a national
congress, continued to hold its ground, and
was acknowledged by a large portion of the
population of Ireland as the true parliament
of the island. There were thus two rival
governments existing at the same time.
Pitt brought forwards in the session of
1785, as a measure of pacification, his two
propositions or provisions, to allow the
LORD GEOEGE GEEMAINE. 409
produce of our colonies to be imported into England through
Ireland, and to establish a free trade between Ireland and Great
Britain ; in return for which advantages Ireland was to con-
tribute a certain annual sum out of her revenue towards the
general expenses of the empire. These propositions soon excited
the jealousy of the British merchants ; and they seem, indeed,
in their original form, to have been very defective. The
merchants were heard by counsel in the English Parliament ;
numerous petitions against the measure were presented ; and it
was attacked bitterly in both Houses. The minister was obliged
to yield in some degree to the popular feeling, and he modified
his measure, and brought it forwards in an entirely new form on
the 1 2th of May. It was these propositions which, in the House
of Lords, subjected Lord Sydney to the bore depicted above.
Among the foremost to attack them in the House of Lords was
Lord George Germaine, who is represented in a caricature by
Sayer, backed in the onslaught by Lords Stormont and Derby.
Lord George was now in the opposition, and, singularly enough,
the court threw into his face the very charges relating to his
conduct at the battle of Linden, from which, while he supported
King George's measures, he had been so pertinaciously screened.
The following verses were at first placed on this caricature ; but
they were afterwards erased,
" 'Gainst France opposed on Minden's plain,
When Brunswick gave the word
'Bring all your power, my Lord Germaine :'
The noble lord demurr'd.
" Pitt's propositions now the foe,
He boldly mounts the breach,
Obeys command, and aims a blow
With all his power of speech !"
In a cancature published by the other party, Pitt is repre-
sented in the utmost dismay, riding off to Dublin on a wild Irish
bull, to seek shelter from the English mob, to whose execrations
he is exposed by his accumulating taxes, and especially that on
shops, and that on maid-servants, which had now been carried by
Pitt, and was a subject for endless jokes ; both had excited great
dissatisfaction. This print, which is very coarsely executed, is
entitled " Paddy O'Pitt's triumphant exit," and was published
on the 2oth of June, 1/85. People cried out that Pitt was
treating the Irish with undue partiality, while he was crushing
Englishmen with insupportable burthens.
It was during this session that Pitt made his last show of
attachment to the liberal principles he had so warmly advocated
410 A BITTER DOSE.
while out of power, by bringing forward a bill for a reform in
Parliament ; but it was so inefficient a measure, that it was only
ridiculed by the opposition, and, as he did not use his own
parliamentary influence to support it, it was clear he never
intended it should pass. He was ever after a resolute opponent
of parliamentary reform, in whatever shape it was presented. In
other matters, the young premier met with several slight crosses
and disagreements. The foreign policy of his ministry was an
object of incessant attack to the liberal opposition ; and a plan of
national fortifications, brought forward by the Duke of Eichmond,
who had deserted his old colleagues to take office as master-general
of the Ordnance, was an object of great ridicule. After several
animated debates, in which the Duke of Richmond's apostasy
was said more of than his fortifications, and which shewed how
much party spirit entered into the profession of patriotism, on a
division, the numbers on both sides of the question were equal,
and the government scheme was thrown out by the casting vote
of the speaker. This was the subject of several caricatures and
squibs, in which the unceremonious extinction of the fortifications
by the speaker is made a subject of no little mirth. In a print
by Gillray, published in the year following, the Duke of Rich-
mond is made to swallow his own fortifications by another
individual, apparently intended to represent Lord Shelburne.
A BITTER DOSE.
The affairs of India had been made doubly prominent by the
succession of bills for the regulation of that distant empire,
bills which, as we have seen, underwent so many vicissitudes ;
and the attention began to be directed rather against individuals
who had misgoverned, than to the general subject of mis-
government. Several persons were successively pointed out to
popular execration for the tyranny and rapacity they had exer-
cised in different stations of our Indian empire ; but at length
PR CEEDINGS A GAINST HA STINGS. 41 1
the whole indignation of the opponents of eastern oppression
was concentrated on the person of the governor-general of
Bengal, Warren Hastings. The other members of the oppo-
sition are said to have been dragged, somewhat unwillingly, by
Edmund Burke into the long and tedious proceedings against
this man, who, having only done as others had done before him
under the same circumstances, and that in the service not only
of the company by whom he was employed, but of the English
Crown, was not a little astonished, on his return home, to find
himself on the eve of being subjected to a state prosecution.
The proceedings of the Company's servants in India were
exactly of that kind which, if made public in this country, where
they were only imperfectly understood, could not fail of exciting
general indignation, especially when dressed up by a man of
ardent imagination, like Burke. The delinquencies of the
governor-general had been not unfrequent objects of Burke's
declamation, although it was not till the beginning of the year
1786 that he made the open declaration of his design to bring
this great offender to justice. He had moved for the production
of Indian papers and correspondence as early as the month of
February in this year, and on the 4th of April he stood up in
the House of Commons to charge Warren Hastings with high
crimes and misdemeanours, exhibiting against him nine distinct
articles of accusation, which, in a few weeks, were increased to
the number of twenty-two. The first charge was brought for-
ward on the ist of June, and, after a long and warm debate,
the House of Commons threw it out as untenable, by a very
large majority. On the i3th of June, the second charge, relat-
ing to the treatment of the Rajah of Benares, was brought
forward; and then an equally large majority declared, "That
this charge contained matter of impeachment against the late
governor-general of Bengal." Hastings, who was supported by
the whole strength of the East India Company, and who was
understood to enjoy the King's favourable opinion in a special
degree, had calculated on the support of his ministers; and
everybody's astonishment was great when they now saw Pitt
turn round and join with his enemies. Hastings felt this deser-
tion with great acuteness, and it is said that he never forgave it.
Some accounted for it by supposing that Pitt, and more espe-
cially Dundas, were jealous of Hastings's personal influence, and
feared his rising in Court favour ; and a variety of other equally
discreditable motives were assigned for this extraordinary change.
The return of the ex -governor's wife had preceded his own,
and Mrs. Hastings was received at Court with much favour
4i THE DIAMOND.
by Queen Charlotte, who was generally believed to be of a very
avaricious disposition, and was popularly charged with having
sold her favour for Indian presents. The supposed patronage of
the Court, and the manner in which it was said to have been
obtained, went much further in rendering Hastings an object of
popular odium than all the charges alleged against him by
Burke, and they were accordingly made the most of by that
class of political agitators who are more immediately employed
in influencing the mob. At the very moment when the im-
peachment was pending, a circumstance occurred which seemed
to give strength or, at least, was made to give strength to
the popular suspicions. The Nizam of the Deccan, anxious at
this moment to conciliate the friendship of England, had sent
King George a valuable diamond of unusual dimensions : and,
ignorant of what was going on in the English Parliament, had
selected Hastings as the channel through which to transmit it.
This peace-offering arrived in England on the 2nd of June,
while the first charge against Hastings was pending in the
House: and on the i4th of June, the day after the second
charge had been decided on by the Commons, the diamond, with
a rich bulse or purse, containing the Nizam's letter, were pre-
sented by Lord Sydney at a levee, at which Hastings was
present. When the story of the diamond got wind, it was tor-
tured into a thousand shapes, and was even spoken of as a serious
matter in the House of Commons ; and Major Scott, the inti-
mate friend and zealous champion of Hastings in the House,
was obliged to make an explanation in his defence. It was
believed that the King had received not one diamond, but a
large quantity, and that they were to be the purchase-money of
Hastings's acquittal. Caricatures on the subject were to be
seen in the window of every print-shop. In one of these
Hastings was represented wheeling away in a barrow the King
with his crown and sceptre, observing, " What a man buys, he
may sell;" and, in another, the King was exhibited on his knees
with his mouth wide open, and Warren Hastings pitching dia-
monds into it. Many other prints, some of them bearing
evidence of the style of the best caricaturists of the day, kept
up the agitation on this subject. It happened that there was a
quack in the town, who pretended to eat stones, and bills of his
exhibition were placarded on the walls, headed, in large letters,
" The great stone-eater ! " The caricaturists took the hint, and
drew the King with a diamond between his teeth, and a heap of
others before him, with the inscription, " The greatest stone-
eater ! " Songs and epigrams on the diamond were passed about
THE SONG OF THE DIAMOND. 413
in all societies, and others, of a less refined character, were
sung about the streets, or sold to the populace by itinerant
ballad-dealers. One of these, now before me, printed on a slip
of coarse paper, with the title, " A full and true account of the
wonderful! diamond, presented to the King's Majesty, by
Warren Hastings, Esq., on Wednesday the i4th of June, 1786,
being an excellent new song, to the tune of Derry down,"
deserves to be reprinted (with a slight necessary alteration) as a
good example of the class of literary productions to which it
belongs :
"I'll sing you a song of a diamond so fine,
That soon in the crown of our monarch, will shine ;
Of its size and its value the whole country rings,
By Hastings bestow' d on the best of all kings.
Derry down, &c.
" From India this jewel was lately brought o'er,
Though sunk in the sea, it was found on the shore,
And just in the nick to St. James's it got,
Convey'd in a bag by the brave Major Scott.
Deny down, &c.
" Lord Sydney stepp'd forth, when the tidings were known
It 'a his office to carry such news to the throne ;
Though quite out of breath, to the closet he ran,
And stammer 'd with joy ere his tale he began.
Derry down, &c.
" ' Here 's a jewel, my liege, there 's none such in the land ;
Major Scott, with three bows, put it into my hand :
And he swore, when he gave it, the wise ones were bit,
For it never was shown to Dundas or to Pitt.'
Derry down, &c.
" ' For Dundas,' cried our sovereign, ' unpolish'd and rough,
Give him a Scotch pebble, it's more than enough.
And jewels to Pitt, Hastings justly refuses.
For he has already more gifts than he uses.'
Derry down, &c.
" ' But run, Jenky, run ! ' adds the King in delight,
' Bring the queen and the princesses here for a sight ;
They never would pardon the negligence shown,
If we kept from their knowledge so glorious a stone.
Derry down, &c.
*' 'But guard the door, Jenky, no credit we'll win,
If the prince in a frolic should chance to step in :
The boy to such secrets of state we '11 ne'er call,
Let him wait till he gets our crown, income, and all.*
Deny down, &c.
" In the princesses run, and, surprised, cry, ' la !
' 'Tis as big as the egg of a pigeon, papa ! '
' And a pigeon of plumage worth plucking is he,'
Replies our good monarch, ' who sent it to me.'
Deny down, &c.
FARMER GEORGE.
" Madam Schwellenberg peep'd through the door at a chink,
And tipp'd on the diamond a sly German wink ;
As much as to say, ' Can we ever be cruel
To him who has sent us so glorious a jewel ?'
Deny down, &o.
"Now, God save the queen ! while the people I teach,
How the king may grow rich while the Commons impeach ;
Then let nabobs go plunder, and rob as they will,
And throw in their diamonds as grist to hia mill.
Derry down, &c."
The extreme frugality of the King and Queen in private life,
and the meanness which often characterized their dealings, had
already become subjects of popular satire, and contrasted strongly
with the reckless extravagance of the Prince of Wales. This
became still more generally a subject of conversation, when, in
the session of 1786, an application was made to the House of
Commons for a large sum of money to clear off the King's
debts, which in spite of the now enormous civil list, he had
latterly incurred. As there was no visible outlet by which so
much money could have disappeared, people soon made a variety
of surmises to account for King George's heavy expenditure ;
some said that the money was
spent privately in corrupting
Englishmen to pave the way
to arbitrary power, and most
people believed that their
monarch was making large
savings out of the public mo-
ney, and hoarding them up
either here or at Hanover.
It was said that the royal
pan* were so greedy in the
acquisition of money, that
they condescended to make a
profit by farming ; and the
royal farmer and his wife
figured about rather exten-
sively in prints and songs.
In these the royal pair are
represented as haggling with their tradesmen, and cheapening
their merchandize. Pictures represented them as visiting the
shops at Windsor, to make their bargains in person.
Carlton House, as has just been observed, presented a very
different scene, for the Prince of Wales seemed ambitious only
of taking the lead in every wild extravagance and fashionable
FARMER GEORGE AND IH3 WIFE.
THE PRINCE OF WALES. 415
vice that characterized the age in which he lived. With the
tradition of the family feuds, which seemed inseparable from the
history of the princes of the House of Brunswick, the prince was
on very bad terms with the King, his father, and more especially
with the Queen. They disliked him because he was profligate ;
they disliked his politics, and they disliked him still moiv
because he took for his companions the very men towards whom
King George nourished the greatest aversion. In 1783, when
the coalition ministry was in power, and the prince had just
come of age, the ministers proposed that he should have a settle-
ment of a hundred thousand a-year ; but the King insisted on
allowing him no more than fifty thousand, making him dependent
on his bounty for the surplus. From this moment the prince
became the inseparable friend and companion of Charles Fox,
and among his principal associates were Sheridan and Lord
North. The King and Queen were further irritated by the
report of the prince's private marriage which, of course, could
not be a legal one with Mrs. Fitzherbert. This was a sore
subject at Court ; and even Pitt was encouraged to look at the
prince with some sort of disdain. The ministerial writers were
by no means sparing in their allusions, and the failings of the
heir- apparent were laid open to the public in frequent para-
graphs in the newspapers. As might be expected, the prince
was rapidly involving himself in debt, and his difficulties had
become so great in the summer of 1786, that he found it neces-
sary to apply to the King for assistance ; but he met with a
peremptory refusal. In his distress, the Duke of Orleans, pro-
verbial for his immense riches and for his dissipation, who had
been in England as Duke of Chartres in 1783 and 1784, and had
then formed a close intimacy with the Prince of Wales, and who
was now again on a visit to this country, offered his assistance,
and the prince appears to have been only prevented by the
earnest expostulations of some of his private friends from
borrowing a large sum of money of the French prince to relieve
himself.
When he found that no assistance was to be expected from
the King, the Prince of Wales determined to make a show of
magnanimity, and adopted the resolution of suppressing his
household establishment, and retiring into a life of strict economy.
The works at Carlton House were stopped, the state apartments
shut up, and his race-horses, hunters, and even his coach-horses,
were sold by public auction. He at the same time vested forty
thousand a year the greater part of his income for the pay-
ment of his debts. The prince's friends, and a large portion
416
CARICATURES ON THE PRINCE,
even of the populace for, in spite of his irregularities, the
prince was at this time far from unpopular, trumpeted him
forth as the model of honesty and noble self-denial. But the
King was highly displeased, and the prince's conduct was
represented at Court as a mere peevish exhibition of spleen, and
as an attempt to make the King and his ministers unpopular.
The press that portion of it which was under government
influence published forth the prince's failings in an indecent
manner ; his riotous life, his connexion with Mrs. Fitzherbert,
and all his promiscuous amours, were commented upon, and
represented in not very decorous prints and caricatures, which
again were imitated in others of a far more vulgar character.
The supposed alliance with Mrs. Fitzherbert was more especially
an object of pictorial scandal; the prejudices of the mob were
worked upon by representations of the danger which threatened
the constitution from the marriage of the heir-apparent with a
Catholic, which was represented as being the work of Fox and
Sheridan. Burke, under the character of a Jesuit, was seen
officiating at the marriage, and blessing the union. The alleged
poverty of the prince, it was said, had not put a stop to his
riotous living, and his doings at Brighton during the autumn
for Brighton was already his favourite place of residence
were not overlooked. In one print, said to be by Qillray, the
party at Brighton are pictured (in allusion to the prince's cir-
cumstances) as " The Jovial Crew ; or, Merry Beggars." The
LANDING AT BOTANY BAT.
prince's companions are Mrs. Fitzherbert, Fox, Sheridan, Burke,
Lord North, Captain Morris, and two others. Several other
well-executed engravings, undoubtedly by Gillray, embody severe
attacks on the prince and his friends. One, published on the
ist of November, 1786, and entitled "Non-commission officers
CAPTAIN MOBRI8. 417
embarking for Botany Bay," represents the same party, with
the exception of the lady, setting out in a boat for the newly-
established penal settlement. The prince is here seated on a
butt of " imperial tokay ;" and Burke is equipped in a bishop's
mitre. A sequel to this, published on the i6th of November, is
entitled " Landing at Botany Bay." The prince and his party
are now arrived at their destination. A man who takes the lead
carries a standard inscribed, " The Majesty of the People." He
is followed by Burke, with his mitre and pastoral staff, who reads
the service from the Newgate Calendar. Captain Morris comes
next, with the legs and lower extremities of a goat. The prince
is carried on shore on the shoulders of two convicts, supported
on each side by Fox and North, the former equipped in armour.
The ship which had borne them over the ocean is entitled the
" Coalition Transport C* Morris, Commander."
Captain Morris was now the constant attendant on the prince's
revelry, which he enlivened by his songs and by his wit. Both,
it is hardly necessary to say,
were too often of a licen-
tious description ; but the
captain's minstrelsy de-
served the reputation it
enjoyed among his contem-
poraries. He was the best
song-writer of his day, and
many of his effusions have
been thrown into unmerited
oblivion. At the time of
which we are now speaking,
in the first struggles bet ween
Whigs and Tories under the
ministerial dictatorship of
William Pitt, he composed
more political songs than at
any other period. The
above portrait is taken from
a sketch by Gillray, in 1790, and represents the minstrel in the
moment of joviality. Amongst other caricatures against the
prince was one published on the i8th of January, 178 7, in which
he is represented in the character of the prodigal son, compelled
to tend upon and associate with swine. Near him are the
" prince's feathers," thrown into the dirt ; and the inscription on
bis Barter is reduced to the word " honi." Amid the shoal of such
Prince of Wales was at this time
CAPTAIN MORRIS.
caricatures, of which the
E E
4 i8 THE PRODIGAL SON.
made the butt, those published in his defence, or, rather
against his alleged persecutors, were comparatively few, and not
very remarkable. But there is a large and rare print, published
in 1786, and understood to be a work of Gillray (who not
unfrequently worked for both sides of the question), entitled
"A New Way to pay the National Debt." The King and
Queen, attended by their band of pensioners, are issuing from
the Treasury gateway, all so laden with money that it is rolling
out of their pockets. Pitt, nevertheless, is adding large bags of
the national revenue to the royal stores, to the very evident joy
of their majesties. On the wall, on this side of the picture, are
THE PRODIGAL SON.
several torn placards, one entitled "Charity, a romance;"
another contains the commencement of " God save the King."
One, that is not torn, has the announcement, " From Germany,
just arrived, a large and royal assortment ....;" and another
professes to contain the " Last dying speech of fifty-four male-
factors executed for robbing of a hen-roost ;" an allusion to the
severity with which the most trifling depredators on the King's
private farm were prosecuted. Beneath them is seated a crippled
soldier, seeking in vain for relief. On the other side of the
picture, a little in the background, we see the prince, all tattered
and torn, left by his father in poverty, and receiving the
ofler of a check for two hundred thousand pounds from a
foreigner, the courtly Duke of Orleans. Behind them, the walls
POVERTY BELIEVED.
419
POVERTY RELIEVED,
are also placarded. On one bill we read, "(Economy, an old
song ;" on another, " British property a farce ;" on a third, " Just
published, for the benefit of poste-
rity, The dying groans of liberty ;"
and two torn bills immediately over
the prince's head bear, one, the
prince's feathers, with the altered
motto, "Ich starve;" the other,
two hands joined, with the word
"Orleans" underneath. This bit-
terly satirical picture is stated to be I
" design' d by Helogabalis," and
" executed by Sejanus." The allu-
sions are sufficiently obvious.
After the prince had carried on
his economical project some months,
finding that it had little effect upon
the court, he agreed with his confi- ^
dential advisers that the subject
should be laid before the House of
Commons. This was accordingly
done on the 2oth of April, 1787,
by Alderman Newnham, who gave
notice of a motion for an address to the King, praying him to
take the situation of the prince into consideration, and to grant
him such relief as he in his wisdom should think fit. This pro-
ceeding appears to have thrown the Court into great embarrass-
ment. On the 24th, Pitt brought up the question again,
declaring that the prince would receive no assistance from the
government ; pressed Newnham to drop his intended motion ;
and held out a threat that if he did otherwise, he (Pitt) should
be driven to the disclosure of circumstances which he should
have thought it otherwise his duty to conceal. On the 27th,
Alderman Newnham acquainted the House with the purport of
his intended motion ; on which Mr. Rolle, the member for
Devonshire, a pertinacious supporter of all the measures of the
Court, and the hero of the very remarkable satire entitled " The
Rolliad" (already mentioned), spoke against the introduction of
such a motion, declaring that the question involved matter
tending immediately to affect the constitution in church and
state. This was understood to refer to the rumoured marriage
with Mrs. Fitzherbert. Pitt supported Rolle, and again talked
of the delicate investigation which he wished to avoid. On
this, the Prince's friends, Sheridan and Fox, fired up, and a
E E 2
420 THE IMPEACHMENT OF HASTINGS.
warm debate ensued, in the course of which Fox and Sheridan
denied that the prince was married to Mrs. Fitzherbert ; a
declaration which was never believed by the mass of the people.
They declared, moreover, that the prince was ready to submit
to any investigation, and that the motion should be persevered
in. This statement had its desired effect ; the ministry deter-
mined not to expose themselves to the inconveniences that might
arise from the discussion of the motion itself, and, by the King's
desire, Pitt had an interview with the Prince of Wales, who
consented that the motion should be withdrawn on the express
promise that everything should be settled to his royal highness's
satisfaction. On the 24th of May, the House of Commons
agreed to an address to the King to allow the prince a hundred
and sixty-one thousand pounds out of the civil list, to defray
his debts, and twenty thousand pounds to complete the works at
Carlton House, it being understood that he had promised to
refrain from contracting debts in future. Thus ended, not very
much to the credit of any party, an affair which for some
months had drawn public attention from other matters.* The
prince and his friends had sacrificed the character of Mrs. Fitz-
herbert, much, as it was said, to her indignation ; and several
pamphlets were published, one by Home Tooke, vindicating her
honour from the blot it had sustained from the light in which
her connexion with the Prince of Wales was placed by the
declarations of his friends in the House of Commons.
With the parliamentary session of 1787, Burke re-commenced
his attack upon Warren Hastings. Pitt had already acknow-
ledged that the second charge involved sufficient grounds for an
accusation ; and when, on the 7th of February, this second
charge, relating to the spoliation of the Begum, or Princess, of
Oude, had been brought forwards in the wonderful speech of
Sheridan, admired equally for its length, its perspicuity, and its
poetry, by which, no doubt, the sins of the governor-general
were clothed in intensely exaggerated horror, in the adjourned
debate on the following night, the premier declared his full con-
* On the 2nd of August, 1786, when the prince's affairs were first in
agitation, and soon after the reduction of his domestic establishment, occur-
red the very feeble attempt to assassinate the King, made by a mad woman,
Margaret Nicholson. It was made the utmost use of by the ministers to
Btrengthen themselves and the Crown, and addresses of congratulation were
got up from every corner of the kingdom, to a degree that had never been
witnessed before. The King was so much offended at the prince, that he
did not allow any communication to be made to him on the subject ; and
when the latter repaired to Windsor, to give his personal congratulations on
the escape, it ia said that the King refused to admit him to his presence.
THE TRIAL. 421
viction of the criminality of the accused ; aud charge alter
charge was now carried against him, until at the end of the
session it was resolved that ulterior proceedings should be imme-
diately commenced. On the loth of May, Burke accordingly
repaired to the bar of the House of Lords, and, in the name of
the House of Commons, and of all the Commons of Great
Britain, impeached Warren Hastings of high crimes and
misdemeanours, at the same time announcing that the Commons
would with all convenient speed exhibit articles against him.
The trial of Warren Hastings took place in Westminster
Hall, which was fitted up for the occasion with great magnifi-
cence, and commenced on the 1.5th of February, 1788. Burke's
preliminary speech occupied four days, and produced au extraor-
dinary effect on all his hearers. The Benares charge, and that
relating to the Begums of Oude, were proceeded with in Feb-
ruary and April. The proceedings, as a matter of course, closed
with the session, of Parliament. . Domestic events at home, and,
after them, still more extraordinary events abroad, came to
retard the progress of the impeachment. The dissolution of
Parliament in 1 790, while the trial was still pending, created a
further embarrassment ; the parties originally united in the
prosecution broke up their mutual friendship ; the public indig-
nation, which at first they had so effectively stirred up, gradually
cooled, or was turned off into other channels, and, after drag-
ging on feebly through several subsequent years, it ended in the
April of 1795 in an acquittal on all the charges.
The party in Parliament, who were believed to represent the
King's private feelings, and especially the Lord Chancellor
Thurlow, had defended . Hastings throughout his trial, thus
leaving no doubt of the royal sentiments. It is difficult to
assign any very, plausible motives for the part acted by Pitt, and
especially for bis sudden change at the commencement of the
trial ; but it is a-very remarkable circumstance that, of the two
great political caricaturists, while Gillray (who first took part
with Hastings) changed with the minister, and subsequently
published caricatures against him, Sayer, although notoriously
patronized by Pitt, continued to the end to ri'dicule the accusers.
Some of the earner works of the latter artist on this subject
are too minute in their allusions to interest us much at the
present day.
On the nth of May,, .17 86,- Gillray. published one of the best
of his earlier prints, under the title of "The political banditti
assaulting the saviour of India," in which Warren Hastings is
represented as .defending himself with the shield of honour
422 CARICATURES ON THE TRIAL.
against Burke, who fires a blunderbuss at him in front, while
Fox is attacking him with a dagger from behind. Lord North,
'in the mean time, is robbing him of some of his money-bags.
The supporters of the impeachment represented Hastings, as
another Verres, called upon by the modern Cicero to answer for
A MODERN CICERO AGAINST VEBBES.
his oppressive government of the provinces entrusted Co his
care. A bold sketch of the orator was published on the 7th of
February, 1787, the day on which proceedings against Hastings
were resumed in the House of Commons, under the title of
" Cicero against Verres." Fox and North are seen behind the
eloquent accuser. In 1788, the year of the impeachment, the
caricatures on this subject
became more numerous.
One by Gillray, published
on the ist of March, under
the title of "Blood on
Thunder fording the Red
Sea," represents Hastings
carried in safety on the
shoulders of the Lord Chan-
cellor Thurlow through a
sea of blood, strewed with
the bodies of mangled In-
dians. In another print by
Gillray, entitled "A Dish
of Mutton-chops," the head
of King George is served on
a dish at a table, round
BLOOD OK THUNDER, which sit Pitt, Hastings,
THE POLITICAL MAGIC LANTEKN.
4*3
<id Thurlow ; the premier is eating the tongue, while Hastings
is employed in picking out the eyes, and the chancellor
devours the brains. Among those published by Sayer at this
period were, i. a print, published on the nth of April, entitled,
" The Managers in distress, in which Burke, Fox, and his fellow-
accusers are thrown from the bridge they designed to pass over,
owing to the giving way of the piers. Fox exclaims, " D n
the piers, they wont support us!" 2. "The first Charge,"
published on the I4th of April, and relating to a rather frivolous;
article of accusation, that an Indian prince had been deprived of
his hookah, or pipe, and so hindered from smoking. The
accuser (Burke), with one of his most energetic gestures, elo-
quently appeals to the feelings of his audience " Guilty of not
suffering him to smoke for two days!" 3. One published oni
the 26th of April, under the title of "A Reverie," an allusion
A Benares Flea. A Begum Wart. Begun'a Tears.
OBJECTS MAGNIFIED.
AnOuzia
to some curious information produced by Burke relating to the
private history of the Begum or princess. 4. " The Princess's
Bow, alias the Bow Begum," published on the ist of May, and
representing the Eastern princess seated, and receiving the
homage of Burke, Fox, and Sheridan ; beneath her seat we
perceive the face of Sir Philip Francis, the bitter personal enemy
of Hastings, and the prompter in many of the proceedings
against him : he says, " I am at the bottom of all this !" On
the wall above hangs a picture, illustrative of the old saying,
" Parturiunt monies, nascetur ridiculus mus." 5. " The Galante
Show," published on the 6th of May. This is the best of the
set ; it represents Burke as the showman, exhibiting, by means
of a magic lantern, the magnified figures of different objects on
the wall. The objects are, " A Benares Flea," which takes the
form of an elephant ; a Begum wart, as large as Olympus, Pelion,
and Ossa piled one on the other ; " Begum's Tears," of propor-
tionate dimensions ; and " an ouzle," which appears in the sem-
424
THE LAST SCENE.
btance of a whale. The spectators are delighted with the exhi-
bition ; one remarks that the objects are " finely magnified ;"
another exclaims, with poignant feelings, on observing the
dimensions of the tears, " Poor ladies they have cried their
eyes out !" a third, evidently intended to represent Lord Derby,
remarks, that the last object is "very like an ouzle."
In 1795, at the end of the trial, Sayer published a large print,
entitled " The last scene of the manager's farce," in which the
bust of Warren Hastings is represented rising pure from the
black clouds of calumny with which it had been obscured, and
now surrounded with a halo of glory. Above are two figures
in the characters of good and bad angels, Thurlow and Lough-
borough, the former declaring, " Not black, upon my honour !"
the latter, " Black, upon my honour !" The clouds of darkness
are rising from a cauldron, filled with the various charges as so
many poisonous ingredients, more of which are in the hand of
the conjurer (Burke), who is described as " one of the managers
and a principal performer ; who, having out-Heroded Herod,
retires from the stage in a passion at seeing the farce likely to
be damned." The conjurer and his cauldron are sinking
through trap-doors in the stage ; the latter is inscribed with the
words, " Exit in fumo" Fox appears in the manager's box as
" another manager, a great actor, very anxious about the fate of
the farce." Behind him are several "other managers, very well
dressed, but not very capital performers, some of them tired of
acting." The face of Sir
Philip Francis is seen peep-
ing from behind a scene
" the prompter, no charac-
ter in the farce, but very
useful behind the scenes."
The manager's box is old
and torn; a rat has made its
way through the crevices,
and holds in its mouth one
of the tickets of admission
to the trial in Westminster
Hall; and a snail, gradu-
ally crawling its slow
course through year after
year, 1787, 1788, 1789,
and so on to 1/95, represents the dull progress of this tiresome
impeachment. Beneath the stage we have a glance of the evil
one in a warm place, designated as " a court below, to which the
A SNAIL 8 PROGRESS.
HASTINGS ACQUITTED.
425
managers retire upon quitting the stage." Satan mutters the
rhyme,
" By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes !'
The trial of Warren Hastings was indeed, in its result, a farce,
and an expensive one ; but, perhaps, like many other such farces,
which have little utility in themselves, it was the cause of the
reformation of much evU, and led the way to a more enlightened
and just policy with respect to our eastern empire.
The proceedings against Warren Hastings were the only sub-
ject which produced much excitement during the spring and
summer of the year 1788. The ministers continued to carry all
their measures by large majorities, or without division ; and the
opposition in the house was reduced almost to an opposition of
words. Out of Parliament, however, the feeling of discontent at
this state of things was gaining ground upon the strong reaction
which had taken place at the beginning of Pitt's reign, and the
subject of parliamentary reform, which had been driven out of
the House of Commons, was in public canvassed more and more
every day. The more general publication of the debates in Par-
liament fostered the liberal spirit, and gave the speeches of the
opposition a weight out of doors which they seemed no longer to
possess within. The accusations against the court and ministers,
of purchasing power by corrupt means, were repeated more exten-
sively, and it was commonly believed that no small portion of
the burdensome civil list was expended for this
purpose. A clever caricature by Gillray was
published on the 2nd of May, 1788, under the
title of " Market- Day every man has his
price ;" in which the ministerial supporters
are represented as horned cattle exposed
for sale. The scene is laid in Smithtield ;
and the dark, scowling figure of Chancellor
Thurlow, as the state farmer, stands forth as
the principal purchaser. At the window of
a public-house adjoining appear Pitt and
Dundas, a jovial pair, drinking and smoking,
as if almost regardless of the scene. Hastings
is riding off with the King, in the guise of a
calf which he has purchased ; the influence
of Indian money and diamonds on the palace A BCTER OF CATTLE.
was an article of universal belief. Fox,
Burke, and Sheridan are thrown from a sort of van, on which
they were driving, by the overwhelming rush of the cattle.
4*6
AN INDEPENDENT VOTER.
The appointment of Lord Hood in the beginning of July to a
place at the board of Admiralty, rendered necessary a new elec-
tion for the city of Westminster, when that city was contested
on the opposition interest by Lord John Townshend. The latter
was well supported by his friends and party ; and, after an obsti-
nate canvass, the Court candidate was
thrown out by a very large majority. This
was a severe defeat to the ministers, who
are said to have used every kind of influence
to secure the return of Lord Hood. On the
1 4th of August, ten days after the close
of the poll, the corrupt practices of the
ministerial agents on this occasion drew
forth from Gillray a caricature with the
title, "Election troops bringing in their
accounts to the pay-table." A motley as-
semblage, consisting of newspaper-writers,
soldiers, ballad-singers, mob-exciters, false
voters, Jews, and a variety of other charac-
ters, besiege the door of the Treasury.
Among the rest, a worthy disciple of St.
Crispin, with the cockade of Lord Hood in
AN INDEPENDENT VOTER. h . is ha * presents a claim " for voting three
times ;" a practice which appears to have
prevailed among this constituency on a large scale.
It was just at the moment when the proceedings against
Warren Hastings absorbed public attention, that Gillray brought
out a remarkable caricature, the only object of which appears to
have been to bring together, in a sort of unnatural familiarity,
the figures of the persons at that moment most strongly con-
trasted by political antipathies, personal intrigues, or other
causes. This print, which is now become one of the rarest of
Gillray's works (because probably its form renders it more diffi-
cult to preserve from injury,) is entitled " The Installation
Supper, as given at the Pantheon by the knights of the Bath,
on the a6th of May, 1788." To explain the title, it may be
observed that there had been a grand installation of knights of
the Bath in Westminster Abbey on the ipth of May ; and that
the satirist supposes them to have given a supper in conse-
quence. The Pantheon, the well-known scene of Mrs. Cornelys's
masquerades, had witnessed many assemblies which presented an
appearance equally anomalous with that here offered to our
view. At a long table, not over-well provided with the good
things of this world, the company is distributed in groups of
HASTINGS AND BUEKE. 4*7
gentlemen and ladies in familiar conversation, generally so
selected as to form the greatest outrage upon probability. Near
one extremity, the leaders of the two grand political parties, Fox
FBIENDSH1P BEHIND THE BACK.
and Pitt, whose mutual personalities at this time so frequently
disturbed the equanimity of the House of Commons, are quietly
hob-nobbing behind the back of the gruff chancellor, Thurlow,
while the latter is eagerly employed on the contents of his plate,
WAKT AND ABUNDAKCB.
totally unaware of this singular conciliation. Almost at the
other end of the table sits the ex-governor of India, Warren
428
THE SING'S FIEST DERANGEMENT.
Hastings, and his lady all bedizened with diamonds. Hastings
has appropriated to himself a whole ham ; and his antagonist,
Burke, who sits solitary and unserved on the opposite side of
the table, is petitioning in vain for a share in the spoil. Others
of the remarkable men, and of the remarkable women, are easily
recognised. The Duke of Richmond is seen in close conference
with his political antagonist, Lord Rawdon. Lord Shelburne
shakes hands with Lord Sydney ; and Lord Derby is closely
engaged in conversation with Lady Mount Edgecumbe, an anti-
quated member of the bon-ton, who still dreamt of conquest.
The princes are each seated between a couple of ladies ; the
Prince of W.ales, besieged by Lady Archer (of gambling
memory) on his right,
and Lady Cecilia John-
son on his left, listlessly
picks his teeth with his
fork. Next to them
Mrs. Fitzherbert is con-
versing in the most
amiable familiarity with
the ex-patriot, Alder-
man Wilkes.
Since the arrange-
ment of his debts, and
while the unsupported
eloquence of the opposition fell harmless upon the all-powerful
ministers, the Prince of Wales had become to a certain degree
reconciled with his father, and he was received at court ; but a
few months brought about a new and very serious cause of rup-
ture, On the nth of July the King had prorogued the Parlia-
ment to the 25th of September, and it was thence re-prorogued
to the 2oth of November. The two Houses met at that time
under circumstances of extraordinary embarrassment. As early
as the month of July a change was observed in the King's
health which gave considerable uneasiness to his physicians, who
recommended a progress to Cheltenham, in the hope that he
might derive benefit as well from the change of scene as from
drinking the mineral waters. The King had at an early period
in his reign given some slight indications of a tendency to
mental derangement ; and that tendency seems to have been
confirmed, rather than relieved, by the excitement caused by the
enthusiastic greetings with which he was received in the country
through which he had to pass. Early in October, after his
return, the symptoms became much more alarming, and by the
A PRINCE CLOSE BESET.
THE REGENCY QUESTION. 429
end of the month the truth began to be whispered abroad, and
hints of the insanity of the highest personage in the realm found
their way into the newspapers. At length, on the "jth of No-
vember, while seated at the dinner-table with his family, the
King became suddenly delirious, and from this moment he
remained in a state in which he could be communicated with by
none but his physicians. The condition of the sovereign was
publicly known before the period for the assembly of Parliament,
and the greatest anxiety was felt throughout the kingdom.
When the two houses met on the 2oth of November, they
adjourned to the 4th of December, without entering upon busi-
ness of any kind ; on that day a report of the privy council
relating to the King's malady was laid on the table, and they
adjourned again till the 8th. From this time parliament was
occupied in anxious deliberation, without even taking its usual
holidays at Christmas.
The two great political parties were suddenly thrown in face
of each other under very extraordinary circumstances. It was
generally feared that there was no hope of the King's recovery ;
and the Prince of Wales, as heir-apparent to the throne, being
of age, was naturally the person who would be selected, as regent,
to exercise the royal authority. Pitt, who was neither personally
nor politically the prince's friend, knew well that his nomination
to the regency was tantamount to the dismissal of his ministry,
and the return of the Whigs under Fox to power. He was
anxious, therefore, either to shut the door against him, or, if
that could not be done, to restrict as much as possible his power
of action. He hardly condescended to conceal his motives from
the world. The opposition, on the other hand, were already
exulting in the prospect of place ; and Fox, who was on a tour
in Italy for the benefit of his health, was hurried home in a
condition ill able to bear the fatigue and excitement which
awaited him. In their haste to drive out their opponents, the
leaders of the liberal party blindly took up a doctrine which
was quite inconsistent with their usual principles, and which
probably under other circumstances they would have combated
with the greatest pertinacity ; they asserted that the prince, as
next heir to the throne, had an inherent right to the regency,
and that his right did not depend upon the will of the Parlia-
ment ; and, in defence of this doctrine, Fox put forth his
eloquence, and Burke his invective. Pitt and the Tories, with
equal inconsistency, threw themselves on the most popular -prin-
ciples of the constitution, and asserted that the prince had no
more right of himself to assume the government than any other
430 FOX'S EQUIVOCATION.
individual in the country ; but that the right of providing for
the government of the country, in cases where it was thus sud-
denly interrupted, belonged to the peers and to the nation at
large, through its representatives, and was to be regulated en-
tirely by their discretion. It was simply two factions striving
for power, neither of which cared to abide by abstract principles
as long as these stood in the way of their ambition. The
debates were consequently warm, and often personal. Fox, at
the commencement, had hastily and rashly used words to the
effect that the Prince of Wales possessed the inherent right to
assume the government, or, at least, expressions that admitted
of that interpretation. Scarcely had the words escaped his lips,
when the features of the proud and stiff premier gave place to
an unusual smile, and slapping his thigh with exultation, he
exclaimed to a member who was seated next to him, " I'll un-
Whig the gentleman for the rest of his life." During the rest
of the debates, he confuted Fox's arguments by asserting the
extreme doctrines of the liberal party. Fox's remarks were
commented upon in the same spirit by Lord Camden in the
House of Lords. On the iith of December Fox rose in his
place in the House of Commons, and recurred to this matter to
protest against the construction which had been placed upon his
words ; he stated, that he did not say that the prince might
assume the administration in consequence of his Majesty's tem-
porary incapacity, but that the right of administration subsisted
in him, and the assertion of his having such right to govern
was different from saying that he might assume the reins of
government, he had the right, but not the possession, which
latter he could not legally take without the sanction of Parlia-
ment, he might appeal to the two Houses to recognise his
claim, in the same manner as persons who are entitled to parti-
cular species of property apply, before they take possession, to
the proper court for a formal investiture, the adjudication of his
right belonged to the Parliament.
This explanation was far from answering the full purpose for
which it was designed ; people still looked upon Fox's original
declaration as a temporary assertion of ultra-Tory principles to
serve an object ; and they now accused him of trying to escape
the consequences by eating his own words. Among the multi-
tude of caricatures which appeared on this occasion, one repre-
sents him under the title of " The Word -eater," exhibiting his
skill before the assembled legislature, and holding in his hands
his "speech" and his "explanation." It is accompanied
with an
THE WORD-EATER. 431
"ADVERTISEMENT EXTRAORDINARY.
" This is to inform the public, that this extraordinary phenomenon is just
arrived from the Continent, and exhibits every day during the sittings of
the House of Commons before a select company. To give a complete
detail of his wonderful talents would far exceed the bounds of an advertise-
ment, as indeed they surpass the powers of description. He eats single
words and evacuates them so as to have a contrary meaning for example,
of the word treason he can make reason, and of reason he can make treason,*
He can also e^t whole sentences, and will again produce them either with a
double, different, or contradictory meaning ; and is equally capable of per-
forming the same operation on the largest volumes and libraries. He
purposes, in the course of a few months, to exhibit in public for the benefit
and amusement of the electors of Westminster, when he will convince his
friends of his great abilities in this new art, and will provide himself with
weighty arguments for his enemies."
Towards the end of the year, numbers of caricatures were
launched against the adherents of the Prince of Wales, satirizing
their eagerness for power, their presumed designs, and the pro-
spects of the country under such a government as the Whigs
desired. One of these, entitled " A Touch on the Times," and
published on the apth of December, 1788, appears to have been
very popular, as there was, at least, one imitation of it. Bri-
tannia is represented as handing the prince to the throne, which
her lion seems to bear with anything but equanimity. The
foundation step of the throne, on which the prince is placing his
foot, is, " The voice of the people ;" the second step, " Public
safety," is cracked and broken ; the emblem of virtue, inscribed
on the back of the throne, is a full purse. The prince is backed
by a motly group of pretenders to patriotism, who seek to benefit
by his accession : one,
who carries the en-
sign of liberty, is pur-
loining the prince's
handkerchief from his
royal pocket. The
genius of commerce
sits in the corner, a
victim to gin-drink-
ing.
When the minister
had demonstrated by
the force of his majo- COMHEBCB UNDER THE REGENCY.
rities that the ap-
* Fox, in one of the debates on this occasion, had accused Pitt of uttering
doctrines that were a treason against the constitution.
432 PITT'S PROPOSITIONS.
pointment of a regency was a matter which lay entirely at the
discretion of Parliament, he next brought forwards a string of
resolutions, which, though obstinately opposed, were passed on
the ipth of January, and which had the effect of placing the
executive in the hands of the Prince of Wales, under restrictions
which deprived him of any substantial power, the latter being
either placed in abeyance, or given to the Queen, who was Pitt's
friend. These resolutions were, " That as the personal exer-
cise of the Crown is retarded by the illness of his Majesty, the
Prince of Wales be requested to take upon himself, during the
continuance of his Majesty's illness, and in his name (as a
regent), the execution of all the royalties, functions, and consti-
tutional authorities of the King, under such restrictions as shall
be hereafter mentioned. That the Eegent shall be prevented
from conferring any honours or additional marks of royal
favour, by grants of peerage, to any person, except to those of
his Majesty's issue who shall obtain the age of twenty-one.
That he shall be prevented from granting any patent place for
life, or any reversionary grant of any patent place, other than
such as required by law to be for life, and not during pleasure.
That the care of his Majesty being to be reposed in her Majesty,
the officers of his Majesty's household are to be under the
direction of her Majesty, and not subject to the control of the
Eegent. That the care of his Majesty be reposed in the Queen,
to be assisted with a council."
Pitt made no secret that his restrictions were mainly intended
to abridge the power that would fall into the hands of what he
almost openly designated as a cabal, and the speeches of the
ministerial party generally set out on the assumption that the
prince would be surrounded by bad advisers. The prince him-
self was in a very ill-humour with the minister, and held
frequent consultations with the opposition. When Pitt com-
municated to him his intentions, on the 3oth of December, his
Royal Highness consented to take the regency, but expressed
strongly his dissatisfaction at the restrictions, in a letter which
is understood to have been written by Sheridan. The general
feeling out of doors, except among the staunch adherents of the
opposition in Parliament, seems to have been against the prince ;
but there were a few bitter caricatures on what was looked upon
by some as an unnecessary spoliation of the crown which he was
virtually to wear. In some of these the prince was represented
as a child in leading-strings, placed under the guidance of
William Pitt. In a bold print by Gillray, published on the 3rd
January, 1789, the premier is represented as on over-gorged
CARICATURES ON THE REGENCY BILL. 433
vulture, which has fixed its claw on the crown and sceptre, and
is tearing the prince's feathers from his coronet.
THE VULTURE OF THE CONSTITCTIOW.
The more numerous class of caricatures, however, were directed
against the party who demanded the unrestricted regency, and
the person of the prince was by no means spared, even in publi-
cations which were known to come from people who were gene-
rally looked upon as acting under the immediate patronage or
pay of the government. The private vices and weaknesses of the
prince and his companions were again raked up and exhibited to
the public. The former they represented as a mere tool in the
hands of a parcel of political adventurers, who aimea at gratifying
their own ambition at the expense of the constitution of their
country. The circumstance, soon known, that the prince's
letter to Pitt had been written by Sheridan, and shewn for
approval to the other Whig leaders, was seized upon as another
proof that he was not acting by his own independent judgment.
Sayer, who we have already seen was an ultra-Pittite, and a paid
one, represented the heir-apparent under the form of a horse
(the old emblem of the family of Hanover), taught by Sheridan
to write a letter " to Mr. Pitt," while Lord Derby, as a monkey,
is perusing the rough draught. Beneath the table is a rat-trap,
in which are captured several political rats. Under it is the
announcement, "To be seen at Mr. S n's (SheriJ;m's)
menagery, the wonderful learned Han r colt, who writes a
letter blindfolded. N.B. He is in training for several other
useful purposes. Also, a very curious monkey, who can read and
write a little, and imitates the human voice. Also, several very
extraordinary rats, from Holland, Buckinghamshire, Milton, and
other places." This print was published on the ayth of January,
1789; Sayer had already introduced the Hanoverian colt in a
434
THE HANOVERIAN COLT.
A CONVENIENT SCREEN.
caricature published on the lath of January, under the title of
" A mis-fire at the Constitution." Sheridan is here holding the
colt by the head ; and Fox,
as a bandit, is using it for a
screen, while he aims over its '
back at the British lion,
which is holding the rights
of the people and supporting
the insignia of royalty.
Fox's discharge turns out
but a flash in the pan. The
royal colt is treading under-
foot petitions and a vote of
thanks to Mr. Pitt from the
city of London. Sheridan
treads on the " oath of
allegiance ;" while a number
of papers fall from his pocket,
entitled " Paragraphs against
the ministers," " Puffs direct
for the P e," " Oblique
puffs for the P of W ," " Abuse of the ministers." It
would appear from this that Sheridan was looked upon as the
writer or prompter of a large portion of the newspaper para-
graphs in the interest of the prince.
The rats in the caricature first mentioned allude to a number
of little intrigues that were going on behind the curtain, among
men who were anxious to secure their interests in the event of
the prince ascending the throne. The greatest of political rats
was the chancellor, Lord Thurlow. In the conviction that the
King was past recovery, he at first held himself aloof under
different excuses from the consultations of the Cabinet, and
entered into secret communication with the prince, with the
view of securing the chancellorship under the regency, to the
exclusion of his rival, the Whig Lord Loughborough, who, it
was universally understood, was to take the office of lord
chancellor, whenever his party came into power. The prince's
advisers snatched at the prospect of detaching Thurlow from the
ministerial party, and gave encouragement to his advances.
When Fox arrived from Italy, he found things in this state ; and,
strongly prejudiced against Thurlow, he was persuaded only with
difficulty to use his personal influence in prevailing with Lord
Loughborough to waive his claims for the present. The Whigs,
however, soon saw reason to be distrustful of Thurlow, and
THE REGENCY BILL. 435
Loughborough was restored to his hopes of the chancellorship.
Thurlow, now perceiving that he was losing ground with his
own party, and not really gaining ground with the other, and
having obtained some rather strong glimpses of a near prospect
of the restoration of the King to his mental faculties, suddenly
appeared on the woolsack with all his old zeal for the ministers,
and gave his utmost support to Pitt's regency bill.
This bill was brought into the House of Commons on the _5th
of February, and it increased the number of restrictions and
enumerated them in greater detail. One clause restrained the
regent from marrying a Papist, and in committee the zealous Mr.
Rolle, still harping upon the old story of Mrs. Fitzherbert,
moved to introduce a paragraph, providing that the regent
should be incapacitated if he " is or shall be married in law or
fact to a Papist." This amendment, though rejected at once,
was a fruitful subject of new scandal out of doors. After several
very hot debates, the bill passed the Commons on the izth of
February. It had scarcely reached the other House, when the
reports of the King's recovery became stronger, and the Lords
adjourned from day to day, until the loth of March, when the
complete restoration of the King was officially announced, and
the Parliament regularly opened by commission, with a speech
from the throne. The regency bill was immediately thrown
aside, and the country was relieved from a great embarrassment,
which must, under the circumstances, have led to much con-
fusion. One important result of the agitation of the question,
was the establishment of a great principle in the constitution,
which was thus stamped with the sanction of that party in the
state who might have been expected to be most decidedly opposed
to it.
The embarrassment of the situation was increased by the
somewhat factious conduct of the Parliament of Ireland, where
both Houses, it has been supposed at the secret instigation of
Burke, and by the active intervention of Grattan, had passed
resolutions in the precise spirit of the opposition in England,
for addresses to the Prince of Wales, to request him to assume
of his own right the regency of Ireland, without any restrictions.
The lord-lieutenant refused to be the medium of transmission ;
and the two Houses elected a deputation to wait on the prince
in London, where he received them with marked favour, but
informed them of the circumstances which now rendered their
measures unnecessary. This was contrasted with the cold
manner in which he had received the English deputation under
Mr. Pitt. The prince's conduct throughout had been most
F F 2
43<5 THE KING'S RECOVERY.
obnoxious to the Queen, and gave great offence to the King,
who, after his recovery, expressed very openly his displeasure.
The caricatures and satirical paragraphs against the prince and
his party, were repeated with new spirit and violence. In one
of these, published by Gillray on the 2pth of April, under the
title of " The Funeral Procession of Miss Regency," the bier is
preceded by Burke, who, as a Jesuit priest, under the title of
"Ignatius Loyola," reads the service of the dead. The chief
mourner is entitled "The Princess of W s," it is Mrs.
Fitzherbert ; the second mourners are Fox and Sheridan, who
are designated as " The rival Jacobites." There is an allusion
throughout to the rumours relating to Mrs. Fitzherbert, and
the dangers with which the Protestant church was supposed to
be threatened by the prince's connections.
The conduct of the Lord Chancellor Thurlow was not forgotten
in the royal displeasure ; and the confidence between him and
his colleagues was never restored.
The rejoicing throughout England on the king's recovery was
loud and universal, and the joy was certainly sincere. The
metropolis was illuminated with unusual brilliancy on the izth
of March ; and the spontaneous burst of devotion to the royal
person which accompanied the grand procession to St. Paul's
on the 25th of April, the day fixed for public thanksgiving,
shewed how much the King had gained in popularity. The odes
and poems, usual on such occasions, filled the journals of the
day.*
The popularity of the ministers did not increase in the same
proportion, for it was too evident to every one that they had
* Among these loyal effusions, the following is given as the bona fide
production of an honest parish clerk in North Wales ; it may, perhaps, be
taken as a measure of the popular feeling among the mass, and the magazine
in which it was printed thinks it " is not unworthy of being recorded."
" Few lives upon ike recovery of his Majesty upon the old poam way.
" Happy recovery for the king,
This matter is mighty surprising,
God be thankd, its the next thing
As deliver the dead a living.
" Not by the ficle turn of the faculty,
It provd the providence of tlie Allmighty,
He has the mode of remedy,
Or turn us to eturnity.
" We ought not to thought such thing,
As Pitt is to appoint ua a severing,
Nor keen Fox has the fixin *,
God has the care to send us a king."
THE WEIRD SISTERS,
437
been actuated more by the spirit of political faction, which was
equally prevalent with both parties, than by true patriotism.
We must not overlook a rather celebrated caricature by Gillray,
entitled " Minions of the Moon," published a little later (it is
dated the 23rd of December, 1791), but generally understood to
refer to this affair. It is a parody on Fuseli's picture of " The
Weird Sisters," who are represented with the features of Dundas,
Pitt, and Thurlow ; they are contemplating the disc of the
moon, which represents on the bright side the face of the Queen,
THE WEIRD SISTERS.
and on the shrouded side that of the King, now overcast with
mental darkness. The three " minions" are evidently addressing
their devotions to the brighter side.
438
CHAPTER XII.
GEORGE III.
The French Revolutionary Period Effect of the Revolution in England-
Desertions from the Liberal Party in Parliament ; Burke's Philippics
Revolutionary Sympathy in England ; Dr. Price, Dr. Priestley, and
Thomas Paine Anti-Gallican Agitation Satires on the King and
Queen Agitation throughout the Country, and Government Measures
affecting the Liberty of the Subject Foreign Policy ; War with France.
KING- GEORGE awoke from the darkness of his mental
malady to be a witness of the most fearful social storm
that had struck Europe since the days when the broken empire
of Rome was overrun by the barbarian hordes of the North.
To the eyes of profound observers, France had been long labour-
ing under a complication of evils, which must eventually lead to
some great national calamity. Reckless corruption, and a selfish
contempt of the interests of the people, had, during many years,
been aggravating the irritation of the populace, while a school
of so-called philosophers were as industriously disseminating
principles which tended to undermine and dissolve the existing
frame of society. The increasing difficulties of the domestic
policy of France, was watched with interest in England, where
one party looked upon it as a grand struggle between liberty
and despotism ; another, less zealous in the cause of the former,
still rejoiced in the embarrassments at home, which hindered
France from being formidable to her neighbours, while they felt
a sort of exultation in seeing the government thus punished for
the part it had acted in the war of American independence.
Amid so many elements of discord, it was the misfortune of
France to be governed by a weak monarch, in every respect
unfitted to grapple with the difficulties of his position, a
people ill-disposed, an enormous national debt, and an adminis-
tration filled with abuses, were the legacies bequeathed to him
by his predecessors. A winter unusually severe, accompanied
with famine and its other concomitant disasters, ushered in the
year 1/89, and drove the mass of the people to little short of
despair. The French King endeavoured to avert the danger by
repeated concessions, which always came too late, and only
exposed to his discontented subjects the weakness of his posi-
ENGLISH SYMPATHY. 439
tion. The attention of Englishmen had been called from the
affairs of France by the serious calamity which threatened them
at home, and by the rejoicings after they had been relieved from
their fears by the King's recovery ; for several months the news
from France had occupied but a secondary place among our
foreign intelligence, when the extraordinary revolution of the
months of June and July, came suddenly to astonish all classes
of society in this country.
The French revolution at first excited considerable sympathy
in England, although, as it proceeded, and its true character
became developed, that sympathy soon diminished. During the
latter part of the year 1789, the tone of the moderate English
papers was decidedly favourable to the movement, which, it was
believed, would end in the establishment of free institutions.
Thus, the European Magazine, a periodical extremely moderate
in its politics, makes the following reflections in the month of
September : " The political phenomenon exhibited by France,
at this moment, is perfectly unparalleled throughout the annals
of universal history. If the constitution now forming, under
circumstances so peculiarly favourable, be finally established,
if the deliberations and wisdom of the philosopher be not
circumscribed by the intrigues of the politician, or destroyed by
the sword of faction, the result will be a chef-d'oeuvre of govern-
ment."
The interest which the English populace felt in the troubles
now going on in Paris, is shown by the frequency of allusions
to them on the stage. In some instances the scenes of the
incipient revolution were introduced in theatrical pageantry.
The popularity of such representations, and the class they were
intended to captivate, are testified by the words of an epilogue
pronounced on the 2ist of August, in the private theatre of
Lord Barrymore, at Wargrave, in presence of the Prince of
Wales, which places these subjects in the same category with
wonderful animals, boxers, and wrestlers, in that age the favourite
spectacles of the mob.
" But though, all anxious, every nerve we strain,
How can we hope your plaudits to obtain ?
Here the spectator no dark Bastille sees,
Pasteboard Versailles, and canvas Tuileriea ;
No keen remarks concerning French affaire ;
No dancing turkies and no drumming hares ;
Nor (as most fit in a gymnastic age)
Does Ben with Johnson fist to fist engage ;
Nor Humphreys here, Antaeus-like, renew
HU stubborn contest with the rival Jew."
440 THE STAGE USED POLITICALLY.
As we advance towards the end of the year, we find these
attempts to bring French politics on the stage more frequent,
and the feeling was evidently extending itself to the higher
theatres ; but at the same time the sentiments of the court
begin to be apparent in the proscription of them. On the i3th
of November, an opera, entiled "The Tale of St. Margaret,"
was brought out at Drury Lane in a mutilated form. It is
stated in the periodicals of the day that this performance was
originally designed for a representation of the assault and
destruction of the Bastille, with which was blended the story
of the Iron Mask ; but, when it came before the licenser, every
part of the piece that bore immediate resemblance to the late
popular events in Paris, was, from political considerations, for-
bidden, and therefore it was " unavoidably brought forward in a
maimed and mutilated state." The prologue, spoken by Ban-
nister, concluded with the following lines, which tended to pro-
pitiate the power that had curtailed the piece, as well as the
feelings of the populace. Britain, it says, stands as a blessed
beacon amid the storm which was raging abroad.
" Nations of freemen, yet unborn, shall own
Thee parent of their rights. Thou who alone,
By storms surrounded, fixt on Albion's rock,
With pity from on high behold'st the shock
Of jarring elements thyself at rest !
Conscious that thou, above all nations blest,
Free from revolt alike and slavish awe,
Art doubly safe where liberty is law 1"
An "occasional address" spoken at the Royal Circus in
November, on occasion of one of these political representations,
being intended more especially for the populace, was much
stronger in its expression of sentiments.
" How I have strove your kind applause to gain,
The interest of the scene will best explain.
To-night we lead you to a neighbouring shore,
Where swelling Tyranny sball reign no more;
Where Liberty has made a glorious stand,
And spread her lustre e'en o'er Gallic land.
Yes! Albion's spirit has at length inspired,
Warm'd every heart, and every bosom fired.
Oppression shrinks ; his hosts in terror fly,
And France is blest with England's liberty !
The goddess, rising in her native charms,
In one bright moment called her sons to arms.
True to her call, her glorious sons obey,
Beneath her banners work their rapid way.
And, oh, for ever be the band adored
Who first the Bastille's horrid cells explored,
THEATRICAL POLITICS. 441
Freed each pale inmate from a wretched doom,
And fixed their fame for ages yet to come.
Such glowing scenes to paint be ours to try.
Oh, should they move the heart, impeari the eye,
With gratitude increased we'll niglitly strive
To keep the blest emotions still alive !
\Vhat scene more suited to a British stage,
Than that where Freedom glows with honest rage ;
Warms a whole kingdom to confess its cause,
And fix indelible its sacred laws,
Finn as the rocks which girt our Albion's shore,
To stand revered till time shall be no more ?
Oh ! may such laws to other shores extend,
And prove to all a universal friend !
May proud Oppression from his throne be hurl'd,
And Freedom reign the mistress of the world !"
The same call for stage representation of French politics, and
the same jealousy on the part of the government, extended into
the provinces. At Bath, on the 2nd of November, the following
lines of an epilogue to the tragedy of " Earl Goodwin," were
expunged by command of the Lord Chamberlain, and were not
allowed to be spoken in the theatre.
" Lo ! the poor Frenchman, long our nation's jest,
Feels a new passion throbbing in his breast ;
From slavish, tyrant, priestly fetters free,
For Vive le roi I cries Vive la liberty I
And daring now to act as well as feel,
Crushes the convent and the dread Bastille."
In theatres of a less public character, other sentiments were
occasionally pronounced. At Mr. Fector's " private " theatre
at Dover, at a representation on the 4th of November, an
epilogue closed with the lines,
" But can we sit supine at others' woo ?
For royal sufferings loyal tears will flow ;
A generous nation mourns a fallen foe.
With grief our sympathising bosoms wring
At the sad fate of Uallia's captive king.
The monarch's palace is no prison here,
Free as his people what has George to fear I
His happy home no fishwomen beset,
Virtue and worth dissever faction's net;
Beloved he executes the sacred trust,
And foes proclaim him both benign and just.
Oh, may our loyalty its charm diffuse,
And every daring demagogue confuse ;
In every clime defeat sedition's plan,
Preserve the peace, and guard the rights of man."
The leaders of both the great political parties seem at first to
44* OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.
have accepted the French, revolution as a good omen for the
future prospects of Europe, although, their eyes were soon
opened to the real character of the movement, and the dangers
that were engendered by it. For some time, however, they
spoke with caution, and seemed anxious to avoid every occasion
of bringing the subject into discussion, however strongly several
of them may have expressed themselves in private. When the
parliament opened on the aist of January, 1790, the speech
from the throne omitted even the name of France, though it
spoke of the " continued assurances of the good disposition of
all foreign powers," but a passing allusion was made to " the
internal situation of different parts of Europe." The addresses
of both houses were agreed to with slight discussions ; the
movers spoke of the excellence of the English constitution, and
compared the constitutional liberty enjoyed in this country with
the anarchy and licentiousness which reigned in France. Most
of the speakers took it for granted that it had been the inten-
tion of the revolutionists to form a government in imitation of
our constitution. The House of Commons next proceeded to
the consideration of the slave trade, for the abolition of which
Wilberforce was now contending ; and no further allusion to
France was made until the ^th of February, when a discussion
arose upon the army estimates.
Although the ministerial speakers had expressed no disappro-
bation of the attempt of the French people to relieve themselves
from a ruinous and despotic government, it was well known that
their private sentiments were hostile to the present state of
things. The atrocious character which the popular movement
in France had now taken had already disgusted a large portion
of those who at first viewed it with favour, and it was destined
to break up, in a more disastrous manner than any previous
question, the ranks of the opposition. The grand explosion of
hostility against the French revolution came from a quarter in
which it might have been least expected. In the debate just
alluded to, Fox praised the conduct of the French soldiers in
refusing to act against the people, and said that it took away
many of his objections to a standing army. This dangerous
sentiment drew forth some severe remarks, especially from the
military part of the House. Fox, it was well known, had
accepted the revolution, in spite of all its sinister accompani-
ments, as the dawn of European regeneration ; and to the last
he defended its principles, and persisted in his hopes of its
favourable termination, while he disapproved of the conduct of
those who had driven it into so many excesses and calamities.
' 8 FIRST ATTACK. 443
One section of the Whig party fully partook in his sentiments
on this subject ; but there were many of his old friends who
disagreed with him. When the debate on the army estimates
was resumed on the pth of February, Fox repeated his remark
on the conduct of the French soldiers, and openly avowed his
opinion of the revolution, declaring that he exulted in the
successful attempt of our neighbours to deliver themselves from
oppression, intimating at the same time his confident belief that
the present convulsions would, sooner or later, give way to con-
stitutional order. This declaration roused Edmund Burke, who
deprecated the countenance given to the French revolution by
his old political friend and leader, made an eloquent declamation
on the errors and dangers of that extraordinary catastrophe,
and expressed his fears that the movement might eventually
reach our own country, where, he said, there were people watch-
ing only for the opportunity to imitate the French. When
Burke rose, he was evidently labouring under great agitation of
feeling ; and, in the warmth of his declamation, he declared
that he was prepared to separate himself from his oldest friends,
in order to defend the constitution of his country against the
encroachments of the baneful democratical spirit which had
produced so much havoc in France. Fox replied with modera-
tion, reasserted his own sentiments on the subject, and lamented
in feeling terms the difference of opinion which had arisen
between them ; but Sheridan, less temperate, burst into some-
thing like an invective against Burke, and described his speech
as one disgraceful to an Englishman, a direct encomium of des-
potism, and a libel on men who were virtuously engaged in
labouring to obtain the rights of men. Burke rose again,
expressed great indignation against Sheridan, and declared that
he considered their political friendship at an end for ever.
Pitt had sat quietly on the Treasury bench, inwardly rejoicing
at the division which had taken place among his opponents ; but
he also rose after Burke' s second speech, and, without making
any direct attack upon the French, he spoke of the necessity of
rallying round our own constitution, complimented Burke on the
sentiments he had that day expressed, and declared that he had
earned the gratitude of his country to the latest posterity.
Several others of the ministerial party followed Pitt in applauding
Burke's conduct. Fox felt personally for the disagreement, and
the whole Whig party took the alarm. Great exertions were
made to effect a reconciliation, but without any satisfactory
results, for Burke continued cold and distant ; and Sheridan, who
seems to have displeased his own party by his violence on this
444 THE REVOLUTION SOCIETY.
occasion, took little part in the parliamentary proceedings during
the remainder of the session.
Burke was correct in stating that there was a number of discon-
tented people in this country who admired the conduct of the
Gallic democrats, and who were most anxious to establish their
principles and follow their practice in this country. The poli-
tical agitation of the earlier part of the reign of George III., and
the warm partizanship to which it had led, had given a tendency
to the formation of clubs and private societies for the discussion
of political questions, which were scattered over the country, and
not only assisted the opposition in elections, but were extremely
useful allies in getting up petitions to the House on questions
likely to embarrass the ministers. Beyond this their influence
was not great, and there was nothing in their character to cause
any apprehensions. Some of them were at times attended, and
even presided over, by distinguished members of the opposition
in both Houses of Parliament. One of the most remarkable and
the oldest of these clubs was that known by the name of the
" Revolution Society," which consisted of a number of the old
Whig party, who met every year on the 4th of November to
celebrate the memory of the revolution of 1688. In 1788 this
society celebrated the centenary anniversary of that great event
with more than usual solemnity, and with a very large attendance ;
among those present was a secretary of State, and several
persons high in office and confidence at Court. The sentiments
expressed on this occasion were of the most loyal description ;
but a year seems to have altered very much the complexion of
the society. Most of the members shared in Fox's opinion of
the French revolution ; and, by a strange misunderstanding of
its true character, and of that of the French populace, they
imagined that it would bear a strict comparison with that which
had hurled James II. from the English throne. The society
met as usual on the 4th of November, 1789, under the presi-
dency of Lord Stanhope, a nobleman whose love of republican
principles was carried almost to insanity. Among the more
enthusiastic members of this society was an old man, a preacher
of the gospel, who (singularly enough) had been, on more occa-
sions than one, the financial adviser of young William Pitt, who
had not taken alarm at his zeal for the cause of American inde-
pendence as he now did at those outbursts of the same zeal which
merited for him the title of
"That revolution -sinner Dr. Price."
On the morning of the anniversary dinner of the Revolution
FRATERNIZATION WITH THE FRENCH. 445
Society in 1789, in the midst of the excitement produced in this
country by the earlier acts of the French revolution, Dr. Price
preached at a dissenting chapel in the Old Jewry, before the
members of the society, a sermon " On the love of our country,"
which was subsequently printed, and was the cause of consider-
able agitation. In this discourse, Price accepted the French
revolution as a glorious event in the history of mankind, as one
fraught with unmixed good to the whole human race. At the
conclusion, he burst into a rhapsody of admiration. " What an
eventful period is this ! I am thankful that I have lived to it :
and I could almost say, ' Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.' I have
lived to see a diffusion of knowledge which has undermined
superstition and error ; I have lived to see the rights of men
better understood than ever, and nations panting for liberty
which seemed to have lost the idea of it ; I have lived to see
thirty millions of people indignantly and resolutely spurning at
slaver}', and demanding liberty with an irresistible voice ; their
king led in triumph, and an arbitrary monarch surrendering
himself to his subjects. After sharing in the benefits of one
revolution, I have been spared to be a witness 'to two other
revolutions, both glorious ; and now methinks I see the ardour
for liberty catching and spreading, and a general amendment
beginning in human affairs the dominion of kings changed for
the dominion of laws, and the dominion of priests giving way to
the dominion of reason and conscience. Be encouraged, all ye
friends of freedom, and writers in its defence ! The times are
auspicious. Your labours have not been in vain. Behold king-
doms admonished by you, starting from sleep, breaking their
fetters, and claiming justice from their oppressors ! Behold the
light you have struck out, after setting America free, reflected
to France, and there kindled into a blaze, that lays despotism in
ashes, and warms and illuminates Europe!"
Such were the sentiments which at this moment were gaining
ground in England ; and the enthusiasm of the preacher seems
to have communicated itself to his audience. At the meeting of
the society, which was very fully attended, a motion proposed by
Dr. Price was agreed to by acclamation for a formal address of
" their congratulations to the National Assembly on the event of
the late glorious revolution in France." This address was
transmitted by the chairman, Lord Stanhope, and was received
with strongly marked satisfaction by the body to which it was
sent ; but it had the double effect of misleading the revolutionary
government as to the real i'eelings of the population of this
446 PAINE AND PRIESTLEY.
country in their subsequent transactions with England, and of
encouraging those attempts at political propagandism which
soon followed. A close correspondence was soon established
between the discontented party in this country, and the demo-
crats in Paris, from which Fox himself was not altogether free ;
and many new political societies were formed in different parts
of the island, some of them much more violent in their language
and professed objects than the London Revolution Society.
Counter societies were likewise established, to combat the revolu-
tion societies with their own weapons of agitation. We shall
soon witness the effects of this popular antagonism.
Two other individuals stood prominent among the violent
revolutionists of this country. The first was a man of low
origin, only half educated, but talented in that style of writing
which has its effect among those classes of society which were
now most agitated, and reckless in his attacks on all existing
institutions, political or religious. This was Thomas Paine,
originally a stay-maker at Thetford, who had subsequently been
an exciseman, then a sailor, after which he emigrated to America,
where his ardent revolutionary propensities had been blown up
into a blaze. He had now returned to England, was active
among the political clubs, and had attracted the notice of the
chiefs of the opposition, having even been admitted to a certain
degree of intimacy by Edmund Burke. Joseph Priestley merited
a more honourable celebrity by his researches and discoveries in
science, than by his political and religious opinions, in both of
which he was violently opposed to the established order of things.
Dr. Priestley was a Unitarian preacher, resident at Birmingham,
and belonged to a sect which had become numerous in various
parts of England, and which generally entertained political
opinions of a very liberal character. In the hands of people like
these, the clubs multiplied, and became more violent in their
language ; among the more celebrated of these were the Consti-
tutional Society, the " Club of the i4th of July," (the day of
the capture of the Bastille,) and the Corresponding Society, the
latter being the most violent of them all.
At the same time that these clubs were doing all they could
to spread democratical opinions through England, King George's
disinclination to making concessions to the liberal party, seemed
to increase with age and infirmities ; and he now adopted the
conviction that the concessions on the part of the crown had
been the chief cause of the French revolution. The clergy,
terrified by the fate of their Romish brethren on the other side
of the channel, seconded the King's resolution with the cry that
PREJUDICES AGAINST THE DISSENTERS. 447
the church was in danger ; they had been for some years looking
with alarm at the increase in the dissenting body, and they now
began to agitate against them, and to call for measures of per-
secution. In face of this feeling from above, other large and
intelligent portions of the community called loudly for legislative
reform, and for religious toleration. The revolution in France
was set up as a sufficient argument against reform in England ;
the real or pretended designs of some of the dissenters were
made to justify the continuance of the test and corporation acts ;
and even Wilberforce's favourite measure for the abolition of
slavery was stifled by an appeal to the horrors perpetrated in
French republican St. Domingo.
Fox brought forward in the House of Commons a motion for
the repeal of the test and corporation acts, on the 2nd of March,
1790, in a very able speech, to the principles of which no objec-
tion was made. Some members avowed their approval of the
measure, but said they considered themselves bound to obey the
will of their constituents, who, in various instances, had held
public meetings, and directed their representatives to oppose all
concession to the dissenters. Pitt declared that his feelings
were in favour of toleration, but he was afraid that in granting
their wishes he might be overthrowing one of the barriers of the
constitution. It was Burke who, on this occasion, took upon
himself the task of religious persecutor. He also made an
apology for the part he was taking, and then he flew off to his
favourite subject, the horrors and crimes of the French revolu-
tion ; he avowed general opinions totally at variance with those
with whom he had acted so many years, declared that there was
no such thing as natural rights of men, and condemned the
whole body of the dissenters in the strongest terms, as discon-
tented people, whose principles tended to the subversion of good
government. He even supported his opinions by calling to
memory the proceedings of the mad Lord George Gordon ; and to
prove the danger with which the constitution was now threatened,
he spoke of the celebrated sermon of Dr. Price on the love of
our country, and of some political writings of Dr. Priestley.
The motion was rejected by a majority of nearly three to one.
The question of religious toleration was that on which the
Tory party first began to agitate the people, and they succeeded
in exciting the prejudices of the mob, and even of the middle
classes, to an extraordinary degree. It was little short of a
new Sacheverell crusade ; for there were " no dissenter" meetings
in all parts of the country, and in some places "no dissenter"
mobs. Besides pamphlets of a more serious character, they were
448 LOYAL SON a.
ridiculed and burlesqued in satirical songs and poems, many of
which incited the populace to insult and abuse them. A lawyer
of Birmingham, well known by the name of councillor Morfit,
(as we find written by a contemporary hand, on a copy in the
possession of Mr. Burke,) composed a parody on the national
anthem, which soon became extensively popular, and was printed
sometimes with a large caricatured representation of the chief
dissenters brooding over sedition. It was entitled
OLD MOTHER CHURCH.
"God save great George our king,
Long live our noble king,
God save the king!
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the king !
" Old mother Church disdains
The vile dissenting strains,
That round her ring ;
She keeps her dignity.
And, scorning faction's cry,
Sings with sincerity,
God save the king 1
" Sedition is their creed ;
Feign' d sheep, but wolves indeed,
How can we trust ?
Gunpowder Priestley would
Deluge the throne with blood,
And lay the great and good
Low in the dust.
" History, thy page unfold,
Did not their sires of old
Murder their king 1
And they would overthrow
King, lords, and bishops too,
And, while they gave the blow,
Loyally sing,
" O Lord our God arise !
Scatter our enemies,
And make them fall ;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks ;
On thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all."
The language of the more violent among the dissenters, it
must be confessed, was not calculated to dispel the prejudices of
their enemies. Burke, in his speech against the motion for the
VIOLENCE OF THE DISSENTERS. 449
repeal of the test and corporation acts, had asserted, with truth,
that tolerant feelings were a thing unknown amongst the party
which was crying loudest for toleration, and all their proceedings
at this moment of agitation were strongly tainted with the
hitter animosity of the religious parties in the age of the Puritans.
Burke said that, according to the doctrines set forth hy the
dissenters, the church of Rome was a common strumpet, the
kirk of Scotland was a kept mistress, and the church of England
an equivocal lady of easy virtue, between the one and the other.
A rather popular ballad, distributed about during the agitation
against the dissenters at the beginning of 1790, before the
motion in Parliament for the repeal of the test and corporation
acts, under the title of " Now or never ; or, a Re veillee to tha
Church," pictures the terror of the church at the movement
among its opponents,
" Oh, who shall blow the brazen trump,
By famed Sacheverell sounded,
That spread confusion through the Bump,
And silenced every Eoundhead ?
" Now, now, if ever, loudly bawl
' The Church, the Church in danger 1'
Each prebend trembles for his stall,
And eke his rack and manger.
" Peers, knights, and squires, in league combined,
Protect your good old mother ;
For should the beldame slip her wind,
You'll ne'er see such another."
The church, says this ballad in equally strong language, was
unwilling to give up any portion of the loaves and fishes on
which it had been so long fattening,
" Two hundred years and more the dame
Has tightly held together ;
Her glorious motto, 'Still the same,'
In spite of wind and weather.
" Her babes of grace, with tender care,
She fed on dainty dishes ;
And none but they have had a share
Among the loaves and fishes.
" Shall Presbyterian shrieves and mayors
Eat custard with the wise men
Or meetings hear the pious prayers
Of searchers and excisemen ?
" The sects they prate of rights and stuff,
And brawl in fierce committees,
And soon will put on blue and buff,
While Price sings Nunc dimittit.
a a
45 AGITATION AGAINST DISSENTERS.
" Bouse, then, for shame ! ye church-fed race,
With Tories true and trusty,
Turn on your foe your fighting face,
And fit your armour rusty.
The universities next come in for their share of the attack , and
the ballad concludes with an allusion to the part taken by some
of the towns and corporations in appealing to Parliament
against the dissenters.
Among the caricatures produced by this excitement, and de-
signed to keep it up, is a large print by Sayer, published on the
1 6th of February (about a fortnight before Fox's motion in
the House of Commons), and entitled " The Repeal of the Test
Act, a vision." The three leading dissenters occupy a lofty
pulpit, and beat the "drum ecclesiastic" in the chapel of sedi-
tion. Priestley, to the left, with outstretched arms, is breathing
forth flames of "Arianism," " Socinianism," "Deism," and
A TRIO OF INCENDIARIES.
"Atheism." Price, in the middle, is closing his discourse with
a solemn prayer, "And now let us fervently pray for the
abolition of all unlimited and limited monarchy, for the anni-
hilation of all ecclesiastical revenues and endowments, for the
extinction of all orders of nobility and all rank and subordina-
tion in civil society, and that anarchy and disorder may, by our
pious endeavours, prevail throughout the universe. See my
sermon on the anniversary of the revolution." The doctor holds
in his hand a paper inscribed, " The prayers of the congregation
are desired for the success of the patriotic members of the
National Assembly now sitting in France." Dr. Lindsey, who
occupies the other side of the pulpit, is tearing to pieces a tablet
inscribed with the thirty-nine articles. Among the congregation
we see Fox (shouting " Hear, hear, hear ! ") Margaret Nichol-
NEW ELECTIONS. 45!
son (the would-be regicide), Dr. Eees, Dr. Kippis, Lord Stan-
hope (who is tearing to pieces the " Acts of Parliament for the
uniformity of the Common Prayer and Administration of the
Sacraments"), and several others, some of whom are busy
clearing away rubbish, including mitres, communion cups,
Bibles, and other similar articles. Through the window we
perceive that people are at work pulling down church steeples,
and an angel is flying away with the cross. The door of the
* 'Sanctum Sanctorum" on the other side reveals to our view a
picture of Cromwell suspended within. The following lines,
inscribed at the foot of the print, express the spirit of the
whole,
" From such implacable tormentors,
Fanatics, hypocrites, dissenters,
Cruel hi power, and restless out,
And, when most factious, most devout,
May God preserve the church and throne,
And George the good that sits thereon.
Nor may their plots exclude his heirs
From reigning, when the right is theirs !
For should the foot the head command,
And faction gain the upper hand,
We may expect a ruin'd land."
The agitation against the dissenters, and the alarm caused by
the disorderly and sanguinary turn which the revolution in
France had taken, were seized as offering a favourable oppor-
tunity for the elections, and Parliament was dissolved on the
loth of June. The new Parliament seems to have differed
little in its character from the old one ; and the only incident of
much importance, as depicting the political movement of the
day, was the appearance of John Home Tooke (so well known
in the earlier part of the reign as Parson Home of Brentford),
who offered himself as a candidate to contest Westminster with
Fox and Lord Hood. Neither Fox, nor his seconder, Sheridan,
were a match in mob-eloquence with Tooke, and the latter held
his place manfully on the hustings ; but, at the end of the poll,
he was in a considerable minority. This man, who is best
known to the public by his " Diversions of Purley," a work
which has long enjoyed a much better reputation than it merits,
had been in the political contentions of the beginning of the
reign a violent Wilkite : he had subsequently quarrelled with
Wilkes, and done everything in his power to vilify his private
and public character ; since that he seemed almost to have dis-
appeared from the political stage, until the French Revolution
and the English political societies again brought him to life..
e ct a
45 BURKE* S "REFLECTIONS."
On his rejection at Westminster he presented a petition against
the return, in a tone that gave great offence to the House of
Commons. We shall soon see him still more active in the
political factions of the day. The Westminster election of 1790
was, like its predecessors, the scene of much mobbing and vio-
lence, and produced abundance of electioneering squibs. A few
poor caricatures were directed chiefly against Fox, who, it was
pretended by his opponents, gained his election by coalescing
with Lord Hood. When the Tories wished to be very severe
on their great parliamentary enemy, they tried to get up some
charge of a "coalition."
The new Parliament met on the 26th of November, when any
direct allusion to the affairs' of France was again omitted in the
King's speech, and the subject seemed to be avoided for a while
in the debates in.either house. But, while it appeared thus to
have been discarded .by the Court, it had absorbed the whole
mighty intellect of -Burke, who, a short time before the opening of
the session, had published his eloquent Reflections on the French
Revolution. In this remarkable production he had painted
in/exaggerated 'colours its errors and enormities, and he had no
less undoubtedly exaggerated the danger of the extension of
republican principles to this country. The English political
societies,' the" dissenters, and their acknowledged or covert
designs, and especially Dr. Price's sermon, all .became objects in
turn ;of 'his indignant .declamations. Perhaps no single book
ever, produced so powerful an effect as these "Reflections;"
their publication marked. a'n epoch in the history of the country,
and we find that immediately after the -.appearance of this
pamphlet, not only did the -general fueling throughout England
become more decidedly hostile to .democratic France, but the
English government began to take bolder steps for .the suppres-
sion of sedition at home. An admirable caricature by Gillray,
published on the 3rd of Decemb'er,; 1790, represents the long,
.spectacled nose of the author of these Reflections, armed with
.the' crown and the cross, penetrating .into the secret study
of i)r. ; Price, and surprising him, surrounded by all the evidences
of sedition against Church and State.* The King and his
ministers, and all the Tory party, expressed unbounded admira-
tion of this splendid defence of their policy ; but it gave great
dissatisfaction to the ultra- Whigs, who complained that Burke
had misrepresented the conduct of the French in order to
* It is entitled, " Smelling out a Rat ; or, The Atheistical ^Revolutionist
disturbed in his midnight Calculations." An exact copy of this caricature
is given in the accompanying plate*
DEFECTION OF BURKE. 453
render them odious, and that he had advanced principles which
led to despotism and arbitrary power. Burke's book was
answered in an elegant essay by Mackintosh, who then figured a
young man as one of the boldest Whigs, and more violently and
coarsely in a celebrated work entitled " The Rights of Man,"
by Thomas Paine, who, after having studied republicanism and
democracy in the congress of America, and in the worst clubs in
Paris, had now returned to England in the hopes of finding
here a soil fitted for their reception. At first Paine's " Bights
of Man" was approved by Fox, and thousands of copies were
printed, distributed through the country, and read with eager-
ness. Dr. Priestley also entered the field against Burke's
" Reflections," and a number of more insignificant writers took
up the pen. Pamphlets for and against the French Revo-
lution, now issued from the press in extraordinary numbers.
The satisfaction which Burke's pamphlet gave to ministers,
was soon increased by his entire defection from the standard of
opposition. The Whigs seemed to have designedly urged him
on to his grand outbreak on this subject. For weeks their
journals teemed with attacks on his book, and with hints at his
apostasy from the cause of freedom. When he rose in the
house to speak on French politics, they put him down by their
murmurs, although Fox and Sheridan were ready to seize upon
any occasion of declaring their admiration of the revolution.
Burke kept silence during a large part of the session, or
said little ; the more moderate of the Whig party counselled
him to act thus, in order to avoid making a schism in their
ranks. But it was a task in which Edmund Burke was not the
man to persist, and, after entering into a warm debate on the sub-
ject on the 1 5th of April, in connexion with the pending mea-
sure for the government of Canada, and having given one or two
intimations that his heart was full of a burthen which he was
resolved to discharge, on the i6th of May he delivered his
second grand philippic in the House of Commons against the
French Revolution and its authors. He dwelt especially on the
horrible massacres which had devastated the French Isle of St.
Domingo, and returned from them to depict the state of France,
which at that time was every day sinking deeper in anarchy and
blood. He was interrupted for a while by the impatience
of some members of the opposition, and Fox seized the opportu-
nity of declaring how entirely he differed with him on this
grand topic, and of speaking somewhat disrespectfully of his
book. It was then that Burke rose again, with more warmth
than ever, and, after complaining of the interruptions and
454 BURKES QUARREL WJTH FOX.
attacks to which he had been exposed, proceeded to dilate
in eloquent and forcible language on the new principles propa-
gated in France, and the way in which they were propagated, on
the treasonable conduct of certain Unitarian and other dis-
senting preachers in this country, who corresponded with the
French democrats, and held them up for imitation he alluded,
of course, to Priestley and other instigators of sedition; Dr.
Price had died on the ipth of April, and on the danger
that the French might be tempted to use a portion of their
large military force in assisting to revolutionize England ; he
said that love of his country was a feeling above private
affections, and proclaimed that his friendship with Fox and
his party was at an end. Fox, than whom no man possessed a
kinder or more affectionate heart, rose to reply with tears
rolling down his cheeks ; he appealed to their long friendship
and familiar intercourse ; to his own unaltered attachment ; he
cited Burke's former opinions and exertions in the cause of
liberty ; and he deprecated the idea that their personal friend-
ship should be destroyed by a difference of opinion on one
particular subject. He, however, intermixed his reply with
some personal recriminations and observations which only
increased the irritation ; Burke remained cold and inexorable,
and all intercourse between the two statesmen was discon-
tinued.
The loss of Burke was a severe blow to the party, and was a
subject of no small exultation to the ministry and to the
court. He became an object of unbounded admiration in
the Tory papers, while those of the opposition were equally
pertinacious in their attacks and in their abuse. Several clever
caricatures have remained to us as testimonies of the former
feeling. One of those in which the sentiment is more coarsely
expressed, entitled " The wrangling friends ; or, Opposition
in disorder," published on the loth of May, and an evident
attempt at imitating the style of Gillray, depicts the affecting
scene in the House of Commons in broad caricature, and shews
favour to neither of the two principal actors. Pitt, seated
quietly on one side exclaims, " If they'd cut each other's
throat, I should be relieved from these troublesome fellows."
The Tories represented Burke as one who had turned King's
evidence against his accomplices, who they expected would
now be convicted and condemned. A caricature by Gillray,
published on the i4th of May, represented Fox as the Guy
Faux of his party, on the point of blowing up the King,
Lords, and Constitution, when he is detected and brought
CARICATURES ON BURKE.
455
to light by the vigilant watchman, Burke, who here appears in
the service of the crown. Sheridan and others of his col-
leagues are seeking safety in flight. That he had entered
the service of the crown, and was to be paid accordingly, many
believed, or pretended to
believe ; and both parties
seemed not unwilling that
this impression should go
abroad. In one print, pub-
lished at this time, Burke
is represented as receiving
from Pitt a coronet as the
reward of his desertion.
Another caricature by
Gillray, published in May,
about the same time as
the former, represents the
great impeacher pointing
out his two colleagues
Fox and Sheridan, to jus-
tice, with the declaration,
"Behold the abettors of revolution !" It is entitled, "The
impeachment; or, The father of the gang turned King's
THE VIGILANT WATCHMAN.
AN IMPEACHMENT.
evidence." Both parties, in the scene described above, des-
cribed the other chiefs of the opposition as the political
offspring of Burke. From this time the face of Burke
appears much more rarely in the caricatures. A severe, and an
unjust caricature by Gillray, published on the i6th of No-
vember, 1791, after Burke had accepted a pension from the
crown, represents him under the title of " A uniform Whig."
THE MEASURER OF THE CROWN.
He is seen leaning with his right arm on a pedestal supporting
the bust of King George, and holding in his hand his " Re-
flections on the French Revolution." On this side of his body,
his garb is new and fashionable, and his pockets are over-
flowing with money. On the other side he is dressed in rags,
his empty pockets turned inside out, and he holds a cap of
liberty in his hand. The supposed changeablenesa of his prin-
ciples is intimated by a figure of Fame, making with its toe a
tangent on the extremity of the sail of a windmill. Under-
neath is inscribed a sentence from his own " Reflections," " I
preserve consistency by varying my means to secure the unity
of my end." Burke was the last person in the world to
condescend to use means, or to listen to motives, that were
mean or dishonourable.
Encouraged by the desertions which were weakening the
opposition in parliament, and by the extraordinary effect
produced throughout the country by Burke's " Reflections," the
government now began to take a higher tone towards France,
and their agents neglected no means of exciting the popular
feelings throughout the nation, against dissenters and revo-
lutionists. The caricaturists, especially, began now to be
unusually active. In the caricatures, the leaders of the opposi-
tion in parliament were ranked in the same category as the
incendiaries of the clubs
they were all equally demo-
crats and king-haters. The
four leaders associates in
council and in arms were
Fox, Sheridan, Priestley,
and Paine. The latter had
gained an extraordinary im-
portance by his " Rights of
Man," the answer to
Burke's "Reflections." Gill-
ray burlesqued this low
agitator in a caricature,
published on the 23rd
May, 1791, entitled, "The
Rights of Man ; or, Tommy
Paine, the American tailor,
taking the measure of the
crown for a new pair of re-
volution breeches." Paine
is here represented with the
A BAD -MEASURER.
PROSPECTS OF REVOLUTION.
457
conventional type of face which in the caricatures of this and
the subsequent period was always given to a French democrat ;
his tricoloured cockade bears the inscription, " Vive la liberte /"
And the following almost incoherent soliloquy is placed in his
mouth :
" Fatbom and a half ! fathom and a half I Poor Tom ! ah ! mercy upon
me ! that's more by half than my poor measure will ever be able to reach !
Lord ! Lord ! I wish I bad a bit of the stay-tape or buckram which I
used to cabbage when I was a prentice, to lengthen it out. Well, well,
who would ever have thought it, that I, who have served seven years aa
an apprentice, and afterwards worked four years as a journeyman to a
master tailor, then followed the business of an exciseman as much longer,
should not be able to take the dimensions of this bauble ! for what is a
crown bnt a bauble ? which we may see in the Tower for sixpence a piece 1
Well, although it may be too large for a tailor to take measure of,
there's one comfort, he may make mouths at it, and call it as many names
as he pleases ! and yet, Lord ! Lord ! I should like to make it a Yankee-
doodle night-cap and breeches, if it was not so d d large, or I had stuff
enough. Ah ! if I could once do that, I would soon stitch up the mouth of
that barnacled Edmund from making any more Reflections upon the
Flints and ao Flints and Liberty for ever ! and d n the Dungs !
Huzza ! "
It was represented that those who were opposed to Pitt's
government aimed directly at the overthrow of the throne and
the constitution that reform was a mask for republicanism
that dissent from the church was
equivalent to atheism. Fox and his
party, in the prints which were
now spread about the country,
appeared as regicides in embryo,
and the fate of Charles I. and
the sins of the puritans were made
to ring constantly in people's ears.
These anticipations were set forth
graphically, in a large engraving
by Gillray, entitled "The hopes
of the party," published in July,
1 791 . Amid the horrors of the suc-
cessful revolution here pre-supposed, ,
the Queen and the prime minister
are seen on one side, each suspended
to a lamp. This was an example
borrowed from recent proceedings
of the French democrats. It was
commonly believed that Pitt and
Queen Charlotte were closely leagued
together to pillage and oppress the
A i'AIR OF PFNDENTfl.
458 BIRMINGHAM RIOTS.
nation, and she was far less popular than the King, whose
infirmity produced a general sympathy, and who had many good
qualities that endeared him to those with whom he came in con-
tact. In another part of Gillray's picture, the King is brought
to the block, held down by Sheridan, while Fox, masked, acts as
executioner. Priestley,
with pious exhortations,
is encouraging the fallen
monarch to submit to
his hard fate.
The prejudice which
such productions were
intended to excite soon
communicated itself to
the populace, which
more especially caught
up the cry against the
dissenters. There was
some rioting in several
parts of the country,
but the weight of the
popular ill-humour fell
upon Dr. Priestley, who
then resided at Birmingham. This town was, even then, the
place of all others where it was easiest to get together a mob
that would hesitate at nothing, with the prospect of mischief
and plunder before it. A number of Priestley's friends in Bir-
mingham agreed to celebrate the second anniversary of the cap-
ture of the Bastille on the i4th of July, 1791, by a dinner,
which it was understood would be accompanied with revolu-
tionary toasts and songs. There were many people in the town
who disliked the persons who were to assemble on this occasion
as much as they hated the cause in which they were engaged,
and the announcement of this dinner caused considerable agita-
tion. It can hardly be doubted that a plot was formed by per-
sons in a better position in society to get up a popular demon-
stration for the purpose of insulting (at the least) the friends of
democratic principles. Two or three days before the appointed
day, a violently seditious paper, of which Priestley's friends
declared themselves entirely innocent, and which there seemed
reason to believe had come from London, was distributed about
the town. On the i4th, which was a Thursday, about eighty
persons sat down to dinner, but Dr. Priestley himself was not
present. A mob had already assembled round the tavern at
MAKTTRDOM.
MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF YORK. 459
which the dinner was to be held, who shouted " Church and
King," and insulted the guests as they came to the door. The
magistrates, instead of taking measures to preserve the peace,
were dining at a neighbouring tavern with a party of red-hot
loyalists. The mob kept from violence until both parties had
broken up ; but then, encouraged by the loyalists who were
heated with wine and enthusiasm, they broke into the tavern in
search of Dr. Priestley, who was not there : and then, disap-
pointed in their design of seizing the arch-revolutionist (as they
considered him), they rushed to his chapel, the new meeting-
house, and burnt it to the ground. It was now evening, and
the mob was greatly increased, having been joined by large
bodies of labourers, who had ended their day's work. They
then burnt the old meeting-house, and proceeded to the house of
Dr. Priestley, about a mile and a half from the town, which
they also destroyed, with his library, papers, and philosophical
instruments. Priestley and his family had fled ; he reached
London in safety, and took the charge of Dr. Price's congrega-
tion at Hackney. The mob was now master of the place, and
for several successive days paraded Birmingham and its neigh-
bourhood, burning and destroying without interruption, until
the following Monday (the i8th), when a strong body of mili-
tary arrived, and the rioters dispersed. An inclination to follow
the example of Birmingham was exhibited in some other places,
and the outcry against dissenters and revolutionists became loud
from one end of the kingdom to the other. The ultra-radicals
were strongest in London and in Scotland.
In the autumn, a domestic event came to throw a gleam of
joy amid the bitterness of political
and religious faction which now
reigned throughout the land. On
the apth of September, the Duke of
York was married at Berlin to the
eldest daughter of the King of Prus-
sia, and he arrived with his bride in
London on the ipth of October,
where they were received amid the
congratulations of all classes of
society. For some time nothing
was talked of or sung of but the new
duchess, and her portrait was to be
seen in every print-shop. The mar-
riage became soon the subject of a
variety of prints and caricatures. KXPECTATIOH.
PETER PINDAR.
The latter were very numerous ; and one of them, by Gillray,
represents the joy of the King and Queen at the arrival of their
daughter-in-law as arising chiefly from the riches she was said
to have brought with her. It is entitled " The Introduction,"
and was published on the 2nd of November. The duke is intro-
ducing his bride, who carries her apron full of money ; the King
and Queen are shewing their satisfaction at her golden burthen
in unrnistakeable gestures, the Queen, especially, holds out her
apron in expectation of a share.
It was during this period of danger for thrones and princes,
that poets and artists joined in heaping ridicule and satire on
the persons of King George and his family. Among the former,
by far the most remarkable was Dr. Wolcot, better known by
his celebrated pseudonym of Peter Pindar, whose clever but
daring infractions of royal inviolability have not yet ceased to
amuse his countrymen. These satirists invaded the most private
recesses of the palace, and dragged before the world a host of
ridiculous incidents with which royal eccentricity furnished
them, and which were calculated rather to bring royalty into
contempt than to add to its splendour. It appears that both
the King and the Queen were in the habit of attending to
various minutiae of domestic economy which are more consistent
with a low station in life than with the public dignity of the
Crown, and scenes of this description were brought before the
eye of the public with the most provoking impertinence. A
caricature, published on the 2ist of November, 1791, represented
the King and Queen in the character of careful farmers, " going
to market." The royal pair were described as cheapening bar-
gains, and exulting in the saving of shillings and sixpences.
When at their favourite watering-place, Weymouth, they were
said to have had their provisions brought from Windsor by the
mail, free of carriage, because Weymouth was a dear place. So,
at least, says Peter Pindar,
" The mail arrives ! hark ! hark ! the cheerful horn,
To majesty announcing oil and corn ;
Turnips and cabbages, and soap, and candles,
And, lo ! each article great Caesar handles !
Bread, cheese, salt, catchup, vinegar, and mustard,
Small beer and bacon, apple-pie and custard :
All, all, from Windsor greets his frugal grace,
For Weymouth is a d d expensive place."
According to the satirist, no occasion of driving a hard bar-
gain was suffered to escape, even if the royal visitor met with it
in his ordinary walks. Thus he meets with a drove of cattle,
carrying to the market for sale :
DOMESTIC OCCUPATIONS.
" A batch of bollocks ! see great Caesar run :
He stops the drover bargain is begun.
He feela their ribs and rumps he shakes his head
' Poor, drover, poor poor, very poor indeed 1'
Caesar and drover haggle diffVence split
How much ? a shilling ! what a royal hit
A load of hay in sight ! great Caesar flies
Smells shakes his head' Bad hay sour hay* he buys.
' Smell, Courtown smell good bargain lucky load-
Smell, Courtown sweeter hay was never mow'd.'
A herd of swine goes by ! ' Whose hogs are these t
Hay, farme;-, hay ?' 'Yours, measter, if you pleaze.'
' Poor, farmer, poor lean, lousy, very poor
Sell, sell, hay, sell ?' ' Iss, measter, to be zure :
My pigs were made for zale, but what o' that ?
You caall mun lean ; now, zur, I caall mun vat
Measter, I baant a starling can't be cort ;
You think, agosh, to ha the pigs vor nort.'
Lo ! Caesar buys the pigs he slily winks
' Hay, Gwinn, the fellow is not caught, he thinka
Fool, not to know the bargain I have got !
Hay, Gwinn nice bargain lucky, lucky, lot !' "
46!
1791, appeared a brace of
On the 28th of November,
prints, reflecting on the
household economy of the
palace. In the first the
King is represented in
very uncourtly dishabille,
preparing for breakfast by
toasting his own muffins ;
in the companion print, _//
the Queen, in homely
garb, although her pocket
is overflowing with money,
is frying sprats for supper.
A v ery clever caricature was
published by Gillray, en-
titled " Anti-saccharites,"
in which the King and
Queen are teaching their
daughters to take their tea
without sugar, as "a noble example of economy." The princesses
have a look of great discontent, but their royal mother exhorts
them to persevere ; " Above all, remember how much expense it
will save your poor papa." The King, delighted with the ex-
periment, exclaims, " delicious ! delicious !" This print appeared
on the a;th of March, 1792 ; on the 28th of the following July,
TOA9TINO MUFFINS.
AVARICE AT COURT.
the same artist produced a beautiful plate under the title of " Tem-
perance enjoying a fru-
gal meal," in which the
King and Queen are
seated at their table,
eating eggs, and break-
fasting with the great-
est frugality out of the
most sumptuous uten-
sils. All the accessories
of the picture offer innu-
merable examples of the
saving habits of the illus-
trious pair.* Their ava-
ricious disposition, espe-
cially that of the Queen
(who was never very
popular), had now be-
PRTING SPRATS. come proverbial. Thus,
in a print published -on
the 24th of May, 1792, entitled "Vices overlooked in the new
poclamatiou," avarice is represented by King George and
AVARICE.
Queen Charlotte hugging their hoarded millions in mutual
satisfaction, with a book of interest-tables beside them. This
print is divided into four compartments, representing ava-
rice drunkenness, exemplified in the person of the Prince of
Wales, gambling, the favourite amusement of the Duke of
* Gillray at the same time published a companion plate, representing
the voluptuousness of the Prince of Wales, and entitled, "A voluptuary
under the horrors of digestion." Both these caricatures are rare, and are
Bought for as two of his best works.
ROYAL AFFABILITY.
463
\
York, and debauchery, the Duke of Clarence and Mrs. Jordan,
as the four vices of the royal family of Great Britain.
King George was remarkable for slovenliness of manners, for
his ungraceful and undignified carriage, for a love of entering
into conversation with people of all ranks, and for the volubility
with which he poured upon them his naive and often pointless
questions. The latter qualification is well known to all readers
of the verses of Peter Pindar. It was reported that Dr. John-
son, after his first interview with the King, privately expressed
his opinion of the King's intellectual qualities in the following
terms : " His Majesty seems to be possessed of some good
nature and muck curiosity ; as for his nous, it is not contempti-
ble. His Majesty, indeed, was multifarious in his questions;
but, thank God ! he answered them all himself" This royal
curiosity furnished everlast-
ing subjects for the poet
and the caricaturist, and
the one might be made to
illustrate the other through
page after page. A carica-
ture, published by Gillray
on the loth of February,
J 795> represents an exam-
ple of royal "affability."
The King and Queen, in
their rural walks, arrive at ,
a dirty hut, the occupant]
of which, no very high
sample of humanity, is
feeding his pigs with wash.
The vacant stare on his
countenance shows him
overwhelmed with the rapid
succession of royal interro-
gatives, " Well, friend, where a' you going, hay ? what's your
name, hay ? where d' ye live, hay ? hay ?"
These satirical attacks on royal manners were continued
through the whole of the revolutionary period, and anywhere
but in England they could not have failed to bring the person
of the sovereign into contempt. The King's familiarity of
manners, approaching to vulgarity, was exhibited in another
caricature by Gillray, published in the month of June, 1797,
representing a scene on the esplanade at Weymouth. The
King, distinguished by his awkward and shuffling gait (which is
ROYAL AFFABILITY.
4 6 4
ROYAL MANNERS.
not much exaggerated in the picture), has a word to say to
every one of the crowd through which he is walking. The con-
stant practice of taking the air in uncere-
monious excursions, and his great attach-
ment to hunting, gave frequent occasions
for bringing forth these qualities of the
King, and led to scenes of a ridiculous kind.
One of these furnished the subject of a
caricature, published on the and of Novem-
ber, 1797, representing his Majesty "learn-
ing to make apple dumplings." The King,
in his pursuit of the chase, is represented as
having arrived at the cottage of an old
woman, occupied in a manner which is said
to have drawn forth exclamations of aston-
ishment from the curious and admiring
monarch ; " Hay ! hay ! apple dumplings !
how get the apples in ! how ? are they
made without seams?" This subject had
already been treated by Peter Pindar :
A KINO.
THE KINO AND THE APPLE DUMPLINGS.
" Once on a time, a monarch, tir'd with hooping,
Whipping, and spurring,
Happy in worrying
A poor, defenceless, harmless buck,
(The horse and rider wet as muck),
From his high consequence and wisdom stooping,
Enter'd through curiosity a cot,
Where sat a poor old woman and her pot.
The wrinkled, blear-ey*d, good old granny,
In this same cot, illum'd by many a cranny.
ROYAL WISDOM. 463
Had finish'd apple dumplings for her pot :
In tempting row the naked dumplings lay,
When, lo! the monarch in his usual way,
Like lightning spoke, ' What this ? what this ? what ! what ?'
Then taking up a dumpling in his hand,
His eyes with admiration did expand ;
And oft did majesty the dumpling grapple :
'Tis monstrous, monstrous hard, indeed !' he cried ;
' What makes it, pray, so hard ]' The dame replied,
Low curtseying, ' Please your majesty, the apple.'
* Very astonishing indeed ! strange thing !'
Turning the dumpling round, rejoined the king,
' 'Tis most extraordinary then, all this is
It beats Pinetti's conjuring all to pieces
Strange I should never of a dumpling dream !
But, Goody, tell me where, where, where's the seam ?'
'Sir, there's no seam,' quoth she ; ' I never knew
That folks did apple dumplings sew.'
' No !' cried the staring monarch with a grin,
' How, how the devil got the apple in T
On which the dame the curious scheme reveal' d
By which the apple lay so sly conceal' d,
Which made the Solomon of Britain start ;
Who to the palace with full speed repair'd,
And queen, and princesses so beauteous, scar'd,
All with the wonders of the dumpling art.
There did he labour one whole week, to show
The wisdom of an apple dumpling maker ;
And, lo ! so deep was majesty in dough,
The palace seem'd the lodging of a baker 1"
In the caricatures on more general subjects of a later period
than that of which we are now speaking, we shall often find
>
JOTFCL NKW8.
these personal weaknesses of the royal family the love of
H H
GILLRAY AND GEORGE III.
money, the homely savings, the familiar air, the taste for gossip
introduced. A caricature by Gillray, published in 1792, after
the arrival of the news of the defeats of Tippoo Saib in India,
represents Dundas, in whose province the Indian affairs lay,
bringing the joyful intelligence to the royal huntsman and his
consort. It is entitled, " Scotch Harry's News ; or Nincom-
poop in high glee." The exulting secretary of state, who is
thus designated, announces that " Seringapatam is taken
Tippoo is wounded and millions of pagodas secured." The
vulgar-looking King, with a strange mixture of ideas of Indian
news and hunting, breaks out into a loud " Tally ho ! ho ! ho !
ho !" while his queen, whose head is running entirely on the
gain likely to result from these new conquests, exclaims, " the
dear, sweet pagodas !"
The caricaturist who thus burlesqued royalty, had a pique
against George III., very similar to that of Hogarth against
George II. Gillray had accompanied Loutherbourg into France,
to assist him in making sketches for his grand picture of the
siege of Valenciennes. On their return, the King, who made
great pretensions to be a patron of the arts, desired to look
over their sketches, and expressed great admiration of the
drawings of Loutherbourg, which were plain landscape sketches,
finished sufficiently to be perfectly intelligible. But when he
came to Gillray's rough but spirited sketches of French officers
and soldiers, he threw them aside with contempt, merely observ-
ing, "I don't understand these caricatures." The mortified
artist took his revenge by publishing a large print of the King
examining a portrait of Oliver Cromwell, executed by Cooper,
to which he gave the title of " A connoisseur examining a
Cooper." The royal countenance exhibits a curious mixture of
astonishment and alarm as he contemplates the features of the
great overthrower of kings, whose name was at this moment
put forth as the watchword of revolutionists. The King is
burning a candle-end on a save-all ! This print was published
on the 1 8th of June, 1792; Gillray, who had not the same
dependence on court as Sayer, who was much inferior to him in
talent, seldom loses an opportunity of turning the King to
ridicule.
Nor did Pitt always escape his satire. The young minister,
who had so suddenly risen to the summit of power, and now
somewhat haughtily lorded it over his fellow statesmen, seems
to have given offence to the artist, who, on the 2oth of December,
1791, caricatured him as an upstart fungus, springing suddenly
out of the hot-bed of royal favour, which is somewhat rudely com-
CAEICATURES ON PITT.
467
A FUNGUS.
pared to a dung-hill. The print is entitled " An excrescence a
fungus, alias, a toad-stool upon
a dung-hill." The thin meagre
figure of the prime minister was
no less fruitful a matter for jest,
than that of his fat and slovenly
opponent Fox. In one of Gill-
ray's prints, dated the i6th of
March, 1792, that caricaturist
has seized upon an equivocal
phrase in one of the statesman's
speeches, and, under the title of
a " bottomless pitt," has given us
a characteristic sketch of his figure
and his gesture.
The determination of the Eng-
lish court to resist all demands
for reform, and to turn a deaf ear
to popular complaints, had the
natural effect of provoking agita-
tion. The opposition in parliament, iti spite of many defections,
became, under its old leaders, Fox
and Sheridan, and some of the
young and rising debaters, such
as Grey, Erskine, Lord Lauder-
dale, Whitbread, and others, louder
and more menacing. Within par-
liament, every question that would
admit of a debate, was contested
with the greatest obstinacy. The
session of 1 792 was first occupied
with the foreign policy of the
preceding year, which, whether
in Europe or in India, was
analyzed and bitterly attacked.
Wilberforce's question of the
abolition of negro slavery em-
barrassed the ministers, whose
chief argument against it was that it numbered among its advo-
cates some of the revolutionary reformers, and among the rest
Thomas Paine ; they disposed of it eventually by a motion for
gradual abolition. The detection of a number of flagrant
instances of improper interference in elections gave a new force
to the question of parliamentary reform, which was brought
H H a
'A BOTTOMLESS PITT.'
4^8 PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.
forward at the end of April by Grey and Fox, and violently
opposed by Pitt and by Burke. The arguments reproduced by
each successive speaker on the ministerial benches was the
impolicy of the time at which the question was brought for-
ward, and the danger of making concessions to popular violence ;
and the court in 1792, seemed resolved to raise the reputation
and importance of Thomas Paine and his " Rights of Man," in
the same way it had, more than twenty years before, raised up
John Wilkes, his North Briton, and his " Essay on Woman."
Burke, who opposed this motion with great warmth, and who
declared his belief that the House of Commons was as perfect
as human nature would permit it to be, flew out against French
revolutionists and English political societies, and talked of the
factious men with which England abounded, and who were
urging this country towards blood and cpnfusion. In the heat
of party faction, the ministers exaggerated greatly the real
danger they had to apprehend from people of this description,
while it was equally under-valued by their opponents.
If, however, the question of parliamentary reform was, in
point of numbers, weakly supported in the house, it was making
substantial advances among people out of doors. In the debates
in the House of Commons, Fox took every occasion of remind-
ing those who were now in power of their advocacy of reform
when in opposition, and
especially recalled to their
memory a meeting on
the subject, held at the
Thatched House Tavern,
in 1782, when Pitt and
the Duke of Richmond
had joined hand in hand
with Major Cartwright
and Home Tooke. These
men had there been as
decided instigators of se-
dition as those to whom
tn_/y now applied the
epithet. But a few years
of gratified ambition had
made Pitt and Richmond
the most resolute oppo-
MAJOB OABTWBI^T. ^ S libera j eaSUreS
while Cartwright* and
* The figure of Major Cartwright is taken from a print attributed to
POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS. 4 6 9
Tooke, who had not been exposed to the same seductions, continued
to walk in their old path. Parliamentary reform had now become
the watchword of several of the political clubs, which were increas-
ing in numbers, as well as in the violence of their language. A few
weeks had seen the formation of the " Corresponding Society,"
which placed itself in immediate communication with some of
the most violent clubs in Paris, and which openly demanded
universal suffrage and annual parliaments ; and now, in the
month of April, 1 792, arose the " Society of the Friends of the
People," which was more moderate in its language and demands,
and counted in its ranks several noblemen and leading members
of Parliament, and many other persons distinguished in litera-
ture and science. It was at the desire of this latter society,
that Grey and Erskine, who were both members, brought the
question of reform before the House of Commons, in the spring
of 1792 ; and it was resolved that they should bring forward a
more formal motion on the subject in the ensuing session.
The ministry dreaded the way in which the opposition was
thus strengthening itself with political associations, and deter-
mined to take measures to counteract them, and to suppress the
quantity of inflammator}' materials which were now spread about
the country in the shape of seditious writings. The gradual
and effective manner in which the ministers paved their way for
hostile steps against sedition at home and designs from abroad,
by addressing themselves to people's passions, and exciting their
apprehensions, is deserving of admiration. They even contrived
to make the odium of sedition recoil heavily upon the heads of
the leaders of the opposition in parliament, who were represented
as nourishing concealed views of ambition, and as close imitators
PATRIOTS AMUSING THEMSELVES.
Gillray, published in 1784, in which he la caricatured as "the Drum-major
of Sedition."
470 QUARREL IN THE MINISTRY.
of the worst of the ultra-democrats of France. In a caricature
by Gillray, published on the ipth of April, 1/92, and entitled,
" Patriots amusing themselves ; or, Swedes*, practising at a
post," Fox and Sheridan are perfecting themselves in the use
of fire-arms. Dr. Priestley stands behind, holding two pamphlets
in his hand, entitled "On the glory of revolutions," and "On
the folly of religion and order," and says to his colleagues,
" Here's plenty of wadding for to ram down the charge with, to
give it force, and to make a loud report." Fox, bearing the
French cockade, with the inscription " fa ira" is firing a
blunderbuss ; while Sheridan, loading his pistol, exclaims, " Well !
this new game is delightful ! O heavens ! if I could but once
pop the post !
"Then you and me,
Dear brother P.,
Would sing with glee,
Full merrily,
Ca ira I fa ira I fa ira /''
The post at which they are shooting is rudely moulded into
the form of King George, surmounted by the royal hunting cap.
The success which these attempts on people's fears and prejudices
met with, encouraged the ministry to proceed, and they soon
ventured to make a direct attack on the liberty or rather, in
this case, on the licence of the press. On the 2ist of May
appeared a royal proclamation against seditious meetings and
writings, but which was more especially aimed at the societies
above alluded to. It spoke particularly of the correspondences
said to be carried on with designing men in foreign parts, with
a view to forward their criminal purposes in this country.
This proclamation was violently condemned in parliament, by
the opposition, as an injudicious and uncalled-for measure ; and
it produced debates in both houses, which shewed a number of
desertions from the popular party. Among the most important
in the House of Lords were the Duke of Portland and the
Prince of Wales, who both spoke energetically in favour of the
proclamation.
At this moment some divisions shewed themselves also in the
midst of the ministerial camp. There had never been any
cordiality between the premier and the chancellor, since the
treacherous conduct of the latter on the occasion of the regency
bill; and Thurlow not only spoke contemptuously of Pitt in
private society, but he more than once attacked his measures in
* An allusion to the assassination of the King of Sweden, in the preced-
ing year.
DISMISSAL OF LORD THURLOW. 471
the house. The King had a great disinclination to parting with
his chancellor, and things were allowed to go on for some time,
until, in the session of 1 792, the latter made a gross attack in
the House of Lords on some of Pitt's law measures. It is even
said that the King, knowing the mutual feelings of his two
ministers, and attached by long habit to Thurlow, had hesitated
more than once which of them should be the sacrifice ; but the
Queen was a firm friend to Pitt, and when, at length, at the
beginning of the session, the provoked premier forced the King
to an alternative, it was notified to Thurlow that he must resign.
Thurlow obeyed, much against his inclination ; though, on
account of business pending in the Court of Chancery, he con-
sented to remain at his post till the end of the session. On the
day of prorogation, the ijjth of June, he gave up the seals,
which were placed in commission, but which were subsequently
given to his old rival Lord Loughborough, who was one of the
deserters from the Whig phalanx. The caricatures on the dis-
missal of Thurlow were bitterly sarcastic. One by Gillray,
published on the 24th of May, entitled " The fall of the VVolsey
of the Woolsack," represents him engaged in a desperate struggle
for the insignia of office against the King and his two ministers,
Pitt and Dundas. Another caricature by the same artist,
published on the pth of June, and entitled " Sin, Death, and the
Devil," is a finely executed parody on the scene between those
three characters in Milton, but it involves too coarse an outrage
on the Queen, who is represented as the personification of Sin,
rushing to separate the two combatants, Death (bearing the
semblance of Pitt) and Satan (who exhibits the dark frowning
countenance of Thurlow).
It was soon seen that Pitt's agitation against revolutionary
principles had a further object than the mere repression of
domestic sedition. The countenance shewn by the minister
towards France was outwardly mysterious and equivocal, though
not absolutely threatening ; but in secret the English court was
approving if not abetting the continental confederacy which
was at the same moment forming with the avowed purpose of
restoring monarchy in France by force of arms. A few months
left no doubt that England had looked with favour upon the
secret treaty of Pilnitz. On the appearance of the royal
proclamation in May, the French ambassador, Chauvelin, who
had but recently arrived in that capacity, made a formal
remonstrance against that part of it which alluded to the
correspondence with persons in foreign parts, as calculated to
convey an impression that the English government gave credit
47* STATE OF FRANCE.
to reports that France was a party to the seditious practices in
England, and that England looked upon her neighbour with
hostile feelings. The reply of the English secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, Lord Grenville, breathed the strongest senti-
ments of peace and amity, and was accompanied with expressions
that gave great satisfaction to the French revolutionary govern-
ment, which had suspected a secret understanding between the
English court and those who were leaguing against it on the
continent. Encouraged by Lord Grenville's language on this
occasion, the French government made a subsequent application,
through its ambassador, to engage the English King to use his
good offices with his allies to avert the attack with which it was
threatened from without. The reply on this occasion was
conveyed in a much less satisfactory tone : Lord Grenville said,
as an excuse for refusing to accede to the wishes of France,
" that the same sentiments which engaged his Britannic majesty
not to interfere with the internal affairs of France, equally
tended to induce him to respect the rights and independence of
other sovereigns, and particularly those of his allies." Down to
this moment the French government appears to have placed
entire faith in the good intentions of this country ; but the only
sense which it could possibly make of this document was that it
could no longer reckon on the friendship of England ; and this,
joined with the arrogant manifestoes now published by the courts
of Berlin and Vienna, drove the French to desperation, destroyed
entirely the little spirit of moderation that remained, and, no
doubt, contributed to the disastrous scenes which followed.
The calamities of that unhappy country now succeeded one
another in rapid succession. The proclamations of the allies
declared very unadvisedly that for some months the King of
France had been acting under constraint, and that he was not
sincere in his concessions and declarations. This proceeding
only tended to aggravate the French populace, and the fearful
events of the loth of August overthrew the throne, and established
the triumph of democracy. The English ambassador was
immediately recalled from Paris, on the pretext that his mission
was at an end so soon as the functions of royalty were suspended.
The French government still attempted to avert the hostility
of England, and kept their ambassador in London, although the
King and his ministers refused to acknowledge him in a public
capacity. The horrible massacres of September quickly followed
to add to the general consternation ; and vast numbers of French
priests and refugees flocked to this country, to attract the
sympathy of Englishmen by their misfortunes, and increase the
ALARMING DECREE. 473
detestation of French republicanism by their reports of the
atrocities which had driven them away. Various acts followed
which shewed too clearly the inclination of the French to
propagate their opinions in other countries. In the National
Convention, which was called together at the end of September,
two members were elected from England, Thomas Paine and
Dr. Priestley ; the latter declined the nomination, but Paine
accepted it, and proceeded to Paris to enter upon his legislative
duties. Addresses and congratulations, couched in exaggerated
and inflammatory language, were sent to the Convention from
some of the English political societies, which laid those societies
open to new suspicions ; and these suspicions, and the fears
consequent upon them, were increased by successes of the
republican arms, and the arrogant tone now taken by the
Convention itself. On the i9th of November the Assembly
passed by acclamation, the famous decree, " The National Con-
vention decree, in the name of the French nation, that they
will grant fraternity and assistance to all those people who wish
to procure liberty ; and they charge the executive power to send
orders to the generals to give assistance to such people, and to
defend citizens who have suffered and are now suffering in the
cause of liberty." This was a plain announcement of a universal
crusade against all established and monarchical governments, and,
though itself but an empty vaunt, was calculated greatly to
increase the alarm which already existed in this country. The
seed which had been sown so widely by Burke's " Reflections"
was thus ripened into a deep hatred of France and Frenchmen,
which was kept up by the activity of the government agents
throughout the country. Anti-revolution societies were formed,
and exerted themselves to spread the flame ; and they published
innumerable pamphlets, containing exaggerated narratives of
the crimes committed in France, and a variety of other subjects
calculated to inflame men's passions in favour of the crown and
the church. The political societies were described as secret
conspiracies against the constitution, and, as the meeting of
parliament approached, the ministers increased the panic by
calling out the militia to protect the government against what
were probably visionary dangers of conspiracy and revolt.
On the 1 3th of December, the session of parliament was
opened with the evident prospect of a general war ; and
the King's speech spoke of plots and conspiracies at home
fomented by foreign incendiaries, and announced that it
had been considered necessary to augment the military and
naval forces of the kingdom. The opposition, which had lost
474
COMPULSATOEY FEEDING.
much in numbers, was warm, yet more moderate than usual in
its language ; it deplored the occurrence of seditious pro-
ceedings, wherever they existed, but blamed the government for
magnifying imaginary dangers and for creating unnecessary
alarm ; it deprecated the haste with which ministers were
hurrying the country into an unnecessary and, probably, a
calamitous war, and urged the propriety of re-establishing the
diplomatic communications between this country and France,
with the hope of averting the disasters of war by means of
friendly negotiations. All these efforts, however, were in vain ;
our ministers rejected the French offers of negotiation with
contempt; and at the beginning of 1793, M. Chauveliu, whom
the French still considered in the light of an ambassador, was
ordered to leave the kingdom. When 'all hopes of avoiding
hostilities between the two countries had vanished, the French
Convention anticipated our government by a Declaration of
War on the ist of February, 1/93.
In the caricatures and political prints of this period we have
abundant proofs of the exertions that were made in this country
to raise up a hostile feeling against France and the revolution.
The majority of those prints are coarse pictures of the
sanguinary conduct of the French at home ; of the miseries
and atrocities of republicanism ; of the altered condition of
England, if French armies or republican propagandism should
obtain the mastery. The guillotine, the dagger, the extempore
gallows, the pike, and the firebrand were exhibited in luxuriant
profusion. In a plate published on the 2 1 st of December," " French
liberty " is compared
with what the repub-
licans of France and the
political societies here
so often designated as
"English slavery:"
A jolly son of John
Bull, surrounded with
provisions and all kinds
of comforts, is crying out
with the fear of starva-
tion and slavery, on one
side ; while on the other
the hungry, ragged
Frenchman is exulting
in his own misery. The
leaders of the opposition
C01IPULSATOBY FEEDING.
IMAGINARY DANGERS. 475
in Parliament, who were not daunted by the storm with which
they had to contend, became marked objects of popular odium.
They were the men who, it was represented, directed the secret
weapon which was to strike at the constitution and prosperity
of the country. A caricature published on the 1 2th of January,
1793, entitled " Sans-culottes feeding Europe with the bread of
liberty," represents the French propagandists by force of arms
compelling the various states around them to swallow loaves
inscribed with the word " liberty ;" in the middle group Sheridan
and Fox, in the characters of sans-culottes, are driving two of
these loaves at the point of daggers into the somewhat capacious
throat of honest John Bull, who seems far from easy under the
infliction. A caricature by Sayer, published on the 15th of
December, under the title of " Loyalty against Levelling," re-
presents the soldier and the sailor as being at this moment
England's only defence against the infectious plague of repub-
licanism.
The caricatures on the other side of the question, at this
time, were few, and seems to have found little encouragement.
On the same day, however, which produced the caricature by
Sayer, just mentioned, the eccentric Gillray published one in an
entirely different spirit. It represents Pitt working upon the
terrors of John Bull, who carries in one arm a gun, while
the other hand is deposited in his capacious pocket, and whose
whole appearance bespeaks an alarm, with the reasons of
which he is totally in the dark. That seditious writings had
not totall}' seduced him, is evident from the contents of his
waistcoat pockets, in one of which is the so much dreaded
" Rights of Man," while the other contains one of the loyal
pamphlets, entitled " A Pennyworth of Truth ;" his estimate of
the danger of cockades is evinced by the simplicity with which
he has placed in juxtaposition on his hat the tricolor and
the true blue, one inscribed, " Vive la liberte," the other, " God
save the King." John Bull and his conductor are placed
within a formidable fortification ; the latter is looking through
a glass at a flock of geese which are seen scattered over the
horizon, but which he has metamorphosed into an army of dan-
gerous invaders. The terror of the minister is exhibited in his
incoherent exclamations : a burlesque on his speech at the open-
ing of parliament, " There, John ! there ! there they are !
I see them ! Get your arms ready, John ! they're rising and
coming upon us from all parts ; there ! there's ten thousand
pans-culottes now on their passage! and there! look on the
other side, the Scotch have caught the itch too ; and the wild
A BRACE OF ALARMISTS.
JOHN BULL'S ALARM.
Irish have began to pull off their breeches ! What will become
of us, John ! and see there's five hundred disputing clubs with
bloody mouths ! and twenty thousand bill-stickers, with Ca ira
pasted in the front of their red caps ! where's the Lord Mayor,
John ? Are the b'ons
safe ? down with the
book-stalls ! blow up
the gin-shops ! cut off
the printers' ears! O
Lord, John ! Lord !
we're all ruined !
they '11 murder us, and
make us into aristocrat
pies !" John is alarmed
because his master is
frightened, but his own
plain common sense is
only half smothered by
his fears. " Aristocrat
pies ! Lord defend us !
Wounds, measter,
you frighten a poor
honest simple fellow out of his wits ! gin-shops and printers' ears !
and bloody clubs and Lord Mayors ! and wild Irishmen with-
out breeches and sans-culottes ! Lord have mercy upon our
wives and daughters ! And yet I'll be shot if I can see
anything myself but a few geese gabbling together. But Lord
help my silly head, how should such a clod-pole as I be able to
see anything right ? I don't know what occasion for I to see at
all, for that matter ; why, measter does all that for 1 ;
my business is only to fire when and where measter orders, and
to pay for the gunpowder. But, measter o' mine, (if I may
speak a word,) where's the use of firing now ? What can
us two do against all them hundreds of thousands of millions of
monsters ? Lord, measter, had we not better try if they wont
shake hands with us and be friends ! for if we should go
to fighting with them, and they should lather us, what will
become of you and I, then, measter!!!"
It must be confessed, however, that the French democrats on
the other side of the channel, and the demagogues of the clubs
on this side, almost daily gave new provocations to justify the
conduct of the English government, and the fears which were
now spreading universally through English society. It was
becoming evident that no country could remain long at peace
THE "RIGHTS OF MAN." 477
with the French republic. In the National Convention on the
a8th of September, 1 792, on the question of making Savoy into
a department of France, Danton declared, amid the loud
applauses of the assembly, "The principle of leaving con-
quered people and countries the right of choosing their own
constitution ought to be so far modified, that we should
expressly forbid them to give themselves Kings. There must be
no more Kings in Europe. One King icould be sufficient to
endanger the general liberty ; and I request that a committee
be established for the purpose of promoting a general insurrec-
tion among all people against Kings." It was in this spirit
that the republican government always made a distinction
between the English people and their King and minister ; and
showed an inclination to correspond and treat with the people
rather than with their governors. It was William Pitt and
King George, and their aristocrats, they said, who alone were
their enemies ; it was they alone who made war, and the
English people were to be appealed to against them. When
General Santerre made his farewell address to the National
Convention on the i8th of May, 1793, on his departure to act
against the royalist insurgents in La Vendee, he concluded with
the words, "After the counter-revolutionists shall have been
subdued, a hundred thousand men may readily make a descent
on England, there to proclaim an appeal to the English people
on the present war." Similar doctrines were propagated by the
revolutionary societies in England, who corresponded with the
democrats of Paris as with brothers, and who, in the latter part
of 1792, were exceedingly active. Before his election to the
National Convention, Paine published the second part of his
" Rights of Man," in which he boldly promulgated principles
which were utterly subversive of government and society in
this country. This pamphlet was spread through the kingdom
with extraordinary industry, and was thrust into the hands of
people of all classes. We are told that, as a means of spreading
the seditious doctrines it contained, some of the most objec-
tionable parts were printed on pieces of paper, which were used
by republican tradesmen to wrap their commodities in, and that
they were thus employed even in wrapping up sweetmeats for
children. Proceedings were immediately taken against its
author, who was in Paris, for a libel against the government and
constitution, and Paine was found guilty. He was defended
with great ability by Erskine, who, when he left the court, was
cheered by a crowd of people who had collected without, some
of whom took his horses from his carriage, and dragged him
478 TRIAL OF PAINE.
home to his house in Serjeants' Inn. The name and opinions
of Thomas Paine were at this moment gaining influence, in
spite of the exertions made to put them down.
In his speech in court, Erskine acknowledged that the voice
of the country was against him. The feeling of resistance to re-
publican propagandism in England, had, indeed, become universal,
and the number of loyal societies formed for the purpose of
counteracting sedition, and said to have in many instances
received direct encouragement from the government, was in-
creased. Of these the most remarkable was the " Society for
preserving liberty and property against republicans and levellers,"
which held its meetings at the Crown and Anchor in the Strand,
and which had distributed abroad penny tracts in large numbers.
These consisted of popular replies to the insidious doctrines
propagated by the disciples of Paine, of encomiums on the
excellence and advantages of the British constitution, of narra-
tives of the horrible atrocities perpetrated by the republicans in
France, and of exhortations to order and obedience. One of the
most celebrated and successful of these publications was the
tract entitled "Thomas Bull's One penny-worth of Truth,
addressed to his brother John." These tracts were often
accompanied with loyal and anti-revolutionary songs, such as thr
following, which was one of the most popular :
"A WORD TO THE WISE.
" The Mounseers, they say, have the world in a string,
They don't like our nobles, they don't like our King ;
But they smuggle our wool, and they'd fain have our wheat,
And leave us poor Englishmen nothing to eat.
Derry down, &c.
" They call us already a province of France,
And come here by hundreds to teach us to dance :
They say we are heavy, they say we are dull,
And that beef and pluin-puddin^'s not good for John Bull.
Derry down, &c.
" They jaw in their clubs, murder women and priests,
And then for their fishwives they make civic feasts ;
Civic feasts ! what are they ? why, a new-fashion'd thing,
For which they remove both their God and their King.
Derry down, &c.
" And yet there's no eating, 'tis all foolish play
For when pies are cut open, the birds fly away ;
And Frenchmen admire it, and fancy they see
That Liberty's perch'd at the top of a tree.
Derry down, &c.
" They say, man and wife should no longer be one,
' Do you take a daughter, and I'll take a son.'
LOYAL SONGS. 479
And as all things are equal, and all should be fi-ee,
'If your wife don't suit you, sir, perhaps she'll suit me.'
Derry down, &c.
" But our women are virtuous, our women are fair,
Which is more than, they tell us, your Frenchwomen are ;
They know they are happy, they know they are free,
And that Liberty's not at the top of the tree.
Derry down, &c.
" Then let's be united, and know when we're well,
Nor believe all the lies these Republicans tell.
They take from the rich, but don't give to the poor,
And to all sorts of mischief they'd open the door.
Derry down, &c.
" Our soldiers and sailors will answer these sparks,
Though they threaten Dumourier shall spit us like larks ;
True Britons don't fear them, for Britons are free,
And know Liberty's not to be found on a tree.
Derry down, kc,
" Ye Britons, be wise, as you're brave and humane,
You then will be happy without any Paine.
We know of no despots, we've nothing to fear,
For this new-fangled nonsense will never do here.
Derry down, &c.
" Then stand by the Church, and the King, and the Laws ;
The old Lion still has his teeth and his claws ;
Let Britain still rule in the midst of her waves,
And chastise all those foes who dare call her sons slaves.
Derry down, &c.**
The success of these tracts was so complete, aud the op-
position to government so much weakened, that it began to
be believed that the year ninety-two would see the end of
faction, and that there would be nothing but unity and
loyalty in
"NINETY-THREE.*
" All true honest Britons, I pray you draw near ;
Bear a bob in the chorus to hail the new year ;
Join the mode of the times, and with heart and voice sing
A good old English burden 'tis ' God save the King !'
Let the year Ninety-three
Commemorated be
To time's end ; for so long loyal Britons shall sing,
Heart and voice, the good chorus of 'God save the King 1*
" See with two different faces old Janus appear,
To frown out the old, and smile in the new year ;
And thus, while he proves a well-wisher to crowns,
On the loyal he smiles, on the factious he frowns.
For in famed Ninety-three,
Britons all shall agree,
With one voice and one heart in a chorus to sing,
Drowning faction and party in ' God save the King !'
* This song was composed by Charles Dibdin.
4 8o THE POLITICAL STAY-MAKER.
" Some praise a new freedom imported from France :
Is liberty taught, then, like teaching to dance ?
They teach freedom to Britons ! our own right divine !
A rushlight might as well teach the sun how to shine 1
In famed Ninety-three,
We'll convince them we're free !
Free from every licentiousness faction can bring ;
Free with heart and with voice to sing ' God save the King I*
" Thus here, though French fashions may please for a day,
As children prize playthings, then throw them away ;
In a nation like England they never do hurt ;
We improve on the ruffle by adding the shirt I
Thus in famed Ninety-three
Britons all shall agree,
While with one heart and voice in loud chorus they sing,
To improve ' Ca ira ' into ' God save the King !' "
The same activity in resistance to the invasion of French
principles produced a new host of caricatures. These were more
personal than the songs and tracts. The trial which had caused
very considerable sensation in the country, brought a number of
caricatures upon Paine. It had been preceded, on the loth of
December, by a fine print by Gillray entitled "Tom Paine's
nightly pest," which was so well received that it was published
in imitations and pirated copies. The republican stay-maker, and
so-called citizen of the world, was represented reposing on his
BRITANNIA IN STATS.
bed of straw, and dreaming of judges' wigs, and of all sorts of
horrors, fears, and punishments. At his bed-head are two
FOX SANS-CULOTTIZED. 481
guardian angels, presenting the well-known faces of Fox and
Priestley. On the 2nd of January, another caricature, entitled
" Fashion for ease ; or, a good constitution sacrificed for a
fantastic form," represents Paine fitting Britannia with a new
pair of stays. The lady appears to suffer under the operation,
and she keeps herself steady by clinging to a ponderous oak.
Over the door of a cottage on one side is the sign, " Thomas
Paine, stay -maker, from The^ford Paris modes by express."
Paine did not venture to return to England, nor did his popu-
larity in France last long ; by advocating leniency towards the
unfortunate king, he fell under the hatred of the violent party,
and was soon after thrown into a dungeon by Robespierre and
his associates. In his confinement he composed the most
blasphemous of his books, the " Age of Reason." An accident
alone saved him from the guillotine; and he sought his last
asylum in America, where he lived many years to publish
harmless abuse of the laws and institutions of his native country.
In the caricatures of the year 1793, Fox and Sheridan are the
two extreme leaders of sedition the advocates and companions
of Paine pictured literally in the character of sans-culottes.
The fallen hopes of the great chief of the opposition had given
birth, on the 2nd of January, to a caricature by Gillray, in which
Fox, as the despairing Christian, eager for place and not ob-
taining it, with his eyes fixed on the glorious paradise of patriots,
the Treasury, is sinking into the '' slough of despond." On the
ist of March, the same artist pictured him as "a democrat"
a veritable sans-culotte in all the perfection of vulgarity of which
that character was thought susceptible. This print is said to
have given especial offence to Fox. Others represented him in
all the different phases of sans-culottism. In one he was a sans-
culotte advocate " The solicitor-general for the French Repub-
lic" studying the directions for its defence. " ist. Insist we
have done everything we ought to have done. and. They have
provoked us, neglected, and treated us with scorn. 3rd. How
desirous we were of peace, fraternity, and equality : N.B., not
to mention our under-hand proceedings. 4th. Soften the
massacres. 5th. Abuse our adversaries. 6th. If likely to ter-
minate against us, to demur to the matter of form, or move an
arrest in judgment." In another, he is represented with his
bonnet rouge, and his tricolor cockade, armed cap-a-pie with
every instrument of rebellion and destruction, as " The Repub-
lican Soldier ;" his " head-quarters, the Crown and Anchor
parole, Reform countersign, Anarchy." The result of his
efforts was represented in a clever print by Gillray, on the 3otu
II
482 THE POLITICAL DENOUNCER.
of March, entitled, " Dumourier dining in state at St. James's,"
dedicated " to the worthy members of the society at the Crown
and Anchor." It appears that the liberal party had their
meeting also in this tavern. Gillray's print represents the
republican general served at table by Fox, Sheridan, and
Priestley. The first brings him the head of Pitt in a dish;
Sheridan serves him with the crown in a pie; and Priestley
offers him the mitre in a tart : all these dishes are garnished
with frogs. Other caricatures exult over the fall of Fox's poli-
tical power, and the desertions of many of his friends. One of
these, published on the 7th of March, represents the two sans-
culottes, Fox and Sheridan, discarded scornfully by their old
ally, the Prince of Wales, who, a repentant prodigal, is returning
to his father's home ; its title is, " False liberty rejected ; or,
fraternizing and equalizing principles discarded no more coali-
tions no more French cut-throats." The desertion of Burke,
and his continued philippics against the French, were no less a
subject of exultation ; it was represented that his former asso-
ciates were paralysed with fear lest he should divulge their
secrets, and denounce their designs. In one of Gillray's carica-
tures, dated on the ipth of March, Burke is pictured as the
" Chancellor of the Inquisition marking the incorrigibles." On
one side is seen the door of the Crown and Anchor, (the haunt
of the Anti-Revolutionary Society,) inscribed as the " British
Inquisition." Burke, in his new character, is writing the
" Black List. Beware of N rf k ! P tl d loves us not !
The E, ss Is will not join us! The man of the people has
lived too long for us! The friends of the people must be
blasted by us ! Sheridan, Ersk . . . ." Here we trace the hand
of the denouncer no further. Fox's private circumstances were,
in the meantime, becoming more and more embarrassed, and the
great statesman for great statesman he certainly was was
reduced to a condition of absolute poverty. He was obliged for
a while to resign even the trifling luxuries of life, and it was
doubtful if he would not be compelled to retire from public
business. His friends, however, interfered, and in the 'summer
of 1793, a meeting was held at the Crown and Anchor to take
his distressed condition into consideration. The popularity
which he still enjoyed was proved by a large subscription, with
which an annuity was purchased for him. His enemies laughed
at his wants, and mocked the charity by which he was sup-
ported, in several caricatures published at the beginning of June.
One of these, published- by Gillray on the rathof June, bore the
title, " Blue and Buff Charity ; or, the patriarch of the Greek
THE' HISTORY OF REFORM, 483
clergy applying for relief." The chairman of the committee for
raising a pension for " the champion of liberty," Mr. Sergeant
Adair, is doling out to Fox a bundle of unpaid bonds, dis-
honoured bills, and other worthless paper ; while the receiver is
surrounded by the figures of Earl Stanhope, Dr. Priestley,
Home Tooke, and M. A. Taylor. The secretary of the Blue
and Buff Charity committee was Mr. Hall, formerly an apothe-
cary in Long Acre, known politically by the sobriquet of
" Liberty Hall :" he had married the daughter of the eccentric
Lord Stanhope, who chose to prove his sincere love of the
French principle of equality and fraternity by marrying his
child with a plebeian Mr. Hall is represented in the caricature
as a ragged personage, with a phial in his pocket containing
poison for Pitt.
Under all these circumstances, the people influenced by fear
on one side and prejudice on the other, the old popular ques-
tions of agitation in parliament had no longer any chance of
success. Economy, liberty, reform, were hooted as so many
synonyms for spoliation, murder, and republicanism. At the
beginning of the year, (Jan. 8, 1793,) the history of reform if
it were allowed to proceed was represented in a large print in
three compartments. First was " Reform advised:" the portly
figure of John Bull, seated in the midst of comforts, enjoys his
beef and plum pudding, and is only interrupted by three ragged
hunters of liberty, who advise him to seek reform. In the
second compartment, " Reform begun," John has entered on the
path thus pointed out to him, but the prospect is not encou-
raging ; he is reduced in his personal appearance, and hobbles
forward on a wooden leg ; his three advisers have become victo-
rious mob-rovolutionista : they force him, with daggers and clubs,
to eat frogs, a diet to which he has evidently some difficulty in
accustoming himself. The movement once begun, John has no
longer the power to halt : " Reform Compleat " follows, and his
three advisers, with the torches of incendiarism blazing in their
hands, have thrown him down and are trampling him under
their feet.
Such were to be the effects of reform, according to the tracts
spread abroad by the anti-revolution societies ; and they incul-
cated the duty of unbounded gratitude to the minister then at
the helm, who had saved them from such disasters, and shielded
them against such advisers. In one of Gillray's best carica-
tures, published on the 8th of April, Pitt is represented steering
the bark of Britannia, in a mean and safe course through the
dangers with which it was threatened, on one side by republic-
112
484 CARICATURES ON THE WAR.
anism, and on the other by despotism, and making direct for
the "haven of public happiness." The print is entitled,
" Britannia between Scylla and Charybdis ; or, The vessel of the
constitution steered clear of the rock of democracy, and the
whirlpool of arbitrary power." The ship is closely followed by
three " sharks, dogs of Scylla," presenting the features of Fox,
Sheridan, and Priestley.
The Reign of Terror which now prevailed in France, was but
too vivid a commentary on these exaggerated representations of
the dangers of political innovation.
Nevertheless, the war in which this country had engaged was
far from being popular. It was soon seen that our government
had hurried into it without being well prepared for hostilities,
and that they carried it on without much skill. A body of
English troops, under the Duke of York, had been sent into
Flanders to co-operate with our German allies, but proceedings
on both sides were for a while guided almost more by accident
than by design, and a considerable diversion was made at the
beginning of April by the defection of the French commander
Dumourier, who left the service of the republic to throw himself
into the hands of the Austrians. Gillray, who was in Flanders
about this time, represented the " Fatigues of the campaign in
Flanders," in May, in a jovial picture of drinking and licen-
tr'ousness. Many began to compare the small advantages war was
likely to bring us, with its expenses and its evils. On the 3rd
of June, Gillray embodied this sentiment in a print in four
compartments, representing the various scenes of " John Bull's
progress " in war. At first he appears happy and contented at
home, in the midst of his family ; then, persuaded that his duty
calls him off, he marches away boldly to encounter his enemies ;
next, while the war is prolonged abroad, we are introduced to
his home, where his family are reduced by distress to carry all
their goods to the pawnbroker ; and, lastly, when John returns,
ragged and crippled, he finds his family is as great misery as
himself. Towards the end of the year, when the allies began
to experience reverses, the caricatures, on one side against the
war, and on the other against the French, became more nume-
rous. Success seemed even to have quitted our old safeguard,
the navy, Howe had cruised the seas with an English fleet for
some weeks, and was popularly accused of having allowed the
French fleet to slip away from him out of Brest Harbour, for
which he was severely attacked in several caricatures. The
populace believed that French gold alone had saved the repub-
lican navy ; and Gillray represented the British Admiral blinded
ST. JAN V ARIL'S. 485
by a shower of guineas, in a print, published on the roth of
December, and entitled, " A French hail storm ; or, Neptune
losing sight of the Brest fleet." On the loth of February,
1794, a still bolder caricature, by the same artist, entitled
" Pantagruel's victorious return to the court of Gargantua,"
ridicules the warlike expedition of the Duke of York. The
Duke, returned from his Flemish campaign, brings to his royal
father the keys of Paris. The monarch is seated carelessly on
his throne, in his hunting garb, to intimate that affairs of state
were not his favourite amusement. In a room behind, we per-
ceive the Queen carefully hoarding her treasures, and receiving
further contributions from the spirit of evil. Pitt is contriving
new taxes, " Not to be felt by the swinish multitude." This
last phrase, which had been uttered by Burke in his violent
declamations against democratic agitation, was long remembered
by the popular politicians, and became subsequently a sort of
watchword to the ultra-reformers.
In the beginning of 1794, France, by immense exertions, had
rendered herself a formidable enemy to the rest of Europe, and
England at length was seized with the fear of invasion. Within
a few months, indeed, the French had invaded, with success,
nearly every country that bordered upon the French territory.
Howe's victory of the ist of June, came fortunately to support
the spirits of Englishmen, who, however, had already become
tired of the war. The opposition in parliament now raised their
heads with exultation, and accused the ministry of rashness and
imbecility. The ministerial party subsidized abroad, and raised
soldiers at home, and they affected to laugh at their parliament-
ary opponents, as a parcel of quacks, who thought they pos-
sessed a nostrum against all the evils with which the country
was ever threatened. This nostrum, they said, was Charles Fox,
to be applied as prime minister. It was an old superstition
among the people of Naples, when their fearful neighbour
Vesuvius burst into eruption, to bring forth the head of their
patron saint, Januarius, and hold it forth as a safe shield against
the danger. Fox was, as it were, the political St. Januarius of
the English liberals. A caricature by Gillray, published on the
25th of July, 1794, and entitled, "The eruption of the moun-
tain, or the Head of the protector St. Januarius carried in pro-
cession by the Cardinal Archeveque of the Lazzaroni," repre-
sents the political volcano that was overwhelming and threaten-
ing with destruction the nations of the earth, while the head of
Fox is brought forth by his followers to stop the course of the
danger. The cardinal who officiates is Sheridan ; Lord Lauder-
486 STATE PROSECVTION8.
dale carries the book, bell, and candle ; the Duke of Norfolk
assists with his earl-marshal's staff; Lord H. Petty and Lord
Derby support the cardinal's train ; Lord Stanhope brings up
the rear ; and a then well-known general personates a cur which
always smelt fire.
Encouraged by its strength in parliament, and by the conser-
vative spirit that had been spread through the country, the
court had proceeded to measures of domestic policy, the wisdom
of which might well admit of a doubt. The trial of Thomas
Paine was the commencement of a series of state prosecutions,
not for political offences, but for political designs. To the
name of Paine had been given such unenviable notoriety, and it
had caused so much apprehension in the minds of quiet people,
that his case excited personally no great sympathy, though
many dreaded the extension of the practice of making the pub-
lication of a man's abstract opinions criminal, when unaccom-
panied with any direct or open attempt to put them into effect.
In the beginning of 1/93, followed prosecutions in Edinburgh,
where the ministerial influence was great, against men who had
associated to do little more than call for reform in Parliament ;
and two persons, whose crimes consisted chiefly in having read
Paine's " Rights of Man," and in having expressed partial
approbation of his doctrines, were transported severally for four-
teen and seven years ! These men had been active in the poli-
tical societies, and it was imagined that, by an individual
injustice of this kind, these societies would be intimidated.
Such, however, was not the case, for, from this moment, the
clubs in Edinburgh became more violent than ever, and they
certainly took a more dangerous character ; so that, before the
end of the year, there was actually a " British Convention " sit-
ting in the Scottish capital. This was dissolved by force at
the beginning of 1794, and two of its members were added
to the convicts already destined for transportation. Their
severe sentences provoked warm discussions in the English Par-
liament, but the ministers were inexorable in their resolution to
put them in execution. In the similar prosecutions which they
now commenced in England, the Court was less successful. A
bookseller of London, who had published a pamphlet of a demo-
cratic tendency, entitled " Politics for the People ; or, Hog's-
wash," and some violent democrats of Manchester, for an alleged
conspiracy, were all acquitted by the juries which tried them ;
and in the latter case one of the government witnesses was sub-
sequently convicted of perjury, and sentenced to the pillory.
The public agitation was much increased by these prosecutions,
AGHATION AND RIOT.
487
and many parts of the country became the scene of serious
riots ; for there was always a mob for the prosecuted, and there
was in general also a loyal mob a mob for the prosecutors.
This latter, in several instances, committed great outrages on
the property of individiials. The illuminations in London, on
the occasion of Lord Howe's victory, were attended with con-
siderable uproar, and attacks were made on the houses of some of
the so-called revolutionists. It was generally believed that these
attacks were made under direct incitement from persons of
higher rank in society than those who engaged in them. The
next day, the uu-aristocratic and more than eccentric Lord
Stanhope inserted the following advertisement in the news-
papers :
"OUTRAGE IN MANSFIELD STREET.
" Whereas an hired band of ruffians attacked my house in Mansfield
Street, in the dead of the night, between the i ith and izth of June instant,
and set it on fire at different times ; and whereas a gentleman's carriage
passed several times to and fro in front of my house, and the aristocrat, or
other person who was in the said carriage, gave money to the people in the
street, to encourage tbem ; this is to request the Friends of Liberty and
Good Order to send me any authentic information they can procure, re-
specting the names and place of abode of the said aristocrat, or other
person, who was in the carriage above-mentioned, in order that he may be
made amenable to the law. " STANHOPE."
Earl Stanhope, the " sans-culotte
peer," figures in a multitude of cari-
catures, during this and subsequent
years. In the one from which the
accompanying cut is taken, published
on the 3rd of May, 1794, he is re-
presented as the fool of the opposi-
tion, holding for his bauble a standard
with the inscription, " Vive egalite!"
throwing away his breeches as a
garment inconsistent with his sans-
culottism, and trampling on his
coronet. The print gives him the
title of "The noble sans-culotte,"
and is accompanied with " a ballad
occasioned by a certain earl's styling
himself a sans-culotte citizen in the
House of Lords."
A 6ANS-CCLOTTE NODLM.
" Rank, character, distinction, fame,
And noble birth, forgot,
Hear Stanhope, modest Earl, proclaim
Himself a sans culotte.
488 ATTACK ON TEE POLITICAL SOCIETIES.
" Of pomp And splendid circumstance
The vanity he teaches ;
And spurns, like citizen of France,
Both coronet and breeches."
Lords Stanhope and Lauderdale were coupled together as the
two advocates of extreme democratic principles in the House of
Lords.
In the month of May, the government made a direct attack
on two of the most violent and powerful of the London societies
the Corresponding Society and the Society for Constitutional
Information. Some of their principal members, including the
Rev. Jeremiah Joyce, (Lord Stanhope's private secretary,)
Home Tooke, the afterwards celebrated political lecturer John
Thelwall, Thomas Hardy, Daniel Adams, and three or four
others, were arrested and thrown into the Tower on a charge of
high-treason. The papers of the societies were seized, and laid
by a royal message before parliament, and, on a very vague
report of their contents, the ministers succeeded by their over-
whelming majorities in carrying hurriedly that extreme measure
under imminent danger, the suspension of the habeas corpus
act. All this violence tended on the one hand to destroy public
confidence, by disturbing the country with unnecessary terrors,
while on the other it was hastening a reaction of the public
mind against the temper into which it had been urged by con-
servative agitation.
The state trials |ook place in the months of October, Novem-
ler, and December, and were the cause of very great excitement.
The courts were crowded to excess, and mobs assembled out of
doors. Hardy, who had been secretary of the Corresponding
Society, was first brought to trial, which, after lasting eight
days, ended on the ^th of November in an acquittal by the jury.
The evidence amounted to nothing more than charging him with
holding certain principles, which he had done in no manner that
was absolutely illegal; and, as it appeared, the papers of the
society, on which so much stress had been laid, contained
nothing that had not before been printed in the newspapers.
Home Tooke was next acquitted, on the 22nd of November;
and the same fate attended all the other prosecutions. The Court,
mortified at this check, relinquished some other similar proceedings
which it had already commenced, and certainly gained no popu-
larity by what it had done. Many, who were personally hostile
to the opinions of the men prosecuted, rejoiced with others at
their escape, and exulted in the courage and probity of English
juries. The mob carried the prisoners and their legal defenders
CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY. 489
home from the court in triumph. The chief advocate in the
defence in these state prosecutions, was Erskine.
In the course of these unwise proceedings, the ministry had
received strength from a modification in its ranks, and the ad-
mission of some of the more moderate of the old Whig party,
who had separated from the Foxites at the same time and on
the same grounds with Burke. In July, 1794, the Duke of Port-
land was made third secretary of state ; Earl Fitzwilliam presi-
dent of the council; Earl Spencer received the office of lord
privy seal ; and Mr. Windham was made secretary at war. In
December following, the ministry underwent some other slight
modifications, the chief of which arose from the appointment of
Ea;l Fitzwilliam to the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and
of Earl Spencer to oe first lord of the Admiralty, in place of
Pitt's elder brother, the Earl of Chatham, who took the privy
seal in exchange.
49
CHAPTER XIII
GEORGE III.
Clamours for Peace Marriage of the Prince of Wales Popular Subjects
of Complaint ; Taxes and Reform Insult upon the King Bill against
Seditious Meetings Great Meeting in Copenhagen Fields Unsuccess-
ful Negotiations for Peace New Agitation against France and Repub-
licanism Wine and Dog Tax Threatened Invasion Irish Rebellion
Naval Victories ; Battle of the Nile Union with Ireland Bonaparte
First Consul.
THE violent and unnatural agitation of the country towards
extreme Toryism was now giving way to a gradual re-
action, and with the year 1795 the opposition began for a
moment to raise its head again. This was first shewn in the
increased clamour for peace. Even some of those who sat on
the ministerial benches, such as Wilberforce, expressed their dis-
satisfaction at the warlike tone in which the session was opened,
and at the want of any expression of a pacificatory tendency in
the speech from the Throne. The ministers, in defending
themselves, spoke of making peace or alliance with a govern-
ment like that of France as a thing to which England could
hardly condescend ; they said that no such peace could be
lasting, and they held up again the bugbear of republican propa-
gandism. During the spring, motion after motion was made in
the House of Lords, as well as in the House of Commons, to
force upon the attention of. the Court the necessity of negotia-
ting with our enemies on the other side of the water. The
leaders of the opposition lost no opportunity of agitating the
question ; and petitions against the war began to flow in from
different parts of the country.
The Court had recourse to the old stratagem of exciting
popular teiTor, and throwing discredit on the motives of the
" patriots." Most of the old leaders of actual sedition had dis-
appeared from the scene in one manner or other; even Dr.
Priestley had now migrated to America ; but Fox and Sheridan
still fought their old battle in the House of Commons; and
they found able supporters among the young statesmen who
were coming forward in the political world. The ministers
represented that these men were betraying the interests of their
CLAMOURS FOB PEACH.
49 *
country to France, out of a blind admiration of its republican
institutions, and that it was the wish to see those institutions
established at home which led them to advocate peace. A cari-
cature by Gillray, published on the 26th of January 1791; pic-
tures Fox as a "French telegraph
making signals in the dark," and
pointing out to our enemies the way
into our own stronghold. Another,
by the same artist, published on the
2nd of February, was entitled, " The
Genius of France triumphant, or
Britannia petitioning for peace ;" and
represented Britannia offering her
crown, sceptre, spear, shield, and
liberties, at the foot of a sans-culotte
monster, crowned with the guillotine,
and resting its feet on the sun and
moon. Behind her come Sheridan,
bringing for his offering to this new
object of worship the English navy,
Fox, with the bank, and Lord Stan-
hope, bringing for his sacrifice the
English Parliament. On the 2nd of
March, Gillray depicted the conse-
quences which we were to expect from thus truckling to our
enemies, in a large plate, entitled " Patriotic Regeneration, or,
Parliament reformed a la Fran$aise." In this " reformed"
Parliament, Pitt is brought up as a culprit before the bar of the
House, with Stanhope as public accuser, and Lord Lauderdale
as executioner. Fox presides, with Sheridan as secretary, and
Erskine as attorney-general. The body of the picture presents
a wholesale scene of plunder and confusion. The three Whig
lords, Grafton, Norfolk, and Derby, are burning Magna Charta
and the Bible ; and Lord Shelburne, who had long left the Tory
camp, is weighing the cap of liberty against the crown.
Pitt's own caricaturist, Sayer, published on the i4th of April
a series of what he entitled " Outlines of the Opposition in 1795,
collected from the works of the most capital Jacobin artists."
In the first of these prints, Wilberforce is represented in the
character of a weathercock, blown round by the breath of repub-
licanism till he stretches out his arms to " peace and fraternity
with France," the dove bringing the olive-branch in its beak
and the dagger in its claw. The next represents Whitbread,
under the character of a barrel of his own beer, bursting and
AN OBJECT OF WORSHIP.
49* " OUTLINES OF THE OPPOSITION."
driving out the members of the House by its stink ; in the
fumes which issue from it we re.-vl the words " Reform,"
"Peace," "Liberty," "Equality," "No slave trade." The
speaker, with averted head, is calling to order. In another,
Lord Stanhope is formed into a vessel, urged on by the monster
of republicanism, but sailing against the "current of public
opinion" and the breeze of "lovalty ;" it is entitled "The Stan-
hope republican gunboat, constructed to sail againstwindand tide."
A fourth plate is entitled " The Bedford Level," and is aimed
against the Duke of Bedford, now one of the most energetic
opponents of the ministry, and who, on the 2/th of January,
had brought forward a motion in the House of Lords for nego-
tiations for peace. At the entrance to Bedford House, a
builder's level, inscribed "Liberty and Equality," is supported
on the heads of a jockey seated on a saddle, and a sans-culotte
seated on a pile of bags of money and a bundle of " title-deeds
of estates in ." Each figure wears the tricoloured cockade ;
and the latter of the two alludes to the liberality with which
the duke expended his money iu the " good cause." The next
caricature of this series, entitled " A recruit for opposition from
the Temple of British Worthies," represents Fox and Lord
Derby enlisting the Duke of Buckingham. The diminutive
Earl of Derby, mounted on a table, is measuring the Duke's
height by the " standard of opposition;" Fox's flag is inscribed
" Watchword, Peace ;" the Duke shows Fox his terms, " Condi-
tion, to be first Lord of the Admiralty," and says,
" To Pitt I made my proposition,
But he rejected the condition,
So I enlist with Opposition."
The last of these plates is a ludicrous burlesque on the appre-
hension held out by the opposition that the French might be
brought over to invade us in Dutch bottoms ; the leaders, Fox,
Sheridan, Lords Stanhope and Lansdowne, and Watson, Bishop
of Landaff, are admiring the fine phantasmagoric effect produced
by this contrivance.
Two caricatures by Gillray, which appeared at this period, in-
volve bitter attacks on the opposition " patriots." The political
and religious excitement of the time, with the wonderful events
that were passing every day before people's eyes, led some per-
sons into bold and extraordinary hallucinations, and drove others
stark mad. When the pulpit of the more sober preachers of the
gospel often resounded with denunciations in general terms of the
designs of providence, as evinced in the dreadful storm that was
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. 493
now breaking over Europe, and they explained by them the un-
fulfilled prophecies of Scripture, we need not be surprised if
there were others who believed themselves endowed with the
spirit of prophecy, and who undertook to make known more
fully the events of the coming age. Among these, one of the
most remarkable was an insane lieutenant of the navy, named
Eichard Brothers, who declared that he was the " nephew of
God," and that he had a divine mission, and boasted that he
was unassailable by any human power. He announced that
London was on the eve of being swallowed up and totally
destroyed, and that immediately afterwards the Jews were
to be gathered together into the promised land. It is extra-
ordinary that an enthusiast like this should have been able
to work upon the superstitious feelings of the populace so as to
make him an object of apprehension to government ; but it is
said he was believed to have become the tool of faction, and that
he was employed to seduce the people and to spread fears and
alarms. On the 4th of March he was arrested by two King's
messengers and their assistants, and placed under restraint,
though they had some difficulty in keeping off the mob, who
attempted to rescue him. The next day Gillray published the
first of the caricatures just alluded to, under the title of " The
Prophet of the Hebrews ;" but the Jews here carried to the land
of promise are the leaders of the opposition in Parliament, who
are borne away by the genius of revolution towards a fiery
gallows that blazes in the distance. In the other caricature,
published on the 3oth of April, under the title of " Light expel-
ling Darkness," Pitt appears drawn in glory by the liou and the
unicorn, harnessed to a triumphal car, and trampling down or
scattering before them the leaders of the opposition.
Another royal union came this year to relieve the monotony
of the usual subjects of political agitation, and this was a marriage
which affected still more the interests of the country, that of
the heir-apparent, the Prince of Wales. The prince appears to
have been as much terrified as the people by the alarm-cry of
the ministry, and he had for some time discontinued his support
of the opposition in Parliament. The extravagance of his private
life, however, had undergone no change, and he was again deeply
involved in debt. It was under these circumstances that he was
induced to marry the Princess Caroline of Brunswick, and the
marriage ceremonies were performed by the Archbishop of
Canterbury on the 8th of April. The Tories hoped that this
marriage, which was understood to have been a favourite measure
with the King, would entirely estrange the prince from his
494 TAX UPON HAIR-POWDER.
Whig connexions, which they always pretended to be the sole
cause of his private irregularities. A fine print by Gillray,
published a few days before the marriage, and entitled " The
Lover's Dream," embodied these sentiments : on one side of the
Prince's bed, Fox and Sheridan, his evil genii, are vanishing in
darkness before the bright vision of beauty which bursts forth
on the other side. The hopes which everybody placed in this
union were sung about in joyful ballads, and exhibited with no
less gladness in the windows of the print-shops. Yet its only
result at the moment was a new application to Parliament for
the payment of the prince's debts, and it eventually ended in
domestic unhappiness and public scandal.
The two questions on which, after that of peace, the country
was most agitated, were those of the increase of taxation and
parliamentary reform. The necessarily great expenditure of the
war, made greater by the utter want of economy shewn every-
where in the application of public money, and the extraordinary
subsidies given to foreign governments to support them in their
exertions against France, were now driving the minister to every
kind of expedient to raise money. Taxes were levied upon
articles which no one ever thought of taxing before. The most
remarkable tax of this kind, granted by Parliament in the
session of 1795, was the tax upon persons wearing hair-powder,
a fashion which was then universal among all who laid claim to
respectability in society. This tax could hardly be complained
of as a serious burden, or even as a grievance ; but it was chiefly
remarkable for the extraordinary mistake which the minister
committed in boasting of the great addition which it was to
bring to the revenue ; for the use of hair-powder was almost
immediately discontinued, and the produce of the tax was hardly
worth the trouble of collecting it. It became at first a party
distinction ; the Whigs wore their hair cut short behind, and
without powder, which was termed wearing the hair d, la guil-
lotine; while the Tories, who continued the use of the hair-
powder, were called guinea-pigs, because one guinea was the
amount per head of the tax. The hair-powder tax was the
subject of many songs and jeux-d 'esprit, as well as of several
caricatures, which, from this time to the end of the century,
became so numerous that they form a regular history of every
event that agitated society, even in a trifling degree. The larger
portion of the caricatures of the period alluded to were from the
talented pencil and graver of Gillray, and are much superior to
those of the preceding or following periods. The hair-powder
tax was brought forward by Pitt on the 23rd of February ; on
POPULAR DISCONTENT. 495
the loth of March, Gillray published a caricature under the
title of "Leaving off Powder; or, a frugal family saving a
guinea." An anonymous caricature, published on the ijth of
June, represents Pitt under the character of "a guinea-pig,"
and Fox as " a pig without a guinea." On the ist of June the
artist just mentioned, in a caricature entitled " John Bull ground
down," had represented Pitt grinding John Bull into money,
which was flowing out in an immense stream beneath the mill.
The Prince of Wales is drawing off a large portion to pay the
debts incurred by his extravagance, while Dundas, Burke, and
Loughborough, as the representatives of ministerial pensioners,
are scrambling for the rest. King George encourages Pitt to
grind without mercy. Another caricature by Gillray, published
on the 4th of June, represents Pitt as Death on the white horse
(the horse of Hanover) riding over a drove of pigs, the repre-
sentatives of what Burke had rather hastily termed the " swinish
multitude." In a caricature, published on the 1 2th of June,
under the title of " Blind Man's Buff; or, too many for John
Bull," the minister is represented setting all the foreign
powers on poor John to drain him of his money. A caricature
on the different progressive stages of government, as exemplified
in different countries, published on the ist of September,
represents it first as " The State Caterpillar," its rings composed
of high offices, pensions, and other sources of extravagant
expenditure, devouring England, Scotland, and Ireland, which
are spread before it in the form of a cabbage-leaf ; next it is
represented in Holland, in its transition state, as a chrysalis ;
and lastly as a glorious butterfly in republican France. This
allegory represented the sentiments then held by many on the
progressive developments of the civil government, as the people
advanced from despotism to liberty.
The popular discontent was increased by the great scarcity,
and consequent dear ness of provisions, which began to be felt at
the beginning of summer, and in creased to an alarming degree
during the autumn. From this cause, and from grievances
connected with recruiting and press-gangs, there was much
rioting throughout the country. Considerable uneasiness was
caused at Birmingham and other places in that part of England
in the month of June, by mobs demanding " cheap bread," which
led in some cases to collisions with the military. Similar
disturbances took place in London, and the feeling of dissatisfac-
tion extended all over the country. The government appears to
have taken no effectual measures against the increasing distress ;
they merely recommended various expedients to lessen the
496 BILLY THE BUTCHER.
consumption of bread, by employing other substances, and a bill
was passed to prevent, for a period, distillation from grain ; but
the attention of Parliament was chiefly occupied with
providing for the Prince of Wales. Pitt was said to have made
the singular suggestion that people should eat meat to save
bread ; and a caricature, published on the 6th of July, represents
the minister as the " British butcher," serving John Bull with
dear meat to stop his cry for cheap bread. Beneath him is the
epigram,
" Bitty the Butcher's advice to John Bull.
" Since bread is so dear (and you say you must eat),
For to save the expense you must live upon meat ;
And as twelvepence the quartern you can't pay for bread,
Get a crown's worth of meat, it will serve in its stead."
As winter approached, the agitation became still greater, and
the numerous demagogues
who addressed themselves
to the populace and lower
orders, took advantage of
the general discontent to
spread abroad their se-
ditious opinions. A nu-
merous meeting had been
held in St. George's
Fields in June to petition
for annual parliaments
and universal suffrage.
This sort of agitation
went on increasing, and
the London Correspond-
ing Society called a meet-
ing on the 26th of October
in Copenhagen Fields,
where an immense multi-
F- - sS^ffpSST tude assembled to vote
-^3 jlpi^ and sign addresses and
~^T '* remonstrances on the state
of the country. Three
AN ORATOR. wooden scaffolds were
raised in different parts
of the field, from which three of the orators of the populace
addressed the assemblage in inflammatory language, which no
doubt contributed towards urging them to the disgraceful
outrage which followed three days later. The most active
ATTACK ON THE KISG. 497
speaker was Thelwall, who had just escaped from prison.* The
opening of parliament was looked forward to with great anxiety.
It was called together early, on account of the extreme distress
under which the country was labouring. As the time approached,
popular meetings were held in the metropolis, and preparations
were made for an imposing demonstration of mob force. During
the morning of the 2pth of October, the day on which the King
was to open the session in person, crowds of men continued
pouring into the town from the various open spaces outside,
where simultaneous meetings had been called by placards and
advertisements, and before the King left Buckingham House, on
his way to St. James's, the number of people collected on the
ground over which he had to pass is said in the papers of the
day to have been not less than two hundred thousand. At first
the state-carriage was allowed to move on through this dense
mass in sullen silence, no hats being taken off, or any other
mark of respect being shewn. This was followed by a general
outburst of hisses and groans, mingled with shouts of " Give us
peace and bread !" " No war !" " No King !" " Down with him !
down with George!" and the like; and this tumult continued
unabated until the King reached the House of Lords, the Guards
with difficulty keeping the mob from closing on the carriage.
As it passed through Margaret Street the populace seemed
determined to attack it, and when opposite the Ordnance Office,
a shot of some kind, supposed to be a bullet from an air-gun,
passed through the glass of the carriage window. The tumult
was, if anything, more outrageous on the King's return, and he
had some difficulty in reaching St. James's Palace without
injury ; for the mob threw stones at the state- carriage and
damaged it considerably. After remaining a short time at St.
James's, he proceeded in his private coach to Buckingham
House, but the carriage was stopped in the park by the populace,
who pressed round it, shouting, " Bread ! bread! peace! peace!"
until the King was rescued from this unpleasant situation by a
strong body of the Guards.
The Lords were much agitated at this gross insult offered to
the royal person, and were some time before they could calm
themselves sufficiently to proceed to business. The Tories
made a new cry against the spread of revolutionary principles,
and the dangerous designs of seditious men ; and they said that
* A caricatured picture of this celebrated meeting, was published on the
i6th of November, under the title of "Copenhagen House." The cut
given in the preceding page is taken from this print, and is understood
to represent Thelwall addressing the mob.
K
498 INCREASING AGITATION.
it was the opposition shewn to ministers in parliament that
encouraged the mob out of doors. Gillray gave to the public a
caricature on the ist of November, in which the attack upon
the King was travestied, and each of the opposition leaders had
his place in the scuffle. Pitt is seated on the box, as royal
coachman ; and Lords Loughborough and Grenville, Dundas,
and Sir Pepper Arden hold on behind as footmen. The Duke
of Norfolk presents the blunderbuss at royalty; Fox and
Sheridan are bludgeon-men ; and Lords Stanhope and Lau-
derdale and another old patriot are holding the wheels of the
carriage to stop its progress.
The ministers took advantage of this riot to bring forward
new bills for the defence of his Majesty's person, and to
prevent assemblies of an inflammatory character, where papers
were circulated and speeches made calculated to irritate the
minds of his Majesty's subjects against his person and govern-
ment. This measure met with the most violent opposition, and
it was extremely unpopular throughout the country. People
said that there were already laws enough for the protection of
the crown, without any further infringement of the liberty
of the subject ; they beheld the government forming itself into
a sort of inquisition, from the eyes of which no one would
be safe ; and they augured that King George and William Pitt
were goading and irritating the people, until they would produce
that very revolution of which they professed to entertain such
profound fears. The political clubs throughout the kingdom
began immediately to agitate against Pitt's new bill ; and
the London Corresponding Society called another public meet-
ing. Pitt is said to have shewn the greatest symptoms of
alarm on this occasion. His temerity in provoking John Bull
by so many coercive measures was satirised on the 2ist of
November, in a caricature entitled, " The Royal Bull-fight," in
which Pitt, on the white horse (the emblem of the house
of Hanover,) is encountering the British Bull ; the inscription
is a parody on the account of a Spanish bull-fight "Then
entered a bull of the true British breed, who appeared to
be extremely peaceable till opposed by a desperado mounted upon
a white horse, who, by numberless wounds, provoked the animal
to the utmost pitch of fury, when collecting all its strength
into one dreadful effort, and darting upon its opponent, it
destroyed both horse and rider in a moment." Such, it was
foretold, would be the fate of King George (the white horse of
Hanover), and his rider Pitt, if they urged John Bull too far.
Another caricature which appeared on the a6th of November,
PITT AND HIS BOTTLE.
499
represents Fox and Sheridan, whose opposition to the bill
against popular meetings had been very galling to the minister,
tarring and feathering Pitt, their tar being "the rights of
the people," made to boil over by a fire the fuel of which
was " the sedition bill," " ministerial influence," and " infor-
mations." The system of spies and informers was now being
organised on a very extensive plan. A caricature, published on
the ist of December, one of the earlier works of this class by
Isaac Cruikshank, represents Pitt as " the royal extinguisher,"
putting out the flame of sedition. Amid the scarcity of
provisions under which people were suffering, a caricature, pub-
lished on the 24th of December, took revenge upon the minister
for the former joke of making meat a substitute for bread, and
represents him and his party feeding voraciously on English
gold as a still better substitute.
Caricatures, and other satirical productions, attacked Pitb
severely for his apparent neglect, or want of foresight, in not
making some better provision against the visitation of famine.
The premier was addicted somewhat immoderately to the
bottle, and he, as well as his great opponent, Fox, is said to
have taken his place in the House of Commons more than once
in a state of absolute intoxication. We are frequently re-
minded of this failing in the caricatures of the period of which
we are now speaking. When the scarcity of 179,5 was just begin-
ning, a print, published by Gillray on
the 27th of May, represents one of the
jovial scenes at Pitt's country house,
at Wimbleton, between the minister
and his friend Dundas, who was as
great a drinker as himself. It is
entitled, " God save the King ! in
a bumper ; or, An Evening Scene
three times a-week, at Wimbleton."
Pitt is attempting to fill his glass
from the wrong end of the bottle,
while his companion, grasping pipe
and bumper, ejaculates the words,'
"Billy, my boy all my joy!"
Another caricature by Gillray, pub-
lished on the pth of November,
represents the supposed " fatal
effects of French defeat," upon the
intelligence of an unexpected success
gained by the allies ; these effects are "hanging" and " drowninj
KK a
A MINISTKU TV HTOH GI.Efc
5oo
BACCHUS AND JOHN HULL.
the former is supposed to be literal in the ease of Fox, who
was always represented by the Tories as the friend of republican
France ; but Pitt and Dundas are drowning in wine, the effects of
which are only fatal so far as to lay them helpless on the floor.
Among the new taxes brought forward in the spring of 1796,
was an additional duty of twenty pounds per butt on wine,
which provoked no little discontent ; and the minister's wine-
bibbing propensity furnished the subject of aqundance of
satire. Orillray represented him under the character of
Bacchus, and his friend Dundas under that of Silenus, in a
caricature published on the aoth of April, 1 796, with the title
of "The Wine Duty; or,
the Triumph of Bacchus and
Silenus." John Bull, with
empty bottle and empty purse,
and a very long face, addresses
his remonstrance : " Pray,
Mr. Bacchus, have a bit of
consideration for old John ;
you know as how I've
emptied my purse already for
you ; and it 's waundedly hard
to raise the price of a drop of
comfort, now that one's got no
money left for to pay for it !"
The ministerial Bacchus, from
his pipe of wine (which is sup-
ported on the " treasury
bench,") hiccups forth his reply : " Twenty pounds a t-tun addi-
tional duty, i-i-if you d-d-dont like it at
that,w hy, t-t-t-then dad and I will
keep it all for o-o-our own drinking,
so here g-g-goes, old Bu-bu-bull and
mouth!"
The bibacious qualifications of the
patriots were, however, no less cele-
brated than those of the ministers, and
were in their turn brought forward as
subjects of satire or of joke. Fox and
Sheridan were notorious drinkers ; and
the former is said to have been some-
times brought from the tavern late at
night to the House, on an extraordi-
nary emergency, in such a condition that he required a long
BACCHUS AND SILENUS.
A BRANDT-DRINKER.
JUSTICE MIDAS. 501
application of wet towels to his head before he was able to go
to his place and speak. In a caricature by Gillray, published on
the ^th of February, 1797, representing one of the private par-
ties of the Whig leaders, here described ironically as " the feast
of reason and the flow of soul," Sheridan, not satisfied with
drinking wine, like his companions, is filling his bumper with
brandy.
The additional wine-tax furnished subjects for other carica-
tures besides that by Gillray. In one, published on the 2^th of
April, and entitled " The Triumph of Bacchus ; or, a Consulta-
tion on the additional wine-duty," Pitt is represented as
Justice Midas, sitting on the wine-barrel, drinking and smoking.
Dundas sits on one side, on a tub, occupied in the same
manner, and exclaims, " Who dare oppose wise Justice Midas ?"
On the other side stands the Duchess of Gordon, Pitt's great
political supporter among the ladies. She is dressed in a
remarkable transparent vest, leans against a barrel, and she also
drinks, while she exclaims, " Oh, what a God is Justice Midas !
oh, the tremendous Justice Midas !"
Another tax, now laid for the first time, which excited both
discontent and ridicule, was that upon dogs. The debates
on this tax in the House of Commons appear to have been
extremely amusing. In opposing the motion to go into com-
mittee, Sheridan objected that the bill was most curiously
worded, as it was in the first instance entitled " A bill for the
protection of his Majesty's subjects against dogs :" " from these
words," he said, "one would imagine that dogs had been
guilty of burglary, though he believed they were a better pro-
tection to their master's property than watchmen." After
having entertained the house with some stories about mad dogs,
and giving a discourse upon dogs in general, he asked, " since
there was an exception in favour of puppies, at what age they
were to be taxed, and how the exact age was to be ascertained."
The secretary at war, who spoke against the bill, said, "it
would be wrong to destroy in the poor that virtuous feeling
which they had for their dog." In committee Mr. Lechmere
called the attention of the house to ladies' lap-dogs : " he knew a
lady who had sixteen lap-dogs, and who allowed them a roast
shoulder of veal every day for dinner, while many poor persons
were starving was it not therefore right to tax lap-dogs very
high ? He knew another lady who kept one favourite dog, when
well, on Savoy biscuits soaked in Burgundy, and when ailing,
(by the advice of a doctor,) on minced chicken and sweet-
bread!" Among the caik'atures on this subject, one by Gillray
THE SLOOMSSUSY FARMEE.
(of which there were imitations) represented Fox and his
friends, hanged upon a gallows, as " dogs not worth a tax,"
while the supporters of government, among whom is Burke
with " Gr. B." on his collar, are ranged as well-fed dogs, " paid
for."
The ministers carried their bill to prevent seditious meetings
through every stage by large majorities ; but in the course of
the debates, the most unconstitutional publication that turned
up, was a pamphlet, entitled " Thoughts on the English Govern-
ment," by a Mr. Reeves, an active member of one of the anti- .
revolutionary societies, in which it was stated that "The
monarchy of England was like a goodly tree, of which the
Lords and Commons were merely branches; that they might be
lopped off, and that the constitution of England might still go
on without their aid." The whole pamphlet was read before
the House of Commons, and excited considerable warmth ; but,
after several debates, the author was sent from the tribunal of
the House to a court of justice, in which he was prosecuted for
a libel on the constitution ; but he was acquitted by the jury on
the ground that his motives were not such as were laid in the
information, though the jury condemned the pamphlet as " a
very improper publication." The ministers were, at the same
time, mortified at having their prosecutions for sedition or
treason defeated by the juries, who, in almost every instance,
gave a verdict of " not guilty." The societies were not destroyed,
as was expected, by the government bill ; on the contrary, they
were encouraged by the support of some of the richer and more
powerful members of the parliamentary opposition, especially of
the Duke of Bedford, who now stood foremost in its ranks, and
was liberally expending his money in the cause of freedom,
which was certainly threatened by the ministerial measures.
Gillray, on the 3rd of February, made the manner in which the
patriotic duke expended his money a subject of satire in a cari-
cature, entitled " The Generse of Patriotism, or the Bloomsbury
Farmer planting Bedfordshire Wheat." The duke is represented
sowing his gold on land ploughed by Sheridan. Fox, as the
sun, smiling roguishly from his orb, warms the seeds into pro-
ductiveness, and they spring up behind the sower in a numerous
crop of French bonnets-rouges and Jacobin daggers.
In the middle of February Mr. Grey again introduced a motion
for peace, which was supported by the opposition, and replied to
with much less warmth than formerly, and the minister acknow-
ledged that the government was not averse to seize an oppor-
tunity of negotiating. The face of Europe had indeed changed
A DISSOLUTION. 503
considerab'y within a few months. On one side, our allies, in
spite of 1-he extraordinary sums expended in subsidies, were
becoming faint and falling off before the immense armies of the
republic ; and, on the other, the republic itself, since the over-
throw of the Jacobin party, seemed to be changing its character
from a democracy to a despotic oligarchy. The fear of propa-
gandism appeared, therefore, to have vanished, while it left us
to the prospect of contending single-handed against so powerful
an adversary. In this position of affairs, the English parliament
was dissolved in the latter part of May, and another was elected
equally subservient to the will of the minister. On the 2ist of
May, the day after the Parliament was prorogued, Gillray pro-
duced a caricature, entitled " The Dissolution, or the Alchymist
producing an aethereal Representation," in which Pitt appears
with an immense retort, distilling the old House of Commons
into a new one, the members of which fall down worshipping at
his feet. He heats the fire of his furnace, by which this trans-
mutation is produced, with bright gold coin, which is described
as "treasury coals."
When the new Parliament met on the 6th of October, the
speech from the throne announced that steps had been taken
which had opened the way for a direct negotiation for a Euro-
pean peace, and that an ambassador would be immediately sent
to Paris with full powers to treat. It was intimated, moreover,
that the wish for negotiation was hastened by the declared
intention of France to attempt an invasion of this island.
Lord Malmesbury was accordingly sent to Paris to open nego-
tiations, and arrived there on the 22nd of October. The lower
orders in France seem to have rejoiced at the prospect of peace,
and they exhibited their feelings somewhat tumultuously in the
welcome they gave to the ambassador as he passed through the
provincial towns ; but the Directory, after amusing him with
pretended negotiations, and then treating him in a haughty and
insulting manner, gave him a peremptory order to leave Paris
on the ipth of December, and thus destroyed all hope of ob-
taining peace, under any circumstances, from the government
which now ruled France, and which had imbibed too deeply the
thirst for conquest and plunder, and possessed an immense army
which it would have been dangerous to recall. England was
thus plunged deeper than ever into the war, and, feeling that its
only safety lay in conquering, entered upon it with more resolu-
tion and unanimity than ever.
The negotiation, perhaps, arose from a sudden misgiving on
the part of the minister, for it seems never to have been fully
504 CARICATURES AGAINST PEACE.
approved of by his own party, and its expediency appears to
have been very generally doubted. Burke had been the first to
protest against it, in his two eloquent " Letters on a Regicide
Peace," published in the course of the summer.* Earl Fitz-
william entered a protest against it in the journals of the House
of Lords, on occasion of the debate on the address. Burke's
letters had produced a great sensation, and they were backed by
some bold and spirited caricatures as the period for negotiating
approached. A large print by Sayer, dated the i4th of October,
but said to have been never finished for publication, is entitled
" Thoughts on a Regicide Peace," and represents Burke dream-
ing of the dangers with which his country was threatened. In
the frightful vision, republican France is dictating its own terms,
while Britannia is practising a French tune, which her lion
accompanies with a dismal howl. Gillray's caricature, dated
the 2oth of October (two days before our ambassador's arrival
in Paris), and entitled, " Promised horrors of the French inva-
sion ; or, forcible reasons for negotiating a Regicide Peace," was
published, and exhibits a terrific picture of what was to be
expected if the French revolutionized England (for the French
government still patronized democracy in the countries they
wished to conquer) and made the Foxite reformers masters of
the crown and constitution. In the foreground, Pitt is bound
to a post, and is scourged by Fox, between whose legs M. A.
Taylor struts in the form of a crowing bantam-cock perched on
the handle of the bloody axe. The Duke of Bedford, as a bull,
urged on by the mob orator Thelwall, is tossing Burke into the
air. Lord Stanhope is weighing the head of Lord Grenville
against the ministerial weight of the broad bottom. Erskine,
to whom Lord Lansdowne is offering the Lord Chancellor's wig,
is employed in burning Magna Charta. Jenkinson and Canning
are hanged on the lamps. The princes are assassinated, and
their bodies thrown from the windows of Brooks's. A compli-
cated scene of murder and plunder fills the whole picture, in the
back-ground of which we perceive the Palace of St. James's
enveloped in flames.
The failure of our negotiations had this advantage, that it
kindled throughout the island a flame of patriotic enthusiasm,
and a determination to resent to the utmost the threat of inva-
sion. In the midst of such feelings, it is not surprising if the
alarming budget which the minister was obliged to announce in
the beginning of the session was allowed to pass with less abso-
* This publication was one of the last of Edmund Burke's political acts.
He died on the gth of July, 1 797.
JOHN BULL IN A PANIC. 505
lute discontent than usual; and that even a voluntary loan,
which. . the government was obliged to open, was filled up with
extraordinary rapidity. On the i7th of November, Gillray
published a caricature entitled the " Opening of the Budget ; or,
John Bull giving his breeches to save his bacon." Pitt, with a
large bag inscribed as the "requisition budget" open before him,
is obliged to excite John Bull's apprehensions in order to extract
his money from his pocket ; he exclaims, " More money, John !
more money ! to defend you from the bloody, the cannibal
French they're a coming ! why, they'll strip you to the very
skin ! more money, John ! they're a coming they're a
coming!" The money was not all expended against French
invaders, for Burke, Portland, and Dundas, as representatives of
the host of pensioners, are seen behind the bag scrambling for
the gold, and seconding Pitt's exhortations with their several
assertions " Ay, they're a coming ! " " Yes, yes, they're a
coming!" "Ay, ay, they're a coming they're a coming!"
John Bull, in his alarm at the report of invasion and his distrust
of the professed patriots, throws money and breeches and all
into the bag, with the sullen declaration, " A coming ! are they ?
Nay, then, take all I've got at once, Measter Billy ! vor it's
much better for I to ge ye all I have in the world to save my
bacon, than to stay and be strip'd stark naked by Charley and
the plundering French invasioners, as you say ! " Charley (Fox)
is seen behind declaiming across the Channel (with the fortifica-
tions of Brest in the distance) " What ! more money ? Oh !
the aristocratic plunderer ! vitel citoyens, mtel dep$chez-vous!
or we shall be too late to come in for any smacks of the argent!
vife! citoyens, vitel vite! " Gillray also published, at the
beginning of December, a caricature on the voluntary loan, in
which Pitt is represented in the character of a highwayman,
presenting his blunderbuss at John Bull as he la passing by,
and asking him for a voluntary contribution. It is scarcely
necessary to say that this is a parody on a scene in Gil Bias.
England was now fairly entered upon that desperate struggle
which eventually, after great sacrifices, raised our national glory
to a far higher pitch than it had attained at any former period.
The dangers to which this country was then exposed were of no
trifling character with a great burthen of taxation already
weighing upon it, it was threatened with the whole resentment
of a powerful enemy, who expected to find disaffection at our
very heart, and who had Ireland ready to rise in rebellion at
the first signal that France was advancing to its assistance.
Although there must have been more of faction than of real
506 THE GIANT FACTOTUM.
patriotism in those who could embarrass the government at such
a moment, we yet, perhaps, owe to the obstinate resistance of
Fox and his party to the ministerial measures that English
liberty was not, in the enthusiasm of the moment, sacrificed to
court supremacy to a degree almost as disastrous even as the
effects of foreign invasion.
We may trace the parliamentary battle of this session in the
caricatures of the day, especially in the works of Gillray. The
failure of the French expedition which was to have landed in
Bantry Bay, produced from this artist, on the aoth of January,
a caricature entitled the " End of the Irish Invasion ; or, the
destruction of the French Armada." The faces which here
man the sinking fleet, are those of Fox, Erskine, Thelwall, and
others, whom the Tory satirists placed in the same rank ; the
foul winds that have raised the storm in which they are perish-
ing, are produced by Pitt, Duudas, Wyndham, and the Marquis
of Buckingham, who occupy their mythological station in the
clouds. The next day Gillray gave to the public another cari-
cature, in which the minister was represented as " the giant
factotum amusing himself." Pitt, seated on the canopy over
the speaker's chair, in gigantic majesty, is playing at cup and
ball with the world ; one foot nearly crushes Fox, Sheridan,
Erskine, and other leaders of the opposition ; the other is sup-
ported on the shoulder of Dundas, and the head of Wilberforce,
while Canning is devoutly kissing the toe, and the members
from the Treasury benches are bowing in worship before it.
This print was very popular and gave rise to at least one imita-
tion. It is said that the facetious Caleb Whiteford, when he
first saw it, made an extempore parody on the words of a well-
known song :
"Jove in Ms chair,
Of the skies lord-mayor,
When he nods, men, yea gods, stand in awe;
O'er St. Stephen's school
He holds despotic rule,
And his word, though absurd, must be law."
The ministers, indeed, now confident in their power, began to
treat the opposition with scornful superiority. When Fox con-
tinued to declaim against the dangers to which they were
exposing the country by their ill-conduct and improvidence,
Dundas is said to have spoken of the Whig alarmist in his reply
in the following terms: "For a dozen years past he has fol-
lowed the business of a Daily Advertiser, in daily stunning our
ears with a noise about plots and ruin and treasons and im-
THE DAILY ADVERTISER. 50;
peachments ; while the contents of his bloody news turn out
to be only a Daily Advertisement for a place and a pension."
The allusion to the Whig paper told with great effect ; and
shortly after, on the 23rd of January, the idea was embodied in
a caricature by Gillray, representing Fox, in the character of a
ragged newsman, with his horn, shouting the news of the
" Daily Advertiser," and knocking, but in vain, at the Treasury
gate. In their mortification at the increasing power of their
ministerial opponents, the political societies gave utterance fre-
quently to imprudent sentiments and expressions, which were
turned to the disadvantage of the liberal party as a body. Thus,
the following sentiment is said to have been expressed in the
Whig club, on the I4th of February: "The tree of liberty
must be planted immediately ! this is the something which
must be done, and that quickly, too, to save the country from
destruction." Gillray 's pencil immediately pictured the tree ot
liberty, the planting of which, in the opinion of the Whigs,
would be the Salvation of England its foundation, a pile of
ghastly heads, at once recognised as those of Sheridan, Stanhope,
Thelwall, Home Took, and other active agitators in opposition
to government ; its stalk, a bloody spear, sus-
taining, as its fruit, the bleeding head of the
arch-agitator, Fox. At the latter end of
February, the French made a descent on the
coast of Wales, without any apparent object or
utility, which ended in the immediate capture
of the invaders. The opposition quickly raised
a cry against the government. A caricature
by Gillray, published on the 4th of March,
represents the hold which the Whigs thought
they had thus gained on the minister, as "Billy
in the Devil's claws," the unfortunate premier
held in the brawny grasp of Fox ; but the in-
telligence of Jervis's brilliant victory over the
Spaniards came to set the captive loose, and
obliged the evil visitor to let go his hold in
chagrin, which is represented in an accom-
panying picture of " Billy sending the Devil
packing." The whole is entitled " The Tables
turned."
A new cause of alarm was now furnished by FRUIT OF LIKEUTT.
the embarrassments of the Bank of England,
arising from the immense sums which had been advanced to
government, and the anxiety of people in general to withdraw
J-BER-
-TAS
508 INSOLENT THREATS OF THE FRENCH.
their money, under the apprehension of an invasion ; and, in the-
month of February, the bank announced its inability to continue
cash payments. Pitt came forward to its assistance with an act
of parliament making bank notes a legal tender, and from this
time the circulation of gold coin became almost obsolete.
Several caricatures appeared on this occasion. In one, the
minister was represented attempting a rape on the old lady of
Leadenhall-street. Another was a parody on the well-known
story of Midas the political Midas (Pitt) instead of turning
everything into gold, turned it into paper; in the distance,
across the water, a great explosion at Brest blows into the air
a cloud of Jacobin sans-culottes armed with daggers, and the
wind from it moves the reeds (the English opposition), which
sigh forth, "Midas has ears!" The opposition are constantly
thus depicted as causing embarrassment to the government at
home for the advantage of our enemies abroad. In another
caricature on the paper-currency question, Pitt is represented
offering bank-notes to John Bull, while Fox and Sheridan are
persuading him not to take them. John, however, remains
deaf to their arguments.
John Bull's courage and patriotism, indeed, increased in
intensity, and his dislike of war diminished, as the danger
approached nearer and became more imminent. The inso-
lence of the French Directory and of their agents, and
the atrocious threats which they held out against England,
only tended to unite all classes in the defence of their native
land. The commander of the army of invasion, General Hoche,
had already, in imagination, plundered our capital. "Coura-
geous citizens," he said to his followers, in an address which
was circulated through France, " England is the richest country
in the world and we give it up to you to be plundered. You
shall march to the capital of that haughty nation. You shall
plunder their national bank of its immense heaps of gold. You
shall seize upon all public and private property upon their
warehouses their magazines their stately mansions their
gilded palaces ; and you shall return to your own country loaded
with the spoils of the enemy. This is the only method left to
bring them to our terms. When they are humbled, then we
shall dictate what terms we think proper, and they must accept
them. Behold what our brave army in Italy are doing they
are enriched with the plunder of that fine country , and they
will be more so, when Eome bestows what, if she does not, will
be taken by force. Your country, brave citizens, will not de-
mand a particle of the riches you shall bring from Great Britain
THE HAT TAX.
59
.Take what you please, it shall be all your own. Arms and
ammunition you shall have, and vessels to carry you over.
Once landed, you will soon find your way to London." These
lines, which were published in most of the English newspapers
and magazines in the month of March, added to the martial
spirit of the people, whose property was thus threatened, and
volunteer troops began to be formed in all parts of the country.
The metropolis and its volunteers began again to look like Old
London and its trained bands, and caricatures on these soldier-
citizens soon became numerous. One by Gillray, published on
the ist of March, may be compared with the satires against the
city soldiery in the days of George I. it represents, " St.
George's volunteers charging down Bond-street, after clearing
the ring in Hyde Park, and storming the dunghill at Mary-
bone ;" and the assailants are evidently gaining an easy victory
over the fashionable loungers of the former locality. A number
of pictures representing the horrible consequences of French
success, published during March and April, tended to keep the
national spirit in a blaze.
Still John Bull grumbled at being taxed, although he was so
earnestly assured that it was for his own advantage. One of
the taxes proposed during the spring of 1797, which gave most
room for satire and ridi-
cule, was a duty on hats,
which people evaded by
wearing caps. Gillray, in
a caricature, published on
the 5th of April, entitled
" Le bonnet rouge : or,
John Bull evading the hat-
tax," intimates the danger
that such taxes might drive
John Bull to adopt the re-
publican costume of his
neighbours, and he cer-
tainly does look " trans-
formed." John chuckles
in contemplation of the
astonishment that his ruler
must feel when he beholds the strange effect of his taxes
" Waunds ! when Measter Billy sees I in a red cap how he will
stare ! egad, I thinks I shall cook 'en at last ! well, if I could
but once get a cockade to my red cap, and a bit of a gun why,
I thinks I should make a good stockey soldier." ruu - :
JOHN BULL m BONNET BOOGE.
Other carica-
jio THE MINISTERIAL RAREE-SHOW.
tures attacked the increasing system of taxation, and the minis-
ter with whom it originated, with much greater severity ; they
represented him as practising a continued deception of making
professions which he never intended to fulfil, and talking of
objects which he took no steps to gain in order to extract the
money from John Bull's pocket. A caricature, published on
the i5th of August, under the title of " Billy's Raree-Show ; or,
John Bull e?i-lighten'd,"
represents Pitt as the
royal showman, picking
John's pocket of his "sav-
ings," while the latter is
looking at his exhibition.
The showman, with all
due gravity, is directing
John's attention " Now,
pray, lend your attention
to the enchanting pros-
pect before you this is
the prospect of peace
only observe what a busy
scene presents itself the
ports are filled with ship-
ping, the quays loaded
with merchandize riches
are flowing in from every
quarter this prospect alone is worth all the money you have
got about you." The simple auditor of this fine speech, totally
unconscious of the process to jvhich his pocket is being sub-
jected, observes, "Mayhap it may, Master Showman, but I
canna zee ony thing loike what you mentions I zees nothing
but a woide plain, with some mountains and molehills upoii't
as sure as a gun, it must be all behoind one of those!" The
flag of the raree-show bears the inscription, "Licensed by
Authority, Billy Hum's grand exhibition of moving mechanism;
or, deception of the senses." Great as might be the increase of
taxes in one session, the next was sure to bring with it the
addition of new ones. Scarcely had the parliament begun busi-
ness at the end of the year 1797, when it was announced that a
heavy addition would be made to the assessed taxes. A carica-
turist, in the month of December, in a print entitled, " More
visitors to John Bull ; or, the Assessed Taxes," represents these
unwelcome guests introducing themselves to John Bull in a
bodily form. The latter asks in surprise, as well as alarm,
THE DISHONEST SHOWMAN.
THE ASSESSED TAXES. 51 r
"What do you want, you little devils ? ain't I plagued with
enough of you already ? more pick-pocket's work, I suppose ?"
The imps reply, in the most courteous manner, " Please your
honour, we are the assessed Taxes."*
WE ABE THE ASSESSED TAXES.
Amid so many subjects of uneasiness, with preparations for
invasion without, and when our fleets were in open mutiny at
Spithead and the Nore, the question of parliamentary reform
was again agitated from one end of the country to the other.
In the month of May, Fox and his party made two important
efforts in the House of Commons to force the ministry to more
liberal measures. On the 23rd, Fox himself moved for the
repeal of the acts passed in the preceding session against
sedition and treason. The ministers defended warmly their
coercive measures, and one of their party declared " that he con-
sidered this motion as a tissue of the web that Mr. Fox had
been weaving for the last four years, which had tended to
degrade this country in the eyes of foreign powers ; had it not
been for these acts he believed that the French national flag
would have been hoisted on the Tower of London." After a
long debate, Fox's motion was rejected by two hundred and
sixty votes against fifty-two. On the i6th, Mr. Grey moved for
leave to bring in a bill to reform the representation in the
country, and explained at considerable length the principal
details of his plan. The motion was seconded by Erskine, and
the debate lasted till three o'clock in the morning, when it was
rejected by a majority of a hundred and forty-nine against
ninety-one. The leaders of the opposition now declared their
* The only copy of this caricature that I have seen is in the possession of
Mr. Burke.
5ia SECESSION OF THE FOXITES.
despair of making any impression on the House of Commons,
and announced their intention for the present of taking no
further part in its proceedings. The voice of Fox was scarcely
heard again within the walls of St. Stephen's till after the close
of the century. Sheridan alone remained at his post, and it
was commonly believed that he had disagreed with his party,
and that he was looking out for encouragement to desert to the
ministerial side of the House. Upon this occasion the Tories
complained louder than ever of the factious behaviour of the
opposition ; they said that the opposition had remained in the
House as long as there remained any prospect of doing mischief,
and then shewed their patriotism by leaving their country to its
fate. Gillray published a caricature on the 28 th of May, the
spirit of which is sufficiently explained by its title of " Par-
liamentary Reform ; or, Opposition rats leaving the House they
had undermined." A caricature, published some days later,
represents Fox slinking away from the neighbourhood of the
House, after his partizans have laid the trains that were to blow
up the constitution. Other caricatures traced the opposition
leaders into their retreats, and shewed them encouraging and
aiding sedition without the House, now that their efforts had
proved useless within. On the 5th of June appeared a carica-
ture, entitled " Diversions of Purley ; or, Opposition attending
their private affairs," represents Fox and his political friends in
affectionate homeliness nursing two ill-favoured babes, " Sedition
and Revolution." Another caricature, published by Gillray on
the 1 6th of June, is entitled " Homer singing his verses to the
Greeks ;" it represents Fox and his party round the jovial table,
listening to their old minstrel Captain Morris, who, all ragged
and wretched, is singing them a new song. Still later on in the
year, on the 24th of November, in a caricature entitled " Le
coup de maitre," Gillray represented Fox in the character of a
political brigand, practising with his gun at the crown, lords,
and commons.
It is certain that, after the secession of the opposition in the
House of Commons, the agitation throughout the country
became greater, and the activity of the political societies
increased. Political meetings to discuss the necessity of Par-
liamentary reform became more frequent. One of the most
remarkable of these meetings was held on the grounds at Guy's
Cliff, near Warwick, under the favour of Bertie Greathead, Esq.,
the proprietor of that picturesque locality, and was commemo-
rated by a medal, an article at this time very popular as a
means of spreading political opinions. Numerous medals had
THE ANTI-JACOBIN.
513
been struck for and against Paine. The reform medal com-
memorating the meeting at
Guy's Cliff, was parodied by a
loyal medal, which represented on
the obverse the devil holding
three halters over the heads of
the demagogues, while on one
side the "wrong heads" are ap-
plauding them, and on the other
the "right heads" are shewing
disgust at their proceedings.
The newspapers now became
more violent and abusive, and
less scrupulous in their state-
ments, when they could serve
their party by falsehood or misrepresentation.
It was to combat the seditious tendency of the opposition
press, the attacks of which assailed the ministers with incessant
gall, that the celebrated Anti-Jacobin was established in the
latter part of November, 1797. It was conducted by some of
the most talented men connected with the administration, and is
remarkable for the bitterness of its satire, and the boldness of
its personalities. In this respect one party was quite as little
scrupulous as the other. The second number of this paper,
published on the 27th of November, contained that admirable
burlesque by Canning (one of the principal contributors) on the
pains taken by the political agitators and so-called philanthro-
pists to instil discontent into the lower orders of society, even
when of themselves they were not at all inclined to be
discontented :
THE FRIEND OF HUMANITY AND THE KNIFE-GRINDER.
1 ' Friend of Humanity.
" ' Needy knife-grinder ! whither are you going ?
Rough is the road, your wheel is out of order
Bleak blows the blast your hat has got a hole in 't,
So have your breeche-i !
" ' Weary knife-grinder ! little think the proud ones,
Who in their coaches roll along the turnpike-
road, what hard work 'tis crying all day, ' Knives and
Scissors to grind, O ! '
' ' Tell me, knife-grinder, how you came to grind knives ?
Did some rich man tyrannically nse you ?
Was it the 'squire ? or parson of the parish ?
Or the attorney t
L L
514 CELEBRATION OF FOX'S BIRTHDAY.
" ' Was it the 'squire for killing of his game ? or
Covetous parson for his tythes distraining ?
Or roguish lawyer made you lose your little
All in a lawsuit?
" ' (Have you not read the ' Rights of Man ' by Tom Paine ?)
Drops of compassion tremble on my eye-lids,
Beady to fall, as soon as you have told your
Pitiful story.'
" Knife-grinder.
" ' Story ! God bless you ! I have none to tell, sir,
Only last night, a-drinking at the Chequers,
This poor old hat and breeches, as you see, were
Torn in a scuffle.
" ' Constables came up for to take me into
Custody ; they took me before the justice ;
Justice Oldmixon put me in the parish-
stocks for a vagrant.
" ' I should be glad to drink your honour's health in
A pot of beer, if you will give me sixpence ;
But, for my part, I never love to meddle
With politics, sir.'
" Friend of Humanity.
" ' 7 give thee sixpence ! I will see thee damn'd first !
Wretch ! whom no sense of wrongs can rouse to vengeance !
Sordid, unfeeling, reprobate, degraded,
Spiritless outcast ! ' "
(Kicks the Knife-grinder, overturns his wheel, and exit in a transport of
republican enthusiasm and universal philanthropy.)
This burlesque was reprinted in a broadside, on the 4th of
December, with a large engraving by Gillray, in which the
" friend of humanity" carries the features of Tierney, and
it is dedicated " to the independent electors of the borough
of Southwark," of which constituency Tierney was the repre-
sentative.
In their mortification at the steady and overwhelming
ministerial majorities in parliament, the opposition seceders
seem to have vented their ill-humour in ultra-liberal toasts and
speeches at public dinners and entertainments, and under the
genial influence of the god to whom their devotions were always
fervent, they sometimes uttered sentiments that were not of the
most prudent description, and which were eagerly seized upon
by their opponents. On the 24th of January, 1 798, a grand
dinner was held in the rooms of the Crown and Anchor to cele-
brate the birthday of Charles James Fox. Not less than two
thousand persons are said to have been present. The Duke of
Norfolk presided, and was supported by the Duke of Bedford,
THE MAJESTY OF THE PEOPLE. .515
Earls Lauderdale and Oxford, Sheridan, Tierney, Erskine,
Home Tooke, and others. Captain Morris produced three new
songs for the occasion. After dinner had been withdrawn in
the great room, the Duke of Norfolk, as reported in the news-
papers, addressed the company nearly as follows : " We are met,
in a moment of most serious difficulty, to celebrate the birth of
a man dear to the friends of freedom. I shall only recall
to your memory, that not twenty years ago, the illustrious
George Washington had not more than two thousand men
to rally round him when his country was attacked. America is
now free. This day full two thousand men are assembled
in this place. I leave you to make the application. I propose
to you the health of Charles Fox." After this toast had been
drunk, and warmly applauded, the duke gave successively,
"The Rights of the people;" "Constitutional redress of the
wrongs of the people ;" " A speedy and effectual reform in the
representation of the people in parliament ;" " The genuine
principles of the British constitution;" "The people of
Ireland, and may they be speedily restored to the blessings of
law and liberty." The health of the chairman was then drunk,
to which the duke responded by giving " Our sovereign's health
the majesty of the people /" The court gave a much less
favourable interpretation to these
proceedings than it was probable
that the actors in them ever con-
templated, and the Tory press
was loud in its outcries. The re-
sult was, that, within a few days
after the meeting, the King dis-
missed the Duke of Norfolk from
his offices of Lord Lieutenant of
the West Riding of Yorkshire, and
Colonel in the militia, which caused
no less outcry in the newspapers of
the opposition. A print by Gillray,
published on the 3rd of February,
represents the noble toastmaster,
giving "the loyal toast," sur-
rounded by Fox, Bedford, Stanhope,
Sheridan, and others. The duke's
seat, in place of a coronet bears the
figure of a bonnet rouge. Above his
head appear two hands, one holding
a pair of scales, the other with a pair of scissors cutting c
L L 2
A NOBLE TOAKlMASTER.
516 PATRIOTS DISGRACED.
from a long list of the honours bestowed by the crown upon the
Norfolk family the two just alluded to. Just three months
later, at a meeting of the Whig club, at the Free Masons'
Tavern, on Tuesday, the ist of May, Fox gave as a toast,
" The sovereignty of the people of Great Britain," and accom-
panied it with a speech strongly condemnatory of the conduct of
ministers, whom he compared with the French Directory. A
similar mark of resentment was shewn towards Fox, as had
already been exhibited in the case of the Duke of Norfolk ; the
King immediately ordered his name to be erased from the list of
the privy council. Ano-
ther caricature by Gill-
ray, published on the
1 2th of May, represents
the dismay of the two
disgraced patriots, in a
" Meeting of the unfor-
tunate citoyens" Pitt
and Dundas stand as
sentinels at the entrance
to St. James's. Fox,
who appears to have
just been refused admit-
tance, exhibits a truly
rueful countenance, and
meeting the duke, ex-
PATBIOTS IN DISMAY. claims, " Scratch'd off!
dish'd ! kick'd out,
damme!" His companion in misfortune, from whose pocket
hangs a paper containing the announcement of his dismissal
from the lieutenancy, replies, " How ? what ! kick'd out !
ah ! morbleu ! chacun a son tour ! morbleu ! morbleu!"
During these transactions, the French were constantly boast-
ing of their preparations for the invasion of this country, and it
was openly declared that they were to be assisted with a rebel-
lion in Ireland, some discontented and ambitious democrats of
that country having been in active communication with the
governing powers in Paris. Threatening paragraphs from the
French papers found their way continually into the English
journals, and helped to keep up the alarm. It was announced
that Buonaparte, now one of the most distinguished of the
generals of the republic, elated with the victories of his Italian
campaign, was to lead his veteran armies against England. A
paragraph from a Parisian paper of the a6th of November,
FRENCH PREPARATIONS FOR INVASION. 5:7
1797, proclaimed that " The army of England is created ; it is
commanded by the conqueror of Italy. After having restored
peace to the continent, France is at length about to employ all
her activity against the tyrants of the seas." The London
newspapers, at the end of December, published the address of
the president of the Directory to Buonaparte on his arrival from
the south : " Citizen-general ! crown so glorious a career by a
conquest which the great nation owes to its outraged dignity.
Go, and by the punishment you inflict on the cabinet of London
strike terror into all the governments which shall dare to doubt
the power of a nation of freemen. Pompey did not disdain to
crush a nest of pirates. Greater than the Koman general, go
and chain down the gigantic pirate who lords it over the seas :
go and punish in London crimes which have remained unpunished
but too long. Numerous votaries of liberty wait your arrival ;
you will find no enemy but vice and wickedness. They alone
support that perfidious government ; strike it down, and let its
downfall inform the world, that if the French people are the
benefactors of Europe, they are also the avengers of the rights
of nations."
This constant declaration on the part of France that she
expected to secure powerful assistance in England, injured the
cause of the opposition in this country, and appeared to confirm
the charges brought against them by the Tories, whose indig-
nation was raised to the highest pitch, when, in February, the
French papers brought over a printed copy of the letter by
which the notorious renegade, Paine, conveyed his sentiments on
the subject to the council of Five Hundred " Citizen repre-
sentatives, though it is not convenient to me, in the present
situation of my affairs, to subscribe to the loan towards the
descent upon England, my economy permits me to make a small
patriotic donation. 1 send a hundred livres, and with it all the
wishes of my heart for the success of the descent, and a volun-
tary offer of any service I can render to promote it. There will
be no lasting peace for France, nor for the world, until the
tyranny and corruption of the English government be abolished,
and England, like Italy, become a sister republic."
As spring approached, the French papers brought frequent
intelligence of preparations and orders for this threatened
descent.
In England the alarm was great, and every measure was again
practised that was likely to stir up and sustain a flame of pa-
triotism, as well as to make people suspicious of the motievs
and designs of those who were in opposition to the ministers.
5i8 LOYAL SONGS POPULAR.
Loyal songs became suddenly more popular than all others, and
new ones were regularly given to the world in the columns of
the Anti-Jacobin and other publications. The following excel-
lent parody appeared in this journal early in December :
"LA SAINTE GUILLOTINE
"From the blood-bedew'd valleys and mountains of France
See the genius of Gallic invasion advance !
Old Ocean shall waft her, unruffled by storm,
While our shores are all lin'd with the friends of Reform.
Confiscation and Murder attend in her train,
With meek-eyed Sedition, the daughter of Paine ;
While her sportive Poissardes with light footsteps are seen
To dance in a ring round the gay guillotine.
"To London, 'the rich, the defenceless,' she comes
Hark ! my boys, to the sound of the Jacobin drums !
See Corruption, Prescription, and Privilege fly,
Pierced through by the glance of her blood-darting eye.
While Patriots, from prison and prejudice freed,
In soft accents shall lisp the Republican creed,
And with tri- coloured fillets, and cravats of green,
Shall crowd round the altar of Sainte Guillotine. ..
" See the level of Freedom sweeps over the land
The vile aristocracy's doom is at hand!
Not a seat shall be left in the house that we know,
But for Earl Buonapaite and Baron Moreau.
But the rights of the Commons shall still be respected-
Buonaparte himself shall approve the elected ;
And the Speaker shall march with majestical mien,
And make his three bows to the grave guillotine.
"Two heads, says our proverb, are better than one;
But the Jacobin choice is for Five Heads or none.
By Directories only can liberty- thrive,
Then down with the one, boys ! and up with ihejivef
How our bishops and judges will stare with amazement,
When their heads are thrust out at the national casement /*
When the national razor has shaved them quite clean,
What a handsome oblation to Sainte QuiUotine /"
A caricature by Gillray, published on the ist of February,
1798, under the title of " The storm rising ; or, The Republican
Flotilla in danger," represents Fox, Sheridan, and their allies,
drawing the enemy's flotilla to our coast by means of a capstan
and cable, while Pitt, from above, is blowing up the storm that
is to drive it away in the winds we discern the names of Dun-
can, Howe, Gardiner, &c., the admirals who were now making the
name of England respected on the seas. The flotilla has in
front the flag of "liberty," but the flag behind is inscribed as
* La petite fenfire and le rasoir national were popular terms applied to
the guillotine by the mob in France.
CONSEQUENCES OF FRENCH INVASION. 519
that of " slavery." The turrets and bulwarks represent " mur-
der," "plunder," "beggary," and a number of other similar
prospects. On the other side of the water are seen the fortifi-
cations of Brest, with the guillotine raised on its principal
tower, and the devil dancing over it and playing the tune of
"Over de vater to Charley!" Plenty of pictures were now
published, to shew the disastrous state of things to be expected
in this country, when the Whigs should have helped the French
to the mastery. Of these the most remarkable was a series of
four plates, engraved by Gillray, and published on the ist of
March, and said, in the corner of each plate, to be " invented "
by Sir John Dalrymple. They are entitled, " The consequences
of a successful French invasion." The first represents the
House of Commons occupied by the triumphant democra is ; the
mace, records, and other furniture of the house, are involved in
one common destruction, and the members are fettered in pairs,
in the garb of convicts, ready for transportation to Botany Bay.
In the second, the House of Lords is the scene of similar havoc ;
a guillotine, supported by two Turkish mutes with their bows,
occupies the place of the throne ; and the commander-in-chief,
in his full republican uniform, pointing to the mace, says to one
of his creatures, " Here, take away this bauble ! but if there be
any gold on it, send
it to my lodging."
In the third plate,
the good people of
England, in rags and
wooden shoes, are
forced to till the
ground, while their
proud republican
task-masters follow
them with the whip.
The fourth is a lesson
for Ireland ; having
come over with the
specious pretext of
delivering the Ca-
tholic faith from Pro-
testant supremacy,
they abuse the Ca-
tholic clergy and
plunder and profane
their churches.
A FRBNCn REFORMER IN PARLIAMENT.
520
IRISH BEBELLION.
Ireland was at this time breaking out into open rebellion, and
occupied the attention of both political parties in England as
seriously as the threatened invasion from France. The Whigs
accused the Tories of having provoked the Irish into resistance
by their tyrannical measures, and affected sympathy for their
sufferings ; the Tories accused the Whigs of having encouraged
disaffection by their example, and by the propagation of their
republican doctrines. Among those who
preached most about English injustice in
the sister islaud, was Lord Moira, who has
been mentioned before as Lord Eawdon,
and who was incessant in his declamations
against English misrule. A caricature,
published by Gillray on the 1 2th of March,
represents him as "Lord Longbow, the
alarmist, discovering the miseries o'f Ire-
land," and doing his best to blow the
diminutive flame across the channel into a
blaze with his small breath. On the 2oth
of March, Gillray published a caricature,
entitled " Search Night; or, State Watch-
men mistaking honest men for Conspira-
tors," in which Pitt and Dundas, as watch-
men, are breaking through the door of the
secret apartment in which the " Corre-
sponding Society" are supposed o be de-
liberating. They find the room full of
daggers, caps of libert} r , &c., and a party
of conspirators brooding over Irish insur-
rection. The approach of the watchmen
has been the signal for a general flight ;
the Dukes of Bedford and Norfolk make
their escape through the chimney; Fox and Sheridan mount
through a trap-door ; Tierney and two others seek concealment
under the table ; Moira alone, who boasted that he managed
well with both parties, stands his ground: over the mantel-
piece are portraits of Robespierre and Buonaparte. In June,
people were excited against the Irish by pictures of the atroci-
ties committed by the rebels, which rivalled almost the doings
of French republicanism ; and, among other caricatures on the
same subject, published in October, is a picture of " The allied
Republics of France and Ireland," in which the French ally,
after enriching himself by plunder, is riding upon poor Ireland
transformed into a donkey. This picture is accompanied by a
LOBD LONGBOW THE
ALARMIST.
CAEICATUEES ON THE WHIGS. 521
mock song, burlesquing the national burthen of "Erin go
bragh :"
" From Brest in the Bay of Biskey
Me come for de very fine whiskey,
To make de Jacobin friskey,
While Erin may go bray.
" Me have got de mealy pottato
From de Irish democrato,
To make de Jacobin fat, O,
While Erin may go bray.
" I get by de guillotine axes
De wheats and de oats, and de Saxes,
De rents, and de tydes, and de taxes,
While Erin may go bray.
" I put into requisition
De girl of every condition,
For Jacobin coalition,
And Erin may go bray.
" De linen I get in de scuffle
Will make de fine shirt to my ruffle,
While Pat may go starve in his hovel,
And Erin may go bray.
" De beef is good for my belly,
De calf make very fine jelly,
For me to kiss Nora and Nelly,
And Erin may go bray.
" Fitzgerald and Arter O'Connor
To Erin have done de great honour
To put me astride upon her,
For which she now does bray.
"She may fidget and caper and kick, O,
But by de good help of Old Nick, O,
De Jacobin ever will stick, O,
And Erin may go bray."
The Whigs continued to be caricatured as the patrons of
French principles, whether in England or in Ireland. Gillray
published, on the i8th of April, a series of "French Habits,"
in which the principal English Whigs were equipped in the gay
theatrical costumes of the different officers of the French republi-
can government of that time ; Fox led the way as " le ministre
d'etat en grand costume." On the 23rd of May, a caricature
by Gillray parodied Milton in representing " The Tree of Liberty,
with the Devil tempting John Bull." Fox, as the serpent, is
offering John Bull the apple of " Keform ;" but the latter is
not to be tempted, for his pockets are tilled with better fruit.
A caricature by the same artist, published on the z6th of May,
523 PREPARATIONS AGAINST INVASION.
represents the " Shrine at St. Anne's Hill ;"* Fox worshipping
the bonnet rouge, which is supported on a republican altar, with
the bust of Robespierre on one side, and that of Buonaparte on
the other ; the heads of the other leaders of the opposition,
with red caps on their heads, appear as cherubs attendant
on his devotions. In another caricature by Gillray, entitled
"Nightly Visitors at St. Anne's Hill," published on the 2ist of
September, the ghosts of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and the
headless trunks of others who had fallen a sacrifice in their
rebellion against the government in Ireland, are made to disturb
Fox in his slumber, and accuse him of having been their first
seducer.
The threats of France and her ostentatious preparations, had
greatly injured the cause of the Whigs in England, where the
warlike spirit had been increased by the victories gained by
Duncan and other admirals at sea. Our fleet seemed to be
rapidly rising in glory since the repression of the memorable
mutiny at the Nore. The enthusiasm was kept up by every
kind of incentive, even by " loyal " performances at the theatres.
On the pth of February, a tragedy, entitled "England Pre-
served," an interlude, and the farce of the " Poor Sailor," were
acted at Covent Garden Theatre, and the receipts of the house
appropriated to the voluntary contribution for the defence of
the country. There were present Lord Bridport and Lord
Hood, whose healths being drunk in the interlude occasioned
such extraordinary bursts of applause, that both those naval
heroes were obliged to come forward and shew themselves to the
audience. This and other performances were accompanied with
appropriate prologues, epilogues, and addresses, all calculated to
produce the same effect. Even Captain Morris became loyal,
and wrote some truly patriotic songs, of which the following,
which was very popular in the month of May, is one of the
best :
A LOYAL SONG.
" Ye brave sons of Britain, whose glory hath long
Supplied to the poet proud themes for his song,
Whose deeds have for ages astonish'd the world,
When your standard you 've hoisted or sails have unfurl'd ;
France raging with shame at your conquering fame,
Now threatens your country with slaughter and flame.
But let them come on, boys, on sea, or on shore,
We '11 work them again, as we 've worked them before.
* Charles James Fox's country house in Surrey, to which he retired
after the secession of the opposition in the House of Commons.
BATTLE OF THE NILE. 5*3
" Now flush" d with the blood of the slaves they have slain,
These foes we still beat swear they'll try us again ;
But the more they provoke us, the more they will see,
'Tis in vain to forge chains for a nation that 's free :
All their rafts, and their floats, and their flat-bottom'd boats,
Shall not cram their French poison down Englishmen's throats.
So let them come on, &e.
' They hope by their falsehoods, their tricks, and alarms,
To split us in factions, and weaken our arms ;
For they know British hearts, while united and true,
No danger can frighten, no force can subdue ;
Let 'em try every tool, every traitor, and fool,
But England, old England no Frenchman shall rule.
So let them come on, &c.
" How these savage invaders to man have behav'd,
We see by the countries they 've robb'd and enslav'd ;
Where, masking their curse with blest Liberty's name,
They have starv'd them, and bound them in chains and in shame.
Then their traps they may set, we're aware of the net,
And in England, my hearties, no gudgeons they '11 get.
So let them come on, &c.
" Ever true to our king, constitution, and laws,
Ever just to ourselves, ever staunch to our cause ;
This land of our blessings, long guarded with care,
No force shall invade, boys, no craft shall ensnare.
United we '11 stand, firm in heart, firm in hand,
And those we don't sink, we '11 do over on land.
So let them come on," &c.
As the summer approached, all fears of invasion vanished away,
and the departure of Buonaparte for Egypt shewed that the
ambition of France was directed for the present to another
quarter. At the beginning of October, the news of the great
and decisive victory of the Nile came to cheer all hearts, except
those of the seditious few who had built their prospects on the
assistance of French bayonets. The Tories exulted over the
supposed mortification and chagrin of men who certainly did
not lament their country's glory, and a print by Gillray, pub-
lished on the 3rd of October (the day after the announcement
of the battle in the gazette), under the title of "Nelson's vic-
tory ; or, Good news operating upon loyal feelings," represents
the different Whig leaders giving unequivocal evidence of their
disappointment. A caricature, published on the 6th, represents
Nelson with a club, inscribed, " British Oak " clearing the Nile
of its monsters it is entitled, " Extirpation of the Plagues of
Egypt ; destruction of revolutionary crocodiles ; or, The British
hero cleansing the mouth of the Nile." Scarcely a day now
passed without bringing intelligence of some new success of the
British navy at sea, and John ^ull seemed in danger of being
JOHN BULL'S LUNCHEON.
surfeited with the multitude of his captures. On the 24th of
October, Gillray published his caricature of "John Bull taking
a luncheon ; or, British cooks cramming old Grumble-Gizzard
with bonne chSre." John sitting at his well-furnished table, is
almost overwhelmed by the zealous attentions of his (naval)
cooks, foremost among whom, the hero of the Nile is offering
him a " fricassee a la Nelson," a large dish of battered French
ships of the line. The other admirals, in their characters of
cooks, are crowding round, and
we distinguish among their
contributions to John's table,
" fricando a la Howe," " Des-
sert a la Warren," "Dutch
cheese a la Duncan," and a
variety of other dishes, " a la
Vincent," " a la Bridport," " a
la Gardiner," &c. John Bull
is deliberately snapping up u
frigate at a mouthful, and he
is evidently fattening fast upon
his new diet ; he exclaims, as
his cooks gather round him,
" What ! more frigasees! why,
A GOOD CATERER. vou ro g ues vou> where do you
think I shall find room to stow all you bring in ?" Beside
him stands an immense jug of "true British stout" to wash
them down ; and be-
hind him, a picture of
"Buonaparte in Egypt,"
suspended against the
wall, is concealed by
Nelson's hat, which is
hung over it. Through
the window we see Fox
and Sheridan running
away in dismay at John
Bull's voracity. It was
now pretty generally
the hope of some, and
the fear of many, in
France as well as in
JOHN BULL TAKING A LUNCHEON. England, that Buona-
parte would never be
able to get back to his own country, and all eyes were fixed
JACK TAR SETTLING BUONAPARTE.
5*5
with anxiety upon the East. Gillray published a caricature on
the 2oth of November, entitled " Fighting for the dunghill j
or, Jack Tar settling Buonaparte," in which Jack is manfully-
disputing his enemy's right to supremacy over the world j the
nose of the latter gives evident proof of " punishment." Jack
Tar has his advanced foot on Malta, while Buonaparte is seated,
not very firmly, on Turkey. At home the plan of a descent upon
England was so far modified, that the invasion was to be made
through Ireland, and the command of the army destined for
this purpose was given to the republican General Hoche ;
but, while Jack Tar was thus settling Buonaparte in the
DISPUTED POSSESSION.
East, General Hoche died unexpectedly in France, and so
entirely had the success of our fleets restored the feeling
of security in England, that his disappearance from the stage
would hardly have been perceived, had it not been announced
by the grand print of Gillray, entitled "The Apotheosis of
Hoche," published on the nth of December, 1/98, and the
representing in one vast panorama the horrors of the French
revolution crowded around its hero. The same year that wit-
nessed the signal defeat of the navy of France, saw also the
overthrow of the French prospects in Ireland, by the suppres-
sion of the rebellion.
During the spring and summer of 1798, the prosecutions for
political offences had increased in number, and the whole country
seems to have been invaded with an army of spies and informers.
Men were dragged into court on informations of the most trifling
and ridiculous kind, and it was long before this country was
526 NEW COALITION.
relieved from the evils of a disgraceful system, which, in the
blindness of momentary enthusiasm, the ministry of William
Pitt had been allowed to establish. An amusing caricature on
this subject, published on the 2nd of April, and alluding appa-
rently to some incident that had occurred at Winchester, is
entitled " The Sedition Hunter disappointed ; or, d g by
Winchester Measure." An honest farmer is dragged into court
by an informer, who accuses him of having uttered the treason'
able expression, " D n Mr. Pitt." The sensation against the
informer is unequivocally expressed ; and the judge, in this case,
comes to the sage opinion in the matter of law, " If a man is
disposed to d n, he may as well d n Mr. Pitt as anybody
else."
The Tories continued to exult over the defeat of " the party."
There had taken place at the beginning of the year a sort of
coalition between the Foxites and some of the more violent demo-
crats, such as Home Tooke and Frend, who had formerly repu-
diated Fox as not sufficiently democratic in his views, but who
now expressed themselves satisfied at his declaration in favour of
parliamentary reform, and proclaimed the necessity of union.
On the 3oth of October, after the glorious successes which had
added so much to the strength of the ministers in power,
Gillray published a caricature entitled, " The Funeral of the
Party," in which the bier of party is borne along with a lugu-
brious procession, Fox, Sheridan, and their friends marching
behind it as chief mourners; the Duke of Norfolk leads the
procession, bearing the banner inscribed the " Majesty of the
People ;" and behind him Home Tooke reads the service from
"The Eights of Man." This was followed, on the 6th of
November, by "Stealing off; or, Prudent Secession," a carica-
ture alluding to the secession of the Whigs in the previous
spring, and representing Fox flying from the House, where the
opposition bowed down their heads overwhelmed by the suc-
cesses of government. On the i yth of November, came "The
Fall of Phaeton," Fox struck from his chariot by the lightning
-of royalty, and the Whig club involved in his destruction.
Home Tooke had now become one of the most prominent
members of the reform confederacy ; at one period of his career,
when acting (as it was said) in "the pay of government, he had
published a pamphlet under the title of " Two Pair of Portraits,"
in which he contrasted, much to the advantage of the former,
the two Pitts with the two Foxes. A caricature by Gillray on
this subject, of which the accompanying plate is an accurate
copy, was published on the ist of December, with the Anti-
PROPERTY AND INCOME TAX. 527
Jacobin Review ; Home Tooke is redaubing his portrait of
Charles Fox, and is surrounded on every side with pictures
allusive to the varying principles of his life.
The parliamentary session of 1799, opened at the end of
November, 1 798, when Fox kept his word of absenting himself
from the debates ; yet in the caricatures he was always placed
foremost in the opposition. The announcement of a property
and income tax at the beginning of December, produced a cari-
cature, published on the i3th, under the ironical title of
"Meeting of the Moneyed Interest," in which Fox with a
begging-box by his side, is exciting against the bill a meeting of
which the greater part appears to be anything but " moneyed."
It was Fox, according to the same caricatures, who, in his love
of faction, was now creating every possible obstacle to Pitt's
favourite measure of the Irish union. A caricature by Gillray
entitled, " Horrors of the Irish Union," published on the 24th
of December, represents Britannia on one side of the channel,
reposing amid plenty and happiness, offering to Ireland on the
other side a " Union of security, trade, and liberty." The face
of Fox is just seen from behind a bush, (which conceals him
from Britannia, who appears not to be aware of his presence),
whispering across the channel, " Hip ! my old friend, Pat ! hip !
a word in your ear ! take care of yourself, Pat ! or you'll be
ruined past redemption. Don't you see that this d d Union
is only meant to make a slave of you ? Do but look how that
cursed hag is forging fetters to bind you, and preparing her knap-
sack to carry off your property, and to ravish your whole country,
man, woman, and child! why, you are blind, sure! Rouse
yourself, man ! raise all the lawyers and spur up the corpora-
tions ; fight to the last drop of blood, and part with the last
potato to preserve your property and independence !" Pat, who
is covered with rags and wretchedness, whose whole property is
comprised in a broken pike, his house in flames in the distance,
looks, to use his own expression, entirely "bothered." He
scratches his head as he makes his reply, " Plunder and knap-
sacks ! and ravishments and ruin of little Ireland ! why, by St.
Pathrick, it's very odd, now ; for the old girl seems to me to be
offering me her heart and her hand, and her trade and the use of
her shUlalee to defend me, into the bargain ! By Jasus, if you
was not my old friend, Charley, I should think you meant to
bother me with your whisperings, to put the old lady in a
passion, that we may not buss one another, or be friends any
more."
The year 1799 was that a ^ w hich the outcry against sedition
..,28 IRISH UNION PROPOSED.
was greater than at any previous period, and in which extraor-
dinary measures were taken to restrain the liberty or licence of
the press. In July, the ministry put in effect the extreme
measure of subjecting printing-presses to a licence. The Tory
caricatures still boasted of the absolute defeat of opposition, and
they imagined that in its despair it was laying secret trains for
the destruction of the constitution, and were continually calling
for severer political persecution. The King's Bench, and New-
gate, and Coldbath Fields, . began to be filled with political
offenders ; the last had received the popular epithet of the
"Bastile." A caricature published with the Anti-Jacobin
Review, and entitled, " A charm for democracy, reviewed,
analysed, and destroyed, January ist, 1799, ^ ^ confusion
of its affiliated friends," represents the members of the opposi-
tion assembled in the cave of Despair, where Tooke and two of
his violent colleagues, as witches, are mixing up the caldron of
sedition, under the immediate presidency of the evil one. The
incantation is
" Eye of Straw, and toe of Cade,
Tyler's brow, Kosciusko's blade,
Russell's liver, tongue of cur,
Norfolk's boldness, Fox's fur ;
Add thereto a tiger's chaldron,
For the ingredients of our caldron."
Above, in the sky, appears the King on his throne, backed by
his ministers, throwing a glare of light on the machinations of
the disaffected patriots. The King says, " Our enemies are con-
founded!" Pitt urges, "Suspend their bodies!" But the
chancellor, more careful of the forms of law, says, " Take them
to the King's Bench and Coldbath Fields."
On the 22nd of January, the proposition for a union with
Ireland was laid before Parliament in a message from the Crown.
This subject, with the rebellion of the preceding year, caused
the affairs of the sister island for some time to occupy a con-
siderable share of public attention in this country. Caricatures
on the subject were very numerous, as well as prints exhibiting
respectively the violence and cruelty of the rebels, and the con-
sequence of French influence. On the ist of March was pub-
lished with the Anti- Jacobin Review & print, apparently from the
pencil of Rowlandson * (a copy of which is given in the accom-
panying plate), entitled "An Irish howl." It represents the
* Most of Kowlandson's earlier political caric itures were published
without his name, and many of them were not engraved by himself, so that
JOHN BULL'S GUARDIAN ANGEL.
5 2 9
A GUARDIAN ANGEL.
United Irishmen terror-struck at a vision of the consequences
of the French republican influence which they had invoked.
The property and income tax was a fruitful source of populai
complaint. Gillray published on the i3th of March a caricature
entitled " John Bull at his
studies, attended by his
guardian angel;" in which
John Bull is seen puzzling
himself over an immense
mass of paper, rather ironi-
cally entitled, "A plain,
short, and easy description
of the different clauses in
the income tax, so as to
render it familiar to the
meanest capacity." He re-
marks very gravely, " I
have read many crabbed
things in the course of my
time ; but this for an easy
piece of business is the
toughest to understand I
ever met with. " Above,
Pitt appears, as John's guardian angel, playing to him upon
the Irish harp,
"Cease, rude Boreas, blust'ring railer, ,
Trust your fortune's care to me."
A paper on the table bears the descriptive lines,
"The sweet little cherub that sits up aloft,
To keep watch for the purge of poor Jack."
Various seizures were made about this time of the persons and
papers of some of the active members of the political societies,
and the latter were laid before a secret committee of the House
of Commons ; but, although much noise was made on the subject,
very little of importance was found among them. The populace,
however, was made to believe the contrary ; and a large and
elaborate print by Gillray, published on the 1 5th of April,
entitled an "Exhibition of a democratic conspiracy, with its
effects upon patriotic feelings," represents the Whig leaders
it is not always easy to recognise them. The plate of which we are hero
speaking, however, bears very evident traces of his style, especially in
some of the faces.
M M
530 THE ENGLISH DEMOCRATS.
turning away in dismay from the light thrown upon their
proceedings by the committee, which illuminates a large trans-
parency, exhibiting in four compartments the expected pro-
ceedings of the democrats in power, as they had been described
over and over again in the Tory prints during the few years
preceding : first, they plunder the bank, then they assassinate
the Parliament (Fox is stabbing Pitt), next, they steal the
crown and the regalia from the Tower (Fox is carrying off the
crown, and a party of sweeps are making a bonfire of the records),
and, lastly, they welcome the entry of the victorious French
soldiery into the palace of St. James's. There must have been
few persons left who would pay much attention to such exagge-
rated improbabilities as these. Yet the caricaturists persisted in
their tactics of identifying English Whigs with French repub-
licans. On iJie 7th of May, Gillray published a series of
engravings entitled a " New Pantheon of Democratic Mytho-
logy," in one of which Fox, in allusion to his secession and
retirement to the privacy of St. Anne's Hill is represented under
the character of " Hercules reposing ;" in another, Tierney, Sir
George Shuckborough, and Mr. Jekyl, as " Harpies defiling the
feast," are spoiling John Bull's roast-beef, plum-pudding, and
pot of porter ; and in a third the Duke of Bedford is represented
as "the affrighted centaur" flying from the British lion. In
another caricature by Gillray, published on the ist of May, Fox
is represented in bed, ridden over by the Hiberno- Gallic repub-
lican nightmare. It is a parody on the well-known picture by
Fuseli.
During the summer of 1799, domestic agitation seems to
have experienced a calm ; but, when the Parliament opened at
the end of September, the necessity of .levying new taxes soon
stirred up new subjects of discontent. Among the taxes now
announced was one upon beer, which would have the effect of
raising the price of porter to fourpence the pot, and which would
weigh especially heavy upon the labouring classes. The satirists
on the Tory side pretended to sympathize most with the staunch
old Whig, Dr. Parr, who was a great porter drinker and smoker,
and no less an opponent of the government of William Pitt ;
and, on the 29th of November, Gillray published a spirited
sketch of the supposed " Effusions of a Pot of Porter ; or, minis-
terial conjurations for supporting the war, as lately discovered
by Dr. P r, in the froth and fumes of his favourite beverage."
A pot of fourpenny is placed on a stool, with the doctor's pipe
and tobacco beside it ; from the froth of the porter arises Pitt,
mounted on the white horse, brandishing a flaming sword, and
THE UNION WITH IRELAND.
53'
DEATH IN THE POT.
breathing forth war and destruction on everything around.
The doctor's "reverie" is a satire on the innumerable mis-
chiefs which popular clamour laid
to the charge of the minister :
" Fourpeuce a pot for porter ! mercy
upon us ! Ah ! it's all owing to the
war and the cursed ministry ! Have
not they ruined the harvest ? have
not they blighted all the hops ? have
not they brought on the destructive
rains, that we might be ruined in
order to support the war ? and bribed
the sun not to shine, that they may
plunder us in the dark ? (Vide, the
Doctor's reveries, every day after
dinner.)"
It took nearly two years to com-
plete the union with Ireland; diffi-
culties of various kinds arose, and
had to be overcome ; and some of
these led eventually to the resigna-
tion of the minister. It was not till
the first day of the new century that
the two sisters were allowed at last to join in that kindly
" buss " which a former caricature
insinuated that it was the aim of
the Whigs to hinder.* The Union
took effect on the ist of January,
1 80 1, and on the next day appeared
the proclamation of the King's new
royal titles, from .which that of
King of France, with the fleur-de-
lis, was omitted.
With the end of the century the
continent of Europe entered upon
a new phase of its history. After
a long stay in the east, which had
no other result than that of ex-
hibiting to the world an extra-
ordinary picture of the reckless
injustice and rapacity of repub-
* This cut is taken from a large caricature byGillray, published in 1801,
entitled "The Union Club." The two figures there occupy the back of the
president's chair.
M M 2
A Kl S AT LAST.
53* BUONAPARTE FIRST CONSUL.
lican France, Buonaparte made his escape from Egypt. He
appeared suddenly in France, and succeeded in overthrowing
the Directory, and placing himself at the head of the state,
under the title of first consul, on the i3th of December, 1799.
The republic had now but a nominal existence, and even this
shadow of the so long vaunted French liberty had but a tem-
porary duration. The war had been carried on by England at
sea with unvarying success ; and the troops of the republic had
sustained several severe defeats on the continent of Europe
before the allied armies of the new coalition, which had been
formed at the commencement of the year. Buonaparte, imme-
diately after his appointment as first consul, made an attempt to
get himself recognised on the footing of a sovereign prince by
King George, but without success. Yet during the year 1800,
the war seemed to fall spontaneously into a calm, and no actions
of great importance were fought by sea or land. A caricature
by Gillray remains as a memorial of the overthrow of the
French Directory; it was published on the 2ist of November,
1 799, and is entitled " Exit Liberte & la Fran9aise ! or, Buona-
parte closing the farce of Egalit6 at St. Cloud, near Paris, Nov.
loth, 1799."
533
CHAPTER XIV.
GEORGE in.
Society during the latter part of the Eighteenth Century Costume ; Extra-
vagance of Fashions The Balloon Mania Gambling and its Con-
sequences ; Lord Kenyon and the Gambling Ladies Revival of
Masquerades ; Mrs. Cornelys and the Pantheon ; Licentiousness of the
Masquerades The Opera, and its Abuses The Stage; Sheridan,
Kemble, the 0. P. Riots Private Theatricals ; Wargrave and Wynn-
stay ; the Pic-Nics The Shakspeare Mania ; Ireland's Forgeries, and
Boydell's Shakspeare Gallery Art, Literature, and Science Peter
Pindar and the Artists The Venetian Secret State of the Periodical
Press ; Literature in General ; Bozzy and Piozzi Science ; the Socie-
ties ; Sir Joseph Banks.
WHEN we look into the state of society in England, during
the latter part of the last century, we must acknowledge
the existence of many of the same causes which had led to such
a fearful convulsion in the social system in France. Rousseaus and
Voltaires were not wanting among our writers, and the fashion-
able philosophy of the day had made a deep impression. Hand
in hand with it went a widely-spreading spirit of immorality
and licentiousness. The mania of gambling was rendering
people reckless, and throwing numbers on the world who were
ready to follow any desperate course, in the hope of retrieving
their shattered fortunes. The unjust monopoly of patronage
by the aristocratic influence, and the neglect of a large mass of
the talent of the country, was gradually teaching disaffection to
the latter, and making it eager for any change that promised a
chance of reaching the elevation to which it aspired. In all
these respects, English society was closely imitating the example
set in France ; as it was in frivolity of manners, and in the
extravagance of modes and dress. This imitation, towards the
end of the century, was extending itself more and more into the
middle classes of society, and we then, for the first time, hear
general complaints that the daughters of tradesmen and farmers
were sent for education to fashionable boarding-schools, and
were taught to exchange the homely duties of their station for
the modish accomplishments of fine ladies.
The strange vagaries in the forms of costume, among the
haut ton, may be looked upon in some degree as indexes of the
manners of the age, and are therefore not unworthy of our
attention. For some years preceding the French revolution
534
THE BAILIFF OUTWITTED.
the dress of the ladies was distinguished by the same superfluity
in dimensions and stiffness in form that had shone so conspicu-
ously in the costume of the age of the Macaronis. The artificial
mass of head-dress had, it is true, heen discarded, and the
natural hair had been allowed to form the chief ornament of the
head, though frizzled into a bush ; but this coiffure had been
followed by enormously broad-brimmed hats, and the dress of
the body was gathered into immense projections before and
behind. This costume, than which nothing could be less graceful
or more absurd, soon became the object of abundance of jokes and
ridicule. The prominence before was made to cover the bosom,
and to make it seem unnaturally large ; it was formed of linen
and gauze, and went by the name of a buffont. The prominence
behind was placed lower, and was equally ugly and ridiculous.
Broad caricatures represented the inconvenience of such append-
ages to the person ; whilst others pretended to shew that they
might be turned to useful purposes on extraordinary occasions.
They originated, it appears, like most other fashions in dress
which have prevailed in this country, in Paris, and there it was
said that the posterior prominence was turned to a good account
for the purpose of smuggling brandy through the gates of the
city; a caricature, published in 1786, represents, in a humorous
manner, the discovery of the fraud. The purposes to which
such dresses were to be turned in Eng-
land are described as exhibiting still
greater ingenuity. The dress was so arti-
ficially built, and so much larger than the
body, that it was supposed that the latter
might be withdrawn from its covering
without seriously deranging it ; in a cari-
cature, published on the 6th of May,
1786, entitled, "The bum-bailiff out-
witted," a lady is represented as thus es-
caping from the hands of her pursuer.
The bailiff is seizing her from behind, and
holding forth his warrant with one hand ;
while the lady slips away en chemise
below, leaving the shell without the sub-
stance hat, wig, and dress sustain them-
so . wel j in his g^p, that it is some
time before he perceives the trick which
has been put upon him. In the January of the year following
(1787), when the dimensions of the hats, as well as of the pro-
minences behind and before, had increased considerably, a cari-
cature, entitled "Mademoiselle Parapluie," shews how, in a
THB BAIIO? OUTWITTED.
MADEMOISELLE PAEAPLUIE.
535
sudden shower, this dress might be made to serve the purpose of
an enormous umbrella,
and shelter under its
protection a whole
family ;
As it will be ob-
served in this last ca-
ricature, the other sex
had begun to adopt a
hat resembling in form
that worn by the la-
dies, instead of the
cocked hat previously
in use. It was with
the entire change in
the character of the
dress of both sexes,
which followed the
French revolution,
that the tall, narrow-
brimmed hat for men
the precursor of the
hat as worn at the
present day was first
introduced. At the same time came in large
cravats, frilled shirts, and breeches bagging
out in the upper part, but contracting to the
thighs, and buttoned close down the legs.
At the same time came an absolute rage for
striped patterns, which procured for the
wearers and their apparel the title of
" zebras." A fop of this period is here
given, from a caricature published on the
apth of March, 1791, entitled "Jemmy
Lincum Feadle :" the style is French in
the extreme, and the print is accompanied
with the lines so often applied in similar
cases, but never more appropriately :
*' Whoe'er with curious eye has ranged
Through Ovid's tales, has seen
Dow Jove incensed to monkeys changed
A tribe of worthless men.
MADEMOISELLE PABAPLUII.
" Jove with contempt the men survey' d,
Nor would a name bestow ;
But woman liked the motley breed,
And call'd this thing a beru."
A "zr.Biu.*
53<5 FASHIONS AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
With the opening of the revolutionary period, the costume of
the ladies underwent a very remarkable change in two of its
striking peculiarities : the extraordinary stiffness and redun-
dancy which had characterized the dress of the succeeding
period was suddenly changed for extreme lightness and loose-
ness, and the waist, which had formerly been long, was dimi-
nished until it disappeared altogether. The buffonts and the
" rumps " (as they were politely termed), disappeared also ;
the breasts, instead of being thickly covered, were allowed to
protrude naked from the robe, which was very light, and hung
loose from the bosom, with thin petticoats only beneath. A
turban of muslin was wrapped round the head, surmounted
with one, two, or three (seldom more) very high feathers,
and often with straw, the manufactures in which had now been
carried to great perfection. It appears to have been in 1794
that this fashion first reached
so extravagant a point as to
become an object of general
ridicule ; and the caricatures of
dress during that and the fol-
lowing years are very nume-
rous. The one here given,
from a print ascribed to Gill-
ray, represents an exquisite of
each sex in the month of
May of the year just men-
tioned ; the gentleman is still
distinguished by the great
cravat and the zebra vest,
which latter is made all of a
piece, and so as to give him the
appearance of being as lightly
covered as his partner. The
immense cravats of the men
are caricatured in other prints
which appeared during this
year. In a caricature by Gillray, published in the year following,
entitled " A lady putting on her cap," the lady requires the aid
of two maids to hold up the immense length of muslin which,
seated at her toilet, she is wrapping round her head in the form
of a turban. This turban, and its single feather rising high into
the air, as well as the naked breasts and the deficiency of waist,
are exhibited in the next figure, taken from a caricature entitled
"The Graces for 1/94," published on the aist of July in that
EXQUISITES IN 1794.
DISAPPEARANCE OF LADIES? WAISTS. 537
year. This lady wears another personal ornament in vogue at this
period among the ladies a watch of very
large dimensions, with an enormous bunch
of seals, &c., suspended from the girdle
immediately below the breasts. From this
girdle, without any waist, the robe flows
loosely, giving the whole person an appear-
ance as if the legs sprang immediately
from the bosom.
This peculiarity was carried to still
greater extravagance towards the end of
the year. On the ist of December, 1794,
a caricature, entitled " The Rage ; or, Shep-
herds, I have lost my waist," represents a
lady in this predicament, refusing cakes and
jelly offered her by an attendant, because
her dressmaker had left her no body
wherein to bestow either ; it is accompanied
with a parody on a popular song :
" Shepherds, I have lost my waist,
Have you seen my body ?
Sacrificed to modern taste,
I'm quite a hoddy-doddy !"
" For fashion I that part forsook
Where sages place the belly ;
Tis gone and I have not a nook
For cheesecake, tart, or jelly.
QNE oy T({E
*' Never shall I see it more,
Till common sense returning,
My body to my legs restore,
Then I shall cease from mourning.
*' Folly and fashion do prevail
To such extremes among the fair,
A woman's only top and tail,
The body's banish'd God knows where !"
This absolute banishment of the body from the female form
is exhibited in the adjoining figure of a lady in full promenade
dress, taken from a caricature by Gillray, entitled " Following
the fashion," published on the pth of December, 1794. This
caricature, in the original, consists of two compartments : in
the first, the figure here given is described as " St. James's
giving the ton, a soul without a body ;" the other presents a
coarse fat dame of the city, finely but vulgarly dressed, who'
538
PARASOLS.
from her corpulence would find some difficulty in getting rid of
her body she is an emblem of " Cheapside
aping the mode, a body without a soul."
The dress of the man of fashion appears to
have remained much the same from 1791 till
near the end of the century, with the excep-
tion of the hat, which, at the period of which
we are now speaking (1794 and 1795), took
several fantastic shapes, having in some cases
an enormously broad brim turned up at
the sides. On the promenade the ladies of
fashion threw their hair back over the shoulders,
and wore a hat resembling in form that
of the other sex, but much smaller, with
immense bushes of straw above. This also
was the period when parasols came into
general use, and they were carried in the
manner represented in the following figures,
taken from a caricature published on the
i5th of January, and entitled "Parasols for
1795." The lady's hair, in this instance,
appears to be spread out and plaited at the
ends, and it extends over her back in such a
manner as to answer almost the purposes of a
mantle. The fashionable pair are represented in full promenade
costume, and the hat of the gentleman and the lady's parasol
appear to answer much the same purpose.
During this year, the loose dresses, especially for in-door
parties, continued in fashion with the lofty feathers, which,
to judge by their representation in the engravings of the time,
must have had a picturesque effect in large assemblies. The
short waists also still furnished matter for ridicule. In a cari-
cature published on the 4th of August, 1795, the ladies'
dresses are ridiculed under the title of " Waggoners' frocks,
or no bodys of 1795." The satirists began also at this time to
cry out against short petticoats, and it appears to have become
the fashion to expose the legs. Straw was coming more
and more into vogue, and was more especially used in the head-
dresses, and in the out-of-doors costume, and sometimes so pro-
fusely scattered over the head and body that a print published
on the 1 2th of July, represents a fashionable lady under the
title of " A bundle of straw." It was at this period that
straw-bonnets began to come into use. An epilogue spoken at
Drury Lane, in November, joked on the prevailing fashion.
NO-BODY.
STRAW HEAD-DEESSES. 539
"What a fine harvest this gay season yields !
Some female beau's appear like stubble-fields.
Who now of threaten 'd famine dare complain,
When every female forehead teems with grain t
See how the wheat-sheaves nod amid the plumes !
Our barns are now transferred to drawing-rooms ;
While husbands who delight in active lives
To fill their granaries may thrash their wives.
Nor wives, alone prolific, notice draw,
Old maids and young ones, all are in the straw f
The loose style of the frock is ridiculed in a caricature
published on the pth of December, under the title, "A
fashionable information for ladies in the country," which
is illustrated by an extract from some one of the milliners'
PARASOM FOB 1795.
announcements for the season " the present fashion is the
most easy and graceful imaginable it is simply this the
petticoat is tied round the nock, and the arms are put through
the pocket-holes."
The fashion of light covering and exposure of the person was
54
LIGHT COVERING OF THE LADIES.
increasing at the beginning of 1 796. A caricature published on
the zoth of January, intended to improve on the actual
manners of the day and picture " A lady's dress as it soon will
be," represents the loose frock the only covering so arranged
as to expose to view at every movement the whole of the body
below the waist. According to other caricatures, the dresses
actually worn were approaching fast towards such a con-
summation ; for the body is re-
presented as covered with little
more than a mere light frock, the
very pocket-holes of which be-
came the subject of many a
wicked joke. Gillray, in a carica-
ture published on the i^th of
February, 1796, endeavours to
shew that these pocket-holes, when
placed sufficiently high, might be
made useful : a lady of rank and
fashion, dressed for the rout, could
perform the duties of a mother,
while her carriage waited at the
door, without any derangement of
her garments. The title of this
print is, " The fashionable mamma,
or the convenience of a modern
dress ; vide, The Pocket-hole, &c."
If we believe numerous carica-
tures published at this time,
ladies who carried fashion to the
extreme were not content with
this paucity of covering, but they had it made of materials of
such transparent texture, that they rivalled the celebrated cos-
tume among the ancients of which Horace has told us
" Co'is tibi pcene videre est,
Ut nudam."
In the caricatures of the spring of 1 796, we see through the
thin frock the tie of the garter and the outlines of the body.
We have already had to allude to a print of this date, in which
the Tory Duchess of Gordon is represented in one of these
transparent vests.* In a caricature by Gillray, entitled " Lady
Godina's (for Godiva) Rout ; or, Peeping Tom spying out
Pope Joan," alluding probably to some forgotten incident of
* See p. 501.
A FASHIONABLE MAMMA.
LADY GEORGIANA GORDON. $ 4l
the time, the duchess's daughter, Lady Georgiana Gordon
shortly afterwards married to the Duke of Bedford, is repre-
sented in the very height of fashion,
with a vest more transparent even than
we have here ventured to represent.
The caricatures are of course con-
siderably exaggerated, but they leave no
room to doubt that the peculiarities
which they ridicule were carried often to
an extent that we should now have a
difficulty in reconciling with pro-
priety.
Lady Georgiana's head-dress furnishes a
good example of the fashionable turban
and feathers, which, with most of the
other characteristics of the costume of
this period, continued more or less
during this and the following year. To
judge from many of these pictures of
contemporary manners, the politeness of
our countrymen during the French revo-
lutionary period was not shewn very con-
spicuously, except between those who
were personally acquainted. A caricature,
published by Gillray on the aist of _
\r , S j ,.,i j ,, TT- 1- >/~1U raK HEIGHT OP FASHION
March, 1 796, and entitled " High Change IN , 7g6
in Bond Street ; or, la Politesse du Grande
Monde," represents the fashionable loungers in that well-
known promenade taking the pavement, while the ladies are
obliged to walk in the gutter. One of these, seen from behind,
represents a back view of the loose dress, and of the manner in
which the hair was turned up over the turban.
The caricatures on dress became less frequent after 1796,
until 1799 and 1800, when they were again numerous. The
principal change which had then taken place is the altered
shape of the ladies' hats, which assume the form of a rounded
bonnet, and the reappearance of the waist. The general dress
of the ladies now approached nearer the natural form of the
body, but there was still an outcry against its transparency, and
it is represented as exhibiting distinctly to view the form of
the limbs, and even the garters. Examples may be seen in a
caricature by Gillray, entitled " Monstrosities of 1799 see Ken-
sington Gardens," published on the 2j;th of June in that year,
and in several others of the same date. It would appear,
.54*
MONSTR OSITIES.
that this taste for transparencies vanished in the severe wintei
which closed the year just mentioned, as a caricature, dated on
the ^th of January, 1800, represents the
ladies forced by the rigour of the weather
to cover their bosoms, and adopt drawers
and petticoats under their thin robes ; it
is entitled " Boreas effecting what health
and modesty could not do."
The male costume among people of
fashion had gone through a greater change
during the last years of the eighteenth
century, than that of the ladies. Among
the " monstrosities" of the June of 1799, ' u
the print already alluded to, is a beau in
full dress. He wears large Hessian boots,
with a coat of a new construction, buttoned
close, and having high bunches on the
shoulders ; he has a large high cravat, rising
above the chin, and a hat approaching
nearer in shape to those worn at the pre-
sent day. This costume, which was ex-
tremely ugly, was imported directly from
France. The coat, perhaps from its inventor,
was known by the name of a " Jean-de-
Bry." If in former days of peace with
France, which then under its King pos-
sessed the most polite court in Europe,
our countrymen cried out against the im-
,portation of French fashions, we need
not be surprised if hey did the same now that the two coun-
tries had been so long engaged in a war distinguished by
bitter animosity on both sides, and when Englishmen had
been taught to look upon our republican neighbours as models
of everything that was barbarous. A caricature by Gillray,
published on the 1 8th of November, 1 799, represents a " French
tailor fitting John Bull with a Jean-de-Bry." The tailor is
equipped in the detested bonnet rouge and its cockade, and
appears delighted with his exploit. " A-ha ! dere, my friend, I
fit you to de life ! dere is libertS ! no tight aristocratical sleeve
to keep from you do vat you like ! a-ha ! begar ! dere be only
want von leetel national cockade to make look quite a la mode
de Paris !" Poor John, who stands in his great Hessian boots on a
book of " Nouveaux Costumes," and has evidently no taste .for
French liberty in any shape, exclaims in disgust, " Liberty !
A BACK VlKW.
JOHN BULL NEW CLOTHED.
543
quoth'a ! why, zound, I can't move my arms at all ! for all it
looks woundy big ! ah ! d n
your French a la modes, they give
a man the same liberty as if he
was in the stocks ! Give me my
old coat again, say I, if it is a
little out at the elbows !"
But John Bull's disgust availed
little iu counteracting the infection
of French example in this respect ;
and in the very year when we
were about to be terrified with the
most extraordinary preparations
for French invasion, our enemies
sent us a costume which was uglier
even than that last spoken of. Its
distinguishing features were the
coverings of the head, which con-
sisted, in the one sex, of an enor-
mous military cap, and in the
other of a bonnet, probably of
straw, of a very ungraceful form.
They are represented in the ac-
companying cut, taken from a caricature entitled, " Two of the
Wigginses tops and bottoms of
1803," published on the 2nd of
July in that year.
The frivolity of manners and
sentiments which gave rise from
time to time to so much exaggera-
tion of bad taste in dress, was no
less frequently exhibited in the
other paths of life, not only among
the votaries of fashion, but through
a large portion of society. Routs
and balls had become objects of
profuse extravagance ; masquerades
were revived, and became again
the fury of the day ; gambling and
intriguing formed the chief occu-
pation of immense numbers in all
classes of society ; and novelty,
however absurd, was the object of
adoration of the multitude as well JOHN BULL TRANSF > it MED.
ONB OF THE MON8TROSITIK8.
544
THE AIR-BALLOONS.
THE MODE IN 1803.
as of the select who gave the ton. London was never so full of
strange sights ; and its population
were never so ready to be gulled by
them. It stands recorded in the
newspapers of the time, on the
pth of September, 1785, "Hand-
bills were distributed this morning,
that a bold adventurer meant to
walk upon the Thames from Riley's
Tea Gardens." We are further
informed that at the hour appointed
thousands of people had crowded
to the spot, and the river was so
thickly covered with boats, that it
was no easy thing to find enough
water uncovered to walk upon. The
man evaded his promise in a dis-
honest manner, and it was fortunate
for him that the indignation of the
multitude he had been the instru-
ment of bringing together, did not lead them to open violence.
In other fashionable amusements we seemed to be going back
to the ages of the Eoman gladiators. It was at this period that
Astley established his amphitheatre.
One of the most remarkable fashions of this period was a
sudden and extraordinary rage for ascending in balloons, which
had been brought to a certain degree of perfection by some
Frenchmen, for it was from France also that this mania was
imported. It was at its height in England during the years
1784 and 1785. As early as the 2nd of December, 1783, when
those aerial vehicles were newly come into notice, Horace
Walpole writes, " balloons occupy senators, philosophers, ladies,
everybody. France gave us the ton ; and, as yet, we have not
come up to our model." They soon became the object of
epigrams, satires, speculations, and even prophecies ; and people
in joke, or in earnest, began to talk of scaling heaven in the face
of day. An anonymous writer of a poem entitled, " The Air-
balloon ; or, Flying Mortal," published in April 1784, rises from
step to step till he concludes in the enthusiastic prospect ;
"How few the worldly evils now I dread,
No more confined this narrow earth to tread I
Should fire or water spread destruction drear,
Or earthquake shake this sublunary sphere,
In air-balloon to distant realms I fly,
And leave the creeping world to sink and die."
BALLOON ASCENTS. 545
The invention was already giving rise to some apprehensions
in France, for at the commencement of May a royal ordonnance
forbad the construction or sending up of " any aerostatic
machine," without an express permission from the king, on
account of the various dangers attendant upon them, intimating
however that these precautions were not intended to let this
" sublime discovery" fall into neglect, but only to confine the
experiments to the direction of intelligent persons. Blanchard
was at this time the most distinguished and enterprising of the
French aeronauts ; his third " aerial voyage," which took place
on the 1 8th of July, 1784,* made a great noise in England, and
was soon imitated. An Italian gentleman, named Luuardi,
secretary to the Neapolitan embassy, is said to have been the
first person who ascended in a balloon in this country; he left
the Artillery Ground in London, in company with an English-
man, at a quarter before two o'clock on Wednesday the i^th of
September, 1784, and descended" in a field near Ware, in
Hertfordshire, at about six o'clock in the evening. In October,
Blanchard came to London, and ascended from Chelsea with an
Englishman named Shellon, on the i6th of October. On the
1 2th of November, Mr. Sadler made the first of a numerous
series of aerostatic voyages, starting from Oxford. It began
now to be generally acknowledged that these locomotive
FOLLY IN A NEW SHAPE.
His first ascent hf-d taken place on the 2nd of March. The first ascent of
a balloon in France occurred on the 1 1st of November, 1783. The ascenti
in France during the year 1784 were very numerous, and excited interest
even in England.
HH
546 BALLOONS IN THE DECLINE.
machines were so liable to accidents, that they were never
likely to serve any useful purpose. Yet the fashion for them
increased, and for several months they were the subject of
continual papers in magazines and newspapers, besides giving
rise to a number of pamphlets and prints, and a few caricatures.
In one of the latter, the head of Folly occupies the place of the
ball, with the inscription " The English Balloon, 1784," on the
front of the cap. We may quote as another proof of the extra-
ordinary share of public attention which these machines occupied,
a successful farce, entitled " Aerostation ; or, the Templar's Stra-
tagem," brought out at Covent Garden on the 2pth of October ;
in it the passion of a lady of fortune for balloons, and her desire
to ascend in one, was made to furnish a Templar with the
occasion for a stratagem by which he eventually obtains her
hand. The prologue to this piece thus declares the future
advantages which were to arise from the popular discovery.
" T make no doubt to entertain you soon
With a new theatre in a stage-balloon.
No more in garret high shall poets sit,
With rival spiders spinning cobweb wit ;
Like ancient barons future bards shall fare,
In their own castles built up in the air ;
Dull poets there behind a cloud shall stay,
Whilst Fancy, darting to the source of day,
Bold as an eagle, her career shall run,
And with strong pinions fan the blazing sun."
The chronicle of events given in the magazines of 1785,
describes upwards of twenty remarkable balloon excursions made
during that year, seven of which occurred in the month of May.
Blanchard had crossed the Channel from Dover to France in a
balloon, on the 7th of January. On the 7th of May, 17851
Walpole writes from London, " of conversation, the chief topic
is air-balloons : a French girl, daughter of a dancer, has made
a voyage into the clouds, and nobody has yet broken a neck, so
neither good nor harm has hitherto been produced by these
aerial enterprises." On the isth, Walpole adds, " Mr. Wind-
ham, the member for Norwich, has made a voyage into the
clouds, and was in danger of falling to earth, and being ship-
wrecked. . . Three more balloons sail to-day ; in short, we shall
have a prodigious navy in the air, and then what signifies having
lost the empire of the ocean P" On the i^th of July, M. Rozier
and another Frenchman, ascended from Boulogne, and their
balloon taking fire at an immense elevation, the aeronauts were
both thrown to the earth and killed. This disaster seemed to
LORD KEXYON AND FARO'S DAUGHTERS. 547
have checked the passion for travelling in the air a little ; yet
there were several ascents in this country in July, and an
attempt was made to pass the Irish channel, which failed.
They became less frequent during the following mouths, and by
the next session they seem entirely to have lost their popularity,
to make way for some new object of temporary excitement.
No single vice was contributing so much to demoralize the
nation as the passion for gaming, which ran through all ranks
in society, but which was carried to an extraordinary pitch in
the fashionable circles. It was well known that ladies of rank
and fashion in the world associated together to support their
private extravagance by seducing young men to the gambling
table, and stripping them of their money in the manner profes-
sionally termed " pigeoning." Faro-tables for this purpose were
kept in the houses of some of the aristocracy. Three ladies in
particular enjoyed this reputation, Lady Buckinghamshire, Lady
Archer, and Lady Mount Edgcumbe, who from this circumstance
became popularly known by the epithet " Faro's daughters."
Numerous caricatures, among which are some of Gillray's happiest
conceptions, have preserved the features and renown ot this cele-
brated trio. Their infamous conduct had provoked in an especial
degree the indignation of Lord Kenyon, who, on the pth of May,
1796, in summing up a case connected with gambling, and
lamenting in forcible terms that that vice so deeply pervaded
the whole mass of society, animadverted with great severity on
the higher orders who set the pernicious example to their
inferiors, adding, with some warmth, " They think they are too
great for the law : I wish they could be punished ;" and then,
after a slight pause, he added, " If any prosecutions of this
nature are fairly brought before me, and the parties are justly
convicted, whatever be their rank or station in the country
though they should be the first ladies in the land they shall
certainly exhibit themselves on the pillory*' If they escaped
that pillory to which the angry judge had devoted them, there
was another pillory which exposed these gaming ladies to equal
scandal, if not to an equal punishment, and instead of being
pilloried once, their ladyships stood for the public view, for weeks
instead of hours, in the windows of every print-shop in the town.
On the 1 2th of May, Gillray published a caricature entitled the
" Exaltation of Faro's daughters," in which Ladies Buckingham-
shire and Archer are placed side by side in the threatened
pillory, exposed to a shower of mud and rotten eggs which
testify the joy of the mob at their disgrace ; a placard stuck
upon the pillory describes this process as a " Cure for gambling,
H Nl
548 FARO'S DAUGHTERS IN THE PILLORY.
published by Lord Kenyon in the Court of King's Bench, on
May 9th, 1 796." An imitation of this print of Gillray appeared
on the 1 6th of May, under the title of " Cocking the Greeks," in
which the same ladies are similarly exposed, but the short and
plump Lady Buckingham is
obliged to stand on the tip
of her toes upon her own
faro-bank box to raise her
J/T^* ^V^ ^-\_i nec k n a level with that of
^FxJ5 ~^P ^ \-3l wW| h er Caller companion ; Lord
- Kenyon, in the character of
public crier, is making his
proclamation " Oh yes !
oh yes! this is to give
notice that several silly
women, in the parishes of
St. Giles, St. James, and St.
George, have caused much
uneasiness and distress in
~1 families, by keeping bad
LADIES OF ELEVATED RANK.
' ' "" L ^A ' ** M. fJ
' houses, late hours, and by
shuffling and cutting have
obtained divers valuable
articles ; Whoever will bring before me "
Lord Kenyon's threat, and the noise it then made abroad,
seem to have had equally little effect on the patrician offenders to
whom it was designed to serve as a warning. Other caricatures
followed with as little success. One, published apparently
about the beginning of 1797, represents these gambling dames
" dividing the spoil," after a successful night, and compares
them with a party of unfortunate women in St. Giles's, who are
shewn in another compartment, sharing the various articles they
have purloined from the pockets of their casual admirers. On
one occasion, at the period just alluded to, Lady Buckingham-
shire's faro-bank was stolen, while she and her party were closely
occupied at their game. This circumstance produced a carica-
ture by Gillray, entitled " The Loss of the Faro-bank," pub-
lished on the and of February, 1 797, and gave rise to a mock
heroic poem entitled " The Rape of the Faro-bank," which made
its appearance about the same time. It was not long after this
event that the offending ladies did fall into the power of their
foe of the Bench. At the beginning of March, 1797, an infor-
mation was laid against Lady Buckinghamshire, Lady E. Lut-
terell, and some other ladies and gentlemen of rank, for keeoing
THE AGE OF HIGHWAYMEN. 549
faro-tables in their houses ; and on the i ith of that month they
were convicted of that offence, but Lord Kenyon seems to have
forgotten his former threat, and he only subjected them to
rather severe fines. This disaster furnished matter during
several successive weeks to the newspapers for continual para-
graphs, and the caricaturists took care to remind the judge
of the disproportion between his present punishment and
his former threat. In a caricature published on the 25th
of March by Gillray, Lady Buckinghamshire is undergoing the
punishment of being publicly flogged at the cart's tail, while
two of her companions are suffering in the pillory in the
distance ; over the cart a board is raised with the inscription,
" Faro's daughters, beware." This print is entitled, " Disci-
pline a la Kenyon." Another, published by the same artist on
the i6th of May, is entitled "Faro's daughters, or the Ken-
yonian blow up to the Greeks." Four ladies here figure in the
pillory, and Fox (who it was said often made one of the
gambling party), himself in the stocks, supports one of the
sufferers on his shoulders. Lord Kenyon is busily occupied in
burning the cards, dice, and faro-bank. The lesson this time
seems to have been more effectual than the former, and we hear
little of Faro's daughters after this scandal had passed away.
The pernicious effects of the passion for gambling on society
are but too evident in the manners and condition of the time.
It was rapidly demoralizing all classes, and was accompanied
everywhere with a general increase of crime, of which we evi-
dently see but a small portion reported in the newspapers.
Various pamphlets on the criminal statistics of the metropolis,
shew us the alarming danger that existed, and the difficulty of
grappling with it. The latter part of the eighteenth century
was proverbially the age of highwaymen. On the 8th of
September, 1782, Horace Walpole writes, " We are in a state of
war at home that is shocking. I mean from the enormous
profusion of housebreakers, highwaymen, and footpads; and,
what is worse, from the savage barbarities of the two latter,
who commit the most wanton cruelties. The grievance is so
crying, that one dares not stir out after dinner but well armed.
If one goes abroad to dinner, you would think one was going to
the relief of Gibraltar." * Walpole repeats this complaint of the
numbers and boldness of highwaymen not unfrequently during
the following years ; in January, 1786, the mail was stopped in
Pall Mall, close to the palace, and deliberately pillaged, at so
* It was the time of the celebrated siege of Gibraltar, when that spot was
so gallantly defended by General Eiliott.
550 REVIVAL OF THE MASQUERADES.
early an hour as a quarter past eight in the evening. Walpole
observes in continuation of the passage just cited, " You may
judge how depraved we are, when the war has not consumed
hall' the reprobates, nor press-gangs thinned their numbers !
But no wonder how should the morals of the people be purified,
when such frantic dissipation reigns above them ? Contagion
does not mount but descend." And he adds further, " a new
theatre is going to be erected merely for people of fashion, that
they may not be confined to vulgar hours that is to day or
night."
Previous to this, the masquerades, which were long dis-
countenanced and forbidden by the Court, had been revived, by
an evasion of the order against them. A German singer,
named Teresa Cornelys, who had come to England in the latter
years of the reign of George II., opened a kind of private opera
in Soho square at the commencement of the reign of his
successor, which was carried on until she was prosecuted by the
manager of the Opera in the Haymarket, and compelled to close
her house by the decision of a court of justice. Horace Wal-
pole gives the following account of Mrs. Cornelys on the 22nd
of February, 1771: "Our most serious war is between two
operas. Mr. Hobart, Lord Buckingham's brother, is manager
of the Haymarket. The Duchess of Northumberland, Lady
Harrington, and some other great ladies, without a licence
erected an opera at Madame Cornelys's. This is a singular
dame j she sang here formerly by the name of Pompeiati. Of
late years she has been the Heidegger of the age, and presided
over our diversions. Her taste and invention in pleasures and
decorations are singular. She took Carlisle House, in Soho
Square, enlarged it, and established assemblies and balls by sub-
scription. At first they scandalized, but soon drew in both
righteous and ungodly. She went on building, and made
her house a fairy palace, for balls, concerts, and masquerades.
Her opera, which she called Harmonic Meetings, was splendid
and cnarming. Mr. Hobart began to starve, and the managers
of the theatres were alarmed. To avoid the Act, she pretended
to take no money, and had the assurance to advertise that
the subscription was to provide coals for the poor, for she
has vehemently courted the mob, and succeeded in gaining
their princely favour. She then declared her masquerades were
for the benefit of commerce." Mrs. Cornelys's masquerades
had made the greatest noise, and been most magnificent, during
the year 1770: they were attended regularly by all the
principal nobility and gentry in the kingdom, (as we are told, at
CHARACTERS IN THE MASQUERADES. 551
each representation, by the newspapers of the day,) who went
ha splendid dresses ; and one peculiarity was, that now all
the masks acted up to their characters. On one occasion we
learn that "Miss Monckton, daughter to Lord Gallway,
appeared in the character of an Indian sultana, iu a robe of
cloth of gold, and a rich veil. The seams of her habit were
embroidered with precious stones, and she had a magnificent
cluster of diamonds on her head : the jewels she wore were
valued at thirty thousand pounds." Some notion may be
formed of the sort of performance exhibited at these meetings
from the following fragment of a newspaper report : " Miss
G , in Leonora, looked charming ; she sang the favourite
air in the ' Padlock' with great sweetness. The situation of
her pretty tame bird was envied by many. Mr. Andrews, in
the dress of the Calmuc Tartar, was taken great notice of; the
character he supported extremely well. The lady run mad for
the loss of her lover, was a character well sustained for some
time ; but she soon recovered her senses ; no other madhouse
could have administered more effectual remedies. The two
jockeys, who pretended to be just arrived from Newmarket,
were very little knowing in any respect, and seemed more calcu-
lated for a country hop than the turf. The nurse with the
child was rather diverting, but the brat very noisy and trou-
blesome." Such remarks as these were continued through the
whole assembly. On the 2/th of February, 1770, we are
informed that " Some of the most remarkable figures were, a
highlander (Mr. R. Conway) ; a double man, half miller, half
chimney-sweeper (Sir R. Phillips) ; a political bedlamite, run
mad for Wilkes and liberty and No. 45 ; a figure of Adam, in
flesh-coloured silk, with an apron of fig-leaves ; a druid (Sir W.
W. Wynne) ; a figure of somebody ; a figure of nobody ; a
running footman, very richly dressed, with a cap set with
diamonds, and the words 'Tuesday night's club' in the front
(the Earl of Carlisle) ; his Royal Highness the Duke of Glou-
cester in the old English habit, with a star on the cloak," &c.
One of the grandest masquerades at the Soho rooms was that on
the 7th of February, 1771, where two royal dukes, and nearly
all the fashionable portion of the aristocracy, were present. Oil
this occasion Colonel Luttrell (the same who had opposed
Wilkes in the election for Middlesex,) appeared as a dead corpse
in a shroud, with his coffin. The taste for political allusions at
these assemblies gained ground, and they soon became veritable
caricatures, not only upon society itself, but upon the event* of
the day. At a masquerade in 1784, we are informed in the
55^ EVILS OF THE MASQUERADES.
newspaper report, that " A figure representing Secret Influence,
was well-drest, and seasonable in its point. He wore a black
cloak, tied round with a girdle, labelled ' Secret Influence,' a
double face, and a wooden temple on the top of his head.
A ladder was painted down his back, entitled ' The back stairs.'
He had a dark lantern in his hand ; but with all these accoutre-
ments he was very dull ; he hardly opened his mouth, and when
he did, he muttered some jargon in a whisper unintelligible
to common ears ; but perhaps he was in character to speak
in whispers, and his inefficacy was design. He was followed by
Public Ruin, which also was well equipped, and very pitiable."
One of the characters in a masquerade in 1774 was "a mad
politician," who was covered with bills and acts of parliament ;
"having lost the Boston port bill, he humorously accused
Mr. Wedderburn of stealing it."
These masquerades were professedly private meetings, and
their pretended object was to raise money for the poor ; yet, in
spite of the high rank of the people who attended them, great
improprieties were allowed, and they led, under cover of the
mask, to extraordinary licentiousness. Mrs. Cornelys was pro-
secuted for giving masquerades without licence, in 1771 ; and in
the same year bills of indictment were preferred against her by
the grand jury of Middlesex, in which she is accused of
" keeping and maintaining a common and disorderly house," and
the fashionable company who frequented it are described as
" divers loose, idle, and disorderly persons, as well men as
women ! " whom she " did permit and suffer to be and remain
during the whole night, rioting, and otherwise misbehaving
themselves." So far, however, from the masquerades being
checked by such scandal, it was at this time that the rival and
splendifl Pantheon in Oxford Street (then called Oxford Koad)
was opened, and for several years the two establishments
emulated each other in magnificence and gaiety, although Mrs.
Cornelys became involved in difficulties, and her establishment
experienced a temporary interruption.
The disorders of these assemblies seern, however, to have
increased, and the public ear was continually offended with the
scenes that took place in them. The want of delicacy in the
fashionable company who chiefly supported Mrs. Cornelys had
winked at the admission of loose women, and this was gradually
carried to such an extent, that in the spring of 1772 it became
the subject of so much scandal that it was found necessary to
complain. In the following season the bench of bishops
thought it their duty to interfere to put down the Pantheon
DEGRADATION OF THE MASQUERADES. 553
masquerades, but a powerful intercession was made in their
favour, and it was represented in this case also that their only
object was the charitable one of raising money for the suffering
poor. A caricature, representing the Macaronis petitioning the
bishops in favour of the masquerades, entitled " The Pantheon
Petition," was published with the Oxford Magazine in January,
1773. At a masquerade at the Pantheon on the i8th of
February following, the number of people of rank and position
in the world who attended was estimated at fourteen hundred.
Yet during this and the following year the licentiousness of
these mixed assemblies was carried to so alarming a height,
that the very actors in them became gradually disgusted,* and
they seemed to be rapidly going out of fashion. In 1776 Mrs.
Cornelys re-opened Carlisle House in a style of extraordinary
splendour, and the masquerades became as much the fashion as
ever. In 1778, this lady, who had ruined herself by her exer-
tions, was obliged to quit the management, which was carried
on during another year unsuccessfully, and the masquerades at
Carlisle House soon gave place to lectures and public assemblies
of a totally different character. The European Magazine
for July, 1/89, contains "An Elegy written in Soho Square, on
seeing Mrs. Cornelys's House in ruins." Mrs. Cornelys herself
was eventually reduced to a state of helpless poverty ; she died
in the Fleet Prison in 1797.
The masquerades continued to flourish at the Pantheon, and
were given also at the Opera House, at Ranelagh, and in other
places, but they became gradually more and more degraded in
their moral character. One of the newspaper critiques on the
masquerade at Carlisle House in February, 1779, laments
gravely, " We were sorry to see such spirited exertions so poorly
* The report of the masquerade at the Pantheon, in May, 1774, given
in the Westmintter Magazine, (which was far from straight-laced in its
morality,) observes, "The last masquerade has had different accounts
given of it, according as individuals felt. But, as one entirely unprejudiced,
I do pronounce it uncommonly dull, but more particularly before supper.
The champaign made some eyes sparkle, which nothing else could brighten,
though a deal of wanton love was exercised to effect purposes most base
and dishonourable. The room was crowded with courtezans ; there was not
a duenna in town who had not brought her Circassians to market ; ami,
towards the conclusion of the debauch, I beheld scenes in the rooms up-
stairs too gross for repetition. I saw ladies and gentlemen together in atti-
tudes and positions that would have disgraced the court of Conius; ladies
with their hair dishevelled, and their robes almost torn off. In short, I am
so thoroughly sick of masquerading, from what I beheld there, that J do
seriously decry them, as subversive of virtue, and every noble and domestic
point of honour."
554 GENERAL PROFLIGACY IN MORALS.
rewarded, as scarcely one person of distinction, or one file de
joye of note, was present, to give a ton to the evening's enter-
tainments." At length we read in the St. James's Chronicle of
April 23, 1 795, the remark, that " No amusement seems to have
fallen into greater contempt in this country than the mas-
querades they have been lately mere assemblages of
the idle and profligate of both sexes, who made up in indecency
what they wanted in wit."
The extreme Iicentiousnes3 which appears to have reigned
amid these riotous amusements, and the still greater immorality
to which they led, was, like the mania of the women for gamb-
ling, only one shade of the general profligacy of this age. The
shameless immorality which reigned among the higher classes in
general, and which was propagated by example to the middle
and lower classes, is but too evident in the popular writings of
the day. The newspapers are full of advertisements offering
means of indulgence. Instead of matrimonial advertisements,
we meet with advertisements for mistresses ; and, to quote
a particular example, in 1 794, the newspapers contain public
advertisements of persons whose business it was to furnish
means of concealing pregnancy and, when it could no longer be
concealed, to deliver privately and dispose of the offspring so as
to save the mother from scandal. The reign of George III.
was especially the age of adultery in this country, which
had really taken its place among the fashions of the day, and that
crime had become almost a mania in the higher classes : there
is, unfortunately, no want of evidence to prove that it was
common enough in the middle and lower classes. In many
cases, the trials laid open scenes of profligacy in high life of the
most revolting character. Ineffectual efforts were made at
different times to check this evil by placing difficulties in the
way of divorce. In the spring of 1779, Shute Barrington,
Bishop of Llandaff, introduced into the House of Lords a bill
with the object of discouraging this crime, by fixing a brand of
infamy on the adulteress that might operate as a terror upon
the mind ; and he stated that as many divorces had occurred
during the first seventeen years of the present reign as had
taken place during the whole recorded history of the country :*
the bill passed the Lords, but was thrown out in the House of
Commons. Several similar attempts were made at different
times ; and one of these, in 1798, drew the Bishop of Durham
into a severe attack upon the dancers of the Opera.
* Morals were infinitely worse in France : it is stated in the European
Magazine for August, 1785, "Letters from Paris mention that there are no
THE OPERA. 555
The Ope', a had lost somewhat of the novelty which it had
possessed under George II., and for a while it seemed to be
almost eclipsed by the popularity of Carlisle House and the
Pantheon. Foreign singers no longer attracted that extraor-
dinary worship which had been bestowed on them formerly, and
towards the end of the century the managers seemed to have
aimed at moving the passions of the audience by the small
quantity of apparel which was allowed to the danseuses, and
the freedom with which they exposed their forms to public
view. An English dancer, Miss Rose, who joined to a very
plain face an extremely elegant figure and graceful movement,
enjoyed great reputation in 1 796, and seems to have led the
new fashion for this kind of exhibition. A caricature picture
of her by Gillray, published on the i2th of April, 1796, bears
the motto, " No flower that blows is like this Rose." On the
fifth of May following, Gillray caricatured this new style of
dancing in a caricature entitled, " Modern Grace ; or, the Opera-
tical finale to the ballet of Alonzo e caro." On the 2nd of
March, 1798, there was a debate in the House of Lords on a
divorce bill, in the course of which the Bishop of Durham took
'occasion to complain of the frequency of such bills, and laid the
fault upon the French government, who, he said, sent agents
into this country on purpose to corrupt our manners : " He
considered it a consequence of the gross immoralities imported
of late years into this kingdom from France, the Directory of
which country, finding that they were not able to subdue us by
their arms, appeared as if they were determined to gain their
ends by destroying our morals, they had sent over persons to
this country, who made the most indecent exhibitions in our
theatres." He added, that it was his intention to move, on
some future day, that an address be presented to his Majesty,
beseeching him to order all such dancers out of the kingdom,
as people who were likely to destroy our morality and religion,
and "who were very probably in the pay of France !" This
appeal, seems to have produced some interference of authority ;
for on the very next night, Saturday, the 3rd of March, the
ballet of Bacchus and Ariadne, which was to have been per-
formed at the Opera House, was postponed, and another substi-
tuted, until other dresses could be prepared. The improvement,
as we learn from the newspaper reports, consisted in substituting
less tban four hundred divorces pending before the Parliament ; and eight
hundred more before the Chatelet. A striking proof to what a height the
corruption of morals is arrived in that kingdom." This must be set down
as cue of the true precursors of the revolution, which so soon followed.
556 THE DANSE A L'EVEQUE.
white stockings for flesh-coloured silk, and in adding a certain
quantity of drapery above and below. The change made no
little noise abroad, and was the subject of abundance of ridicule ;
the bishops and the opera-dancers figured together in numerous
caricatures. In one by Gillray, published on the 1 4th of March,
a group of danseuses are made to conceal a portion of their
personal charms by adopting the episcopal apron ; it is entitled
" Operatical reform ; or, la Danse a I'Eveque" and is accom-
panied with the following lines :
" 'Tis hard for such new-fangled orthodox rules,
That our opera troop should be blamed ;
Since, like our first parents, they only (poor fools !)
Danced naked and were not ashamed."
The figure to the right will be recognised as that of Miss
Kose. Another ca-
ricature by Gillray,
publi shed on the i gi h
of March, and en-
titled " Ecclesiasti-
cal Scrutiny; or, the
Durham Inquest on
Duty," represents
the bishops attend-
ing at the dressing
of the opera girls,
where one is mea-
suring the length of
their petticoats with
a tailor's yard, an-
other is arranging
their stockings in
THE DANSE A I/EVEQUB. the Ie3st graceful
manner possible, and
a third is giving directions for the form of their stays. Amongst
others on the same subject, one of the best is entitled " Durham
Mustard too powerful for Italian capers ; or the Opera in an
uproar," and represents the bishop armed with his pastoral
staff rushing on the stage to encounter the spirit of the evil one
embodied in bare legs and open bosoms. How long the episco-
pal censure kept the opera in order we are not told ; but the
rage for opera dancing increased under the influence of Vestris.
The regular drama, in the meantime, continued to hold the
elevated position given to it by Garrick, and a number of actors
SUCCESS OF PIZARKO.
557
of first-rate talent drew constant audiences to the theatres. It
would take too much room in a slight sketch like this even to
allude to the various petty squabbles and rivalries of actors and
managers during this long reign, or to the numerous pamphlets
of different kinds to which they gave rise, and which deserve
only to be forgotten. Drury Lane flourished under the pro-
prietorship of Sheridan, and with the dramas which have given
celebrity to his name, while it enabled him in more ways than
one to support his position as a statesman, although his thought-
less extravagance often drained its resources, and sometimes
clogged the regular movement of the company. In the Sep-
tember of 1788, John Kemble became the stage-manager, and
gave strength to the company. On the extraordinary success
of the tragedy of "Pizarro" in 1799, the Tory party seem to
have attributed it in great part to Kemble's acting ; and a cari-
cature, published with the Anti-Jacobin Review on the ist of
October, represents Sheridan in the character of Pizarro borne
through upon Kem-
ble's head. Gillray
had published a ca-
ricature on the 4th of
June, entitled " Pi-
zarro contemplating
over the product of
his new Peruvian
mine," which repre-
sents Sheridan exult-
ing over his newly-
acquired riches. The
popularity of this
play was so great,
that it produced a
number of pamphlets
relating to its hero, and made multitudes read the history of
Peru who had never thought of it before. The performances at
Drury Lane seem to have been falling in interest and in pecu-
niary productiveness, when, on the jjth of December, 180,3, a
"serio-comic romance" was brought out under the title of " The
Caravan," the chief characteristic of which was the introduction
on the stage of real water and of a large Newfoundland dog,
which was made to rush into it and drag out the figure of a
child. A contemporary criticism tells us that " the main object oi
the author seems to have been to produce novelty, and, through
novelty to excite surprise. The introduction of real water
BHEIUDA.N UPON KESIBLB.
558 THE INFANT BOSCIU8.
flowing across the stage, and a dog acting a principal part,
chiefly attracted attention, and seemed amply to gratify curi-
osity." This piece, in spite of the puerility of the idea, had
an extraordinary run, and, to use the words of the critic just
quoted, was "very productive to the treasury." The Tory
opponents of Sheridan as a politician represented this as a well-
timed and very necessary relief; and Sayer, in a large caricature
published on the i /th of December, represents the dog Carlo, in
his artificial pond on the stage, holding Sheridan's head above
water. It is inscribed, " The Manger and his Dog ; or, a new
way to keep one's head above water, a Farce performed with
rapturous applause at Drury Lane Theatre. Motto for the
Farce, 'And Folly clapped his hands and Wisdom stared.' "
Thalia, on a pedestal, is represented weeping at the prostitution
of the drama.
The Drury Lane company appears to have been now under
the frequent necessity of having recourse to expedients of this
kind to catch popular favour. The year 1805 witnessed the
extraordinary sensation produced by the " infant Roscius,"
(Master Betty), who was brought on the stage at Drury Lane
when only twelve years of age. The extraordinary sums of
money which this child produced were an important assist-
ance at this moment to Sheridan, who made the most of his
good fortune. His political op-
ponents were loud %. their
declamations against " The The-
atrical Bubble," a title under
which G-illray published a cari-
cature on the 7th of January,
1805, in which he represented
Sheridan as Punch on the boards
of old Drury, with a few addi-
tional gems added to his ruby
nose from the profits of his the-
atrical treasury, blowing the
bubble which had replenished it,
and surrounded by some of his
friends who had been loudest in
their patronage of the prodigious
infant, among whom we easily
recognise Lord Derby, Lord
Carlisle, Mrs. Jordan, and her
admirer the Duke of Clarence.
A BUBBLE. n ' i t.
Fox is expressing somewhat
boisterously his joy at the success of his political friend.
COVENT GARDEN THEATRE REBUILT. 559
This appears to have been the most prosperous period of
Sheridan's finances. On the 24th of February, 1809, Drury
Lane theatre was burnt to the ground, while Sheridan was at
his post in the House of Commons. With it ended his theatri-
cal and parliamentary prospects.
Govent Garden theatre had been involved in the same
calamity only a few months before, on the morning of Tuesday
the 1 9th of September, 1808, and was now in rapid progress of
rebuilding. Its reopening led to the most extraordinary
theatrical riots that this country has ever witnessed. John
Kemble had left Drury Lane to become part proprietor and
manager of Covent Garden, where he made his first appearance
on the 24th of September, 180.3. Kemble was unpopular with
all but the aristocratic portion of his audience, to whom exclu-
sively he was accused of paying his court. He is said to have
been proud and authoritative in his bearing towards others, and
to have given disgust by the affectation which was exhibited in
his manners, language, and even in his acting. An amusing
instance of this was shewn in the obstinacy with which he con-
tended that the word ache should be pronounced as if written
aitche, and in the pertinacity with which he held himself to that
pronunciation. In a sketch of the history of Covent Garden in
the same number of the Examiner which contains the* account
of the burning of the theatre, the writer expresses the popular
sentiments in his concluding observation : " From the general
tenour of his management, I am sorry that instead of con-
cluding this brief chronicle with the customary ' whom God
long preserve ! ' it will be much more congenial to the wishes of
the town to hope that, as a stage-manager, Mr. Kemble may be
speedily removed."
Immediately after the destruction of the theatre by fire,
Kemble solicited a subscription to rebuild it, which was speedily
filled up, the Duke of Northumberland, to whose son he had
given instruction in elocution, contributing the handsome dona-
tion of ten thousand pounds. Gillray has commemorated this
circumstance in a caricature entitled, " Theatrical Mendicants
relieved," in which the manager of Covent Garden theatre is
represented in garments all tattered and torn, seeking charity at
the door of Northumberland House. The first stone of the
new building was laid with great ceremony by the Prince
of Wales, (as grand master of the British free-masons,) on the
last day of the year 1808, and it was completed with such
rapidity, that on the i8th of September, 1809, it was opened
with Macbeth, Kemble himself appearing in the character
of Macbeth. In the new arrangement of the hall, a row of
560 THE O. P. RIOTS.
private boxes formed the third tier under the gallery ; they were
twenty-six in number, with a private room behind each, and the
access was by a staircase exclusively appropriated to them, with
an exclusive lobby also, having no communication with the
other parts of the house. The furniture of each box and of the
adjoining room, was to be according to the taste of the several
occupants. To make these extraordinary accommodations
for the great, the comforts of the rest of the audience were
considerably diminished, especially in the other tiers of boxes, and
the gallery, and one part was reduced to a little better than a
row- of pigeon-holes. To crown all, the theatre opened with an
increase of the prices, the pit being raised from three shillings
and sixpence to four shillings, and the boxes from six shillings
to seven shillings. The manager said that this was necessary to
cover the great expense of rebuilding the theatre ; but the
public were not satisfied with this explanation : they declared
that the old prices were sufficient, and that the new ones were a
mere exaction to contribute to Kemble's private extravagance,
to enable him to pay enormous salaries to foreigners, like
Madame Catalani, (who had been engaged at one hundred and
fifty pounds a week to perform two nights only,) and to pander
to the lujcury of the rich. The popular belief in the extreme
profligacy of the higher classes, led people to figure to them-
selves that the rooms attached to the private boxes were to be
used for the most shameful purposes, and they accused the
manager of having built a bagnio instead of a theatre.
On the first night of representation, which was Monday, the
curtain drew up to a crowded theatre, and the audience seemed
to be lost in admiration at the beauty of the decorations, until
Kemble made his appearance on the stage in the character
of Macbeth ; a faint attempt at applause, got up by his own
friends, was in an instant drowned by an overpowering noise of
groans, hisses, yells, and every species of vocal power that
could be conjured up for the occasion, which drove him from the
stage, after two or three vain attempts to proceed, and which
was redoubled every time he made an attempt to return. Mrs.
Siddons then came forward, but met with no better reception
than her brother. The performance was, however, persevered
in, but the uproar continued through the whole of the evening,
and was continued to a late hour. It was understood that
Kemble had declared that he would not give in to the popular
clamour, and had anticipated that if it was allowed to take its
course, it would soon wear itself out. But the next night, and
the nights following, it was continued with greater fury than
JOHN BULL AGAINST JOHN EEMBLE. 561
ever, and to the voice were now added a multitude of cat-calls,
horns, trumpets, rattles, and a variety of other instruments
of discordant music. An attempt at intimidation served only
to increase the exasperation of the audience. On Wednesday
night, the manager came forward to address the audience, and
attempted to make a justification of his conduct, which was not
accepted ; on Friday he presented himself again, and proposed
that the decision of the dispute should be put to a committee
composed of the governor of the Bank of England, the attorney
general, and a few other great names. On Saturday night this
was agreed to, and the theatre was shut up till the decision was
obtained, the obnoxious Catalani having, in the meantime,
agreed to cancel her engagement. On the following Wed-
nesday the theatre was reopened, but the report of the com-
mittee being of a very unsatisfactory kind, for it was believed
that the whole was a mere trick to gain time, in hopes that the
excitement would subside, the uproar became greater than ever.
The manager, who was determined to vanquish the popular
feeling, is said to have hired a great number of boxers, and
on the Friday night following the various pugilistic contests in
the pit gave it the appearance of a regular boxing-school. Bow-
street officers were also called in, but they appear to have acted
indiscreetly, and the only effect of this appeal to violence was
to fill the police-offices with cases of assault and riot, the result
of which added fuel to the flame, which it appeared totally
impossible to extinguish.
The rioters, who appear to have been acting under the
guidance of people of education and talent, did not restrict
themselves to mere noise. They said it was John Bull against
John Kemble, and they were determined that John Bull
should have the mastery. As no expression of sentiments could
be heard amid the uproar, they stuck up placards, and raised
banners all over the house, covered with proverbs, lampoons,
and encouragements to persevere, written in large characters,
and to these were soon added large painted caricatures. In the
latter Kemble was figured hanging, or fixed in the pillory, or in
some other ignominious position. The private boxes, and those
who came to occupy them, were the especial objects of abuse,
and the theatre was filled with placards, inscribed, " No private
boxes for intrigues!" "No private boxes with sofas!" "No
crim. con. boxes ! " These were mixed with numerous others, of
the most licentious description, and large pictures of such a
character that it was impossible for any respectable woman
to remain in the theatre a moment. The consequence of this
o o
562 GOD SAVE JOHN BULL.
was, that very few attended except those who took part in the
riot, and the part of the theatre which contributed most to the
treasury was nearly empty. Songs were also made for the
occasion ; and the following parody on the national anthem wsa
especially popular :
" God save great Johnny Bull,
Long live our noble Bull,
God save John Bull 1
Make him uproarious,
With lungs like Boreas,
Till he's victorious,
God save John Bull !
" O Johnny Bull, be true,
Oppose the prices new,
And make them fall I
Curse Kemble's politics,
Frustrate his knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix,
Confound them all !
" No private boxes let
Intriguing ladies get,
Thy right, John Bull I
From little pigeon-holey
Defend us jolly souls,
And we will sing, by Golet I
God save John Bull I"
There was much satire expended on Kemble, and his " ditches "
were turned to ridicule in every possible manner. Many of the
placards were extremely humorous, and these, with the jokes
and squibs that passed thickly about, helped to keep up the
spirit of the riot, while songs and caricatures circulated freely
about the town, Badges, consisting of the letters 0. P.
(old prices), in large characters, were worn at the theatre, at
first cut in pasteboard, but afterwards formed in metal, and
some even in silver. Medals were also struck, and distributed
about. One of these, now before me,
represents on the obverse the head of
Kemble, wearing a fool's cap, and accom-
panied with a penny-trumpet and a rattle ;
above it is the inscription, " Oh, my head
aitches /" and below the word, "Obsti-
nacy !" The reverse bears the letters O. P.
in the centre, surrounded with the inscrip-
tion, "John Bull's Jubilee Clifford for
o p MEDAL " cver '" ^ ne allusion is to the jubilee, to
celebrate the completion of the fiftieth
MEDALS AND PLACARDS. 563
year of the King's reign, and to a barrister of the name of
Clifford, who was understood to be the chief leader of the riot. ,
This profuse exhibition of placards was quite a novelty]
in theatrical rioting. One of the placards in the month of
October was inscribed, " A row for our rights to be continued
for forty nights," but the uproar seemed likely to be carried on
for ever. It soon took a form quite regular and systematic :
the play was heard with few interruptions till half-price ; the
boxes, especially the private ones, were nearly empty, and even
the pit was almost deserted. At half-price the rioters rushed
in, the placards were raised, the uproar commenced, and all
that passed on the stage afterwards was mere pantomime. At
the conclusion, the audience rose and sang " God save the
King!" had a dance in the pit, gave three groans for John
Kemble, then three cheers for John Bull, and so dispersed.
Sometimes the uproar was continued in the streets, and in more
than one instance it was carried to Kemble's house, and he was
himself mobbed and insulted. This was continued night after
night, with scarcely any interruption, not for weeks only, but
for more than three months. During this period everything
distinguished by the epithet O. P. became fashionable. There
was an " O. P. dance." The most active agent of the managers
against the rioters, and, therefore, the most unpopular with
them, was the box-keeper, Mr. Brandon. He had caused
Clifford to be arrested on slight grounds, and the latter brought
an action against him for damages, and obtained a verdict against
him in the Court of Common Pleas on the ^th of December.
Gillray on that day published a caricature entitled " Counsellor
O. P. -defender of your theatric liberties," in which Clifford is re-
presented holding a torch behind him, and looking on while
Covent Garden Theatre is in flames. The verdict against
Brandon gave new courage to the opponents of the new prices ;
and finding it utterly impossible to appease them in any other
way, Kemble at length gave up the contest. A public dinner
of the more respectable of the O. P. agitators was held on the
1 4th of December at the Crown and Anchor, at which no less
than five hundred persons are said to have attended, and
Kemble came in person to make an apology for his conduct, and
announce his willingness to accede to any compromise that
should be agreeable to them. After dinner there was a crowded
theatre, and amid considerable uproar, a humble apology was
accepted from the manager, and it was agreed that the private
boxes should be reduced to the same number which existed in
1802; that the pit should be reduced to its original price
o o a
564 SHERIDAN LEAVES DRURY LANE.
of 3*. 6d., but that the price of admission to the boxes should
remain at 7*. ; that the obnoxious Mr. Brandon should be
dismissed (at least he was compelled to resign his place) ; that-
all prosecutions and actions on both sides should be abandoned ;
and that Kerable should make a public apology for having
introduced improper persons into the theatre. The last article
referred to the boxers and police. After all these demands had
been complied with, a large placard was unfurled, containing the
words, " We are satisfied," and at the conclusion of the play the
pit gave three cheers for Clifford. Thus ended this extraordi-
nary contest. A theatrical reconciliation dinner was given on
the 4th of January, 1810, at which both parties attended, and
at which Clifford was placed in the chair.
Drury Lane theatre was also rebuilt by subscription, under the
directions of Mr. Whitbread, who agreed that Sheridan should
receive 20,000 for his moiety of the property, with an addi-
tional 4000 for the property of the fruit-offices and reversion
of boxes and shares, in consideration of which he was to have
no connexion whatever with the new undertaking. Many com-
plained of the manner in which Whitbread thus thrust Sheridan
out of the proprietorship which had so long supported him to be
an ornament of the legislative assembly of the nation, while
others exulted in his
overthrow. A carica-
ture, published in the
October of 1 8 1 1 , when
the new theatre was
completed, and these
stipulations put in
force, is entitled,
" Clearing away the
rubbish of Old Drury,"
and represents Whit-
bread in the character
of a brewer's man
wheeling away Sheri-
dan in a barrow among
a heap of old bricks.
Sheridan is made to
exclaim (in allusion to his peculiarly persuasive eloquence),
" Hope told a flattering tale d n that brewer and his entire,
he has washed me out with only 20,000, but I know how to
palaver them over, and get in again."
The general taste for the drama had certainly increased
CLKAKING AWAY RUBBISH.
THE PIC-NICS. 565
towards the end of the last century, and it was evinced in the
new fashion for private performances among the aristocracy.
The houses where this fashion was indulged in with greatest
splendour, were Wynnstay, the seat of Sir W. W. Wynne ;
Wargrave, the seat of Lord Barrymore ; and Crewe Hall, near
Chester. The parties at Wynnstay were especially distin-
guished for their elegance. At the commencement of the
century, a society of private, or, as they termed themselves,
" dilettanti " actors, was formed in London, and assumed the
name of the Pic-Nic Society, from the manner in which they were
to contribute mutually to the general entertainment. That old
meteor of London fashion, Lady Albina Buckinghamshire, is
understood to have been the originator of this scheme, in which,
besides the performance of farces and burlettas, there were to be
feasts and ridottos, and a variety of other fashionable amuse-
ments, each member drawing from a silk bag a ticket which was
to decide the portion of entertainment which he was expected to
afford. The performances took place in rooms in Tottenham-
street. This harmless piece of fashionable amusement produced
a greater sensation than it is now possible to conceive. The
populace had been so long accustomed to hear of aristocratic
depravity, that they could understand nothing private in high
life without attaching to it ideas of licentiousness, and there was
a notion that the Pic-Nic Society implied some way or other an
attack upon public morals. Complaints were made against it
which led almost to a pamphlet war. The professional theatri-
cals were angry and jealous, because they thought that the
aristocratic love of theatrical amusements, which had supported
them in their exertions, would evaporate in private parties.
Nearly the whole periodical press attacked the Pic-Nics with-
out mercy, and the daily papers teemed with abuse and scandal.
They were ridiculed and caricatured on every side. Gillray
produced no less than three caricatures on the Pic-Nics. The
first of these, published on the 2nd of April, 1802, soon after
the society had been established, is entitled " Blowing up the Pic-
Nics ; or Harlequin Quixotte attacking the Puppets, vide, Tot-
tenham Street Pantomime." The Pic-Nic party are represented
as puppets in the midst of their festivities, which are disturbed
by the attack of the infuriated actors, among whom we recog-
nise Kemble, Siddons, Billington, &c., led by Sheridan, who,
dressed as harlequin, rushes to the assault, armed with the pen
of the Post, Chronicle, Herald, Evening Courier, &c., whose
attacks he is supposed to have directed agaiust them. In
another of Gillray's caricatures, entitled "The Pic-Nic Or
566 THE SHAKSPEARE MANIA.
chestra," the noble and fashionable performers are represented
on duty. A third caricature, published on the i8th of Feb-
ruary, 1803, is entitled "Dilettanti Theatricals, vide Pic-Nic
Orgies ;" it represents the motley group dressing for the stage,
and is full of humour, with a considerable sprinkling of licen-
tiousness. At this latter date the society seems to have been
already sinking under the load of obloquy and ridicule to which
it was exposed, and before the year was out the regular theatricals
were relieved from any jealousy that such attempts might excite.
During the whole of our present period, the managers of the
two principal theatres continued to exert themselves in making
Shakspeare popular on the stage, and for some time with
success. Garrick had done most of any to bring the bard into
fashion, and the Stratford Jubilee in 1769 had raised an abso-
lute Shakspeare mania. This new fashion had also exhibited
itself in the extensive study of Shakspeare's writings, and in
the extraordinary number of new editions that succeeded each
other. Annotator followed annotator, and the text of the poet
seemed in danger of being torn to pieces amid Shakspeare ad-
mirers and Shakspeare disputes. The following ballad, from
the Westminster Magazine for October, 1773, gives rather an
amusing and not an inaccurate enumeration of the Shakspeare
editors who had succeeded each other previous to that period :
" SHAKSPEARE'S BEDSIDE.
" Old Shakspeare was sick ; for a doctor he sent ;
But 'twas long before any one caine ;
Yet, at length, his assistance Nic Howe* did present :
Sure all men have heard of his name.
" As he found that the poet had tumbled his bed,
He smooth'd it as well as he could ;
He gave him an anodyne, comb'd out hia head,
But did his complaint little good.
" Doctor Pope to incision at once did proceed,
And the bard for the simples be cut ;
For bis regular practice was always to bleed,
Ere the fees in his pocket he put.
" Next Tibbald advanced,t who at best was a quack,
And dealt but in old woman's stuff ;
Yet he caused the physician of Twick'nham to pack,
And the patient grew cheerful enough.
* Nicholas Rowe was the first editor of Shakspeare ; his edition appeared
in seven volumes in 1709-10.
t Theobald's edition of Shakspeare was first printed in 1 733, and was
often reprinted. After all that has been done to the text since, it is one of'
the best editions, in spite of the character our ballad- writer here gives hii~.
SHAKSPEARE'S BEDSIDE. 567
" Nert Hanmer,* who fees ne'er descended to crave,
In gloves lily-white did advance ;
To the poet the gentlest of purges he gave,
And, for exercise, taught him to dance.
* One Warburton then, though allied to the church,
Produced his alterative stores ;
But his med'cines the case so oft left in the lurch,
That Edwardsf kicked him out of doors.
" Next Johnson arrived to the patient's relief,
And ten years he had him in hand ;
But, tired of his task, 'tis the general belief
He left him before he could stand.
" Now Capell drew near not a quaker more prim
And number' d each hair in his pate ;
By styptics, called stops, he contracted each limb,
And crippled for ever his gait.
" From Gopsal then strutted a formal old goose,
And he'd cure him by inches, he swore ;
But when the poor poet had taken one dose,
He vow*d he would swallow no more.
" But Johnson, determin'd to save him or kill,
A second prescription display'd ;
And that none might find fault with his drop or his pill,
Fresh doctors he call'd to his aid.
" First, Steevens came loaded with black-letter books,
Of fame more desirous than pelf ;
Such reading, observers might read in his looks,
As no one e'er read but himself.
" Then Warner, by Plautus and Glossary known,
And Hawkins, historian of sound ;
Then Warton and Collins together came on,
For Greek and potatoes renown 'd.
" With songs on his pontificalibus pinn'd,
Next Percy the great did appear ;
And Fanner, who twice in a pamphlet had sinn'd,
Brought up the empirical rear.
" ' The cooks the more numerous, the worse is the broth,'
Says a proverb I well can believe ;
And yet to condemn them untried I am loth,
So at present shall laugh in my sleeve.' "
It was this rage for everything Shakspearian that brought
into existence those forgeries of William Henry Ireland, so well
* Sir Thomas Hanmer's handsome edition was published at Oxford in
I744-
( " One Edwards, an apothecary, who appears to have known more of
the poet's case than some of the regular physicians who undertook to cure
him." Thomas Edwards published, in 1748, what is described as a Supple-
ment to Warburton's Shakspeare, under the title of " The Canons of Cri-
ticism aud Glossary."
568 THE SHAKSPEARE PAPER8.
known as the Shakspeare manuscripts. The history of the pre-
tended discovery of these papers was in substance closely similar
to the story fabricated by Chatterton for his Rowley Papers,
and indeed to that of all other literary frauds of the same de-
scription. A few documents were first produced, as having been
found among old family deeds, and the success of these led to the
production of others. These the inventor first shewed to his
father, Samuel Ireland, so well known by his illustrations of
Hogarth and other works, and by him they were communicated
to others, and a number of men of high literary character, such
as Dr. Parr, Dr. Warton (who had previously believed in the
Rowley Papers), Boswell, Erskine, and others, declared their
full belief in their authenticity. In 1796, a substantial folio
was published, containing miscellaneous papers and legal instru-
ments, under the hand and seal of William Shakspeare, with
the tragedy of "Lear" and a fragment of " Hamlet," from the
original manuscript. This work caused the most extraordinary
sensation, and scarcely anything else was talked of, not only in
the literary world, but among society in general. But Malone,
Steevens, and others, who were more critically acquainted with
the writings of the great poet, at once pronounced all these
documents as forgeries, and Malone published a volume, ad-
dressed to Lord Charlemont, exposing the fraud. Before this
exposure came out, young Ireland had proceeded another step in
the plot, for he produced a play entitled " Vortigeru," as an un-
known work of Shakspeare, which had been found among the
same papers, and he took it to Sheridan for representation at
Drury Lane. Sheridan made no pretensions to antiquarian
knowledge; he expressed some surprise at the mediocrity of
many parts of the play, but he said that it was evidently an
ancient manuscript, and he thought that the public excitement
on the subject might justify his bringing it forward at Drury
Lane.
The night fixed for the representation of "Vortigern" was
the 2nd of April, 1796, and it was supported by all the talent
of John and Charles Kemble, Mrs. Jordan, Mrs. Powell, and
the other best actors of the company. Malone's critique on the
nrinted papers had appeared before this performance, and, to
counteract it, a declaration of their authenticity was produced,
signed by a number of distinguished but credulous persons, with
Dr. Parr at their head ; and a handbill was distributed at the
door and in the theatre, designating Malone's "Inquiry" as " a
malevolent and impotent attack," and promising a prompt and
satisfactory reply. A prologue had been written by Pye, the
VORTIGERN. 569
poet laureate, which seemed to insinuate a doubt of the fact of
Shakspeare being the author, and this was therefore laid aside,
to make place for one written by Sir James Bland Surges,
which, read by Mr. Whitfield (who is said to have been too
flurried to speak it), commenced with a bold assertion that the
piece about to be acted was the work of Shakspeare, and de-
manded the attention of the audience to it as such :
" No common cause your verdict now demands,
Before the Court immortal Shakspeare stands
That mighty master of the human soul,
Who rules the passions, and, with strong control,
Through every turning of the changeful heart
Directs his course sublime, and leads bis powerful art"
The theatre was crowded with an immense and anxious audience,
who, after a few scenes, disgusted with the poverty of the play,
began to express their dissatisfaction in no equivocal manner.
About the beginning of the fourth act, Kemble came forward,
and, begged they would hear it through with candour; and it
was then allowed to go on ; but the proposal to give it for
repetition was received with such loud and universal disapproba-
tion, that it was not persevered in. An epilogue, delivered by
Mrs. Jordan, spoke not of the piece which had been acted, but
called upon the sympathy of the audience in general terms for
Shakspeare, compared the characters of the old drama with
those of the present day, and ended with a faint appeal to their
indulgence :
" "Ha true, there is some change, I must confess,
Since Shakspeare' s time, at least in point of dress.
The ruffs are gone, and the long female waist
Yields to the Grecian more voluptuous taste ;
While circling braids the copious tresses bind,
And the bare neck spreads beautiful behind.
Our senators and peers no longer go,
Like men in armour, glittering in a row ;
But for the cloak and pointed beard we note
The close-cropt head and little short great-coat.
Yet is the modern Briton still the same,
Eager to cherish, and averse to blame,
Foe to deception, ready to defend,
A kind protector, and a generous friend."
The result of the performance at Drury Lane sealed the fate
of the Shakspeare manuscripts. Those who had stood forward
in their defence, became objects of ridicule for their ready
credulity, and at the end of the year the public indignation was
moved by the effrontery of William Henry Ireland, who pub-
570 THE SHAKSPEARE GALLERY.
lished a full confession of the forgery, and joined in the ridicule
cast on Dr. Parr, Warton, and others. Samuel Ireland, the
father, now came forward, to disavow any complicity in the
affair, and declare that he had been a dupe equally with others.
The question continued to agitate the public during the whole
of the year 1797, and on the first of December, Gillray published
a portrait of the author of the fraud, under the title of " Noto-
rious Characters, No. t," with the following lines, said there
to be written by Mason (but OH better authority attributed to
Steevens), comparing the four great literary forgers of the age,
Lauder, Macpherson, Chatterton, and W. H. Ireland :
" Four forgers, born in one prolific age,
Much critical acumen did engage.
The first was soon by doughty Douglas scared,
Though Johnson would have screen'd him, had he dared ;
The next had all the cunning of a Scot ;
The third, invention, genius, nay, what not ?
Fraud, now exhausted, only could dispense
To her fourth son their three- fold impudence." .
The popularity of Shakspeare had, in another quarter, acted
in a very different manner, and produced an influence upon
native art which, whatever the jealousy of that age may have
said, must ever render the name of Alderman Boydell an object
of grateful remembrance to posterity. He had come to London
a young man at a time when engraving was at so low an ebb in
this country, that all our good prints were imported from abroad,
and, first as an engraver, and subsequently as a print-dealer, he
laboured with so much success, that at the end of his career the
exportation of English engravings far exceeded the number of
foreign ones imported. Not content with patronizing engraving,
Boydell conceived a plan for patronising native art in painting ;
and he aspired to raise an English school of historical painters
which should rival by its works the celebrity of the ancient
masters. Seizing on the popular object of adoration, he em-
ployed the first English artists of the age, at high prices, in
painting compositions illustrative of the works of the bard of
Avon. Sir Joshua Reynolds, as well as West, Barry, Fuseli,
Northcote, Opie, Smirk, and all the chief painters of the time,
contributed to the celebrated Shakspeare Gallery, which was
open for exhibition in 1789, and had for its professed object to
establish an English school of historical painting. Subscribers
were at the same time received for a splendid series of engravings
illustrative of Shakspeare's plays. Many, however, appear to
have been jealous of BoydelFs efforts, which they represented as
THE WORSHIPPER OF AVARICE. 571
the mere schemes of an avaricious man to gather money into his
own private treasury. Gillray entered into this feeling in a
truly magnificent caricature, entitled " Shakspeare Sacrificed;
or, the Offering to Avarice," published on the 2oth of June,
1789. The genius of Avarice, the object of Boydell's adoration,
is seated aloft on a ponderous volume, entitled " List of Sub-
scribers to the Sacrifice," which is
supported on portfolios of the works
of " Modern Masters ;" he grasps in
his arms two bags of money, and an
imp on his shoulder, with peacock's
feathers for hair, is blowing the bub-
ble " immortality" with a pipe.
Within the magic circle, surrounding
the object of his worship, Boydell
stands by a fire, into which he is
casting the tattered fragments of
Shakspeare's works, in the smoke of
which, as it rises towards heaven, we
see exaggerated sketches of some of
the more remarkable designs which
his gallery had brought together.
Outside the circle, the portfolio of
the " Ancient Masters" lies neglected
on the ground, and a snail is seen THJ GEimj8 OF
crawling slowly over it. In the
distance, Fame is blowing away the great bubbles of former
days, while he scatters around him a shower of puffs from the
Morning Herald and other papers, as the only effectual instru-
ments of fame in modern times.
Boydell's opponents, indeed, accused him not only of puffing,
but of resorting to all kinds of expedients to call public atten-
tion to his Gallery. In the spring of 1791, it appears that an
evil-minded person had gained admission for the purpose of
damaging some of the pictures, and a malicious report was set
abroad that Boydell himself was the perpetrator of this act of
Vandalism. Gillray, who was no friend to the Shakspeare
Gallery, published, on the z6th of April, a caricature portrait of
the alderman in the act of mutilating his pictures ; and,
in allusion to a malefactor of the name of Ren wick Williams,
whose attacks upon helpless females by cutting them with
a knife had a short time previously given him an extra-
ordinary but unenviable notoriety under the epithet of
"The Monster," he entitled it " The Monster broke loose;
57* AN AMATEUR OF THE FINE ARTS.
or* a Peep into the Shakspeare Gallery." The accusation
it is intended to convey, and
the motives supposed to have
led to it, will be understood
by the soliloquy here put into
Boydell's mouth : " There,
there! there's a nice
gash ! There ! ah ! this
will be a glorious subject for
to make a fuss about in the
newspapers ; a hundred
guineas reward will make a
fine sound ; there ! there !
AN AMATEUB OF THE FIN* ABT8.
ing about the Gallery; and
it wilt bring in a rare sight of shillings for seeing of the cut
pictures ; there ! and there again ! egad, there's nothing like
having a good head-piece ! here ! here ! there ! there ! and
then these small pictures won't cost a great deal of money
replacing; indeed one would not like to cut a large one to
pieces for the sake of making it look as if people envied us ; no !
that would cost rather too much, and my pocket begins but,
mum ! that's nothing to nobody well, none can blame me for
going the cheapest way to work, to keep up the reputation oi
the Gallery ; there ! there ! there ! there ! there !"
In his memorial to the House of Commons, at the beginning
of the present century, praying for an act to enable him to
dispose of his stock in trade of the fine arts by lottery, Boydell
stated that he had expended more than four hundred thousand
pounds in encouraging talent in this country. He had become
reduced in circumstances, and the Gallery was dispersed by
public sale. At a later period he was obliged to appeal to the
law to oblige many of his subscribers to continue their subscrip-
tions to his series of Shakspeare illustrations, which they
refused to do on account of the length of time that had elapsed
before the publication was completed.
With a few exceptions, our historical school of painting at first
shewed no great symptoms of talent ; it savoured too much of
that general mediocrity which flourished under the equivocal
kind of patronage which the third of the Georges had substi-
tuted for the scornful contempt shewn to art as well as literature
by his two predecessors. West, with his coarse Scriptural pieces,
* The words in italics are crossed through in the engraving, as though to
be erased.
PETER PINDAR AND THE ARTISTS. 573
and the foreign Loutherbourg with his gaudy landscapes, basked
in the sun of royal favour, while Sir Joshua Reynolds and
Wilson were treated with neglect. West was elected president
of the newly-instituted Royal Academy, and received every kind
of mark of royal attention ; for the King was rather vain of
passing for a connoisseur, and he liked to show it by his fami-
liarity with the artist. Before Boydell came forward to offer
encouragement to art, the academicians had been exposed to the
bitter shafts of satire. The " Lyric Odes to the Royal Acade-
micians," drawn forth by the exhibitions of the years 1782,
1783, 1785, and 1786, were the first productions that made
known the name of Peter Pindar. The humorous but skilful
critic of art, who made his debut under this pseudonym, shews
no mercy to the academic president, the favourite of royalty,
whom he accuses of painting the Saviour " like an old-clothes
man" and the apostles like thieves, and of aspiring to cover
" acres of canvas" rather than aiming at perfection in a few
works. Still,
" To give the devl his due, thou dost inherit
Some pigmy portion of the painting spirit ;
Bat what is this, compared to loftier things !
Thine is the fortune (making rivals groan)
Of wink and nod familiar from the throne,
And sweetest whispers from the best of kings.
" Nods, and winks-royal, since the world began,
Are immortalities for little man."
Peter treats with as little ceremony the favoured portrait-
painter Chamberlin, and the royal landscape-painter Louther-
bourg,
" Thy portraits, Chamberlin, may be
A likeness, far as I can see ;
But, faith ! I cannot praise a single feature :
Yet, when it so shall please the Lord
To make his people out of board,
Thy pictures will be tolerable nature !
" And Loutherbourg, when heav'n so wills
To make brass skies, and golden hills,
With marble bullocks in glass pastures grazing ;
Thy reputation, too, will rise,
And people, gaping with surprise,
Cry, ' Monsieur Loutherbourg is most amazing P
" But thou must wait for that event
Perhaps the change is never meant
Till then, with me thy pencil will not abine
Till then, old red-nosed Wilson's art
Will hold its empire o'er my heart,
By Britain left in poverty to pine.
SIS JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
" But, honest Wilson, never mind ;
Immortal praises thou shalt find,
And for a dinner have no cause to fear.
Thou start' st at my prophetic rhymes I
Don't be impatient for those times
Wait till thou hast been dead a hundred year."*
Peter's predictions have been fulfilled sooner than he antici-
pated, for the works of Wilson are now bought up at high
prices, while those of the men who were most cried up in his
time are thrown aside with contempt. Among the latter was
Wright of Derby, an affected painter of moonlight scenes, which
the satirist describes as exhibiting
" Woollen hills, where gold and silver moons
Now mount like sixpences, and now balloons ;
Where sea-reflections nothing nat'ral tell ye,
So much like fiddle-strings, or vermicelli ;
Where ev'rything exclaimeth (how severe !)
' What are we V and ' What business have we here ?'"
Reynolds was one of those whose works had no charms for the
eyes of royalty, and the satirical critic exclaims, with an air of
satisfaction,
" Thank God ! that monarchs cannot taste control,
And make each subject's poor, submissive soul
Admire the work that judgment oft cries fie on :
Had things been so, poor Reynolds we had seen
Painting a barber's pole an alehouse queen
The cat-and-gridiron or the old red lion !
At Plympton, p'rhaps, for some grave Doctor Slop,
Painting the pots and bottles of the shop ;
Or in the drama, to get meat to munch,
His brush divine had pictured scenes for Punch !
" Whilst West was whelping, "midst his paints,
Moses and Aaron, and all sorts of saints !
Adams and Eves, and snakes and apples,
And dev'ls, for beautifying certain chapels ;
But Reynolds is no favourite, that's the matter ;
He has not learnt the noble art to flatter.
" Thrice happy times ! when monarchs find them hard things
To teach us what to view with admiration ;
And, like their heads on halfpence and brass farthings,
Make their opinions current through the nation!"
Public opinion eventually forced Sir Joshua Reynolds to royal
* We are informed in a note to this passage, that Wilson, who was cer-
tainly a great artist, was desired by his friend, Sir William Chambers, to
paint a picture for the King, on which occasion he produced one of his best
paintings. Yet, when this picture was shewn to his majesty, it was laughed
at, and the King exhibited his knowledge of art in returning it with contempt.
THE VENETIAN SECRET. 575
attention. Peter Pindar closes his attacks on the academicians
with an expression of rather general censure,
" Ye royal sirs, before I bid adieu,
Let me inform you, some deserve my praise ;
But trust me, gentle squires, they are but few
Whose names would not disgrace my lays.
You'll say, with grinning, sharp, sarcastic face,
' We must be bad indeed, if that's the case.'
Why, if the truth I must declare,
So, gentle squires, you really are."
But a few years passed over from the time Peter Pindar thus
pointed out the empty pretensions of so many of the earlier
academicians, when a large portion of that eminent body became
the dupe of a piece of very remarkable quackery. In the year
1797, a young female pretender to art, a Miss Pro vis, professed
to have discovered the long-lost secret by which Titian and the
other great artists of the Venetian school produced their gor-
geous colouring, and, by dint of puffing and other tricks, she
succeeded in gaining the faith of a large portion of the Royal
Academy. Seven of the academicians are said more especially
to have been her dupes, Farringdon, Opie, Westall, Hopner,
Stothard, Smirk, and Rigaud. Until her discovery was exploded,
this lady sold it in great secret for a very high price. She would
now probably have been entirely forgotten, but for the pencil of
Gillray, who, on the 2nd of November, 1797, made her secret
the subject of a very large and remarkable caricature, entitled
" Titianus redivivus ; or, the Seven Wise Men consulting the
new Venetian Oracle." In the upper part of this bold picture,
the lady artist is dashing off a daring subject with extraordinary
effect of light and shade, her long ragged train ending in the
immense tail of a peacock. The three naked Graces behind her,
in the genuine coloured copies of this caricature, are painted of
the gayest hues. She is leading the crowd of academicians by
the nose over the gaudy rainbow to her study to behold her
specimen of Venetian art. On one side, the buildings appro-
priated to the Royal academy at Somerset House are falling
into ruin, while on the other the temple of Fame is undergoing
reparation. Below, we are introduced into the interior of the
Academy, where the luckless seven occupy the foremost seats,
deeply immersed in studying the merits of the new discovery.
The ghost of Sir Joshua Reynolds rises up from the floor, con-
templates the scene with astonishment, and apostrophises the
groups in the words of Shakspeare,
" Black spirits and white, blue spirits and grey,
Mingle, mingle, mingle, you that mingle may !"
57<5 NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES.
On the opposite side are three persons making a hasty flight ;
they are West, the president of the Academy, who was not a
believer; Boydell, whose fears are excited for the fate of his
Gallery, if this new invention should succeed and destroy the
value of what had been done while it was unknown ; and
Macklin, who experiences an equal alarm for his grand illustra-
tions of the Bible, which were put up by lottery, the tickets five
guineas each. These fears, as far as the " Venetian secret" was
concerned, were not of long duration.
No class of literature was undergoing a greater change during
the middle part of the reign of George III. than the periodical
press, which was especially affected by the revolutions in poli-
tical and moral feelings which characterised the age preceding,
as well as that which followed the bursting out of the French
revolution. The newspapers, which had varied but little in
appearance from the beginning of the century to the earlier part
of George's reign, now appear with new titles, and present
themselves in a much enlarged and altered form. From an
estimate given in the European Magazine for October, 1794,
we learn that, while in 1724 only three daily, six weekly, and ten
evening papers three times a week, were published in England,
in 1792 there were published in London thirteen daily, twenty
evening, and nine weekly papers, besides seventy country papers,
and fourteen in Scotland. Among the London papers we recog-
nise the names of the principal daily papers of modern times.
The Morning Chronicle was established in the year 1770, the
Morning Post in 1772, and the Morning Herald in 1780, and
they were followed by the Times in 1788. They began, in
accordance with the depraved taste as well as manners of that
age, with courting popularity by detailing largely the most inde-
licate private scandal, and with coarse libels on public as well as
private characters, things for which the Post enjoyed a special
celebrity. The Chronicle was from the first the organ of the
Whigs ; the Post was at first a violent organ of Toryism, it
(subsequently became revolutionary in its principles, and then
returned to its original politics ; the Herald also has not been
uniform in politics from its commencement. Of seven new
magazines which were started from 1769 to 1771, the Town and
Country Magazine, the Covent Garden Magazine, the Matri-
monial Magazine, the Macaroni Magazine, the Sentimental
Magazine, the Westminster Magazine, and the Oxford Maga-
zine, two at least were obscene publications, and the feeling of
the time allowed the titles of the licentious plates which illus-
trated them and of the articles they contained to be advertised
STATE OF LITERATURE. 577
monthly in the most respectable newspapers in words which left
no doubt of their character. The others gave insertion to a
mass of scandal that ought to have been offensive to public
morality. After a few years society seems to have resented the
outrage, the newspapers became less libellous, and the offensive
magazines disappeared.
The literary character of the magazines, which may always be
taken to a certain degree as an index of public taste, remained
long very low. They consisted of extracts from common books
and reprints of articles which had appeared before, of crude
essays by unpaid correspondents, who were ambitious of seeing
themselves in print, and of reviews of new publications, which
constituted the most original part of the mixture. The reviews
continued for a long time to be short and flippant, and in many
cases the writer seems to have read or seen only the title of the
book he reviews.
Thus, in the Westminster Magazine for May, 1774, Jacob
Bryant's well-known "New System of Ancient Mythology," in
two large quarto volumes, is reviewed in four words, " Learned,
critical, and ingenious ;" and another quarto volume, " Science
Improved," by Thomas Harrington, is condemned with similar
brevity " Crude, obscure, and bombastic." In the same maga-
zine for September, 1774, that important work, Strutt's "Regal
Antiquities," is dismissed with the observation, "Curious,
useful, and pleasing." The triad of epithets, which recurs per-
petually, is amusing. It is an authoritative style of giving
judgment that seems to come from the Johnsonian school.
Some of the most remarkable examples are found in the Town
and Country Magazine, which, in March, 1771, expresses its
critical judgment in the following elegant terms:
" The Exhibition in Hell ; or, Moloch turned Painter. Svo. price it.
A hellish bad painter, and a d d bad writer 1"
A few years later, the critical notices in the magazines became
somewhat more diffuse ; the reviews endeavoured to give their
readers a little more information relating to the contents of new
publications; and sometimes, as in the European Magazine,
they added a chapter at the end, under the title of " Anecdotes
of the Author," in which they stated all they knew of his pri-
vate history. Towards the close of the century, professed
reviews, in contradistinction to magazines, began to be more
common.
The reviewers of the last century were strongly tainted with
the feelings which agitated and divided society, and they con-
p P
578 REVOLUTION IN LITERATURE.
stantly overlooked that necessary qualification of a critic, im-
partiality ; they too often punished the political opinions of the
writer by abusing his writings, however far they might be from
allusions to political subjects, or however meritorious in charac-
ter : but they deserve praise for the constancy with which they
attacked that shoal of frivolous and often pernicious matter that
was daily sent into the world in the shape of novels and secret
memoirs, of the most nauseous and indelicate description. The
influence of these was most extensive previous to the year 1 790.
The violent intellectual agitation which followed the French
revolution gave a more manly vigour to the literature of the
following age. It seemed for a moment to have raised the
burthen which had so long weighed heavily upon' the mental
energies, and to promise them relief from that cold influence of
interested patronage which had so often blighted genius in the
bud. The most distinguished literary characters of the last age,
the Wordsworths, Campbells, Southeys, Coleridges and Roscoes,
began their career in ardent admiration of the democratic
principles which were spreading from revolutionized Prance:
they imagined they had fallen upon the opening of a new and
brighter era, and they looked forwards in vain hopes to the
prospect of an age in which genius would no longer be the slave
of selfish or capricious patronage on the one hand, or of specula-
tive avarice on the other. The illusion soon passed away, but
not without leaving an imprint which has effected a total
change in the literature of this country.
The change which was taking place at the end of the century,
placed the two literatures of the past and the future for a while in
direct hostility to each other, and produced a number of satirical
writings of a new description, the types of which are found in
" The Pursuits of Literature," published anonymously, but now
understood to be the work of Mathias, and the " Baviad and
Mseviad" of Gifford. These now appear dull enough, but they
applied the lash unsparingly to the crowd of fashionable writers
who constituted the literary legacy of the preceding age. Per-
haps, among the different shades of literary pretension which
were struggling for fame at the period when the influence of the
French revolution began to be felt, the least dignified was that
party of individuals who attempted to raise a reputation on the
fragments which had been scattered from the table of Johnson.
Boswell, and Madame Thrale, who had by a rather discreditable
marriage with a music teacher, taken the name of Piozzi, and
several others, long disputed over the remains of the " great
THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. 579
moralist," as he was termed, and afforded no small amusement
to the public. This was one of the few public literary ques-
tions which, during the latter part of the century, became the
subject of caricatures, and those possess nothing very striking in
their character. Two of these, published in 1786 and 1788,
were by Sayer. This dispute, which caused much sensation for
several years, is better known by Peter Pindar's " Town Eclogue"
of Bozzi and Piozzi.
The ungenial patronage of the court of George III. was as
little successful in fostering literature and science, as it had
shewn itself to be with respect to art. It was during this
reign that societies began to be formed more generally to for-
ward literary and scientific objects, but they in some instances
seemed to share in the jealousy that was shewn towards political
associations. The Society of Antiquaries, which had received its
charter of incorporation from G-eorge II., was received into
some degree of favour by his grandson, who, in 1780, placed it
in apartments near his favourite "Academy" in Somerset House.
Its labours had hitherto been little productive, and often puerile;
it took no prominent part, even in the historical literature of
the day, and is seldom mentioned in the popular literature,
except in terms of ridicule. In 1772, the society was brought
on the stage by Foote, deliberating on the history of Whitting-
ton and his cat. It appears that the honour shewn to it by
royalty, did not protect it from becoming a dupe to practical
jokes. In 1790, some wag produced a drawing of a stone pre-
tended to have been discovered in Kennington Lane, on the
site of an ancient palace of Hardicnut, bearing an inscription
to that monarch's memory in Saxon characters and in Anglo-
Saxon verse, which, literally translated, informed the world that
" Here Hardyknute the king drank a wine-horn dry, and stared
about him and died." It is said that this inscription and ex-
planation were received and read at one of the meetings of the
society of antiquaries as a bond fide communication, and the
perpetrator of the joke immediately made it public for the
amusement of the world, and to the discomfiture of the learned
archaeologists. This trifling incident made its noise at the time,
and was taken up in a satirical vein by other humorists, who
followed it up with mock dissertations and mock translations.
Some of the latter exhibited the same vein of personal* satire
which had dictated the longer and more celebrated "probationary
odes." Thus Sir Cecil Wray is made to contribute the following
poetical version
p p a
580 HARDICNUFS EPITAPH.
" Here Hardyknute, with horn of wine,
Drank, died, and stared much ;
And at my lost elec ti on
Too many there were such."
Another parliamentary and ministerial rhymer, Sir Joseph
Mawbey, was also introduced making a personal application of
the theme,
" Here Hardyknute his wash (O brute !)
Did twill from Danish horn ;
So bursting wide his harslet, died,
And of his life was shorn.
" As pig doth look, that's newly stuck,
And stare, so stared he ;
And so, at my next canvass, I
May stare for company."
Among other versions, the joking editor cites the first line of
that by M. le Texier, who he says had, "with the levity peculiar
to his countrymen," given a gay turn to the epitaph, which he
made to open thus
" Aha ! cher Monsieur Ardiknute !"
And he adds, " The last has the same defect as the two preced-
ing ones, for it is rather a sportive paraphrase than a fair trans-
lation. As it comes, however, from a young poetical divine,
resident in the archiepiscopal palace at Lambeth (the very place
of Hardyknute's demise), it will possibly be received with in-
dulgence, and especially by the gentleman who produced its
original to the Antiquary Society.
" If Hardyknute at Lambeth feast,
Where each man made himself a beast,
On such a draught did venture ;
Though drink he did, and stare, and die,
'Tis clear to every mortal eye
That he was no dissenter. "
However respectable their character as societies, and however
talented and well-intentioned some of their members, it must be
acknowledged that neither archseology nor science were at this
time receiving the benefits they might have done from the
labours of the society of Antiquaries and its neighbour the
Royal Society. The latter was rent to pieces by jealousies and
dispute's. It had received a gleam from the sun of royal favour
in the person of its president, Sir Joseph Banks, who had pur-
sued science in company with Captain Cook in the distant isles
of the Pacific, and whose adventures in the study of natural
history at home and the undue eminence which he was believed
SIS JOSEPH BANKS e$i
to hold by the mere title of royal favouritism, made him the
object of many a caricature and satire. In one of the latter in
the collection of Mr. Burke, the
learned president of the Eoyal
Society is represented under the
character and title of " The great
South-sea Catterpillar trans-
formed into a Bath butterfly."
His wings are adorned with figures
of starfish, crabs, and other fa-
vourite objects of his attention.
This print is dated on the 4th of
July, 1795, soon after Sir Joseph
had been chosen a knight of the
Bath. Another caricature, also
in the possession of Mr. Burke,
represents the scene described in
Peter Pindar's well-known tale of
" Sir Joseph Banks and the Em-
peror of Morocco." The " presi-
dent in butterflies profound," as he has termed him, was a sub-
ject of frequent satire from Peter's pen.
THE BUTTERFLY OF BOUNCE.
CHAPTER XV.
GEOEGE HI.
The Imperial Parliament Change of Ministry Peace with France- New
Step in Buonaparte's Ambition Renewal of Hostilities, and Threatened
Invasion Defensive Agitation ; Volunteers ; Caricatures and Songs
Return of Pitt to Power Buonaparte Emperor Trafalgar Death of
Pitt The Broad-Bottom Ministry Death of Fox General Election
The War.
THE nineteenth century opened in this country with political
prospects by no means of the most cheering description.
"With a burthen of taxation infinitely beyond anything that had
ever been known before, England found herself in danger of
being left single-handed in an interminable contest with a power
which was now rapidly humbling at its feet the whole of the
continent of Europe, and which had already adopted, with
regard to us, the old motto of delenda est Carthago. We had
no longer to contend with a democratic republic, as heretofore,
but with a skilful and unscrupulous leader, who was already a
sovereign in fact, and who was marching quickly towards a throne.
The union with Ireland had been completed, and was put into
effect ; but the sister isle remained dissatisfied and turbulent,
and but a few months passed over before a new rebellion broke
out, of a serious character. The union itself had not passed
without considerable opp osition in this country, and the advan-
tages which its advocates promised as the result, were ridiculed
or disbelieved. Among the caricatures on this subject which
appeared during the year 1800, one represented Pitt from the
state pulpit publishing the banns of union between John Bull
and Miss Hibernia. In another, under the title of " A Flight
across the Herring-pool," the Irish gentry are seen quitting
their country in crowds to share in the good things which Pitt is
laying before them in England, thus setting the example of that
evil of absenteeism which has been so much complained of in
more recent times.
The first imperial parliament met on the 22nd of January,
1801, and was attended with two remarkable circumstances, the
election of the Eev. John Home Tooke for the borough of Old
Sarum, and the reappearance of Fox at his post in the House
THE ADDINGTON MINISTRY. 583
of Commons. Fox reappeared in the house for the first time
on the and of March, and one of the earliest signs of his
returning activity was his support of the right of Home Tooke
to a seat there. A caricature, published on the I4th of March,
entitled " The Westminster Seceder on Fresh Duty," represents
Fox bending his broad back to enable the reverend candidate to
get into St. Stephen's chapel through the window, while Lord
Temple is shutting the door against him. Tooke had been
returned for Old Sarum by Lord Camelford. His admission was
opposed on the ground of his clerical profession, and it led to a
bill making clergymen incapable of sitting in parliament.
Tooke held his seat for a very brief period, during which he did
no act of importance. A caricature, by Gillray, published on
the ijjth of March, under the title of "Political Amusements
for Young Gentlemen ; or, the old Brentford Shuttlecock,"
represents the head of Tooke formed into a plaything, the
feathers of which intimate sufficiently his character, tossed
backwards and forwards between Lord Camelford, to whom he
owed his election, and Lord Temple, who led the opposition to
his admission.
Before this question came under discussion, Pitt had quitted
the ministry. Having in his anxiety to procure the support of
the Catholic body in Ireland for his
grand project of union, made an implied
promise to support the cause of Catholic
emancipation, and finding the King ob-
stinately opposed to it, he seized upon
this as the occasion for retiring from
office. The opposition ascribed to him
different motives: they said that,
alarmed at the difficulties into which
he had plunged the country, he wished
to withdraw from personal responsibility,
and they prophesied that he would con- ^ SHUTTLECOCK.
tinue to be, in fact, as much minister as
before. This seems to receive some confirmation from the fact
that Henry Addington, the son of Doctor Addington, one
of the physicians who had attended <jn the King in his derange-
ment, and the special protege of the Pitt family, was nominated
for his successor. A caricature, published on the 2oth of
February, under the title of " The Family Party," represents
Pitt, Dundas, Grenville, and Canning, seated round the card-
table ; Pitt gives his hand to Addington, saying, " Here, play
my cards, Henry ; I want to retire a little;" and the other
584
ILLNESS OF THE KING.
players join him in the wish to remain a while behind the
screen.
An unexpected event added to the embarrassments of this
situation of public affairs. The King, in consequence of the
agitation and uneasiness caused by Pitt's resignation, was
suddenly attacked with his old malady, in the midst of the
negotiations for a new ministry, and he remained in an uncer-
tain state of health during three weeks. Although the public
were kept in ignorance of the exact state of the King's health
as long as possible, enough was known to create general uneasi-
ness ; and it was this, probably, which drew Fox to town, and
restored him to the House of Commons, for it was still believed
that the formation of a regency would be, under any cir-
cumstances, attended by the dismissal of the present ministry,
to make place for one under Fox.
In the middle of March, immediately
after the King's recovery, the new ministry
was publicly announced ; Addington was
first lord of the Treasury and chancellor ot
the Exchequer ; the Duke of Portland re-
mained president of the Council ; Lord
Eldon was made Chancellor ; Lord Pelham,
Home Secretary ; Lord Hawkesbury, secre-
tary for Foreign Affairs ; and Lord Hobart,
secretary for theColonies ; the Hon. Charles
Yorke, secretary at War ; Lord Chatham,
master of the Ordnance ; and Lord Lew-
isham president of the Board pf Control
for the Affairs of India. Gillray. who, on
the 24th of February, had represented Pitt
and his colleagues marching out of the
Treasury with conscious honesty on their
features, while the Whigs were with diffi-
culty hindered from rushing in to seize
upon their places,* now (on the 28th of
May) made a humorous comparison be-
tween the old ministers and their suc-
cessors, in a caricature, entitled " Lilli-
putian substitutes:" a title which was
A NEW MINISTER IN AN v , .,, , ,, , ,
OLD HOOT. no ^ "1 bestowed on the latter, lor they
were men of so little influence in politics,
that it was evident from the first they could only retain office
by indulgence. Lord Loughborough's vast wig appears to hide
* The caricature alluded to is entitled " Integrity retiring from office."
THE PEACE OF AMIENS.
585
entirely from view its new wearer. Next to it stands on the
treasury bench " Mr. Pitt's jack-boot," in which Addington is
plunged to the chin, yet he imagines that it, and the rest of Pitt's
clothes, are made exactly to fit him " Well, to be sure, these here
clothes do fit me to an inch ! and now that I've got upon this
bench, I think I may pass muster for a fine tall fellow, and do as
well for a corporal as my old master Billy himself." Lord Hawkes-
bury, who had talked of marching to Paris, has his spare form
enveloped in Lord Grenville's capacious breeches " Mercy upon
me ! what a deficiency is here ! ah, poor Hawkie ! what will be
the consequence, if these d d breeches should fall off in the
march to Paris, and then should I be found out a sans-culotte !"
Lord Hobart, a portly individual, is flourishing and swaggering
with "Mr. Dundas's broad sword!" Another individual, with no
less plumpness in his proportions, is quarrelling with " Mr.
Canning's old slippers," " Ah ! d n his narrow pumps ! I
shall never be able to bear them long on my corns ! zounds !
are these shoes fit for a man in present pay free quarters ?"
At the beginning of
the year, England had
been again threatened
with French invasion;
but Addington's ad-
ministration set out as
a peace ministry, and it
proceeded so resolutely
in this course, that on
the ist of October, pre-
liminaries had been
agreed to and were
signed, and Lord Corii-
wallis was soon after-
wards sent over as
minister plenipoten-
tiary. Buonaparte him-
self was evidently desirous of a cessation of hostilities that he
might be left for a while to pursue his ambitious designs at
home. After many crosses and difficulties, and sufficient evi-
dence of bad faith on the part of the French government,
the definitive treaty of peace was signed at Amiens on the 27 th
of March, 1802.
There was still a strong war-party in England, and man/ witl
keen foresight looked at it as an unnecessary sacrifice of '/ur own
dignity, rendered futile by the certainty that no peace could be
LABGE SHOES FOR LITTLE PEOPLE.
586 CLAMOUR OF THE WAR PARTY.
of long duration with the then ruler of France, unless pur-
chased with an unconditional submission to his will. The oppo-
sition was strong in parliament, and when the terms of peace
were known, there was a loud complaint at the yielding up of so
many of our recent conquests, while France was allowed to keep
her overwhelming influence on the continent. The peace was,
however, lauded by Fox and the Whigs, and approved by Pitt.
On the 6th of October, Gillray published a caricature, entitled
" Preliminaries of peace ; or, John Bull and his little friend
marching to Paris." The little friend is Lord Hawkesbury,
who is leading the way across the channel, over a rotten and
BRITANNIA VICTIMIZED.
broken plank ; John Bull, accompanied by Fox and all the
approvers of the negotiations, allows himself to be led by the
nose, while Britannia's shield
and a number of valuable con-
quests are thrown into the water
as useless. On the pth of Novem-
ber appeared another caricature by
Gillray, entitled " Political dream-
ings ; visions of peace ! perspective
horrors !" Windham had described
in strong language the evils which
the peace would drawdown upon this
country, and, as embodied in this
picture, they are certainly fearful,
i The preliminaries are endorsed as
" Britannia's death-warrant ;" and
she herself is seen in the clouds
AH OMINOUS SERENADEB. dfagged off t() the guiUotine for
execution by the Corsican depredator. Visions of headless bodies
SIS FRANCIS BURDETT. 587
crowd around. Lord Hawkesbury's hand, as he signs the peace,
is guided by Pitt. On one side justice has received a strong
dose of physic. On another, we see St. Paul's in flames. And
here the long gaunt form of death treading in stilts (two spears)
on the roast beef and other good things of old England. At
the foot of Windham's bed, Fox, as an imp of darkness, gives
the serenade.
At first the new administration went on smoothly ; it escaped
attack, in the eagerness of the old Whig opposition to attack its
predecessors. They imagined that Pitt and his colleagues had
been overthrown by the weight of their own iniquities, and they
talked of visiting them with parliamentary censure, and even
with impeachment. The leader in the projected attack was to
be Sir Francis Burdett, and great threats were held out, which,
however, had no serious result. A caricature by Gillray,
entitled " Preparing for the grand attack," published on the 4th
of December, 1801, represents Burdett rehearsing for his speech
against ministers ; Sheridan is instructing him in eloquence ;
Fox draws up the accusations ; and Horne Tooke acts as scribe.
The year 1802 produced few subjects of domestic excitement.
The repeal of the income tax gave universal satisfaction ; and
people in general believed in the efficacy of Pitt's grand project
of the sinking fund to relieve them from much of the burthen of
the public debt. Some of the caricaturists ridiculed the
popular credulity on this point. The mania for balloons had
been revived, after the reconciliation with France, where they
still remained fashionable, and were more caricatured than in
England ; and in a caricature, entitled " The national para-
chute ; or, John Bull conducted to plenty and emancipation,"
published on the loth of July, Pitt is represented supporting
John Bull in the air in a parachute, entitled " The sinking
fund." While the new peace occupied everybody's attention,
the Parliament was allowed, without much opposition, to vote
a million sterling to pay off debts contracted on the civil
list. On the other side, republicanism still appeared to have
some advocates, and the close of the year witnessed the dis-
covery of the mad conspiracy of Colonel Despard and his com-
panions, who were executed early in 1803. A new parlia-
ment had been elected in autumn, in which Westminster was
again contested with obstinacy. In France, on the 6th of
August, 1 80 2, Buonaparte advanced another step in his course of
ambition, by obtaining the appointment of consul for life : it was
but another name for a crown.
Peace was at first hailed with joy thoughout the country. It
588 BRITANNIA IN HER CHILDHOOD.
produced, within a few weeks, illuminations, feasts, congratulatory
addresses, sermons, poems, in great profusion. Englishmen
went to visit Paris in hundreds and thousands, and this country
was inundated with French fashions and inventions. Among
the English visitors to France was Charles James Fox, who
went to pay his respects to the future emperor, in company
with his nephew, Lord Holland, and with Erskine, Grey, and
some other members of the opposition in parliament. The}
were treated with marked attention by Buonaparte ; and their
admiration was carried to a degree of indiscretion which did not
increase their popularity in England, where they were accused
of obsequious flattery to the oppressor of Europe. On the ijjth
of November, Gillray published a caricature entitled, " Intro-
duction of citizen Volpone and his suite at Paris," in which
Fox and his wife, Lord and Lady Holland, and Grey, are
stooping low to the new ruler of France. A few days before
(on the 8th of November) an anonymous caricature on the
same subject appeared under the title of "English patriots
bowing at the shrine of despotism." Gillray published on the
4th of December, a caricature, entitled "The nujsery, with
Britannia reposing in peace," in which Britannia is represented
as an overgrown baby, reposing in her cradle, and nursed in
French principles by Addington, Lord Hawkesbury, and Fox.
It was at this moment that Lord Whitworth was sent over as
our ambassador to the French government, amid general doubts
of the good faith of the latter, and dissatisfaction of Buonaparte's
conduct. This dissatisfaction was most strongly expressed in the
English newspapers, which is said to have given so much offence
to the first consul, that he forbade their circulation in France.
Still, although the general dissatisfaction in England was
increasing, the peace continued popular till the end of the year.
On the ist of January, 1803, Gillray satirized the posture of
affairs in a humorous caricature, entitled " The first kiss this ten
years; or, the meeting of Britannia and citizen Francois."
Britannia, who has suddenly become corpulent, appears as a fine
lady in full dress, her shield and spear leaning neglected against
the wall. The citizen expresses his joy at the meeting in warm
terms " Madame, permittez me to pay my profound esteem to
your engaging person ; and to seal on your divine lips my ever-
lasting attachment ! ! !" The lady, blushing deeply at the salute
(in the coloured copies a strong tint of red is bestowed on her
cheek), replies " Monsieur, you are truly a well-bred gentlemanj!
and though you make me blush, yet you kiss so delicately that I
cannot refuse you, though I was sure you would deceive me
THE FIRST FISS. 589
again!" On the wall, just behind these two figures, are framed
profiles of King George and Buonaparte scowling on each other.
This caricature enjoyed'an unusual degree of popularity ; many
copies were sent to France, and Buonaparte himself is said to
have been highly amused by it.
THE FIRST KISS THESE TKN TEARS.
Frona this time, however, the communications between the
t vo countries began to take a much less pacific character, and it
was more and more evident that the peace could not be of long
duration. The French consul was anxious to obtain possession
of Malta, and while he accused England of breaking the faith of
treaties, he acted in everything contrary to the spirit of the
treaty which he had so recently concluded with her. He
required that we should drive the royalist emigrants from our
shores, demanded that the English press, which he looked upon
as one of his most dangerous enemies, should be deprived of its
liberty as far as regarded French affairs, and he actually asked
for modifications in our constitution. At the same time he was
actively employed in exciting a rebellion in Ireland, and
distributing agents, under the character of consuls, along our
coasts, with treacherous objects, which were accidentally
discovered by the seizure of the secret instructions to the consul
at Dublin, which contained, among other matters of the same
character, the following passages : " You are required to
furnish a plan of the ports of your district, with a specification
of the soundings for mooring vessels. If no plan of the ports
59 J SIGNS OF RETURNING WAR.
can be procured, you are to point out with what wind vessels
can come in and go out, and what is the greatest draught of
water with which vessels can enter the river deeply laden."
There began to appear other indications equally distinct of
ulterior designs against this country, which it was of the utmost
importance to anticipate. Even Fox and his party, while they
advocated peace as long as it could be maintained, acknowledged
that there was room for suspicion. A patriotic indignation was
raised throughout the country in the March of 1803, by the
publication of an official document, signed by the first consul, in
which he declared that " England alone cannot now encounter
France." It was now universally believed that Buonaparte only
delayed open hostilities as long as he could gain anything from
us by pretended negotiations, and that he was preparing to
crush us by the magnitude of his attack. It was the misfortune
of this country to have at such a moment an administration
remarkable for its incapacity. Pitt -is said to have made a
secret attempt to return to power ; but Addington began to love
the sweets of office, and was not inclined to quit, and his sub-
missive pliancy to the crown had gained him the King's favour.
The Foxites were afraid that if they entered into opposition,
they would only throw the Doctor, as they all styled him
contemptuously, into the arms of Pitt ;. and Buonaparte declared
publicly that if Pitt returned to power, France would lose all
hopes of obtaining further concessions from England. A carica-
ture by Gillray, published on the pth of February, is entitled
the " Evacuation of Malta." The French ruler is forcing
Addington to evacuate one conquest after another, until he cries
out, " Pray do not insist upon Malta ! I shall certainly be
turned out, and I have got a great many cousins, and uncles,
and aunts to provide for yet." A French officer who is re-
ceiving what the minister gives up, expostulates with his
commands, " My general, you had better not get him turned
out, for we shall nob be able to humbug them any more."
The statement officially made by the French government,
that England was not able to contend with France single-
handed, produced a violent outburst of indignation in the House
of Lords on the pth of March. The day before, a royal message
had been laid before both Houses, stating that the King had
received positive information that very considerable military
preparations were carrying on in the ports of France and
Holland, and that he had judged it expedient to adopt additional
measures of precaution for the security of his dominions. At
the same time proclamations were issued encouraging the en-
SHERIDAN'S PATRIOTISM. 591
listing of seamen and landsmen, calling up the militia and
volunteers, and ordering the formation of encampments in the
maritime counties. The volunteer associations, which had been
formed two years before in anticipation of invasion, also began
to reassemble. On the debate upon the King's message, Fox
seemed to think the apprehensions were premature, and advised
caution ; Windham, who had violently opposed the peace, now
said that it had placed us in a position of weakness towards
France, which had rendered us less able to defend ourselves than
we should have been had the war continued ; but the most
patriotic of all patriotic speeches made in the House of Commons,
was that of Sheridan. He accused Windham of entertaining
the same sentiments on the weakness of this country which had
been expressed by Buonaparte, " Whatever sentiments both of
them may entertain," he said, "with respect to the incapability
of the country, I hope and trust, if unhappily war be unavoidable,
that we shall convince that right honourable gentleman, and
the first consul of France, that we have not incapacitated ourselves
by making peace, to renew the war with as much promptitude,
vigour, and perseverance, as we have already evinced. 1 trust,
sir, we shall succeed in convincing them, that we are able to
enter single-handed into war, notwithstanding the despondency
of the right honourable gentleman, and the confident assertion
of the first consul of France By the exertions of a loyal,
united, and patriotic people, we can look with perfect confidence
to the issue ; and we are justified in entertaining a well-founded
hope, that we shall be able to convince not only the right
honourable member and the first consul of France, but all
Europe, of our capability, even single-handed, to meet and
triumph over the dangers, however great and imminent, which
threaten us from the renewal of hostilities."
This debate was made the subject of a clever caricature by
Gillray, published on the I4th of March, under the title of
" Physical aid ; or, Britannia recovered from a trance ; also the
patriotic courage of Sherry Andrew, and a peep through the
fog." The " peep" exhibits in the distance Buonaparte leading
on the French boats, which are to carry over the army of in-
vasion. Britannia, waking suddenly from her trance of security,
is struck with the imminence of the danger, and implores
assistance in a parody of the words of Shakspeare, " Angels and
ministers of rfw-grace defend me !" Her shield is cracked and
her spear blunted. Addington and Lord Hawkesbury stand by
her, giving encouragement ; the former applies a bottle of
gunpowder to her nose to revive her. Sheridan wields the.
59*
THE THEATRICAL HERO.
club, inscribed, " Dramatic loyalty," in threatening attitude
against the invaders, and
blusters out his menace,
" Let 'em come, damme I-
damme ! ! where are the
French buggabos ? Single-
handed I'd beat forty of
'era ! ! damme, I'll pay 'em
like renter shares, sconce off
their half crowns, mulct
them out of their benefits,
and come the Drury Lane
slang over 'em !" A crowd
of people are excited in dif-
ferent ways. Fox, half con-
cealing his face in his hat,
cannot see the buggabos,
and wonders, " why the old
lady has woke in such a
fright."
The negotiations were still persevered in, although it was
daily more evident that they would fail to avert hostilities.
Even as late as the 2nd of May, caricatures appeared ridiculing
John Bull's submission to the continued demands made upon
his forbearance. The date just mentioned is that of a cari-
cature by Gillray entitled, " Doctor Sangrado curing John Bull
of repletion." Lord Hawkesbury is holding up John Bull, sick
A THEATRICAL HERO.
JOHN BULL IN BAD HANDS.
and emaciated, while Addington performs the operation ; the
blood which issues from the incision is inscribed with the names
of Malta and the other conquests that were to be restored,
THREATS OF INVASION. 593
which Buonaparte is receiving in his hat ; Fox and Sheridan are
bringing warm water ; and they all exhort the patient to have
courage.
It was but a few days after this, that our ambassador, who
had been personally insulted by Buonaparte, and who had long
perceived that the latter had carried on the negotiations merely
for the sake of gaining time, received final orders to leave Paris,
and the French ambassador, Andreossi, was ordered to quit
England. The declaration of war was received throughout
England with enthusiastic joy ; the falsehoods and prevarica-
tions which Buonaparte had made use of throughout the nego-
tiations, which now exposed his true character to the world ; the
infamous manner in which he had treated the countries that had
fallen under his power; and the reckless contempt of the laws
of nations with which he seized as prisoners of war the crowds
of English visitors whom his peaceful declarations had allured
into France ; all made the ruler of France an object of such
abhorrence and hatred that war seemed to every one preferable
to peace, and the ministers were only rendering themselves un-
popular by continuing the friendly relations between the two
countries so long. Gillray has perpetuated the memory of this
feeling in a clever caricature, published on the i8th of May,
entitled " Armed Heroes." " Addington,"* the " doctor," is
represented in a ridiculous dilemma, between assumed courage
and real fears, anxious to preserve the roast beef threatened by
the Corsican usurper. Lord Hawkesbury, seated behind him
with an equally passive appearance of courage, calls to mind his
old threat of marching to Paris.
Buonaparte commenced hostilities by seizing upon Hanover,
and raising a rebellion in Ireland. The former was an inevitable
evil ; and the latter was soon subdued. But the immense pre-
parations for invasion were a cause of more serious alarm, and
called forth a unity of patriotic exertions such as had never been
seen before. The volunteers, raised in the course of the summer,
and autumn, who were well armed and soon well trained,
amounted to not less than three hundred thousand. Meanwhile
France seemed for once earnest in her threats, and she was
marching to the opposite coast her best troops in fearful masses.
Buonaparte came in person to overlook the preparations, and to
take the command of the invading forces when they were com-
pleted. He established his head-quarters at Boulogne, on the
toads to which finger-pojsts were erected to remind all French-
men that it was the way to'London. Every possible means was
* A copy of this caricature is given in the accompanying plata.
594 SATIRES ON THE INVADERS.
resorted to for exciting the people against the English, and
attracting them to his standard. The soldiers were promised
indiscriminate plunder, and they were reminded that the English
women were the most beautiful in the world, and that no restric-
tion should be placed on the gratification of their passions. In-
flammatory addresses from the cities and towns to the first
consul were followed by equally inflammatory answers. Atro-
cious falsehoods were published and placarded over the country
to raise the national exasperation to the greatest height.
Equally efficacious means were resorted to in England to
raise up an enthusiastic spirit of hatred of France and its ruler.
People exerted themselves individually, as well as in associations,
in printing and distributing what were known as " loyal papers"
and " loyal tracts," which were bought up in immense numbers,
and the proceeds often applied to the defence of the country.
Some of these consisted of exaggerated and libellous biographies
of Buonaparte and his family ; accounts of the atrocities perpe-
trated by himself and his armies in the countries they had over-
run ; burlesques, in which he was treated with ridicule and
contempt ; parodies on his bulletins and proclamations ; and
accounts of his preparations for the invasion and conquest of
England. Others contained words of encouragement ; exhorta-
tions to bravery ; directions for acting and disciplining ; promises
of reward ; narratives of British bravery in former times ; every-
thing, in fact, that could stir up and support the national spirit.
Every kind of wit and humour was brought into play to enliven
these sallies of patriotism ; sometimes they came forth in the
shape of national playbills, such as the following :
"THEATRE ROYAL, ENGLAND.
" In Rehearsal, and meant to be speedily attempted, a farce in one act
called THE INVASION OF ENGLAND. Principal Buffo, Mr. Buonaparte,
being his first (and most likely bis last) appearance on this stage.
''Anticipated Critique. The structure of this Farce is very loose, and
there is a moral and radical defect in the ground-work. It boasts however
considerable novelty, for the characters are all mad. It is probable that it
will not be played in the country, but will certainly never be acted in town ;
wherever it may be represented, we will do it the justice to say, it will be
received with thunders of CANNON ! ! ! but we will venture to affirm will
never equal the success of JOHN BULL. It is, however, likely th.it the piece
may yet be put off on account of the indisposition of the principal per-
former, Mr. Buonaparte. We don't know exactly what this gentleman's
merits may be on the tragic boards of France, but he will n !ver succeed
here ; his figure is very diminutive, he struts a great deal, seems to have no
conception of his character, and treads the stage very baily ; notwith-
standing which defects, we think if he comes here, he will get an engage-
ment, tiiough it is probable that he will shortly after be reduced to the
situation of a seme- shifter.
THE WONDERFUL ANIMAL. 593
" Aa for the Farce, we recommend it to be withdrawn, as it is the
opinion of all good political critics, that if play*d it will eertainly be
damned.
" Vivant rex ct regina."
Sometimes they were coarse and laughable dialogues between
the Corsican and John Bull, or some other worthy, who gave
him small encouragement to persevere in his undertaking. Then
we had laughable proclamations to his own soldiers, or to those
he was threatening with invasion. Now the invader was com-
pared to a wild beast, or some object of curiosity, for a promised
exhibition. Such bills as the following were common :
" Most wonderful wonder of wonders/ /
"Just arrived, at Mr. Bull's Menagerie, in British Lace, the most
renowned and sagacious man tiger or ourang outang, called Napoleon
Buonaparte. He has been exhibited through the greatest part of Europe,
particularly in Holland, Switzerland, and Italy, and lately in Egypt. He
has a wonderful faculty of speech, and undertakes to reason with the most
learned doctors in law, divinity, and physic. He proves incontrovertibly
that the strongest poisons are the most sovereign remedies for wounds of all
kinds ; and by a dose or two, made up in his own way, he cures his patients
of all their ills by the gross. He picks the pockets of the company, and by
a rope suspended near a lantern, shews them, as clear as day, that they are
all richer than before. If any man in the room has empty pockets, or an
empty stomach, by taking a dose or two of his powder of hemp, he finds
them of a sudden full of guineas, and has no longer a craving for food : if
he is rich, he gets rid of his tcedium vitas; and if he is is overgorged, finds
a perfect cure for his indigestion. He proves, by unanswerable arguments,
that soup maigre and frogs are a much more wholesome food than beef and
pudding, and that it would be better for Old England if her inhabitants
were all monkeys and tigers, as, in times of scarcity, one half of the nation
might devour the other half. He strips the company of their clothes, and,
when they are stark naked, presents a paper on the point of a bayonet, by
reading which they are all perfectly convinced that it is very pleasant to be
in a state of nature. By a kind of hocus-pocus trick, he breathes on a
crown, and it changes suddenly into a guillotine. He deceives the eye most
dexterously ; one moment he is in the garb of the Mufti : the next of a
Jew ; and the next moment you see him the Pope. He imitates all
sounds ; bleats like a lamb ; roars like a tiger ; cries like a crocodile ; and
brays most inimitably like an ass.
" Mr. Bull does not choose to exhil.it his monkey's tricks in the puffing
way, so inimitably played off at most foreign courts ; as, in trying lately to
puff himself up to the size of a bull, his monkey got a sprain, by which ht
was very near losing him.
" He used also to perform some wonderful tricks with gunpowder ; but his
monkey was very sick in passing the channel, and has shewn a gre.it
aversion to them ever since.
" Admittance, one shilling and sixpence.
" N.B. If any gentleman of the corps diplomatique should wish to iee
hit ourang outang, Mr. Bull begs a line or two first ; as, on such occasions,
THE LILLIPUTIAN HERO.
he finds it necessary to bleed him, or give him a dose or two of cooling
physic, being apt to fly at them if they appear without such preparation."
In other papers, the conqueror of the greater part of Europe
was ridiculed as a mere pigmy, when compared to King George
and his valiant Britons :
" Come, I'll sing you a song, just for want of somn other,
About a small thing, that has made a great pother ;
A mere insect, a pigmy, I'll tell you, my hearty,
'Tis the Corsican hop-o'-my thumb Buonaparte.
Derry down, &c.
' ' This Lilliput monster, with Brobdignag rage,
Hath ventured with Britons in war to engage ;
Our greatness he envies, and envy he must,
If the frog apes the ox, he must swell till he burst.
Derry down," &o.
It was in this spirit that Gillray, on the 26th of Juno, repre-
sented King George as the king of Brobdignag, eyeing his dimi-
nutive assailant with contempt. Other caricatures represented
THE KINO OP BBOBDIGNAG AND GULLIVER.
the blustering invader in the same character. In a fine engrav-
ing by Gillray, bearing the same title as the one just mentioned,
"The King of Brobdignag and Gulliver," the diminutive boaster
is seen attempting to manoeuvre his small boat in a basin of
water, to the great amusement of King George and his court.
Songs innumerable, of encouragement and defiance, were dis-
tributed about the country in the same form of loyal broadsides,
SONGS AGAINST INVASION. 597
as well as in tracts and collections.* Of many of these, the fol-
lowing will furnish a good example :
" SONG ON THE THREATENED INVASION,
"Arm, neighbours, at length,
And put forth your strength,
Perfidious bold France to resist ;
Ten Frenchmen will fly
To shun a black eye,
If one Englishman doubles his fist.
"But if they feel stout,
Why, let them turn out,
With their maws stuff'd with frogs, soups, and jellies ;
Brave Nelson's sea thunder
Shall strike them with wonder,
And- make the frogs leap in their bellies.
" Their impudent boast
Of invading our coast,
Neptune swears they had better decline ;
For the rogues may be sure,
That their frenzy we'll cure,
And we'll pickle them all in his brine.
" And when they've been soak'd
Long enough to be smok'd,
To the regions below they'll be taken ;
And there hung up to dry,
Fit to boil or to fry,
When Old Nick wants a rasher of bacon."
The following song was sung in the theatres, and drew the
most enthusiastic shouts of satisfaction :
"THE ISLAND.
" If the French have a notion
Of crossing the ocean,
Their luck to be trying on dry land ;
They may come if they like,
But we'll soon make 'em strike
To the lads of the tight little Island.
Huzza for the boys of the Island !
The brave volunteers of the Island !
The fraternal embrace
If foes want in this place,
We'll present all the arm* in the Island.
" They say we keep shops
To vend broad-cloth and slops,
And of merchants they call us a sly land ;
* These loyal papers were almost the only broadsides for which purchasers
could be found, and it is not improbable that this first gave the blow to
the old English popular ballad literature, which had hitherto kept iU
ground almost undimiuished.
THE FLEET VERSUS THE INVADERS.
But though war is their trade,
What Briton's afraid
To Bay he'll ne'er sell 'em the Island.
They'll pay pretty dear for the Island t
If fighting they want in the Island,
We'll shew 'em a sample,
Shall make an example
Of all who dare bid for the Island.
" Tf met they should be
By the Boys of the Sea,
I warrant they'll never come nigh land ;
If they do, those on land
Will soon lend 'em a hand
To foot it again from the Island !
Huzza ! for the king of the Island i
Shall our father he robbed of his Island 1
While his children can fight,
They'll stand up for his right,
And their own, to the tight little Island."
In these papers, as well as in the caricatures, it was confi-
dently prophesied that, if the enemy should escape our ships at
sea, it would only be to meet certain destruction on landing.
Gillray published several caricatures during the months of June
arid July, setting forth the consequences of the landing of
Buonaparte. In one, our brave volunteers are driving him and
his army into the sea. In another, entitled " Buonaparte forty-
eight hours after landing," John Bull is represented bearing the
bleeding head of the irvader in triumph on his pike. In a third,
the King, in his hunting garb, is holding up the Corsican fox,
which he has hunted down with his good hounds, Nelson, Vin-
cent, &c.
It was our fleets, indeed, that offered our best guarantee
against the vengeance of France, for as" long as our ships swept
the Channel, and insulted the French coasts, destroying towns
and shipping with impunity, there was little chance that our
enemies would be able to put their threats in execution. They
stood there manoeuvring, and blustering, and threatening, while
Jack Tar was waiting very impatiently for their coming out.
"They've fram'd a plan
(That's if they can)
To chain us two and two, sirs;
And Gallia's cock,
From Cherbourg rock,
Keeps crying Doodle doo, sir."
However, with the distinguished courage so much boasted of
in the proclamations and bulletins of their leader, it was said
JOHN SULrS IMPATIENCE.
599
that they waited for the first fog, that they might slip over
unseen.
" It seems in a fog these great heroes confide,
When unseen, o'er the sea they think safely to ride ;
For taught by our sailors, they know to their shame,
With Britons to see and to conquer's the same."
Jack Tar's impatience was set forth in a caricature by Gillray,
published on the 2nd of August, in which John Bull is repre-
sented as taking to the sea in person, to chant the serenade of
defiance. The head of Buonaparte is just seen over the battle-
ment, uttering the threat which he had now been repeating
JOHN BULL OFFBBINO LITTLE BONKT FAIB PLAT.
several weeks : " I'm a coming ! I'm a coming !" His boats
are safely stowed up under the triple fort in which he has
ensconced himself for personal security, and John Bull taunts
him with some ill humour :
" You're a coming \
If you mean to invade us, why make such a rout 1
I say, little Boney, why don't you come oat t
Yes, d you, why don't you come out !"
One of the songs distributed in the "loyal papers," which
seems to have been a very popular one, furnishes us with
600 JOHN BULL'S INVITATION.
BUONAPARTE'S ANSWER TO JOHN BULL'S CARD.
' ' My dear Johnny Bull, the last mail
Brought over your kind invitation,
And strongly it tempts us to sail
In our boats to your flourishing nation.
But Prudence she whispers ' Beware,
Don't you see that his fleets are in motion ?
He'll play you some d d ruse de guerre,
If he catches you out on the ocean.'
Our fears they mount up, up, up,
Our hopes they sink down-y, down-y,
Our hearts they beat backwards and forwards,
Our heads they turn round-y, round- y.
" You say that pot-luck shall be mine :
Je n'entend pas ces mots, Monsieur Bull ;
But I think I can guess your design,
When you talk of a good belly- full.
I have promis'd my men, with rich food
Their courage and faith to reward ;
I tell them your puddings are good,
Though your dumplings are rather too hard.
Oh my Johnny, my Johnny,
And O, my Johnny, my deary,
Do, let us good fellows come over,
To taste your beef and beer-y.
'Tve read and I've heard much of Wales,
Its mines, its meadows, and fountains ;
Of black cattle fed in the vales,
And goats skipping wild on the mountains.
Were I but safe landed there,
What improvements I'd make in the place !
I'd prattle and kiss with the fair,
Give the men the fraternal embrace.
O my Taffy, my Taffy,
Soon I'll come, if it please ye,
To riot on delicate mutton,
Good ale, and toasted cheese-y.
" Caledonia I long to see,
And if the stout fleet in the north
Will let us go by quietly,
Then I'll sail up the Frith of Forth.
Her sons, I must own, they are dashing ;
Yet, Johnny, between me and you,
I owe them a grudge for the thrashing
They gave that poor devil Menou.
O my Sawny, my Sawny,
Your bagpipes will make us all frisky;
We'll dance with your lasses so bonny,
Eat haggis and tipple your whisky.
" Hibernia's another snug place,
I hope to get there, too, some day,
Though our ships they got into disgrace
With Warren near Donegall Bay.
AN ALARMIST. 601
Though my good friends at Vinegar Hill,
They fail'd j be assured, Jack, of this,
I'll give them French liberty still.
As I have to the Dutch and the Swiss.
O my Paddies, my Paddies,
You are all of you honest good creatures ;
And I long to be with you at Cork,
To sup upon fish and potatoes.
" A fair wind and thirty-six hours,
Would bring us all over from Brest j
Tell your ships to let alone ours,
And we'll manage all the rest.
Adieu, my dear boy, till we meet ;
Take care of your gold, my honey ;
And when I reach Threadneedle Street,
I'll help you to count out your money.
But my fears they mount up, up, up,
And my hopes they sink down-y, down-y s
My heart it beats backwards and forwards,
And my head it runs round-y, round-y."
The House of Commons, which was not prorogued till late in
the summer, added by its votes to
the general patriotic spirit of the
country. Sheridan was there the
foremost in praising and encourag-
ing the volunteers, and in calling
attention to the important service
done by the multitude of placards
and songs that were thus distributed
about the country. Those of his
party who followed Fox in still
wishing for friendship with France,
and believing it possible, set him
down for a confirmed alarmist ;
and in a print, published on the
ist of September, Gillray has cari-
catured him as a bill-sticker, alarm-
ing John Bull with the announce-
ments of peril and danger, which
he is so busy scattering over the
land. The print is explained by
the following dialogue : AN ALARMIST.
"JOHN BULL AND THE ALARMIST.
" John Bull as he sat in bis old easy chair,
An alarmist came to him, and said in his ear,
' A Corsican thief has just slipt from his quarters,
And's coming to ravish your wives and your daughters
6oa CARICATURES ON BUONAPARTE.
" 'Let him come and be d d !' thus roar'd out John Bull,
' With my crabstick assur'd I will fracture his skull,
Or I'Jl squeeze the vile reptile 'twixt my finger and thumb,
Make him stink like a bug if he dares to presume.'
" VThey say a full thousand of flat-bottom'd boats,
Each a hundred and fifty have warriors of note,
All fully determined to feast on your lands,
So I fear you will find full enough on your hands. 1
"John smiling arose upright as a post,
' I've a million of friends bravely guarding my coast ;
And my old ally Neptune will give them a dowsing,
And prevent the mean rascals to come here a lousing !' "
The effect of the songs and papers was confined to home, but
the caricatures were carried abroad, and gave no little uneasiness
to Buonaparte, for they were often coarsely personal, and the
first consul was particularly sensitive to anything like ridicule
against himself or his family. The caricature which gave him
the greatest offence was a rather celebrated one by Gillray, pub-
lished on the 24th of August, 1803, under the title of "The
Handwriting upon the Wall." It is a broad parody on Bel-
shazzar's feast. The first consul, his wife Josephine (to whom
the artist has given a figure of enormous bulk), and other mem-
bers of his family and court, are seated at their dessert devour-
ing the good things of old England. Buonaparte himself is
called off by the vision from the palace of St. James's, which is
seen in his plate with his fork stuck into it ; another worthy is
swallowing the Tower of London ; Josephine is drinking large
bumpers of wine. A plate, inscribed " Oh, de roast beef of Old
England !" bears the head of King George. The bottle labelled
" Maidstone" is understood to refer to some of the Irish con-
spirators, tried at the assizes in that town. A hand above holds
out the scales of Justice, in which the legitimate crown of
France weighs down the red cap with its attendant chain
despotism under the name of liberty. Behind Josephine stand
the three princesses of the afterwards imperial family, the
Princess Borghese, the Princess Louise, and the Princess Joseph
Buonaparte. These ladies, who were the cause of some scandal
by their alleged irregularities, were bitterly satirized, not only
in caricatures, but even in medals and in other shapes, some of
which were not of a character to describe here. In Gillray's
large caricature of " The grand Coronation Procession," pub-
lished on the ist of January, 1805, on occasion of Napoleon's
assumption of the imperial dignity, the three princesses, clad in '
very meretricious garb, walk at the head of the procession as
THE THREE GRACES.
603
"the three imperial Graces," and scatter flowers in the way of
the emperor and empress.
Most of the caricatures published during the latter part of
the year 1803 were personal attacks on the ruler of France. In
one published in September, "The Butcher Buonaparte" is
lifted on the shoulders of Talleyrand that he may spy over his
battlements the English cannon destroying his navy of guu-
boats ; he is made to exult over the slaughter of his own sub-
jects, who began to be an embarrassment to him. It is said
that Talleyrand always advised him against the invasion. In
TDK GRACES.
another caricature, published on the 6th of October, the spirit
of evil is represented roasting Buonaparte for his supper ; it is
the fulfilment of a wish expressed in one of the songs quoted
above. A third, published on the 2^th of October, represents a
party of " French volunteers marching to the conquest of Great
Britain." The miserable " volunteers," who have been dragged
from their homes much against their will, and shew very little
604 THE "LOYAL PAPERS."
inclination for the employment, are marched along chained and
manacled.
Several of the " loyal papers " contain expressions which shew
that there were still apprehensions that many people in this
country were so discontented with King George's government
that they would join the invaders, or, at least be very lukewarm
in resisting them. To counteract this feeling, the associations
distributed strong appeals to the patriotism of all classes,
shewing that the evils which they complained of at present
were trifling in comparison with those that were threatened
irom abroad, placing before them the atrocious ravages com-
mitted in Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, and even
in France itself, by the republican plunderers, and admonishing
them that these were only to be avoided by uniting vigorously
and* heartily in the common defence. English, Scot, and Irish,
it was represented, had an equal interest at stake, if they
acted together, they were invincible. One of the garlands (to
use an expression of the olden time) of loyal songs introduces
them discussing "the Invasion" in the following terms:
" At the sign of the George, a national set
(It fell out on a recent occasion),
A Briton, a Scot, and Hibernian, were met
To discourse 'bout the threat'n'd invasion.
" The liquor went round, they joked and they laughed,
Were quite pleasant, facetious, and hearty ;
To the health of their king flowing bumpers they quafFd,
With confusion to great Buonaparte.
"Quoth John, "Tis reported, that snug little strait,
Which runs betwixt Calais and Dover,
With a hop, step, and jump, that the consul elate
Intends in a trice to skip over.
" 'Let him try every cunning political stroke,
And devise every scheme that he 's able ;
He '11 find us as firm and as hard to be broke,
As the bundle of sticks in the fable.'
"The Scot and Hibernian replied ' You are right
Let him go the whole length of his tether ;
When England, and Scotland, and Ireland unite,
They defy the whole world put together.' "
In spite, however, of all this courage and enthusiasm, and of
the great measures taken for the defence of the country, it was
a year of alarm and terror in England, such as it is to be hoped
will not be experienced again. It was but a gloomy Christmas
which closed it, and ushered in a new year with little improve-
PITT IN OPPOSITION. 605
ment in our prospects. Every intelligence from abroad spoke
of the marching of troops from all parts of the French territory
to the coast from which the invasion was to be made. It was
known that Buonaparte had been at Boulogne just before Christ-
mas, to visit and inspect the preparations. The general uneasi-
ness was increased towards the end of February by the informa-
tion which gradually spread abroad that the King was suffering
under a new attack of the dreadful disorder to which he was
constitutionally subject, and the country was thus in danger of
losing the active assistance of its monarch at the moment of
peril. Fortunately, however, the King's illness was not this
time of long duration, and as summer approached the fears of
invasion also began to wear away,* and public attention was
called off to political changes of another kind.
Pitt, who had previously supported the Addington ministry,
suddenly quarrelled with it in the spring of 1804, and placed
himself in the opposition. This defection was at first evinced
in frequent observations on the incapacity of the present go-
vernment to help the country out of its difficulties, and in wishes
for the formation of a strong administration on a "broad
bottom" which should include "all the talents" of the different
parties. It was soon known that Temple and the Grenvilles
had joined Fox's party, but Pitt cautiously avoided compromis-
ing himself, although he spoke as much as anybody in favour of
a coalition of parties. On the i4th of March, Gillray published
a caricature entitled " The State Waggoner and John Bull ; or,
the Waggon too much for the Donkeys, together with a dis-
tant view of the new coalition among Johnny's old horses."
Addington, the state-driver, has run his waggon into a deep
slough, from which the donkeys that are harnessed to it are
unable to drag it. The unfortunate driver screams out " Help,
Johnny Bull ! help ! my waggon's stuck fast in the slough !
help! help!" John Bull, dressed in the then fashionable
accoutrements of a volunteer, and attended by his faithful dog,
replies, "Stuck fast in the slough? ay, to be sure! why
doesn't put better cattle to thy wain ? look at them there
horses doing o' nothing at all! what signifies whether they
matches in colour, if they do but drag the waggon out of the mud ?
don't you see how the very thought o' being put into harness
* In July, 1804, the Paris papers, as quoted in our newspapers, said,
" The invasion has been only deferred, to render it more terrible when the
whole strength of the French empire, destined to make the attack, shall be
collected."
606 NEW COALITION OF PARTIES.
makes 'em all love and nubble one another ?" The horses to which
he points occupy a neighbouring bank, and present the well-known
faces of Pitt, the Marquis of Buckingham, Fox, who is courting the
friendship of Lords Temple and Grenville, Lords Holland, Grey,
Erskine, Lauderdale, Moira,
Castlereagh, Lord Carlisle,
Canning, Wilberforce, Wind-
ham, and Sheridan, the two
latter of whom are kicking at
each other. The day after the
date of this print, on the ij-th
of March, Pitt made a direct
attack on the ministry in a
motion on the naval defence
of the country, which was sup-
ported by Fox, but opposed by
Sheridan, who seemed to have
deserted his old party to league
JOHN BULL TURNED VOLUNTEEB. ^ Addington \ * After the
Easter recess, the opposition took a much more decisive charac-
ter. On the 23rd of April, Fox brought forward a motion
relating to the defence of the country (the subject now nearest
to everybody's heart) ; and he was opposed by Addington, who
insinuated that the mere object of the mover was to embarrass
and overthrow his ministry. Pitt then rose to support Fox ;
he declared that he had no confidence in ministers, whom he
blamed severely for their want of intelligence and foresight. In
the course of the debate which followed the coalition was openly
spoken of; but it was denied by Fox and Pitt, who declared
that they were only united in a common opinion of the ineffi-
ciency of the men then in office. On a division, the usually
large ministerial majority was reduced to fifty-two. Two nights
afterwards this majority was further reduced to thirty-seven.
Before the end of the month Pitt was in communication with
the King for the formation of a new cabinet. A large carica-
ture by (rillray, was published on the ist of May, under the
title of the " Confederated Coalition ; or, the giants storming
heaven, with the gods alarmed for their everlasting abodes ;" in
which the discordant elements of the opposition are represented
under the character of the mythic giants following their chief
leaders, Pitt and Fox, to the assault of the heavenly abode
occupied by the ministerial triumvirate, Addington, Lord
Hawkesbury, and Lord St. Vincent,
BRITANNIA IN DANGER. 607
On the i ath of May, the Gazette announced that William
Pitt was restored to his old place of chancellor of the Exchequer.
In forming his cabinet, Pitt neither coalesced with Addington
nor took in Fox. His quarrel with the former had ripened'into
personal hostility. He appears to have wished to conciliate Fox,
and to give him a place in his cabinet ; but here he had to con-
tend with the hostility of the King, who met this proposal with
a flat refusal. Lord Temple and the Grenvilles, who had en-
gaged that Fox should come in, refused to take office without
him. In the new administration, the Duke of Portland was
president of the Council ; Lord Eldon, chancellor ; the Earl of
Westmoreland, lord privy seal ; Lord Chatham, master-general
of the ordnance ; and Lord Castlereagh president of the board
of control. These had all formed a part of the Addington
ministry. Pitt's friend, Dundas, who had now been raised to
the peerage under the title of Lord Melville, was appointed 6rst
lord of the Admiralty ; Lord Harrowby succeeded Lord Hawkes-
bury as secretary for foreign affairs ; Lord Camden was made
secretary for the colonies ; and Lord Mulgrave chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster. Mr. Canning, who was now Pitt's main
support in the House of Commons, was made treasurer of the
Navy, without a place in the cabinet.
The change in the ministry produced a clever caricature from
Gillray, published on the 2oth of May, under the title of
" Britannia between Death and the Doctors Death may decide
when Doctors disagree." Britannia is reclining on her bed of
sickness, with abundance of nostrums scattered over the room,
but evidently not much relieved by her physicians. One of
them, Fox, who grasps in his hand a bottle of "republican
balsam," lies on the floor, stretched beneath the foot of Pitt,
who with the other foot is kicking Addington and his "com-
posing draught" out of doors. The new doctor raises triumph-
antly in his hand a bottle of his "constitutional restorative."
While the doctors are thus settling their dispute, death, in the
personage of Buonaparte (who still kept his immense army on
the opposite coast with the professed intention of invading us)
steals from behind the curtains, and aims a blow with his spear
at their patient.
The opposition, thus swelled by the accession of Addington
and his friends, as well as the party of the Grenvilles, wan very
formidable, and Pitt actually came in with smaller majorities
than those upon which Addington went out. The first trial of
strength was on the jth of June, when Pitt brought forward
608 HOSTILITY TO PITT.
his plan for the military defence of the country. Sheridan
attacked the new ministers with great bitterness, pointed out
their weakness in the House of Commons, and expressed his
opinion that they ought not to remain in office with such a
strong feeling there against them. Pitt shewed more anger
than it was usual for him to exhibit ; he said, in reply to Sheri-
dan, that, " as to the hint which had been so kindly given him
to resign, it was not broad enough for him to take it ; even if
the bill were lost, he should not, for that, consider it his duty
to resign his Majesty had the prerogative of choosing his own
servants ;" and he complained much of the opposition of the
Grenvilles. Other members of the opposition now rose in suc-
cession, and attacked the ministry ; Fox declaimed against Pitt's
indecent defiance of the opinion of the House ; and the Gren-
villes defended themselves.
Pitt, however, was evidently embarrassed by the hostility he
had to encounter. It was clear that the old and compact party
with which he had so long ruled the country, had been entirely
broken up, and he seemed confused and irritated among the dis-
cordant materials that now lay before him. The singular
position in which the little parties that had thus sprung up
stood towards each other, and the personal intrigues they engen-
dered, afforded subjects for the caricaturist on every side, and
these were not overlooked. On the i8th of June Gillray carica-
tured the whole body of the opposition in a large print, entitled
" L'Assemblee Nationale ; or, grand co-operative meeting at St.
Anne's Hill ; respectfully dedicated to the admirers of a ' Broad-
bottomed Administration.' " It was at this period that Sayer
produced some of his latest efforts in the cause of his old patron,
Pitt. Many believed that the statesman's influence was sensibly
affected by the probability that a new reign was near at hand,
when he would no longer enjoy the royal countenance ; and on
the i ith of July Sayer published a large caricature, in which the
Prince of Wales was represented as the rising sun, the Grenville
party are on their knees as " Persians (stowed together) wor-
shipping the rising sun ;" Sheridan, and Fox, and some of their
followers, are there as " Greeks ;" the former says to Lord
Temple, " Lower, my lord," although the " Greeks " themselves
remain upright ; and a solitary individual on one side is des-
cribed as " Achitophel ; an old Jew Scribe, lately turned Greek."
A paper, which protrudes from his pocket, exhibits the words,
" Secret advice to his R.H. No respecter of persons, to invite
tag, rag, and bobtail to dine ..."
The caricaturists attacked Pitt unsparingly. One of their
SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. 609
prints, the only copy of which that I have seen is in the posses-
sion of Mr. Hawkins, pub-
lished on the ist of August,
the day of the prorogation of
parliament, represents the
minister in the character of a
Pierrot, playing on his puppet,
which is apparently intended
to represent Canning. The
performer addresses himself to
his audience, " Here he is,
gentlemen, a chip of the old
block, one of my own manu-
factory,
BILLT PIEBBOT AND HTS PDPPT.
" Here you go up, up, up,
And there you go down, down, down-y ! "
Fox had latterly assumed a much more moderate tone than
when Pitt's supreme influence left him no hopes of power ; he
spoke with less bitterness of his political opponents, rested
his opposition on the necessity of joining all parties in the
support of the country and its constitution ; he still shewed a
little partiality for France and its rulers, but he called for
vigorous exertions to carry on the war, now that we were
irretrievably engaged in it. But there was another party now
gaining head, much more extreme in its political principles than
the Foxites, and which a little later assumed the name of
Radicals. The leader of this party in the House of Commons
was Sir Francis Burdett, who was taking the position in politics
which had been held by Wilkes at the beginning, and by Fox in
the middle of this reign ; and it was supported out of doors by
Home Tooke, still an active agitator, by Cobbett, who had
already commenced his political writings, and by a number
of other zealous partizans. Burdett triumphed over the
ministers in the Middlesex election in August, 1804, as Wilkes
had done on the same scene of action. This occurrence has
been commemorated in an elaborate caricature by Gillray, pub-
lished on the jth of August, and entitled, "Middlesex Election
a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together." The scene
is laid in the neighbourhood of the hustings, to which Burdett
is carried in triumph in his barouche, with Home Tooke, his
pocket full of speeches, as driver. Behind stand Sheridan,
Tierney, and Erskine, carrying flags and banners. That held up
by Sheridan bears the representation of Britannia fixed in the
B a
6io
BRITANNIA SCOURGED.
BRITANNIA SCOURGED.
pillory, and scourged by Pitt, in allusion to the punishment
of political offenders in
the prison of Coldbath
Fields, the key of which
is carried by Tierney,
while Erskine hoists the
standard of the " good
old cause." In place of
horses, the carriage is
dragged along by the
chiefs of the Whig
party, consisting of Fox,
the l)ukes of Norfolk
and Bedford, the Mar-
quis of Lansdowne,
Lords Derby, Carlisle,
and St. Vincent, with Grey and Bosville. Lord Moira acts as
drummer. Tyrrell, Jones, Grattan, and Fitzpatrick are at the
hind wheels. In the distance we see the Radicals pelting with
mud the sign of Church, King, and Constitution.
With so many difficulties to face, Pitt seemed to lose his
wonted courage, and his health, impaired by his devotion to the
bottle, was rapidly breaking down. He did not venture to meet
parliament until the i^th of January, 1805, when, after vain
efforts to bring over the Grenvilles, he had at last succeeded in
detaching Addington from the opposition. The latter was
rewarded with a peerage, under the title of Viscount Sidmouth,
and the office of president of the council, vacated by Lord
Portland on account of his advanced age. Still Pitt was not
strong in his majorities, and the opposition he had to encounter
was remarkably pertinacious and annoying. His own friends
seemed to join in giving him uneasiness. At the beginning of
the session Wilberforce persisted in bringing forward the ques-
tion of the abolition of slavery, in spite of the entreaties of the
minister ; and he afterwards joined in promoting the impeach-
ment of Pitt's old friend Lord Melville (Dundas) for whom he
had contracted a sort of puritanical dislike, because he was a
hard drinker and sometimes a rather profane joker. Wil-
berforce's conduct on this occasion, is said to have given great
annoyance to Pitt. Sayer has commemorated the attack upon
Lord Melville in two caricatures, in both of which Wilberforce
is represented as the puritan preacher, venting from his tub his
saintly spleen against the sinner. In one of these, Whitbread,
who had led the attack, is represented as a barrel of porter
CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 61 1
bursting, and stinking the members out of the house ; Wilber-
force exclaims, from his tub, " 'Tis the Lord's doing, and has
spoilt our brewery." In the other, Whitbread, a figure built up
of tubs and barrels, is aiming a blow at the Scotch thistle
(Melville) with his flail. This print is entitled, " The brewer
and the thistle," and is accompanied with an epigram on Whit-
bread :
"Sansterre forsook his malt and grains,
To mash and batter nobles' brains,
By lev'lling rancour led ;
Our Brewer quits brown stout and washey,
His malt, his mash-tub, and his quashea,
To mash a Thistle's head."
In May, Pitt had to contend with the question of all others
most disagreeable to him at the present moment, from the part
he had already taken in it, that of Catholic Emancipation,
which, however, he opposed on the ground of the inexpediency
of bringing it forward under the circumstances of the time. On
the defeat of this attack from the opposition, Gillray published
a caricature, dated the i ;th of May, and entitled " The end of
the Irish farce of Catholic Emancipation." The opposition,
under the guidance of Fox, seated on a bull (of Irish breed) with
a miniature of Buonaparte round its neck, after having reached
the very threshold of the treasury, are overthrown by three
blasts which come from the mouth of Pitt, Hawkesbury, and
Sidmouth. Lord Grenville, who was in advance of the attacking
party, and bears the crosier, is staggering backwards. Lord
Moira is rolling over Mrs. Fitzherbert, who is stretched on the
floor in a very undignified attitude. Lord Stanhope is incense
bearer, and Sheridan is about to elevate the host ; but Lord
Lauderdale drops the bell in alarm. Home Tooke carries the
cross, which is crowned with the bonnet rouge. Cobbett ex-
hibits the Weekly Register, and carries a representation of an
auto dafe performed in Smithfield. Others are acting a variety
of parts. In the foreground stand the Duke of Clarence, who is
struck with astonishment ; the Duke of Bedford, meditating on
trausubstantiation ; the Duke of Norfolk, preparing to toast the
host in a goblet of Whitbread's entire; and Lords Derby,
Carlisle, and Thanet, Sir Francis Burdett, and Mr. Grattan,
singing vespers.
Pitt's budget was n:t allowed to pass without severe remarks,
and a heavily increased luty on salt excited general dissatisfac-
tion. People said that ,when the grand contriver of taxes had
visited every corner of the house above stairs, he had now descended
B E a
into the kitchen
BILLT IN THE SALT-BOX.
TAX ON SALT.
and one of the caricatures published at this
period, represents the
premier alarming the
poor cook by popping
his head out of the salt-
box, with the unex-
pected salutation
" How do you do,
cook-ey?" The person
thus apostrophised cries
out in consternation,
" Curse the fellow, how
he has frightened me !
I think, in my heart, he is getting in everywhere ! who the
deuce would have thought of finding him in the salt-box ?"
One only incident occurred to cheer the minister in his painful
struggle to carry out his plans, and that was one of an unusual
character in the political warfare of former dayc. When an
attempt, in his absence, was made to implicate Pitt in the
charges of malversation brought against Lord Melville, Fox
generously stood forward in his defence, and bore testimony of
his high opinion of the personal integrity of the premier. Some
said that this indicated in Fox a wish to be allowed to share in
the pleasures of office, a sentiment which is exhibited in a cari-
cature published by Gillray on the aist of June, under the title
of "Political Candour; i. e. Coalition Resolutions of June 14,
1805."
In the midst of this parliamentary strife at home, our invete-
rate enemy Buonaparte had made the last grand step in his
political ambition. He was proclaimed emperor of the French,
under the title of Napoleon I., on the 2oth of May, 1804, and
crowned in Paris with extraordinary ceremonies on the 2nd of
December following. A few days before this latter event, on
the a6th of November, Gillray rejoiced all loyal volunteers, who
hated the very name of the new sovereign, with a caricature,
entitled " The Genius of France nursing her Darling," in which
the genius is represented in the form of a veritable poissarde,
her garments stained with blood, and her spear, dripping with
gore, supported against the wall. A picture of the head of Louis
XVI. is thrown on one side. The lady is tossing Napoleon,
armed with his sceptre, as a child in one hand, and endeavour-
ing to pacify his cries for a rattle surmounted with a crown,
which she holds in the other. She sings a parody on the old
nursery rhyme,
NAPOLEON CONQUERS THE AUSTRIANS. 613
" There 's a little King Pippin !
He shall have a rattle and crown !
Bless thy five wits, my baby !
Mind it don't thro'w itself down.
Hey, my kitten, my kitten P'
The same caricaturist published, on the ist of January, 1805, a
large burlesque print of " The Grand Coronation Procession."
From this time, during several months, caricatures on the new
emperor and empress, some of them very libellous and coarse,
abounded. One by Gillray, published on the 26th of February,
entitled " The Plum-pudding in clanger ; or, State Epicures
taking un petit souper," represents Napoleon and Pitt contend-
ing over the globe in the shape of a plum-pudding, from which
Pitt is cutting off the ocean as his share, while his antagonist
is helping himself to the whole of Europe. Measures, however,
were now in active preparation for disputing with the new pre-
tender to the insignia of sovereignty his claims to the share
which he thus arrogated to himself. In the course of the sum-
mer a third coalition against France was completed, the chief
parties to which were Great Britain, Russia, and Austria. One
of the English caricatures on this new armament was published
in the October of 1805, under the title of " Tom Thumb at bay ;
or, the Sovereigns of the Forest roused at last ;" Napoleon, flying
from the eagle of Austria, the Russian bear, and the Westphaliau
pig, and dropping his crown and sceptre in his flight, is rushing
into the open jaws of the British lion. In the distance the
Dutchman is throwing off his yoke, and advising Spain and
Portugal to do the same, and still further off is seeu the British
fleet riding triumphant on the sea. The new war on the con-
tinent only led Napoleon to new victories ; after the Austrians
had experienced several defeats, General Mack made a dishonour-
able surrender of Ulm to the French on the 1 7th of October,
and thus laid open the Austrian empire to the invaders. Only
four days after this disastrous event, on the 2ist of October, the
combined French and Spanish fleets were utterly destroyed in
the memorable battle of Trafalgar. But the French army con-
tinued its victorious career ; on the i4th of November Napoleon
made his entry into Vienna; and the 2nd of December was fought
the fatal battle of Austerlitz, which compelled the Russians to
retreat and the Austrians to submit to a humiliating peace.
The caricatures on these momentous events have little merit,
and are scarcely worth enumerating. On the 23rd of January,
1 806, when Napoleon had begun his system of king-making with
his kings of Wirtemberg and Bavaria, Gillray produced one of a
6i 4 DEATH OF PITT.
superior character, under the title of " Tiddy Doll, the great
gingerbread baker, drawing out a new batch of kings, his man,
hopping Talley, mixing up the dough." Talleyrand, who was
short of one leg, is employed as thus described, while his master,
Napoleon, as baker, is drawing from the oven a batch of ginger-
bread kings. A number of figures scattered over the bakehouse
represent the melancholy condition of Europe at this period.
On a board on one side stands a number of " little dough vice-
roys intended for the next new batch," on which we trace the
faces of Fox, Sheridan, Lord Derby, and others of the English
Whig leaders. The broomstick in Napoleon's hand is inscribed
as the " besom of destruction."
Pitt's health had been fast declining through the autumn and
winter, and parliament met on the 2ist of January, 1806, only to
witness his death, which occurred on the 23rd. A new opening
was thus made for the intrigues of parties, and the task of forming
a ministry was not an easy one. The King still detested the
name of Fox ; but after several persons had refused to take the
responsibility of forming a ministry, among whom were Lord
Hawkesbury, Lord Sidmouth, and, it is said, the Marquis Wel-
lesley, he was at length obliged to throw himself on the Gren-
villes and Foxites, and consented to the formation of the com-
prehensive coalition ministry, which became known by the title
of " All the Talents." In this ministry, the formation of which
was announced on the 4th of February, Lord Grenville was first
Lord of the Treasury ; Fox, Secretary for Foreign Affairs ; Lord
Sidmouth, Lord Privy Seal ; Earl Fitzwilliam, President of the
Council ; Grey, now Lord Howick, first Lord of the Admiralty ;
the Earl of Moira, Master-general of the Ordnance ; Earl
Spencer, Home Secretary ; Windham, Secretary for the Colo-
nies ; Lord Henry Petty, Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Erskine,
Lord Chancellor ; and Lord Minto, President of the Board of
Control. Among the minor places, Sheridan, who was noto-
riously unfit for business, obtained that of Treasurer of the
Navy.
This extraordinary cabinet contained far too many jarring
elements to be lasting, and it soon became universally unpopular.
The number of caricatures against this " broad-bottomed"
ministry was very great. An anonymous print, published on
the 2oth of February, represents the King making a bowl of
punch from a number of bottles, each bearing the face of one or
other of the members of this strange coalition; he says,
" Though the ingredients, taken separately, may not be pleasing
to every palate, yet, when mixed together, they may go down
FOX AS MINISTER. 61$
with a tolerable relish." On the same day, Gillray published a
humorous caricature entitled, "Making decent; . e. Broad
Bottoraites getting into the Grand Costume ;" in which most of
the new ministers, who had long been out of office, are repre-
sented as dressing themselves for presentation at court. On the
^th of March, the same artist published a caricature entitled,
" More pigs than teats ; or, the new litter of hungry grunters
sucking John Bull's old sow to death ;" in fact, the numerous
hungry claimants that were now brought in, promised small
relief to John Bull's burthens, and he is here made to express
the fear that there will soon be nothing left for " Boney," if he
come. Another of Gillray 's caricatures, published on the i4th
of March, and entitled, " A tub for the whale," represents the
crew of the "Broad-bottom packet," throwing out a tub to
amuse the whale that pursues them, (public opinion,) which is
spouting out " ridicule" and " contempt ;" the sun of Whig
government is setting, and a broom at the mast-head indicates
that the vessel is for sale. Another, by the same artist, on the
<th of April, under the title of " Pacific overtures ; or, a flight
from St. Cloud's ' over the water to Charley,' " burlesques the
attempt at negotiations for peace with France, provoked by
Napoleon himself, but overthrown by his extravagant pretensions.
It is described as " a new dramatic peace, now rehearsing," and
implies a somewhat unmerited censure on the Whigs. Fox, as
minister, shewed no inclination to sacrifice the honour of his
country, in these futile negotiations. On the 2ist of April
Gillray founded a caricature on a declaration by For that his
place was not a bed of roses ; which he entitled, " Comforts of
a bed of roses ; vide, Charles's elucidation of Lord Castlereagh's
speech ! a nightly scene near Cleveland Row." Fox and his
wife are asleep in bed, when Napoleon is attacking the minister
in the midst of his slumber ; the ghost of Pitt rouses him
" Awake ! awake ! or be for ever fallen !"
The moderation which had lately characterized Fox's senti-
ments, was accounted for by some by supposing that he had fallen
under the influence of Lord Grenville ; in fact, Lord Grenville,
they thought, had tamed the bear. A caricature by Gillray,
published on the ipth of May,. was entitled " The bear and his
leader," and represented Lord Grenville teaching Fox, as his
bear, to dance ; the leader holds in his hand a " cudgel for dis-
obedient bears ;" and in his pocket is seen a paper inscribed,
" rewards for obedient bears." Lord Sidmouth, with a patch
on one eye, acts as fiddler, and M. A. Taylor sustains the
character of the monkey.
6i6
UNPOPULARITY OF THE MINISTRY.
The necessity under which Fox, who had so severely criticised
the acts of former ministers in this respect, found himself of
THE BEAR AND HIS LEADER.
increasing the burthen of taxation, completed the unpopularity
of the new ministry. Two caricatures by Gillray, published on
the pth and 2 8th of May, have reference to this subject. The
first is entitled, " A Great Stream from a Petty Fountain ; or,
John Bull swamped in the flood of New Taxes; Cormorants
fishing in the stream.' ' The
face of Lord Henry Petty,
Fox's Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, adorns the foun-
tain from which the flood
of taxation issues; and a
numerous herd of placemen,
in the likeness of so many
cormorants, are greedily
snatching at the loaves and
fishes. In the second of
these caricatures, which is
entitled, The < Friend of
the People ' and his Petty
new Tax-gatherer paying
John Bull a visit," Fox
and Lord Henry Petty, with
TAX GATBFRERS. a terrible book of new
taxes, make their call on
John Bull, who has shut up his shop (which is announced " to
WHIG TAXES. 6t;
let") and removed his family to the first floor, from motives of
economy. Lord Henry Petty knocks, and raises the cry,
"Taxes! taxes! taxes!" to which John Bull responds from
the window above, " Taxes ! taxes ! taxes ! why how am I
to get money to pay them all ? I shall very soon have neither
a house nor hole to put my head in." The man of the people,
little touched by this appeal, shouts to him, " A house to put
your head in ? why what the devil should you want with a
house ? haven't you got a first-floor room to live in ? and if
that is too dear, can't you move into the garret or get into the
cellar? Taxes must be had, Johnny come, down with your
cash ! it's all for the good of your dear country !"
The proceedings on Lord Melville's impeachment drew other
caricatures on the Foxites, and, of course, more especially on
Whitbread, who is represented in one of them as taking refuge
in a cask of his own entire. Fox's frail tenure of office was
hinted at, on the aoth of June, Jin a caricature by Gillray,
entitled, " Bruin in his boat, or the manager in distress." Even
the signs of approaching dissolution did not shield the great
leader of the Whigs from the shafts of satire. A caricature by
Gillray, published on the 28th of July, under the title of
"Visiting the Sick," represents Fox on his couch of death,
insulted by some, mourned over by a few, while many are
rejoicing at the prospect of getting rid of him. On the ist of
September, when every one was aware that the minister had but
few days to live, Gillray ridiculed his attempts at negotiating for
peace in a caricature entitled, " Westminster Conscripts under
the training act," in which Fox appears as drummer to his
awkward squad, and Lord Lauderdale, his ambassador, is a
Scottish dove, bearing the insulting " terms of peace " for his
olive branch. On the I3th of September, Charles James Fox
followed his great rival to the grave, doubling the irretrievable
void which had already been felt on the political stage. On the
very day of his death, Gillray published a new caricature, in
which his negotiations for peace were again incidentally turned
to ridicule ; it is entitled, " News from Calabria ; capture of
Buenos Ayres ; i. e. the comforts of an imperial breakfast at
St. Cloud's." Napoleon is represented, while at his breakfast-
table, bursting into one of those petulant paroxysms of rage to
which he is said to have been subject under contradiction or
disappointment : the cause on this occasion is an accumulation
of bad news from different parts of the world ; the breakfast-
table is kicked over ; the hot water thrown on the empress, who
is losing her crown in the first start of consternation.
THE DEATH OF FOX.
The death of Fox produced no immediate change in the
ministry of any importance. He was succeeded as Foreign
secretary hy Lord Howick (Grey), who was now the true
representative of Fox's principles. Mr. T. Grenville succeeded
Lord Howick as first lord of the Admiralty ; Sidmouth became
president of the Council in place of Lord Fitzwilliam, who had
resigned, and was succeeded as keeper of the Privy Seal by Lord
Holland, the only new member introduced into the cabinet.
For reasons which are not very evident, an immediate dissolution
of Parliament was resolved upon, and the new elections were
not altogether favourable to ministers, who, moreover, had
never enjoyed the confidence of the King. The most remarkable
of the elections were those for Middlesex and Westminster,
which produced a considerable number of caricatures, besides
multitudes of political squibs of all descriptions. Gillray
published not less than half-a-dozen caricatures on this occasion.
Sir Francis Burdett figured prominently in both elections, he
was beaten at Brentford by the Court candidate (for he was in
opposition), and at Covent Garden he supported his radical
friend, Paul, against Sheridan and Lord Hood, who had formed
a coalition against him. The first of Gillray's caricatures is
entitled the " Triumphant procession of little Paul the tailor
upon his new goose ;" Burdett was usually caricatured by his
opponents under the form of a goose ; he is here led in a noose
by Home Tooke, and urged forwards with a kick from Cobbett
behind. His second, published on the i8th of November,
represented Sheridan and Hood tossing Paul iii the coalition
blanket, and was entitled, " The high-flying candidate (i.e.,
little Paul Goose) mounting from a blanket." A third carica-
ture by Gillray, is a very spirited sketch entitled " Posting to
the Election ; a scene on the road to Brentford, Nov. 1806."
Each of the various parties interested, is hastening on in its own
way. Sheridan, who was supported by Whitbread, is dashing
through thick and thin on a brewer's horse, which looks as if it
had just broke loose from the dray. He carries Lord Hood
behind him ; hung to the horse's side is a pannier of " Subscrip-
tion malt and hops from the Whitbread brewery ;" in his pocket
a manuscript entitled, " Neck or Nothing, a new coalition." A
kick of the horse behind is overthrowing Paid from his
donkey. On the other side, rapidly gaining ahead of them, is
Mr. Mellish, one of the victorious candidates for Middlesex,
driven by Lord Grenville in a coach and four, behind which, as
footmen, stand the Marquis of Buckingham, Lord Temple, and
Lord Castlereagh. They are followed close by Mr. Byng, in a
SHERIDAN AND HOOD.
619
post-chaise drawn by two spirited hacks ; he represents the old
Whig interest, and has a wooden bust of Fox on the box before
him. Last comes Burdett, in a cart slowly dragged through a
pool of muddy water by four donkeys ; behind him in the cart
A COALITION OT CANDIDATES.
are Home Tooke, Mr. Bosville (one of the very active
radicals of the day), and Cobbett, who is acting as drummer,
with his "Political Kegister" and "Inflammatory Letters," as
drumsticks ; his drum has for its
badge the republican bonnet rouge.
A parcel of sweeps are pushing the
cart behind, to help it forwards.
A " View of the Hustings in Covent
Garden," published by Gillray on
the ijth of December, represents
Hood and Sheridan browbeaten by
the mob-eloquence of their opponent
Paul ; Whitbread is encouraging
and consoling Sheridan with a pot
of porter. A fifth caricature on
this subject, published by Gillray
in December, is entitled, " Peter
and Paul expelled from Paradise ;"
they are on their way to Wimble-
don, where Tooke resided, and their
condition is intimated by a parody on Milton,
A RADICAL DRUM M KB.
6ao DISMISSAL OF THE " TALENTS."
" The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Parson Tooke their guide."
No measures could now save the present ministry long, for
the King had already determined they should go out, and only
waited for an occasion for dismissing them. This was furnished
in March, 1807, by a bill proposed by Lord Grenville for the
relief of the Roman Catholics in Ireland. The King announced
his intention of changing his ministers about the middle of
March ; he appears to have carried on private negotiations be-
fore that time, or even before the opportunity for the blow was
given ; but it was not till the beginning of April that the new
ministry was definitely formed. It consisted of the Duke of
Portland, first lord of the treasury ; Lord Hawkesbury, home
secretary ; George Canning, secretary for foreign affairs ; Lord
Castlereagh, secretary for war and the colonies; Spencer
Perceval, chancellor of the exchequer ; Earl Camden, president
of the council ; the Earl of Chatham, master of the ordnance ;
the Earl of Westmoreland, keeper of the privy seal; Earl
Bathurst, president of the board of trade ; Lord Eldon, chan-
cellor ; and Lord Mulgrave, first lord of the admiralty. Per-
ceval, who was notorious for his opposition to the Catholic
claims, was considered as the chief.
The court, in making this change, adopted the tactics so
often used with success before, of raising an agitation against
the Whigs, by stirring up popular prejudices. The cry of " No
popery !" was raised again, and with good effect ; and a host of
new caricatures came out to ridicule the broad -bottomed admi-
nistration of " All the Talents." On the 23rd of March, Gillray
represented the King kicking out his old ministry very uncere-
moniously, in a caricature entitled " A kick at the broad
bottoms ; i. e. emancipation of All the Talents." A caricature
by the elder Cruikshank, published on the 4th of April, under
the title of " The Protestant St. George too much for all the
Tallons; or, The beast with seven heads," represents the King
encountering his ministerial hydra, while Mrs. Fitzherbert is
seen behind lamenting over its defeat, and the prince is making
his escape to hide himself. A caricature published by Gillray,
on the 1 8th of April, represented King George as John Bull's
fanner, driving the herd of rapacious pigs out of his sty it is
entitled " The pigs possessed ; or, the broad-bottomed litter
running headlong into the sea of perdition." The artist had
already, on the 6th of April, celebrated the demise of the
ministry in a humorous caricature, entitled " The funeral pro-
cession of Broad-bottom." About the same time, Gillray pub-
ished a clever caricature, entitled " Charon's boat ; or, the
THE POLITICAL ICARUS. 63 r
ghosts of All the Talents taking their last voyage." The boat,
with Earl St. Vincent at the helm, is heavily laden with the
principal members of the late administration. On the opposite
shore an expectant group, consisting of the ghosts of Fox,
Oliver Cromwell, Robespierre, Despard (who had been hung for
treason in England), and Quidgley (an Irish rebel executed at
Chelmsford), are prepared to welcome the new arrival. In the
clouds are the three fatal sisters who had joined in cutting the
thread of the broad-bottomed cabinet, bearing the figures of
Lord Hawkesbury, Lord Castlereagh, and George Canning. In
another caricature, published on the 28th of April, Gillray
selects Lord Temple as the more especial object of his satire. It
was spread abroad as a piece of scandal against Lord Temple,
that he had provided himself, while in office, with a small per-
quisite, to the amount of between one and two thousand pounds'
worth of stationery. This story was the subject of many jokes
and epigrams. Under the title of " The fall of Icarus," Gillray
represents Lord Temple attempting to fly away with wings made
of the quills he had thus appropriated to himself, but the wax
being melted by the sun (exhibiting the face of King George),
the adventurer is falling in a very perilous posture on " a stake
from the public hedge."*
" With plumes, and wax, and such like things,
In quantities not small,
He tries to make a pair of wings,
To raise his sudden fall 1"
When the " No popery !" cry was at the highest, and every
effort had been made to decry the supporters of the late motley
administration, Parliament was again dissolved. The elections,
which took place in May, were, as might be expected, in favour
of the new administration. Immense sums of money were
expended on the elections, and the country was agitated in the
most violent manner. Westminster was again the scene of a
turbulent contest. Burdett, who had quarrelled with his old
fellow-radical Paul, after the election of the year preceding, to
such a degree that it ended in a duel in which both were
wounded, now offered himself as a candidate against him at the
election, and was placed at the head of the poll. He was again
backed by Home Tooke, and a caricature, published in May,
represented the Brentford parson carrying the successful candi-
* This alludes to an incident in the debate on the right of Home Tooke
to sit in the House of Commons. Lord Temple, who was bis great
opponent, having stated that he bad a stake in the country, Tooke re-
sponded that he also had a stake, although it was a small one, but it was not
taken out of " the public hedge."
622
THE WIMBLEDON SHOWMAN.
AT THE HEAD OP THK POLL.
date at the end of ki&pole, and exhibiting him to the crowd col-
lected in Covent Garden ;
it is entitled " The head of
the Poll ; or, the Wimble-
don Showman and his Pup-
pet." Tooke exhibits him
as "the finest puppet in
the world, gentlemen, en-
tirely of my own forma-
tion. I have only to say
the word, and he'll do any-
thing." Gillray adopted
the same pun in a carica-
ture published on the 2oth
of May, under the title of
" Election Candidates ; or,
the republican Goose at the
top of the pole" The four
candidates, Burdett, Lord
Cochrane, Sheridan, and
Paul, are climbing the election pole ; Burdett, as a goose, is
perched on the top, where he is held by the assistance of the
evil one ; next below him is Lord Cochrane, then Sheridan, and,
finally, Paul, who, having missed his grasp, comes tumbling to
the ground.
The Tories, now in power, attacked the foreign policy of their
predecessors, and accused them of having paved the way for
Napoleon's successes. It was certainly the period at which the
imperial power was at its highest point. Gillray, on the 25th
of June, 1807, satirized the fallen "Talents" in a caricature
entitled " The new Dynasty ; or, the little Corsican Gardener
planting a royal Pippin-tree," an allusion to the numerous new
kings lately raised into existence by Napoleon. The Marquis of
Buckingham, Lord Grenville, and Lord Lauderdale are demo-
lishing the royal oak, while Napoleon and Talleyrand are busy
planting new trees. A plantation of continental king-pippins
occupy the background, while in front lie, as grafts ready for
planting, Home Tooke, Sir Francis Burdett, and Cobbett. On
the top of the royal pippin-tree in Napoleon's hand is seen the
head of Lord Moira.
The war had not, however, been inglorious to England,
although alliance after alliance had been broken up, and all the
great powers of the continent had not only been separated from
us, but they had been obliged to turn against us. Nevertheless,
the battle of Maida, in the summer of 1806, had broken the
JOHN BULL AND THE COBSICAN. 623
spell which had made people believe that the French armies
were invincible ; and victory continued to attend our fleets in
every part of the world. It was in 1807 tn at Napoleon begat
to shew his designs upon Spain,
and commenced the war which
first brought him in direct con-
tact with British armies, and
contributed so much to his
final overthrow. InEnglandthe
terrors of " invasion" had given
way to a feeling of triumph
and exultation in our position
in the war. On the first day
of the year 1807 appeared a
caricature representing John
Bull grasping the " little Cor-
sican" as a fiddle, and playing
upon him with his sword, to
the tune of " Britons, strike
home !" it is entitled, " John
Bull playing on the base vil-
lain." Caricatures in this
spirit began now to be fre-
quent ; and the numerous
prizes brought in by our ships,
during the very period at
which the French emperor expected to ruin us by setting the
whole continent against
us, animated the English
people to new exertions
and new sacrifices. Among
the caricatures published
at this period, was one
by Woodward, which ap-
peared on the 27th of No-
vember, 1807, soon after
the British order of coun-
cil placing all France
under blockade, in answer
to Napoleon's Berlin de-
cree ; it is entitled, " The
continental dockyard. "
On one side of the Chan- MABTEU AND MAW.
nel is " The Gallic store-
JOHN BULL TURNED FIDDLES.
624
THE CONTINENTAL DOCKYARD.
house for English shipping," which is empty and falling into ruin.
In front stands Napoleon, angrily threatening his master ship-
wright, " Begar, you must vork like de diable, ve must annihilate
dis John Bull !" The shipwright, aghast, replies, "Please you, my
JOHN BULL AND HIS INDUSTRIOUS SERVANTa
grand Empereur, tes no use vatever ; as fast as ve do huild dem,
he vas clap dem in his storehouse over de way." On the other
side of the water stands John Bull's storehouse full of captured
ships, with John himself surrounded by his industrious tars,
whom he addresses, " I say, my lads, if he goes on this way, we
shall be overstock'd." One of the sailors replies with the dry
observation, "What a deal of pains some people take for
nothing."
625
CHAPTER XVI.
GEORGE III. AND THE REGENCY.
New Prospects Struggles of Parties ; Sir Francis Burdett ; John Bull in
Admiration The Regency The War; Elba; Waterloo; St. Helena
England after the Peace ; Taxation and Reform ; The Dandies and
the Hobby-Horsea
rTlHE prospects of England under the new ministry were,
_|_ indeed, far from encouraging. Napoleon was gradually
bringing the whole of Europe under his yoke, and turning it
against this country, and many looked forwards to the time
when we should have to prepare for an invasion under much
greater disadvantages than in 1803. Few months had passed
since the formation of the cabinet, when Eussia, which declared
war against England on the ist of December, leagued with
France, and was added to the list of our enemies. In the course
of 1808 the French occupied Spain, and invaded Portugal.
Austria rose up in indignation at the humiliating treatment she
received from the French emperor in the spring of 1 809 ; but
within four months her territory was overrun by the victorious
armies of her enemy, and she was compelled to accept a still
more humiliating peace.
The nation in general, however, felt no discouragement, and
people indulged more than ever in coarse ridicule on the person
and pretensions of the Emperor of the French. The caricatures
became now so numerous, that in the course of a few years their
titles alone would fill a volume. Gillray's labours in this line
closed with the year 1809. On the loth of April, 1808, this
celebrated artist satirized the sanguine promises of success held
out by the English ministers in a caricature, entitled " Delicious
dreams ! Castles in the air ! Glorious Prospects !" The minis-
ters, full of wine and punch, are sunk in slumber, under the
shade of which splendid visions break in upon them. Britannia
and her lion occupy a triumphal car, formed of the hull of a
British ship, drawn by an Irish bull and led by an English tar.
She drags to the Tower the Corsican tyrant and the Russian
bear both in chains, and followed by a countless host of meaner
captives, while a crowd of English soldiers and sailors escort and
welcome her. On the nth of July of the same year, when
8 8
THE TRIUMPH OF BRITANNIA.
Napoleon, by the basest treachery, had plunged himself into the
fatal Spanish war, he was represented by Gillray as a luckless
" matador," engaged in a Spanish bull-fight ; he has already
broken his sword in the animal's flank, but with only partial
effect, and his infuriated opponent is tossing him with his horns
and goring him to death. The spectators in the gallery are the
BRITANNIA TRIUMPHANT.
different sovereigns of Europe, among whom King George of
England appears to take most interest in the combat. Another
caricature on foreign affairs was published by Gillray on the
24th of September, under the title of " The Valley of the
Shadow of Death." Napoleon is represented, with the Russian
bear at his command, entering the fearful vale, where his pro-
gress is arrested by the British lion, the Sicilian terrier, and the
Portuguese wolf, who are urged on by Death mounted on a
horse of the " royal Spanish breed ;" others of the European
states appear as monsters ready to beset him in his path ; even
the Russian bear shews an inclination to get loose from his
chain. As Gillray was disappearing from the scene, a number
of clever caricaturists supplied his place the Rowlandsous,
Woodwards, Cruikshanks, and their companions under whom
the taste for these productions was not allowed to diminish.
From their hands our foreign enemies were assailed with nume-
rous caricatures during this and the following* year. As the
power of Napoleon seemed to become more firmly established,
these became more insulting ; and no event produced a greater
number than his divorce and his marriage with the arch-duchess,
but they are nearly all coarse and indelicate.
Although in appearance sufficiently occupied in Europe, Napo-
leon's secret desires were still supposed to be turned towards the
East, in the hopes of getting at our Indian possessions. He was
known to have envoys intriguing at Constantinople, and in Syria
and Egypt. One of the best of the anonymous caricatures of
NAPOLEON SUEPBISED. 627
che yir 1808 was published on the 9 th of July, under the title
of Boney bothered ; or, an unexpected Meeting " The hero
thinks that he has made his way through the gbbe unperceived
and suddenly starts forth and places his foot upon Bengal but
in his dismay at finding John Bull there before him, he drops
AH UNEXPECTED MEETINO.
his sword and his " plan of operations in the East Indies," and
exclaims, " Begar, Monsieur Jean Bull again ! Vat, you know
I vas come here ?" His sturdy opponent, who has his pocket
full of letters of "secret intelligence," replies, "To be sure I did !
for all your humbug deceptions, I smoked your intentions,
and have brought my oak twig with me, so now you may go
back again."
The ministry of 1807 had other and greater difficulties to
contend against than the embarrassments of foreign affairs. It
had succeeded a ministry that was remarkable for the discord-
ancy of its materials, and it was on that account ridiculed even
by its successors, yet they were so far from being distinguished
by their unanimity, that they are said to have disagreed almost
as soon as they were brought together. The success of the cry
of " no popery," which had been spread abroad with extraordi-
nary zeal, and the fear of our enemies abroad, had ensured them
a majority in Parliament ; but the opposition was still strong,
both from the questions it had to work upon, and from the
number of small parties who, included in the proscription of the
628 ELIJAH'S MANTLE.
" broad bottoms," were willing to join in embarrassing those
who kept them from office, on whatever question the attack
might be based. Out of doors the dissatisfaction was increas-
ing, people became more clamorous and more riotous, and the
radical party was gaining ground rapidly. We can only briefly
trace the struggle of parties in a few of the more striking of the
caricatures to which it gave rise. The satire of Gillray was now
invariably directed against the opposition. On the 22nd of
March, 1808, in a caricature entitled "Phaeton alarmed," he
represented Canning as the political Phaeton, setting the world
on fire by driving too near " the sun of Anti-Jacobinism." The
heavens are filled with threatening constellations, here Leo
Britannicus disturbs him by his roar ; there the Duke of Nor-
folk, under the figure of Silenus, threatens him with his bottles ;
Napoleon is riding on Ursa Major ; and in other parts of the
firmament are seen the vast Scorpion of broad-bottomry, the
Bull of Ireland, with the porridge-pot of Catholic emancipation
attached to its tail, and the other " horrors of the heavens."
Lord Lauderdale, Whitbread, Lord Sidmouth, and Erskine, are
making a futile attempt to quench the burning rays of the sun.
The chariot of Phaeton is drawn by four horses, representing
Lord Hawkesbury (now Lord Liverpool), Mr. Perceval, Lord
Castlereagh, and Lord Eldon. Neptune looks aghast on the
scene of devastation. Pitt, in the character of Apollo, is rising
to the rescue; and Fox, as Pluto, is taking a peep from the
shades. On the 2nd of May, under the title of " Broad-bottom
drones storming the hive ; wasps, hornets, and humble bees join-
ing in the attack," Gillray represented the Treasury as the
royal hive, with its honey-pots filled with gold ; the industrious
bees who are in office rush out boldly to defend their pleasant
quarters from the crowd of assailants, whose difference of colour
and method of opposition is represented by their division into
drones, wasps, hornets, and humble-bees. In April, he had
published a caricature entitled, " The Constitutional squad (i. e.
opposition) advancing to attack," in which the most formidable
weapon of the assailants is an immense brass cannon, entitled
" Revolutionary argument." The Tories still kept up the old
accusation against their opponents of republicanism and Jaco-
binism, and they now declared that they aimed at the introduc-
tion of popery. Mrs. Fitzherbert was again brought on the
stage ; and it was intimated that, through her influence, the
Prince of Wales, who still supported the Whigs, had been
induced to favour the claims of the Catholics for relief. Tho
.suspicion of a tendency towards Rome, thus raised, remained
REFORM AGITATION. 629
years afterwards attached to the prince in the belief of a con-
siderable portion of English society. Several caricatures, which
appeared about this time, represented the opposition as led by
the prince, Mrs. Fitzherbert, and the pope. On the 25th of
June, 1808, appeared a bold and clever print by Gillray, en-
titled, " Disciples catching the mantle ; the spirit of darkness
overshadowing the priests of Baal." On one side the ministers
are seen standing round " The altar of the constitution," which
is planted on "The rock of Ages." Pitt, as a political Elijah,
is carried up to the heavens of immortality in a fiery chariot,
and they are receiving his mantle. The opposition, on the other
side, are scattered in confusion and dismay on the " broad-bottom
dunghill," where the spirit of Fox, in the shape of a fiend, is
hiding them under his cloak ; Lord Grenville is getting into
" Charley's old breeches."
During the following year (1809) a number of unfortunate
occurrences, the mismanagement of the Spanish war, the reve-
lations of Mrs. Clarke, and above all the expedition to Wai-
cheren, strengthened the opposition and embarrassed the court.
The ministers were irritated at the pertinacity of the attacks to
which they were exposed within doors and without, and they
retaliated by more frequent prosecutions for political writings or
speeches. This method of lacing the danger only made the
evil worse, and the cry for reform soon took a form too threat-
ening to be disregarded. The Tory party continued to tell
people that reform was only another name for republicanism, but
people would no longer believe it, now that they were relieved
from the fears of French propagandism. Gillray published 011
the 1 4th of June, 1809, a caricature entitled, " True Reform of
Parliament, i.e. Patriots lighting a revolutionary bonfire in
New Palace Yard," in which the radical portion of the opposi-
tion, led by Burdett and his supporter Cobbett, are represented
as so many incendiaries burning the records of the rights and
privileges of Englishmen, while the mob are busily destroying
Westminster Hall and the Parliament House. The moderate
" broad bottoms," alarmed at these proceedings, turn their backs
on their old comrades. This and a series of prints of the life of
Cobbett, whose fortune the ministers were now making, by the
notice they took of him, were the last political works of
Gillray ; and it is not an unimportant sign of the times,
that most of the numerous caricaturists who sprang up to
supply his place took the popular side of every question.
Burdett and Cobbett were now the two great heroes of political
agitation ; and the former was raised into especial importance by
630 JOHN BULL IN THE SUNSHINE.
an unwise persecution for what may fairly be termed a piece
of political coxcombry. The enforcing the standing orders
against the admission of strangers during the inquiry concerning
the Walcheren expedition had given great offence to the liberal
party out of doors. A debating society, entitled the " British
forum," presided over by a man named John Gale Jones, pub-
licly announced as a subject for discussion, the conduct of the
House of Commons in excluding the public from its debates,
and the house angrily and very indiscreetly voted it a breach of
privilege and committed Jones to Newgate. Sir Francis
Burdett, thinking it a good opportunity for making a noise,
delivered a very intemperate speech in the house, and afterwards
published it with an equally intemperate letter to his con-
stituents in Cobbett's Weekly Register. This was a much more
gross attack upon the House of Commons than anything that
had been said in the debating society, and seemed intended only
to stir up the most violent passions of the populace. The
House of Commons voted Sir Francis into the Tower, and
the Speaker issued a warrant for his apprehension ; but he shut
himself up in his house in Piccadilly, and barricaded it for a
JOHN BOLL ENJOYING THE SUNSHINE.
siege, and then set the Speaker and the House of Commons at
defiance. Inflammatory placards were displayed in every part
of the town, an immense mob collected, it was found necessary
to bring out the military, and for several days the metropolis
presented scenes of riot and violence such as had rarely
been seen. Some persons were killed, and the jury, under the
strong influence of party feeling, brought a verdict of guilty
against the military. Burdett, however, was at last secured in
the Tower, where he remained till the close of the session
of parliament, when the House of Commons found that it had
JOHN BULL. 631
only given itself much trouble to make Sir Francis Burdett a
greater man in the eyes of the populace than he was before.
One of the political squibs of the day announced that " on
Thursday, June the 2ist (the period for the prorogation of par-
liament), or near that time, the sun of patriotism will emerge
from the region ot darkness in the east, and again cheer the
inhabitants of the west with the warmth of his rays, the malig-
nant planets will, for some time at least, lose their baleful
influence under the cloud which ought to obscure them for ever."
A caricature, apparently by Woodward, entitled, " Genial rays ;
or, John Bull enjoying the sunshine," represents this " sun of
patriotism " (Burdett) shining in its full glory, and John Bull
reclining on a bed of roses, is basking joyously in its rays.
It would be an amusing task to trace John Bull through his
varieties of figure and expression in the caricatures during half a
century. This singular personification of Old England seems to
have been brought into existence by the admirable political
satire of Pope's friend, Dr. Arbuthnot. For a long time
Britannia and her lion were the. only national representatives in
the caricatures, and John Bull hardly took a pictorial form
before the time of Gillray. It was in his hands that he became
the plump, sleek, good-humoured individual we are at present in
the habit of beholding. In the first attempts at representing
him, he had none of these characteristics. Different artists of a
later period, while they gave him more
or less individuality, according to their
own style and sentiments, still kept
the general character which he had
received from Gillray's pencil. Thus
Rowlandson pictured him with that
coarse and vulgar air which cha-
racterizes all his drawings, and for which
that artist might not unaptly be termed
the Reubens of Caricature. The type of
John Bull, according to Rowlaudson's
idea of him, here given, -is taken from
a caricature of that artist, entitled
" The Head of the Family in Good-
humour." An amusing caricature,
entitled "John Bull come to the JOHH BULL A LA ROWLAKDSOII.
Bone," perhaps by Woodward, and
published at the time of the peninsular war, when John WUH
buffering heavily from the buithen of taxation, represent* him a*
reduced to poverty which is accompanied by a great reduc-
632
THE WALCHEREN EXPEDITION.
tion of his personal appearance. He still, however, retains
his stick of good "Wellington oak." In this condition
he is accosted by the Frenchman, who exults in the belief
that his poverty has almost made him harmless: "By gar,
Monsieur Jean Bull, you var much alter, should not know
you var Jean ; I vas as big as you
now !" John is indignant at the insult :
" Why, look you, Mounseer Par-
leyvou, though I have got thinner
myself, I have a little sprig of oak
in my hand that 's as strong as ever ;
and if you give me any of your palaver,
I'll be d d if you shan't feel the
weight of it."
The Walcheren expedition had the
almost immediate effect of breaking up ,
or at least of dividing, the cabinet.
Some of the ministers, among whom
was Canning, had been from the first
opposed to the expedition, which seems
to have been a plan of the King's, and
Canning and Castlereagh are said to have
been personally jealous of each other
JOHN BULL BATHEB THIN. f orm th e fi rs t. The disagreement
between them at length broke out into an open quarrel,
and the two ministers fought a duel on Putney Heath, on the
2ist of September, 1809, in which Canning was wounded. This
was immediately followed by their resignation, as well as by that
of the Duke of Portland, and other members of the administra-
tion. Mr. Perceval and Lord Liverpool remained, who made an
ineffectual attempt to form a coalition with Lord Grenville and
the Whigs. At length the Marquess of Wellesley agreed to take
Canning's place of secretary of state for foreign affairs, Mr.
Perceval took the Duke of Portland's place of president of the
council along with his own, Lord Liverpool took the place of
Lord Castlereagh as secretary of war, and the Hon. E. Ryder was
appointed home secretary.
The disastrous results of the Walcheren expedition contributed
towards an event of much greater moment than this change in
the ministry. The King, whose measure it was, and at whose
particular desire the appointment of the inefficient Lord Chatham
as commander was made, is said never to have ceased brooding
over it ; and this, with other political annoyances, added to
domestic affliction, brought on, at the end of October, 1810, a
DECLINE OF NAPOLEON.
$33
new attack of insanity, from which he never recovered. The
Parliament met on the ist of November under the same embar-
rassing circumstances as in 1788, and a bill of regency was now
brought in and passed, modelled upon that brought forward by
William Pitt on the former occasion, except that, as the hopes of
the King's recovery were now much more faint, the restrictions
were made only temporary. On the 8th of February, 1811, the
Prince of Wales was formally installed as Prince Regent. This
event produced on the whole less sensation than might have been
A FALLEN HERO.
expected, certainly much less than it would have done when Pitt
and Fox were alive and in their vigour.
Contrary to people's expectations, the
regent retained the ministers whom
he found in office, and he afterwards -o
separated himself from the Whigs. "
The successes of the peninsular ^2
war were now filling the country
with exultation, and caricatures
against the French and against Na-
poleon were becoming more numerous
than ever. Burlesques on their de-
feats spared not the fallen foe, and
even a dead Frenchman had some-
thing about him to provoke a laugh.
The specimen here given is taken
from a caricature published on the
loth of July, 1813, under the title
of " A Scene after the battle of Vit-
toria ; or, more Trophies for White-
hall." The Russian campaign, and
the disastrous retreat, were still more
fertile in subjects for satire and axurrwo our.
burlesque. Jack Frost and his mer-
ciless allies, the Cossacks, are represented taking their revenge
NAPOLEON IN ELBA.
on the invader in every possible manner. In one by George
Cruikshank, published on the rst of May, 1814, the commander
of the latter is represented very unceremoniously "snuffing out
Boney." Gruikshank was the great caricaturist of this period.
The English had now fought their way through Spain, and
entered the French territory on the south, while the allies
advanced on all sides upon Paris from the north, and they entered
the French capital in triumph on the last day of March. Among
the numerous caricatures celebrating these events, one, published
on the pth of April, represents " Blucher the brave extracting the
groan of abdication from the Corsican Bloodhound." The abdica-
tion and the departure for Elba, were celebrated with a mass of
pictorial exultation. The caricatures of this period appear under
such titles as " Bloody Boney the carcass-butcher left off trade
and retiring to Scarecrow Island ;" "The
Eogue's March," exhibiting the impe-
rial culprit drummed out of his kingdom,
while the kings of Europe are shewing
their joy by dancing round a political
May-pole ; " A grand Mauoauvre ; or,
the Eogue's March to the Island of
Elba," in which the tyrant is represented
as undergoing still greater indignities.
One of these is an excellent specimen of
Rowlandson's vulgarity of style. It was
published on the 25th of April, 1814,
and is entitled " Nap dreading his doleful
doom ; or, his grand entry into the Isle
of Elba." The exile has just landed,
and receives no great encouragement in
the coarse physiognomy and manners of
the inhabitants, who rush from the hills
in crowds to .welcome him. With any-
thing but joy in his countenance, he exclaims, " Ah ! woe is me !
seeing what I have and seeing what I see !" A beauty of the
island offers him consolation in the shape of a pipe " Come, cheer
up, my little Nicky, I'll be your empress." It was soon found
that the deposed emperor had not yet laid aside his ambition.
Little less than a year had elapsed, when he left the narrow
limits of his island, reappeared in France, and entered Paris in
triumph. Europe again resounded with the din of war ; but the
end of Buonaparte's career was now fast approaching ; for, after
a short and uneasy reign of a hundred days, the great and deci-
sive battle of Waterloo consigned him to the prison of St.
Helena.
A DOG CAUGHT.
UNPOPULARITY OF THE REGENT. 635
We will only allude briefly to the subsequent history. The
Prince-Regent had already rendered himself extremely un-
popular at home by his selfish love of indulgence, by his ex-
travagance, and, above all, by his treatment of his wife. When
A BECEFTION AT KLBA.
tne Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia visited this
country, after the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, numer-
ous caricatures, songs, and squibs contrasted the soberness and
activity of the foreign monarchs with the voluptuous life of the
English prince :
* There be princes three,
Two of them come from a far countrie,
And for valour and prudence their names shall be
Enrol'd in the annals of glorie :
The third is said at a bottle to be
More than a match for his whole armie,
And fonder of fur caps and fripperie
Than any recorded in storie.
Those from the North great Warriors be,
And warriors they have in their companie,
Who have humbled the pride of an enemie,
Their rival in valour and glorie :
But he of the South must stare to see
Himself in such goodly companie ;
For to say what his usual consorts lx>.
Would make but a pitiful stone.
636 TAXATION AND REFORM.
People's minds were now left at liberty to contemplate tlie
condition of the country at home, and they began to be more
and more alarmed at the fearful weight of taxation with which
it was burthened. Increasing dissatisfaction and distress pro-
duced louder cries, and the financial sins of ministers were visited
with caricatures and satires, as well as with the severer com-
ments of radical journals and pamphlets. The tax on soap in
1816, is celebrated in a caricature, published on the 2ist of June,
representing a scene in a wash-house, where the merry figure of
A MIN1STEB IN THE SUDS.
the minister, Vansittart, issues from a tub of suds, to the great
astonishment of the washerwoman : " Here am I, Betty ; how
are you off for soap ?" " Lord, Mr. Vansittart ! who could have
thought of seeing you in the washing-tub."
The English government persisted in the old traditional no-
movement policy of William Pitt, when all the excitement
which supported him in that policy had long died away ; and
they went on increasing the general discontent by a still more
rigorous system of resistance to popular complaints and by an
increase of political prosecutions. The period of the regency
was one of national distress and national troubles. It abounded
in caricatures, and in political satires and libels ; indeed, it is
enough to say that it was the age of William Hone. It was
the age of Burdett and Cobbett, of Hunt and radical reformers
and riots. Hunt, the hero of Manchester and Smithfield, was now
taking the place in mob popularity which had before been held
by Burdett. A caricature, published in July, 1819, entitled,
" The Smithfield Parliament ; i. e. universal suffrage the new
speaker addressing the members," represents Hunt with the
head of an ass, mounted on a cart, and addressing an immense
COSTUME.
6 37
A BADICAL.
assemblage of cattle, sheep, pigs, donkeys, and other equally
sapient animals, "I shall be ambi-
tious, indeed, if I thought my bray
would be heard by the immense and
respectable multitude I have the
honour to address." The animals
applaud with a mingled murmur of
voices, " hear ! hear ! bravo !"
The peace commences a new era in
English history. Within the few
years immediately preceding and fol-
lowing it, English society went
through a remarkably rapid change ;
a change, as far as we can see, of a
decidedly favourable kind. In social
condition and character, public senti
ment and public morals, literature, and
science, were all improved. As the vio-
lent internal agitation of the country
during the regency increased the num-
ber of political caricatures and satirical writings, so the succes-
sion of fashions, varying in extra-
vagance, which characterized the
same period, produced a greater
number of caricatures on dress
and on fashionable manners, than
had been seen at any previous
period. During the first twelve or
fifteen years of the present century,
the general character of the cos-
tume appears not to have under-
gone any great change. The two
figures here given, which represent
the mode in 1810, may be com-
pared with those of 1803, given on
a former page. The principal dif-
ference consists in the change of
the wide cravat, for a very large
shirt collar, in the gentleman ; and,
in the lady, the excess of covering
to her person. Between cap, bonnet,
collar, and frill, even their laces are
nearly concealed ; and it is probably
for this reason that they are termed in the original nriu'.
" invisibles."
6. 3 8
THE DANDIES.
A few years later the fashionable costume furnished an
extraordinary contrast with that just represented. The waist
was again shortened, as well as the frock and petticoat, and,
instead of concealment, it seemed to be the aim of the
ladies to exhibit to view as much of the body as possible. The
fops of 1819 and 1820 received the
name of dandies, the ladies that of
dandizettes. The accompanying cut is
from a rather broadly caricatured print
of a dandizette of the year 1819. It
must be considered only as a type of
the general character of the foppish
costume of the period ; for in no time
was there ever such a variety of forms
in the dresses of both sexes as at the
period alluded to. I give, with the
same reservation, a figure of a dandy,
from a caricature of the same year.
The number of caricatures on the
dandies and dandizettes, and on their
fopperies and follies, during the years
1819, 1820, and 1821, was perfectly
astonishing.
A new mania also came to take the
place of the old rage for balloons it
was the mania for hobby-horses. For two or three years it
might literally be said that every man had his hobby. Hobby-
horses figured in the parks, and were to be seen in every road,
not only round London, but near most large towns in the
country, whither this fashion was carried. Dandies, or not
dandies, all were infected with this strange mania, which fur-
nished matter for caricature upon caricature in great abundance.
In these, the hobby mania was often applied politically, and
all colours, and parties, and ranks, whether prince or minister,
Tory or Radical were made to ride their hobbies in one way
or other. The cut with which we close the volume is taken
from a caricature published on the 8th of April, 1819, and
represents the military episcopal Duke of York he was com-
mander-in-chiefand prince-bishop of Osnaburg riding his hobby
for economy, on the road to Windsor. It was a period at which
the outcry against the extravagance of the civil list in which
the duke partook largely was particularly loud and violent.
John Bull, who is somewhat astonished at the figure cut by
the royal hobby-rider, and his boasts of economy, exclaimt,
" Dang it, mister bishop, thee art saving, indeed ; thee used so
A DANDIZETTE.
SOBBY-nOESES. 639
ride in a coach and six, now I pay thee 10,000 a-year more,
A DANDY.
thee art riding a wooden horse for all the world like a gate-post !'
A KOTAL DUKK AND HIS HOBBT.
Trivialities like these close one of the moet extraordinary
periods of our history.
rirr END.
SATILL, EDWARD? AND CO., PRINTERS, CHANDOS 8TKEBT,
COVKNT GAKDKN
College
Library
DA
480
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001 005 850 1