YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

CARICATURE HISTORY

THE GEORGES.

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George Ul, aud Bonaparte

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CARICATURE HISTORY OF
THE GEORGES OR
ANNALS OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER
COMPILED FROM SQUIBS, BROADSIDES, -WINDOW PICTURES,
LAMPOONS, AND PICTORIAL CARICATURES
OF THE TIME

THOMAS WRIGHT, F.S.A.

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS
1898

0 44^5
WR6" 1 1>^%

PREFACE.

The application of spng, and satire, and picture to politics,
is a thing of no modern date; for we trace it more' or less
among every people witb wbose history we have much ac
quaintance. Caricatures have been found in Egyptian tombs.
Tbe song and the lampoon were the constant attendants on,
and incentives in, those incessant political struggles which,
during tbe middle ages, were preparing for tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe
masses. In tbe rapid and temporary movements of political
strife, this weapon could not be adopted witb 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 tbe 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 PBEFACE.
documents, — for in them, perhaps, alone can we hope to trace
many of tbe real motives whicb caused or exerted an influence
over- all tbe great popular revolutions of tbe 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 tbe first three Georges. It is to us an interest
ing period, because in it arose all those distinctions of political
parties, and tbat peculiar spirit of constitutional antagonism,
which exist at the present day. Witb it most of tbe poli
tical questions now in dispute took tbeir rise. It consists
in itself of two periods ; the first, tbat in which the House ot
Brunswick was established on tbe throne of England upon tbe
ruin of Jacobitism, and by the overthrow of the political creed
of despotism ; the second, that in which tbe same dynasty and
its throne were defended against the encroachments of that
fearful flood of republicanism whicb burst out from a neigh
bouring kingdom, aud 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 tbe Whigs ; in tbe second, it was
in all probability saved, perhaps not altogether designedly, by
tbe 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 wbich it
is founded.This was tbe 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-
*5ea bubble, the majority of them came from Holland. It was

FEE FACE. vii
a defect of tbe 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, wbo were actively engaged in tbe political in
trigues of tbe 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. Tbe
plan adopted has been to use caricatures and satires in the same
manner tbat other historical illustrations are commonly used,
by extracting from them tbe 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 bad to contend witb the difficulties of
labouring in so extensive a field, where nobody bad previously
cleared tbe way. These difficulties were, indeed, much greater
tban I foresaw, for no public collections of caricatures, or of
political tracts or papers, exist. The poverty of our great
national establishment, tbe British Museum, in works of this
class, is deplorable. As far as regards caricatures, 1 bad fortu
nately obtained access to several very extensive private coUec.
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 PBEFACE.
although tbe time is not yet past when sucb a collection migbt
be made witb considerable success.
In conclusion, I will merely add, that I have had to deal with
a class of literature wbich is always more coarse than any other,
and during a period whicb 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 whicb 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 tbe blot of being more or less profane.
So far I bad written as a preface to the first edition of this
book, which appeared' in 1848. I have only to add that, for
this new edition, I have carefully revised the whole, and tbat
I have made corrections where they seemed to be called for. It"T
is further to be remarked tbat the title of this book having been
originally " England under the House of Hanover," it has been-—
judged desirable, for several reasons, to change it in the second
edition to tbat which it now bears — whicb, in fact, describes it
to the general reader more intelligibly, as well as more correctly ;
for it is, strictly speaking, tbe History, by Caricature and Poli
tical Satire, of the Eeigns of tbe Three Georges.

TaoMAS Weight.

Sydney-street, Sromptcm,
X>e6.1867.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
GEOBQE I.
STATE OP PARTIES AT THE END OF QUEEN ANNE'S REIGN — ^HIGH-CHURCH AND
DR. SACHEVERELL — ^ACCESSION OF GEORGE I.  POLITICAL SQDIES THAT
FOLLCW-ED  ^ATTACKS UPON THE EX-MTNISTBHS — ROBERT, THE POLITICAL
JUGGLER — AGITATIONS AT THE ELECTIONS — JACOBITISH POPULARITY OP
THE DUKE OF ORMOND — CARICATURES OF THE PRETENDER  JACOBITE
EIOTS AND THE RIOT ACT — ^FAILURE OF THE REBELLION AND EXULTATION
OF THE TTHIGS  HISTORY OF THE LONDON JACOBITE MOB — THE KING'S
DEPARTURE FOR HANOVER  pp. 1 — 34
CHAPTER II,
GEOROB r.
PARTY FEELING AFTER THE REBELLION  PREVALENCE OF HIGHWAY ROBBERY
 THE MOB — BISHOP HOADLT'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 
SUBBLE CARDS, AND STOCK-JOBBING CARDS — KNIGHT AND THE " SCREEN "
 ^ELECTIONS FOR A NEW PARLIAMENT  NEW EFFORTS IN FAVOUR OP THE
PRETBNDER — BISHOP ATTERBURY'S PLOT  pp. 35  6S
CHAPTER III.
SEOSQE I. AND n.
LITEHATimE DEBASED ET 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 FOR LICENS-
niO FLAYS — ^ATTACKS UPON POPE — MEW EDITION OF THE " DUNCIAD.''
pp. 66 — 9S

s CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV.
aEOBGE II.
SIR ROBERT WALPOLe'S ADMINISTRATION  PULTENET, BOLINGBROKE, AND THE
"PATRIOTS"  ACCESSION OP GEORGE H  THE CONGRESS OF SOISSONS 
PROSECUTION OF THE " CRAFTSMAN "  THE EXCISE — INCREASING ATTACKS
UPON WALPOLE — VIOLENCE IN THE ELECTIONS — THE GIN ACT — THE PRINCE
OF WALES LEADS THE OPPOSITION — FOREIGN POLICY ; WALPOLE AND CARDI
NAL FLEDRY  RENEWED ATTACKS UPON WALPOLE, AND DIMINUTION OP
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.
GEOKSE II.
MINISTERIAL CHANGES AND PROMOTIONS — UNPOPULARITY OF LORD BATH 
BATTLE OF DETTINGEN — ^NBW CHANGES, AND THE " BKOAD-BOTTOM "  THE
REBELLION OF '46, 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
PRDJOE OP WALES  pp. 143 — 177
CHAPTER VI.
GEOKGE II.
CHANGES IN THE ADMINISTRATION, AND INCIPIENT OPPOSITION  OLD INTEREST
AND NEW INTEREST— ELIZABETH CANNING  THE BILL FOR THE NATU
RALISATION OF THE JEWS — ELECTIONS ; HOGARTH'S PRINTS — DEATH OF MR.
PELHAM, AND CONSEQUENT CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY  WAR WITH FRANCE
 TRIAL OF ADMIRAL B-STNG  NEW CONVULSION IN THE MINISTRY, AND AC
CESSION OF WILLIAM PITT TO POWER — THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR — POPULAR
DISCONTENT ; BEER VerSUS GIN — CONQUEST OF CANADA  DEATH OF GEORGE
THE SECOND  pp. 178 — 216
CHAPTER VII.
GEOKGl II. AND III.
PROGRESS OF LITERATURE : MAGAZINES AND REVIEWS ; DE. HILL  THE EIIGN
OF PERTNESS — PREVALENCE OF QUACKERY AND CREDULITY: THE BOTTLE

CONTENTS. xi
CONJUROR; THE EARTHQUAKE; THE COCK LANE GHOST — THE STAGE AND
THE OPERA ; GARRICBi 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 MACCAEONIS  NEGLECT OF LTTERATURE, AND QUARRELS OF
AUTHORS : HOGARTH AND CHURCHILL ; SMOLLETT i JOHNSON ; CHATTER-
¦TOK  pp. 216—274
CHAPTER VIII.
GEOKGE 111.
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 PO-WER AS EARL OF CHATHAM  OUTLAWRY OF -WILKES ; THE
PELLORY  BUTE'S SECRET INFLUENCE ; HIS PUPPETS — -\VILKES AT BRENT
FORD, AND IN THE KING'S BENCH — -WILKES LORD MAYOR OF LONDON, AND
HIS SUBSEQUENT HISTORY ....... pp. 276 — 316
CHAPTER IX.
OEOHGK III.
VIOLENT POLITICAL AGITATION  THE NORTH ADMINISTRATION  THE FOXES —
REMONSTRANCES AND PETITIONS  THE BUTTON-MAKER  LIBERTY OF THE
PRESS — CARICATURES ON THE AMERICAN WAR — ^ADMCRAL KEPPEL  WAR
WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN  NO POPERY; THE LONDON RIOTS— ATTACKS ON
THE EARL OF BAND-WICH AND ON LORD NORTH ; THE POLITICAL WASHER
WOMAN — OVERTHROW OF LORD NORTH'S MINISTRY — RODNEY'S TRIUMPHS 
ROCKINGHAM AND SHELBURNE ADMINISTRATIONS — AMERICA pp. 316  362
CHAPTER X.
GEOBQE III.
OVERTHROW OF LORD SHELEURNE — THE COALITION — ATTACKS ON THE COALI
TION  FOX'S INDIA BILL — CARLO KHAN — ^BACK-STAIRS INFLUENCE  THE
INTERFERENCE OF THE KING, AND DISMISSAL OF THE MINISTRY  QUARREL
BETWEEN THE CROWN AND THE BOUSE OF COMMONS — ^WILLIAM PITT PRIME

i CONTENTS.
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 XI.
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 W-ALE8 ; ROYAL 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  437

CHAPTER XII.
GEOKGE III.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD — EFFECT OF THE REVOLUTION IN ENG
LAND — DESERTION FROM THE LIEERAX 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
GQ-VERNMENT MEASURES AFFECTING THE LIBERTY OP THE SUBJECT 
FOREIGN POLICY; WAR WITH FRANCE  pp. 438  489

CHAPTER Xin.
QEOKGE III.
CT.43IOnES FOR PEACE — MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES — POPULAH 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 lEELAND
 BUONAPARTE FIRST CONSUL. t . • t « . pp.490  632

CONTENTS. 3au
CHAPTER XIV.
QEOROK 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 OP
THE MASQUERADES  THE OPERA, AND ITS ABUSES  THE STAGE ; SHERIDAN,
KEMBLE, THE O. P. RIOTS  PRIVATE THEATRICALS ; WARGEAVE AND WYNN-
STAY; 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 SANSa  pp. 633  981
CHAPTER XV.
GEORGE III.
THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT — CHANGE OP MINISTRY — ^PEACE -WITH FRANCE —
NEW STEP IN BUONAPARTE'S AMBITION  RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES, AND
THREATENED INVASION — DEFENSIVE AGITATION; VOLUNTEERS; CARICA
TURES AND SONGS  EETDRN OF PITT TO POWER — ^BUONAPARTE EMPEROR —
TRAFALGAR — ^DEATHS OF PITT AND FOX  GENERAL ELECTION, WITH WARM
CONTESTS — THE SPANISH WAR  pp. 682 — 624
CHAPTER XVI.
QEOBGE ni. AND THE BEOENOT.
NEW PROSPECTS — STRUGGLES OF PARTIES; SIR PRANCIS EURDETT; JOHN BULL
IN ADMIRATION  THE REGENCY — THE WAR ; ELBA ; WATERLOO ; ST.
HELENA  ENGLAND AFTER THE PEACE i TAXATION AND REFORM ; THE
DANDIES AND THE HOBBY-HORSES  PP. .625 — 639

LIST OF FULL PAGE ENGRAVINGS.

PASS
OEDRGE m. AND BONAPARTE, AS TEE KINGS OF BROBDIQNAG AND LILLIPUT
To face the title.
THE MOTIOK  . . 128
CITY TRAINED BANDS  165
THE ELECTION^3ANVASSING POR VOTES  183
LE MALADE IMAGINATRE  221
SETTLING THE ODD TRICK  266
CABIO KHAN'S TRIUMPHAL ENTRY  373
THE POLITICAL BANDITTI .¦•¦.•«... 421
SMELLING OUT A BAT  462
TWO PAIR OP PORTRAITS ..••«..... 626
AN HUSH HOWL  >•.. 628
ABMED HEROES  •...••. 693
THE HAND-WRITING UPON THE WALL . . .  602

CARICATURE HISTORY

THE GEORGES.

CHAPTER I.
GEORGE 1.

State of Parties at the end of Queen Anne's Eeign — High-Church and
Dr. Saoheverell — Accession of George I. — Political Squibs that followed
— Attacks upon the ex- Ministers — Robert, the Political Jugglei- —
Agitation at the Elections — Jacobitis'n Popularity of the Duke of
Ormond — Caricatures of the Pretendei- — Jacobite Riots and the Riot
Act — Failure of the RebelUon and Exultation of the "Whigs — History of
the London Jacobite Mob — The King's Departure for Hanover.
IT was the 30th July, 1714, when a queen of England had
just sunk upon her deatb-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 tbe papers of the time, that, on
the morning of the 31st, when it was reported in London that
Anne was dead, the public funds immediately rose three or four
per cent., and that in tbe afternoon, when it was known tbat
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. Tbe Whigs, as the natural and stanch supporters of the
new state of things, had continued, with but slight interruptions,
to bold the reins of government, when they were at length
thrown out of power by the intrigues of the Bed-chamber in
1710, at a moment when tbey bad every reason to suppose
themselves strong in the confidence and sympathies of their
countrymen. The Tories, even when most moderate, were
3

3 PARTY VIOLENCE.
secret well-wishers to tbe 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 pubbc by personal abuse and calumny,
whicb were scattered abroad with the scurrilous licence of the
press that bad 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 wbich
we are speaking, which crept even into the more respectable
literature of the day. A Tory newspaper, the Fost-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 whicb the Common
wealth men had been stigmatized in the previous century : they
were a hj'pocritioal 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 ;
There's heresy, schism, and mild moderation.
That's still in tbe wrong for the good of the nation ;
There's Baptist, Sooinian, 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, mongi-el starvei-s and setters,
Till, dividing the spoil, tbey 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
tbe laity, and tbe 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 Hoadlj^, 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, bated everything like a Dissenter
with an intense spirit of persecution, and detested the Whigs
as munh for the protection they afforded thera, as for their
political creed. The Tory paper.s could hardlj' allude to a mis
fortune which had oeourred to a Dissenter without a sneer or a
joke. The JVeekly Fac/cet of November 12, 17 15, 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 tbe Church, wbich lost its dignity and its sacred character in
these unseemly disputes. The Whig pamphlets and songs pic
tured in broad colours the unsanctified lives of many of the
Church clergy, their venality and greediness ; and one song ends
with the taunt, that "Thoy 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 tlie
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, aud 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 Whiggisin 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 LB. 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 tlio 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. Tlie 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 bad 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-
Saoheverell was persecuted because he bad 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 wbich furnished a subject for caricatures.
Dean Kennett, in a pamphlet published in 17 14,* 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
tbe mob; among others a copper-plate, with a crown, mitre,
bible, and common prayer, as supported by the truly evano-elical
and apostolical, truly monarchical and episcopal, truly legal and
canonical, or truly Church of England fourteen," who had sup-
* The Wisdom of looking backwards, p. 13. Several ofthe 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. 5
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 "VVhigs and fanatics now strive to pull down
Tbe 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 tbe preacher arraign.
Sachev'rell, Sachev'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 tbe
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,
tbe song ends witb 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 ao 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 tbat there were many
songs of a far more violent, and even treasonable character,
which were sung about the streets, and only printed clandestinely.
Eew 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 tbe 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 ?
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 esteem !

6 CARICATURES OF SACHEVERELL.
We know the pretence, you for liberty bawl ;
But had vou your will, you'd destroy Chuich and all.
Then fiU, &o.
While the Phosnix stands up, and the Bow bells do ring.
Here's a health to Sachev'rell, and God bless thi Queen I"
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 fili'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 THEBB FALSE BEETHKEN.

of this time tbe Doctor is represented in the act of writing his
sermon, prompted on one side by the Pope and on the other by
the Devil, these three being the "i'alse- 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 iu the place of the Pope, and
the Devil flying o.way 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 tbe medal, which must have been dis
tributed in large quantities, having on one side the head of the
preacher surrounded by the words H. sach. d.d., while the
inscription on the reverse, is I'Iem 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 bim 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 tbe 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 tbe
possibility of Queen Anne being succeeded on the throne by the
Pretender. It was clearly witb this object that a cabal sought to displace
the Whig ministry. Plunder and mischief were a much greater
incitement tban 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 tbe pretended
offences of the older age of Presbyterian rule (for under tbe
tolerant governments of King William and Queen Anne they
bad 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 tbe 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 made
a large bonfire in the middle of Lincolu's-Iun Fields. They
* The caricatures here alluded (o will all be found in the collection of
Mr. Hawkins. The flgure of Dr. Sacheveiell was placed on a multitude of
different articles of ornament or use. Mr. C. Eoach 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 partyism 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,
as somewhat later they appear on playing-cards and on ladies' fans.

8 SACHEVERELL' 8 PROGRESS.
treated in the same manner other well-known meeting-bouses
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 tbey not met witb a vigorous re
sistance. No stop was put to their proceedings until it was
'eported 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, tbe High-Church party approved of
these proceedings, and justified them by referring to the attacks
on Popish chapels at the period of the Revolution. 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
tbe 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 tools."
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 Bohngbroke, 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 tbe succession of intrigues whicb ended
in the disgrace of the Earl of Oxford only three days before the
period mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. Bohng
broke, no-w at tbe height of his ambition, and less scrupulous
even than his former colleague, formed a ministry which could
be designed for no other purpose tban 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, 17 14, Queen Anne died. The plans of
the Jacobite ministry had, in the meantime, been entirely de
feated by the energetic activity of the Wliig nobles, and George I.
was proclaimed King of England without opposition. As
might naturally be expected, the new monarch threw himself
entirely into the hand.s of the Whigs. To them in a great
measure be owed his throne ; and he could not help looking
upon the Tories as the personal enemies of his family. This
treatment probably drove tbe 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
.ind political observations, three songs, under the title of "A
Hanover Garland," the third of which concludes with the
lines, — "Keep out, keep out Han — 's [Hanover' si line,
'Tis only J — s [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 lotb 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 tbey are lately damag'd with mum ; " and " Rules for
making a bad peace when an enemy is under one's power ; or,
tbe way to part with all rather than ask anything. Wrote by
a minister of state to Queen Dido, and dedicated to all fools and
ninnyhammers." Both these sarcastic allusions contained inti
mations of the desire, if not the design, of revenge.
In the moment of his success, Sa-cheverell is said to have

10 CARICATURE OF LORD OXFORD.
been flattered with the prospect of a bishopric ; but tbe only
preferment be eventually obtained was tbe good living_ of St.
Andrew's, Holborn, and he had long been looked upon with the
personal contempt be 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 -svas
some talk of ejecting the Doctor from his living ; and his name
was brought forward on one or tv?o 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 whicb tbey 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
bis 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 bis left hand, ready to execute what the Popish
religion dictates upon Protestants : on the other side a Soots
Highlander, some call him Gregg ; a pack upon bis 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
Vorphelin, 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. ii
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, Robert
Harley, Eai-1 of Oxford, one of whose creatures, a Scot named
Gregg, had been engaged in some unpatriotic intrigues during
the late ministry. The "widow aud 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 tbe different pamphlets in answer to it and in defence
of it, in whicb tbe character of the Lord Treasurer Oxford
(who, having been the principal mover in tbe Bed-cbamber
plots by which Marlborough and Godolphin had been over
thrown, was an object of especial odium among the ^Vbigs) 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 wbich the various intrigues by
which Harley and bis colleagues had
attained to power are told under
fictitious characters, in a manruBr
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, tbe 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
i. "i • il_ -D- f n „ <- KOEEET, THE POLITICAL JUGQLEB.
puppet-show in the Piazza ot Oovent '
Garden) exhibiting his puppets to
tbe world. " Well, gentlemen, you shan't be baulk'd. I'll bang

12 THE ISLE OF NOSES.
ou^ iiiy canvas too, and like my brother monster-mongerSj
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 sucb 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 witb 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 witb the French court] has swept away most
of our palates, and sunk our noses in the manner tbat you will
see, and that is one reason why tbe 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 ' Tray tor ! ' Upon which my friendly
Mucterian took to bis heels, and by that escap'd their fury. I
Bould 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 sawey 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 ofi'ensive 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, iu all
my life, I never heard the shape of a nose urged as treason
before. In short, these vile fiat-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, wbo -^'ere 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 tbe pen of the scurrilous publican-poet, Ned Ward.
Marlborough, who had sought quiet in voluntary exile, — the
high hooked-nose escaped from the fiat-noses, as Thomas Bur
nett has it, — returned immediately on the death of the Queen

ATTACKS ON MARLBOROUGH. 13
landed at Dover, and was conducted in triumph to London \)j a
long train of gentlemen in carriages and on horseback, on the
4tb 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
" ConMsting 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,
Tbat 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,
Cur.s'd enemies to kings and prelates.
Those champions of religious errors,
Looking as if the prince of terrors
Was coming with his dismal train
Tlo 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 bouses
of the City, for the merchants had placed their confidence in
the foreign policy of tbe Whigs. Ward, after speaking of the
"Low-Church city elders," says : —
"Next these, who, like to blazing stars.
Portend domestic feuds and wars,
Cume 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 fiU'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 tbe circumstances of the times, the Tories did not
* Alexanler 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.

24 STREET LIBELLERS.
venture, except in rare instances, to exhibit the extent of tbeir
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 'ivas returning lo
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
Loudon, and the Lord Mayor was compelled to seize upon many
of them, and throw them into the House of Correction. On
the i6th of November, an Order of Council appeared for the
suppression and punishment of " false and scandalous libels "
hawked about the streets ; and on the 24tb of the same month
another proclamation to the same purpose was made ; but the
object of these measures appears to have been but partially
eff'ected. 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 Marlborouo-h'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 oi the 27th of
May immediately' following, that " last Saturday" the grand
jury of the City of London " presented a seditious and scanda
lous paper, called ' Robin's last Shift, or Shift Shifted,' and the
singing of scandalous ballads about the streets, as a common
nuisance, tending to alienate tbe minds of the people ; and we
bear an order will be published to apprehend those 'who cry

ATTACKS ON THE DISSENTERS. ij
about or sing sucb scandalous papers. They have also presented
such as go about with wheelbarrows and dice, and make it their
practice to cheat people ; and sueh as go about streets to clean
shoes on 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 iu
tbeir 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 de'grading 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
witb universal applause at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Field.s.
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-bouse which bad 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 ahabaptist 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 day of the King's
coronation, the 210th of October, 1714. On the evening of that
day, the citizens of Bristol illuminated their windows, and made
bonfires in the streets, 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 pi-oclamation
against riot-5, issued on the 2nd 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 bis health as .King of England.
The elections which came o"n in January were carried on even
with more violence than those of 17 10 ; * but times were altered,
and the Whigs obtained an overpowering majority. It was 011
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
•lanuary 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 tbe 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,
aud exhorted the electors to flv to its aid.

tomb-

ELECTIONEEBING EXPENSES.
for a late Tory election in the West," in which
country the Tory interest was strongest : —

Imprimis, for bespeaking and collecting a mob
Item, for many suits of knots for their heads
For scores of huzza'-men ....
For roarers of the word " Church " .
For a set of "No Roundhead" roarers
For several gallons of Tory punch on church
stones ......
For a majority of clubs and brandy-bottles
For bell-ringers, fiddlers, and porters .
For a set of coffee-house praters
For extraordinary expense for cloths and lac'd
show days, to dazzle the mob
For Dissenters' damners ....
For demolishing two houses
For committing two riots ....
For secret encouragement to the rioters
For a dozen of perjury men
For packing and carriage paid to Gloucester
For breaking windows ....
For a gang of alderman-abusers
For a set of notorious lyars
For pot-ale ......
For law, and charges in the King's Bench .

'7

hats

part

Df the

£

s.

d.

-20

0

0

30

0

0

40

0

0

40

0

0

40

0

0

30

0

0

20

0

0

10

0

0

40

0

0

.¦JO

0

0

40

0

0

200

0

0

200

0

0

40

0

0

100

0

0

6°

0

0

20

0

0

40

0

0

.SO

0

0

100

0

0

300

0

0

1460

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 JVeekly Packet (a Tory paper)
of April 2, 1 7 15, 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 tbey had strictly imitated for more than
thirty years,) proceeded to the choice of a Speaker ; when those
tbat espouse the cause of tho 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 i and the Tories, after an obstinate resistance from the
c

1 8 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 whicb, 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 impeaohinent 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 characterized by all the bitterness
and scurrility of the party spirit of those days. Among tho
Whig writers, wbo made the greatest noise in their difi'erent
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, aud was made the butt
of several satirical tracts, the writer of one of which undertook to
prove that be 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, 17 16, we leain 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 marcbino-
through the streets of London, aud 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 aud 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 wei-e 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 tbat the tract in question, instead of
being a treasonable libel, was a bitter lampoon on their own
party; and Dunton aud his friends went to a noted Whig

SONG OF THE DUKE OF OSMOND. tg
"tavern in St. John's Lane, to laugh in tbeir sleeves and to drink
loyal toasts.
The history of tbe impeachments is well known : Bolingbroke
and Ormond fled to France, and openly joined tbe Pretender, and
they were accordingly attainted. Oxford was thrown into the
Tower ; but, after a wearisome imprisonment, be escaped without
further hurt. The result was advantageous, as far as it secured
tbe 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 Saohe
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 bis series of the " Harlot's Progress," Sacheve
rell's portrait was looked upon as a fit companion for tbat 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 whicb
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 Ken-t.
"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,
All for being so loyal to Queen Anne the great.
Cfloaus — 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
stone. 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 i84i,fi-om themouthof an itinerant fishm-inger in the Isle of
Wight, who knew no more about it than that it had been sung by his I'atuer
c 2

20 SATIRES ON THE PRETENDER.
"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;
You 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 iu her grave ;
But I was Queen Anne's darling, and my country's delight,
And for the crown of England so boldly I did figljt.'
And sing, Hey, ho, ho, &0.
" ' Begone, then,' says Ormond, 'you cowardly creature,
Tu 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, ho, &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 tbe minds of tbe 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 tbe 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 witb 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- ,
poster. 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 sun-j- at the
harvest-homes iu the Isle of Wight.

CARICATURES OF THE PRETENDER.

21

veyed into tbe 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 loarming-pan figures repeatedly in
the satirical literature of the day. The birth of the Pretender
bad been the subject of a number ot 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

THE CATUOLIC FAMILT.
is represented sitting by the cradle, while her Jesuit adviser
whispers her in the ear, witb bis hand over her neck in a familiar
manner, whicb might at least be designated as tin peu leste. It
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. mucli
larger caricature, executed in
Holland, represents the child in
its cradle as here, with tbe wind
mill also, but accompanied by
its two mothers and the Jesuit,
while tbe picture is filled witb
a host of princes, diplomatists,
ecclesiastics,&c., looking on with
astonishment. It bears the title
" L'Europe aUarmee pour la

TBUTH EXPOSING THE SEOBET.

22 HIGH-CHURCH RIOTS 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 tbe symbol of Romanism)
in bis rigbt hand ; but Truth, crushing a serpent with ber foot,
opens the door of a cupboard or chest under tbe cushion, in
which we see Father Petre pushing tbe child up through tbe
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 whicb they had been visited
in 1 7 10, and they bore it in general with exemplary moderation.
On the 23rd of April, I7i_5, the anniversary of the birthday of
Queen Anne, the London mob began to assemble towards even
ing at the conduit on Snow Hill, where tbey 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 I 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 agth of
April was the Duke of Ormond's birthday, and tbat night tbe
streets of London were the scene of new riots and outrages.
On the night of Saturday, May 28 (the King's birthday), aud
on the Sunday night, the 29th (the anniversary of the Restora
tion), the mob committed great outrages in different parts of
London, and dangerously wounded some of the constables and
watch. They burnt the efligies of the chief Dissenting ministers,
shouted ' High Church and Ormond !" and publicly drunk the
Pretender's health iu 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 tbe same sul ject, are iu 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' ch.ipel 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 tbe town for several days ; they destroyed all the Dis
senters' chapels, thi-ew open the prison, drunk the Pretenders'
health, aud committed many outrages. There was near the
¦same time a J;ieobite riot ar LcoJs in Y"orkshii-e. A troop of
fokliers were sent to Manchester, and tbe !Mayor of Leeds, who
was accused of connivance, was bro-,:ight to L-mdon in the cus
tody of a king's messenger. Y'et in July this spirit had become
still more general, and had spread especially through Stall'orJ-
shire, Shropshire, and Cheshire. Very serious tumults occurred
at ^rolverhampton, Warrington, Shrewsbury, Stad'ord, Xew-
eastle-under-Line, Litchfield, West-Bromwich, and many other
places. The meeting-houses of the Dissenters were everywhere
destroyed ; cowardly outrages were comraitted, and in some
pdaees sanguinary combats ended in loss of life. ^Vheu the mob
was pulling down the meeting-bouse at Wolverhampton, one of
their leadei-s mounted on the roof', flourished his hat round his
head, and shouted, "'  King George and the Duke of Marl
borough !' At Shrewsbury, wi-.ere tbe old cry of " High Church
and Dr. Sacheverell I' was raised, a justice of the peace aud a
substantial tradesman were convicted of being ringleadei-s of the
mob. .-^.t 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 I" aud " No George !" and tbe Pre
tender's health was said to have been drunk iu some of the
colleges. These tumults called forth the Eiot .lot, still in force, whicb
was passed in tbe month of June, and wbich. by making
the offence felony, and obliging the eity or hundred to make
goc-d the damages committed, did much towards restoring
orJ;or ; but more, perhaps, was done by the wholesale severity
shewn towards the rioters in the trials that follow-ed shortly
after. A newspaper of the 2nd of September tells us. that
'¦ tbe judges- have behaved very bravely." With a view to
other events, whicb were now literally casting their shadovr
before them, troops of horse were quartered in sever.il of the
towns wbich had shewn themselves most disafteeted.
We cannot at the present day feel otherwise than astonished
at the facility with wbich these riots were carriei on, and

24 PLOTS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT.
tbe regular communication whicb 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 lo,
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 tbe 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 tbus goaded it forwards towards tbe
meeting-bouse door. Tbe 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 kiUed and severely
injured several of the congregation. '
These systematic riots were intimately connected with plots
of a more serious character, with whicb the Government be
came gradually acquainted during tbe summer months ; and
these discoveries upon whicb many persons of distinction were
placed in custody, had a further effect in hastening the com
mencement of the rebellion, while tbey 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," pubbsbed on the 20th of August, intimates
the suspicion, that be was preparing to fly into France to
join the Pretender.

SATIRES ON THE JACOBITES. 2^
"The knight of such fire
From S — tshii-e.
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 Constantine Phipps, tbe Jacobite ex-Chancellor of Ireland,
wbo bad 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 wbo bad 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, n
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 1712.

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,
Th(-ir 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, tbe
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 fill la la la, &o."
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 : —
" 'Tvvas when the seas were roaring
With blasts of northern wind,
Young Perkin lay deploring
On warming-pan reclin'd :
Wide o'er ti-e roaring billows
He cast a dismal look,
And shi%'er'd bke the willows
That tremble o'er the brook."
The_ Tories at the same time appeared discomfited even
ill 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 Roper* now
*> The Post Boy, a Toi-y newspaper,

EXULTATION OF THE TVHIGS. 27
grows modest and tender-conscienced. Drunken P  tis is
wretchedly dull in his Jacobite Packet,* and there are thoughts
of dismissing bim from tbe service. Whig papers and
pamphlets are only in demand, and the booksellers who engaged
in hereditary right are just a breaking. The Examinerf has
spent himself quite, and would give five shillings apiece for
political lyes, and three shillings for a probable reflection upon
tbe present ministry." The Tories in general made their peace
with the powers that were, by taking tbe oath of allegiance :
and tbe Daily Courant of November 30, i7i.5' contains the
following advertisement of a caricature on this subject, of whicb
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 Foui'pence."
Amid the uneasiness and alarm wbich prevailed through
out the country, tbe 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 bad gained there in the spring,
and which they seem to have kept undisturbed during tbe
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 tbe mischief to whicb tbey might
have led.
Amid tbe political excitement of tbe 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 iu 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, wbo met there on certain occasions to cele
brate memorable anniversaries. Two of the oldest Whig bouses
* 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
17 16 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 chiefiy about Holborn Hill
(Dr. Sacheverell's parish) and Ludgate Street. The Whig
societies who frequented the mug-houses began in the autumn
of 1 7 15 to unite in parties to fight the Jacobite mob which
had so long tyrannised over the streets, and tbey were probably
joined on such occasions by a number of others, who, like tho
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 30th of October, was celebrated on
Monday the 31st. 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 tbey 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 tbe Roebuck to celebrate King
William's birthday, and who were therefore close at band", these
gentlemen hastened to the spot, and " gave tbe Jacks* due
chastisement with oaken plants, demolished tbeir .bonfire, and
brought off tbe effigies in triumph to tbe Roebuck." On the
morrow, tbe 5th of November, the Whig mob bad 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 tbe 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 tbe 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 Roebuck 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
psssed 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 pik-a up for their bonfire. They there
fore made a circuit of tbe city whilst a new bonfire was pre
pared, and on their return burnt all the effigies amid tbe shouts
of tbe crowd.
The enmity between the mob and tbe Loyal Society was em
bittered by these first encounters, and it soon came to a fierce
issue. On the 17th of November the Loyal Society met at the
Roebuck, to celebrate the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth.
The mob had 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, and 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 wbo 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 tbe sign, pro
ceeded to burst open tbe 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, aii-d
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 wbo was killed returned a
verdict that he was slain, while in open riot and rebellion, by
somo one who had fired in self-defence. On subsequent nights
the Roebuck 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 tbe riotous conduct of tbe
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 tbe use of the loj-al gentry wbo fre
quented them, and well suited to keep up the popular excite
ment. One of these gives the following description of tbe mob,
and shows tbat 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 I silly boys !
For all the mighty noise
Of their ' High Church and Ormond for ever !'
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
tbe 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 tbe 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 piyself I speak alone :
There is my wife, — 'tis true, she is but one,
But, fegs I she'll play her part against the tyler's son,"

MUG-HOUSE SONGS. ,15 1
Several of these addresses will be found iu tbe mug-bouse song-
books. One of these festivals is thus announced in the Flying
Post of April 12, 17 16: — "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 tbe 12th 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 21st of
April the same paper prints this " prologue," with the following
editorial remark : — " The following is inserted at tbe request of
several honest gentlemen, who are hearty well-wishers to thoso
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 tbe 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 boles.
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 bead-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 tbe old cry of " High Ciiurcb
and Ormond!" and marched along Cheapside to the well-known
mug-bouse, where a party of the Loyal Society were met " for
the defence of tbe 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 tbeir 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 tbe mob had been collecting
in greater strength in their rear in Newgate Street, where a
great fight took place, in whicb the Whigs were again victorious,

32 MUG-HOUSE RIOTS.
after having, to use the words of tbe newspaper account, " made
rare work for the surgeons." The conquerors returned direct to
the Roebuck, shouting "King George!" as they went, and
there spent tbe greater part of the night in drinking loyal
toasts. The next very serious tumult occurred on tbe 23 rd 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 tbey made
a circuit into tbe city and returned again to the Roebuck with
out meeting with any opponents. But they bad hardly settled
tbemselves 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 tbey
returned to their quarters with a pile of captured hats and
sticks as trophies.
- A n anniversary was now approaching which bad always been
celebrated with tumults, and such preparations appear to have
been made for the present occasion, as shewed tbat tbe mob did
not act solely by their own impulse. On the 29th of May, the
anniversary of the Restoration of Charles IL, 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 tbe " 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 bell
had broke loose. They bad gathered together all tbe blackguard
boys, wheelbarrow-men, and ballad-singers, and knocked down

MUG-HOUSE RIOTS. 33
people tbat did not carry tbeir badges." They were, however,
"soundly thresb'd " by the societies which met at the two mug-
houses they bad threatened ; and a party of horse guards, which
just then arrived and patrolled the streets during the night, put
an end to the disturbance. Y'^et on the loth of June, the birth
day of the Pretender, there were greater riots than ever, and the
Loyal Society had to bring their whole force to the struggle. A
Roebuck correspondent of tbe Flying Post writes some days
after, " You omitted to take notice, tbat, on the loth of June,
several Whigs of the Loyal Society at the Roebuck, having fur-
nish'd themselves with little loarming-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 tbe Roebuck in the public
prints, although it had hitherto eclipsed the.^farae of the other
houses. But thoy also had been engaged witb their respective
mobs, especially the mug-bouse in Southwark, and that in Salis
bury Court. On tbe 12th of July following the last-mentioned
exploit of the Roebuck heroes, a mob, armed with clubs,
assembled 111 Southwark, with shouts of " High Church and
Ormond!" " Down with the mug-houses!" and, attacking the
mug-bouse there, broke the shutters and windows. 'J'he society
within, bowever rushed out, and drove them away. A week
after this, on Friday, the 20th of July, the London mob, which,
we are told, had " strangely " increased since the King's de
parture for Hanover, made a desperate attack on 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, tbey succeeded in driving away the assailants.
A second attack was, bowever, made by a m.uoh 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 tbe house.. Instead of falling back, the mob
rushed towards bim with clubs and sticks, whereupon he fired
and shot their ringleader dead. The mob, rendered still more
furious, threw tbemselves upon Read, and left him to appearance
lifeless: and then broke down the sign, entirely gutted tbe
lower part of the bouse, drank as much ale in the cellar as they
could, and let the rest run out. The magistrates and soldiers
D

34 PERSONAL LIBELS ON THE KING.
arrived about mid-day, and dispersed the mob, though not till a
soldier and some other persons bad been severely injured in the
fray. The Loyal Society, who had barricaded tbemselves in the
upper part of the house, were thus relieved from tbeir unpleasant
position. The inquest gave a verdict of wilful murder against
Read, and be was brought to trial, but acquitted, and tbe
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 witb
out mercy. This event appears to have thrown a flnal damp
upon the spirits of tbe 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 whicb were thus hawked about
tbe streets ; but to judge from what is preserved in some of the
earljr 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, iu his Reminiscences, assures us
that nothing could be grosser than tbe 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.

35

CI-IAPTER II.
GEORGE L
Party Feeling after the Rebellion — Prevalence of Highw.iy Robbery — The
Mob — Bishop Hoadly's Sermon, and CoUey Gibber's "Non-Juror" —
The French Mississippi Scheme — The South Sea Bubble — Sudden Mul
tiplication of Stock .lobbing Bubbles — Fall of '.he " Paper Kin^ " Law —
The South Sea Ballad.i — South Sea Caricat-ires — Bubble Cards, and
Stock-Jobbing Cards — Knight and tbe " Screen " — Election^ for a New
Parliament — New Efforts in favour of the Pretender — Bishop Atter-
bury's Plot.
THE hasty and ill-advised and ill-conducted Rebellion of 17 1 5
had effectually strengthened the power of tbe Whig- party, and
bad shewn to all reasonable and thinking persons bow little was
to be expected from a person deficient in courage and in capacity
as tbe Pretender bad 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 bej'ond the
limits of moderation, although the Tory press came iu for much
inore than an equal share of punishment. Restrair.ed, indeed,
from any more effectual method of showing their bostility,
except in an occasional duel or riot, the languavs of the
opposition became more violent and scurrilous ; .?nd tne lowest
and most trivial occurrences were greedily sei",cd upon as an
opportijinity 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 be"n banged for the
murder. Some of tbe Tory papers stated that the offenders
had been members of one of the Whig societies which met at the
taverns, or, as they were now familiarly torraed " Muggites."
The Whig newswriters indignantly repelled this accusation, and,
D 2

36 BITTERNESS OF PARTYISM.
in revenge, declared that they were both known to be notorious
Tories, or "Jacks." On tbe 4tb of January, 1718, Read's
Weekly Journal (a violent Whig paper) tells us, that, " Last
Thursday morning, a woman we suppose High Gliureh, coming
out of a Geneva shop in Red-Cross Street, fell down, .and
within some few minutes departed this mortal life for another."
The latter part of the phrase is an example of the loose style of
writing which distinguishes tbe 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 Whig
clergyman was stated to have refused to bury a man wbo died
an " impenitent Tory." This bitterness of party feeling was
often shewn in practical jokes. Read's Weekly Journal of
June 15, 1 7 17, says, "Last Monday being suppos'd to be
the birthday of the sovereign of tbe 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 comjianions of that
order, and all the other Jacks, to see their sovereign so mal
treated in the person of his representative."
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 tbe
streets of London, even by daylight ; housebreaking was of
frequent occurrence by night ; and every road leading to the
metropolis was beset by bands of reckless highwaymen, who
carried their depredations into the very heart of the town.
Respectable women could not venture in tbe streets alone after
nightfall, even in the city, without risk of being grossly
outraged. In the b,*ginning of 1720, we learn from the papers
that ladies of ojndition, when they went out in tbeir 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, tbat the newspapers
of that time give a very imperfect and incomplete report
of sucb occurrences. We begin witb —
Wednesday, January 20, on the night of wbich day five
highwaymen robbed a man, coming to London, near Stratford,
Thursday, 21. — About five o'clock in the evening, tbe 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 bis 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 lanthorn
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 iu her chair, was stopped by three high
waymen well mounted between Bond Street and tbe New
Building, Saturday, 23. — A man was attacked at night by highwaymen
in Chiswell Street, The same night a house near Bisbopsgate
was broken into, and a man murdered,
Sunday, 24. — At eight o'clock in tbe 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 bis house at Canons, he was
attacked by flve highwaymen, but his servants were too strong
for them. They bad already committed several robberies on tho
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 liank bills
inclosed in the letters. The same night an extensive robbery
was perpetrated at Acton, aud a booty of about two thousand
pounds taken.
On one day of this week a lady was stopped in ber chaise near

38 HIGHWAY ROBBERY ABOUT LONDON.
"Barolet" Street by highwaymen, and robbed of ber money,
jewels, and gold watch.
Saturday, 30. — A house in Bisbopsgate Street was broken
into. Sunday, 31. — A gentleman was robbed and murdered in
Bisbopsgate Street.
Monday, February i, — The Duke of Chandos, coming from
Canons, had another encounter with highwaymen, whom be
captured. Tuesday, 2.- — The post-boy was attacked by three highway
men in Tyburn Road, but the Duke of Chandos happening to
pass that way, came to bis 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 bis 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 tbe 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 higViwaymen mounted
and three on foot till they came to Denmark Street, St. Giles's,
where their coach was stopped, and they were rified 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
so 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 bis arm

THE MUG-HOUSES DISCOURAGED. 39
witb a pistol shot, as a warning of what be might expect if he
ventured to go again abroad at night witb so little money in his
pocket. On tbe 23rd of January, a proclamation came out,
offering a reward of a hundred pounds, in addition to the pre
vious inducements, for tbe capture of any highwayman within
five miles of London ; the main effect of wbich was to place con
siderable sums of money in the pockets of tbe 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 ;
imong them are mentioned a tradesman of good repute in
London, the valet of "a great duke," and the keeper of a
boxing-school. Tbe affair in Salisbury Court, meutioned in our last chapter,
damped considerably the spirits of the mob, although, for a time,
the war between tbe gentlemen ofthe 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-
bouses were tbemselves the chief provocations to these nightly
tumults. It appears tbat in tbe beginning of November, 17 17,
the society of the Roebuck had fought with the butchers, who
composed the most active part of the mobs of this period. On
the i6th of November, the Whig Weekly Journal has the fol
lowing paragraph : — " Whereas the author of the St. James's
Weekly Journal has rhost grossly scandalized tbe gentlemen of
the Roebuck Society in bis paper of last Saturday ; this is to
satisfie tbe world, that, before the aforesaid loyal body beat the
butchers of Newgate Market to tbeir heart's content, they
assaulted them first for expressing their joy for tbe birth of the
young Prince, on the 2nd of November last, as will be prov'd by
afSdavits 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 tbe less violent Whigs ; and nothing could be more
calculated to keep up the ill-feelings which were tearing society
to pieces, than tbe satirical processions that wore paraded
through London streets on every occasion that offered itself.
Several of these processions .were prepared on a very large scale
in 1717 and 1718, but tbey were forbidden by the authorities,
and tbe eflBgies were exhibited privately at tbe Roebuck, or were
made public only in printed descriptions. The Tories called
loudly for the suppression of tbe mug-houses themselves, and
several pamphlets ^br and against them appeared in the earlier
part of the year 171 7.

40 THE HOADLY CONTROVERSY.
In tbe mean time, High Church and Low Church continued
to wage unremitting warfare with each other. An unusually
violent controversy was raised in 1717, by two performances of
Bishop Hoadly of Bangor, a discourse and a sermon preached
before tbe King, in wbich be advocated tolerance and modera
tion towards those who differed in religious opinions, and con
demned persecution. The convocation of the clergy, whicb, up
to this period, had met at the same time as the Parliament, took
ujj the matter w-ith 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
piamphlets as were published during 17 17 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 — tbe
street mob, who only distinguished a Dissenters' chapel from a
ohuroh by the absence of the steeple. In the Fost-Boy of the
6th of June, 171 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 Bangor and Dr. Snape is fairly
stated and set in a true light. By Mr. Philips." In the midst
of this controversy, whicb 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 different 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 tbe "Tai-tuffe" of Mohei-e, 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 tbe comedy call'd the ' Non-Juror' was
acted at his Majesty's theatre in Drury Lane, whicb very natu
rally displaying the villany of that most wicked and abominable
crew, it gave great satisfaction to all the spectators." The

CIBBES'S,' NON- JUROR. 41
" Non-Juror" had in fact great success ; and the anger of the
extreme High-Churcb party was increased by tbe circumstances
that tbe prologue bad been written by the poet-laureat, Nicholas
Rowe, 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 bis permission for tbe printed edition to be dedicated
to himself, but rewarded the author witb a gratuity of two hun
dred pounds. Even this was enough to raise a war of pamphlets,
and a storm of newspaper scurrility fell upon poor Cibber. In a
pamphlet entitled " The Theatre Royal turn'd into a mounte
bank's stage ; in some remarks upon Mr. Cibber's quack-
dramatical performance, called the ' Non-Juror,' " the writer (it
professes to be written "by a Non- Juror ") complains bitterly
^ that tbe stage should be permitted to make a clergyman the
subject of ridicule, while tbe 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 worn-out charges of fanaticism and hypocrisy. Other
pamphleteers took part witb Cibber : one published " A Com
plete Key to the Play ;" and another gave " Some Cursory
Remarks" upon it, which conclude with tbe hope tbat the
writer would live " to see it as common in every bouse 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 17 1 7, 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 after the Midsummer of, 17 19, Mr. Law and the
Regent formed the project of extending the company very
largely, and then the shares rose still more rapidly, till, in a
short time, they reached twelve hundred per cent. It may be

42 LAW'S MISSISSIPPI SCHEME.
meutioned, as a proof of the wonderful confidence the French
placed in Law at this time, that the mere report of bis being
seized with a slight indisposition caused a sudden fall in tbe
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,
be was admitted ^into the Privy Council, and was appointed
Comptroller-General of the finances of France.
The success of this schetae in France provoked imitation in
England, where a chartered trading company, called the South
Sea Company, bad been established in 1711. The English
Ministry, in conjunction with Sir John Blunt, one of the lead
ing Soutb Sea directors, conceived the plan of making this com
pany pay off the national debt, whicb 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 tbe 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 witb consider
able opposition, especially from Sir Robert Walpole, who was
the most profound financier in tbe House, and was now out of
the ministry ; but the Soutb Sea bill was eventually carried by
considerable majorities, and received the royal assent on the 7th
ot April, 1720. The infatuation with whicb 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 tbe "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, ir xou 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 20th of February,
" Last week, at the masquerade in the Haymarket, appeared a
fine lady in a very odd comical dress ; she told tbe 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 wbich were to be expected from the
Soutb Sea project ; yet, before the month of April, tbe rage for
dealing in South Sea shares bad become so great, that the
dealers bad already become an object of ridicule on tbe 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, tbe 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 tbe sole business of all classes, and Whigs,
and Tories, aud 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 uew sail
cloth company not yet formed, were actually sold in Exchange
Alley, under tbe 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 other 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-ENGINE.
to propagate a larger breed of mules in England ;" " for fatten
ing of hogs." A clergyman proposed a company to discover
the land of Ophir, and monopolise the gold and silver which
ohat country was believed still to produce. It would be almost
impossible here to carry tbe ridiculous beyond what was repre
sented in matter of fact ; but there were some burlesque lists,
containing companies "for curing tbe gout," "for iusuring
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;
tbe 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 tbe 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, tbat, within two or three j-ears of the
date of which we are speaking, a veritable steam-engine was con
structed here, wbich 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, tb-at 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 ; tbe steam being com
pressed and condensed, moves by its evaporation and strikes a
counterpoise, whiidi counterpoise striking another, at last moves
a great beam, whicb 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 tbat are laid along the streets, and so continuing
to run through wooden pipes,* as far as Mary-bone fields, 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 witb that, and the little
_ '* Many of the wooden pipes here alluded to were, just before the publica
tion of the first edition of this book, taken up in excavations in Brook Street
Grosvenor Square, and in some other places along the line here described.

FIRST EFFECTS OF THE BUBBLES. 45
cbarge it was built and is kept with, and tbe 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,
whicb many of them expended in luxurious living and in reck
less profligacy. In the park those upstart gentlemen mixed in
their carriages witb the aristocracy of tbe land ; but they were
singled out as objects of insult and derision by the rabble, and
at first tbe " stock-jobbers' " carriages seldom appeared in tbe
*As the York Buildings Company's steam-engine appears not to have
attracted much notice in the woiks 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
first erection, with one or two other notices of it, taken from the journals of
the day.
in tbe autumn of 1 7 31, the supply of water to Mavy-le-bone was discon
tinued, and the use of the engine was consequently discontinued at the
same time. Read's Journal, in September 17,31, 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 Merry ; or the London Daily
Post, 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 tbat 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, made its proprie
tors, the York Buildings Company, lay aside the design ; and no doubt but
the inhabitants in its neigbbouihood are very glad of it ; for its working,
which was by sea-coal, was attended with so much smoak, that it not only
must pollute the air thereabouts, but spoil tbe 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' esprit. It is advertised as "published this day," price 6d., in the Daily
Cov/rant of December 14, 1725; but it is here reprinted from Scad's Weekly
Journal, of December i8, 1725.
" The York Buildings Dragons ; or, a full and true account of a most horrid
and barbarous murder intended to be committed next Monday, on the
bodies, goods, and name of the greatest part of his Majesty's liege sub
jects dwelling and inhabiting between Temple Bar in the East, and St.
James's in the West, and between Hungerford Market in the South, and
St. Mary-la-bone in the North, by a set of evil-minded persons, who do
assemble twice a week, to carry on their wicked purposes, in a private
room over a stable by the Tliames side, in a remote corner of the town.
" Now these conspirators have puchased two enormous dragons from the
deserts of Lybia of such monstrous size that the tail of one of 'em is a mile

46 FIRST EFFECTS OF THE BUBBLES.
streets witbout being mobbed. A newspaper of tbe 9tb 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 tbe sides
of tbeir  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 Siveden ; 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; aud 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 . A nd you know natural knowledge is so much encouraged, that such
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 glandmla pinealis to the very
extremities of the nostrils, wings, and tail.
"On Monday, therefore, the 20th 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 Welshman
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 tha
Thames water to the great reservoir there.

FIRST EFFECTS OF THE BUBBLES. 47
these doings, about tbe 20th of July, news arrived in London
tbat, on tbe preceding Wednesday, tbe 17th, Law had been in
sulted by tbe populace of Paris, who were only hindered from
destroying bis bouse in tbe Rue Quinquenpoix by the timely
arrival of the Swiss Guards; and that tbey had broken his
coach, beaten his coachman, and obliged bim 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 whicb 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 mortahty,
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 he occasioned by the Welshman, who will cry
'Boh !' to make the dragon drink, who immediately dipping his two heads
into the Thames, will suck out thence such a prodigious q-aantity of water,
that barges will never after be able to go through bridges ; the wharfs will
become useless from the Steel Yard to Millbank ; 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, tbat 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. Sappy 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 contri'vance, unless it be the link-boys, who will
be absolutely necessary to conduct people through the smoke.
"But the worst consequence of all, and which I almost dread to
relate, is, thii 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 efi[luvia out of the air, water, aud 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 fcetidooabbageous,
deaddogitious, deadcatitiouS, Fish-streethillious, Drurylanious, issueplaste-

48 FIRST EFFECTS OF THE BUBBLES.
themselves involved, and be was obliged to give way so far to tbe
general clamour as to resign his office of Comptroller of Finances.
in November he was entirely deserted by the Regent ; and, after
securing bis 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 o-reat shock was given by the jealousy of the Soutb Sea
Company, who procured wriiso^ scire facias to be issued against
some of the unauthorised bodies. The destruction of these ex
posed tbe fallacy of the whole, and recoiled almost immediately
on tbe larger company itself. By tbe end of September, South
Sea stock had sunk in value from 850 to 175 ; and thousands pf
families v/ere reduced at one blow to absolute beggary ; " some of
whom," to quote the words of a writer who lived at the time,
i-ious, excrementitious, and all common-shoi-eitious particles therein con
tained from time to time ; and having therewith filled his stomach, this
.itygious compound will pass the pylorus, and being carried along the
viscera by the peristaltic motion, wil'l 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 vfill 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 tbe desolate place. And if it should so happen,
that, by the violent motion of tbe beast, it should receive any wounds
in its tail, from every wound will issue with impetuosity rivers of this
abominable liquor, %\hich will inundate and vender impassable the streets,
drown all those that come within its vortex, aud 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 persons
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 Transubstantiation ; for, by
the mixture of Ceres and Neptune, {and what is the Popish Sost but bread
and water f) they have contrived a consigillated wafer, which turns paper
into money.
" Now to give my reader a little hope, before I quit this melancholy
tale, I 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 tbe issuing of the writs
of scire facias, people began to foresee the catastrophe, and some
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,"

"In London stands a fa-mous pile
And near tbat 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
Tlieir gestures and grimaces.
2.
"Here stars and garters do appear.
Among our lords the rabble ;
To buy and sell, to see and hear.
The Jews and Gen'dles squabble.
Here ci-afty 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-
" Longheads may thrive by sober rules,
Because they think, and drink not ;
E

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 Sou*-h Sea "Water,
And there they fish for golden frogs,
Not caring what comes a' ter.
S-
'"Tis said that alchemists of old
Could turn a brazen kettle,
Or leaden cistern, into gold, —
That )ble tempting metal ;
But if i„ Aeremay be allow'd
To bring in great and small things.
Our cunning Soutb Sea, like the gods.
Turns nothing into all tbings !
6.
"What need have we of Indian wealth,
Or commerce witb 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-
" O Britain, bless thy present state.
Thou only happy nation ;
So oddly rich, so madly great,
Since bubbles came in fashion !
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 blades.
Who've least consideration.
Grow rich apace ; whilst wiser heads
Are struck with admiration,
9-
"A race of men, who t' other day
Lay ciush'd beneath disasters.
And ni)W 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. t{i
lO.
" Five hundred millions, notes aud 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 ;
When all the riches that we boast
Consists in scraps of paper 1 "
From tbe month of October to the end of tbe year, songs,
and squibs, and pamphlets of-all descriptions, on the misfortunes
occasioned by tbe explosion of tbe bubble system, became ex
ceedingly numerous. Two dramatic pieces, " The Broken
Stock-jobbers," a farce, " as lately acted by bis 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 ladles, 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 whicb political
caricatures began to be common in England ; for they had be
fore been published at rare intervals, and partook so much of
tbe character of emblems, that they are not always very easy to
be understood. Read's Weekly Journal of November i, 17 18,
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 df 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 29th 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, wbich is still

52 CARICATURES ON THE BUBBLES.
not uncommon, under the title, " Het groote Tafereel der
Dwaasbeid " (The great 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 societj"-, are represented
acting the part of Atlas, each supporting a globe on his
shoulders. Law, the Atlas who supported the world of paper,
— I' Atlas actieux de papier, as be is termed in the French de
scription of the plate, — bears his globe but unsteadily, and is
obliged to call in Hercules to bis aid.

A MODERN ATL4S.
"Boi Atlas, -he ! pourquoi te fatiguer ainsi?
Permets qu'Hercule vienne, et te donne assistance,
Et t'aide '& 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'espfece si p^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 bave 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 thu
bubbles. These betray themselves sometimes by the costume.
A large wood-cut which represents the meeting of a King and a
nobleman in tbe court of a palace, attended by a crowd of
courtiers in tbe costume of the days of Henry IV. or Louis
XIII., is thus made to represent the crowding of the stock
jobbers to tbe Rue Quinquenpoix. In tbe same manner a large
plat;;, whicb seems originally to have been an allegorical repi'e-

CARICATURES ON THE BUBBLES.

.53

sentation of the battle between Carnival and Lent (a rather
popular subject at an earlier period), is here given under the
new title of " Tbe Battle between tbe good-living Bubble-lords
and approaching Poverty," {Stryd tuszen de smullende Bubbel-
Heeren en de aanstaande Armoede.')
The best of these caricatures is a large engraving by Picart,
wbich appears in tbe Dutch volume, witb explanations in
Frencb and Dutch, and which was re-engraved with English
descriptions and applications in London. It is a general satire
on the madness, which characterized tbe memorable year 1720.
" Qui," says tbe inscription, —
" Qui le croira ? qui I'efit jamais pens^ ?
Qu'en un si^cle si sage un systfeme insense
Fit du commerce un jeu de la Fortune ?
Et se jeu pernicieux,
Ensorcelaut jeunes et vieux,
PieiupUt tons les esprits d'uue yvresse commune."
Fortune is here driven in her car by Folly, the car being
drawn by the personifications of the pji-incipal companies who
began tbe pernicious trade of stock-jobbing, as the Mississippi,
represented with a wooden leg ; the South Sea, with a sore log,
and tbe 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 tbe car, and are represented
with foxes' tails, " to show their policy and cunning." Tho
spokes of the wheels are inscribed with the names of different
companies, wbich, as the car
moves forward, are alternately
up and down ; while books of
merchandise, crushed and torn
beneath them, represent tbe de
struction of trade and commerce.
In the clouds the Devil appears
making bubbles of soap, wbich
mingle with tho " actions " and
other things (good and bad)
that Fortune is distributing to
the crowd, "Those," it is ad
ded, "that will give tbemselves
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-

DOTIBLE BOBBEEIf.

54

CARICATURES ON THE BUBBLES.

thing to guess at !" In faCt there are a number of different
groups in the picture whicb 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 I"
We are well assured by the
writers of the time, that the
profligacy which followed this
mad gambling was almost in
credible. On tbe other side of
the picture is a group occu
pied in buying and selling
stock : the seller appears ea
ger for tbe 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 tbe 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 flll the three places of its final destination,--tbe
mad-house, tbe 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 witb tbe spacious hoop-petticoat
patches, and other extravagant fashions of the day,— a true
female exquisite of the year 1720.
The Post-Boy of October 20, 1720 contains an advertise-

TEANSSEE,

POLITICAL PLAYING-CARDS.

55

FOLLT TS THE GiEB OF 172O.

inent ofthe 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 ofthe ' Soutb Sea Bal- ¦
lad,' and tbe ' Tippbng Phi
losopher.'" In the We-ekly
Packet and in Mist's Weekly
Journal of December lo, " 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 tbe Commonwealth, and in the reign of Charles II.
a pack of such cards had been published on the celebrated Popish
Plot, whicli had caused almost as great an excitement through
out the country as the bubbles of the year 1720. A set of
bubble cards bad also been published in this latter year in Hol
land ; but whether tbe Dutch took tbe bint 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 tbat grew up round tbe 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 tbe 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 suffer from tbe dust : —

56 STOCK-JOBBING CARDS.
" .Here slaves for snuff are sifting Indian -weed,
Whilst their 6'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 tban
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 r.ather two, from the marriage of the old one with
the Polish Princess Sobieski, as tbe news most likely to affect
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
She'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 : — " 'Tia true, one breaking will serve
for all ; but if I succeed, 'twill make me a man ;" and it appears
be is successful. " A bending tradesman to reti-ieve 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 ean 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 mako
off with the rest." The other two bubblers are consulting in a
corner of the room on the most eff'ectual 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 tbe 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 shine."

ENGLISH CARICATURES.

51

The greater number of the English caricatures on tbe follies
of tbe 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 tbe 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 bave been imported
from abroad, and the Soutb 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 1720,
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 momentary pros
perity of tbe stock-jobbers, and on tbe reverse the frightful
catastrophe. Suicide by hanging
and drowning, hasty fiight, 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 ofthe House of Commons
exposed to public view many ini
quitous transactions ; and the
general dissatisfaction was in
creased by the belief tbat not
only the ministers of the Crown,
but more especially the King's
mistresses and his greedy Ger-

THE END OE BDBELINO.

58 FLIGHT OF KNIGHT.
man followers, had received bribes in the first instance for
procuring the passing of the Sohth 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 tbe 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, fied (with the book which, it
was believed, contained the greatest secrets of the late transac
tions) to France, and thence to Brabant, where be was arrested
and confined in the castle at Antwerp. There be 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 tbe attempts to
bring bim back to England were not made in earnest ; and that
his arrest in Brabant was a mere act of collusion, tbe 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 bis de
spatches, which are given to
him from behind thescreen by
the King's chief mistress, or
left-hand wife, the Duchess of
Kendal, wbo was said to bave
received enormous sums from
the South Sea Company, and
wbo chiefly was supposed to
binder 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 tbat
Knight had been designedly

knight's rEPABTUEE.

A NEW PARLIAMENT. 59
sent out of tbe way until tbe public feeling could be appeased.
Underneath tbe 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 vain 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 tbe evils
which the Soutb Sea affair had inflicted on society, although
they were felt heavily for some time ; and tbe 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 tbe former. The first Parliament of
George I. would naturally bave expired in 17 17; but the
ministers, wbo 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 tbe Parliament then in existence.
By this alteration King George's first Parliament was to end
with the year 1721 ; and the elections, to all appearance, would
fall amid the still existing excitement of tbe misfortunes of the
bubble explosion. We find, bowever, tbat 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 tbe old mob-prejudices against tbe Com
monwealth and Dissenters. Tbe 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 tbe former by
the old and unpopular title of tbe " Rump." Pamphlets on tbe
* The caricatures mentioned above, and one or two others on the same
subject, are preserved in the collection of Mr. Burke and Mr. Hawkins.
The print representing the entrance of Knight into the infernal regions was
probably published later in the year, for a caricature entitled "Robin's
Flight; or, the ghost of tbe late S. S. treasurer ferry'd into hell," is
advertised as just published in a newspaper of Sept. 23, 1721.

6o 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 witb tbe Church,
and down witb the Rump !"
But Walpole brought now into action what would 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, whicb
under other circumstances had proved so eminently successful in
Queen Anne's time, and bad embarrassed the Government even
under the disadvantages to the Tories which accompanied tbe
change of the reigning family. Long before the dissolution of
the Parliament, the Government candidates declared themselves
openly, and personally canvassed tbe electors ; and no expedient
was left untried to secure their votes. The Tory papers com
plain bitterly, that, ou this occasion, noblemen and gentlemen
condescended to solicit votes with an undignified familiarity.
We cannot now be otherwise than amused at complaints like tbe
following, published in a Tory paper, Applebee's Original
Weekly Journal of January 6, 1722: — " Altho' we think the
appoin-ting 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 tbe 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 infiuence of popular agitation and mob excite
ment throughout the country ; and aware, by what had so
recently passed, ofthe power of money at tbat 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 tbe 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 tbeir
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 iu 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 31st of March, an advertisement in the Tory
Post-Boy 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-band side is occupied by a screen of seven folds, which
are intended to represent the seven almost barren years of the
late Parliament ; wbile on the left appears the group here repre-

AN ELECTION EPISODE.

sented, wbich is explained by the verses underneath. This is tlw
earbest caricature on elections witb which I am acquainted.
" Here's a minion sent down to a corporate town,
In hopes to be newly elected ;
• This ra?e print, which is one of the best of the caricatures of the reign
of George the First, is in the 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 tbe corporation ;
Shoves a sum in his pocket, the D  1 cries ' Take it,
'Tis all for the good of the nation I'
" 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 j'our 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 bave 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
bim in his retreat at Rome. The joy of the Jacobites was great,
when tbey learnt, at the end of the year 1720, tbat his Polish
wife bad given birth to a son, a young Pretender, destined to be
brought on the stage when the little energy ever possessed by
bis 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 France 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 bis way from Madrid to be prepared on
tbe coast of Biscay for a descent on that of England. A camp
was immediately formed in Hyde Park, to protect tbe King and
the metropolis, from which latter all Papists, or reputed Papists,
were warned to depart, by a royal proclamation issued on the
9th 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 traitorous 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 &EATira Capta, a distant

ATTERBURY'S PLOT. 62,
view of London, witb Britannia
weeping in the foreground, and
before ber face tbe horse of 1
Hanover trampling upon her
lion and unicorn. The Jacobites
pretended that tbe nation had
been enslaved by tbe Court in
fluence in the elections ; and on
the 2otb of September, long
after the English conspirators
bad been seized, the Pi-etender issued a mad declaration, which
was printed and industriously distributed in England, in whicli
be 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. Attprbury, of Rochester, was a minister of the Crown
under the brief premiership of Bolingbroke in the few last da^'s
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
bad been ever since noted for bis disaffection to the Hanoverian
government ; and now be seems to have rashly embraced the
hope that a few troops under tbe Duke of Ormond, landed on
the southern coast, would be enough to overthrow it. At tbe
end of May, several inferior, but active, conspirators, were taken
into custody; they were, a non-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 whicb 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

64 THE PLOT DEFEATED.
i6th of April, 1723, we learn from the Daily Journal, that
" diligent search is making after the contrivers and dispersers 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 brougbt to
trial before the House of Lords ; a bill of pains and penalties
was passed, by whicb 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 ofthe design, which the Pretender's
m.edal above mentioned was intended to forward. On tbe
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 — decretctm est, eegno
BKiTO EESTiTUATun ASAO'i'US — the numeral letters of which

make the date 1722, as that in whicb tbe plot was carried on.
On tbe reverse of the medal, tbe eye of Providence never asleep,
darts its lightnings among the conspirators, casting the Bishop's
mitrefrom 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-
SPIEATE, APEBIT DEUS, [oculum], ET TOS EULMINE PULSAT,
the numeral letters of whicb rtiake 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 conspikatio
BEITANNIOA.*

-* This medal as well as the Pretender's medal mentioned before, is in Ihs

THE PLOT DEFEATED. 65
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 tho
opposition ; trad--? 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 di.^pute about the
murder of Julius Caesar and the patriotism of I5rutus ; and for
several years after the bitterness of party feeling appears to have
cast itself chit fly into the ranks of literature and science.

66

CHAPTER IIL
GEORGE I. AND IL
Literature Debased 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 tbe "Dunciad."
THE agitation produced by the year of bubbles was followed
by loud outcries against the alarming increase of imniorality
and profiigaoy, the debased character of tbe stage, and the lo-w
state of literature, all of whicb were made alternately tbe
watchwords of political strife. A long-established opinion, per
haps not altogether just, has fixed upon tbe 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 tbe
name of Grubb 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 tbemselves into the troubled sea of party, or who
would pander to tbe depraved taste of tbe mob of readers ; of,
in other words, wbo would be tbe slaves of tbe newspapers or of
the booksellers. Tbe party newspapers were increasing daily in
scurrility as well as in number ; but, instead of tbe wit and
elegance of the Spectators and Tattlers, tbey were filled witb
calumny and defamation, or witb 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 tbe national manners, aud 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, (suob as the books wbich came

STAlE OE LITERATURE. 67
fro.Ti tbe pens of Eliza Haywood, Mrs. Manley, and other
equally shameless female writers, and from the press of Edmund
CurU,) and ill-disguised obscenity.
A great number of tbe low political writers of tbe day were
well paid witb the government money. The secret committee
appointed to iuquire into tbe sins of Walpole's administration,
after he bad retired from office, reported tbat 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, tbat 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 tbe stage. The drama was
suffering perhaps more than any other class of literature by the
debasement of public taste, although it bad certainly been raised
in moral character since the days of Charles II, Under his
reign there bad been two sets of actors, known- as " tbe King's"
and " tbe Duke's ;" but, in 1690, these were united in one com
pany, wbo, under one patent, bad 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 Cibber, led each to seek patronage by yielding to the
taste of the mob, instead of being able to guide it ; but after
tbe experience of another century^ we Ihave every reason to dis
agree in the opinion formed by Cibber on tbis tendency. In
1706 a new and " stately " theatre was provided in tbe Hay-
market for tbe Lincoln's Inii 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 ber 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 Cibber 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, witb false
quantities, or metre out of measure to its original notes, sung
by our own unskilful voices, witb graces misapplied to almost
p a

68 HEIDEGGER AND THE MASQUERADES.
every sentiment, and witb action lifeless and unmeaning through
every character."
After a number of vicissitudes, tbe 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 tbe joint management of Booth, Cibber, and
Wilks, held Drury Lane ; tbe theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields
bad been rebuilt for the opposition company under Rich : and
the King's theatre in the Haymarket was devoted exclusively to
the Italian Opera, under tbe management of the celebrated John
James Heidegger,* Not long before tbe 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 tbe 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-mcrohants 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. Tbe
general agreement of contemporary writers on tbis subject can
leave no doubt on our minds of tbe evil effects of masquerades
on the morality of the day. The South Sea convulsion bad
hardly subsided, when a general outcry was beard against the
alarming increase of atheism, profaneness, and immorality, and
an attempt was made to suppress them by Act of Parliament,
but tbe bill for tbat 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 compaoy of English players acted in a theatre
in Goodman s Fields.

PRESENTMENT AGAINST HEIDEGGER. 69
dangerous effects of masquerades were particularly insisted upon ;
and tbey soon became tbe object of severe attacks in the news
papers, and in satirical as well as serious pamphlets. In spite,
however, of all tbat 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, tbe Bishop of London preached in Bow Church, Cheap-
side, before tbe Society for the Reformation of Manners, a ser
mon directed especially against masquerades, whicb made a con
siderable sensation, and so far drew the attention of Government
to tbe subject, tbat 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,
tbe 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 whicb the King's
orders had been evaded, but witbout any permanent effect.
George the Second was warmly attached to masquerades, as well
as to the Opera, and be not unfrequently honoured them witb
bis 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 bis 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 tbe damage of many
of his good subjects."
Tbe attempts at a reformation of manners were the less effec
tual, because tbey were too often mixed up witb political parti-
zaiiship, and were not always distinguished by the prudence and
judicious moderation which ensure success. The Whig Flying
Post, in tbe 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 tbe new edition of bis works on large paper, and
adducing, as a remarkable proof of the degeneracy of public
manners, tbat, 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 be
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 Felin-uary ii, 1724, wbich
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 fiourished equally witb the masquerades, and
were looked upon with jealousy by those wbo 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 tbe
summer of 1727, in which the latter appears to have been the
victor, an obscure satirist of tbe 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 tbat class of performances, also of foreign growth, which
has since become so well known under the title of Pantomime.
Cibber, in his autobiographical "Apology," laments the necessity
which obliged them to give way to a taste so contrary to the
interests of tbe drama, and bis contemporaries in general bear
-i,vitiiess 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 tho 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. 71
ducing singing and dancing, and English operas and English
pantomimes, and what were designated in the play-bills as
" grotesque entertainments." In tbe winter of 1723 this house
produced " Tbe Necromancer ; or. Harlequin Dr. Faustus,"
which bad an extraordinary run; and tbe 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 tbe only instance in whicb tbe two theatres per
formed at the same time pantomimes under the same title ; in
February, 1726, tbey 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 tbeir 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 intrt^uced, and that it produced no
small sensation among tbe astonished spectators. Nor did the
innovations stop here, for in tbe winter of 1726 mountebanks,
and tumblers, and rope-dancers were brought in as a novelty
amongst the " grotesque entertainments " of tbe theatres.
The character of the stage, tbus 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 tbe Court. The stage-managers
themselves were^not unfrequently 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 tbe King had appointed master of the revels, or,
as be 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 bis 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 bis 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.

¦72

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.

CUZZONI, FAEINELLT, ,A^D HEIDEGGEB.
" '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
(Purls natwaUbus) his \isage.'
' Monstrous I tbat human nature can
Have form'd so strange burlesque a man ?' "
Heidegger, who was a native of Zurich, in Switzerland, and
bad com.e 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 oliai-it3'. He
lived profuselj"-, and mixed with tbe highest society, where his
oddness of character and appearance made bim sometimes the
subject of practical jokes. On one occasion the Duke of
Montagu invited bim 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 tlie closest resemblance to

HOGARTH.

1?>

tbe original, and the Duke provided a man of tbe same stature
to appear in a similar dress, and tbus to personate Heidegger,
on the night of tbe next masquerade, when tbe King (wbo was
apprised of tbe plot) was to be present. On bis 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 tho 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.
Tiie 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, bad not the Duke of Cumberland, who, as well as
bis father, was privy to tbe plot, restrained them. Heidegger
now came forward and offered to discharge his band : '.vhen the
impostor advanced, and cried in a plaintive tone, " Sire, the
whole fault lies with tbat devil iu 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 tbe masquerade, unless
tbe mask was defaced and
the mould broken iu his pre
sence. A sketch by Hogarth
has preserved and immor
talised the face of Heideg
ger on this occasion, when it
truly merited tbe descrip
tion given in one of the sati
rical attacks on the manager of tbe Opera : —
" With a hundred deep wrinkles impress'd en thy fiont,
Like a map with a great many rivers upon 't."

HEIDEGGEB IN A EASE.

74

CABICATUBES ON THE STAGE.

It was tbe degeneracy of the stage at tbis period wbich
brought forward tbe satirical talents of Hogarth, then a young
man. In 1723, immediately after tbe appearance of tbe panto
mime of " Dr, Faustus " at Lincoln's Inn Fields, be published
bis plate of " Masquerades and Operas," witb the gate of Bur
lington House in tbe background, as a lampoon upon tbe bad taste
of tbe 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 tbe stage, to
whom the Earl of Peterborough is making an offer of eight thou
sand pounds. On tbe opposite side of the picture, a crowd
rushes into tbe theatre to witness the pantomimes ; and over
tbis gateway appears tbe sign of Dr. Faustus, witb 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 adragon."
In the front of the picture a barrow-woman is seen wheeling
away, as " waste paper for
shops," a load of books, wbich
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
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 Flail 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 whicb tbis expedient is to give them over
the rival theatre, " Poor Rich ! faith, I pity thee !" Cibber,
holding up Harlequin Jack Shepherd, invokes the Muses, wbo
are painted somewhat grotesquely on the ceiling, " Assist, ye
sacred nine !" Booth, at tbe other end of tbe table, is letting

CIBBER AND WILKS.

15

tbe effigy of Hall down tbe passage by which he is said to have
made his exit, and declaring his satisfaction at the new plan by

THBATEIOAL CONTEIVANOES.

a coarse exclamation. Tbe ghost of Ben Jonson rises from a
trap-door, and shows bis contempt for tbe new-fangled contri
vances of tbe 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.
Tbe eagejness witb which tbe public at tbis period ran after
every new sight, and listened to every new opinion, was an object of
frequent ridicule to the satirical writers of tbe day, and this pro
bably made it tbe age of deistical writers, sucb as Mandeville
and Woolston, Toland, Tindal, and Collins. There were others
also, who, without being deists, ventured to broach fantastic
notions, which bad followers for a time. In the summer of
1726 appeared, what the Political State for tbat year describes
as " a blazing star, tbat seemed portentous to tbe Established
Church." John Henley, a native of Leicestershire, had gra
duated at Cambridge, but, filled as it would appear witb over
weening vanity and assurance, he defied tbe authority of the
Established Church, and not only set up a new religious scheme,
which be 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

75 ORATOR HENLEY.
whicb, to judge from all accounts, be must bave talked a great
deal of unintelligible rigmarole. On the i4tb of May, 1726,
Henley first advertised his sebei-ne in tbe public newspapers, and
on the lotb of July, having taken a licence from a magistrate
to deliver public lectures, he established what be called bis
" Oratory," in a sort of wooden booth, built over tbe shambles
in Newport Market, near Leicester Fields, whicb had formerly
been used for a temporary meeting-house by a congregation of
Frencb 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 bold forth for
some y^ars, preaching on theological subjects on tbe Sunday,
and on all other subjects on the Wednesday evening, to wbich
sometimes he added a lecture on Monday and Friday. In spite
of his locality among tbe butchers,^ — to whom at times be gave
a lecture, wbich he called bis " butchers' oration," — tbe orator
exhibited himself in an ostentatious manner, clad iu the full
robes of a priest, attended by his clerk - or reader ; and be em
ployed a man to attend the door, whom be dignified with the
name of his " ostiary," and who took a shilling a bead for
admission. On certain occasions be administered what he
termed the "primitive eucharist," and he performed other reli
gious ceremonies. The clergy were highly indignant at tbis
man's proceedings, and- he met with opposition from other
sources : on the i8tli 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 bis 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
bis performances in Clare Market till after the middle of the
century. When we look over Henley's weekly advertisements in tbe
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 bis 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 tbe
day, made historical p.irallels, and became abusive, scurrilous,
ami licentious in bis language, invoking the lowest passions
rather than the reasoning faculties of bis hearers. This course
has been attempted iu later times, but never witb tbe extra
ordinary success which for a time attended the discourses of

AN ORATORY BAPTISM.

11

"orator Henley." In one advertisement it is announced tbat
" Tho \\'ednesday's oration will be on Westward Hoe ; or, a
frolick on the water, — ^re-new:" in another, "The WediicK-
day's subject will be 'Over tbe bills, and far away; or. Prince
Eugene's march.' " On one occasion be states merely that tiic
subject will be " Something alive ;" on another it is " A tnerrv-
thougbt ;" 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 le.-^-.on for a king;" "Whether man or woman be the finer
creature ;" " A-lu-inode de France ; or, tbe art of rising ;" " The
wedding lottery ;" " A Platonic chat on Box-bill, de oseulis et
virginibus ;" " The Cambridge jig ; or, tbe humours of a com
mencement f " Tiie Doctons ogling tbe 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 tbe reports of bis contemporaries seem to rank it

AH "OEATOEY" BAPTISJf.
rather low, Hogarth introduced hiin, according to common
report, among the characters in bis " Modern Midnight Conver
sation ;" and tbe same satirical artist represented bim iti
another picture performing tbe rites of baptism, but evidently
more attentive to the beauty of the mother than to the opeia-

78 THE "BEGGAR'S OPERA."
tion he is performing on tbe infant. Another rough sketch by
Hogarth represents iji burlesque tbe interior of tbe Oratory
during service. The orator's fame was, however, so great, that
several engravings were made of bim, representing him holding
forth from his pulpit, enriched witb velvet and gold.
The dispute between Cuzzoni and Faustina, already men
tioned, combined with some other circumstances of di.sagree-
ment, had thrown the Opera management into confusion ; and,
ill the earlier months of -the year 1728, the newspapers contain
repeated complaints of the neglect into which the Italian Opera
bad fallen. It was at this moment that an event occurred,
which, for a time, threw both Italian Opera and pantomime into
tbe 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, when
highway and street robberies had been increasing in an alarming
degree, and tbe 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 tbe tunes of political ballads. The piece itself was
even performed in a booth at Bartholomew Fair in tbe 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 favcJUrite songs were printed upon fans for
tbe ladies ; houses, as we learn from tbe notes to tbe " Dunciad "
were furnished with it in screons ; 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"
" Tbe Gypsies' Opera," " Tbe Beggar's Wedding," &c.
There were others wbo cried against tbe " 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 OPEBA." 79
they hesitated not to ascribe this circumstance to tbe 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 tbe Muses were employed in sifting
cinders. "Parnassus now like abear-gardeu 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 bum an old song.
With a fa, la, &c."
Among other prints, a medley was published in the style, of
those on the Soutb Sea scheme, with the title, " The Stage
Medley ; representing the polite taste of the town, and the
matchless merits of poet G  , Polly Peacbum, and Captain
Macheatb." 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, tbat, 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 politioal feeling on the subject, for the Lin
coln's Inn theatre had tbe 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 tbe ' Beggar's Opera,' and the pleasure tbe town takes in the
character of Captain Macheatb ; but others, less concern'd in
that affair, and more for tbe 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 corn-
posed for the following season a second part, under the title of
" Polly," it was not allowed to be acted. The Duchess of
Queensbury, wbo had advocated Gay's cause with tbe King aivd
tbe 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.
Cibber had just completed a piece, also in imitation of thu
" Beggar's Opera," entitled " Love in a Riddle," whicb be was
preparing to bring out at Drury Lane. A report was indus
triously spread abroad that Cibber had obtained the prohibition
against Gay's " Polly," in order tbat be might monopolise the
stage to himself; and, on tbe day of Cibber's representation, a
powerful cabal obtained possession of the theatre, and compelled
him to withdraw his performance. Gay published his " Polly"
soon after, witb some prefatory remarks, in whicb be protested
against the injustice witb 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 be experienced, perhaps, led iu some measure to
tbe appearance of a much more remarkable literary production,
whicb agitated the world of letters for several years. Pope, and
bis 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 be 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 tbe
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 witb
almost every kind of weapon tbat the anger of the multitude of
inferior writers of the press could supply. Pope especially,
whose splenetic and sensitive temper bad severed most of his
literary friendships, was subjected to every kind of annoyance,
and was driven to the highest degree of exasperation, for tbe
judicious but cutting satire of his remarks touched to the quick
almost every poetical scribbler of the day. The newspapers
were filled witb attacks upon his writings, and with jests upon
his character, his religion (he had been educated a Roman Catho
lic), bis polities (he was. the friend of Atterbury and Boling
broke), and even upon bis personal deformity. Ambrose Phillips,
known chiefly by his Pastorals, is said to have proceeded so far
as to bang a rod up in Button's Coffee-house, with which he
threatened to chastise the poet of Twickenham the first time be
mide his appearance there. These attacks were often galling,
especially when thoy came from a class of persons for whom the
poot professed extreme contempt ; and it was under the irrita
tion they caused tbat Pope formed the plan of one general

THE "DUNCIAD." 8i
satire, in which he might give vent to all his resentments, just
or unjust ; and wdiicb soon afterwards gave birth to the " Dun
ciad," perhaps the most perfect and finished of his writings.
The wbolesale nature of the attack is only justified by our
knowledge of tbe degraded state of our national literature at
tbe time be wrote.
In tbis 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.
Her^, in one bed, two sbiv'riug sisters lie,
The cave of Poverty and Poetry.
This the great Mother, deai-er held than all
Tbe clubs of Quidnuncs, or her own Guildhall.
Here stood her opium, here she nursed her owls.
And destin'd here tho 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 da}-.
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, wbose 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
Kino- of Dulness, was dying, and the goddess is introduced de
liberating on the choice of a successor.
Lewis Theobald, or, as he was popidarly called, Tibbald, was
then an active writer for the stage, but is now chieQy known
by his edition of Sliakespeare. Pope, also, had been induced,
for what was then a handsome remuneration, to place his name
to au 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-
a

82

LEWIS THEOBALD.

cles in tbe 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 bis poem, and him the goddess chooses as the successor to
the throne of Dulness, after casting ber eyes in vain On Eusden
(wbo 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 flU'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 bis sacrifice to
Dulness, is an unjust satire on tbe class of reading which had
enabled bim 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 ber mysteries.
She finally announces the death
of Settle, and anoints and proclaims
bim her successor,
"Know, Settle, cloy'd with custard and
with praise,
Is gatber'd to the dull of ancient days,
Safe where no critics damn,_uo duns
molest,"
The second book opens witb The
obald's enthronement, in a position
even more lofty than that ooccupied
by the orator of Newport Market in
bis pulpit, or by the bookseller Curll,
when he was condemned to the pil
lory for his licentious publications.

HENLEY 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 bis tub, with the words " The Orator " beneath.
A monkey peeps from within, with neck-bands (acting as clerk),
and pointing to money in bis hand, tbe object of the orator's
worship: beneath him is written tbe word "Amen." Behind
the orator is a curtain, on wbich Henley is pictured addressing
a large' audience, with tbe inscription IifVEKiAM aitt I'aoiam,
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 sbow'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 crown' d.
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 tbe poem is entirely occupied with a descrip
tion of tbe games celebrated by tbe goddess in honour of " Tib-
bald's " elevation to the throne. The first prizes are contended
for by tbe booksellers, against whom Pope had proclaimed his
bostility in the preface to bis and Swift's " Miscellanies,"
printed iu 1727, Curll had provoked bim by tbe surreptitious
publication of some of his letters ; but what was Lintot's
offence, wbo had been tbe publisher of bis 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 tbe various prizes of tbe
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 witbout sleeping to the dull nonsensical prose
of the orator Henley, and to tbe everlasting rhymes of Black-
more. ' ' Her critics there she summons, and proclaims
A gentler exercise to close the games.
G 2

84 THE CBITICS.
' Here, you ! 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 BlacUmore's numbers, —
Attend the trial we propose to m^ke :
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 tbe midst of wbich tbe
goddess transports tbe new king to ber 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 tbe 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 tbe stage in Cibber ; 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 tbe more presuming writings of Haywood and Centlivre, of
Ralph, Welsted, Dennis, and Gildon ; in the party politics o(
Thomas Burnet, who wrote in a weekly paper called Pasquin,
and was rewarded for his zeal with a consulship, and Ducket,
wbo 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, wbo, t-be phenomenon of his day, as
an apt type of its intellectual character, is again brought for
ward in the full amplitude of bis pretensions : —
"But where each science lifts its modern type,
History her pot, Divinity his pipe,

VAGARIES OF THE STAGE. 8j
While proud Philosophy repines to show
(Dishonest sight I) his breeches rent below,
Irabrown'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 !
Still break the benches, Henley, with thy strain.
While Kennet, Hare, and Gibson preach in vain.
0 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 IBritannia's praise.
In Toland's, Tindal's, and in Woolstan's days."
From these spectacles tbe eye of tbe visionist is suddenly
turned to tbe modern vagaries of tbe stage, on whicb dragons
and other monsters were brougbt as actors, and heaven and bell
were made tbe 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 batched 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 forests 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 eug produces human race ! "
These were the creations of Rich, in his empire in Lincoln's Inn
Fields :— " A matchless youth ! his nod these worlds controls,
Wings the rtd lightning, and the thunder rolls :
Angel of Dulness, sent to scatter round
Her magic charms o'er all unclassic ground.
You 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 flerce hail of peas ;
And proud his mistress' orders to perform.
Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.''
He, too, has his rivals : —
" But lo I to dark encounter in mid-air
New wizards rise : here Booth, and Cibber 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 tbe advanced guards of tbe host of
Dulness, wbo 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 consequen-ce of this general invasion of barbarism
in public taste is, tbat talent is allowed to starve in tbe 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 tbe character of the stage Pope's verses bad no more
effect tban Hogarth's prints ; for masquerades continued to be

THE CHABMEES OP THE AGE, IN I'J^I

SEDITIOUS PLAYS. 87
the favourite amusements of the town till late in tbe century,
and pantomimes and operas bave never altogether lost their
popularity. The letters of Horace Walpole bear frequent testi
mony to tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe
day, Monsieur Desnoyer and the Signora Barberina, wbo per
formed at Drury Lane. Underneath the plate Hogarth has
added an observation, of which we hardly perceive the whole
bearing : " Tbe 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 barm-
less tendency to satirise the follies of the day, which they bave
preserved to tbe present time, bad perhaps some infiuence in
producing tbis state of things. In October, 1728, a farce called
"The Craftsman; or, tbe Weekly Journalist," alluding to tbe
scurrilous paper, so celebrated for its attacks on tbe ministry of
Sir Robert Walpole, was performed at tbe theatre in the Hay
market, " witb 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 tbe new and handsome theatre whicb bad
been built for them in Covent Garden ; on which occasion Ho
garth published a print, representing Rich's triumphal entry
into tbe new bouse, with a long train of actors, authors, scenery,
&c. Rich, clad in the skin of a dog, one of tbe personages in
the harlequinade of "Perseus and Andromeda," is seated witb
his mistress in a chariot drawn by satyrs, witb Harlequin for
bis 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 whicb we are probably justified in
supposing that the poet, jealous (as was usual with bim) of tbe
extraordinary success of his old friend, had expressed an un
favourable opinion of bis production.
The year 1737 was one more eventful in the history of the
stage. In the preceding year, Fielding (wbo had begun writing
for tbe stage in 1727 as a young man) brought out at the Hay
market Theatre a farce styled " Pasquin," whicb was a dbect

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 tbe Haymarket,"
wbich has been already mentioned as occupied, under George I.,
by a company of Frencb actors. Other such pieces attacked
different passing follies in a remarkable style. One, brought on
tbe stage in tbe beginning of 1737, under tbe title of "The
Worm-doctor, with Harleqin female Bonesetter," threw ridicule
upon t-tvo remarkable quacks, Dr. Taylor and Mrs. Mapp, who
were then practising upon tbe credulity of the public. Towards
May, several farces were acted at the Haymarket, which \vere
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, whicb bad a great run during the
month of April. Some say that Walpole was alarmed by tbe
effects of this piece ; but, according to Smollett, the manager of
a play-house communicated to the minister a still more objec-
tionalDle farce in manuscript, entitled " The Golden Rump,"
wdiich was filled witb treason and abuse upon the Government,
and had been offered for exhibition on the stage. Which of
these migbt be the real provocation is of little importance ;
Walpole brought the matter before the Plouse of Commons, and
descanted on the impudent sedition and immorality wbich 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 tbe stage witbout an express license, a
bill which has remained in force to tbe present time, and under
whicb was established the office of Licencer of Plays. A great
but ineff'eclual clamour was raised against this bill, both within
doors and without, particularly by tbe Craftsman and other
opposition papers, wbo represented it as a violent attempt upon
the liberty of the press.
Pope's satire upon the literature of bis time was more effec
tual than that upon the stage ; because, though tbe "Dunciad"
was palpably a mere receptacle for all the poet's personal re
sentments (whicb 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 whicb 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 be gave to tbe world an authorized and com
plete edition, witb the notes, which conveyed more venom than
tbe poem itself. Tbe uproar among men of letters which tbis
satire caused was almost beyond anything we can conceive. The
attack was so general, that almost everybody w-as up in arms,
and tbe newspapers brought, with provoking regularity, their
weekly load of banter and insult. At first, Pope is said to have
enjoyed the annoyance be had given to his enemies ; but, in a short
time, his sensitive feelings gained the masterv, and, as the attacks
upon bim became more galling, he experienced more and more
tbe 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 bis being horsewhipped as he was walking iu Ham
^^ alks, near Twickenham, by an advertisement like the follow
ing, wbich appeared iu the Daily Post of June 14. 172S: —
" Whereas there has been a scandalous paper cried about the
streets, under tbe title of ' A Popp upon Pope,' insinuating that
I was whipped in Ham Walks on Thursday last, this is to give
notice tbat I did not stir out of my bouse at Twickenham all
that dav ; and the same is a malicious and Hi-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 ofthe 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 puUie doings. Pope's
personal appearance, wbich was
not prepossessinij:, was also made
the subject of satire ; and a
quai-to pamphlet, entitled '• Pope
Alexander's Supremacy and In
fallibility examined," is prefaced
by an engraving in whicb his
portrait isplacedonthesb oulders

pe

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 whicb
Pope had ushered the "Treatise on Sinking in Poetry" into
tbe 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 tbe following from Price's Weekly Journal of
May 2, 1729, as an example of the epigrammatic squibs witb
which Pope was constantly assailed in tbe newspapers.
" A Receipt against Pope-ish Poetry.
" Select a wreath of wilher'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 bave found few partisans, either
among the writers or among tbe artists of bis time. Hogarth

THE CICMST DACBEE,

POPE BESPATTERING.

91

has introduced bim into several of bis compositions. In bis
caricature of " The Man of Taste," published in 1732, Pope is
introduced in all bis diminutive deformity, in tbe character of a
plasterer, bedaubing tbe gate of Burlington House witb white
wash, wbile he is throwing, by his awkwardness, a shower of
dirt on a coach below, which is understood to bave been that of
the Duke of Chandos. Witb his foot he is overturning a pail,
and throwing a part of its contents on a man walking beneath,
wbo is designated in the picture by the letter B, which is ex
plained at the foot of tbe engraving as " anybody that comes in
bis way ;" while tbe hero of the piece is described as " A. P — pe,
a Plasterer, whitewashing and bespattering." The poet had
indeed obtained tbe character of a bespatterer of everybody he
met. A bttle before tbe appearance of Hogarth's caricature, he
bad, in bis "Epistle on Taste," addressed to tbe Earl of
Burlington, lauded that nobleman's taste in architecture aud
tbe other arts at the expense of that of his old patron, the
Duke of Chandos, who bad recently built himself a magnificent
seat at Canons.
The satu-ist was tormented by tbe number, rather than by
tbe strength, of bis assailants, very few of whom were for tbeir
talent worthy of his notice, and those wbo did possess talent
were in general tbe least deserving of his attacks. In 1730,
when the uproar occasioned by tbe " 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,
Who 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 tbe Poet's
room, in the first edition of the
print, represents Pope triumphing
over Curll. The contest between
a poet of tbe rank of Pope, and a
bookseller ofthe cbai-acter of Curll,
carried on in tbe way in which
their quarrel bad been conducted,
bad little of dignity ; and Pope has

POPE AND CUBLU

93 NEW BOOK OF THE "DUNCIAD."
been often blamed for giving undue importance to his victims, by
the mode in whicb he treated them. But he was perhaps more to
be blamed for allowing himself, after tbe lapse of some years, to
republish the " Dunciad " in an altered form, for tbe purpose, as'
it would seem, of making an unjust, and not very provoked,
attack on a man like Colley Cibber. Cibber's " Non-Juror "
had never been forgotten by either of tbe political parties whom
it concerned ; he had been rewarded by the Court in 1730 witb
the place of poet-laureate, and incurred, on the other hand,
during bis life, tbe 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
ofthe "Dunciad," — which was already complete in three, — •
and this fourth book contained a new attack upon Cibber, wbo
had been lampooned in the former part of tbe " Dunciad," and
in other satirical writings by the same author. Cibber 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 Cibber,
in the place of bis old enemy " Tibbald."
Pope appears now to have made an entirely new set of anta
gonists, and in the fourth book of tbe " Dunciad," the goddess
of Dulness extends her empire over scholars, philosophers, and
statesmen. The satirist lampoons, with a mixture of justice
and injustice, tbe course of university education ; tbe corrupting
system (then so generally prevalent) of sending youths of
family and rank to complete their education abroad, by making
tbemselves proficient in all tbe 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 tbe
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 :

THE OPERA. g3
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 ber head."
While the new occupant of tbe stage enters partly as a willing
attendant, supported by that class of society who had learnt to
admire her by au 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 flutl'ring, and her head aside :
By singing peers upheld on either hand.
She tripp'd and laugh'd, too pretty mach to stand ;
Cast on tbe prostrate Nine a scornful look.
And thus in quaint recitativo 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 — The Excise — Increasing Attacks upon
Walpole — Violence ia the Elections — The Gin Act — The Prince of
Wales Leads the Opposition — Foreign Policy : Walpole and Cardinal
Fleury — Renewed Attacks upon "VValpole, 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.
THE misfortunes of the Soutb Sea scheme had, as we bave
already seen, placed Walpole at tbe head of the ministry,
upon which the Whigs, wbo bad been divided since bis retire
ment from office in 1717, became again united into one body,
witb an overwhelming ministerial majority in Parliament, and
tbe hopes of the Tory and Jacobite opposition seemed to be
reduced to tbe 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 tban to any other cause, the bouse of Brunswick owed its
permanent establishment in this country, while his pacific policy
counteracted the evils tbat might otherwise have arisen from
King George's continental partialities, whicb bad 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 tbey drove the veteran from bis post, after be bad 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, tbe effects of personal pique and disappointed ambition.
William Pulteney, the friend and constant adherent of Walpole
for many years, and one of tbe most effective speakers in the
House of Commons, disappointed because bis promotion, as he
thought, was not so rapid as his services merited, quarrelled
witb bis old colleague in 1724, resigned bis office of cofferer to

PULTENEY AND BOLINGBROKE. 9J
the household, and placed himself at tbe bead of a violent party
of discontented Whigs, wbo now took the title of " the Patriots."
In the meantime Walpole bad been induced to act witb leniency
towards tbe exiled Lord Bolingbroke, who bad deceived, betrayed,
and quarrelled with tbe Pretender and tbe Jacobites, but had
become enriched, as was said, by a French marriage and by
speculations in tbe 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
ill 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 tbus returned to England more
enraged on account of what bad been withheld from him, than
grateful for what be had obtained, and he immediately made
common cause with tbe Tory opposition, and year after year bis
talents and bis skill in intriguing furnished the sbai-pest weapons,
and contrived the most dangerous plots, against the administra
tion. Pulteney, witb tbe ultra-Whigs, or "Patriots," joined the
Tory opposition, whose leader in the House of Commons had
hitherto been tbat staunch old Jacobite, Sir William Wyndham,
who, in his personal resentment againt Walpole, formed a close
alliance witb Bolingbroke. By their means the country was
again filled with seditious at-tacks upon the Government, in
every variety of shape, and the mob was again raised into im
portance. In the December of 1726, Bolingbroke and Pul
teney started a political paper under tbe 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 A'icholas
Ainhurst, under tbe fictitious name of Caleb d'Anvers. Boling
broke was, at the same time, pursuing- his intrigues with tbe
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 ber power expired with the sudden
death of George I. in the June of 1727.
Bolingbroke's faction was doomed, on tbis occasion, to under-
go a succession of disappointments and consequent mortifications.
When the hopes they bad derived from tbe Duchess of Kendal
were overthrown, tbey hastened to pay their court to the mis
tress of tbe new monarch ; but George II. was governed more
by bis wife than by his mistress, and Queen Caroline was, to
the end of her bfe, Walpole's firmest friend. They next placed

96 THE ELECTIONS.
their hopes in the elections ; but in tbe Parliament chosen in
1727 the ministerial majority was greater tlian ever, and the
Tories and Patriots were reduced to vent tiieir harmless rage in
new exclamations against bribery and corruption. One of the
few caricatures of this period, but of whicb several copies are
preserved, was entitled " Ready Money tbe 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 bis vote to
be deposited quietly in his coat pocket, wbile he is distinguish
ing himself by tbe 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
tbe country in continental quarrels, and of sacrificing the Eng
lish interest abroad, to gratify the King's partiality for his
Hanoverian dominions. Witb a perfect disregard for truth or
honesty, (whicb appear indeed to bave been in no great estima
tion witb any party during tbis 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, tbe opposition cried out strenuou.dy for peace;
and when' tbe 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 Frencb courts, the councils of tbe
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 tbe Congress of Soissons, opened on the loth of June, 1728.
Satisfied witb the success of his policy abroad, the mhiister
retired in the autumn, as usual, to seek a brief relaxation at bis
seat of Houghton Hall, in Norfolk, and indulge in his favourite
pastime of bunting. But the Craftsman fell furiously on tbe
proceedings at Soissons ; and as winter and the consequent
meeting of Parliament approached, ballads and papers were
hawked about the streets, turning tbe foreign measures of the
Court into ridicule, and holding up tbe minister to contempt as
tbe 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 bunting, feasting, and merry-maldng : being sin
gularly delightful, and likewise -^ery instructive for the public."
This was followed iu 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 bunting 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 dep-art for the chase their host gives them a
breakfast, which consists of all kinds of foreign dishes. Thei'*
hunting- is not very successful, for tbey only set up a vixei
v/bich tbey lost, for it was screened by an eagle (Austria), and
tbey 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 heiTings, 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,
Ou English stomachs sit."
At the middle of tbe table sat tbe Cardinal. The taste of tha
host was singular : —
" The master of the house was seen
PZumft-pudding to devour.
And to regale witb stomach keen
On s^oci-- fish a good store."
Walpole was alwaj-s looked upon as the great patron of thfe
monied and funded interests. Ho is accused of having imbibed
this taste for French dishes only recently : —
" At taMes once he sai-i and swore,
With manly resolution,
French kickshaws, bad as poison, tore
An English constitution.
*' But now French sauces all go down,
And things garreend all pass ;
So much a Frenchman he is grown,
So changed from what he wag
U

98 TREATY OF SEVILLE.
" Corrupted tongues he d.aily eats ;
On these bestows his praises ;
With these his bosom friends he 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 jdesigns which tbe
opposition attributed to them. These and other similar produc
tions were well calculated to excite the feelings of the populace.
Witb the opening of tbe 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, tbat treaty was attacked in Craftsman after Craftsman,
and tbe 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 i3tb of September
the Pulteney and Bolingbroke writers issued a tract of twenty
pages of ballad verse, entitled " Tbe Craftsman's Business," in
which they lampooned tbe ministerial party under the character
of birds, and described Walpole as " a large macaw," parti
coloured witb red and blue.
As the interest of tbe 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 iu 1730 and 1731 the
country was literally deluged witb political ballads, in which
the prime minister was introduced under sucb names as Sir Blue-
String (alluding to bis blue ribbon as knight of the Garter),
Sir Robert Brass, Sir Robert 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 bis domestic life,
wbich were likely to render the minister unpopular with the
unthinking part of the community, were industriously propa
gated. On the 7tb of November, 1730, while he was enjoying
the relaxation of bis country-bouse, the Craftsman inserted a
paragraph stating, that, " from Norfolk they write tbat Sir
Robert Walpole keeps open house at Houghton ; and tbat so

POPULAR EXCITEMENT.

99

numerous ai-e his attendants and dependants, that it is thought
bis household expenses cannot be less than 1500?. a week."
The eftect of all tbis was to
raise much politic;il excitement
among tbe middle and lower
classes. A cai-icatnre, entitled
" The Politicians," belonging to
tbis period, represents the pob-
ties 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 eai'icature furnishes
a figure of one of a class of per
sona whom we have bad frequent
occasion to mention, — the women
wbo hawked seditious papers and ;
political ballads about the streets, w p
Among other personages, the
proprietor of a newspaper ad
dresses a Scotchman (an intimation, probably, tbat his couu-
trj'uien were among the most active of the mercenary writers
for the pressX '¦ ]Mr. Macdonald will you undertake to write me
a smart remonstrance against arbiti-ary power P" — and receives
for answer from the wary northern, '• By my sanl, sir, I eanna
do it, for fear of offanding his lairdship ; for ye ken he's a mon
o' muckle authority."
Towards the end of the year la.st mentioned, as the annual
period ofthe meeting of Pai-liament approached, tlie writin::js of
the opposition became more violent and more provokinglv per
sonal. The pens of Bolingbroke and Pulteney were unusually
active. Caricatures and satires were banded about more iVe-
quently tban ever. On the 2nd of January, 1731, tbe Cr, fls-
man contained a political letter dated from the Hague, but
generally understood to be written by Bolingbroke, which \\ as
calculated seriously to embai-rass tbe foreign relations of the
country. This was followed by an anonymous pamphlet contro
versy, begun by Pulteney, in sucb a libellous tone, tbat it led,
on the 25th of January, to a duel between tbat gentleman and
Lord Hervey, who was wi-ongly supeeted of being the author of
an attack upon Pvdteney. " The duel " was the subject of
H a

THB POLITICAI, EALLi-D-SISGES.

100 FOREIGN POLICY.
caricatures and ballads, and of satirical pieces of other kinds ;
and Pulteney's party sent out a pamphlet under tbe title of
" lago display 'd," which gave a pretended account of the
causes of the older quarrel between Walpole and Pulteney, and
a history of the duel, under the feigned names of lago
(Walpole), 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 tbe
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 tbe last century, and is not ill
described in the following epigram, whicb appeared in the
Craftsman of March, 13, 1731: — ¦
*' Have you not seen at country wake,
A crew of dancers merry-make ?
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 hight 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 tbe press were accompanied by an unusually
violent opposition in Parliament to King George's foreign
policj', to bis subsidies and the expenes of supporting liis
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

ROBINS BEIGN."

lOI

the form of a broadside, witb verses still more provoking than
the prints, under the title, '' Robin's Reign ; or, Seven's tho
Main : being an explanation of Caleb d'Anvers's seven Egyptian
hieroglyphics, prefixed to the seven volumes of tbe Craftsman''
The first of these plates represents John swearing obedience to
Magna Charta. In a seooud, 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 mischief 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, tbe courtiers are seen purchasing votes with money.
The fifth is a satire on tbe foreign policy wbich was intended to
keep tbe " balance of power " in Europe : Cardinal Fleury is
outwitting tbe minister, wbo is attempting in vain to weigh
down tbe scale with " whole reams of treaties," while the
Gallic cock is crowing proudly on tbe back of the sleeping libn.

THE BALANCE OF POWEE.

In the sixth, Walpole is seen aspiring, by a dangerous patb, to
a coronet ; and tbe seventh represent Caleb d'Anvers as the
oracle of political wisdom. Another version, apparently of

102 PBOSECUTION OF THE " CRAFTSMAN."
this series of caricatures, or probably only a different edition,
was published under tbe title " Robin's Game ; or. Seven's tbe
Main." Among the ballads of this period, the titles of whicb
are preserved, we may mention, " Sir Robert Brass ; or, the
intrigues ofthe Knight of the Blazing Star," published in Feb
ruary ; and " The Knight and tbe 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 bis foreign measures, tbat, on the ist
of July, he called for the council-book, and witb bis own hand
struck the name of William Pulteney out of the list of privy
councillors. Read's Weekly Journal of July lo, 1731, informs
us that " three hawkers wore 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 alter, on Wednesday, July 7, the grand jury of Mid
dlesex presented tbis same paper, witb the seven plates of
" Robin's Reign," described above, some numbers of the Grafts-
man, and several political ballads, as seditious libels. A prose
cution was immediately commenced in accordance witb this pre
sentment. On the Saturday (loth 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, witb 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, whicb obliged
tbe writers in tbe Craftsman to be more cautious for some
time. The newspapers and magazines during the summer were
chiefly occupied in discussuig tbe propriety of legal prosecutions
against the press.
Bolingbroke and Pulteney, in a somewhat subdued tone, con
tinued their personal attacks upon Walpole. On tbe 30th 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 tbe same journal attempted to throw
odium on the Whigs, by insinuating that they had a design to
get all tbe lands in England into their own hands, and then
destroy the British constitution. In the autumn a great outcry
was raised in the same quarter, on tbe dangers to be appre
hended from bad ministers. Towards the end of the year a new
cause of alarm was started, whicb eventually raised the greatest
storm to whicb Sir Robert Walpole's administration bad yet

THE EXCISE.

103

been exposed, — tbe rumour already spread abroad of the minis
ter's intention of proposing a new scheme of excise.
Tbis scheme, which Pulteney in the House of Commons stig
matized as " tbat monster tbe excise," bad nothing very threat
ening in itself. The trade in wine, and especially tobacco, and
the duties whicb those articles paid, bad been liable to very ex
tensive and shameful frauds, injurious alike to tbe planters, to
tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe opposition, who, long before the
ministerial plan was made public, spread abroad misrepresenta
tions of the most extravagant kind, making people believe tbat
every article of daily use was to be excised under tbe new plan,
and tbat it was a base design to crush tbe people and establish
tyranny. An incredible quantity of pamphlets and ballads, filled
with misstatements, were industriously spread over the country as
early as tbe months of January and February, although Walpole
did not lay his plan before the House until tbe 14th of March.
Among tbe caricatures issued at tbis period, one represents tbe
lion and tbe unicorn, broken-spirited and harnessed, and march-

THB NEW MONSTEB.

ing in wooden shoes, tbe usual symbol at tbis time of French
influence. A. soldier rides on the unicorn, and is supported by

104 THE MONSTER.
tlie standing .irmy, one of the great objects of the attacks
against the Government. The lion is drawing a barrel, on
whicb 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 tbe 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 tbe numerous effusions of a
similar class which made their appearance early in tbe year,
speaks of it as a mad project, which ali;eady excited the indigna
tion of the Craftsman (Caleb) : —
" Folks talk of supplies
To be raised by excise,
Old Caleb is horribly nettled ;
Sure B  [Bob^ 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 : —
" Sec 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, witb wine and liquors, but bis greediness
w ill 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. loj
He will leave no corner unturned tbat is likely to conceal any
thing from his ravenous appetite, and threatens the same
tyranny which formerly provoked the rebellions of Jack Straw
and Wat Tyler :— " At first he'll 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 !"
Sucb arguments as these were well calculated to prevail witb tbe
rabble ; and when the minister brought bis plan before the House
of Commons, tbe voice of opposition within doors was nothing in
comparison witb the mad clamour of the mob without. Walpole
calmly persisted in bis project, and explained the absurdity and
wickedness of tbe misrepresentations whicb had gone abroad,
but to no purpose ; tbe mob increased daily, and even tbe
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 tbe Common Council to draw up a violent
petition against tbe 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 tbe Univer
sity of Oxford, whicb still preserved its reputation for Jacobitism,
tbe joy at tbe defeat of the minister was unbounded, and was
openly exhibited in an unbecoming manner. In July, however,
after the close of the session, Walpole was received in Norfolk

io6 walpole: and pulteney.
(where tbe Excise madness appears to bave prevailed least)
witb unusual marks of respect, and bis entry into Norwicb
resembled a triumph. This, in London, was soon made the sub
ject of satirical ballads, in wbich be was burlesqued under tbe
character of " Sir Sidropbel," aud his reception by his con
stituents turned into ridicule.
The overstrained personalities of Bolingbroke and Pulteney
were now exciting indignation among refiecting people, who
began to question their motives and designs. Several biting
epigrams upon them and tbeir Craftsmen appeared during the
month of May. Something like an intimation appears to bave
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 tbe ninth ode of tbe third book of Horace : —
"A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE RIGHT HON. SIR R  T
W  ^LE AND W  M P  Y, ESQ.
" IK 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
Aud 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 tbe 12th of the same month con
tains the following severe lines on tbe 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 /
And all his voice could breathe were No's.
" 0 George ! hadst thou tbis craftsman known,
The sentence had not seem'd amiss.
For life when cringing to thy throne,
Hadst thou said No I instead of Tcs /
" Yet though his pen so long has raved,
Let him in time chastise his quill ;
That law whose Aye! has often saved,
May one time have a No ! to kill."
Every expedient, lawful or unlawful, was, bowever, 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 tbe ministry
unpopular with tbe electors. The excise agitation bad not sub
sided witb the year 1733, and to this was now added an outcry
against the Riot Act, witb exaggerated statements of the depreda
tions whicb the Spaniards were suffered to commit upon our trade.
Agents of tbe opposition were employed in various parts of tbe
country in preparing for tbe approaching struggle, months before
the dissolution of Parliament. On tbe 5tb 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, wbich 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 " Tbe Norfolk Gamester."
Tbe self-named Patriots began in return to be attacked se-

io8 SATIRES ON THE " PATRIOTS."
verely, and their patriotism was cried down as riiere selfish am
bition — the desire of place., A rhymer in Read's Weekly
Journal of January 7tb says —
" 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 tbe 26th 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 fiattering colours. Bolingbroke beads 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 thetj 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, witb an allusion to bis friend Pope, who bad written a play
for the stage, which was unsuccessful —
" Whate'er were his faults, they have taught 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, wbo 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
^Vith the spirit of envy, can let nothing rest.
With a hey derry, kc."

THE . CO UNTR Y INTEREST. 1 09
Wyndham, and one or two others, are described in a similai
strain. The faction led by Bolingbroke and Pulteney seem now
to have discarded their title of Patriots, and adopted that of the
Country Interest, whicb was their watchword in tbe elections
of 1734.
During tbe 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 tbe populace early in the
month. On the 16th the Parliament was dissolved, and tbe
elections took place at tbe end of the month and at the begin
ning of May. Tbe opponents of ministers never exerted tbem
selves so much ; and they practised bribery and corruption as
unblusbingly as tbeir antagonists. In cases where the corpora
tion of a town were in tbeir interest, they endeavoured to make
a majority by creating honorary freemen. Tbeir anxiety about
tbe result is shown strikingly in the following paragraph of the
Craftsman of the 2otb 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 ge^itleman are
most likely to succeed, will be brought on first, hj way of pre
cedent and encouragement to the others. We don't mention
tbis as any extraordinary piece of news, but only to prevent any
surprise at ihe first 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, "tbe people called aloud to have the oath
administered to bim, that he had received no money for that pur
pose'' Pulteney's faction was again doomed to disappointment;
for, although they bad gained a few votes, the strength of tbe
ministry remained unshaken ; and they did not even attempt
to conceal tbeir 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 whicli had closed in April,
tbat 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, witb several other causes, to drive
tbe latter from the arena of political strife ; and he soon after
wards retired to the Continent, witb the conviction that hia
party was carrying on a hopeless contest. A poet of tlie Gentle-

no THE OPPOSITION DISCOURAGED.
man's Magazine, in tbe 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 !
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 ?"
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 politioal storm ; and during the
rest of tbe year the only occurrences whicb made much noise
were some religious disputes, arising chiefly from the ultra High
Church zeal of one Dr. Codex, and tbe 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 " Rebecca and ber Daughters."
We bear of tbe proceedings of these people as early as 1730 and
173 1 ; and, as the excitement of political faction left a moment
of leisure to the newspapers, tbey convey glimpses of their pro
ceedings until 1735, when the turnpike destroyers in Hereford
shire had carried their outrages to so extraordinary a height tbat
tbey 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 tui;npikes, and were dressed in
women's apparel, with high-crown'd hats, and their faces blacken'd. I sup
pose you have heard of the attack they made at Ledbury ou the 21st of
September, about nine o'clock at night, when in two hours' time they out

FOBEIGN POLICY. in
Witb respect to Walpole's foreign policy, tbe factious character
of tbe opposition was becoming so apparent, that it now caused
little embarrassment or uneasiness to the Government, and ex
hibited itself publicly iu a way not likely to produce much
effect. At tbe beginning of 1734, when a peace seemed to bo
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 tinies, 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 bim 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."

113 THE BALANCING MASTEB.
A few months after this a war appeared imminent, and then the
same opposition cried out for peace, and complained that tbe
Government was unnecessarily involving tbe nation in hostili
ties with" its neighbours. Before the end of 1735 th^ 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 brothel
Horace Walpole, wbo was his great negotiator, received tht
sobriquet of " tbe balancing master." When he returned from
Holland to attend to his parliamentary duties, in the beginning
of 1736, the Craftsman of Jan. 17 published tbe following sati
rical announcement : —
' ' Just arrived from Hollaiid,
" THB 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, tbat, as soon as he begins to coo, the most
inveterate enemies cannot help shaking hands and growing friends again.
He hath not only reconciled sevei-al 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 tbat 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 tbe 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 Brunswic'c's coach the happy Britons throng,
And bear with grateful shouts tbeir 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 bis
brother. The opposition affected to laugh at his speeches, which are per
haps alluded to here as the "merry tunes and catches," that caused sq
m«ch admiration,

ATTACKS ON THE " PATBIOTS." 113
Joy fills the skies, with intermingled prayers.
And Europe's general voice seems raised in theirs.
Caleb alone with grief surveys the crowd,
' J^or can contain his rage, he vents aloud :
' Are thus my toils repaid, ye witless herd 1
Is Britain's peace at last to mine preferr'd ?
Ye ragged rascals, ye are hired to this ;
Be incorrupt like me, aud give a hiss.
Huzzah, ye bribed I but give me patriot strife.
And let me, gratis, hiss away my life.' "
The disappointed "Patriots" were now exposed to ridicule in
tbeir turn, and tbe newspapers contained satirical allusions to
tbeir eagerness to obtain the places held by their opponents.
The following is taken from the Daily Gazetteer of December
a6, 1735 ¦¦— "AN ADVERTISEMENT.
"To be sold at a stationer's shop iu 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 5s., 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 bulwai-k, 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.)t a M-er-
cury, the new general (D. of 0  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  rsf^ 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 B, B  K,§ 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 Oreat Bear for his first minister
and confessor. If All the, signs in the zodiac, except Scorpio, will be sold in
* Sir William Wyndham. I
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.
§ Perhaps Eustace Budgell, Esq., a writer in the Craftsman, who com
mitted suiciuC 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.
il Probably Bishop Atterbury, I

114 PBEVALENCE OF GIN-DRINKING.
one lot ; which, for its biting, stinging, scratching, poisonous quality, is set
a.side for a Gray's-Inn barrister. * For his steady, regular, uniform motion,
W. P.,"t Esq., ma}', with great propriety, be a, fixed star of the first mag
nitude, for five guineas ; and a certain viscount,!' the Syrius ardens of
Horace, or the incendiary eufiaming 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 12mo.,
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 WMg of Feb. 26, 1736,
informs us, " We hear that a strong-water shop was lately
opened in Southwark, with this inscription on the sign :§ —
" 'Drunk for id.
Dead drunk for 2d.
Clean straw for nothing.' "
The newspapers of tbe 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 tbis 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, whicb would make it too expensive to be pur
chased by tbe poor, and at the same time prohibiting the sale of
* Amhurst, the editor of the Craftsman, was of Gray's Inn.
+ William Pulteney.
X ? 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 brougbt into
Parliament by Sir Joseph Jekyl, and although Walpole seems
notto have given it bis entire approbation, was passed, after an
energetic opposition by tbe Patriots in the House, and by those
wbose interests it affected out of tbe House. This bill was to
come into operation on tbe 29th of September following.
It appears to have, caused no great excitement at first ; but, as
the time approached when the populace was to be de]prived of
tbeir 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, tbe
Craftsman announces the publication of a caricature, entitled
" The Funeral of Madam Geneva," witb the addition, " wbo
died, Sept. 29, 1736." As tbe date last mentioned approached,
the excitement increased, and serious riots were prevented only
by the watchfulness of the authorities. The signs of the liquor-
sbops were everywhere put in mourning ; and some of tbe
dealers made a parade of mock ceremonies for " Madam Geneva's
lying in state," which was tbe 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 tbemselves very merry on the death of Madam Gin,
and some of both sexes go't soundly drunk at her funeral, for
whicb the mob made a formal procession witb 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 tbe latter, willing to have their fill,
and to take tbe 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, tbat several re
tailers' shops were well crowded, some tippling on tbe spot,
while others were carrying it off from a pint to a gallon ; and
one of those shops bad such a good trade, tbat 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 tbe instruments of their drooping. Such has been the lamen
tation, that on Wednesday night ber funeral obsequies were
performed witb formality in several parishes, and some of the
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 bang 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 bear
from Bath, that Mother Gin has been lamented in tbat 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 tbe pictures of Hogarth.
Tbe Gin Act did but little good; for while, on one hand, it
encouraged a troop of common informers, who became the pest
of tbe country, it was on tbe other band evaded in every possible
manner, and witb great facility. Not only was gin publicly
sold in shops, but hawkers carried it about tbe 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, Rosemary Lane, Whitecbapel, 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 Baitlk, King Tlieodore or Corsica, Cholick and
Gripe Waters, and several others, to evade tbe 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, selHng chiefiy " cholick-water " and "gripe-water,"
with tbe further intimation that they gave " advice gratis."
And when some of tbe evaders of tbe law were brought before
tbe courts for examination, and it was observed that tbe che
mists' shops were much more frequented than formerly, tbey are
represented as giving for answer, " that the late act had given
many people the cbolic, and that was the reason tbey bad so
many patients."
The gin agitation continued unabated through tbe years 1737
and 1738, and gave rise to many a ballad and broadside. In
tbe July of the former year appeared, among many other similar
productions, " The Fall of Bob ; or, Tbe 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 tbeir victims, but sometimes laid false
inf^ormations, to gratify private revenge. They thus became
objects of extreme hatred to the mob ; and whenever tbey fell
into the hands of the populace, tbey were treated in an unmerci-

THE PRINCE OF WALES. iij
ful manner, beaten rudely, rolled in tbe 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 whicb tbe offender was thrown into
the river, and narrowly escaped drowning. This exercise of
mob-justice bad 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 tbe discovery of any person con
cerned in sucb outrages, a measure wbich had, however, a very
limited effect in checking them. I
In the course of 1737 Walpole lost his best supporter in
Queen Caroline, wbo died on the 2otb of November ; and the
opposition had already been strengthened by the accession to
their ranks of Frederick Prince of Wales, wbo bad first been
led into a violent quarrel with bis father, and then took the lead
in all measures likely to embarrass bis father's government.
The Prince bad taken up his residence at Norfolk House, where,
from this time, all the movements of tbe opposition were dis
cussed and resolved upon. Encouraged by this great addition
to tbeir strength, the allied "Patriots" and Tories roused them
selves for the senatorial strife, and the session of 1738 was
perhaps tbe most stormy one that Walpole had yet passed.
The object of attack was the foreign policy ; for tbe opposition
believed, that, if tbey could only push the country into a war.
the present ministry would be obliged to go out of office. The
English merchant-vessels bad been long in tbe habit of carry
ing on an illicit commerce on the coast of tbe Spanish posses
sions in America, to hinder wbich 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 bave shown an unnecessary degree of insolence
and severity. Tbe right of search, which has usually been
claimed under sucb circumstances, was always a tender question ;
and the English merchants, on tbe present occasion, made loud
complaints of tbe injuries tbey were daily suffering. One
Captain Robert Jenkyns pretended, tbat, when bis vessel bad
been searched, the Spaniards bad, in an insolent and cruel
manner, cut off one of bis ears. It was insinuated by the
ministerial supporters, that, if Jenkyns bad lost bis ear at all,
it bad been taken from bim on tbe pillory. He was evidently
the tool of a party. Nevertheless, this story, which Edmund
Burke afterwards called " tbe fable of Jenkyns' ear," produced
an extraordinary sensation, and tbe captain was brought forward
to make a statement of his wrongs before tbe House of Com-

11 8. 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
warlike demonstration. He felt, in fact, that tbe conduct of the
Spaniards could not in all respects be defended ; but be still
clung to his pacific policy, and carried on negotiations with the
court of Spain which led at the end of tbe 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 tbe light of a preliminary to the arrangement of a subsequent
treaty. These negotiations were not what the opposition wanted, and
thej' openly accused the minister of sacrificing the interests of
his country, with no other object tban that of keeping bis 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 tbe truth, in order to conceal tbe real
extent of the Spanish depredations. Among tbe most popular
caricatures published at tbis time, was a series of prints (con
tinued in the year following) under the title of " The European
Races," whicb require, what was really printed, a pamphlet to
explain them. Another caricature, entitled " In Place," repre
sents tbe minister sitting at his official table, and refusing to

PAElNO THE NAILS OP THE BEITISH LION.
bear tbe ntiinerous petitions and complaints, wbile a man with a
candle is burning one of the numbers of the Craftsman. A

THE NEGOTIATOBS. 119
print, entitled " Slavery," exhibits the well known story of
Jenkyns' ear. Another, published in October, 1738, applies the
fable of tbe lion in love, and represents Sir Robert Walpole
keeping tbe lion of England tame, while the Spaniard cuts his
nails. The character of the pamphlets on tbe same subject
may be surmised from the title of one advertised in tbe 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. Wal
pole's negotiations, according to tbis ballad, must silence tbe
clamours of the injured merchants : —
" Ou-r merchants and tars a strange pother have made.
With losses sustain'd in their ships and tbeir 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 tbeir 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 l6ng 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 for 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 iu 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 I they were onqe 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 tbe 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 you ;
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 tbe
King and the nation are equally deceived by a specious story
of the terror inspired by the renown of tbe British arms.
The outcry against the insolence of the Spaniards continued
unabated in 1739, and the "convention," signed at Madrid on
the I4tb of January, was designated as an "infamous" betrayal
of the natural rights of Englishmen, because it did not insist
upon claims which really bad never been allowed by Spain.
When Parliament met, the opposition had increased in violence ;
their clamours against the articles and principles of tbe " con-
* During the debates on the Excise scheme in the beginning of 1733, 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 tbem 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,
nr any gentleman whatever."

DUTCH FRIENDSHIP. i2r
vention" were loud in both Houses, and Jenkyns' "ear" made a
greater figure tban 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 tbe dramatic effect of a public se
cession from the House, a measure very acceptable to tho
Government, and whicb was far from producing the results
expected from it. But tbe overbearing conduct of Spain soon
seconded the efforts of tbe English " Patriots " in hurrying the
two countries into a war, which was declared on the 19th 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 tbat England was left to fight single-handed,
with a small army and not a well-manned fieet, and a Parlia
mentary opposition wbo cried out against every method of in
creasing the former or raising sailors for the latter, and yet who
began soon to blame tbe Government for their want of vigour in
carrying on hostilities, Tbe behaviour of the Dutch was the
subject of a caricature, entitled " The States in a Lethargy," in
whicb tbey are represented by a lion asleep in a cradle, rocked
by Cardinal Fleury.

DUTCH EEIENESHIP.

The caricatures began now to be more numerous and more
spirited than at any previous period. Among those which

122 JACK THE GIANT-KILLER.
appeared towards the end of tbe year, we may mention one,
bearing date tbe 8tb 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" (tbe Dutchman) takes tbe
opportunity of picking his pocket. The second compartment
represents Commerce, iu tbe form of a bull, baited by all
the powers concerned on this occasion. In the third. Cardinal
Fleury appears as a negotiator, witb money ou a table ; wbile
tbe fourth represents Gibraltar besieged by the Spaniards.
This pprt bad now begun to be looked upon as one of vital
importance for English commerce. Another caricature, pub
bsbed about the end of the year, under tbe 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, tbe personification of tbe Sinking Fund, into a
pit, and is destroying him with his pick-axe. On tbe giant's

THE POLITIOAL JACK THE GIANT-KILLEE.
girdle is inscribed the word " Convention," and round his
garter " The Ear," of course tbe celebrated ear of Captain
Jenkyns, wbich, witb the subsequent convention, had brougbt
on tbe war tbat bad "obliged tbe Government to draw heavily
upon tbe Sinking Fund in order to defray its expenses. In the
second compartment Jack is encountering the giant Fleury.
In tbe 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 BELLO.

133

JACK IN HIS GLOBT.

looking upon bim from a window above. The EngHsb govern
ment bad narrowly escaped a war witb
the latter of these three powers ;
France, as we bave already seen, acted
a part calculated to excite tbe appre
hensions of the English ; and Spain
was engaged in open hostilities, and
inflicting on tbe merchants much
greater injuries tban they bad sus
tained from her guarda-costas.
The war with Spain was carried on
witb no great activity ; and tbe only
event which threw any credit upon it
was the taking of Porto Bello, in tbe
Isthmus of Darien, on the 22nd of
November, 1739, by Admiral Vernon,
with six ships of tbe line. It appears
that tbis success was owing more to
the cowardice of tbe garrison, tban
to the conduct of tbe English
admiral, wbo was a vain man witb no great capacity. But
be was a personal enemy 'of tbe minister, and be was on
tbat account cried up by tbe opposition, and became in conse
quence tbe popular hero of the mob, who were made to believe
that the Government was jealous of bim because be was a
"patriot." When the news reached home in March, 1740,
bis friends in England fed bis discontent, by telling him that
the Court opposed tbe public acknowledgment due to bis
merits ; and be wrote back to his friends that he was checked in
his victorious career by tbe neglect of tbe 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, Tbis was a means of reviving, old clamours and
animosities, for tbe fate of poor Hosier bad excited great
sympathy. A print was published, entitled, " Hosier's Ghost,"
and representing tbe spectres of the unfortunate brave who bad
tbus 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 tbe circum
stance of its insertion in tbe " Reliques " of Bishop Percy. It
was attributed to Pulteney ; but the true writer is understood
to bave been Glover, tbe author of " Leonidas."

12.1 HOSIER'S 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-glorious
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 w.-ive he hy'd him,
Where tbe 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 Belle's ruin
You BOW 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,
V/hose wan cheeks are stain'd with weeping-
These were English captains brave !
Mark those numbers pale and horrid, —
Those were once my sailors bold !
Lo, each hangs his drooping forehead,
"V\^hile his dismal tale is told.
" 'I, by twenty sail attended,
Did this Spanish town affright :
Nothing then its wealth deftnded
But my orders not to fight.
Oh I 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.

HOSIEB'S GHOST. I3^
" ' For resistance I could fear none.
But with twenty ships had done
What thou, brave and happy Vernon,
Hast achiev'd with si.x alone.
Then the bastimentos never
Had our foul dishonour seen.
Nor the sea tbe sad receiver
Of this gallant train had been.
" 'Thus, like thee, proud Spain dismaying,
And her galleons leading home,
Though, condemn'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 griev'd 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 I' "
For a wbile nothing was talked of but Vernon and Porto
Bello, and even tbe French were said to have become alarmed at
our rising power in America. A caricature, published in July,
1740, under tbe title of " The Cardinal in the Dumps, witb tbe
Head of the Colossus," represents Fleury looking with amaze
ment on tbe portrait of Admiral Vernon, and exclaiming,
" G — d, he'll take all our acquisitions in America ! His iron will
get tbe bettor of my gold !" In the background tbe bead of
Walpole appears raised on a pole, under wbich is written, "Tbe

v26 PREPARATIONS FOR THE ELECTIONS.

THE OAEDINAL IN THE DUMPS.

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
whom all must bow
who would obtain Court
favour ; and tbe 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, wbile 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 witb confident hopes
to the eff'ect 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
politioal sins ascribed to bis 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 immediatel}^ 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, aud almost
every opposition paper was filled witb new attacks ou tbe

THE DEVIL UPON TWO STICKS.

THE MOTION.
excise project and on the "in
famous " convention. Lists of
the members who voted for and
against tbe latter measure were
industriously spread among the
electors. Amidst a variety of
political squibs, there appeared on
the 9th of Januar}^ a caricature
entitled "The Devil upon Two
Sticks. To tbe 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 wbich they
had passed. Britannia and ber
"Patriots" remain behind. Un
derneath are written the words
"Members wbo voted for the Excise and against tbe Con
vention." The expectations of the opposition had now become so san
guine, that they determined not to wait for another session to
impress upon tbe minister the truth of the motto whicb 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 witb which he always put himself for
ward on sucb occasions, bad obtained the name of " The Motion
Maker," was again chosen to take tbe lead. On the 13th of
February, 1741, at the conclusion of a long and violent attack
upon Walpole, reviewing the whole of bis foreign policy, stig
matising him as a tool of France, wbo had sacrificed the real
English interests on tbe Continent to the aggrandisement of
the House of Bourbon, and charging bim with arrogating to
himself tbe " unconstitutional" place of sole minister, and witb
unnecessarily burtbening his country witb debts and taxes,
Sandys moved an address to the King, " that be would be gra
ciously pleased to remove the Right Honourable Sir Robert
Walpole from bis Majesty's presence and councils for ever."
Tbis motion was seconded by Lord Limerick and warmly sup
ported by Pulteney, Pitt, and others. As tbe opposition seemed
id approach nearer to the attainment of power, the discordant

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 tbe house before tbe division. The consequence
of this desertion was, that the minister, wbo made an able
speech in bis own defence, triumphed by an unusually large
majority. On the same day, Lord Carteret (who bad 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 tbe 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 tbe coach, is driven towards the
Treasury by tbe 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 tbe 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.
' ' Between his legs de spaniel curr see,
'Though now he growl at Bob so fierce,
Yet he fawn'd on him once iu doggerel versS.
Doodle, &o,
"And who be dat postilion there,
Who di-ive o'er all, and no man spare ?
'Tis Ph— 1 — p e — le of here and there. Doodle, &c.
"But pray who iu de coacbe sit-a?
'Tis honest J — nny C — t — ritta.
Who want in place again to get-a. Doodle, &c."
Iiord Cobbam holds firmly by tbe straps behind, as foolmanj
while Lord Lyttelton follows on horseback, characterized equally

CARICATURE ON THE MOTION. 139
by bis own lean form, and by tbat of the animal across which
be 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, &o.
••"Who's dat who ride astride de poneyj
So long, so lank, so lean, and bony ?
Oh ! he be the great orator, Little- Toney I
Doodle, &o.
In front, Pulteney, drawing his partisans by the noses, and
wheeling a barrow laden with tbe writings of the opposition,
tbe Champion, the Craftsman, Common Sense, &c., exclaims,
" Zounds ! tbey 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 rigbt, Sandys, dropping in astonishment his favourite
Place Bill (whicb bad been so often thrown out of the House),
cries out " I thought what would come of putting bim on tbe
box!" " Who's he dat lift up both bis handes ?
Oh ! that's his wisdom, Squire S  s !
Oh ! de Place Bill drop I oh ! de army standes !"
The prelate, wbo bows so obsequiously as tbey 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
tbe collection of Mr. Burke, is fitted for a fan. Another, very
neatly drawn and etched on a folio plate, and dated February
19th, contains great variations, and wants much of tbe pointed
meaning of tbe genuine print. Tbey here appear to be driving
into a river ; Pulteney and Sandys are omitted ; two prelates
bold on by the straps behind tbe coach, which seems in no
imminent danger of falling ; yet Carteret cries out to his driver^
"John, if you drive so fast, you'll overset us all, by G — d! "
Horace Walpole, wbo received a copy of " The Motion " at
Florence, writes to his friend Conway, " I bave received a print
by tbis post tbat diverts me extremely — ' The Motion.' Tell
me, dear, now, who made the design, and who took the likenesses ;¦
tbey are admirable ; tbe lines are as good as one sees on such-
occasions."

130 THE REASON AND MOTIVE.
On tbe 2nd of March the " Patriots " retabated with a carica
ture entitled " The Reason," in which we bave another carriage,
with the portly form of Sir Robert Walpole as coachman : —
" Who be dat de box do sit on ?
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 tbe 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 —
LOED EANNY.
" Dat painted butterfly so prim-a,
On wooden Pegasus so trira-a, -
Is something — nothing — 'tis a whim-a,"
Lord Hervey was in the habit of painting his face to conceal
the ghastly paleness of bis countenance. Another copy of tbis
caricature, with some variations, was published so quickly after
tbe 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 tbe same title.
Another rather elaborate caricature was published about the
same time under tbe title of " The Motive ; or, Reason for his
Honour's Triumph;" directed, like the last, against the minis
try, and witb similar verses at tbe foot. Walpole, in the same
character of coachman, drives tbe carriage inscribed as the
"Commonwealth," witb the King- within it, aud, witb the Duke
tf Marlborough as his second, goads on Merchandize, the Sink-
mg-fund, and Husbandry as his horses. A number of different
groups bear allusion to the various methods by wbich the bribery
and corruption with whicb Walpole was charged influenced bis
supporters.

THE GROUNDS. 131
On March tbe 6tb was advertised a caricature entitled " A
Consequence of the Motion." The Daily Post announces the
publication, on Saturday tbe 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 wbo had flgured 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 tbe driver ; and Sandys, with
tbe 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 bis 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 svsine has robb'd the nation,
Though against all approbation."
There are in the same print many other allusions to tbe minor
subjects of political agitation of the day. An advertisement in
the same number of tbe Daily Post (the 7th of March) states
that " on Monday next will be published (to supply the defects
of ' Tbe Reason' 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 tbe 10th of
March, " The Grounds" is advertised for sale. This caricature,
whicb is rather gross, was intended to expose the Various ways
in whicb the minister extorted money from the country, and ex
pended it in bolstering up bis own power in office. He is repre
sented, under tbe title of Volpone the Projector, cutting up an
infant, intended to represent tbe Sinking Fund, on a machine
whicb is called tbe money-press. It is drawn by a pack of bis
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,viith others of tbe
minister's paid organs of tbe press, are beating for recruits. In
tbe foreground "Bribery and Corruption," personified by a fair
and gaily dressed lady, is distributing bishoprics and law appoint
ments to nrelates and judges, wbo likewise have yokes round their
necks .- one of the former exclaims " Thy yoke is easy, and thy
K a

132 THE FUNERAL OF FACTION.
burden light;" wbile a judge says, with equal eagerness, " Your
will to us shall be a law !" Behind tbe prelates are a crowd of
yoked excisemen, longing for a general excise ; and on tbe other
side the officers of the army standing in a similar predicament.
In the distance are Torbay with the English fleet, and tbe har
bours of Brest and Ferrol with the fleet of France : Walpole is
emitting two winds, one of whicb binders 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 tbe opposition unjustly
attributed to Walpole's mismanagement.
"De Register Bill he take lately in band,
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,
Wbo 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 Vet loose to undo him."
Tbis famous "motion" was the subject of several other cari
catures besides those mentioned above. One, entitled " Tbe
Funeral of Faction," was a satire on the opposition, and bad
beneath it the inscription " Funerals performed 'bj 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. Tbe old
comparison of Sisyphus, who toiled everlastingly without ap
proaching any nearer to tbe object of bis labour, was again
applied to the Patriots.
But this comparison was no longer true, for tbe days of Wal
pole's reign were already numbered. Age was creeping upon the
veteran statesman ; and that energy, with which for so many
years be bad discovered and defeated the intrigues of his enemies,
seemed to be forsaking bim. The Court party rated too high
the triumph they had just obtained over the opposition, and lost
themselves by tbeir self-confidence. On tbe i3tli of March tbe
news of the taking of Porto Bello by Vernon came to raise up the
spirits of bis party. The admiral was selected at the same time
for several towns in tbe general elections in May, wbich were
carried on with great violence, and in which it was evident that
tbe so-called " country interest" was gaining ground. The
utmost influence of tbe Prince of Wales, tbe 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 tbe 6th of May, 1741, 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 thein a poor cobbler's wife, very big witb 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. Tbe candidates making an
entertainment for tbe electors and their wives, to whom they
show great respect. At the upper end of the table, the parson
of the parish sitting, bis clerk standing by him. The members
elect carried in procession on chairs upon men's shoulders, with
music playing before tbem, 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., complaintu
were first heard of the indecency of candidates soliciting the
votes ofthe electors. The election at Westminster in 1741, at
whicb Admiral Vernon was an unsuccessful candidate, being de
feated by a large majority, presented a scene of tumultuous riot,
and was tbe subject of a parliamentary investigation, carried on
with much warmth, at tbe opening of tbe ensuing session. It
also was the subject of caricature.
While faction was thus active at home, the affairs of tbe Con
tinent were becoming every day more confused and complicated.
The Frencb 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
tbe former power, when new fuel was thrown into tbe flames by
tbe death of the Emperor Charles VI., on tbe 20th of October,
1740. By the Pragmatic Sanction, guaranteed by all tbe 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, wbo laid claim to a large portion of
tbe 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. I have not been able to meet with the pamphlet, but a oopy
of the caricature is in the collection of Mr. Burke.

134 THE BALANCING CAPTAIN.
invaded it witb 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 tho
unfortunate queen, who, however, defended herself against tbe
formidable confederacy witb courage and resolution. In England
tbe 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 tbis assistance, the Prussian army met
with an almost uninterrupted success, and Maria Theresa was
forced to throw herself entirely upon tbe 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 bis
Hanoverian dominions, concluded a neutrahty for one year, and
returned to England witbout having done anything for bis ally,
Tbe 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 tbe neutrality wbich 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 tbe wrongs and
misfortunes of tbe persecuted queen ; and the English king was
no more spared on tbis occasion than his ministers. In one
ballad he was attacked under the title of tho " 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 tbe 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
monly designated by the Jacobites as "the Captaia,"

THE GIPSY. 135
Of a Balancing Captain, well known hereabouts,
Returned home (God save him !) a mere king of clouts I
This captain he takes in a jioM-ballasted ship,
Each summer to terra damnosa a trip,
For which he 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 Him-gry alstcr, be then did pretend,
Would be tu his owners a notable friend,
If they would at that critical juncture supply her.
Tbey did — but, alas ! all the fat's in the fire 1"
In the sequel of the ballad, which is a remarkable example of
the seditious violence tbat characterized many of these produc
tions, we are told that the Captain, having fingered the money,'
immediately made a peace with bis 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 I ' cries the world, 'such a step was ne'er taken I'
' Oh, ho r 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 liobert/ one kick of my hat I
•ft -ft -x- • .» •
" ' Or should ray obous'd owners begin to look sour,
I'll trust to mate Bob to exert his old power,
Regit animos dictis, or nummis, with ease.
So, spite of your growling, I'll act as I please I' "
The conduct of the Captain is represented as calculated to
bring ruin on his owners, unless tbey 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 a.Tairs of the Queen of Hungary were
very numerous, both on the Continent and in England ; but tbe
majority of tbe foreign ones appear to have been against her,
wbile the English caricatures were all in ber favour. In one,
tbe background of which shews Prague bombarded, the Queen
is represented as a ragged gipsy (a pun upon tbe French word

i3(^ THE CARDINAL TURNED PHYSICIAN.

1 Bohemienne') kneeling before
the -King of France, to whom
she offers her jewels, witb
tbe prayer, " Sire, ayez pitie
d'une pauvre Bohemienne ,'"
The King, who thinks tbem
worthy of the acceptance of
bis favourite mistress, replies'
disdainfully, " Portez les a
Pompadour." In another
print, entitled "The Slough,"
of which there appeared seve
ral copies witb 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 bead foremost into a slough, Tbe King of Prussia,
wbo stands near in the character of a sentinel, asks, " Where
are you going, Madame ?" Tlie 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 tbeir own ag
grandizement. In another, entitled " The Consultation of
Physicians ; or, tbe Case of the Queen of Hungary," published

A EOTAL GIPSY.

THE CUNNING PHYSICIAN.
in February, 1743, the French minister, Cardinal Fleury, in the
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 bis pen. A print, entitled
"French Pacification; or, tbe Queen of Hungary stript," pub
lished also in the beginning of February, 1742, seems to have

DECLINE OF WALPOLE'S POWER.

m

had an especial popularity ; and a number of imitations ap
peared, some under tbe 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 tban
any, is in the .ict of depriving ber even of the slight covering
afforded by ber own band. The treacherous conduct of France
is severely pointed at in these caricatures, some of whicb 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 .inother, entitled,
" Tbe Parcse ; or, the European Fates," tbe intriguing cardinal

CAEDINAL "LAOUESIS."
is represented under the character of Lacbesis, spinning the
web of European politics, on a wheel which bears the title of
" Universal Monarchy ;" wbile King George, as Atropos, is cut
ting the thread.
It was in the midst of this hurly-burly abroad, tbat Walpole's
power was at length broken. The minister had lost much
strength in tbe elections of 1741, chiefiy in Scotland and Corn
wall ; and in one way or other the opposition had succeeded in
makino- him unpopular. Long before the session of Parliament
was opened, the opposition papers spoke with more than ordi-

138

A MINISTERIAL MINORITY.

KI.-^G "ATEOPOS.

nary confidence of success, and they
became proportionally violent in their
personal attacks. The mob was encou
raged, as tbey had been at tbe com
mencement of the reign of George I., to
shew themselves on every favourable
occasiftn. On tbe i2tb of November
Horace Walpole writes, " It is Admiral
Vernon's birthdajr, 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 tbat Ver
non's birthdaj' 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 bis son, who returned from bis
travels just in time to witness bis father's defeat, writes of him
on the 19th of October, tbat be wbo in former times " was asleejs
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, wbo at dinner
always forgot he was minister, and was more gay and thought
less than all tbe company, now sits witbout 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 4tb of December. On the
16th, 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 be bad 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 be was on tbe point
of losing it ; and, instead of taking tbe advice of bis intimate
friends, wbo 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 tbe House. On the 21st of

WALPOLE'S RESIGNATION. 139
January, after tbe Christmas holidays, Pulteney brought for-
wai-d a motion witb tbe same object as that of Sandys, which
had been so triumphantly defeated not quite a year before.
Walpole defended himself witb as much vigour and eloquence as
ever ; but the motion was rejected only by a majority of three.
On the 28tb of January, again, on an election petition, he was
defeated by a majority of one. Walpole now made up bis mind
to resign, and tbe next day announced bis intention to the King.
On a division upon tbe same petition on tbe 2nd of February,
tbe opposition majority had increased to sixteen. On the 31-d
the Houses were adjourned, at the King's request, for a fort
night ; on the 9th Sir Robert Walpole was created Earl of
Orford ; and on tbe nth be formally resigned all bis places.
The intelligence of Walpole's resignation was received in some
towns in the country witb ringing of bells and other demonstra
tions of joy ; and there were mobs and bonfires in London ; but,
according to Horace Walpole, tbis feeling- was much less general
than might bave 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 h.is
conduct, and talked of hunting him to the scaffold ; and they
advised bim to follow the example of Bolingbroke, in fiying
from his country. Walpole was almost the only commoner -
who had ever been admitted to the order of tbe 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, wbich 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
t-ions sent to tbe House, urging an impeachment ; and, in a
moment of triumph and excitement, it is difficult to foresee
what might have been the result of sucb a measure, had not the
King stood firm to bis old friend, and made it to a certain
degree a condition of the accession of his enemies to power, that
they should screen bim from persecution. The Craftsman and
tbe Champion continued to assail tbeir old enemy with scurrilous
* Sir Robert was created knight of the newly-revived order of the Bath,
before he received tbat of the Garter,

14° THE MOB.
insults : the latter paper, on the 23rd of February, in double
allusion to his former infiuence among the monied and mercan
tile interests, and his later unpopularity in tbe city of London,
published the following paragraph : — " In regard to tbe good
understanding which has so long subsisted between bis late
honor and tbe city, 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 tbe same violent journal, on the 17th of
August, drags the veteran statesman from bis retirement at
Houghton : — " From the neighbourhood of H  n palace.
We are informed that the annual NouroLK CoifGiiEss 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, ii ihe puff's still continued in pay are to be depended upon,
ways and means are already concerted to terminate tbe next
winter's campaign as successfully as the last."
When Walpole was created Earl of Orford, his daughter by
bis 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 tbe aristocracy of tbe 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 tbe 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," wbo were not allowed to share
in the spoils, obliged tbe Court to agree, at tbe beginning of
April, to the appointment of a secret committee to examine into
the conduct of Walpole during the last ten years of bis admin
istration ; but the inquiry led to no results of any importance.
The populace, bowever, 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 bave been so mean as to give these mobs money for bon
fires, particularly the Earls of Lichfield, Westmoreland, Den
bigh, and Stanhope. The servants of these last got one of these
figures, chalked out a place for the heart, and shot at it. You
will laugh at me, wbo, tbe 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, witb three footmen,
and a label on the breast, inscribed ' Lady Mary.' "
Tbe 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 parao-raphs and ill-
natured caricatures. The old device of the screen was brouo-bt
up again, and was tbe subject of more than one print. In Sue
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 repbes, " Mix
anddivide them," Several other courtiers are introduced, con
sulting on the change of af
fairs, one of whom, who
overhears tbe conversation
just alluded to, remarks, " 'Tis
good advice !" Through the ,
window are seen a party of '
men, wbo are not courtiers,
gazing on tbe heathens with
a telescope. One observes,
" It must be a comet !" The
other replies, " No, by Jove !
'tis Robin Good fellow from
R— cbm— d!" [Richmond]. I,
A third exclaims, " I wish the v^
telescope was a gun !" The
screen, forming the back
ground of tbe picture, repre
sents all tbe evil deeds with which Walpole was charged, and
which are described at length in the " Explanation " printed at
tbe foot. The last compartment represents a distant view of
the gallows, witb an axe, and a bead elevated on a pole, the
doom of traitors. The devil, for (to judge by the caricatures)
all parties seem to bave been convinced that Satan was busy
among tbem, peeps from behind the screen, and cries out exult
ingly, " Hah ! I shall bave business here again !" This caricature
is dated the 12th of April, 1742.
On tbe i6tb of November following, when tbe cry against
Walpole was still kept up, a caricature was published, entitled
"Bob, tbe 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 tbe otber end of the balance sits Justice, who is unable to
weigh down effectually tbe bulky peer, assisted as he is by
bis bags of treasure; but, in spite of this help, bis position

GOOD ADVICE.

14^

THE POLITICAL BALANCE-MASTER.

is critical, and in his terror
he cries out to the Evil One,
wbo appears above, " Ob I help
thy faithful servant Bob ! Sa
tan gives bim a look anything
but encouraging, and, holding
out an axe, replies to his invo
cation, " Tbis is thy due !"
It was tbus that party-spirit
' forgot, as it had so often done,
tbe feelings of generosity and
justice, and sought vengeance
which could have no other
object tban tbat of gratifying
personal hatred. Within no
great length of time from these
transactions, we shall find individuals, less powerfully defended,
made sacrifices to tbe same unworthy spirit.

THE BALANCE-MABTBE IH DANGEE.

14.3

CHAPTER V.
GEORGE IL
Ministerial Changes and Promotions — Unpopularity of Lord Bath— Battle
of Detting-en— New Changes, and the " Broad Bottom "—The Rebellion
of '45, and its Efl-ects- The City Trained Bands— The Butcher— The
Westminster Elections — New Changes in the Ministi-y — Congress and
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle — Tbe Hostages — New Ministerial Quarrels —
"Constitutional Queries" — Death ofthe Prince of Wales.
IN one of his speeches during tbe struggles in the House of
Cammons which preceded his fall, Walpole, analysing tbe
strength of the opposition, bad divided it into three classes, the
Jacobites and Tories, the discontented Whigs, and tbe " 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 — tbe young
men wbo 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, tbe leaders of the old " Patriots,"
seemed now to think of nothing but providing for tbemselves.
Pulteney, Carteret, and Sandys first secured places for them
selves, before tbey looked any farther ; and then, intimidated
by the threatening looks of tbeir old colleagues, they found
minor offices for a few of tbe 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 tbe nominal head of the new
ministry ; Lord Carteret was appointed secretary of state, and,
by flattering tbe King's propensities, soon engrossed the royal
favour. Pulteney took no place himself, but before tbe end of
the session he followed Walpole into tbe otber House, by tbe
title of Earl of Bath ; Sandys was made chancellor of tbe ex
chequer, and tbe Earl of Winchelsea was made first lord of the
admiralty. The King, who bad made a cold reconciliation with
the Prince of Wales, acceded to these arrangements with an

T4d. THE NEW MINISTRY.
unwilling consent, and acted by tbe advice of Walpole, whom
be consulted in secret. The position of the Monarch amid these
changes is well described in a ballad, wbich made a great noise,
published in the following October, and understood to have been
written by Lord Hervey, one of the old ministers who bad lost
bis place : —
" 0 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 all 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 Cai-teret 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 Uke 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 ;
I have promised your son (nay, no frowns) should have some,
Nor think 'tis for nothing we Patriots come.' "
Carteret then goes on to declare tbe changes he must have in
the ministry, — wbo are to be turned out, and who to be kept in.
Among the latter, tbe 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 avaricious disposition.

THE EARL OF BATH. 14^
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 tbe new men to be brougbt in, tbe most important is
Pulteney —
" All 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 with great parts.
" And, as popular Clodius, the Pulteney of Rome,
From a noble, for power, did plebeian become.
So tbis Clodius to be a patrician shall choose.
Till what one got by changing, the other shall lose."
The King is appeased by tbe fiattery of bis soldier-loving
propensities : —
" ' For, your foreign affairs, howe'er they turn out,
-4.t 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 bis 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 politioal 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, wbo, 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 bis party for the bribe of a coronet. Some said that be
bad been lured into the snare by Walpole ; others believed that
be had been pushed into it by Carteret, who was jealous of his
popularity ; wbile many supposed that be 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 ber under that title is said to .have given tbe Earl great
annoyance. It was the universal belief tbat 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, wbich was quickly seized upon as a
subject for a joke against the new ministers. "Last Sunday,"
Horace Walpole tells us iu a letter of tbis period, "tbe Duke of
Newcastle gave the new ministers a dinner at Claremont, where
their servants got so drunk, that when tbey 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 tbeir suite, tumbled off the box,
and there they were planted. There were Lord Bath, Lord
Carteret, Lord Limerick, and Harry Furnese in tbe 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 bim for
bis coachman, the Duke of Newcastle standing by. My father
said, ' My Lord, whenever the Duke is near overturning you,
j'ou have nothing to do but to send to me, and I wills.ave you.' "
The following ballad, attributed to Sir C. Hanbury Williams,
was published on the occasion. Lord Bath, as the ex-writer in
tbe Craftsman, retains bis 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, liey 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 au Argyle !'
Derry down, &o.
" But he soon was convinced of his error ; for, lo t
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, &u.

THE NEPOTISM. 147
"Now the peers quit their coach iu a pitiful plight,
Deep in mire, aud in rain, and without any light ;
Not a path to pursue, nor to guide them a friend —
"What course shall tbey 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 ?' be said.
* For many a bad season, through many a bad way,
Old Orford I've driven without stop or stay,
Derry 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 toot them both up, and through thick and through thin,
Drove away for St. James's, aud brought them safe in. —
Learn hence, honest Britons, in spite of your pains.
That Orford, old coachman, still governs the reins.
Derry down, &o."
The Duke of Argyle bad at first insisted upon forming a minis
try upon what be termed a "broad bottom," in whicb all classes
of tbe 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," tban the Tories themselves. This party of tbe oppo
sition, from their leaders being chiefly nephews and cousins of
Lord Cobham, was sometimes designated as tbe " 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 tbem tbe 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 tbe country had seen for many years ; the old worn-
out question of tbe Hanoverian troops and an act for the repeal
of tbe Gin Act alone made any noise. Lord Bath bore tbe at
tacks of tbe press with far less equanimity than had been shown

148 BATTLE OF DETTINGEN.
by Walpole, and complained bitterly of " scurrilous libels." To
him was commonly attributed a pamphlet, published early in
1743, under tbe title of "Faction detected," in which the oppo
sition and its organs were severely attacked, and wbich made
much noise for a short time, being roughly handled in some of
tbe opposition papers.
At the close of the session tbe King went to Hanover, witb
bis son tbe Duke of Cumberland and bis now favourite minister
Lord Carteret, and joined the army of English and Hanoverians
under the Earl of Stair, whicb be bad 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 tbe French and Bavarians were now
in tbeir turn labouring under tbe reverses of war. England was
nominally at peace witb France, and her soldiers were only
fighting under tbe banners of Austria. Tbe Hanoverian army,
wbich King George, tbe Duke of Cumberland, and Lord Carteret
bad just joined, was on its way to Hanau, when it was attacked
at Dettingen by tbe Frencb 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 bad been no war
of any importance sinoe tbe 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 ; aud, though tbey did fight bravely, their loss had
been severe. They complained that they had not been properly
supported ; for the horse, which was chiefiy Hanoverian, bad not
behaved so well in the battle as the foot. Tbe commander-in-
chief. Lord Stair, had strongly urged tbat the enemj' should be
pursued ; but bis opinion was overruled by that of the foreign
generals. A second remonstrance, after tbe troops bad been re
freshed, was equally unsuccessful ; and the Earl, with several
otber 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 tbe
title of " The Hanoverian Confectioner-General," in which the
French are represented as fiying from, tbe field hotly pursued by
tho 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

tbe Hanoverian horse, riding on
the starved British lion (a hard
hit, as the discontented party
bad 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 ?"
Theircommaiiderreplies, " N'im-
porte, j'ai conserve nos gens ;"
while his soldiers exclaim, " We
will not be commanded by the
English. An Austrian comman
der, wbo is equally urging tbe
pursuit, calls tbem " 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 ;
tbey talked ironically of making
Carteret commander-in-chief (he is said to bave remained in his
carriage in the neighbourhood of the battle all the day, witbout
showing any fear, and be wrote a vaunting despatch) ; and jokes
passed about on tbe trio of successive Johns — John Duke of
Argyle, who bad refused tbe place because be was not allowed
to bring any Tories into the ministry, John Earl of Stair, and
T„i,„ T.„„;i ri„„(-o.,Q<- Tifio frvllrvmincp linpa " nn the Johns" an-

THB BEITISH LION OUT OF ORDER.

John Lord Carteret. Tbe following lines
peared in some of the papers : —

' on the Johns" ap-

" 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 was made S  ; [secretary]
By himself he's P  M  [prime mimster] made ;

ijo 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 tbe death of Lord Wilmington, wbo had
presided at the Treasury board, gave rise to new changes in tho
ministry, in whicb 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 tbe
Treasui-jr, and was allowed to bring into inferior places bis
friends Henry Fox and Lord Middlesex. Lord Gower resigned
tbe Privy Seal, which was given to Lord Cbolmondeley. Pelham
also obtained the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, which
was taken from Sandys, wbo was appeased witb 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 bad been set up in opposition to tbe Gentleman's
Magazine, and which had been from tbe 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 Ccesar, Lepidus, and Toney.
But mark what followed from this union :—
John left his countrymen's communion,
And, though in ofiice he appear'd,
Was neither honour'd, lov'd, or fear'd.
Sam in the sunshine buzz'd a little ;
Then 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 tbe Pelhams ;
and, in the sequel, the Duke of Newcastle and his brother com
pelled tbe King to dismiss Granville, who had lost his political
infiuence, on the 23rd of November. Lord Winchelsea, General
Cavendish, and the otber Lords of tbe Admiralty, with some
other inferior 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 tbe
Chamber in the royal household; the Tory Lord Gower was

ADMIRALTY APPOINTMENTS.

i5^

made Privy Seal ; Lyttelton obtained a seat at tbe 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 overcome ; and Lord Chesterfield, wbo 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. GrenviUe was made one of the junior Lords of the same
board. Tbe arrangement o{ the Admiralty seems to have
given most difficulty from tbe number of applicants ; and it
formed the subject of a caricature, entitled " Next Sculls at the
Admiralty," published on tbe aj-tb of December, 1744, which
contains a number of figures, all evidently intended for portraits.
In the back is a view of tbe
Admiralty, with Winchelsea,
Cavendisb, and tbeir 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 ;) wbile Cavendisb,
with his hand raised to bis
mouth in tbe attitude of
bidding adieu, and exclaim
ing "I must eat," turns off
to one side. One of the
groups in front, of those wbo
are "coming in," or wanting
to come in, represents to tbe
left the Duke of Bedford in going out.
a stooping posture, exclaiming " Bed for 't.'' In the middle the
tall upright figure of Anson, wbo had in tbe course of the year
arrived from bis circumnavigation of tbe world, says, " Round
tbe 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 tbe small
number of adherents of Carteret and Lord Bath, bad a represen
tative ; and the consequence was, tbat, during tbe 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 had amassed great
wealth by his voyage.

'5^

POPULAR DISSATISFACTION.

sion, there was scarcely a division. Lord Orford, wbo bad been
called to town by the King to give him his advice iu bis minis-

COMINO ra.

terial embarrassments, returned to Houghton, and died there on
tbe i8tb of March, 1745.
This " broad-bottomed" ministry had, however, very little
substantial unanimity in itself; the chief tie by whicb 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
tbem had been supporting boisterously for so many years ; and,
f there was not much opposition in the House, there was abun
dance of dissatisfaction witbout. 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 be
adds, " One has heard of the corruption of courtiers ; but, believe
me, the impudent prostitution of patriots, going to market with
tbeir 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
tbe caricature mentioned above, on tbe i5tb of January, ap
peared a "New Ballad," entitled the "Place-book; or, the Year
174J," which was soon followed by a bitter lampoon on the
people in power, under tbe 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. ij3
sensions ; and these, with tbe disappointments ofthe old Tories,
again raised the spirit of Jacobitism, whicb 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 tbe minstrel ofthe north began again
to chant aloud bis hatred to King George and the Whigs, and
his wishes for the return of the Stuarts, Tbe arrival of Prince
Charles Edward, the young Pretender, on the coast of the high
lands of Scotland, in the latter days of July, was tbe signal for
the rising of tbe 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, tbe Pretender entered
Perth in triumph on tbe 4th of September ; and in tbe middle
of the same month, still leaving Cope behind bim, be obtained
possession of Edinburgh. On the 21st Cope was defeated in the
brief but celebrated battle, known as tbat of Preston Pans, from
whence, with a small portion of bis army, be fled to Berwick, and
Scotland was left almost in tbe power of the rebels. After re
maining some time in Edinburgh, the castle of which was still
in tbe bands of the English garrison, tbe Pretender began his
March on tbe ist of November, witb 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 i^tb, and, proceeding into Lancashire, they reached Preston
on the 37th and Wigan on the 28tb, 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 tbe 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
3oth of December, and his army was collected together at
Glasgow by the end of the year. On tbe 17th of January the
English troops in Scotland met witb as signal a defeat on Fal
kirk Moor as tbey had previously experienced at Preston Pans;
but better troops and more experienced commanders were rapidly

1^4 CARICATURES AGAINST THE PRETENDER.
approaching tbe scene of action, and tbe hopes of tbe Jacobites
in Scotland were destined to bave 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 whicb the press
generally treated tbe rebellion. The citizens of London showed
their fears rather than their courage by tbeir anxious precautions ;
and tbeir alarm was so great on the day when intefligence was
brougbt of the advance of the rebels to Derby, and of their con
sequent position between tbe Duke of Cumberland's army and
the metropolis, as to cause it to "be long remembered as tbe
"Black Friday." A rush was made upon the Bank, tbe fatal
effects of wbich 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 wbich resounded in Scotland
were, however, replied to by satirical caricatures and loyal songs,
of whicb there was no want in tbe south. In one of the former
the British lion is represented as tbe true support of King
George and tbe Protestant succession against the designs of the
French King. The Pretender addresses
the King of France, the Pope, and tbe
devil, who were looked upon popularly
as tbe 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 witb bim the religious
principles of Rome aud tbe political
principles of France. The feeling on
tbis subject is strongly exhibited in a
caricature, entitled "Tbe Invasion; or,
Perkin's triumph," in whicb the Pre
tender is represented triumphantly dri
ving in the royal stage-coach, drawn by
six horses, which are named Superstition,
Passive Obedience, Rebellion, Hereditarv
THE PKOTESTANT CHAMPION. T?; 1,1. A 1 -i Vi " ¦, -tJ-^-icuiuai_y
'^^""•Kight, Arbitrary Power, and Non-Re-
sistance, and riding over Liberty and all tbe public funds.
The Pope acts as postilion, and tbe King of France as coachman •'
two monkeys and the devil perform tbe office of footmen, and"
various disastrous consequences of tbe success of tbe rebellion are
represented in different carts of the oicturc. A P-roun of Snot-

CARICATURES AGAINST THE PRETENDER. 155
tish soldiers follow a standard, on whicb are figured a pair of
wooden shoes and tbe motto " Slavery." St. James's palace
occupies tbe background, witb Westminster Abbey on one side,
and on tbe other Smithfleld and a martyr at tbe stake. This
print was from tbe pencil and graver of C, Mosley.
Another print is entitled " Britons' Association against tbe
Pope's Bulls," and was published on tbe 21st of October, 1741;
The river Tweed divides the picture
in two. On one side the Pretender
is trying to force over the river au
importation of bulls, from tbe
mouths and nostrils of which issue 'C^^fe^ ,
lightning mixed witb decretals, '^^^'s '
"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 buU
laden witb indulgences, penances,
confessions, absolutions, holy water,
and a whole cargo of sucb Popish '
furniture. In the distance, Edin
burgh Castle appears, well manned
with loyal troops, and beneath it a
group of Highlanders following tbeir standard witb some
reluctance, their different opinions showing the want of una
nimity in the directors of the rebellion. One says "I'll go
home!" while bis companion cries "To Newcastle!" and the
recommendation of a third to " Cross the Tweed" is backed by
tbe 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 ofthe parish!" His next companion,
with more valour, exclaims, " 0 God, I'd go five miles to fight !"
while another moves on rather doggedly, witb an exclamation
of regret, "I wish they'd go to dinner!" This portion ofthe

AN IMPORTATION-.

1^6 BRITANNIA 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 tbis pressing emergency. In the dis
tance we bave a view of tbe ocean covered
witb 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 tbe 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 'ij
To break did much contribute,
When many friends were seen
To grace the fatal gibbet.
" He open'd then his coffers.
And shew'd 'em 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 Geobge, you'll be undone ! "

AN INDEPENDENT OEFIOEE,

BEITANNIA DANCING TO A NEW TUNE.

THE PLAGUES OF ENGLAND. 157
Another caricature published at tbis period was entitled " Tho
Plagues of England ; or, the Jacobites' Folly," and was aimed
especially at the conduct of our French allies on this occasion.
The Pope, tbe devil, and the Pretender are here raised up as
idols, and worshipped by Jacobite devotees. Tbe King of France
acts as fiddler, while Britannia is seen
dancing to a French tune, led by Folly,
who is carrying Poverty on bis back.
Behind tbem, 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 tbe prime movers
of tbe rebellion (the Pope, tbe devil,
and their associates), here overcome by ebbbllion dbebated.
the force of truth. The obverse exhibits a bust of the King
in armour, witb the inscription " Geoegiits II. d. g. Rex,"
A caricature, which had been published in the March of tbis
year, when tbe Jacobite rising was already foreseen, but it was
at least wished to be believed tbat tbe grand conciliation of
"broad-bottomry " would be a sufficient defence against it, re
presented tbe King on his throne, attended by his two sons, the
Prince of Wales, and tbe 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 tbeir 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 tbe two paintings is, " English bull
dogs, united against the enemy." This print, entitled " Court
and Country united against the Popish Invasion," is dated the
6tb of March, 1744 («.e. 1744-5).
This unanimity, bowever 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 tbe dangers wbich threatened
their country. The question of national rights and liberties,
whicb wise men saw involved, was looked upon as a secondary
matter by those wbose only banner was political or religious
party, or tbe still more unworthy one of place and emolument.

1^8 SIR JOHN COPE AND THE ROYAL TROOPS.
In a print wbich appeared in the autumn of 1745, under the
title of "A Hint to the Wise; or, the surest way witb the
Pretender," the church militant is represented on one side offer
ing but a weak resistance to the Pretender, wbile the standard
of broad-bottom, set up by tbe 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 Y'ork, wbo, after the defeat of Sir John Cope at Preston
Pans, had exhibited extraordinary activity in raising aud review
ing in person the volunteers of his diocese, though bis 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 tbe pay of officers in the
army. In one county tbe fox-hunters were formed in a corps
and armed. One of the Scottish Jacobite (or at least semi-
Jacobite) songs of tbe day gives tbe 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 ?
Whose cunning's so quick, but whose motion's so slow,
That the rebels marcli'd on, while he stuck in the snow !"
Cope himself, tbe object of so much satire in tbe Scottish
Jacobite songs, was not spared in tbe English caricatures, one
of which, entitled " A race from Preston Pans to Berwick," is
accompanied by a parody on tbe well-known old ballad against
Sir John Suckling. Among tbe many wbose behaviour at this
time exposed them to satire, the Duke of Newcastle, wbose
conduct as minister bad made bim 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, wbo was both a French
man and a Catholic, he set especial store : it was pretended that
tbis hero of the kitchen would be included in the proclamation
ordering Papists and others to be removed from tbe metropolis,
aud the chagrin of tbe Duke was portrayed in a caricature,
entitled "Tbe Duke of Newcastle and his (French) Cook," in

DUTCH NEUTRALITY.

155

wbich tbe Duke is made to exclaim " 0 Cloe ! if you leave me,
I shall be starved !"
Tbis rebellion, while it caused in England more fear tban
hurt, bad 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, pubbsbed on

THE BENEFIT OE NEUTEALITY.
the 26tb 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 witb 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 paih"
In tbe beginning of tbe year 1746 the war in Scotland con
tinued to be carried on in tbe same careless and unskilful man
ner, which, in the previous year, bad chiefly contributed to the
temporary success of tbe insurrection, until, towards the end of
January, the Duke of Cumberland was sent to the north to take
tbe 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 tbe Soutb bad 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 tbe ministerial measures. It was said to

i6o

THE GAME OF BOB-CHERRY.

bave been by bis advice that the King neglected the Scottish
rebellion so long, and thus allowed it to gain head. The minis
ters, on tbe other hand, eager to get rid of Granville's infiuence,
made an attempt to turn out those of tbat party who still re
mained in office, and bring in more of their own supporters.
Tbe King refused to accede to tbeir wishes on this point, and,
perceiving from other symptoms that Lord Granville's party
was intriguing against them, on the lotb 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 obief, finding himself witb
out infiuence 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 tbat emi
nence and popularity' which has given bim 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 be 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-CHEEEY. Willes is preparing to jump at one marked

BATTLE OF CULLODEN.

i6i

" High Chancellor." The Earl of Granville, wbo bad swallowed a
cherry marked " Secretary of State," is seized witb a fit of sickness,
whicb obliges him to disgorge it. Bebind him stands the old Tory
and half Jacobite, Sir John Hynde Cotton, holding a cherry in bis
band, and looking witb a smile at tbe efforts of tbe eager can
didates for tbe others. Cotton bad already obtained a place in
tbe ministry, and he seems to bave cared
little for tbe changes whicb were taking
place, William Pitt and Mr. Walpole
are standing by, laughing at tbe 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
tbe Long Administration," published in
a very diminutive size, " price one
penny." The Duke of Cumberland, wbo was
warmly attached to tbe old Whig prin
ciples, to which be looked for the support
of his House on tbe throne, and who
had been alarmed by tbe intelligence of
the ministerial crisis, was relieved from all bis fears, when, a
few days afterwards, be heard of the restoration of the Pelhams,
and he proceeded vigorously with the work witb whicb he was
now entrusted in the north. The fear and anxiety which bad so
long prevailed throughout England were entirely expelled by tbe
news of the sanguinary and decisive battle of CuUoden, fought
on tbe i6th of April ; and for several weeks tbe 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 tbe trials and execu
tions of tbe rebels, occupied public attention through this and a
o-reat part of the following year. It need hardly be stated that
tbe weak, and we may probably add worthless, Pretender, after
passing through many dangers and hardships, disappointed bis
enemies by making good bis escape to France. One of the
Engbsb ballads sums up bis enterprise, by telling us punningly
that

A OHEEEY IN HAND.

VL

1 62 AGITATION IN LONDON.
" His descent was from Sky,* as thereby he'd declare,
His design was strange castles to build in the air."
London bad, during these events, presented a strange physiog
nomy. Witb perhaps more general excitement, there was less
of street-mobbing than in 1715 ; but the consciousness of dan
ger seems to bave been stronger. The pamphlet shops were
filled with tracts against Popery and tyranny, and similar pub
lications were hawked about tbe streets ; and tbe newspapers
spread abroad daily a new cargo of exciteable matter. Tbe
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, wbich,
it was said, were to be re-enacted on tbe Pretender's arrival in
tbe metropolis. In the beginning of 1746, although the Pre
tender bad returned to Scotland, 3'et people were so far from
believing that tbe danger was entirely averted, tbat the news
papers and magazines gave directions and illustrative figures for
exercising volunteers in tbe 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 tbis part of tbe king
dom from danger. Y'^et, 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 in 1715, for drinking the health of the Pretender; ballad-
women and low persons were seen vending seditious papers, not
only in tbe streets of London, but in the very heart of tbe
camp ; and, in the latter, agents of the Pretender were actually
detected in attempting to seduce tbe soldiers from tbeir duty.
It is not surprising, that, in such a state of things, the victory
of CuUoden 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 bead
was a tavern sign in every country town ; and his name contri
buted to give popularity to one of tbe prettiest of our common
garden-fiowers. Some verses, current at this time, told us that
* The Young Pretender first put foot ou Scottish ground in the Isle of
Skye.

SWEET-WILLIAM. 163
" The pride of France is lily white ;
The rose 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- Wdliam only rules tbe day 
No plant with bri,','hter lustre grows,
Except tbe laurel on his brows."
" The agreeable Contrast between the British Hero and tho
Italian Fugitive," a caricature published shortly after tbis
event, represents the Pretender on one side, his hopes defeated
and broken, and on the other the portly Duke, who exclaims,
"Britain gave nie life; for her safety I will readily risk it!"
Underneath is inscribed the distich —
" Here happy Britain tells her joyful tales,
And may again sinoe William's arm prevails."
It was tbis period of agitation whicb suggested to Hogarth
the admirable picture of the march of the guards to Finchley,
on their way to the north against the Soots. 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
tbe actors appear unconscious of
the riot and confusion with which
they are surrounded : it repre
sents, we are told, a French spy,
who is communieating to a dis
guised Jacobite a letter of in
telligence, announcing that tho
King of France bad 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 be has deceived, and that they are
upbraiding him for bis treachery and inconstancy ; but they are

PEIVATE INTELLTGBNCB,

164

CITY TRAINED BANDS.

evidently two ballad-singers of different politioal parties, for
one carries a paper inscribed "God save our noble King,
and a print of tbe Duke ot
Cumberland, wbile the otber
holds up a number of tbe
Remenibrancer, a journal in
opposition to tbe Govern
ment. Hogarth's print was
given to tbe 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
bis only feeling appears to
bave been that of anger, that
bis favourite soldiers should
be exposed to ridicule, and
be returned it without an
observation. Hogarth, in
dignant at tbe little patro
nage be recei^'ed from the
Court, satirically dedicated
his engraving to tbe 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 fied at Preston and
Falkirk, and those were the warriors of tbe 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 tbe defence of tbe metropolis,
and during the earlier part of the century they bad been
from time to time drawn out in the outskirts of the town
to perform battles and sieges, in harmless imitation of the
movements iipf 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
tbe newspapers of tbat period contain frequent paragraphs
detailing satirically their pretended exploits. As late as
tbe year 173 1, Read's Weekly Journal, of September 11,
announces, that, " On Tuesday, tbe Cripplegate, Whitecbapel,

OEOSS-EIEE.

rHoLt J- b. A.

CITY TRAINED BANDS.

i<5^

St. Clement's, and Southwark grenadiers rendezvous'd in
Bridgewater Gardens ; from whence they marched through the
eity, 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 tbeir exercise of arms." We bave already
seen these domestic troops, in a caricature on the invasion
of tbe Pretender, exhibited as loving better tbe enjoyments
of home than tbe rude service of war. They figure in -the last
plate of Hogarth's series of the " Idle and Industrious Appren
tices," aud in several caricatures of tbe time. In one of these,
in the collection of Mr. Burke, (witbout
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 tbe 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. Tbey are
assembled at the sign of the Hog-iu-
Armour,* and one of tbe troop carries a
bill with the proclamation —
" Come, taylers and weavers.
And sly penny shavers,
All baste and repair
To the Hog in Bag Fair,
To 'list in the pay
Of great Captain Day,
And you shall have cheer,
Beef, pudding, and beer."
Underneath this print, whicb 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 left-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 was au ordinary practice with Hogarth,
many of whose prints are thus reversed.

TEAINED BANDS.

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 tbe Rebellion passed over, tbe 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 infiuence, which the accession of Wilbam
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 bad furnished an excuse for the repeal of the Habeas
Corpus Act ; and the power thus obtained being exercised
more frequently against those wbo attacked tbe ministry
than against the enemies of the Crown, bad increased the
unpopularity of the former. William Pitt, who bad not long
touched a legacy of io,oooL, 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 bad preceded him, and was assailed on
every side for the "unembarrassed countenance" witb 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 tbe
eloquence of " a fellow who could talk and could prate," and
tells us bow, before his accession to tbe ministry,
" He bellow'd aud 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, cScc."
By bis apparent zeal in tbis cause be soon extended bis
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." i6j
But nature had given him, ne'er to be harrass'd,
An unfeeling heart, and a front unembarrass' d.
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."
Reproaches or rebukes had little effect upon him, we are told,
whether tbey came from friend or foe ; and, having once cast
the die, be outdid every one in bis barefaced dereliction of bis
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 I
As my front is of brass, I'll be painted iu yellow.'f
Derry down, &o.
' ' 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 otbjr ballads equally bitter,
and be was violently attacked in tbe opposition papers, especially
in an evening paper entitled The National Journal, or Country
Gazette, which was commenced on the 22rid of March, 1 746, and
tbe object of which seems to bave been chiefiy to expose tbe
false and exaggerated information relating to the affairs of Soot-
land published by the Government news-writers. Tbe misuse of
the Duchess of Marlborough's legacy, tbe " unembarrassed
countenance" of tbe 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 comj^arison of Orator
Pitt with Orator Henley. But all was in vain : Pitt's eloquent
" oratory" swayed the senato, ministerial bribes defeated oppo
sition witbout, and on tbe i3th of June tbe printer of The Na
tional Journal was thrown into Newgate, whence be escaped
only upon tbe expiration of the suspension of tbe Habeas Corpus
Act, in February, 1747.
In tbe midst of the intrigues of the cabinet, the Prince of

' An allusion to the character of Sir Balaam in Pope's Moral
Epist. iii. 1. 339 — 360.
+ A list of tbe names of those who voted for the Hanover troops two
years before, which Pitt had then vehemently opposed, and which he now
as vehemently advocated, had been printed in yellow characters.

1 68

NEW OPPOSITION.

Wales, dissatisfied with the ministry, in tbe formation of whicb
be bad bad so large a share, and jealous of tbe popularity of bis
brother, again threw himself into tbe opposition. From this
moment there was not only a sensible increase in tbe attacks
against tbe Government, but every expedient was tried to
blacken tbe character of tbe 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 tbe victor of CuUoden became generally known by tbe
epithet of " The Butcher." Even his fatness, and tbe lowness
of some of his amours, were turned to derision. The caricature
of " The agreeable Contrast," mentioned above as published after
the battle of CuUoden, was responded to by a parody entitled
" The agreeable Contrast — shews that a greyhound is more
agreeable tban an elephant, and a genteel person more agreeably
pleasing than a clumsy one, a country lass better tban 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,
wbo had been taken into keeping by the Duke. An extraordi

nary notion of the elegant figure and graceful manners of
tbe Pretender was zealously spread abroad by tbe Jacobite
emissaries, and in this caricature be is represented as the accom
plished beau, emblematically figured by bis attendant, the courtly
greyhound. He, too, is made to proclaim, "Mercy and love,
peace," &c. ; while Flora exclaims, " Oh ! the agreeable creature 1
What a long tail be has !" On tbe otber side of the picture

WESTMINSTER ELECTION

169

stand the bloated " Butcher"
and bis attendant emblem,
tbe elephant. Tbe Duke is
made to exclaim, "B  d
and w  ds!" and a lady
near bim 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
tbe ministers are understood
to have attained their majo
rity only by tbe most lavish
expenditure of tbe public money. At Westminster the two
parties were brought into violent collision, and tbe Duke and
the Prince of Wales are said to bave taken an active part on the
two sides. The Government candidates were Lord Trentbam,
tbe eldest son of Earl Gower, and Warren, wbo were elected by
a considerable majority, against the opposition candidates,
Phillips and Clarges. This party struggle was tbe subject of
several spirited caricatures, in which tbe " Butcher" is made to
cut a prominent figure. One

THE BniOHEB.

of the best of these, pub
lished in June, 1747, bears
tbe title of " The Two-shil
ling Butcher," and alludes
to tbe open bribery carried
forward ou tbis 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, tbat
there is 3000 above my cut,
though I offered handsome."
The individual thus ad
dressed, an elegantly dressed
figure, intended apparently
to represent Lord Trentbam,
exclaims in reply, dissatisfied

^-^ifJ^

THE TWO- SHILLING BUTOHEB.

17° FRENCH " STROLLERS."
at tbe low price wbich tbe Duke had offered for votes, " Curse
me ! you'd buy me the brutes at two shillings per bead, 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, wbile
Britannia exclaims, " 0 God ! what pickpockets !" Among
other caricatures on this election, one published in July bore
the title, " The Humours of tbe Westminster Election ; or,
the scald miserable independent electors in the suds." Tbe
agitation of a Westminster election was, however, soon to be
renewed witb still greater violence. In 1749, Lord Trentbam
having been appointed one of the Lords of tbe Admiralty,
bad to vacate bis seat, and every exertion was made by the
opposition to binder his re-election. " Those wbo styled them
selves tbe 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 tbe family of Earl Gower, who bad
entirely abandoned the opposition, pf which be was formerly one
of tbe most respected leaders. Witb this view they held con
sultations, agreed to resolutions, and set up a private gentleman
named Sir George Vandeput as the competitor of Lord Trentharh,
declaring that tbey would support his pretensions at their own
expense ; being the more encouraged to this enterprise by tbe
countenance and assistance of tbe Prince of Wales and his adhe
rents. They accordingly opened houses of entertainment for
tbeir partisans, solicited votes, circulated remonstrances, and
propagated abuse : in a word, tbey canvassed witb 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 witb 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 hinder them from
acting, and they had been protected only by a mob hired by
Lord Trentbam, who appears to have afi'ected 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 Frencb theatre, in wbich Lord Trentbam was accused
of being personally active, although be denied it to the electors.
This was made tbe most of by bis opponents, wbo stigmatised
him in ballads and squibs as "the champion of tbe 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, whicb was printed and extensively circulated,
" For tbe patrons of Frencb 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 tbat wishes for the prosperity of bis country."
Lord Trentham's party retaliated b}"- accusing Sir George
Vandeput of being a Dutchman, and a partisan of the Dutch,
who were at tbe moment not much more popular tban the
French ; and all the sins of that people, from the time of tbe
massacre at Amboyna, were raked up and published. This West
minster election is said to bave been one of tbe most expensive
contests that tbe Government had as yet experienced. The fol
lowing epigram described a supposed conversation between Lord
Trentbam 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 pere, ' cry 'd the youth ; ' but the D — e [duke] you know's able :
Nor blame my French frolics ; sinoe all men are certain,
You're doing behind, what I did 'fore the curtain.' "
An immense number of papers of different kinds, some of
tbem 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 brougbt 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 tban 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 tbem all in
favour of Sir G. V  1." " This day is publish' d,
" An Essay on Multiplication, wherein it will be incontestably proved,
that man, like those surprising creatures called Polypuses, may be cut into

173 WESTMINSTER ELECTIONEERING.
5, or 10, or more pieces, and each piece become a perfect animal ; as is
exemplifv'd in the c-ise 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, whicb
lasted 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, wbich 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 infiuence, 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 bad been hurried after the
downfall of Sir Robert Walpole was carried on unskilfully, and
had produced no advantages to tbis 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 tbe French were capturing fortress after
fortress in the Low Countries, until tbe fears and tbe turbulent
dissatisfaction shewn by people throughout Holland obliged tbe
Dutch to elect the Prince of Orange to the office of Stadtbolder.
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 tbemselves with English subsidies.
On the 2nd of July, 1747, the allied army under tbe Duke of
Cumberland was entirely defeated at tbe battle of Lauffeld,
which spread a general feeling of discouragement, About the
same time an English caricature, under tbe title of " Europe in
Masquerade ; or, tho Royal farce," threw deserved ridicule on

EUROPE IN MASQUERADE. , 173
this war without principle, in wbich the peace and welfare of
Europe were sacrificed to tbe 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 tbe 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 lier 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] slily watches, —
Wbile 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 bbnd to Rome or France,"
The rever.ses of the allies on the Continent were, however,
balanced by several decisive victories gained by tbe English at
sea, which destroyed the commerce of France, and crippled her
resources so much tbat tbe French monarch shewed a strong in
clination to treat for peace. The English prime minister was also
desirous of a pacification ; but his brother, tbe 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
tbe congress at Aix-la-Chapelle was agreed upon. »The negotia
tions were continued through the greater part of tbe year 1748,
and the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was not signed until the 7 th
of October.
The English ministers were too much occupied witb tbeir
own cabals and private interests to take care of tbe interests of
tbeir country, and her allies alone gained any advantages by the
peace. Tbe moment the preliminaries were announced, tbey be
came an object of attack, and tbe newspaper and pamphlet war
fare was carried on long after the war itself bad ceased. That

174 PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.
part of the treaty whicb caused tbe greatest discontent in this
country was tbe stipulated restoration to France of Cape
Breton, wbich had been taken by tbe English shortly before the
breaking out of tbe Scottish rebellion ; and this discontent was
very considerably heightened by tbe English government havlng
submitted to the indignity of sending two noblemen, tbe Earl
of Sussex and Lord Cathcart, to France as hostages until the
restitution of this conquest should be completed. In tbe 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 whiob
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 tbe 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 tbe forms
of animals assembled in council, tbe Gallic cock presiding, to
whom the British lion is, witb all due humility, offering his
recent conquest : " Pray accept Cape Breton !" In November,
after the treaty was signed, appeared " The Grinnerfrom 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 ; apolitical Print,"
&e. Ill one of these, entitled " The Wheelbarrow Crys of Eu
rope," the Earl of Sussex and Lord Catboart are represented in a
barrow wheeled by King George, wbo cries, " Hostages, ho !

THE HOSTAGES.

lis

THE nOSTAOES.

two a penny before tbey go !" And
in another, dated December 8,
Cromwell appears on tbe scene with
furious threats, which he is only
hindered from executing by tbe
devil ; but be exclaims in bis wrath,
" Was it for tbis 1 sought tbe Lord
and fought?" In January, 1749,
appeared " The Hostages ; an hero-
ico-satii-ical poem ;" and at the end
of tbe same month was advertised ,
a pamphlet, (accompanied with a
large caricature,) entitled " Tbe
Congress of tbe Beasts, under the
mediation of tbe Goat, for nego
tiating a peace between tbe Fox,
tbe Ass wearing a Lion's skin, tbe
Tygress, the Horse, and other
quadru])eds at war." At the same time appeared a number
of pamphlets and ballads against the surrender of Gibraltar,
which it was pretended tbat the English goverhm.ent contem
plated yielding up to Spain. In the British Magazine for
January, 1749, is announced "A humorous print, called the
Peacc-oflfering." Yet, in spite of these marks of dissatisfaction at tbe terms of
the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, peace under any form appears to
bave 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, whicb were eagerly
bought by tbe multitude. In one of these prints the fireworks
are satirically called " the grand whim for posterity to laugh
at." The Dutch, wbo bad been reduced to a far worse position
tban 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 Contr.ast," in whicb tbe prosperity of
England (for England had really been increasing rapidly
in commercial importance and wealth) is represented under

176 PUBLIC REJOICINGS FOR THE PEACE.
tbe form of a portly individual, witb bis pockets full of
money, laughing at tbe miserable figure of a Dutchman with
his empty pockets turned
out. The inscription under
the Englishman is, " Money
with Commerce;" that under
tbe 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 brougbt
into play, and new plots were
constantly batching, either
at his house at Battersea or
at the Prince's at Leicester
House. Itwasiiot long before
the ministry was weakened
by several defections ; Bubb Dodington first relinquished his
place of treasurer of tbe navy, and returned to a post he had
formerly held in tbe Prince of Wales's household, and he took
the lead in -the Prince's party. A regular opposition was now
again organised in tbe 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 beat in the two
Houses; the open attempt to sow dissension between the two
royal brothers was strongly animadverted upon, and the paper
ill question was ordered to be burnt by tbe common hangman,
"" In the British Magazine for May, i749, 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 PLENTY.

DEATH OF THE PRXNCE OF WALES. I'j'j
and measures were taken, but in vain, to discover and punish
tbe author. But the Prince's party in tbe House opposed these
proceedings, and Sir Francis Dashwood and others spoke in pal
liation of the libel. These party intrigues occupied the whole
ofthe year 1750, and were proceeding with increased activity in
tbe beginning of 17 51, when tbe opposition received a sudden
blow from an event totally unexpected. On the 5th of February,
175 1, appeared tbe royal proclamation of a reward of a thousand
pounds for tbe discovery of the author of tbe " Constitutional
Queries." The Prince of Wales died suddenly on the 20th of
March, after a short illness, and relieved bis father's ministry
from one of its most dangerous opponents.
For several years after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, tbe pub
lication of political caricatures seemed almost suspended, and we
shall find them of comparatively rare occurrence till tbe breakino-
out ofthe war in 175.5- -l-" ^^ 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
tbe treaty of peace,) and shewing that his name still excited
some interest in England ; and " Tbe Laugh ; or, Bub's compli
ments to Ralpho," alluding, probably, to some circumstance in
tbe opposition movements, of which Dodington was so active a
promoter. The opposition sustained a further loss in Lord Bolingbroke,
who died on the i^tb of December. The old actors, who had
played their parts under George I., were rapidly disappearing
i'rom the stage, and we are entering upon tbe politics of an en
tirely uew generation.

I7&i

CHAPTER VT.
GEORGE IL
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 bave 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 tbey could to the people in
power. All tbe great political questions which had so long
agitated tbe country seemed, indeed, now to have become ex
tinguished, and to have given place to a far less honourable
partisanship of private jealousies aud private interests, in whicb
it was the object of the minister to strengthen himself, by giving
place to as many individuals as he bad 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 tbe opposition bad almost in
voluntarily taken tbe distinctive titles of tbe New Interest and
the Old Interest ; the New Interest being tbat of men in place,
the Old Interest that of men wbo wanted to be in place. The
parliamentary opposition, however, raised its head a little in the
June of 1 75 1, 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 witb 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 tbe new vear should begin in future on the

ALTERATION OF THE STYLE. 179
1st day of January, and tbat eleven intermediate nominal days,
between tbe 2nd and 14th days of September, 1752, should for
tbat time be omitted ; so tbat the day succeeding the 3nd should
then be denominated tbe i4tb of that month. An alteration so
useful in every point of view did not pass witbout some show of
discontent ; it was declaimed against as a Popish innovation,
and long afterwards many people adhered tenaciously to tbe old
practice. In 1752, tbe opposition, though weak, shewed more signs of
life. At the end of January, the Duke of Bedford attacked the
subsidiary treaty witb Saxony, by which tbe elector was bribed
to give bis vote for tbe Archduke Joseph as King of the Romans,
tbe question whicb was now agitating Germany, and whicb paved
tbe way for the celebrated Seven years' war. The Pelhams,
alarmed, now tried to buy over Bubb Dodington ; bdt the nego
tiation again failed, and the opposition became a little more
spirited, and it shewed itself much stronger on two bills for tbe
naturalization of Jews, and tbe regulation of marriages. Fox
gave violent offence to tbe Lord Chancellor Hardwioke by bis
conduct in opposing tbis latter bill, wbich, to use tbe words of
Horace Walpole, was " invented by my Lord Bath, and cooked
up by tbe chancellor." It may be observed, en passant,ih3.t, on
the 4th of February, 1752, died Sir John Hynde Cotton, tbe last
of tbe English Jacobites who had displayed any activity.
In the midst of tbis politioal calm, the newspapers and politi
cal essayists, whiob had increased in number, were obliged to
seek matter for agitation in tbe passing incidents of the day ;
and these shew us how easy it was, in the last century, to set
tbe passions of the multitude in a fiame. A young woman of
respectable connexions, named Mary Blandy, was executed at
Oxford, in the beginning of 1753, for poisoning ber father, and
her crime bad 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 ber mother at Aldermanbury, in London, de
clared that on the night of the ist of January, i753i two ruf
fians seized on ber as she was passing under Bedlam wall,
stripped her of her outer apparel, secured ber mouth witb a
gag, and conveyed her on foot about ten miles, to a place called
Enfield Wash, where tbey brought her to the house of one Mrs.
Wells, where s-he was robbed of h?r stays, and, because she
ir 3

i8o ELIZABETH CANNING.
refused to become a prostitute, confined in a cold and unfurnished
apartment, where she remained a wbole 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
tbe 29tb of January. The story was an improbable one ; but,
perhaps, on this very account it gained more popularity, and
money was subscribed to prosecute tbe persons concerned in the
outrage. Of three persons charged, Wells (the mistress of the
bouse) 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 jjroduced undeniable evidence
that, at the time the offence was said to bave taken place, she
was at Abbotsbury, in Dorsetshire. At the trial, the court was
surrounded by an enraged mob, whicb threatened with the
utmost violence all who were brougbt as evidence for tbe ac
cused, or wbo did not sympathize with Canning. The Lord
Mayor, Sir Crispe Gasooigne, made a clear and impartial .state
ment of the case ; and at bis representation tbe 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 witb considerable warmth, and tbey now turned
tbeir 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 tbe faction raised throughout tbe kingdom on this
trifling subject was so great, that, to use tbe 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, witb as much warmth and animosity as bad ever in
flamed the Whigs and Tories, even at the most rancorous period
of tbeir opposition." Prosecutions for perjury were commenced
on both sides ; and, in the end, after Virtue Hall's recantation,
Canning herself confessed that tbe whole story was a fabrica
tion, and she was condemned to transportation. But ber sup
porters, even now, did not give up her cause ; those who were
least zealous asserted tbat she had not acted voluntarily, but
tbat she had been tbe tool of others ; and they subscribed money
for ber, provided her with every comfort on her voyage, and en
sured ber 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 1753, to
permit the naturalization of foreign Jews, which was the work

THE JEW BILL. i8i
of tbe Pelhams, bad not passed witbout a violent opposition in
tbe House of Commons ; and, although tbe bishops had offered
no opposition to it in tbe House of Lords, the clergy out of
doors raised such a general outcry, as reminded people of the
High-Churcb agitation of tbe days of Sacheverell. 'The alarm
of tbe Church party had been further excited by tbe deistical
tendency of tbe posthumous works of Lord Bolingbroke, whom
while alive tbey had almost sanctified as their political cham
pion. The merchants of London began also to be alarmed at
imaginary commercial advantages which the Jevi's were to de
rive from tbe 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 infiame 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 tbeir increasing
power, and of tbeir encroachment on the liberties and on tbe
commercial power of the country ; and strange imaginary pic
tures of the state of the country under Jewish supremacy,
when it was supposed tbat the Jews would gradually have
made tbemselves masters of the estates and property of the
English nobility and gentry. Caricatures against tbe Jews
were exhibited in the windows of the print-shops, and ballado
equally bitter were sung about the streets. Tbus, in August,
1753, a caricature is advertised under the title of " The Circum-
cis'd Gentiles ; or, a Journey to Jerusalem," stated to be " en
graved by Issacbar Barebone, Jun"^ ;" and in December another
caricature was announced, entitled " The Racers Unbors'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],
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 rack'd,
And robb'd of his time, which appears to be fact,
Wliich nobody can deny ;
" It puzzl'd their brains, their senses perplex'd,
And all the old ladies were very much vex'd.
Not dreaming that Levites would alter our text ;
Which nobody can deny,"
The faults of tbe Jews, and tbe dangers to be apprehended

1 83 THE ELECTIONS.
f)-om them, are portrayed m equally doggerel verses, and ven
geance is finally called down upon those wbo bad 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 same 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
tbe Jew bill from tbe pulpit ; and tbe ministry became so
alarmed for tbe elections, that they weakly yielded to the foolish
clamour, and repealed their own act at the commencement of
the session at tbe end of 1753.
The elections, which took place in tbe April following (1754),
were less clamorous than it was expected, and, witb the excep
tion of a violent contest in Oxfordshire, tbe opposition the court
had to contend with was not great. Tbe chief party-cries re
lated to the Jews, to the alteration in tbe style, and to tbe
Marriage Aot.f 'The new Parliament, to use the words of
Horace Walpole, was selected " in the very spirit of the Pel-
bams." Tbe revival of the opposition in Parbament, and the
agitation naturally attendant on elections under such circum
stances, produced a few caricatures, wbich possessed little merit.
In February was announced " Tbe P. \_Parliament ?~\ Race ; or
tbe C. [court'] jockeys." We are better acquainted with a cari
cature pubbsbed on the nth of June, under the title of
" Foreign Trade and Domestic compared ;" in whicb one of two
compartments represents tbe King of France raising up French
commerce upon the ruins of that of Great Britain ; while, in
tbe otber 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
have been especially greedy of such sights.
+ The act for the regulation of marriages had met with great opposition,
and it was far from popular with the multitude. On the banner seen
through the window, in one edition of Hogarth's print of "The Election
Dinner," we see the words, " Marry and multiply in spite of the  "
In April, on the eve of the elections, a caricature appeared under the titla
of "The Eccl — st — 1 Millers ; or, the funeral of Private Matrimony ;" and
in the October following was published " The Marriage Act, a Novell"

THE ELECTIONS. 183
oppressing our own trade, and sacrificing our merchant navy, by
loading commerce witb an accumiilation of oppressive taxes.
The journals of the month of September announce, among other
new prints, a caricature, entitled " Tbe Differences of Time be
tween those times and these times," no doubt designed in tbe
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
ju-ints of tbe humours of an election, the first of which was
published in 1755, and tbe otber three in the following years,
and whicb contain several allusions to circumstances connected
with tbe great contest in Oxfordshire. The first of these prints,
as every reader will be aware, represents an election dinner,
which was now one of tbe first and most necessary steps of the
candidate towards popular favour. The inscription on the
banner, and tbe effigy of the Duke of Newcastle, with tbe
words " No 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 tbe others, represents the canvass
for votes. Two Inns, tbe Royal Oak and the Crown, are the.
head-quarters of tbe rival candidates ; and a third, the Porto
Bello, appears to be neuter. Tbe 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 whicb the height of the
Treasury is contrasted with the squat solidity of tbe then new
Horse-Guards, tbe arch of whicb is so low that the state-ooaoh-
man risks bis bead 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, tbe architect. Money is thrown from tbe
Treasury window, to be put in a waggon for carriage to the
country. In tbe compartment below, " Punch, candidate for
Guzzledown," has a wheelbarrow full of gold, wbich 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 soldi
Come, Perjury, meet it on the road —
'Tis aU your own — a waggon-load.
Ye party fools, ye courtier tribe.
Who gain no vote without a bribe,
Lavishly kind, yet insincere.
Behold in Punch yourselves appear
Aud you, ye fools, who poll for pay,
Ye little great men of a day,
For whom your favourite will not care.
Observe how much bewitch'd you are, "

184

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." Tbe Crown, wbich is
stated also to be the excise-office, is attacked by a mob, wbo are
pulling down the sign, wbich threatens to crush them in its
fall ; wbile the landlord is shooting at tbem from tbe 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 tbe
capture of Porto Bello, one of tbem explaining to tbe other,
with pieces of tobacco pipe, bow tbe place was taken with six
ships only. At the door of tbe inn of the opposition member
is a wooden lion, devouring a fleur de lis, intimating that the
Old Interest were already urging to those hostilities witb
France, which soon followed the period of the elections.
" Oh, Britain, favourite isle of heaven.
When to thy sons shall peace be given ?
The treachery of the Gallic shore
Makes even thy wooden lions roar."
The third plate of Hogarth's series represents tbe various
tricks and frauds used in " polbng 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 wdld uproar. It
is generally understood
tbat Hogarth's successful
candidate, who is of the
New Interest, is intended
to represent the celebrated
Bubb Dodington, the in
triguing manager of tbe
Leicester House opposi
tion. In tbe plate tbe
artist has represented a
goose fiying over bis head,
-u'bich is said to be designed for a parody on Le Brun's engrav
ing of tbe battle of tbe Granicus, in which an eagle i^ repre
sented hovering over the bead of Alexander the Great,
On the eve of tbe elections, an event occurred which opened
a door for new ictrigues among the younger statesmen, wbo

THE StICCESSPtJL CANDIDATE.

THE FRENCH IN AMERICA. 185
were struggling for power. The prime minister, Henry Pelham,
died on the 6tb of March, 1754. His brother and colleague,
the Duke of Newcastle, who bad long divided the cabinet by
bis personal rivalry, succeeded in obtaining the premiership, and
at tbe same time provoked tbe hostility (concealed for a while)
of two otber 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.
Tbe 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 tbeir league, tbat,
in case of success, the latter should be placed at the bead of
the Treasury, while the former was to be Secretary of State,
Pitt and Fox, together, were all-powerful in tbe House ef Com
mons ; and when the Duke of Newcastle was made aware of
tbe coalition, be hazarded a desperate attempt to separate tbem,
and succeeded in detaching Fox, by introducing bim into tbe
cabinet as one of the secretaries of state.
Amid these intrigues at home, Europe began again to be
threatened witb a general war, in which England was made
more especially interested by tbe 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 tbe French had been carried so far, tbat
when the Parliament assembled in November (1754), the King
was obliged to ask for extraordinary supplies for the defence of
our possessions. All tbe measures of tbe 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 ou the other. The French Government
dissimulated its real designs, while hastening forwards its arma
ment witb 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 tbe
latter, and of the folly of being plunged into a war for them.
In March, 1755, tbey no longer concealed their belief tbat hos
tilities were inevitable, and they sent a fleet, under Boscawen,
to North America, although they were so completely deceived
by the demonstrations of tbe Frencb, tbat they anticipated tho

i86 THE BRITISH LION ROUSED.
attack at home, in England, or at least in Ireland. Boscawen
missed the French fleet, whicb bad preceded him, but two
French men-of-war were captured, and the news, on its arrival
in England, was received witb tbe greatest exultation. This
event, which appears to bave been equally unexpected to tbe
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 tbey met them, both governments still persisted in
stating tbat they hoped to preserve peace between the two
countries. The backwardness of the Duke of Newcastle in
supporting British rights against Frencb encroachments had
already been made the subject of a caricature, published on \ he
4th of April, entitled " The Grand Monarque in a Fright ; or

THE BEITISH LION EOUSED.
the British Lion roused from bis 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 tbe most Christian King, and all things
shall be. adjudged by tbe commissaries of both nations." The
equity and veracity of the Frencb court were certainly not
at this moment generally believed in. The capture of the
two French ships, and the intelligence brougbt by every
new arrival of pi-ep.nrations in our colonies, raised still further
the national spirit, and people began already to dream of
tbe expulsion ofthe French from America. On the nth of
August, another caricature, entitled "British Rights maintained ;
or, French ambition 'liomanf.lpd " rp.nresented the Gallic cock

THE GALLIC COCK PLUCKED.

187

THE GALLIC COOK PLUCKED.

plucked of bis feathers by the British lion, and compelled to
utter a sorrowful "Peccavi!" Tbe 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 ber spear,
is encouraging her lion, wbile
bebind. Mars and Neptune are
carving out for her portions in
tbe map of North America
witb her sword and trident. A
negro boy laughs at the un
fortunate cock, and exclaims,
" Pretty bird, how will you get
home again ?" On tbe other
side of the picture stands ano
ther group. Tbe genius of France, weeping, exclaims, " Ave
Maria ! que ferrous nous ? After our massacres and persecu
tions, must heretics possess this promised land, whicb we so
piously bave called our own ?" On a hill in tbe distance is
seen a martyr burning at the stake. A Frenchman, with cha
grin marked in bis countenance and attitude, who is designated
as " Mons. le Politicien," bites
his bat 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
I'Amerique Septentrional." A
British "jack-tar," taking him
by the shoulder, and calling
bis attention to the operations
of Neptune and Mars on the
map, says, " Hark ye, Moun- /i
seer! was that your map ofr.
North America ? What a vast
tract of land you had ! Pity
the rigbt owner should take it
from you !" In the distance,
tbe comet of " universal monarchy," represented as tbe grand
object of Frencb ambition, is falling into the sea.*
* In the previous month of July, another caricature had appeared rela-"

EEANOE IN THE DUMPS.

i88 PITT IN OPPOSITION.
Shortly after the appearance of this caricature, tbe 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 tbe Frencb 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 ofthe 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 13th of November, Pitt, who bad long been
coquetting with popularity, and who, although he retained his
office of Pa3'master of the Forces, had been brooding over bis dis
appointments, suddenly dragged bis colleague Legge, the Chan
cellor ofthe 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 witb the continental
powers witb the same anti-Hanoverian spirit be had displayed in
his j-ounger 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, bowever,
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 witb his powerful antagonist. Horace Walpole, in a
letter dated the 12th of February, 1756, describes tbe 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 tbe 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 grievousl3', that tbe 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 tbe councils of bis 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. Hawkins
and Mr, Burke.

PORT MAHON IN DANGER. 189
Frencb court bad completely drawn off tbe attention of the
English ministry from its real preparations, on the most ex
tensive scale, for tbe invasion of Minorca and reduction of Port
Mabon, a possession which the English people had been taught
latterly to consider as second only- to Gibraltar, When our
ministers were repeatedl3'- warned of tbe danger, and when they
were fully assured of the intentions of France, tbey still persisted
in keeping our ships at home, and in leaving tbe weak garrison
at St. Philip's Fort, wbich protected Port Mabon, 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, tbat, on Wednesday, tbe
3rd of March, " tbe hottest press began for seamen that ever was
known." It was determined to send forthwith a fleet to tbe
Mediterranean. On the i8tb 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 B3rng 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 Frencb fleet had preceded bim,
and landed 16,000 men, who immediately formed the siege of
tbe fortress held by Blakeney. Byng bad hardly arrived, when
the Frencb fleet, consisting of thirteen ships of the line and four
smaller vessels, made its appearance, and the two hostile arma
ments were formed inline of battle, and watched and manoeuvred
till night. Next morning tbe Frencb fleet had disappeared. It
returned towards the middle of the day, when tbe 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. Rear-Admiral West,
tbe second in command, acting upon the intention of the order,
and not upon the letter, bore away witb his division, attacked
tbe enemy witb tbe greatest braver3'-, and bad already driven
several of their ships out of tbe line, when, unsupported by the
rest of the English fleet, he was obliged to return. Had tbe
whole fleet followed tbe example of West, it is probable that tbe

ipo LOSS OF PORT MAHON.
French would bave been defeated, and Minorca saved : but Byng
seems to bave acted in tbe utmost confusion ; bis own ship, the
Intrepid, bad become for a moment unmanageable, and driven on
tbe next ship in position ; and, in spite of tbe 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 tbe English, took advantage
of this slowness to effect bis 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 tbem the bad condition of bis fieet, 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 tbe fate of
Port Mabon, and tbe public were encouraged in forming extra
vagant expectations of the success of tbe 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. Tbe public ex
asperation was increased on the arrival of the French accounts,
wbich exulted over tbe defeat of the English fieet, their own fieet
having returned on Byng's disappearance ; for, though neither
party could establish any fair claim to a victory, it was evident
¦that both bad run away,
" We have lately been told
Of two admu-als 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 tbe popular epigrams of tbe day ; and it was at
first tbe general belief tbat Byng had betrayed bis country by
bis pusillanimity, and that, if he bad fought. Port Mabon would
have been saved.
Tbe English ministers, to wbose improvidence and ill-manage
ment tbe loss of Port Mabon was chiefly to be ascribed, in then-
terror, attempted to save tbemselves by throwing the odium on
tbe unfortunate admiral. Anson, who presided at the Admiralty,
was especially active in fanning up tbe popular flame. Artful
emissaries, we are informed by tbe writers of tbe time, mingled
witb all public assemblies, from the drawing room at St, James's

BYNG'S DESPATCH. 191
to the mob at Charing-Cross, expatiating on Byng's insolence,
folly, and coward.ice, and exaggerating the losses which were
believed to be occasioned by it. His despatch, wbich was cer-
> tainly a very lame explanation of his conduct, but whicb it was
pretended tbe ministry had curtailed of sundry passages reflecting
on tbeir 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  s [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 tbe ocean and heaven.
" Then seventeen ships came licking their lips,
And crying out 'Fee, faw, and/«m;'
Bigger 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 iu 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  [TFcs*] 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 aelight,
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.

193 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 [coimcil] next day, in seemly array.
Met, sat, and debated the story ;
We found that our fleet at last might be boat.
And then, you know, where is the glory?
"Moreover, 'twas plain, three ships in the van
Had their glasses and china all broke ;
And this 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 bad sent out two new admirals, Hawke and
Saunders, to take command of the fieet of the Mediterranean.
When Byng learnt that be was recalled, be wrote a recri
minatory letter to tbe Admiralt3r, whiob 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
binder bim from being torn to pieces. His effigy bad 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, tbat
were launched into the world on this question, during tbe
autumn and winter, is almost incredible. It was long since tbe
nation had been in anything like such a state of excitement and
fermentation. The ministers soon found tbat tbey were themselves in
danger of being overwhelmed by the storm whicb they had
thus conjured up ; for tbe tide of unpopularity was running
fast against them, especially against Fox and Anson, while Pitt
bad become tbe idol of the multitude. The loss of Oswego,
and some otber successes of the French in America, came soon
after to increase the dissatisfaction against tbe men who were
now openly blamed for tbeir want of foresight, for tbeir
disregard of tbe American settlements, and for the ignorance
tbey bad -exhibited in the direction of the naval force of the
country. One of the popular tracts for street sale, (or, as they
are more tecbically called, chap-books,) published at tbis time,
bears the title of " A Rueful Story ; or, Britain iu 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 witb a coarse wood-cut, repre
senting Byng in chains, with tbe ghosts
of his slaughtered sailors appearing to him
in his prison, and surrounded by doggerel
verses ; and tbe body ofthe 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 tbe same spirit. One of the more
remarkable of the caricatures, published
under tbe title of " The Devil's Dance —
set to Frencb music," of wbich there is
a copy in the collection of Mr. Hawkins,
represents tbe trio. Fox, Byng, and
Newcastle, witb cloven hoofs. Fox, with
tbe bead and tail of the animal
designated by his name, carries a goose,
tbe representative of Anson, (by a miser
able pun upon his name — anser being tbe Latin for a goose,) and
is treading under foot a bundle of papre sinscribed, " Honour,"
"Law," "Justice," "Honesty," "Li
berty," "Property." Tbe Duke of
Newcastle is trampling on " Magna
Charta," and "The Constitution;"
while Byng, wbo is dressed as a Frencb
beau, in tbe highest cut of the fashion,
with a fleur de lis in his heart, is
dancing gaily upon "Port Mabon,"
and the various treaties and great ex
ploits of former commanders. In an
other caricature, entitled " A Court
Conversation," Fox and Anson, with
tbe beads of a fox and a goose, tbe
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
tbemselves by garbling the admiral's
despatches : the goo'-e-head has an
admirably reproachful look.

THE OLOVBN-EOOTED ADMlBAIi,

194 CARICATURES ON BYNG.
"Quoth Anser to Reynard, ' Methinks you had better
Have not made so free with tbis cursed letter.'
Sly Reynard replied, 'Yet your Lordship must own,
Not Byng had been burnt, if the truth had been known.' "
Bebind this group is the council-table, where three of the
members are disturbed by tbe fall of a picture of tbe siege
of Port Mabon, whicb is tbe cause of the overthrow of the
table. A map of North America bangs covered witb 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 wbich, as
imitators of French manners, were themselves unpopular with
tbe mob) and as a great boaster ; and it appears tbat be 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 be appears in the
full garb of a "beau," witb tbe
muff, and every other accessory to
tbat character, exclaiming gaily, " Pray,
my lords, let me go, and I'll perform
wonders." At tbe side is a parcel of
china, witb tbe inscription " China-ware
house." In the otber 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 " Tbe Contrast," in which
Byng is placed in disadvantageous contrast
with Blakeney, the fatal halter is again an
accessory, and tbe distich whicb accom
panies it appears to bear allusion to tbe " lost sheep " of tbe
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 otber 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 tbe emblems of tbe traitor's fate are fearfully con
spicuous, to the place of execution, booted and pelted by

THE BEAU ADMIRAL.

CARICATURES ON BYNG.

195

tbe attendant mob of English, Irish, and Scots, while a French
man exclaims in astonishment, " Le diable ! la monseur le grand
monarque no serva Monsieur Galbsoniere so as dese, for sava his
fleet." It was the universal opinion, un
til bis character in this respect was
cleared by the court-martial, that
Byng bad behaved with cowardice ;
but it was almost as generally be
lieved tbat he had been treacherous
to his country, — ^that French gold
bad secured tbe capture of Minorca ;
and in tbis cbarge tbe ministry bore
tbeir full share. A medal* was
circulated, representing on the ob
verse a figure of Admiral Byng
receiving a bag of money from a
band belonging to a person concealed, witb tbe inscription,
" Was Minorca sold
By B  for French gold ?"
On the reverse Blakeney is represented holding a flag before
a fort, from whicb three guns are fired, and a ship is seen in tbe
distance. Tbe inscription is,
" Brave Blakeney rewaid,
But to B  give a cord."
It was represented tbat tbe people who governed the country
were so much addicted to French luxuries and French vices,
tbat tbey would willingly bave allowed our enemies to get pos
session of Minorca, and blink at tbeir encroachment in America,
rather tban have a war, which would cut off the supplies that
peace with France administered to their vanities. A clever
caricature appeared on tbe 25th of November, entitled " Bird-

THE SOEAMBLEE OVEBTHEOWN,
• This medal is in ihe collection of Mr, Haggard,

196 ANSON THE GAMBLER.
ime for Bunglers ; or, the Frencb way of catching fools ;" in
whiob 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 tbe prize. Byng is prostrate, crushed by tbe weight
of the fallen ministers ; be grasps in his right band two
articles inscribed " wine" and "2 tartans," tbe latter an allusion
to Byng's captures ; while tbe unlucky Admiral, who has lost
bis wig in the fall, exclaims, "Oh, the devil take your lime!
I am limed and twigg'd too, with a p — to j'ou ! Murder !
murder ! was it for this that I bad tbe 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 bis prostrate posi
tion stretching out his rigbt hand for more. Under his knee is
a label inscribed, " Large Fees for tbe bottomless Pitt ;" and be
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 witb both bands, exclaiming, in
allusion to bis marriage bill, " Have not I saved thousands from
the lime-twigs of matrimony, and shall not I bave my fees ?"
Underneath the picture is written, " Ob ! bow tbe mighty are
fallen!" Tbe caricature was, in fact, published when tbe minis
try was in dissolution. The Frencb 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 Anglois, but tout le monde," Bebind him stands
a figure, evidently intended to represent Newcastle, grasping in
bis 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
tbe other side of tbe picture
appears Lord Anson, rushing
eagerly to share in the
spoils; but, encumbered by
an E, 0. table, an allusion
to bis passion for gambling,
bo cries out, " E, 0,, my
heart of gold, tip us a hand-
full, for I have had ad  d
bad run," Above him is a
tablet, " To the memory of
A. B. [Admiral Byng] May
2ist, 1756;" and near it,
THE CANDIDATE EKCUMBEllLD. on the Wall of tho apart-

FOX'S RESIGNATION. 197
ment, the picture of Justice is obscured by an immense cobweb,
in wbich a large spider exclaims,
" Sure no vast diiferenoe betwixt us lies,
Since you catch men as I catch flies."
Among the numerous caricatures and satirical tracts published
during tbis period of excitement, it will be sufficient to mention
the titles of tbe following : — In September, a caricature, " The
Fox in tbe Pit ;" in October, a tract entitled " The Resigna
tion; or, the Pox out of tbe Pitt, and the Geese in, with
B  y at tbe bottom ;" and two caricatures, "Tbe Auction of
tbe Effects of John Bull " (his foreign possessions offered by
bis rulers for sale to the highest bidder), and " The Downfall,
as it will shortly be performed, to tbe tune of 'M  y's
[Murray's*'] Delight ;' " and, in November, a pamphlet, " The
History of Reynard tbe Fox, and Bruin the Bear," &c.
To explain these titles, it will be necessary to state, tbat, on
the 27th of October, Fox, terrified at the approach of the new
session of Parliament under such a load of unpopularity, and
feeling tbat he was in danger of becoming a scape-goat to some
of his colleagues, resigned bis place of Secretary of State. The
Duke of Newcastle, in his distress, made overtures to Pitt, who
now, in tbe pride of his own strength and popularity, refused to
join in anj' ministry of which Newcastle formed a part. After
several vain attempts to form an administration, tbe Duke was
obliged to resign, and be was immediately followed by tbe Lord
Chancellor, Lord Hardwicke. The King was now placed under
tbe necessitj' of calling in Pitt, against whom he bad 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 bis popularity, showed
no anxiety to listen to the call, but suddenly took upon himself
a fit of tbe 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 bim. At length
tbe King was compelled, much against bis inclination, to accept
an administration in which Pitt succeeded Fox as principal
Secretary of State ; his friend Legge was again made Chancellor
of tbe Exchequer ; bis brother-in-law, Lord Temple, succeeded
Lord Anson at the Admiralty ; and all the other places were
filled up by bis 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 Man.sfield, and leaving the ministers to
fight their own battles in the Commons.

198 EXECUTION OF ADMIRAL BYNG.
Parliament at the beginning of December, witb a speech far
more English in his sentiments tban he had ever been made to
utter before ; and Pitt and Temple thwarted tbe 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 3'ears. The new ministry met with consi
derable opposition, besides being disagreeable to tbe King ; for
they were beaten in some of tbe elections rendered necessary by
tbeir 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 disbke to his ministers, is said to bave expressed his
opinion in private society, that tbe libellous speech was better
than the original.
In Januai-3% i757j Admiral Byng was brought to bis 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 bim ; 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 tbe King, when peti
tioned by tbe city of London, at the moment of greatest ex
citement, into a solemn promiee that he would allow justice to
take its course ; and now, on the one side, the ministers wbo
were out 'were anxious to sacrifice him, in order to turn the blame
of misconduct from tbemselves, while those who were in had
not the courage to risk their own popularity by saving him.
An agitation was got up in tbe city, and the King was
publicly called upon to fulfil his promise; and on the 3rd
of March papers were fixed on the Exchange, witb the words
" Shoot Bvng, 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 14th of March. The feeling of the nation at
large, as is always the case when a length of time elapses
before the passions of tbe populace are indulged, had been

A NEW TRIUMVIRATE.

199

gradually subsiding, or, at least, people bad begun to lose sight
of Byng in tbeir anger against tbe late ministers ; and the heroic
fortitude witb 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 tbey pitied and lamented bis fate in a number of
epigrams and short ;'poems wbich appeared in the daily prints
during several months after bis death. We meet also witb a
caricature, published about tbis 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 tbis moment the
most unpopular of all tbe late ministers, commonly took tbe
place of tbat 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 natures, or " A curious
Petri-faction." The allusion is
to the Duke of Newcastle's secre
tary, Andrew Stone, wbo bad
been appointed sub-governor of
tbe Prince of Wales, and wbo,
accused of Jacobitism, had re- j ,^f^ttt
cently been the cause of high dis- 1^^^^
putes at court : he was looked
upon as tbe Duke's creature ; and
in a collection of caricatures to
which we shall shortly allude, one-
represents Newcastle as the old
woman of tbe fable riding on
his ass. Stone. In the " lusus
naturse," we are told that tbe two outside faces (Newcastle and
Fox) represent " two beads 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 tbey are placed is " a sort of petrified fungus, to
which tbey adhere."
Pitt's popularity bad increased in tbe same extravagant de
gree tbat Fox had become unpopular ; but during tbe winter
whicb followed bis accession to power be was paralysed by con
tinued attacks of the gout, a disease to wbich be was constitu-
tiomdly subject. It was commonly said that Pitt's gout was of
a convenient kind, and tbat its attacks were often assumed as

A LUSUS NATUEai.

300 PITT DISMISSED.
excuses for not attending upon the King, witb wbose aversion
for him he was well acquainted. Tbe 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 tbe disasters
of tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe Gentleman's Magazine on the 12th of
February. At this very time, the King, who hated his ministry
the more from the humiliation be felt at having had it forced
upon him by tbe Leicester House faction ((or 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 ; .md 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 po-wer. 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
tbe 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 be 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, tbe 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 bis dismissal, tbe 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 otber cities. People compared Pitt's disinterested
patriotism with tbe time-serving greediness of Fox and bis
friends ; and, among a variety of political epigrams and squibs
on the occasion, it was suggested in one tbat a division of the
popular offerings migbt 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 tbe franchise coupled with the box ;
Give Pitt the Freedom, and the gold to Fox.''
The embarrassment into which tbe court was now thrown,
without a ministry, and unable to form one, and tbe 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 bis few ill-assorted recruits towards
an altar, on which is placed the fat Duke
of Cumberland, crowned with laurel.
One of tbe foremost is Winchelsea, wbo
had so readily accepted the Admiralty.
Then comes tbe lean figure of Lord
Sandwich, carrying his cricket-hat*
on his sboulder, 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 wbose extraordi
nary corpulence was as remarkable as
tbe 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 tbis caricature appeared, and the different
characters were also published on separate cards.

A LEAN EECKUIT.

202

MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES.

A EAT POLLOWEB.

that's fiat."* Early in May was pub
lished a pamphlet under the title of
" The Chronicle of tbe short Reign
of Honesty," as bis admirers called
Pitt's administration. In tbe same
month, as we learn from Horace Wal
pole, came out a bitter caricature
against tbe Pitt party, entitled " The
Turnstile." In June, among otber
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 witbout a ministry. At
first the King tried some men of in
ferior rank as statesmen, but met witb
nothing but refusals ; and then he made
a new application to tbe Duke of New
castle, wbo attempted a coalition witb
Pitt an d with tbe Leicester House party.
Pitt refused to join in a ministry in which tbe chief power was not
placed in his own hands ; upon whicb Newcastle formed the plan
of an administration from which Pitt and his friends were to be
entirely excluded ; but tbis 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 -20th of April, Horace Walpole speaks of this caricature in the
following terms in a letter to Sir Horace Mann : —
" Pamphlets, cards, and prints swarm again ; George Townshend has
published one of the latter, which is so admirable in its kind, that I cannot
help sending it to you. Hia 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 tiU I
cried. The Hanoverian drummer Elds, is the least like, though it has
much of his air. I need say nothing of the lump of fat, crowned with
laurel on the altar. As Townsend's parts lie entirely in his pencil, his pen
has no share in them ; the labels are very dull except tbe inscription on tbe
altar, which, I believe, is his brother Charles's. This print, wbich has so di
verted the town, haa 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 bad written, under Bubb
Dodington, "spoil'd," and under Lord Winchelsea "spoil'd also." It
may be su pected that Townshend copied the rough sketches of Hogarth.

PITT'S ACCESSION TO POWER. 203
Temple were to take office witb Newcastle, and Fox be excluded ;
but the King refused to listen to it. George, now deserted by
every person on whose assistance he bad calculated, called Lord
Waldegrave, (who enjoyed his confidence in an especial degree,)
and ordered him to form the best ministry he could. At first
tbe Dukes of Devonshire and Bedford, the Earl of Winchelsea,
old Lord Granville, and Mr. Fox, were ready to join bim ; 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 29th of June the Gazette announced the re-
ajipointment of Pitt as principal Secretary of State, and he took
office with greater power than ever. Tbe 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 tbe 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 tho Duke of Newcastle's
administration in 1756, 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 tbe distinguished political actors of tbe day, and especially of
George Townshend. Many of these caricatures appear to have
perished ; but two years afterwards upwards of seventy of tbem
were collected and pubbsbed on a diminished scale, under the
title of A Political and Satirical History ofthe years 1756 and
1757. 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 tbe old ministry ; and the
bitterness of political rancour is shown in the constant allusions
to tbe axe and the rope. In one, by the side of the heads of
Fox and Newcastle stand two gallowses, entitled the " Pillars of
tbe State," supporting a reversed ship with a cook crowing over
it — the navy of England made a sacrifice to the vanity of 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 bis 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 semie (to use tbe heraldic expression) W\th fleurs-de-
lis, to shew the popular belief in their devotion to French
interests. Sir George Littleton (created Lord Littleton in tbe
spring of 17^7, by whicb title he
obtained a distinguished place in
English literature) had provoked
tbe enmity of the popular party
by deserting to the ministerial side
a few months before, and bis 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 . tbe party
(for after Fox be 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 c-\ssins.
" What oratory can do shall be done ;
But then, good sir, you know I am but one."
The infiuence of Frencb councils (aud even of French gold) on
tbis side of the Channel, is a frequent subject of satire in this
collection of prints, and the figures of tbe Duke of Newcastle and
bis ministers seldom appear without tbe characteristic mark of
the fleur-de-lis. In one caricature, Newcastle, Fox, and Byng
are represented as entrapped into tbeir own destruction by
golden baits laid before them by tbe evil one. In another, the
ministers bave addressed Britannia in gawdy French garments
of tbe newest fashion, which fit so tight, that she complains of
being unable to move ber arms. Newcastle, as ber femme-de-
chambre, tells her that she has no need to move ber 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, tbe rewards of traitorous ministers. Poor Britannia is
indeed cruelly baited witb 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 tbe devil. Britannia is getting

THE TRIUMPH OF NEPTUNE. 205
angry, as she reflects upon ber ridiculous position ; wbile a
Frenchman by tbe -.vay-side is clapping bis hands and laughing
at her. Among the patrician extravagances of the year 1756,
Lord Rockingham and Lord Orford had made a matcb of 500Z.,
about tbe middle of October, between five turkeys and five geese,
to run from Norwich to London. Tbe geese and the turkeys
were easily seized upon by tbe caricaturists, and were applied to
tbe statesmen of that day witb persevering ingenuity. In
others of these prints tbe 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 tbe word
" neglect " under it, is seen out at sea, witb three French sail in
the distance. Winchelsea, as tbe bead of tbe Admiralty in one
of the attempted ministerial combinations, is putting out to sea
in a tub, in tow of " Tbe Old England." A personage swimming
bebind bim, apparently intended to represent tbe Duke of New-

A OEAND EXPEDITION,
castle, cries " Hard a port. Sir ! Blood ! you run all to leeward !"
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, wbo swims in front of tbe tub,
witb 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." Tho 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.

3o6 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
bis gambling propensities are made tbe most of; whOe 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 be bad made bold
threats of doing :) the ministers are in a panic, none of them
quite sure on wbom tbe enraged animal will fix itself; but Fox
shews tbe greatest terror, and rushes to the door, exclaiming,
" S' blood! open tbe door! Let me out, or I'll break out!" — an
allusion to bis resignation, the first signal of the dissolution of
the ministry of which be bad formed so prominent a part. His
rival Pitt appears everywhere triumphing over himj and raised
up on the favour of bis countrymen, — tbe patriotic statesman.
In a caricature entitled " The Fox in tbe 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-
lebit," 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 tbe most remarkable was the
Test, commenced on tbe 6th of November, 17^6, under the
edijtorship 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
otber side, entitled the Con-Test, which attacked Fox in a
manner no less outrageous. Horace Walpole observes, witb
justice, that the virulence of these papers made him "recollect
Fogs and Craftsmen as harmless libels." Tbe Test, in its
weekly attacks upon tbe " unembarrassed orator," raked up all
bis old political offences, and even made bis constitutional gout
an object of sarcastic burlesque. Iu one paper, about tbe begin
ning of 1757, it satirised bis pretensions to political skill under
tbe character of a quack doctor, by tbe name of Gulielmo Bom-

SATIRES ON PITT. 207
basto de Podagra, in allusion to bis oratory and to his gout, and
be is' made to put forth the following

"Lately ai-ived in this town the celebrated Gulielmo Bombasto de Podagra,
tbe most renowned physician now in Europe. He hath made the system of
the animal oeconomy his study for many years 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 tbe better.
"N.B. — As tbe iloctor does not love money, he gives his advice gratis.
Beware of counterfeits, for sucli are abroad."
It is further added, in allusion to bis almost constant conflne-
ment by tbe gout during tbe session, " P.S. — The doctor re
ceives visits in bed." Among the " cases" whicb are given as
proofs of tbe 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, -I- and was
held by his lawyer J to he non compos mentis. His friends advised him to
have recourse to exercise, and follow a, Fox, without suflfering himself,
as heretofore, to be thrown out, but to see the Fox frequently. Doctor
Bombasto being sent for, ordered 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 tbe Test is especially exhibited in its attacks
upon Byng, wbo was made an object of cruel ridicule, even while
be lay under sentence of death. On the 20th of March, when
the ministerial interregnum was comiuencing, it attacked Pitt's
pride and haughtiness in the following paragraph : —
' ' Minutes of one of a Great Man's Valetudinarian Soliloquies.
" Yes, 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 I do the wretches kick at the draught ? They shall
swallow it ; and yet I must keep some measures with them — at tbe 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 deflcndus. ]
* 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.
+ An allusion to Lord Anson.
X Lord Chancellor Hardwioke.

208

WARLIKE SPIRIT INCREASING.

The thirty-fifth number of the Test was published on the 9tb
of July, i757> 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 tbeir thoughts to foreign affairs ; for -the
spirit of the nation bad 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 whicb
the Frenchmen are represented roasting
frogs and preparing for tbeir threatened
invasion of England, that threat whicb
bad 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 tbe still existing horror of
Popery represented tbe invaders as bring
ing over witb them all the instruments
of persecution. In the otber print, tbe
alacrity witb which recruits joined the
standard of their country, to resist the
invader, appears in a youth apparently
under age and under height, wbo is doing
bis best to prove bis qualifications. The
courage whicb was believed to animate
the nation at tbis conjuncture is shewn
by the manner in wbich tbey turned to

A WILLING EEOEUIT.

THE FATEIOTIC P.UNTEB,

BEER VERSUS GIN.

209

ridicule tbeir expected invaders : a merry group are looking
on whilst a soldier is drawing a caricatured figure of King
Louis holding a gallows in bis 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 bang you all ! Morblu !" It is hardly necessary to say that
this is a satire upon the memorial of tbe Frencb king to the
English ministers on tbe captures made by our ships.
There was, nevertheless, during this period much discontent
throughout tbe country, wbich was increased by a prevailin-r
scarcity of corn and provisions, and which made people lay hold
of tbe slightest cause for complaint. The importation of a bod3'-
of Hanoverian troops as a defence against the expected invasion
was loudly reprobated; and the somewhat severe law passed at tbis
•time for the protection of game was represented as an expedient
for disarming tbe people, under pretence of forbidding tbe keeping
of gunsfor poacbing,and thus rendering tbem incapable of resisting
Hanoverian tyranny. Yet, singularly enough, when the Militia
Act was passed, and the country was placed under tbe protec
tion of a truly constitutional force, tbat was looked upon popu
larly as an act of insupportable tyranny, and in many counties
tbe 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 17,51 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," th-T latter of whicb
is a fine but revolting picture of the
horrible consequences of the facility I
given to the sale of spirituous liquors,
for tbe heavy prohibitive duties estab
lished in the time of Sir Robert Wal
pole bad now been taken off. A new
law was passed restricting the granting
of licences, which seems to bave had lit
tle effect in correcting the evil. A cari
cature was [lublished in 1753, entitled
"A Modern Contrast," which appears
to bave been designed as a satire on the

ENGLISH BEER.

aio THE BEER-DBINKING BRITON.
Government for its interference, and represents a licensed seller
of good English beer, the wholesome effects of whicb are shewn
in the plumpness of tbe landlord and bis wife, exulting over a
dealer in spirituous liquors, who is seized for selling witbout
licence, and bis family turned out and his liquor staved. The
beer-drinkers carouse without fear, but tbe gin-drinkers are in
distress ; and poor Justice lies prostrate in the street, in a state
of total drunkenness. Under the peculiar politioal bias ofthe day,
every subject of discontent was in some way or other identified with
the popular hatred of the French. Tbus, 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 ofthe j-ear 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 when 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, di-am-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, bowever, a commercial interest involved in tbis
question, which it was necessary to consider. In 1758, at the mo
ment when tbe 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 tbis law as far as regarded
distillation was discussed witb considerable animosity. Petitions
were got up in the country, stating that since tbe 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. 211
cide followed tbe use of spirituous liquors iu numerous instances,
but that tbe gin-shops were known to be tbe constant harbour
of highwaymen and rogues of every description, and that some
of tbe most extensive robberies of the time bad been planned in
tbem. Tbe malt-distillers made tbeir counter-petitions, and,
besides shewing the inexpediency of tbe prohibition in a com
mercial point of view, and as it affected the revenue, tbey repre
sented tbat the excessive use of malt liquors migbt be as
injurious to tbe moral character of the population as gin-
drinking, yet no person ever thought of prohibiting the practice
of brewing in order to prevent tbe use of ale. The dispute was
carried on witb some warmth ; a number of pamphlets were
published on both sides ; tbe old prints against gin became
popular again, and new ones were added to them, among whicb
was one, wbich appeared in January, entitled " Beelzebub's
Oration to tbe Distillers." Public opinion, indeed, appeared to
be against tbe distillers, and the prohibition was continued.
Tbe ill-concerted measures of tbe Newcastle administration,
for the defence of tbe country and the defeat of its enemies, bad
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 fieets ; but
ber sailors were ill-fed and neglected, and were commanded by
officers who had obtained tbeir 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 tbe English navy in the middle of the
last century, must study it in tbe novels of Smollett. The un
certain kind of hostilities which bad been carried on during the
latter part of 1755, and tbe beginning of 1756, had given satis
faction to none, for it had exposed tbe country to all the incon
veniences of war, witbout 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 tbey were really at war or at peace. A caricature,
already alluded to, published November 13th, 17^5, and entitled
" Half- War," ridicules tbis state of things under the figure of
an Englishman, wbo is committing an assault upon a French
man, from whom he is snatching rolls of paper inscribed " Mer
chantmen" and " Nova Scotia." Tbe Englishman exclaims,
" Bj way of reprisals only !" and tbe Frenchman, instead of de
fending himself, is satisfied with the refiection, " Westphalia
p a

212 WARLIKE SPIBIT FOSTEBED BY PITT.
shall pay for this !" for the French seemed more intent on
making acquisitions in Germany, tban on resenting the insults

HALP-WAE.
to which their flag bad been subjected at sea. In the back
ground are seen tbe 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 tbat 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 bis foreign policy. He soon gave
full scope to tbe warlike spirit of tbe 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 ; wbile be carried into our
other foreign relations that vigour and activit3' which had been
so signally wanting under his predecessors. William Pitt, in
deed,' was the minister of war, as Walpole had been the minister
of peace. Yet the first hostile operations under Pitt's adminis
tration were singularly unsuccessful. The Duke of Cumberland
bad, 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 CLOSTEB-SEVEN. 213
of unskilful movements and useless skirmishes, be retired before
tbe Frencb, and passed the Weser ; and on the 26th of July be
was totally defeated in the battle of Hastenbeck. The Frencb
now became virtually masters of Hanover ; and the Duke of
Cumberland, allowing himself, by bis want of foresight, to be
driven into a corner from wbich be could not escape, was com
pelled on tbe 7th of September to sign the disgraceful conven
tion of Closter-Seven, by which tbe electorate was to be left in
the hands of tbe Frencb till the conclusion of a peace, and the
Hanoveriau army was to la3' down its arms, and be dispersed
into different cantonments, under the obligation of remaining in
active during tbe rest of the war. King George, although he is
said to bave privately authorized this transaction, expressed openly
tbe greatest anger ; and the Duke of Cumberland came home, re
signed all bis 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,
tbe emblem of Hanover ; while
on tbe opposite bank tbe portly
figure of the Duke exclaims in
dismay, " My horse ! my horse I
a kingdom for a horse!" The
Frenchman retorts by promis
ing to give tbe horse something
" better tban turnips," It had
been for some years a standing
joke to call Hanover tbe King's
turnip-fleld ; and in another ca
ricature Hanover is represented
as the city of Turnipolis, on the bank of a river, on one side of
wbich the Frencb general with his troops, in pursuit, invites tbe
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 tbe Hanoverian emblem of the horse, is running
at bis utmost speed on tbe otber side of tbe river (the Weser,
of course), and exclaims, "Oh! for my recruiting-sergeant,
witb more men and money 1" The recruiting-sergeant was
Fox, in whom, as minister, tbe Duke of Cumberiand bad
placed bis confidence. In a third caricature on tbe Duke's

A 6ENEEAL IN DISTEBSS.

214 BBITISH VICTOBIES.
disaster, tbe city, placed in tbe same position as in the foregoing,
has over it the inscription, " Save our turnips, oh !"
Another failure came almost at tbe same moment to increase
the jiopular excitement, and was also made the subject of
ridicule and caricature. Pitt bad hoped to distract the atten
tion of tbe French from Germany, by making a descent on their
coast nearer home, and in tbe summer a secret expedition was
sent out, witb much mystery, against the town of Roohefort ;
but, owing to disagreement among tbe commanders, the fieet
returned home at tbe beginning of October, without having
achieved any of the objects for wbich it was sent. The conse
quence was another court-martial, whicb ended in tbe acquittal
of those wbo were brought to trial. Pitt bad gained strength
by the mishaps of the Duke of Cumberland in Hanover, and bis
popularity was now so firmly established, tbat the blame of the
failure of the naval expedition was easily thrown from bis own
shoulders upon tbe agents wbo conducted it. The successes
of the King of Prussia emboldened the King of England
to break tbe 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
ber commerce, and stripped her of ber 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 tbe continent of America.
In 1759 the Frencb Islands in tbe 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 Boscawen and Hawke completed tbe destruction of tbe 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 bim. The expulsion of tbe Frencb from
North America was in a measure Pitt's own work ; and, as
Wolfe was one of his own vaiWiary proteges, the public exultation
on the taking of Quebec raised still higher the minister who had
planned it. The battle of Mindeii added to the glory of tbe
British arms on tbe continent of Europe. In the beginning of
1760 rumours bad already spread abroad of approaching negotia-

DEATH OF GEOBGE THE SECOND. 215
tions of peace ; and tbe English people, in tbeir exultation at the
extensive conquests of the last two years, began to express tbeir
fears lest any of these advantages should be relinquisbed, in tbe
same manner in which it was believed that so much bad been
unnecessarily surrendered in former treaties.
It was in the midst of tbis glory of conquest tbat George tbe
Second quitted tbe stage. He died suddenly and quite unex
pectedly, on tbe morning of the 25th of October, 1760, leaving
bis family at length firmly established on tbe throne of England.

2l6

CHAPTER VII.
GEORGE II. AND IIL
Progresn 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
Operas Garrick and Quiu ; 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.
LITERATURE continued to experience the neglect of tbe
court through the wbole of the reign of George II. , and it
bad 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, tban an efficient or judicious
encouragement, and produced little more tban 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 bad long
been in the habit of devoting a portion of their space to litera
ture, in a form, somewhai resembhng the French feuilletons of
the present day, but this was most frequently filled with
burlesque, ill-natured criticism, or half-concealed scandal; or,
when sucb 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 wbo could receive any satisfaction from tbeir peru
sal. The Gentleman's Magazine, tbe first attempt at a monthly
repository of this kind, was begun by Cave, in 1731 ; 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

BEVIEWS AND ESSAYS. 217
less than eight periodicals of tbis description, issued monthly,
under the titles of the Gentleman's Magazine, the London
Magazine, the British Magazine, tbe Universal Magazine, the
Travellers' Magazine, tbe Ladies' Magazine, tbe Theological
Magazine, and the Magazine of Magazines. The latter was an
attempt, by giving tbe pith of its monthly contemporaries, to do
tbe same by tbem as tbe Gentleman's Magazine bad first done
by tbe newspapers,
Witb these periodicals there gradually grew up a new class of
writers, known as the Critics, The magazines had from tbe first
given monthly lists of new books, and these lists were subse
quently accompanied by short notices of tbe contents and merits
of tbe principal new publications, wbile longer notices and
abstracts of remarkable works were given as separate articles.
This was the origin of tbe reviews, in tbe modern sense of tbe
title, whicb were becoming fashionable in the middle of the last
century. In the year 1752 there were three professed reviews, tbe
Literary Review, tbe Monthly Review, and tbe Critical -Review,
tbe latter by the celebrated Smollett, Tbe critics formed a self-
constituted tribunal, which the authors long regarded witb
feelings of undisguised bostility ; and an unpalatable review was
often tbe source of bitter quarrels and desperate paper-wars.
Tbeir design was looked upon as an unfair attempt to control
tbe public taste. There can be little doubt, bowever, tbat the
establishment of reviews had an influence in improving the
literature of tbe country.
About tbe same time that tbe 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., tbat bave outlived
tbe popularity of tbe day, were launched into the world, most of
them combining political partisanship with a somewhat pungent
censorship of the foibles and vices of tbe age. This class of
periodicals became most numerous soon after tbe accession of
George III. Besides tbe personal a' use with which many of
them abounded, tbey published a lar^omass of private scandal,
which was perfectly well understood, in spite of the fictitious
names under whicb it was issued, a'-d whicb formed probably the
most marketable portion of the literature of tbe day. Even in
the highest class of tbe romances of that age, those of Smollett
and Fielding, as well as in a multitude of memoirs and novels of
a lower description, tbe greatest charm for the reader consisted
in the facility witb wbich be recognised tbe pictures of well-
known individuals, whose private weaknesses were there cruelly

3i8 DOCTOR HILL.
brought to light in false or exaggerated colours. It was this
peculiar taste in literature which gave tbe character to the mode
of life of that class of writers who then lived by their pen : their
da3's and nights were spent in tbe 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 daih'
readiness to receive them. Among tbe earlier of the essayists
of the class alluded to was tbe Inspector, wbich first brought
into notoriety the celebrated Sir John Hill, the " orator Henley"
of the literature of bis day, who may be taken as the t3'pe of tho
literary quackery of the age of whicb we are now speaking. The
original orator Henley was just quitting tbe scene in wbich he
bad gained so much celebrity — he died in 1757.
John Hill was born in 17 16. His father, who was a clergy
man, placed him as apprentice with a surgeon at Westminster,
and, having married early, be set up for himself in that profes
sion, but soon dissatisfied witb it, be applied himself to tbe study
of botany, and obtained tbe patronage of the Duke of Richmond
and Lord Petre. This pursuit he also relinquished, and be 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 iii "Romeo and Juliet." He afterwards indulged
the spleen occasioned by this failure by decrying tbe best actors
of the day, and he wrote a book on tbe art, under the title of
" The Actor," chiefiy 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 Tbeophrastus 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 tbe latter Hill set up in the full character of a
popular writer, and at the same time broke with his patrons in
science. On tbe publication of bis Supplement to Chambers, he
made an attempt to obtain admission into the Royal Society ;
but, his unprincipled character being now well known, be 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 Conoubitu," in whicb be pretended to shew that
generation might take place witbout 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 be now attempted to shine in almost every walk
of bterature, as well as in science. The so oft parodied lines
were again applied to him, iu connexion witb orator Henley and
a noted quack of the time named Rock : —
" 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 physio, and in both John Hill ;
The force of nature could no farther go.
To make a third she join'd the other two.''
Of bis bgbter productions, the " Memoirs of Lady Frail " (a
false history of tbe 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 wbile 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 bis farce of " The Rout," which was
damned on the second night. Garrick's epigram on tbe 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. Plill. As if with tbe intention of throwing all his con
temporary essayists in tbe shade, be commenced, in tbe spring
of 1753, a daily essay, under the title of- the Inspector, which
was first published in tbe Daily Advertiser, and was afterwards
collected into two octavo volumes. During tbis year tbe pen
of Dr. Hill was so active, tbat be is said to bave cleai-ed 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 aud pompous style.* On tbe
* 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 be gave a sort of moral discourse,
intended to be suitable for tbe following day. But many of the
essays were composed of tbe scandal which be bad gathered up
in bis daily or nightly perambulation of tbe town ; others con
tained unprovoked and unjust attacks on bis contemporaries ; in
some be hinted at his own successes among ladies of quality ;
and by no means unfrequently be wrote letters to himself, set
ting forth in no measured terms the praise of bis own talents
and virtues. It is not to be wondered at if be tbus provoked
bostility in every quarter. One of the first persons who shewed
his resentment was Woodward, the actor, wbo went to George's
coffee-house witb the intention of giving Hill a public castiga-
tion ; but missing his man, he first published a violent pamphlet
against him, in wbich he made public all bis early disappoint
ments in seeking stage notoriety, aud then he brougbt bim on
the stage in a farce under the character of tbe " Mock Doctor."'*
Another quarrel took a still more serious character. The In
spector of tbe 3otb 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 tbe 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 witb greater contempt than ever, accusing him, among
other tbings, of being so illiterate that be could not write his
mother-tongue, correctly. On tbe evening of tbe 6tb of May
Brown went to Ranelagh, and meeting Dr. Hill in the passage,
be demanded proper satisfaction for tbe attack, and, on tbis
being refused, insulted him publicly by pulling bim b3'^ 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 tbe 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, uniuffled by the gentlest breeze ; the setting sun threw a glow
of pale splendour over one half of it, tbe rest was silent shade." Of weeds,
&c. gathered to one corner of a ditch; "The fresh breeze had blown
together into tbis part of the wattry expanse whatever fioated on or near
its surface," &c.
"'The "Mock Doctor" wasgivenrepeatedly at Drury Lane iu 1751 or 1752.

S^li.--^'

-^-^^S 5^;;^
:.:;^

^%-

r w-1 urhoTr F.S.A. sc.

ILE MA1L.AJD)T; IMA^aNAIHIE.

HILL AND BROWN. 221
assailant, pretended tbat an attempt bad been made to murder
bim, tbat be had been overpowered by numbers and beaten till
be 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 cbarge brought against him;
and, when that 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 bis pretended assail
ants, and making up a story that was aptly compared with Fal-
staff's relation of bis encounter witb tbe redoubtable men in
buckram. The affair made an extraordinary noise, and a multi
tude of pens and pencils were raised against tbe unpopular
Doctor. On the 29th of May two large caricatures were pub
lished ; the first of which represents a view of the entrance to
Ranelagh, in whicb Brown is seen pulling the ear of the Doctor,
wbom he addresses witb the words, " Draw your sword, swag
gerer ! if you bave 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 ol
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 bis
case, but above all unwilling to let him off without paying his. fees,
while a friend proposes that he should raise mone3- by selling
bis sword, which is " only an encumbrance." It was said that
Hill produced a quantity of blood, which be pretended that he
had lost by the injuries infiicted upon his person at Ranelagh.
In the picture before us the face of a man is peeping from behind
the bed, and interrogating another wbo is entering by the door:
" Dick, did you get the three basons of blood we sen-t you for ?"
Tbe 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
to Hill's pusillanimous conduct and assumed danger. The print
is entitled " Le Malade Imaginaire ; or, the consultation." A
satirical tract against Hill (under the fictitious appellation of

222 HILL AND FIELDING.
Dr. Atall) appeared about tbe same time, parodying the title of
one of bis own books by that of " Libitina sine Conflictu ; or, a
true narrative of tbe untimely death of Dr, Atall, who departed
tbis life on Wednesday tbe 13th of May, 1752 : witb some ac
count of bis behaviour during bis illness," This tract gives a
burlesque account of tbe whole affair, and intimates that it was
probably a deeply-laid plot of the French government to get out
of tbe way a politioal writer of such overwhelming importance as
tbe 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 bis pen were Fielding and Garrick, the
latter of wbom he attempted to depreciate in comparison witb
bis rival Quin. Fielding, under the assumed name of Sir Alex
ander Drawcansir, in retaliation, commenced the Covent Garden
Journal, in wbich 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
beaded b3' Smollett. It was a spirited attack on tbe depraved
popular taste. These literary quarrels always merged into tbe
great rivalries of tbe day, and sucb was the case in the present
instance; for Fielding not only entered on a crusade against
Hill and literary quackery, but be took up tbe cudgels for
Garrick and Drury Lane against Quin and Rich, who occupied
the rival stage at Covent Garden. Dr. Hill also found partisans

THE INSPEOTOB GLORIFIED,

to support bim. As the Inspector had been brought on the
stage in one theatre, so now there was performed on the boards

HILL AND SMART. 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 \va.s 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 tbe only caricatures in whiob he figured. A print un
dated appears to represent tbis pseudo-philosopher occupied in
bis morning studies, witb papers before him on some of bis
trifling subjects of natural history, and surrounded by the books
from wbich he compiled his lucubrations. The figure of folly,
witb the ears of an ass, is decking bis vain bead witb 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 tbe 13th of August, 1752, he pub
lished the first number of a new periodical, under the very
appropriate title of the Impertinent, in whicb be wrote a cri
tique on himself. Fielding, and Christopher Smart, a contempo
rary poet of some repute, but now nearly forgotten, the object
of wbich was more especially to abuse the writings of the latter.
The critique commenced witb stating, in his flippant style, tbat
" There are men who write- because they have wit ; tbere are
those wbo write because tbey are hungry ; there are some of
the modern authors who bave 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, witb
equal right, stands foremost among tbe 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, tbe Inspector, witb 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.
fence passed on this assuming piece ; and the public deserves apiplause 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-natii,re,
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 despised a piece that cruelly and unjustly attacked Mr. Smart," &c.

224 THE HILLIAD.
Within a few daj's it was generall3- known that tbe author of
tbe first number of tbe Impertinent was the same Dr. Hill who
thus exulted over its fall in the Inspector; and tbe 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 be is pursued,
cries out ' Stop thief !' and hopes to escape in tbe crowd that
follows bim." 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 bis principles
and pursuits are set forth under the character of Hillario. This
rather remarkable poem opens with an indignant address to tbe
prototype of its hero : — -
" 0 thou, whatever name delight thine ear.
Pimp ! Poet I Puffer ! 'Pothecary I Player!
Whose baseless fame by vanity is buoy'd.
Like the huge earth self-oenter'd in the void.
Hillario is brought into communication witb a fortune-telling
gipsy, wbose prophecy of future celebrity induces bim to fiy
from the apotbecary's shop. On bis entrance to publicity be
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 whicb be was accustomed to bold forth, and which were to
support his fame, are next described : —
" Moth.g, mites, and maggots, fleas (a numerous crew 1)
And gnats and grub-v?orms, 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 tbe gods in tbeir 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 artic'e used only in fashionable society ; and Dr. Hill,
in his writings, seeks every occasion of letting his readers know tbat 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. 22 j
Can my Hillario's worth remain unknown ?
With whom coy Sylvia trusts herself alone ;
With whom, so pure, so innocent his life.
The jealous husband leaves his bosom wife.
What though he ne'er assume the port of Mars,
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 i-ancour of his soul ;
While his black self, Florinda ever near.
Shows like a diamond in an Etliiop's ear."
Other deities interfere, and speak witb contempt of the hero ;
and it is proposed tbat be shall be allowed to proceed in his
course, as a thing too insignificant to occupy the attention of
tbe 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 bim, be 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 Ranelagh, who, after his
death (which occurred in 1775), pubbsbed a pamphlet which
seemed to say that he bad not derived any permanent advantage
from tbe 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 tbe latter half of the
reign of George II. Dulness, tbe goddess wbo presided over
Grub Street in the days of Pope, was resigning her sceptre to
another goddess not less fatal to good taste, Pertness, wbo was
removing the seat of power farther west. It was a sovereignty
whicb bad risen up with tbe critics and feuilletonists. A popu
lar satire that appeared about the end of 1752, under the title
of " The Pasquinade," when the notoriety of Hill was at its
height, has celebrated this new empire. This poem opens witb
an invocation to the doctor, witb allusions to his Chloes,
Daphnes, and Amandas : —
" O chief in verse ! 0 ev'ry Muse's care I
Pride of each mortal and immortal fair I
Whether enraptur'd with Urania's charms,
Or sunk in Chloe or Amanda's arms ;
Q

226 THE REIGN OF PERTNESS.
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,
wbo are therefore invoked for their pretended favourite : —
" Hear, then, ye daughters of immortal Jove !
By tbe soft vows of your Inspector's love,
If not, too jealous of each other's fiame.
You slight tbe 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 tbe poet and the beau ;
Hear and support me in your favourite's cause.
Inspire my song, and crown me with applause."
Dulness, whose empire bad been placed by Pope among " th'i
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. Tho latter had for her subjects the
critics and the journalists, and she was sometimes obliged to seek
support even among tbe 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 tbe muddy stream,
And dogs initiate their whelps to swim,
Monsters and fools assemble once a year,
And juggling Hyment celebrates May-Fair,
* In one of the Inspectors the Doctor had detailed some extraordinary
observations made on a rotten pear, in an aff-ected 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 brougbt within the area of the microscope ; but this appeared,
-under its influence, a vnde extent of territory, varied with hills and lawns,
with winding hollows, open plains, and shadowy thickets.'''
t An allusion to Keith's chapel, where the Marriage Act was evaded on
a very extensive scale. These lines describe tbe district of May- Fair as it
appeared in the middle of tbe last century. The "palace" was May-Fair

THE REIGN OF PERTNESS. 22 7
This goddess dwelt. Just raised above the ground.
Her palace varnish'd, silver deck'd around.
Here stood her Mercury, here she nursed her apes ;*
Here magpies chatter'd in a hundred shapes ;
Jackdaws and parrots join'd the unmeaning noise
Of templars, coxcombs, prigs, aud 'prentice boys.
Far hence the goddess spreads her kingdom wide,
To Dulness, as in birth, in power alhed.
She, from her native Grub Street to Rag- Fair,
South to the Mint and west to Temple-Bar,
Included every garrison'd retreat — •
Bedlam, Crane-court, the Counters, aud the Fleet :
Her sister boasted as extensive sway ;
Fierce Broughton's bruizing sons her power obey ;
St. Giles's, George's, and tbe famous train
Of Bedford, Bow Street, and of Drury Lane.
Even to the licens'd Park her chiefs resort.
And seize the priv'lege of great George's court.''
The two goddesses determine upon a strict alliance, celebrate
a grand festival, and review tbeir several forces, consisting of a
multitude of obscure names, then active in tbeir different de
partments in the field of literature, but now so entirely forgotten,
that it would be of little utility to rehearse tbeir titles. At
length Pertness discovers her favourite Hill : —
"All these the sister queens with joy confess' d.
For lo ! tbeir essence glow'd in every breast !
But Pertness saw her form distinctly shine
In none, immortal Hill I 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 —
Slippei-s 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 bim out witb pride to ber 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 1 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
Bwls." The diiference between the attributes of Dulness and Pertness, of
the old school and the new one, is marked.
Q 2

ft28 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 I
Rescued an orphan babe from Common-sense,
I gave'his mother's milk 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 tbis hero as tbeir
common favourite, and to put an end to tbe war between tbeir
respective hosts ; and tbe former promises to stifie the ire whicb
had been nursed in the breast of her Smart, wbose rivalry witb
the new constellation had agitated so violently tbeir different
realms. Dr. Hill stands forth as a t3'pe not only of literary but also
of medical quackery, the wide prevalence of which was among
tbe distinguishing characteristics of the period of which we are
now speaking. We have, in the pages of " Roderick Random," a
good picture of tbe usual character of the medical practitioners
of the middle of the eighteenth century. Amid the general
venality, degrees and honours were not alwa3's a proof of merit
in tbe individual upon whom tbey were bestowed ; and from this
cause, or from the wide-spread spirit of credulity, people sought
witb more eagerness the nostrum of the quack than -the experi
ence of tbe 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 (Burcbell), 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 tbe system of pills,
powders, and draughts, whicb were trumped forth into tbe world
b3' newspaper advertisements, were published under respectable
names, or anonymously ; wbile satires and burlesques tended to
turn tbem to ridicule, and tbe more remarkable quacks of the
day were set forth in tbeir true colours and attributes in prints

FAMILY PILLS. 239
and caricatures.* In a mock letter from Dr. Rock " to a physi
cian at Bath," tbe popular empiric is made to improve upon the
extraordinary properties of the numerous quack medicines then
in vogue. " Imprimis," he says, " tbere 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 tbe morning fasting, and they shall not only be well
purged themselves, but the wbole family, men, women, and
children, shall equally participate ofthe same benefit," Among
tbe 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 ber." After these are, " Secondly, 1113^ inten
tional purging pills  Tbe person wbo takes them need
only say to himself, ' It is my intention these pills should purge
my wife as much as tbey do me ; my boy Jack half as much as
they do me ; my daughter M0II3' once less than Jack ; that
liquorish bussey Nan, tbat steals half tbe sweetmeats, and eats
half the fruit in the garden, ten times as much as tbey do me ;
and tbat rascal Tom, that is perpetually at tbe ale-bouse, twenty
times as much as they do me, for five days successively.' Upon
tbis tbe wisbed-for event infallibly follows." Tbere was perhaps
in tbis 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 whicb were manufactured at this period, sprung
up some of the best recommended remedies, and the greatest
improvements in modern medicine, wbich 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, tbe introduction of inoculation for tbe small-pox
was cried down witb tbe most persevering obstinacy. The
fever-powder of Dr. James, a man of high respectability in bis
profession, was long violently opposed by the faculty ; in spite
of whicb (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 profes.sion, under the title of "The
Quackade, by Whirligig Bolus, Esq.," was published in 1752; but its
allusions are too obscurely personal and uninteresting, to call for any
further notice here.

230

JAMES'S FEVER POWDER.

to bave regarded as a sovereign preventive for almost all diseases.
He writes to Sir Horace Mann, in October, 1764, "James's
powder is my panacea, tbat is, it always shall be, for, thank
God, I am not apt to have occasion for medicines ; but I have
such faith in these powders, that I believe I should take it if
tbe bouse were on fire." When Dr. James's opponents found
that tbey could not hinder the sale of bis powders, they turned
round and said tbat be was not the inventor, but tbat be bad
stolen the recipe from a man named
Baker, who bad it of a German Baron
Sohwanberg. In a caricature pub
lished against bim in 1724, entitled
" A Reply for tbe present to the un
known Author of Villany Detected,"
tbe Doctor is represented stepping
from bis carriage to act tbe part of a
highwa3'-man towards the rigbt 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 bis pocket (some of tbe
packets falling to tbe ground), and
at tbe same time holds a dagger to
strike him, wbile be says, aside, " By
which I keep my chariot, in luxury
live, and think of no hereafter." The ghost of a man (perhaps
tbe German baron) rises from tbe ground beside bim, and ex
claims, " Thou perjured villain ! thou hast robbed my friend of
tbe fever-powders !"
Tbe 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 behef in quack medicines,
and made tbem the dupes of several practical jokes, and inten
tional or involuntary impositions. The ridiculous imposture of
the rabbit-woman of Godalming, whicb had been favoured by
some members of the medical profession, bad afforded a striking
instance of national credulity in the earlier part of tbe century.
The " gullibility " of tbe public was illustrated in a still more
remarkable manner in 1749, when some facetious individual (wbo
be was has never been discovered) put in effect a practical
joke of no ordinary description. On tbe 16th of January, tbe

THE MEDICAL HIGHWAYMAN.

THE BOTTLE-CONJUROR. 331
daily papers contained tbe 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.
Fii-st 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, aud 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, is. 6d. Boxes, 5s. Pit, 3s. Gallery, is..
'"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 tbe 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
tbis announcement, and of another advertisement in some of the
papers, of the arrival of tbe wonderful Signor Jumpedo, wbo,
among otber tbings, undertook to jump down his own throat, no
suspicion appears to have been entertained of the real character
of tbe hoax, and at tbe hour advertised a very crowded audience
had assembled in tbe theatre, a large portion of which consisted
of persons of quality, and among them was tbe Duke of Cumber
land. There was no music, and tbe only apparatus on tbe stage
was a table , covered witb green baize, witb a common quart
bottle on it. Tbe company sat quietly till towards seven
o'clock, when they became extremely impatient, and tbe 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 bis appearance, and some one
(it was said to bave been Samuel Foote, wbo performed at tbis
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 tbe pit shouted out at the same
time waggishly, tbat if tbey would come again tbe next night,
and double the price, the conjuror would go into a pint bottle.
Upon this a ckndle 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 ofthe theatre, and escaped
* It is here given from the General Advertiser of Jan. 16, 1749.

233 THE BOTTLE-CONJUROR.
only -with a general loss of hats, coats, &c. Tbe Duke of Cum
berland lost his diamond-hilted sword ; and on tbis being known,
some in tbe crowd shouted, " Billy the Butcher has lost bis
knife !" Those who remained in tbe 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 bouse in one immense bonfire. In
the meantime the alarm had been given, and a party of foot-
guards hurried to the spot ; but tbe rioters bad fied, and the
soldiers arrived only in time to warm themselves at the fire.
The next dav' John Potter, the proprietor of the theatre,
inserted a letter in tbe newspapers, making an apology to the
public for having let tbe house unwittingl3' to tbe impostor, and
complained of the injustice done to bim personally by tbe des
truction of his propert3- ; 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 daj's. But others took up the matter
much less seriouslv, and for a week or two after tbe newspapers
contained not unfrequently burlesque announcements of extra
ordinary performances, like tbe following, whicb is found in
the General Advertiser of the 3ist of Januai-y : —
" Lately arrived from Ethiopia,
The most wonderful and surprising Doctor Benimbe Zammampoango,
oculist and body surgeon to the Emperor of Jlonoemungi, who will perform
on Sunday next, at the little P  in the Haymarket, the following sur
prising operations ; viz. —
" 1st. He desires any one of tbe spectators only to pull out his o-wn eyes,
wbich 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 ofiicer or other to rip up his own belly, which
when he has done, he (without any equivocation) takes out his guts, washes
them, and returns 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
his brains, and exchanges them for those of a calf; the brains of a beau, for
those of an ass ; and the heart of a bully, for tbat of a sheep ; which
operations render the person more sociable and rational creatures than they
ever were in their lives.
"And to convince the town that no imposition is intended, he desires no
money until the performance is over.
"Boxes, 5 gu. Pit, 3. Gal., 7.
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 time, and the orator was of

EARTHQUAKES IN LONDON. 233
II  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 tbe Bottle" became immediately the hero of
several satirical pamphlets on the foUv and credulity of tbe age,
besides making bis appearance in ballads and caricatures. Two of
the caricatures, published in tbe course of Januai-3-, were entitled
•¦ The Bottle-Conjuror from Head to Foot, without equivoca
tion,'' and " English Credulity; or, ye 're all bottled." In the
latter F0II3' is leading by a string to tbe bottle-conjuror's table,
a group of cbai-aoters distinguished in lu-ms, law, pin-sic, &c.
A sword, alluding- to the Duke of Cumberland's loss, is flying
awa3-, and a fiend is in pursuit for tbe proffered reward of thirty
guineas. Britannia turns awav ber face in shame — '' Oh ! 1113'-
sons!" In another print, as a companion to the Bottle, harle
quin is represented in a verv ingenious manner, jumping dowu
his own throat. On the 26th of Januarv, and for some time
after, tbe play-bills added to tbe announcement of the pantomime
of Apollo and Daphne, " In which will be introduced a new
scene of the escape of harlequin into a quai-t-bottle ;" and in the
summer, a new conied3% called " Tbe Magician ; or, the bottle-
conjuror," was acted at tbe smaller theatres. For many years
afterwards the bottle-conjuror was a standing joke upon English
foll3'. Yet, within a year, tbe credulity of our countrymen was
again exhibited in a s-till more extraordinary occurrence. Several
smart shocks of earthquakes were felt throughout England about
the middle ofthe last century. Tbe beginning of the3-ear 1750
bad been unusually storm3- and tempestuous. On the 8th of
Febru;u-v, the inhabitants of London were alarmed b\' a rumbling
noise, and a shock, whicb shook all the bouses with sucb violence
tbat tbe house-bells rang, and the furniture and utensils were
moved from tbeir places. On the same da3'^ of the next month
a second shock was felt, between the hours of five and six in tbe
morning, wbich was considei-abl3' more intense than the former,
and caused the greater consternation, because it awoke people
from their sleep. Smollett, wdio 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 heav3'
carriage rolling over a hollow pavement, " The shock itself," he
says, " consisted of repeated vibrations, -n-bich lasted some
coui-se 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 Mock Doctor," at Covent Garden, " The Anatomist,
or the Sham Doctor."

234 THE EARTHQUAKE PANIC.
seconds, and violently shook every bouse from top to bottom.
Many persons started from their beds, and ran to their doors
and windo-ws in dismay." The alarm occasioned by these two
earthquakes was seized upon by the rebgious enthusiasts of the
da3' as an opportunity for admonishing their fellow-countrymen
against the immorality and profaneness whicb then so widely
pervaded English society, and they hesitated not to declare that
the earthquakes bad been sent as special marks of tbe displeasure
of heaven against tbe 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 tbat on the same da3'- four weeks
after the last shock (whicb would be Thursda3', the 5th of April)
another earthquake, of a much more formidable character, would
swallow up the whole metropolis and destroy its inhabitants, as'
a punishment for tbeir sins ; and that Westminster Abbey would
be buried in the ruins, and disappear forever. The prophet was
arrested, and placed in a mad-house, but tbis did not calm tbe
fears of the multitude, which increased as the fatal day ap
proached ; and even many of those who bad at first combated
these ridiculous fears, began insensibly to imbibe the contagion.
The popular credulity was so great, that on the 1st of April
some 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 whicb was inscribed in large capital letters the words
" Beicare 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 7tli of
April informs us, that " Thirty coaches, filled witb 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 difi'erent parts of the kingdom this week on the
same account, in order to avoid the vengeance denounced against
tbem 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, wbole families locked up their houses,
and went into tbe open fields outside the metropolis, which were
filled witb an incredible number of people, assembled in chairs
and carriages as well as on foot, wbo waited in trembling
suspense until the return of day convinced most of them of
tbe groundlessness of their apprehensions. Many, bowever,
still insisted that it was a mistake in the day, and tbat the
earthquake would occur on Sunday the 8tb, as they should bave
counted the day of tbe month, and not that of the week.
Tbe ridicule thrown upon this affair, after the day was past,
was as great as tbe apprehensions which had preceded it. In
tbe account given in the Universal Magazine, we are told, " It
is observed by the hackney-coachmen and chairmen, that none
of tbe great folks went out of town to avoid the fulfilling of the
madman's prophecy about the earthquakes, but such wbose
curiosity led them to see the conjuror creep into tbe glass
bottle." Lists of tbe " nobility, gentry, and others," who- had
fled from tbe town, were printed and banded about ; and sati
rical tracts were published under suob titles as " A full and true
Account of the dreadful and melancholy Earthquake," wbich
were so arranged as to furnish a meal of politioal and private
scandal to those who loved to fatten on such food. Other
pamphlets dwelt more seriously on tbe 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, tbe flrst entitled " The Military Prophet ; or, a flight
from Providence;" tbe other, "The Panick ; or, tbe 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 tbe preceding-, agitated the public ; it
bad had its conjuror and its earthquake — the new subject of at
traction was a ghost. The fame of tbe Cook Lane ghost has in
some sort outlived tbe memory of bottle-conjuror or military
prophet. A Mr. Kent, who lived with the sister of his deceased
wife, bad occupied lodgings in Cock Lane, Smithfield, at the
bouse o.f a Mr. Parsons, but, having quarrelled with' his land
lord, he removed to a bouse in Clerkenwell, where his com
panion, who is known in the story by tbe name of Miss Fanny,
died of tbe small-pox. Parsons, to revenge himself upon Mr,
Kent, declared that the ghost of Miss Fanny haunted the room
of bis daughter, (witb wbom she had slept during Kent's ab
sence from town,) and bad charged Kent with having poisoned

236 THE STAGE: GABBICK.
ber. On examination, mysterious knockings and scratcbings
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 tbem of tbe 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 trioker3'-, 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 unsatisfactor3', and the ghost failed in its
promise to signify its presence in tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe reign of George I. ;
for pantomimes and burlesques bad established tbemselves per
manently in popular favour, and the3- now went on hand in
hand with tbe regular drama. Amid the rivalries alluded to,
and supported by some of tbe best actors who have ever trod
the English stage, the plays of the great English bard were
gaining dail3' in popularit3'.
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 tbat
amateurs sometimes gratified their vanity without risk, and it
served also as a sort of school for many who afterwards figured on
tbe boards of Drury Lane and Covent Garden. It was at this
theatre, that, on the I9tb of October, 1741, David Garrick
first made his appearance on a London stage ; and, in tbe cba-

THEATRICAL CONTENTIONS. 237
racter of Richard tbe Third, be gained such universal admira
tion, that within a few days tbe larger theatres were almost
deserted, and Goodman's Fields presented tbe unusual spectacle
of crowds of carriages from St. James's and Grosvenor Square.
Quin, wbo had been engaged at Drury Lane, bad hitherto been
considered as the first tragic actor on the English stage, and,
alarmed at Garrick's success, be did all in bis 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 tbeatre ofthe east end, that forced tbe 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, bi.^ jealousy of wbom con
tinued unabated. The patent of Drury Lane was at this time
in the bands of Charles Fleetwood, wbo had bought it at a mo
ment when the mismanagement of the former proprietors bad
reduced it to a very low state, and driven away tbe best per
formers. Tbe latter had opened the little theatre in the Hay
market, with some success, but tbey returned to Drury Lane
under Fleetwood, and left their tbeatre in the Haymarket to a
company of Frencb actors. Fleetwood was a man utterly devoid
of dramatic taste, and, to the disgust of Garrick, he bad brougbt
tbe tumblers and rope-dancers of Sadler's Wells ou the boards
of Drury. Other ill-conduct on the part of Fleetwood drove
tbe Drury Lane company to a new revolt ; tbey seceded from
the tbeatre under Garrick and MackHn, and tried to obtain a
new patent from tbe Lord Chamberlain, but in vain. Tbe con
sequence was, tbat 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
witb Macklin ; and when Drury Lane re-opened towards tbe
end of 1743, the theatre presented, for two or three nights, a
scene of violent uproar between tbe partisans of tbe 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 be returned in the May of tbe latter year,
and eno-aged himself at Covent Garden, under Rich. Fleetwood
had, meanwhile, sold bis interest in Drury Lane, and it was
now under the management of Lacy, who had a good share in
tbe proprietorship.
In 1747 began the great rivalry between tbe two large
theatres, under Rich and Lacy, whicb agitated tbe theatrical
world for some ensuing years. Rich, much agaiust his will, bad

233 ROMEO AND JTIIET.
made a momentary sacrifice of his passion for pantomime, in
favour of the regular drama, and engaged Garrick, Quin, Wood
ward, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and several otber good
actors. The Drurv Lane company numbered among its c^iief
performers, Barry and Macklin, Yates, Sirs. Clive, and Peg
Woffington. It was the first time tbat Garrick aud Quin bad
pla3-ed together, and tbe superiority of tbe former was soon ac
knowledged, to the great mortification and discontent of bis
rival. Yet, in spite of tbe superiorit3- which the great actor bad
given Covent Garden over the rival tbeatre, Rich was weak
enough to treat bim 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. Cibber, and others, followed Garrick to Drury
Lane, which was opened with great eclat on the 2otb of Sep
tember, 1747 ; and the following season witnessed a complete
revival of Shakspeai-e and the older dramatists on tbe stage.
Jealousies and frequent quarrels, however, soon broke out in
Gai-riok's company, which furnished materials for the carica
turist during tbe season of 1 748, and the consequence of which
was the desertion of Barry and Mrs, Cibber to Covent Garden
in 1749, where tbey joined witb Quiu and Mrs. Woffington, and
tlius formed under Rich a dangerous rivalry to the otber tbeatre.
In October, 1749, tbe Covent Garden company opened the
theatrical campaign with " Romeo and Juliet," a play in which
Barry, and especially Mrs. Cibber, had shone with peculiar
excellence. Garrick had armed himself for the contest ; he had
prepared a rival actress in Miss Bellam3-, and be produced, to
tbe surprise of his opponents, the same play of " Romeo and
Juliet" at Drur3' Lane, ou the very night it came out at Covent
Garden, It was a repetition of tbe war of rival harlequins in
the preceding reign. The town was divided for a long time be
tween tbe two " Romeo and Juliets," wbich produced a mass of
contradictory criticism, and finished bv almost empt3'ing both
bouses, for everybod3' began to be tired of the monotonous repe
tition of the same play. A popular epigram of the day spoke
distinctly tbe public feeling —
" On the Run of ' Romeo and Juliet.'
" ' WeE, -n'hat's to night ? ' says angry Ned,
As up from bed he rouses ;
' Romeo ag.iin I ' and shakes his heiid,
' Ah I plague on both your houses ! ' "
Personal jealousies, not only among tbe actors themselves,

ANTI- GALLICISM. 339
but between tbem and tbeir manager Rich, soon broke up the
harmony of tbe Covent Garden company. Garrick retaliated on
tbeir efforts to outshine bim 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 whicb Woodward acted the
part of harlequin. The great success of this piece, which brought
crowded houses for forty nights witbout intermission, gave rise
to a very popular caricature, entitled " The Theatrical Steelyard,"
in which Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Woffington, Quin, and Barry, are
outweighed by Woodward's harlequin and Garrick's Queen Mab.
Rich, dressed in tbe garb of harlequin, lies on tbe ground ex-

AN EXPIBINa HAELEQUIN.
piring. The rivalry of the two theatres continued in tbis state
in tbe year 1753, in tbe literar3- warfare of wbich period we
have seen them so deeply involved. Garrick's backwardness in
bringing out new plays had embroiled bim witb several of tbe
critics of the day.
But, in the middle of bis success, an untoward accident came
to disturb tbe triumphs of tbe English Roscius. The popular
feeling against tbe employment of Frencb 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 tbe latter, published in i7_5o, under
tbe title of " Britannia disturb'd ; or, an invasion by French
vagrants," represents the foreigners forced on Britannia by a
band of aristocratic rioters, wbile she holds in ber lap ber fa
vourite English players and pantomimists. In 17^4, witb tbe
hope of raising still higher tbe theatrical pre-eminence of Drury
Lane, Garrick first planned bis grand spectacle, brougbt out in
tbe beginning of November, 17^5, under the title of "Tbe
Chinese Festival." It bad been fbund necessary to employ a
great number of Frencb dancers in this spectacle, tbe report of

240 THE ROSCIAD.
which having gone abroad, wbile the hatred of the Frencb was
increased by the breaking out of hostilities and by tbeir conduct
in America, a mob assembled in the tbeatre on the first night
witb tbe determination of putting a stop to tbe performance.
Gari-ick, wbo bad expended a large sum of money on tbis enter
tainment, did bis utmost, but in vain, to appease the ill-humour ;
but tbe fashionable people in tbe boxes took bis part, imd the
war between the two parties continued with doubtful success
during five nights. The sixth night of representation was an
opera night, and tbe strength of the boxes was weakened by tbe
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, wbo remained in
tbe 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 tbey now wreaked tbeir
vengeance on the materials of the theatre, demolished the scenes,
tore up tbe benches, broke the lustres, and soon effected a damage
which it required several thousand pounds to repair.
Tbe young writers wbo had formerly found a great part of
their employment in writing new pieces for the stage, became
more and more irritated at tbe dramatic taste which deprived
them of a part of their bread, by raising up Shakspeare and tbe
older drama, and, being mostly connected witb the different
papers, magazines, and reviews of tbe day, tbey took their le-
venge by severe and often unfair criticisms on tbe different
performers, which made them objects of dread among the players.
Tbe natm-al consequence of this \vas, tbat tbe stage attracted
more and more tbe attention of the literai-y world, until, in the
March of 1761, the first, and one of tbe most remarkable poems
of one ofthe most remarkable poets of tbat day, the " Rosoiad"
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 Roscius, and he satirises with great critical seve
rity the individual defects of the players, as well as those of the
writers for the stage. Gai-rick, whose claim is allowed as the
successor of Roscius, was the onlv one wbo escaped bis lash.
This poem, to whicb tbe 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 top

CHURCHILL AND THE REVIEWERS. 241
obscure and too dull to merit even tbat their titles should be
enumerated. But Churchill was stung to tbe quick, and in
another poem, under tbe title of tbe " Apology," he attacked
witb extreme bitterness tbe reviewers and tbe stage in general, to
which he attributed tbe shoal of abusive pamphlets that had
been showered upon him for bis theatrical criticisms. He stig
matises tbe critics as an upstart brood of literary assassins, who
from their dark concealment stabbed at unprotected genius,
when it had with difficulty escaped from tbe coldness of tbe
great and tbe persecutions of bigotry : —
" Unhappy Genius I 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 t'nou safe from home-bred dangers steer.
Reserved to perish more ignobly here ?
Thus when, the Julian tyrant's pride to swell,
Rome with her Porapey at Pharsalia fell.
The vanquished chief escaped from Caesar's hand,
To die by rufiians in a foreign land,"
The extraordinary power whicb the critics, though self-
elected, bad 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 tbey remain tbemselves
carefully screened from view : they had, in fact, attacked several
persons by name, as tbe authors of the " Rosciad," before
Churchill had affixed bis own to it. Tbis seems at first to bave
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 brougbt for judgment by a bid
den and irresponsible conclave, wbo were not accessible to re
taliation. " Founded on arts which shun the face of day,
By tbe same arts they still maintain their sway.
Wrapped in mysterious secrecy they rise.
And, as they are unknown, are safe and wise.
B

242 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 ?"
The poet then turns with increased rage upon the actors,
wbom be accuses of having a troop of mercenary writers in their
pay to cry up tbeir 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 tbeir 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 tbeir first
introduction into this countr3', masquerades or ridottos long con
tinued to sustain their ground. In tbe 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 extrerael3' popular, and made
considerable noise. On the first day (Wednesday, the 7tb of
June) tbere wei-o about four hundred persons in masquerade
dresses, and it -was announced in tbe newspapers tbat one of
tbem bad his pocket picked of fifty guineas. The t.aste for
ridottos alfresco seems soon to have subsided; and indeed night
was best calculated for the multitude of intrigues tbat were con
stantly carried on at these assemblies. It is impossible to enter
into the history of fashionable society at this period, without
perceiving tbe 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 an3' offensive conduct. A few
years later, tbe indignation of the moralist was again excited by
the report that ladies were in the habit of frequenting tbe mas
querades in men's clothing ; and even greater improprieties than

MASQUERADES AND RIDOTTOS. 243
tbis appear to have been at times perpetrated. Tho satirical
Drury Lane Journal, of April 9, 1753, contains the following
burlesque announcement: —
" ADVBETISEMENT,
" 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,
' ' Aud all other natural disguises. "
Only three years previously to tbis announcement, in 1749,
one of the Princess of Wales's maids of honour, Efizabeth Chud-
leigb, afterwards tbe notorious Duchess of Kingston, had carried
tbe second of these ideas into actual practice, by appearing at a
masquerade given by tbe Venetian ambassador at Somerset
House, in tbe character of Ipbigenia, in a close dress of flesh-
coloured sUk, so as to expose, unembarrassed by the covering of
her looser garments, much more tban strict delicacy allowed,
Tbe Princess gave ber a gentle rebuke by throwing her own
veil over ber ; 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 whiob would make us believe that she had ex
hibited herself almost in a state of nature.* This exaggeration
of immodesty seems to have thrown tbe masquerades into some
disrepute, and a vigorous stand was made against them in the
spring of 1750, on occasion of tbe 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 tbe end of 1755, was in the latter
case so far effectual, that we bear little of masquerades for seve
ral years. Horace Walpole says, in a letter dated March 32,
1762, "We have never recovered masquerades since the earth
quake at Lisbon." Yet, in the flrst year after the accession of
George III., tbe example of reviving tbem began to be set by
tbe court. On tbe 7th of June, 1763, Walpole, witb the earth
quake still in bis 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.
B 2

244 MUSIC. — HANDEL.
masquerade," be says, " was a new sight to the young people,
who had dressed tbemselves charmingly, without having tho
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, be gave a masque
rade at Ranela.gh " 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 tbis time. Our rigbt reverend
fathers have made but a bad choice of tbeir weapon in sucb a
cold, damp climate." An unsuccessful attempt was made to
revive public masquerades in 1771.
As Rich bad found a successful rival in Garrick, so Heidegger
was eventuall3' 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 17 10. He soon obtained the patronage of tbe Earl of Bur
lington ; and subsequently, in connexion witb Senesino and some
others, set up what he called an academy of music in the Hay
market. This, bowever, was broken up, in consequence of bis
quarrels witb his colleagues, and, finding little patronage in
England, where the fashionable world were still mad after the
Italian singers, he retired to tbe Continent. He returned to
England in the beginning of 1742 ; and in the subsequent years
he produced those noble oratorios, which soon gave him celebrity
and riches. Handel, wbo was celebrated for bis love of luxuri
ous living, and bis power of deglutition, was as remarkable for
his corpulence as Heidegger bad been for bis ugliness ; and in
"The Scandalizade," a satirical poem published in 1750, when
Handel was at tbe height of bis celebrity, the former is intro
duced ridiculing the unwieldy figure of bis rival.
" 'Ho, there! to whom none can, forsooth, hold a candle,'
Call'd the lovely-faced Heidegger out to George Handel,
' In arranging the poet's sweet lines to a tune.
Such as God save the King I or the fam'd Tenth of June I
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 iu the waist ;
In dimensions your face like the sun in the west.
But a chine of good porkj 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 unsupportable charge I
Retrench, or ere long you may set your own dirge.' "

THE CHARMING BRUTE.

245

The composer retorts on his antagonist, and exp: 'esses indig
nation at tbe charge of over-eating, whicb appears not to bave
been exaggerated, in tbe 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.
But 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 tvvo prints, nearly alike, and evidently copied from the
other, published in 1754, Flandel is represented under the title
of "The Charming Brute," as an overgrown hog, performing on
bis instrument, iu the midst of a vast assemblage of bis favourite
provisions, bung round tbe apartment and against tbe organ.

THE CHAEMING BEUTE.
The opera, during tbe 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 tbe multitude in their personal
quarrels, or in their impertinent vanity. Among tbe " cargoes
of Italian dancers" announced by Horace Walpole on the lotli
of November, 1754, as having newly arrived in tbe London
market, was tbe 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 bad done
in former days. Walpole, wbo noted all these important trifles
in bis correspondence, says, in tbe October of 17J5, "I believe I

246 FIRST APPEARANCE OF FOOTE.
scarce ever mentioned to you last winter the follies of the opera:
tbe impertinences of a great singer were too old and too common
a topic. I must mention them now, when tbey rise to any im
provement in the character of national folly. Tbe Mingotti, a
noble figure, a great mistress of music, and a most incomparable
actress, surpassed anything I ever saw for tbe 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 tbe audience caught them, and hissed ber
more than once : she herself once turned and hissed again, , . .
Well, among the treaties whicb a Secretary of State has negoti
ated this summer, he has contracted for a succedaneum for tbe
Mingotti. In short, there is a woman hired to sing when the
otber shall be out of humour !" Tbe contest between Mingotti
and the manager, Vanneschi, which ended in the ruin of the
latter, made the proud dame sovereign of tbe opera, and ber airs
were proportionally increased. A caricature published on the
8tb 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 tbe homage of
ber 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 tbe stool, ejaculates, " Unto thee be praise, now
and Jor 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 trifie !" Otber persons are expressing their admira
tion in various ways. The idol, from her throne, sings with
contempt — "Ra, 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 tbe little tbeatre in
the Haymarket, where Foote made his first appearance on the

PERSONAL SATIRE ON THE STAGE. 247
6th of Februar3% 1 744. We have had frequent occasions for
observing bow the passing events of tbe 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-, paid who delighted his audience by
the exact manner in wbich he imitated tbe 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 tbe 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
witbout 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 bad 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 wbile under Garrick,
witb whom, however, he was never on terms of cordial friend
ship. His " Englishman in Paris," at tbe 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
tbe law by serving his audience witb tea, and calling the per
formance in his bills, " Mr, Foote's giving tea to bis friends."*
Churchill, wbo 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 Hsymarket every morning, at playhouse prices," The
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
wbile tea was preparing.

348 THE MINOR.
" Rosciad," and who judged rightly that his performances
tended to lower the character of the stage, alludes to tbis
circumstance, and to the similar character of Tate Wilkinson,
wbom be 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 tbe beginning ofthe reign of George III. Foote occupied
the bouse alluded to more regularly as a summer theatre, and
brougbt out his farce of tbe " Minor," which, independent of its
personalities, was a violent satire upon the Methodists, and
through them upon tbe more religious part of the community,
and contained a considerable quantity of coarse language, and
some rather exceptionable morality. The appearance of tbis
piece was the signal for a violent paper war. Focte and bis
farces were attacked in every way, and the moral tendency of the
stage was thus again brougbt 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 tbe Haymarket, upon whicb he purchased and
pulled down the old bouse, and built the new one, wbich was
ever after known as tbe Ha3'market Theatre.
The course of the theatrical caricaturist was, however, any
thing but smooth. In 1762 Foote brought out " The Orators,"
tbe design of which was to ridicule the prevailing taste for
speechifying, tbe affair of the Cock Lane Ghost, and especially
the debating society held at tbe Robin Hood. Among other
persons wbo were to be exposed to satire and ridicule on tbis
occasion, was Dr. Johnson, who had taken an active part in tbe
investigation of the Cock Lane Ghost, and contributed to tbe
exposure of tbe imposture : Johnson was informed of Foote's
design before the farce came out, and intimated to him immedi
ately, tbat he should be in the theatre with a stout cudgel,
ready to fall upon the first person on tbe stage who attempted
to mimic or throw ridicule upon bim. The character of the
Doctor was omitted, when " The Orators" appeared on the stage.
In 1773, Foote's farce of "Tbe Nabob," a satire on tbe East
India politics, nearly involved him in a serious quarrel with
some ofthe directors of the India Compan\f. In 1775, bavina:
gathered aoroad some scandalous anecdotes of the Duchess of
King.^ton, be wrote a farce, entitled " The Trip to Calais," in
which that notorious woman was grossly caricatured under tho
name of " Lady Kitty Crocodile." The attack was cruel.

FRENCH IMPORTS. 249
because tbe Duchess was in tbe midst of ber embarrassments
relating to tbe trial for bigamy ; and she had .sufficient infiuence
witb tbe Lord Chamberlain, to obtain a refusal to allow it to be
acted. Foote expostulated in vain witb the Lord Chamberlain,
and then threatened tbe Duchess bs 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 bis way of trampling on an unfortunate woman,
which makes us feel bow pernicious to society a character like
Foote must ever be. A Rev. Mr. Jackson, a writer in some of
the newspapers of tbe day, was tbe Duchess's agent in her
transaction witb Foote. Tbe ' latter, finding he was likely to
get nothing out of tbe Duchess of Kingston, altered the name
of bis farce to " The Capuchin," omitted all that related to tbe
Duchess, but brougbt in ber agent, the parson, on whom he
expended his full measure of scorn and ridicule, and it was tbus
brougbt on tbe stage tbe following summer. Jackson (it was
said, at the instigation of tbe Duchess of Kingston,) revenged
himself by charging Foote witb a revolting offence ; and,
although he was honourably acquitted, tbe disgrace bore so
heavy upon his mind, that be never recovered it. Foote died
on tbe 2 ist of October, 1777.
A good print, by Boitard, entitled " Tbe Imports of Great
Britain from France ; humbly addressed to the laudable associa
tions of Anti-Gallicans, and the generous promoters of the
British arts and manufactories," and published March 7, 17^7,
exhibits some of what tbe mob considered tbe 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 tbe ball on the King's birthday, Tbe love of
Frencb cookery appears in " several emaciated high liv'd epicures
familiarly receiving a French cook, acquainting bim, that, with
out his assistance, tbey must bave perished with hunger." The
affected conceit of a French education is pictured iu " a lady of
distinction, offering the tuition of her son and daughter to a
cringing French abbe, disregarding the corruption of their reli
gion ; so tbey do but obtain the true French accent ; her frenchi-
fied well-bred spouse readily complying, the English chaplain
regretting bis lost labours." The passion for French artistes

2^0

FOREIGN MERCHANDIZE.

FOEEIGN MEECHANDIZE.

appears in " another woman of quality, in raptures, caressing a
French female dancer, assuring her that her arrival is to tho
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
I cheeses from Normandy, being
raffinie, a blackguard boy stop
ping his nostrils, greatly offend
ed at the haut-gout; a obest well
crammed with tippets, muffs,
ribbons, fiowers for the bair,'and
other sucb materiel bagatelles ;
underneath, concealed cam-
bricks and gloves ; another chest, containing choice beauty-
washes, pomatums, I'eau d'Hongi-ie, I'cau de luce, I'eau de carme,
&o. &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-cbambres, &c. &c. &c." Such was the merchandize, whicb,
it, W'ls popularly believed, hindered English ministers from
defending our national honour from the insults of our neigh
bours. Tbe outcry against the influence of Frencb 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, tbat society seemed to be rotten to tbe 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 witb the first rudiments
of fashionable education, of wbich it was considered a necessary
part that young men of family should make the continental
tour witb a tutor before tbey were introduced into society at
home. Tbe3'- were tbus 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 tbis system were generally felt, and man3'-
a moral sermon or bitter satire was written against it, but in
vain. The travelling tutors, who were frequently as immoral as
¦thoir pupils, and encouraged, rather than restrained, them in

LOW STATE OF ENGLISH MANNERS. 251
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 tbe toilette, or at the boudoir of women of
fashion, whose principles were no more delicate than their own,
lisping scandal and galla,ntr3'-, and trifiing witb 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 w-as always ready in tbe fray. The
exaggeration of this spirit of riot and debauchery produced
private associations like tbe "Hell-fire Club," ofthe earlier part
of the reign of George II., and tbe fraternity wbose voluptuous
devotions at Medmenham were so notorious at tbe beginning of
that of George III.
The peculiar frame of society tended to diffuse tbe evil ; for
what was looked upon as tbe bcau-monde then lived much more
in public than now, and men and women of fashion displayed
tbeir weaknesses to the world in public places of amusement and
resort with little shame or delicacy. The women often rivalled
the mon in libertinism, and even emulated tbem 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 tbe town, and not only caused the latter
to take a personal interest m it, but produced numerous imita
tors on an humbler scale among the middle and lower classes,
and thus spread the poison tlirongb every vein. This filled the
literature of the da3' witb so much personal scandal; and hence
arose tbe great success which attended Foote's attempt to drag
¦* A puppet of pasteboai-d, strung together so that by every touch of the
finger it was thrown mto a variety of grotesque attitudes. From 174S
to 1750, it was in high vogue among the Jcaii-moide .as a diverting play
thing for gentlemen and ladies. The pantin was tbe 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 h, la Mode: or, Polite Conversation." Another, published in
Auuust 1749, is advei-tised as "A new emblematic print in high taste,
representing Folly playing with his pantin." I bave not seen these prints,
whicb ajipear to be very rare. This of course was also one of the fashion
able importations from France.

253 EXTRAVAGANCE OF FASHION IN DRESS.
it on the stage. Every man (or woman) who made himself re
markable in fashionable societ3f was a public character, and tho
satire cast upon bim by the writer or by the actor needed no
explanation to make it understood, Tho scandal and disgrace
which were tbus heaped so plentifully on those who provoked
public observation by tbeir extravagance, although long set ft
defiance, must, in the end, have contributed towards changing
tbe 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 bis 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 tbe centur3', tbe 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
witb a pair of panniers. The unsightliness of this costume was
increased by the use of a loose fiowing robe, called a sack.* In
1747 the great objects of scandal in the dress of the ladies were
hoop-petticoats and Frencb pockets, both of which are repre
sented as being very indecorous. Tbe hoop-petticoat and its in
conveniences, were made tbe subject of innumerable caricatures,
many of them iu tbe highest degree indelicate. A print, en
titled " Tbe R'.^view," without
date, but evidently of the latter
part of the reign of George
II. , exhibits the inconvenience
of tbe hoop-petticoat in a va
riety of ways, and suggests
difl'ei-ent 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
tbe decomposing of tbeir hoops,
which necessarily attended
tbeir entrance by tbe door.
MODEEN coKTEivANOEs. 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 tbe 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,
* * * *
M.ike your petticoats sh-n-t, 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
tbe garb of the body to that of tbe head. Hoop-petticoats dis
appeared early in the reign of George IIL, 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 porson,
was made at the same time with tbe introduction of cabriolets,
in 1755. Horace Walpole writes on the 15th of June of tbit
3'ear, " All we bear from France is, that a new madness reigns
tbere, as strong as that of Pantins was. This is la fureur des
cabriolets, Anglice, one-horse chairs, a mode introduced by Mr,
Child:'* tbey not only universally go in them, but wear them;
that is, every thing is to be en cabriolet ; tbe men paint tbem
on tbeir waistcoats, and have them embroidered for clocks to
tbeir stockings; and tbe women, wbo have gone all the winter
without anything on their heads, are now muffled up in great
caps, with round sides, in tbe form of, and scarce less than, tbe
wheels of chaises." The fashion was quickly communicated to
England, where the cabriolet bead-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
takinsr ber chocolate, has arisen from bed.
"Then Ccelia to her toilet goes,
Attended by some fav'rite beaux,
Who fribble it around the room,
And curl her hair and clean tbe comb.
And do a thousand monkey tricks
That you would think disgraced the sex,
a more full account of the dress of this period, the reader is referred to Mr.
Fail-holt's excellent work, "Costume in England," Svo. 1S46. It will only
be necessary to notice on the present occasion soma of its more c-ctravagant
features. * Josiah Child, brother of the Earl of Tilney.

254 THE ELEVATION OF HAIR-DRESSING.
' Nelly I why, where's the creature fled ?
Put n\y post-chaise upon my head.' —
' Your chair-and- chairmen, ma'am, is brought.' —
' Stupid I the creature has no thought ! ' —
• And, m.a'am, the milliner is come.
She's brought the broad-toheel'd-waggon home.
And 'tis the prettiest little thing.
Upon my honour ! ' — ' Bring I bring I bring I
How can you stand and talk about it?
You know I die, I die without it I'
In broad-wheel' d-waggon thus array 'd
By beaux, and milliner, and maid,
Dear Ccelia treads the toilet round.
In her fiir 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 tbe political consistency of tbe da3', the men of one part3f
should wear ivindmiUs, and the others weathercocks.
Witb tbe commencement of tbe reign of George III. hair-
dressing became an intricate and difficult science, and was made
the subject of several elaborate publications. To raise up tho
lofty pile of hair, and fill it out with materials to give it due
elasticity, to arrange the vast curls that fianked it, and to give
grace to the feathers and fiowers witb which it was crowned,
was not within the capacity of every vulgar coiffeur. The in
terior of the mass which rose above tbe bead was filled with
wool, tow, hemp, &c., and the quantity of pomatum, and other
materials used with it, must have produced an eff'ect calculated
to disgust all who were not absolutely mad upon fashion. An
ode to the ladies in 1 768, printed in the " New Foundling Hos
pital for Wit," describes the lover's astonishment at his mis
tress's bead-dress : —
' ' When he views your tresses thin
Tortur'd by some French friseur ;
Horse-hair, hemp, aud wool within,
Garnish'd with a diamond skewer.
" When he scents the mingled steam
Which your plaster'd heads are rich in,
Lard and meal, and clouted cream.
Can he love a walking kitchen ?''
When we consider tbat tbe 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 witb fresh

ENORMOUS HEAD-DRESSES.

2,? 5

odours, to conceal any disagreeable smell whicb might is,^uo from
the interior, we shall readily believe the accounts given by tlio? o
wbo w-rote and preached against tbe ridiculous enormitie-i of
fashion, and who assure us that tbe interior of the ladies' head
dresses was commonly filled witb vermin. In the London Ma
gazine for August, 1768, a correspondent on tbis subject says,
" I went the other morning to make a visit to an elderly aunt of
mine, when I found her pulling off ber cap, and tendering ber
bead to the ingenious Mr. Gilchrist, who has lately obliged the
public with a most excellent essay upon hair. He asked ber
how long it was since her he.id liad been opened or repaired. She
answered, not above nine weeks. To which he replied, that that
ivas as long as a head could well go in sitmmer, 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 tbe head which fol
lows is almost too disgusting
to repeat.
The caricaturists, as migbt
be expected, were busy witb
these monstrous decorations
of tbe head, and they did
tbeir best to improve upon
tbe originals. A print pub
bsbed on tbe 8tb of May,
1777, represents what is de
scribed as " a new-fashioned
bead-dress for young misses
of three-score andteu," which
is a picture not much ex
aggerated of the fashion
> prevalent in tbat year. Two
men are required to place
tbe enormous fabric in situ.
The large nosegay, and the
long waving plumes are
strictly in character.

A HEAD-DEESS 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 beholdet,"

!<.i}6

A FASHIONABLE PARTY.

A HEW OPEEA-GLASS,

The satirists of the day lament over tbe devastation committed
throughout tbe feathered creation in order to -supply this bor
rowed plumage; and represent the unfortunate bipeds of the
wing waiidering about in
unnatural and unprovoked
bareness, wbile tbeir two-
legged rivals in tbe ranks of
humanity were rendering
tbemselves no less ridiculous
in tbus appropriating tbeir
spoils. The immense curls on each
side ofthe bead 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 tbe violent passion
for gaming which characterized this
age, and wbich was attended witb so
many tragical consequences. Two of the
ladies are here quarrelling ; one having
accused tbe otber of bad play, ber anta
gonist is preparing to decide tbe dispute
witb the candlestick. This print, en
titled "Settling the odd trick," was
"published by M, Darley, Feb, 36,
i//a. Caps now came into fashion to cover
the inr.-nense heap of hair; and these
were equally remarkable for their ex
travagance, rising high above the head,
and spreading out at the sides into a
pile of ribands and omaineut. In these,
caricature could hardly improve upon the strange unwieldy form

A DIED OP PiEADISE.

iKTTLIJiJG-TKB

tmcik;.

THE CALASH.

^57

of the originals, and it will be enough to give two or three
specimens of tbe 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 undei-stood to represent tbe cele
brated Mary Anne Robinson (the Perdita of tbe amorous history
ofthe Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV), A card beside
her, inscribed, "Admit Mrs. M— — to the masked ball," shows
tbat she is in full dress ; yet there is nothing extravagant in ber
costume except tbe enormous coiffure and
cap, whicb look as though tbey had been
stolen from some gigantic dame of the
laud of Brobdignag. Another cap, equally
preposterous, and of nearly tbe same .y^ E=«siL,f!:^ - vi \\
date, is represented in our next cut, which Jf ^*^^^^\'?\ |1
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
bead-dresses which now came into vogue ;
for tbe characteristic of fashion seems to
bave become suddenly variety instead of
uniformity, and it was almost impossible to
meet two ladies of high ton tbe outlines of
¦ wbose 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 heels, now low in your pumps ;
Now monstrous in hoop, now trapish, 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, bowever, for a /;^('i!''-S;Si^~.W\
long time in favour. It was i§M^lPm>A\\
called a calash, and is said to
bave been invented in 1765, by
tbe Duchess of Bedford. Tbe
calash was formed like tbe
hood of a carriage, and was
strengthened witb whalebone
hoops', so tbat by means of a
string in front, connected with
tbe hoops, it could either be
mc iJ^'J'Jf , ^ jjjgg CALASH IN OONTEMrLATlOW,

258

THE MACARONI CLUB.

drawn forwards over the face, or it might be thrown backwards
over tbe hair. In the above cut, taken from a print engraved in
1780, tbe calash is thrown back, and tbe string bangs loosely over
tbe 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. Tbis group is taken from a print
published in 1783, and entitled " A Trip to Scarborough." Several
otber ladies, witb equally grotesque head-dresses, though dissimi-
¦/QiCCifv lar, are of the party. Within
-^^^ ¦"'* a few years, bowever, after
tbis 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 tbe more re
stricted number of individuals
wbo indulged in it, followed
close upon the heels of extra
vagance in tbe other sex.
The grand phenomena of the
years 1772 and 1773 were tbe
Macaronis. Men of fashion
in the earlier part of the reign
of George IL bad been com
monly designated by the ap
pellation of beaux ; about the
year 1749 they began to be termed Ji'Mles, a name whicb con
tinued in use during the first years of tbe reign of George III.
Then a number of young men who had made the tour, and had
returned from Italy with all tbe vices and follies tbey bad
picked up there, formed themselves into a club, wbich, from the
dish which peculiarly distinguished tbeir table, was called the
Macaroni Club. The members of this club soon became distin
guished by the title of Macaronis ; it was tbeir pride to carry
to tbe utmost excess every description of dissipation, effeminacy
of manners, and modish novelty of dress. Tbe Macaronis first
inundated tbe town in the year 1772, as just stated, "One
will naturally inquire," says a satirical writer in the Universal
Magazine for tbe April of that year, " whence originated the
prolific family of tbe Macaronis ? who is their sii-e ? To whicb I
answer, tbat tbey may be derived from the Horn unculus of Sterne ;
or it may be said the Macaronis are indeed the offspring of a

LADIES OF PASHION.

THE MACARONIS.

^59

body, but not of an individual. Tbis same body was a many-
beaded 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
tbis 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 ^^
tbe East India Company ; /^
the East India Company
begot Lord Clive ; Lord
Clive begot tbe Blaoa-
ronis ; and tbey 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-bat, by
an enormous walking-
stick, witb long tassels,
and by jacket, waistcoat,
and breeches, of very close
cut. The accompanying
caricature is taken from
the number of tbe Uni
versal Magazine above al
luded to, ,. . i.1 •
The Macaronis soon made an extraordinary noise ; everything
tbat was fashionable was a la Macaroni. Even tbe-clergy bad
tbm wigs combed, their clothes cut, "their debvery refined," a
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 otber species of this
extensive genus. Ladies, wbo carried tbeir bead-dress to the
extreme of tbe mode, set up for female Macaronis. Macaronis
were the most attractive objects in tbe ball, or at the theatre.
Macaroni articles abounded everywhere. There was Macaroni
music, and tbere were Macaroni songs set to it. Tbe most
popular of these latter was the following :—
S 2

A MAOABONI IN 1 772.

26o

THE MACARONIS.

THB MACARONL
" Ye belles aud 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,
Aud 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, 0 ;
Like curs sometimes they'll bite and snap,
And give tbeir whip a smack, 0,
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, 0 ;
Their senses give unto the wind,
To make themselves a fright, 0,
This fashion who does e'er pursue,
I think a simple-tony ;
For he's a fool, say what you will,
Who is a Macaroni."

The fashion of tbe Macaronis was -too
extravagant to last long. Tbeir dress re
ceived some alterations between 1772 and
1773, the most remarkable of wbich were
the elevation of the hair, and the adoption
of immense nosegays in tbe bosom. Wal
pole writes, on the i7tb of February, 1773,
" A winter without politics  even
our Macaronis entertain tbe town witb
nothing but new dresses, and tbe size of
tbeir nosegays. They bave lost all tbeir
money and exhausted their credit, and can
no longer game for twenty thousand
pounds a-nigbt," The accompanying cut
of a Macaroni of tbis period, with bis lofty

A MAOABONI IN 1773.

THE PRESENT AGE. 261
bead-dress and large nosegay, is taken from a print published on
tbe 3rd of July, 1773, and is stated to be " a real character at tbe
late masquerade." Soon after tbis period, men of fashion gave
up the name of Macaroni, and returned to tbeir original title of
beaux. A large print, bearing tbe date 1 767, and entitled "The present
Age," " addressed to the professors of driving, dressing, ogling,
writing, playing, gambling, racing, dancing, duelling, boxing,
swearing, bumming, building, &c." represents the chief subjects of
complaint in the manners of tbe first years of the third George.
In the background are three large, buildings; tbe first of
which has tbe sign, " The academy of the noble art of boxing.
N.B. Mufflers provided for delicate constitutions." Through tbe
window, a nobleman, witb ribbon and star, is seen giving his
personal encouragement to the " noble art," The next building
is a tbeatre, with people of all ranks and professions crowding to
tbe door : on a stage in front Folly is pointing witb bis bauble
to the bill of performance, which is inscribed — " Britannia
bumm'd ; or, tbe Tragedy of the Secret Expedition, a mock
tragedy ; to whicb is added a farce, called the Pregnant Rabbit-
Woman; together witb the adventures of the Bottle Conjuror
and tbe Polish Jew ; as likewise the taking the standard at the
battle of Dettingen," Bebind tbe figure of Folly are seated on
a bench, Elizabeth Canning and the witch, the rabbit-woman,
tbe bottle-conjuror with tbe quart-bottle on bis bead, tbe Polisb
Jew, and an English dragoon witb tbe 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 — tbis is
described as " modern hospitality in the character of old age,
left to take care of furniture, and answer duns, tbat 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 full
of ladies in tbe height of tbe fashion, described as " British
nobility disguised." Tbey are accosted by a foppish personage,
witb cringing politeness, stated to be one "returned from the
polite tour." Near them a Frencb 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
Frencb valet-de-chambre, daring to insult English bravery in
distress, reduced to ask alms in his native country, after having
courageously lost bis limbs in defence of it on board a privateer.

262

THE PRESENT AGE.

and unjustly kept out of bis prize-money." Another fop, look
ing unmoved on tbis scene through an eye-glass, is designated
as "the optical ogle, or polite curiosity," Bebind tbe coach is
seen a hearse, stated to contain " tbe corpse of a blood, wbo
boldly lost bis life in a duel defending the reputation of a pros
titute." In the background two individuals are weighed iu a
scale — " the balance of merit in this happy climate for useless
exotics, a French dancing-master obtains ai'300 per annum, and

a clear benefit, worth nearly ^300 more, while tbe 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 tbe community than ten Italian singers."
On tbe 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 bis
debt of honour." In front appears "a player,"
carried in a chair, and preceded by bis footman ;
while still more prominently "an author"
walks on foot, tbe picture of want and misery.
Literature was not, indeed, the most lucra
tive profession during- the period of which we
,„ ,„  ^„ are speaking; the House of Hanover was never
AS AUTHOB. -"^ ° '

THE WAGES OF LITERATURE. 263
its patron, and the' booksellers were not in general liberal
paymasters. Even Dr. Johnson was reduced at one period to
depend upon what be 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 bow such contributions were
remunerated : —

"Received to T.Iay ly, of Mr. Hamilton for Mid-

£

s.

d.

diesex IJ ournall

I

11

6

tt

ofB. . .

I

2

3

ty

of Fell, for the Consul lad

0

10

6

))

of lUr. Hamilton, for Candidus and

Foreign Journal
0
2
6
jf
of Mr. Fell ....
0
10
6
,,
Middlesex Journal
0
8
6
))
Sir. Hamilton, for 16 songs (!)
0
10
6."
Politics was the only subject tbat found much encouragement ;
and even this brought but tbe hope of future reward from tbe
party wbo were aiming at power, or from those wbo 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," whicb we bave just seen was not much; "as the
patriots themselves are searching for a place, tbey have no gra
tuities to spare. On the other band, 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 wbo know bow
to daub tbem with an appearance of it," The unproportionate
rewards bestowed upon literature and tbe stage, satirised in tbe
print described above, bad become a subject of invidious remarks,
and produced a pamphlet by Ralph, under tbe 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 Autbor," a poem by one of
those who made n^.ost by tbe 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 tbe
young king, caused pensions and places to be bestowed, witb tbe
professed object of encouraging literature and art, but bis choice
bad been made without judgment, and those on whom it fell
only became involved in the popular odium gathered round the
name of tbeir patron. A print, dated in 1762, and acoompani^id
264 BUTE'S PATRONAGE OF LETTERS.
-with doggerel verses, represents the unpopular favourite distri
buting Ids rewards to a metier crew, described as " the hungrj
mob of scribblers and etchers." Bute seems to bave formed the
project of estabbshing a body of poUtical writers in defence of
the court, and of breaking dowu tbat formidable power t>f the
press of which almost every ministry of tbe preceding reign bad
felt tbe effects, though all affected to treat it -with neglect ; but
be contrived to bring to notice principally Jacobites and Scotch
men, two elasses of personages especially unpopular at that time,
and the patron-age bestowed on tbem led to many desperate bte-
rarv quan'els. Among Lord Bute's pensioners of tbe better
class were, Hogarth, Johnson, Smollett, Shebbeare (wbo had
suffered in tbe pillory during tbe preceding year for his virulent
attacks upon the House of Hanover,)* Arthur Murphy (tbe
quondam editor of the Test}, and others.
No single person, entirely unconnected witb state affairs, was
perhaps ever so much caricatured as tbe grand caricaturist,
Hogarth. He had done in picture what Foote practised on the
stage : and bis constant practice of introducing contemporaries
into bis moral satires had procured bim a host of enemies on tbe
town, while his vain egotism, and the scornful tone in which be
spoke of the other artists of tbe age. offended and irritated tbem.
The publication of Hogarth's portrait by himself, witb bis weU-
tnowu dog in the corner, exposed the painter to an attack in the
Scandalizade (written in 1750). v.hicb shews tbat even then he
was not popular in the bter-ary world. To a doubt expressed as
to tbe meaning of the picture, —
" Quoth a sage in the crowd . . . ' Pd have yon to know, sir,
'Tis Hogarth himself, and his friend honest Towser, —
Insep'race companions \ and, therefore, you see
Cheek by jowl they are drawn in familiar d^ree ;
Both sinking the eye with an equal edat.
The biped this here, and the quadruped that.' —
' You mean — the great dog and the man, I suppose;
Or the man and the d(^ — be't just as you chuse,' "
A dispute on tbis point is settled abruptly, —
* It is amusing to hear Smollett (in his History) speak of the sufferings
of "this good man," " for having given vent to the unguarded effusions t.i
mistaken zeal, couched in the language of passion and scurrility." The
"Letters to the People," for one of which Dr. Shebbeare was placed
in the piUorT by the ministers of Geoige II., abound in language like the
following, here applied to King George's foot grenadiers, w^ho bore on the
front of their caps the Hanoverian symbol of the white hoR-?. — "Such
confusion and dread dwelt on ihe dastard faces of aU who, sold to the
- H- — ^n interest, stand branded in the forehead with the vhite horse,
the ignominious mark of slavery."

HOGARTH'S ANALYSIS OF BEAUTY. 265
"Split the diff'rence, my friend, they're both great in their way,
* "• "" they're alike, as it were,
A respectable pair I all spectators allow,
And that they deserve an inscription below
In capital letters, Behold wc arc two J"
The publication of his " Analysis of Beauty," at the end of
1753, became tbe signal for a gener.il attack; and what was
termed his line of beauty, an S-shaped curve, in whicb be seems
to havo fancied tbat tbat quality cbiefl3'- consisted, and which be
bad illustrated b3' two very droll plates, became an object of un
ceasing ridicule. A great number of caricatures were, in conse
quence, launched forth against bim in tbe course of tbe year
1754. In one, entitled " A new Dunciad — done witb a view of
[fixing] the fluctuating ideas of taste," tho painter is represented
witb a stupid, vacant face, playing witb a pantin, witb a fool's
cap on tbe ground, adorned witb tbe line of beauty in front : a
black harlequin standing behind bim. In another be is repre
sented as the mountebank painter, demonstrating to his admirers
and subscribers tbat crookedness is the test of beauty : tbe
bump-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 band, he is painting wild subjects on tbe wall,
allusion to tbe title of his book, represents
the unfortunate "analyst" iu great con
sternation and distress, resting his book
upon his celebrated line of beauty, while
in tbe distance copies of it are being
thrown into the caves of Dulness and
Oblivion, In a larger and more finished
print, Hogarth is represented iu the act
of undermining tbe sacred monument of
all tbe best painters, sculptors, &c., iu
imitation of tbe Greciau Herostratus,
who is seen in tbe distance setting fire
to tbe Temple of Diana, to gratify his
morbid desue of fame. A portly in
dividual is lighting Hogai-th at bis
envious work, perhaps intended to ^j, dnfoetcnate analyst.
represent Dr. Morell, wbo assisted him
iu passing his work through the press. Otber caricatures
represented bim iu his studio, painting after coai-se and ugly
models, bui-lesqued bis attempts at historical painting (sucb as

Another, in

266 A PAINTER IN DISTRESS.
the picture of Paul before Felix), or parodied some of bis 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 IN DISTEESS,

mingled din produced from the various vocal organs of woman
and child, goose and donkey, cow and pig. Underneath we read
tbe lines : — " Patrons of worth, encouragers of arts,
Lo ! from his seat the son 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 !"
In 1758 Hogarth was exposed to a new onslaught of carica
tures. In tbe previous year tbe question of founding an
academy for tbe fine arts had been agitated (a plan whicli 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 bis face violently against it, and again
provoked tbe imputation of enviously keeping back artists in
general, in tbe fear that they might in the end intrench upon
bis own fame. One or two new caricatures against bim appeared
in consequence, in which he is represented as tbe patron of
coarseness and ugliness, surrounded with models in which those
qualities are set out in tbe most forbidding forms. In one of

HOGARTH 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, bis pug's legs rest
ing on three volumes, tbe
lowest of wbich is his own
" Analysis of Beauty." His
fat encourager (Dr. Morell ?)
is directing bis attention to
his model Graces, three
naked females, wbose forms
exhibit e very-thing that is
coarse and revolting. Near
bim lies an open book, on
one page of wbich is the
title, " Reasons against a
Public Academy, 1758," and
on tbe other tbe words " No
Salary," Above, among the
models of various kinds, flies
a head in tbe fashionable
coiffure of tbe day, with the
line of beauty in its mouth, described as " a modern cherubim."
Another of the painter's patrons leans in admiration against bis
chair, holding in bis hand the book in which the line of beauty
is set forth. Among tbe different grotesque articles scattered
about tbe room are several described as " A Diana's crescent ;
B. A multiplying glass ; 76. A gammon of bacon ; 14. Rays of
fight ; 4. Beauty stays (a pair of stays, to give elegance to tbe
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 contentetl 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 namOt
Deformity herself his figures place,
She spreads an ugliness on every face.
He then admires their elegance and gi-ace.
Dunce connoisseurs extol the author Pug,
The senseless, tasteless, impudent hum-bug.''
From tbe introduction of the jack-boot into tbe print just
described, we may presume tbat Hogarth already enjoyed, or

PAINTEE PUO.

268 HOGARTH AND WILKES.
was believed to enjoy, tbe patronage of Lord Bute, before tbe
death of George II. Tbe slight shown to bis talents by tbat
monarch was enough to procure him favour in the household of
his grandson. Soon after the accession of the latter to the
throne, when tbe chief power bad been lodged in Bute's bands,
Hogarth was appointed to tbe office of Serjeant painter to all bis
Majesty's works, whicb his enemies jeeriugly interpreted as chief
" pannel-painter ;" and tbis mode of distinguishing talent and bis
historical painting of Sigismunda, executed about the same
period, were subsequently made tbe ground of no little ridicule.
The picture was parodied in a vulgar print entitled, "A harlot
blubbering over a bullock's heart; by "VVilliam Hogarth."
In an unlucky hour, Hogarth's zeal in the cause of bis patron,
or, as others said, the desire of obtaining an increase in his pen
sion, led him into the arena of politics, from whicb he had
hitherto kept tolerably clear, and be entered the field against bis
old friends, Wilkes and Churchill. In the September of 1762
appeared tbe political print of " Tbe Times," whicb was labelled
" No. I.," as though intended only to be tbe first of a series. It
was an attack upon the ex-minister, Pitt. Europe was repre
sented in a conflagration, and the fiames were already communi
cating to Great Britain. Pitt was blowing the fire, whicb Lord
Bute, with a party of soldiers and sailors, assisted by High
landers, was endeavouring to extinguish ; but he was impeded in
bis design by the Duke of Newcastle, who brought a barrow-full
of Monitors and North Britons to feed tbe fiames. Wilkes bad
received information of the intended caricature before its
publication, had expostulated in vain witb Hogarth, and had
threatened retaliation ; the Saturday after tbe appearance of
" Tbe Times," Wilkes fulfilled his threat in tbe seventeenth
number of tbe North Briton, an attack upon Hogarth, written
with so much bitterness, and striking not only at his professional
but at bis domestic character, that be appears never to bave
recovered it. A coarse woodcut portrait of Hogarth headed
this paper, tbe 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 brougbt thither from tbe Tower,
and, in Wilkes' own words, " skulked behind the counter in
the Court of Common Pleas;" he thence sketched a caricatured
portrait of tbe pretended " patriot," in which bis ill-favoured
features are made ten times more demoniacal tban the ori-

HOGARTH AND CHURCHILL.

269

A BATEIOT.

ginal. The publication of this portrait drew another combatant
into tbe 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 tbe
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, witb a
pot of porter in one hand, and a
knotty club in tbe 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.
Otber emblems are scattered
about ; and in a second edition be
added on a label a group repre
senting himself as a bear-master
forcing the bear, Churchill,
and the monkey, Wilkes, to
dance, under tbe infliction of a
severe castigation. The mon
key holds a North Briton in bis
band. The picture was en-
titied, "Tbe Bruiser, C. Churchill, (once tbe Rev,,)
character of a Russian Hercules, regaling himself after
killed the monster Caricatura, that so severely galled bis virtuous
friend, the heaven-born Wilkes."
This quarrel drew upon Hogarth another flood of caricatures,
which held bim up now as the pensioned dauber of tbe
unpopular Lord Bute, and the calumniator of the friends of
liberty. In one, entitled " The Butyfier, a touch upon tbe
Times," Hogarth is represented on a large platform, daubing an
immense boot, (the constant emblem of the obnoxious minister,)
while in bis . awkwardness be bespatters Pitt and Temple, wbo
happen to be below. It is a parody on Hogarth's own satire on
Pope. Beneath tbe scaffold is a tub full of Auditors,
Monitors, &c. labelled " Tbe Charm : Butifying^Wash." A print

A BBAR-MASTEE.

in the
havinff

270

CARICATURE ON HOGARTH.

entitled " Tbe Bruiser Triumphant," represents Hogarth as an
ass, painting the Bruiser, while Wilkes comes behind, and
places horns on his bead — an allusion to some scandalous inti
mations in tbe 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, witb the unfor
tunate picture of Sigismunda in the distance. Another " Tit
for Tat," "Inv*etdel. by G. O'Garth, according to act or
order is not material," represents tbe painter, partly clad in
Scotch garb, with tbe 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 tbe other sign, and efface its
beauty, 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 smutobpot to sully
tbe best and most exalted cha
racters." In another print,
" Pug the snarling cur" is being
se-verely chastised by Wilkes
and Churchill. In another, he
is baited by the bear and a
dog ; and in the background is
a large panel, witb the inscrip
tion, " Panel painting." In one
print Hogarth is represented
going for bis pension of ^300
a-year, and carrying as bis
vouchers tbe prints of " The Times," and Wilkes. " I can paint
an angel black and tbe devil white, just as it suits me." " An
Answer to tbe print of John Wilkes, Esq." represents Hogarth
with bis colour-pot, inscribed " Colour to blacken fair cha
racters ;" he is treading on the cap of liberty witb bis cloven
foot, and an inscription says, " ,^300 per annum for distorting
features." Several other prints, equally bitter against bim,
besides a number of caricatures against tbe Government, under
tbe 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 tbe persecution
to which be bad exposed himself. He left an engraving of

THE BEAUTIEIEE.

BMOLLETT AND THE " BRITON r 271
" The Times, Plate II.," in which Wilkes was represented on
the pillory by tbe hide of " ^Mivi Fanny," but it was not given
to the world till many years after his death. He was soon
foll<jwcd by his adversary, Churchill, who died at Calais on the
4th of November, 1764, in consequfjnce of a sudden attack of
f-.v<.-r.* Among the writers wbom Lord Bute, on bis appointment to
the head of th-s rnini.^try, exi\\A<)\-'A in his Qui.votic crusade
again»-t the opposition jire^s, wa.s Doctor Smoll-.-tt, wbo was not
only a -S .-otchman, but whose principles leaned strongly towards
Jacobitism. Smollett had no regular pension ; but he wa.s paid
to write the Briton, a violent weekly paper, the object of which
was to abu.se Pitt, and all the piopular party. It was tbis inju
dicious government paper which provoked tbe publication, by
Wilkes and Churchill, of the North Briton, which has attained
to so much celebrity in the hi.story of the earlier year.s of
tbis reign. Churchill detested Smolh-tt both as the Critical
Reviewer and as the author of tli<,- Briton, and speaks of him witb
bitt'-rness in several pa-;.=ag(;s in bis poems. After the appear
ance of the North Briton, Bute fcet up another rather scurri
lous paper in support of his Briton, which was named the
Auditor, and wbich was written or edited by Arthur 31urphy,
an author of small merit and chiefly known a.s a translator and
adapter of plays from the Frencb to the English stage. The
first number of the Briton appeared on the 29th of May,
1762 ; the North Briton came out on the 5th of .June ; and the
first number of the Auditor followed it on tbe loth of .June.
A shoal of popular papers, bitterly attacking Bute and bis
" bireling.s," was roused by tbis new Government organ, and
literature was suddenly drawn into the troubled arena of
polities far more fiercely than had ever been the ease before.
The " pensioners," as they were termed, were held up to public
Bcorn in every possible shape. Smollett especially, tbe 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 bis gold pills, Smollett acts the part of the mounte-
* Dr. Johnson persisted in looking upon Churchill's poetry with un
merited contempt. It iii too temporary in ita allusions to be generally
interesting to the pregent age ; but Mr. Tooke, in his recent edition (3
vols. Pickering, 1844), has done much to make it popular among modem
readers.

272

THE MOUNTEBANK.

bank to call attention to tbem. Tbey are on a stage, addressing
a multitude of people. The following speech is put into tbe
mouth of Smollett, wbo holds under his arm a roll which
is inscribed as the Briton, while tbe North Briton lies under bis

THE 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,
whicb conducted me to aw tbe 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 tbe gowden lozenges, a never-failing
remedy, that gives present ease famous througbout 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 bauld up your heads, and turn out muckle men."
The quack-doctor, Bute, adds, " Awa wi' 3'e to tbe deel, ye
southern loons ; but aw ye bonny lads fra -the north o' Tweed,
mak baste and come to me, I am now in a capacity to gie ye aw
rebef, I ken fu' weel your distemper, — I donna mean tbat so
peculiar to our country, occasion'd by tbe immoderate use
of oatmeal. But it is tbe gowden itch wi' which ye are
troubled (and, in truth, most folk are,) tbat I learnt tbe art to
cure. I mysel was ne'er fra' this muckle itch while I liv'd in
tbe North, but having a geud staff to depend upon, I resolved
to travel into tbe Soutb to seek a cure." A female figure looks

DR. JOHNSON AND WILKES. 273
from behind the curtain, intended to represent tbe Princess-
Dowager of Wales (who was popularly called the witch).
Neither tbe Briton nor the Auditor endured many months;
for it was soon found that they answered ill the purpose foi
wbich they bad been started. But tbeir authors, and tbe other
pensioners of Lord Bute, continued to serve against the popular
cause witb political pamphlets, and by other means. Dr. John
son continued long silent, and bis pension seemed onl3'- to
have rendered him mute. Churchill, who hated Johnson, and
ranked him among the " vile pensioners of state," makes the
distinction between those wbo were paid to write, and those wbo
only abstained for tbeir 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 bad, in fact, given an unfortunate definition of tbe
word pensioner in his dictionary, compiled when be received
nothing from government, which laid bim open to tbe sneers of
tbe popular party ; but it was not till 1770 tbat the doctor
ventured openly to enter the field of politics by an attack on
Wilkes in a pamphlet entitled " Tbe False Alarm." It is pro
bably to that period that we must ascribe a caricature repre-

A PATEIOT WOEEIED.

seuting the "patriot" Wilkes, worried by two dogs, one of
which (that to the left) bears the features of tbe lexicographer,
and tbe otber, those of some other writer of tbe court-party, of

274

THE LITERARY OWL.

tbe identity of wbom we are less certain. Dr. Johnson, the
general decrier of talent in others, was by no means a favourite
araono- the writers on the popular side in the great political war
fare of tbe last century, and he was made tbe subject of a
variety of caricatures, most of
tbem published at a later period
than tbat of which we are now
speaking. One of these, pub
lished on the loth of March,
1782, on tbe occasion of the
prejudiced character of some of
bis lives of the English poets,
represents tbe doctor, in tho
shape of an owl, standing upon
tbe " Lives of tbe Poets " and
the Dictionary, and leering at
Milton, Pope, &c., wbo are sur
rounded witb starry rays. It
is entitled, " Old 'Wisdom
^N '^^^- blinking at the stars."
Johnson himself partook violently in those strong political pre
judices which were the bane of literature at the commencement
of tbe reign of George III., and wbich 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 tbe effects of tbis political barbarism bad died witb
tbe age which produced it. But it is too certain that literature,
in tbis country, neglected by the first two monarchs of the
bouse 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 tbis period of political strife was the unfortunate,
though talented Chatterton. Genius was, in tbis instance, as in
so many others, drowned in tbe 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 bis contemporaries in tbe profession be
bad chosen, reduced to hopeless poverty, and be escaped from it
by a crime which was then fearfully common among all classes
of society, and which had closed tbe career of several otber
votaries of tbe Muse — suicide.

275

CHAPTER VIII.
GEORGE IIL
Accession of George III, — ^Breaking up of the Pitt Ministry — Rise of Lord
Bute, and Inundation of Scotchmen— The Peace — Bute's Resignation —
"Wilkes and Liberty ;" the Mob— Tbe North Briton, and the " Essay
on Woman" — Attempt to T.ix the Americans — The Rockingham Minis
try — ^Pitt's Re-appeai-ance, 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.
THE political heroes of the first ten 3'-ears of the reign of
George III. were William Pitt, Lord Bute, and John Wilkes.
It was a period at which faction raged with extraordinary
violence ; and wbich carried off from the scene nearly all tbe
great political intriguers that remained of those who figured in
the events contained in tbe former part of tbe present volume.
When George III. ascended the throne, be bad entered bis
twenty-third 3'ear ; bis education bad been notoriously neglected,
and, froiu tbe character of bis instructors, it was generally be
lieved tbat they had instilled into him very exalted notions of
tbe prerogatives of tbe crown, if they had not taught bim to
aspire to arbitrary power. Everybody knew the pains which
had been taken to keep bim under tbe influence of bis mother ;
and the close connexion between ber and Lord Bute, which
bad been made a subject of scandal alternately by all parties,
led most people to look forward witb apprehensions to a reign
of favouritism, apprehensions whicb were not calmed by the
good promises under whiob it opened.
John Stuart, Earl of Bute, was originally a poor Scotch
nobleman, by disposition proud and ambitious, but not remark
able for bis talents. He first attracted the notice of Frederick
Prince of Wales at a private dramatic entertainment, given by
tbe Duchess of Queensbury, where he performed tbe part of
Lothario in " The Pair Penitent." Frederick invited him to
Leicester House, and took him into favour ; and after tbe Prince's
death, he became the still more special favourite of tbe Princess-
Dowager, who made bim ber groom of tbe stole, and be was the
chief actor in all the Leicester House intrigues, We bave no
T 2

276 THE EARL OF BUTE.
reason to doubt tbat, from the moment George III. ascended
tbe throne, Lord Bute's ambition led bim to grasp at the chief
power, but be began cautiously, and bis 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
banded down to us a bon-mot of a lady observer, wbo said at
tbe beginning of December 1760, that the great question was
whether the King would burn in his chamber Scotch-coeX, Neiv-
casife-coal, or Pitt-eosX ; and be adds tbat " a bon-mot very
often paints truly the history or manners of the times." At
tbe beginning of January people were already complaining of
tbe 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 : ber mistress [tbe princess]
reproving Miss Cbudleigb [one of the maids of honour, after
wards Duchess of Kingston] for ber train of life ; she i-|eplies,
'Madame, chacun a son But !' " Within a few days aft^r this
date, Legge was suddenly dismissed from the Chancellorship of
tbe Exchequer, and Lord Holderness was ordered to give/ up the
Seals, which tbe King immediately delivered to Lord Bi'ite. All
tbis 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
witb none of tbe usual excitement. But when the new parlia
ment bad been ensured, the favourite proceeded towards bis
object more boldly and openly.
Many circumstances connected witb tbe resignation of Pitt
at the beginning of this reign, bore a close resemblance to those
of the fall of tbe Whigs under Queen Anne. In each case, the
ministry had become popular by a long and glorious war, whicb
their successors closed by a hasty and not very advantageous
peace ; and in both, the revolution was brought about by the
insidious infiuence of favouritism. ' In the latter case, as well
as in the former, we shall see that an attempt was made to
infiuence the mob ; but tbe circumstances of the times had
changed, and rendered the latter part of the project less practi
cable. In both cases, too, tbe court infiuence in tbe House of
Lords was strengthened by a numerous creation of new peers.
France, reduced almost to despair by tbe successive losses of ber
colonies, which were but slightly balanced by what she had

RESIGNATION OF PITT. 277
gained in Germany, and impoverished by her exertions in the
war, began to talk of peace with England immediately after tbe
accession of tbe new King, and tbe Frencb ministers soon opened
negotiations, and evidently thought that they migbt obtain it
on easy terms from Bute. But Pitt haughtily and obstinately
demanded greater concessions to the glory of England than they
seemed wiUing to make. His opponents immediately set up the
cry, tbat be advocated war merely because bis own position as
minister depended upon it. It was soon, bowever, found tbat
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 tbe two countries was signed on tbe i5tb of August, 1761,
and ratified on tbe 8tb of September, and Pitt, aware of tbis
circumstance, and informed of tbe great preparations carried on
in Spain, proposed a bold and decisive line of conduct for tbis
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 iu council,
whicb preferred temporizing, and when he declared that he
could not remain in office and be responsible for measures wbich
were not bis own, he found that bis power in the ministry was
gone, and on the 6tb of October be delivered up bis seal of
office. Tbe King off'ered him, through Lord Bute, any rewards
in the power of the crown to bestow, and be accepted a pension
of ^3000. a 3'ear, witb a peerage for his wife, who was created
Baroness of Chatham. Pitt was followed iu bis resignation by
bis friend and brother-in-law, Lord Temple.
Although tbe resignation of Mr. Pitt spread alarm among a
large portion of tbat class wbich we are in tbe habit of calling
thinking people, the popular excitement occasioned by it was
much less tban migbt 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 tbe popular
newspapers were far from violent, although tbey 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, wbich was
looked upon by superstitious people as a sinister omen ; and now
tbere were many wbo saw its fulfilment.

278 CORINNA VINDICATED.
" 'Vfhen first, portentous, it was known,
Great George had jostled from his crown
The brightest diamond there ;
The omen-mongers, one and all,
Foretold some mischief must befall,
Some loss beyond compare.
" 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 I who thought of Pitt ?"
Another similar effusion, whicb was afterwards reprinted in
tbe "New Foundling Hospital for Wit," made the following
recapitulation of the various ministers wbo had held rule under
the House of Hanover ; Walpole, tbe Pelhams, Newcastle or, as
it was more generally considered, Fox and Pitt : —
"CORINNA VINDICATED.
" CoEiNNA, Virtue's child, and chaste
As vestal maid of yore.
Nor sought the nuptial rites in haste.
Nor yet those rites foi swore.
" 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 I ken
Him playing fast and loose.
Cease, Fox, the prey will ne'er be thine,
Corinna's not a goose.
" See last tbe man by heaven design'd
To make Corinna bless'd ;
To every virtuous act inclined,
Ai\ patriot in his breast.
" He woo'd the fair with manly sen.se.
And, flattery apart,

ATTACKS ON PITT. 279
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 tbe court-party which now blew tbe spark of faction
into a new blaze. No sooner bad Pitt quitted his office, than
be 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 bis ambitious projects, and
now obliged to retire from public ob
servation to conceal bis chagrin. They
spoke of bim as tbe general incen-
di.ary, tbe demon of war, who cared
not bow he burdened or embroiled bis i
country, while be gratified bis love
of slaughter and confusion, Tbey
blazoned forth his venalit3'-, and ex
patiated continually on bis pension the distebssed statesman,
and his wife's peerage. They talked
of bis factiousness, and of bis intended measures of opposition.
In one of the caricatures, entitled " Gulliver's Flight, or tbe

gulliveb's elight.
Man-mountain," tbe " Great Commoner," as he was popularly

28o STATE OF EUROPE. ¦
termed, is represented fiying away from St. Stephen's upon his
own bubbles, amid tbe acclamations of the multitude below.
The large bubble on whicb be is seated, is inscribed with the
words, " Pride, Conceit, Patriotism, Popularity." Tbe 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 tbat pre
ceded his resignation. And the one just issuing from tbe 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
paper-; began to take a bolder tone ; portraits of Pitt, and
pictures that glorified bim, bad a ready sale ; and tbe carica
tures upon Bute and bis Scotchmen became more numerous and
more violent. In one of tbe 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 bave trodden faction under foot ; and
party, wbich had for some years been a mere distinction of ins
and outs, appeared to be almost extinguished. It was now that
tbe name of Tories, whicb had always been considered as iden
tical with Jacobites, and v\'hicb bad scarcel3'- 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 tbe rest of bis
reign, violently and obstinately witb those wbo, modified con
siderably from the old Jacobites, were henceforward denominated
Tories. Tbe wisdom and foresight of William Pitt was as quickly
demonstrated by tbe 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 tbis period
of the year ; and then, at tbe end of December, it was obliged,
under disadvantages, to make tbe declaration of war which Pitt
would have made under every advantage at tbe beginning of
October. The manifesto of tbe King of Spain, was a personal
attack upon Pitt, and did not fail to raise him in the estimation
of his countrymen ; tbe English government was obliged to

STATE OF EUROPE. 281
tread in tbe very steps which he bad been obliged to resign for
indicating ; yet the ex-minister was still abused for his warlike
propensities. Tbe 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 tbe potentates, a.d. 1761." The dis
tant part of the print represents tbe island of Corsica, and the
b6mbardment 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 tbe Corsicans, wbo were
struggling under their brave general Paoli against the French.
In tbe 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 bis neck, charging bim 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 tbe 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 tbe joke's sake." Tbe
British Lion treats tbe Gallic Cock witb contempt, and bebind
stands a quadruple alliance of tbe 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 tbem not, but dread their power." France
entreats, " Dear brother, assist me now, or I am lost for over !"
Satan consoles them all, by promising them a retreat in bis
dominions. In " Tbe present state of Europe ; a political farce in four
acts, part four; published at tbe commencement of 1762, tbe
designs of the King of Spain appear to be still doubted. The
monarchs of Europe are playing at dice. King George and tbe
King of Prussia sit in close alHance 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 bis bead. 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 tbe table sit
tbe Kings of France and Spain ; tbe former urges his brother
monarch to risk a bold stroke for Gibraltar, in order to ensure

DUTCH POLICY.

282 ' BUTE PRIME MINISTER.
to himself Hanover at tbe end of the contest, but tbe wily King
of Spain is made to reply, " Most Christian Brother, I will re
cover Gibraltar establish my rigbt to the flshery, 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
Minbeer Trickall, a Dutch politi
cian, witb his pockets full of ducats
and louis-d'or " (to show his cun
ning and tbe profit be was making
out the war), is represented pick
ing tbe King of Spain's pocket of
a bag of " dollars," witb the re
flection, " Let them play on, mine
is the sure game — Minbeer shall
win from all witbout hazard."
.Behind him appears the Genoese,
reduced to distress by his exertions
for tbe assistance of France ; and
at tbe extreme left, tbe devil is
peeping in, and exulting over the scene thus laid open to bis
view. The King's first speech to parliament had, indeed, expressed
tbe 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 tbat they bad been
deserted by tbe Tory ministry of Queen Anne. Some of tbe old
ministry were, bowever, opposed to tbis dishonourable conduct ;
and at length, on tbe 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 bis office, upon which, the same day, Lord Bute
was made first Lord of the Treasury. This was a change which
bad 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 tbe other
Secretary of State ; and Lord Bute's creature, tbe dissipated
and incapable Sir Francis Dashwood, Chancellor of tbe
Exchequer,

SCUBBILITY OF THE POLITICAL PAPERS. 283
The popular attacks upon tbe favourite, through tbe instru
mentality of tbe press, bad been gradually increasing in number
and violence, before be made himself Prime-minister. The
complaints against the patronage of Scotchmen were especiall3-
loud. As early as the 12th of January, 1761, tbe 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 bad become
Prime-minister, tbe number of caricatures increased amazingly,
and tbe mere titles of tbe politioal 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 b3r tbeir gross indecency.* Yet
they answered their purpose in inflaming tbe passions of tbe
mob. Walpole writes on the 20th 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 otber swarms of insects, sting."
Bute's attempt to combat tbe opposition of the press with its
own weapons only added fuel to tbe fire. Tbe Monitor, the
warm advocate of Pitt and bis measures, contained on the 22nd
of May (two days before Newcastle's resignation) a bitter
article on royal favourites. Bute established the. Briton, the
first number of wbich 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 witb quite as much
scurrility as distinguished tbe government organs, and wbich
eventually contributed not a little towards overthrowing tbe
Bute administration.
Bute seemed intoxicated witb bis power, and, paying little
attention to the popular complaints, he set no bounds to bis
injudicious patronage of his countrymen, heaping preferment on
his brother, James Mackensie, to whom be gave, in 1763, 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 Gentle
man's 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."

284

PATRONAGE OF SCOTCHMEN.

machine from Edinburgh in one day, performed by Moggy
Mackensie at tbe Thistle and Crown." A northern witch is

A JOURNEY FEOM THE NOETH.
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 tbe high roads from the north,
crowded with ragged Scots wbo were deserting tbeir bleak and
barren mountains for the milder climes of the soutb ; while
in others ship-loads sought the land of promise by sea. Even
the post from tbe 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.

££ r

THE JACK-BOOT. 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 bis
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 merciles?l3r 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 comiiared witb Mortimer, tbe favourite of Queen Isabel,
and a celebrated mock dedication to him by Wilkes, of a new
edition of the tragedy of Mortimer, expresses tbe wish that he
might share tbat wicked favourite's fate. Others parodied a
scene in Hamlet, and represented our " thane" instilling poison
into tbe royal ear, in order tbat be migbt rule in his stead. In
one caricature, en-titled " The royal dupe," the Princess of Wales
is seated on a sofa, lulling tbe young king to sleep in her lap,
wbile Lord Bute is stealing bis sceptre, and Fox is represented
picking tbe king's pocket. Two pictures on the wall of the
apartment represent tbe garden-scene in Hamlet and the Fall of
Mortimer. Pitt's old rival, Henry Fox, was tbe minister wbo enjoyed
chiefly tbe confidence of tbe favourite, and who promoted his
measures witb the greatest zeal, and, as might be expected,
shared largely in bis unpopularity. His name became as closely
identified with tbe Bute administration as it had formerly been
with that of the Duke of Newcastle. This statesman seems to
bave been equally remarkable for tbe looseness of his private
morals, and the dishonesty of bis 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 bis defal
cations, and stigmatized bim as " the public defaulter of unac
counted millions," an expression whiob was long attached to
bis memory. In one of tbe caricatures which appeared before
Newcastle's resignation, entitled " The State Nursery," where
tbe Bute ministry are occupied in children's games. Fox, as tbe
whipper-in of tbe 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 muckle 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 tbey bad been driven from
ostensible power, tbey were popularly
believed to share in secret infiuence. In
another caricature, entitled "The ever-
memorable Peace-Makers settling their
accounts," Fox and Bute are joined in a
trio witb tbe king. The book in whicb
Fox is writing bears the inscription,
" Unaccounted Millions ;" and the rolls
before the King are entitled " West In
dies," '^ North America," "Manillas,"
&o. 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 bave been to gain
popularity for the favourite by making
bim the autbor of peace ;* and as soon
as be bad been raised to tbe nominal
bead of the ministry, he began to' make
indirect advances for the renewal of the
negotiations. The condition in which
Pitt had left the national forces, and the energy which be bad
impressed on all tbeir operations, continued to produce their

THE EOX ELEVATED.

THB PEACE-MAKEE3.

* 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. 2S7
effect, and the war witb Spain was, on our part, a series of
brilliant successes, which mil:- us master 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 an 3- terms. Bute had be^un bis administration,
at least not very honourably, by deserting t'ne King of Prussia
and our Gerc.an allies, and tbey were now left out of the treatv,
t-3 make terms for theroielves. Xo doubt Ec-Tland might have
exacted much more advantageous terms ; for she srave up a large
portion of her conquests ; but she retained all Canada, with Cape
Breton, (which bad been S3 o:ten a bone of contention.) and
otber possessions, which revilcr-r-i t'ae British empire in North-irn
America compact and safe.
"Whatever mig'at bave been tbe general wish f jr a peace, tbe
popular feeiir.s in England was not in favour of a j>:a-:-e to be
made by L:rd Bute, and it was ea.~y to raise an outcry against
tlie extent of tbe concessi jns made to our enemies. As soon as
the negotiations were formally opened, in the month of Sept-imber,
1762, caricatures, and ballads, and pamphl-.t.s, fle v about iu
rapid s'-ic-crssion. In one of the former, entitle-i " The Con^iess ;
or, a device to lower tbe Land Tax, to the tune of Doodle,
doodle, do," advertised on the i;,th of S.?ptember, IJ62. the
favourite is represented treating with the Frenchman, and eivi: g
up Guadaloupe, 3Iartinico, &c., while he retains merely " barren
Caiiada," and "part of Newfoundland." A Sc--t:-hman carries
the standard of the boot aud petticoat. B-^ite is made to say,
"Tak aw again, M-jnseir, and gie us back what ye please;" to
wbich tbe Frenchman replies, "' Der is Canada and N. F. Lar.d ;
now tank de grande monarch for bis rojale bour.tee." The
British lion is held down by a chain, with the Auditor and
Briton weishiug heavy upon his neck ; and on the other side of
the picture is a tombstone, with the inscription, " English glory.
Obbt 1 762 ." The foUowiug song is attached to this caricature ;— '
" Here you may see the happy congress.
All DOW is done with such a hon-grace.
No English wigat can sqibIj grumble.
Or C.-V-, our treaty-makers fumble.
Doodle, d-joile, do, &c,
" Who would not for a, peace like this,
Re[ 1-rte with every kind of bliss.
Give all our conquests, all onr gain-a,
And glory in the Highland Thane-a ?
Doodle, i:o.
" Our manners now we all will change-a,
Talk Erse and get the Scottish mange-a.

288 "THE TIMES."
An oatmeal haggise w-e will feed-a,
And Smithfield beasts no more shall bleed-a.
Doodle, &c.
"A tartan plaid each chield shall wear-a ;
With bonnets blue we'll deck c-ar hair-a ;
And make an act that no one may put
A felt or beaver on his caput. Doodle, &o.
"Then strut with Caledonian pride ;
Shakspeare and Milton fling aside ;
On bagpipes play, and learn to sing all
Th' achievements of the mighty Fingal,*
Doodle, &c.
"In gratitude all this we owe-a.
For saving us from beaten foe-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
entitled " The Caledonian Pacification; or, All's well that ends
well." Bute is here seated by a muzzled lion, on an elevation ;
be holds the sceptre, and proclaims, " Be this our r — I [royal]
will aud 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 pubfic
incendiaries. This print, as we have already seen, only served
to increase and embitter tbe attacks on the government.
Immediately after its publication, appeared a large print, entitled
" The Raree Show, a political contrast to tbe print of The Times
b3' William Hogarth," in which the Scots are seen on one side
dancing and rejoicing at tbe fire which is consuming John Bull's
house. The centre of tbe picture is occupied by a great acting-
b.arn, from the upper window of which Fox sbews his cunning
head, and points to the sign representing Dido and iEneas going
into the cave, and announcing that the pla3' 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 otber, beating a drum, entitled " The
* Macpherson's "O.ssian" had been published in this year, 1762, and was
now exciting generivS 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 tbe mercenary
Dutchman, receiv
ing the wages of bis
interested neutrality
from " mounsieur."
It appears that
even tbe members
of the cabinet were
notunanimous in ap
proval of the peace ;
at least some of tbem ¦=:
were unwilling to
compromise tbem
selves by signing it. neutealitt.
This led to some
changes in tbe ministry, tbe most important of whicb was
tbe resignation of tbe Duke of Devonshire at the beginning of
November ; upon which tbe king in council ordered the duke's
name to be struck out of tbe 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 tbe Marquis of Rockingham andTibe
duke's relatives. Lord George Cavendisb, and Lord Besborough.
The Duke of Cumberland, wbo bad received some slights, also
joined tbe opposition, wbich tended to increase its popularity.
At the end of November, when the parliament met, Lord Bute
could not pass the streets witbout being hissed and pelted by
tbe mob, and a strong guard was necessary to secure bis person
from still greater violence.
Parliament met on tbe 25tb of November, and tbe prelimii
naries of tbe treaty were laid before both houses. Pitt, who was
suffering from bis gout, came to tbe House of Commons, wrapped
up in flannels, to attack tbe peace, and tbe debate tbere was very
animated, but the ministers found themselves secure of a large
majority. In tbe Lords, Bute gloried in bis own work, and de
clared that he wished for no other epitaph to be inscribed on bis
tomb than tbat he was the adviser of tbis peace. Tbe 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?
When will domestic quarrels cease ?
Ne'er till that wished-for epitaph we read,
'Here lies the man that made the peace,' "
U

290 THE PEACE OF FONTAINEBLEAU.
The moment Bute felt assured of bis majorities in parliament,
he shewed bis resentment against bis opponents by tyrannically
ejecting from tbeir ofiices, even to the lowest, every person wbo
bad received an appointment from tbe Duke of Newcastle and
other leaders of tbe opposition when in office.
Between one hesitation and another, tbe peace was not con
cluded until tbe 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 tbere was a new cry against
the importation of Frencb 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 tbe hero's sword
Unprofitably purchased, idly thrown
Into ber lap, and made once more her own ;
France bath 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 wbo would address, and tbey met everywhere witb
discomfiture. An address was very reluctantly wrung from tbe
city of London, and was carried to St, James's on tbe 12th of
Ma3', 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, wbich hissed and hooted
during tbe whole route ; as it passed along Fleet Street tbe
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, tbey became
still more uproarious, and tbe wbole 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," pubhshed shortly after tbis event, speaks
of processions wbich 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 knights of Bay the, or the One.
headed Corporation."

THE TAX UPON BEER. 291
Suob 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 places
^^ hjit my lord figured at a race."
Caricature prints of the procession for tbe proclamation of the
peace were circulated under the title of " Tbe Proclamation of
Proclamations,' in wbich the proclaimer was repre.sented with a
large boot on one leg, and riding upon a donkey (the latter being
tbe mob emblem of the young king.) Beneatb were the dog
gerel Uiies : —
" See hare, fe'Jow-subjecta (=0 fine and so pretty)
A show that not lon^ since was ses-n in the City,
-\\ i:h marshals, and heralds, and horse grenadiers,
And music before 'em to tickle our ears ;
To tell US prond Sawney has patched up a peace.
That our foes may take breath and our taxes increase.
Oh \ who could have thougbt we should e'er see the dav
When a Scotchman s'oouli over the English bear sway.
Thus bully and swa.-ger and threaten and dare,
Till the credulous lion falls into the snare.
Bat though coward-like from his post he has fled,
Let's hope yet his lordsh'p wont die in his bed."
Lord Bute had, indeed, after a short but stormy reign, deserted
bis post. The arrears and various Uabibties incurred by tbe
war, had produced the necessity of new taxation, tbe odium of
which fell entirely upon the Scotch njinist-r. Early in 1767, a tax
was laid upon beer, wbich raising the price of that article, hajd exas
perated tbe mob, on wbom such a tax fell with disproportionate
heaviness. The tax was made immediately the subject of ballads
and caricatures against the king and bis favourite ; and the
popular discontent was shewn in several instances in a way
which could not fail to reach tbe 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 tbat celebrated
piece : — " For yon, my hearts of oat, 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 I' which," it
is added, " was so well received by the whole bouse, as to pro
duce a plaudit of universal approbation." Several otber taxes
V 2

292

BUTE'S RESIGNATION.

were proposed or talked of; but in tbe 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
tbe country. People compared the rash disregard of popular
opinion with which this measure was pushed through, witb tbe
conduct of Sir Robert Walpole, wbo had bowed to tbe public
demonstrations against bis far wiser system of excise ; and when
the resignation of Lord Bute was suddenly announced on the
8th of April, 1763, many ascribed bis retreat to tbe terror raised
by the popular indignation on this occasion. Others (and this
seems to have been the general opinion) said that he bad been
driven out by tbe Duke of Cumberland, who, with the Duke of
Newcastle, led the oppo
sition in the House of
Lords. A caricature, en
titled " Tbe 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
tbe bonfire, into which a
man is throwing an " ex
cised cider barrel" as fuel.
A Scotchman, in great
distress, cries out, "It 's
aw over witb us now,
and aw our aspiring hopes
are gone." In one corner
is Liberty drooping over
her insignia and a number of tbe North Briton, and comforted
by a portly personage, apparently intended for tbe Duke of
Cumberland : she says, " your R. H — gli — ness was always my
firm friend, and I well know feels for my distress." Another
caricature published on tbis occasion is entitled " The Boot and
tbe Blockhead. Oh ! Garth fee'. 1762." A wooden bead raised
upon a boot, and adorned with Hogarth's line of beauty, is
erected as tbe idol to be worshipped. Hogarth with his print of
"The Times" as a shield, is defending it against tbe attacks of
Churchill, armed with tbe North Briton. It is attended by a
crowd of worshippers, who are chiefiy Scotchmen. Through an
entrance doorway to the right a bright sun is seen rising, and

THE EEIEND OE LIBEETT.

THE WORSHIP OF THE BLOCKHEAD.

293

tbe Duke of Cumberland enters with a whip in bis hand, followed
by a sailor. Tbe duke turns back to bis companion, and says,
" Lend 's a band, Ned, to scourge tbe worshippers of a blockhead !
I'll warn 'em presently, as I did in '45." The
sailor cries, " I'll lend you a hand, m3- prince of
bold actions !" Others said that tbe minister
bad been killed politically by tbe North Briton.
The truth, bowever, probably is, that Lord Bute
was suddenly terrified at the degree of popular
hatred to whicb he had exposed himself,- and
thought that he should escape it by giving up
bis place. We can hardly help feeling convinced
tbat in tbe first years of tbe reign of George III.
a desperate attempt was made to raise the ro3'al
prerogative to a very undue position in i^egard
to t'ne constitution, and that no means were left
untried to secure success ; tbe experiment was
a dangerous one, and it failed ; Bute is said to
have confessed tbat he was terror-struck at tbe
perils witb which be was surrounded, and that
be was afraid of involving the king in bis own
fate. The fallen minister, however, soon recovered
his courage, and tbe only difference was tbat he
ruled from bebind tbe curtain, instead of reign
ing in public. Fox, who seems to have shared
in the panic, retired at tbe same time, and was
raised to the peerage, under tbe title of Lord Holland. Sir
Francis Dasbwood, Bute's
incompetent chancellor of tbe
exchequer, also resigned, andwas
created Lord Despenser. The
other changes were triffing ;
George Grenville was made first
lord of tbe treasury and chan
cellor of the exchequer; and
the machine of state was still
guided secretly by tbe band of
Bute. Tbe court seems to bave been
provoked in tbe highest degree
by tbe opposition which its
measures bad received from the
press ; and it now began a

THE IDOL.

THE idol's SCOiyEGB,

294 " THE NORTH BRITON, NO. XLV."
violent persecution, tbe 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 19th of April, three
days after tbe change in tbe ministry, the King closed tbe
session of Parliament -vi'iih a speech in -nbich be dwelt upon
the advantages of the peace. On the 23rd of April appeared
tbe celebrated "No. XLV." ofthe North Briton, \\h\eh con-
sisted of a vei-3'- severe criticism of tbe 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 tbe Earl of Bute. There is nothing
treasonable or unusually libellous in tbis paper, or which had
not been said over and over again iu the House of Commons ;
its only fault is a want of moderation in language. But the
North Briton had contributed very largely in raising tbe popular
hatred whicb bad forced Lord Bute to resign ; and tbe court,
blinded by resentment, rushed headlong and inconsiderately ou
the prospect of vengeance. A general warrant, to seize all per
sons concerned in the publication of tbe North Briton, without
specifying theu- names, was immediately issued by tbe secretary
of state, and a number of printers and publishers were placed in
custody, some of whom were not concerned in it. Late on tbe
night of tbe 29tb of April, the messengers entered tbe bouse of
John Wilkes (the author of the article in question), and pro
duced tbeir warrant, witb which he refused to comply. The
next morning, bowever, he was carried before tbe secretary of
state, and committed a close prisoner to tbe Tower, bis papers
being previously seized and sealed, and all access to bis person
strictly prohibited. Tbe warrant was considered as an illegal
one, and had only been resorted to in one or two intances, and
under very extraordinar3' circumstances, of wbich 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 fbund necessary to obtain a second before
they could bring the prisoner before tbe court of King's Bench,
by which be was set at liberty, on the ground of bis privilege as
a member of parbament. He then opened an angry correspon
dence witb the secretaries of state on the seizure of bis papers,
wbich 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 bis commission as colonel in the Buckingham
shire militia. The King further exhibited bis resentment by
depriving Lord Temple of the lord-beutenancv of tbe same

WILKES AND " THE NOBTH BBITON." 295
county, and striking bis name out of tbe council book, for an
expression of personal sympathy whicb had fallen from him.
George Grenville's administration bad hardly lasted three
months, when it was weakened by the death of one of the secre
taries of state, Lord Egremont ; upon which, witbout any com
munication witb 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 tbe latter insisting on certain arrangements to
which tbe statesman would not agree, the negotiation failed ;
and Grenville remained minister. 'The Duke of Bedford, wbose
name was very unpopular in connection witb the peace, was
now brought into the ministry, and tbe Earl of Sandwicb was
made secretary of state.
When the parliament met on tbe i5tb of November 1763, its
attention was at once called to tbe affair of Wilkes, wbose cause
was taken up warmly by tbe opposition. The court, however,
was still master of large majorities in the bouse, and it was re
solved that tbe article in the North Briton was a " false, scan
dalous, and seditious libel," and tbat it should be burnt by the
hands of the common hangman. It was further proposed to expel
Wilkes from tbe bouse, and tbey talked of condemning bim to
tbe pillory. Wilkes replied by a complaint of tbe manner in
which the privileges of tbe house had been violated in his
person, and raised a question, tbe consideration of which was
postponed for a week. The court party, bowever, was not satis
fied with the fair open course of proceeding which lay before
tbem, but they bad anew attack in store, intended to throw a
moral odium on tbeir victim, and got up in a manner whicb
threw disgrace on every one concerned in it. Although be has
probably been condemned more severely tban he deserved,
Wilkes's moral character, like that of many of bis eminent con
temporaries, was very low. But he appears to have learnt his
immorality in the society of Lord Sandwich, Sir Francis Dasb
wood (Lord le Despencer), Thomas Potter, M.P. for Aylesbury,
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 wbich, in imitation of Pope's
poem, was accompanied with notes under tbe name of Bishop

296 " THE NOBTH BBITON" BUBNT.
Warburton. Wilkes bad read this production to Lord Sand
wicb and Lord le Despencer, wbo highly approved of it, but he
bad communicated it to no other person. He bad printed
twelve copies of it at a private press in his own bouse, wbich
were to be distributed among tbe members of tbe club, and be
bad taken tbe greatest precaution to binder its being carried
abroad by his workmen. One of them, bowever, 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 tbe government to obtain a copy of tbe work
alluded to by bribing one of Wilkes's compositors, in which, with
some difficulty, he succeeded. On tbe very day when Wilkes's
alleged libel was brought before the House of Commons, tbe
stolen copy of the " Essay on Woman " was laid before tbe
lords, and, of all other persons, the notoriously profiigate Earl
of Sandwicb, wbo bad privately approved of tbis very produc
tion, was selected to bring it forward, and comment upon its
profane indecency. This was as bad a burlesque as tbe 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 from
the Beefsteak Club for blasphemy ; and Horace Walpole tells
us, on this occasion, tbat " very lately, at a club with Mr.
Wilkes, held at the top of the play-bouse in Drury Lane, Lord
Sandwich talked so profanely that he drove two harlequins out
of the company," To make matters worse, Kidgell, the minis
terial tool in this unworthy aff'air, published a quarto pamphlet,
giving an indecent account of Wilkes's poem, which was spread
abroad rather copiously, and brougbt Kidgell and bis employers
into equal contempt.
In parliament the ministerial majoritiec -were supreme, and
both houses joined in the severest censures on tbe North Briton
and on the poem. But it was different out of doors, where the
court persecution of Wilkes had made him a perfect idol witb
tbe mob. When, on tbe 31-d of December, tbe Sheriff of Lon
don, Alderman Harley, witb tbe City officers and hangman,
proceeded to carry into effect the sentence of tbe House of
Commons against the North Briton, by burning it in a tire in
Cheapside, tbe mob attacked them witb tbe greatest violence,
forced the sheriffs to make a hasty retreat to the Mansion
House, drove away the officers from the fire, and, snatching from
tbe hangman tbe 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. 2g-j
the favourite. Among the numerous epigrams passed about on
tbis occasion, one of them shows strongly tbe popular sentiment
in this respect ; —
" Because the North. Briton inflamed tiie whole nation.
To flames they commit it, to shew detestation :
But throughout old England how joy would have spread.
Had the real North Briton been burnt in ita stead !"
In consequence of this riot, the government nearly quarrelled
witb the City ; and to increase the mortification of the former,
^^ ilkes 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 tbe warrant in execution ; and a violent opposition
to tbe 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 tbe Duke of Cumberland.
Wilkes himself did not again face bis opponents in the House
of Commons. In a duel, whicb arose out of the debate on the
first day, he had received a severe wound, which afforded an
excuse for not attending ; and, when tbe parliament met after
tbe Christmas bolida3-3 on the 19th of January, 1764, he bad
made his retreat to Paris, from whence be 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 tbe following epigram : —
" -When faction was loud, and when party ran high.
Religion and Liberty join'd in the cry ;
But, 0 grief of griefs I in the midst of the fiay.
Religion and Liberty both ran away."
It is difficult to conceive the excitement produced by this
affair, which continued during tbe spring. Tbe debates iu par
liament were angry and obstinate ; Pitt came frequently to his
place in the bouse, wrapped in flannels, to head his party in
defending the constitutional liberty of the subject whicb had
been infringed by the proceedings of the government ; and three
remarkable men (besides others), wbo 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 tbe opposition, Lord Shelburne, Colonel Barre, and

298

THE EXECUTION OF JUSTICE.

General Conway. The court carried this sort of intimidation
to such an excess, tbat a writer in the Royal Magazine in
February 1766, informed us that "a curious gentleman" had
made a calculation that down to tbat time since Legge had been
discharged in May 1761, there bad been no less than five
hundred and twenty-three changes of places by ministerial
influence. Few of tbe 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 Sandwicb, wbo was known by
the sobriquet of Jemmy Twitcber, is repre
sented dragging Justice to execution. He
is treading on the British lion, whiob lies
muzzled and chained ; and a figure on one
side cries to bim, " Twitch ber, Jemmy,
twitch her 1"
George Grenville, the prime minister, bad
also (like most of bis colleagues) bis sobri
quet. In the debate on the cider bill, tbe
last measure of Bute's administration, Gren
ville contended tbat tbe government did
not know where else to lay a tax, and turn
ing to Pitt, who was warm in tbe opposi
tion, exclaimed, " Let him tell me where —
only tell me where 1" Pitt replied only by
bumming in bis place tbe words of a popular
tune, " Gentle Shepherd, tell me where 1" The house was
thrown into a roar of laughter, and ever after the minister
carried witb bim the title of the Gentle Shepherd. It was this
gentle shepherd who now, when tbe aff'air of Wilkes was for
the present ended, by a new scheme of taxation, laid tbe founda
tion of tbe American war and the loss of those important colo
nies whicb now form the Dnited States. Tbe 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 whicb was, nevertheless, felt to be neither consti
tutional nor politic, tbe taxing of a people wbo 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 tbe

THE EXECDTIONEE.

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 tbe next session
(January 1765), the King's speech urged the parliament to per
sist in taxing the Americans, and in enforcing obedience.
In tbe meantime the English government became involved in
new changes. In tbe summer of 1764 Pitt, who appears to
have been more and more ambitious of being thought above the
partizanship of faction, emancipated himself from tbe league he
had formed with tbe Duke of Newcastle, and declared his inten
tion of acting entirely upon bis 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 tbe gout, kept away.
Immediately after it had passed, in the latter part of March, tbe
young king experienced the first attack of that derangement
under which be laboured in tbe latter years of bis life, and, on
bis recovery, ministers brougbt in a hasty and ill-digested plan
of a regency bill, by which tbey grievously affronted tbe
Princess of Wales, and gave little satisfaction to tbe king.
From tbis 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
bim to Mr. Pitt, at bis seat at Hayes, in Kent, to beg him to
form a new ministry, but be 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 ;
whicb tbey 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 tbe forces, (wbich he still re
tained,) and appoint Lord Granby captain-general. The king
gave a flat refusal to tbe first and last of these demands, and bis
ministers were satisfied by the sacrifice of Lord Holland and Mr.
Mackensie, and tbe promise that Bute should not be permitted
to interfere. Tbe king, bowever, was still determined to get rid
of his ministers, and towards the end of June he made a new
communication to Pitt, wbo now took some steps to form an
administration, which were rendered abortive by tbe objections of
Lord Temple. Upon this tbe Duke of Cumberland again
addressed himself to the more moderate part of the opposition,

300 THE ROCKINGHAM ADMINISTRATION.
aud succeeded in forming an administration under tbe Marquis
of Rockingham, who brougbt into parliament his private secre
tary, the celebrated Edmund Burke, and raised to the peerage,
as Lord Camden, the popular chief-justice Pratt.
During tbe 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 heavil3' by the merchants, and tbus
tbeir 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 otber persons
concerned in the original publication of the North Briton bad
beaten their persecutors, with the exception of Kearsley, the
bookseller, who had been ruined, but wbo 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 tbis time tbe set of the North Britons in two
small volumes. He was immediately prosecuted by tbe court, and
sentenced to stand in tbe pillor3tin Palace Yard for one hour, which
was put into execution on the 1st of March, 1765. Williams
was conducted to tbe place of punishment amid tbe shouts
and acclamations of a vast concourse of people, in a hackney-
coach, numbered 45.* When be mounted tbe pillory, as well as
when quitting it, he bowed to tb-s spectators, and during tbe
whole time he held a sprig of laurel in his hand. While be
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, tbe top
of the boot cut off witb the axe, and then both boot and bonnet
thrown into a large bonfire. In the meantime a gentleman drew
out a purple purse, adorned witb orange-ribbons, and made a
collection of two hundred guineas for tbe suff'erer, wbo was con-
'' The number of the North Briton was the more popular from its for
tuitous coincidence with that of tbe year of the great Scottish rebellion.
Long after the events themselves had ceased to be a matter of general
interest, patriotic tradesmen continued to give popularity to their merchan
dize by distinguishing it witb the favoured number 45, It is said that even
within a few years the favourite article in a snuff-shop in Fleet-street, was
extracted from a canister marked 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 hand, so obnoxious were these numerals to royalty itself,
as well as its retainers, that the young Prince of Wales, in 1772, thought
he could not exhibit his lesentment fur some privation or chastisement he
had undergone more provokingly 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 tbe same triumphal
manner in which he bad been brougbt tbere. One of the spec
tators took out a pencil and wrote on tbe 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 great
clamour. Ballads were sung about the streets on Williams and
on the pillory ; and several prints appeared, representing the
various circumstances of tbe exhibition in New Palace Yard, with
a fair sprinkling of caricature. On one of them the pillory is
entitled tbe " Scotch Yoke ;" and the print is accompanied with
a ballad, whicb, as tbis was one of tbe 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.
"An injur'd martyr to her cause
Undaunted 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 where's the Petticoat, my lads ?
The Boot should have its mate.
Then to new Palace Yard, let us go, let us go.
" 'What acclamations burst around I
Victoria is the cry :
Hear, hear, oh Jeffreys ! and turn pale,
Thy malice we defy.
Then to New Palace Yard let us go, let us go.

302 THE COURIER.
"Look up and blush with guilt and shame,
Ye vile informing crew,
AA^ile '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 milst 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
tbe country, against the exportation of fiour, and for otber sup
posed grievances. A little later, in May, when the ministerial
embarrassments commenced, the London weavers arose in great
numbers, and attacked the bouse of the Duke of Bedford, whom
they accused of having negotiated the obnoxious peace which
bad brougbt Frencb silks and poverty into the land, and they
were not dispersed without bloodshed.

THE COUEIEB.

Tbe rest of tbe year passed over quietly ; and a few carica
tures without much point, shew that tbere was tbe latent will

THE GOUTY COLOSSUS.

303

to stir up mischief,' witbout the resolution to act. Tbe party
wbo bad been thrown out of power began to exert themselves to
destroy the reviving popularity of Pitt, and some attacks were
made upon bim in print, accompanied by several caricatures.
One of these, under the title of " The Courier," makes a joke of
tbe Duke of Cumberland's unsuccessful visit to tbe gouty foot
at Hayes : tbe sign is that of a blown bladder, inscribed " Popu
larity," witb tbe further inscription " By W. P." underneath.
When the Parliament reopened in January, 1766, tbe gout
was gone, and Pitt again made bis 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 tbe attempt to tax tbe Americans, in which the king in
bis opening speech had just recommended the bouse to perse
vere. He expressed his personal regard for tbe members of the
new administration, but declared bis want of confidence in it as
a ministry; and then- burst into an eloquent attack upon the

fo^^l^^^it

CCo

THE COLOSSUS.
secret influence, which be intimated bad paralyzed bis own
efforts in the service of the Country, and had been tbe cause of
all tbe mischief that bad happened since. Ministers denied
tbe secret influence ; but tbe nation believed impUcitiy in it,
and Pitt became again tbe idol of tbe mob on tbis side of tbe
Atlantic, and of the dissatisfled and angry colonists on the
otber. The attacks on tbe popular orator by tbe court-party

304 PITT AND TEMPLE.
now increased in violence. In the month of February appeared
a poem, entitled " Tbe Demagogue," stated to be written " by
Theopbilus Thorn," in whicb 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, bis gouty leg resting on tbe 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 tbe Atlantic. The long staff'
on which be rests, is entitled " Pension." Above tbe orator's
head hangs the broad hat of tbe commonwealth, and raised in
the air on one side. Lord Temple is occupied in blowing the
bubbles wbich support the " great commoner's " fame. Below
are tbe lines : —
" Tell to me, if you are vitty.
Whose wooden leg is in de city.
Eh bim, drole, 'tis de great pity.
Doodle do,
" De broad-brim hat he thrust his nob iu,
De while St. Stephen's throng are throbbing.
One crutch in America is bobbing.
Doodle do.
" But who be yonder odd man there, sir I
Building de castle in de air, sir ?
Oh ! 'tis de Temple, one may swear, sir !
Doodle do.
" Stamp act, le diable I dat's de job, sir,
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 tbe king, desiring bim to form a new
administration, and on this occasion tbe king left bim to make
his own terms. The orator now found bis greatest difficulty in
getting together his own party. He quarrelled witb Lord

PITT LORD CHATHAM. 305
Temple, wbo seems to bave thwarted bim 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
v/bioh was suddenly diminished by bis reoption into the House
of Lords, under the title of Lord Chatham. Lord Chatham's
ministry, however, brought together a number of young states
men who figured more prominently in subsequent times. He
himself took tbe office of lord privy seal ; Lord Camden was
made chancellor ; Lord Shelburne one of the secretaries of state,
and General Conway tbe otber ; the Duke of Grafton was made
first lord of the treasury ; Lord North was associated with Mr.
George Cooke in tbe office of paymaster-general ; Mr. Willes
was made solicitor-general ; and tbe 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 tbe peerage. Few attempted
to defend tbe " great commoner's " ambition to sit in tbe House
of Lords. An almost solitary epigram, amidst a heap of abuse,
made a half apology. " The Tories,* 'od rat 'em.
Abuse my Lord Chatham,
For what — for commencing a peer
But is it not hard
He should lose his reward,
Who has purohas'd a title so dear ?"
" 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?"
But the populace looked upon the peerage as a bribe, for which
Pitt bad sold himself to the Scottish favourite, and they refused
to look upon bim as anything more than a tool of the court. In
spite of everything tbat could be said to the contrary, it was
still confidently believed that Bute ruled 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
always an unpopular one, and had generally been combined more or less
with Jacobitism, was almost lost in the latter years of George II. Bute
brought it up again by introducing into place professed Tories, and within
a few years the title, with a modified meaning, became the general appella
tion of the supporters of court influence, X

3o6

THE WIRE-MASTER.

contrary, except by the public banging or beheading of the
object of their hatred, A caricature given with the Political
Register for October 1767 (the publication of Wilkes's friend
Almon) represents, under the title of " The wire-master and bis
puppets," the membevs of the present ministry as so many
puppets moved by wires directed by the Scotch favourite from

THE WIRE-MASTEB AND HIS PUPPETS.
the palace of St, James's, The gouty Lord Chatham s';ands
prominent in front, witb one of his crutches broken, Oii one
side Lord Holland (wbo was believed to have had a baud in
Lord Bute's secret infiuence) peeps in, and gives bis signal — " \
little more to the left, my lord," On tbe other side Britannia
sits weeping, and exclaims, " It is sport toyou, but death tome."
Below, those who are out of place, among wbom the Duke of
Newcastle is conspicuous, are looking on at the performance,
wbile the devil is pulling away the prop of tbe stage on wbich
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 tbeir 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 tbat it

THE BLESSED THISTLE.

307

was popularly believed in long after it bad 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 tbat very time as —
 " that haughty, timid, treacherous thing,
Who fears a shadow, yet who rules a king."
When tbe Duke of Cumberland died rather suddenly, in Sep.
tember, 1765, be was sincerely regretted by the popular party,
wbo believed tbat he was the most
powerful opponent to the influence of
the Scottish " thane," and prints and
caricatures immediately subsequent to
tbat event, represented tbe latter as
dancing over tbe prince's tomb, re
joicing in tbe recovery of power. In
one of these an inscription ou the tomb
stone describes tbe deceased duke as tbe
defeater of Scottish treason and sup
porter of tbe Protestant throne, and
adds, in allusion to the formation of the
then existing Rockingham ministry,
tbat be bad " elected a ministry out of
those virtuous few, wbo gloriously with
stood general warrants, America-stamps,
stamps of excise, &o." In 1767, there
began to be great talk among tbe medi
cal profession of tbe virtues of the
earduus benedictus, or blessed thistle,
as a universal remedy ; and the
plant worshipped by tbe quacks was
soon adopted as an emblem of that
thistle to whicb 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 tbe resignation of Lord Chatham in the caeduus benedictus.
1768. A caricature subsequent to this
period, at a time when Lord North and Mansfield were in place,
represents the thistle glorified, and tbe two nobles just mentioned
looking on and admiring ; behind tbem, 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 tbe latter, Britannia is reprs*
X 2

THB BEIGNING TKIO.

mounting a jack-boot, witb

308 THE GRAFTON MINISTRY.
ented in bonds, wbile Butes tramples on her shield, and
tbe sun- is shining brightly
upon a thistle : the inscription
around it is, " Le soleil d'Ecosse
aux Angloises feroce." Tbe
other side represents tbe bead
of Bute between those of the
king and the Princess of Wales,
with tbe inscription, " Tria
juncta in mno." Still later,
when Wilkes was elected Lord
MayorofLondonini774, ame- -
dal was struck in bis honour,*
bearing on tbe obverse a bust of
tbe popular idolinhismayoralty
robes, and on tbe otber side
the figure of Bute's head sur-
the axe by its side, and tbe
inscription, " Britons strike
home ;" a device and motto
which had been frequently
used in tbe 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 tbe confidence of
tbe 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 tbe Duke of
Grafton, wbo was at tbe bead of tbe treasury, aud wbose admi
nistration it was commonly called after 1767, gave most of bis
attention to Newmarket and to bis mistresses. Otber offices
were filled witb as little efficiency. Nevertheless, after Lord
Chatham's resignation, the Duke of Grafton remained at bis post
as prime minister, until the change in 1770 placed Lord North
at the bead of affairs.
It was during the least active period of Chatham's adminis-
? '^' -!¦ '1 is in th- colli-ctiiin of Mr. Haij-ai-d.

THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION. 309
tration, that John Wilkes again made his appearance. Having
suffered tbe indictment against bim 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 tbe sentence
reversed. He arrived in London early in February, but did not
shew himself publicly until the dissolution of parliament in
March, when be suddenl3'- presented himself as a candidate for
tbe City of Loudon. He was received by the mob witb boiste
rous enthusiasm, and people paraded tbe streets witb poles on
wbich 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 tbe coaches of tbe
two otber candidates. They are said to have been provoked to
tbis violence by the appearance of the latter at Hyde Park
Corner, accompanied witb a procession carrying flags, on which
were inscribed " No blasphemy 1" and " No sedition I" A news
paper of tbe 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
tbe earthquake, which was to destroy both these cities in 1750."
At Brentford, Wilkes had sufficient influence over tbe mob to
keep it quiet, but, it being announced at the close of the poll
that he was far a-head of his opponents, tbey behaved witb some
violence on the way back, stopping people's carriages and
chalking tbem all over witb " No. 45," and forcing everybody
to shout for Wilkes. At night tbey 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 bostility towards tbe popular candi
date), and the bouse of Lord Bute in Audley Street, tbe 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 tbat some of tbe leaders of the opposi
tion in parliament encouraged the popular demonstration ; there
¦were many wise enough to see tbat there was little to fear in it.

310 WILKES IN PRISON.
Tbe Duke of Newcastle is said to bave declared tbat be loved a
mob, that be bad once been the leader of a mob himself, and that
be thought a mob inseparable from the true interests of the
Hanoverian succession. Yet the court was suddenly seized with
great apprehensions; and imprudent threats were held out
against 'VVilkes and the populace. It was this unwise persecu
tion alone that made Wilkes a hero.
After be bad secured his election, Wilkes declared his inten
tion of surrendering himself to the court whicli had outlawed
bim ; for this purpose, be presented himself in the court of
King's Bench on tbe 20th of April ; but, in consequence of some
legal informalities, be was then allowed to depart, and a writ
having been issued, be was brought before tbe court on tbe 27th,
and tben committed to the custody of the marshal of the King's
Bench prison. He left tbe court in a hackney coach, but the
mob, wbich was again numerous and riotous, took off' tbe horses
at "Westminster Bridge, .and after forcing the marshal in wbose
custody be was, out of tbe coach as tbey passed Temple Bar,
drew their favourite through the city to a public-bouse in
Spitalfields, But as soon as tbe mob had partially dispersed,
Wilkes escaped at midnight by a back door, and repaired to the
King's Bench prison, where be surrendered himself into the
marshal's custod3r. When it was known next day that he was
in prison, a mob collected outside the walls, and shouted all da3'
for Wilkes and Liberty, A body of horse-guards, sent to the
spot, and stationed near tbe prison, only served to irritate the
populace ; tbe 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
jabused and threatened tbe otber, until tbe lotb of May, when
the new parliament was to meet, and when the mob laelieved
that Wilkes was to be taken out of prison to attend in his place
in the bouse. They accordingly attended in greater numbers
than usual. A large force of soldiers had been stationed in
front of the prison, and, by an unfortunate coincidence, they
were a Scottish regiment, and tbey appear to bave shewn some
what too openly their hatred of the English mob, Tbe 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 bave been heard ; the soldiers fired, as it appears, with
great baste and rashness, and many of the mob were kflled and
wounded. Three of the soldiers quitted their ranks, to follow
one of the rioters wbom they bad singled out, and at some

MASSACRE OF ST. GEORGE'S FIELDS. 311
distance from tbe scene of riot entered a cow-house, where
tbey deliberately shot a young man named Allen, wbo bad
taken no part whatever in the proceedings of tbe 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 tbe death of Allen, and against the
Surrey magistrates, wbo had ordered soldiers to fire at tbe mob,
and verdicts were given against tbe former ; but they were
screened by the court, wbich, in a very unadvised manner,
publicly approved and praised the conduct of the soldiers,
whereas the three wbo had killed Allen were at least guilty of a
breach of military discipline in quitting their ranks. This only
added to the popular irritation : tbe riot was long remembered
as the " massacre of St. George's Fields ;" and tbe mob increased
in strength, and became more violent.
Several otber mobs arose in London at the same time, wbo,
as Horace Walpole observes, " only took advantage of so
favourable a season. The coal-beavers began, and it is well,"
Walpole observes, " it is not a bard frost, for tbey bave stopped
all coals coming to town. The sawyers rose too, and at last tbe
sailors, who bad committed great outrages in merchant ships,
and prevented them from sailing, Tbe last mob, bowever, took
an extraordinary turn ; for many thousand sailors came to
petition tbe parliament yesterday (May 11), but in tbe most
respectful and peaceable manner; desired only to bave their
grievances examined ; if reasonable, redressed ; if not reasonable,
they would be satisfied. Being told that tbeir flags and colours
witb which they paraded were illegal, tbey cast tbem away.
Nor was tbis all ; they declared for tbe 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, wbich, strange to say, was allowed to continue
for several weeks, although many lives were lost. On the 22nd
of June, Walpole writes, " Tbe coal-beavers, wbo, by tbe way,
are all Irish whiteboys, after their battles with the sailors,
turned tbemselves to general war, robbed in companies, and
murdered wherever tbey came. This struck sucb a panic, that
in Wapping nobody dared to venture abroad, and tbe city began
to flnd no joke in sucb liberty," It required again the active
intervention of tbe guards to quell this disturbance.
In the meanwhile the court of King's Bench bad reversed
Wilkes's outlawry ou account of some informalities in the pro
ceeding ; and judgment was given on the original sentence, by

312 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 500?., and be imprisoned twelve calendar
months in addition to the former term of imprisonment for
publishing the " Essay on Woman," which in reality bad been
published by tbe ministers. Whatever excuse may be made for
the first part of the sentence, none can be found for the extreme
injustice of punishing a man for tbe publication of what be had
carefully concealed from public view, and a copy of wbich bad
only been procured by the basest treachery. The natural con
sequence was, that Wilkes, 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 after tbe Middlesex election. Cook, tbe other member,
died, and on the issuing of a new writ, Wilkes, from bis prison,
recommended his friend and supporter, Serjeant Glynn, who
beat the court candidate. Sir William Proctor, by a large ma
jority. The latter bad recourse to Wilkes's own weapons, and
hired a mob, whicb acted with so little moderation, that one of
tbe popular party, named Clarke, was killed. Two of Proctor's
chairmen were immediately brougbt before a jury at tbe Old
Bailey, charged with murder, and one of tbem, 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 expelled tbe House of Commons. It was on tbis
occasion that Edmund Burke, who spoke witb great force
against the expulsion, described the proceedings of the govern
ment, as " tbe fifth act of the tragi-comedy acted by his majesty's
servants, for tbe 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. The election took place at
Brentford, on the loth of March, when a Mr. Dingley under
took to be tbe 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 fiew into a rage, and, after
another violent debate, declared the prisoner incapable of re
election, and issued a new writ next day, and Colonel Luttrell,
then member for Bossiney, was engaged to stand for Middlesex,
Wilkes, bowever, was again elected by a large majority, and
London was as usual illuminated. But on this occasion tbe

MINISTERIAL MORTIFICATIONS. 313
bouse voted tbat tbe sheriff had made a wrong return, and that
Luttrell's name should be inserted instead of that of Wilkes as
tbe member for Middlesex. Thus ended the war between " the
two kings of Brentford," * as people jokingly termed King
George and John Wilkes.
Tbe mortifications of tbe court were not, bowever, confined
to tbe " 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 '¦-i
Essex, "which," Horace Walpole observes, "being the gn of
county for calves, produced nothing but ridicule." Ding'pel,
tbe unsupported candidate for Middlesex, was tbe hero of bim
attempted demonstration, which miscarried through his c
imprudence. Another attempt was made, and some signatu
were obtained to a 103'al address, which was to be presented
the king on the 22nd of March, by a procession of six bundrei
merchants and others. The3' 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 tbe gates against them, received them
witb a shower of mud and stones, whicb obliged them to disperse
and save themselves in any streets and lanes that were not
blocked up. This was popularly termed " Tbe battle of Temple
Bar." About a third of the loyal addressers re-assembled at
some distance in advance of tbe scene of their discomfiture, and
formed again in procession ; but they were soon overtaken by
the mob, which had obtained a hearse drawn b3' four horses, on
one side of which hung a large escutcheon, with a coarse
representation ofthe "massacre of St. George's Fields," wbile
a similar escutcheon on the other side, represented the slaughter
of Clarke at Brentford. Tbis was marcbed slowly at the head
of tbe procession, and tbus, in the midst of a dreadful uproar,
they reached St. James's, where the mob became more riotous
tban ever. The king and bis ministers were obliged to wait a
considerable length of time before tbe address could be presented ;
the mob had tried to seize the important document, and they
bad so pelted tbe chairman of the committee of merchants witb
mud that he was unfit to appear witb it. Lord Talbot came
down and seized one of the rioters, but tbe mob pressed round
bim and broke tbe steward's staff in his hand. Other unpopular
noblemen received ill-treatment. At length, after fifteen persons
bad been captured by the guards, tbe mob dispersed, and tbe
* An allusion, of course, to the two kings of Brentford, introduced in the
Duke of Buckingham's celebrated satire, "The Rehearsal."

3H

WILKES LORD MAYOR.

address was presented. In the popular prints representing these
disturbances, which were sold in great numbers, tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe Political Register, bring-
^ing their monthly cargoes of caricatures and infiammable matter,
Caid the engravings which bad appeared singly during the earlier
onars of the reign were re-published, and in several instances
seqlected into volumes. But new political heroes were coming
forithe scene, as objects of popular worship or hatred. Wilkes's
int-eer may be said to have closed with his release from imprison-
So:nt in 1770. A committee of men who called themselves
diPhe supporters of tbe Bill of Rights," raised a subscription
'which relieved him from the pecuniar3' embarrassment into which
he had been thrown by his own improvidence as much as by tbe
persecutions to wbich he had been exposed ; and a week after
he left the prison be was admitted an alderman of London. In
1774, he and bis friend Serjeant Glynn were elected members
for Middlesex witbout opposition, and he was now allowed to
take bis seat in tbe house unmolested. The same year be was
elected lord ma3'or, and be subsequentl3' obtained the more
lucrative and permanent office of chamberlain. In 1780, be 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, bowever, be
come a very insignificant member of the
House of Commons ; and, having made
the most of his patriotism, be exhibited
himself as a remarkable instance of ter
giversation, disclaiming bis own acts, and
making no scruple of expressing his con
tempt for the opinions of bis former
friends. In 1 784, several caricatures cele
brated the reconcibation of tbe "two
kings of Brentford," The best of these,
pubbsbed on the ist of May, of that year,
is entitied "The New Coalition," and
represents the king and Wilkes em
bracing, the latter holding tbe cap of
liberty reversed. Tbe patriot says to

THE ElOONOILIATION.

DEATH OF WILKES. 315
tbe monarch, "I now find tbat you are the best of princes,"
King George replies, " Sure ! tbe worthiest of subjects, and most
virtuous of men !" Another caricature, published on the 3rd
of May, represents the King, LordThurloe, and Wilkes, leagued
in amity together ; while a tbird, tbe work of some unscrupulous
democrat, represents Wilkes and tbe king banged on one tree,
witb the inscription, " Give justice her claims." Tbe " two kings
of Brentford" were now indeed equally unpopular witb tbe mob ;
and at tbe general election iu 1790, Wilkes received tbe most
humiliating defeat on the very hustings where be had so often
triumphed in bis days of " patriotism." He died on the 26tb of
December, 1797, and was interred in a vault in Grosvenor Chapel,
Soutb Audley Street, where a plain marble tablet, described bim
simply as " a friend of liberty,''

3 1 6

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
and Spain — No Popery ; the London Riots — Attacks on the Earl of
Sandwich and on Lord North ; the Political Washerwomau^Overthrow
of Lord North's Ministry — Rodney's Triumphs — Rockingham and Shel
burne Administrations — America.
AT the moment that John Wilkes was losing bis personal
importance. Lord Chatham re-appeared on the stage with
redoubled energy, and he continued for several years to support,
by bis 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
tbe North Britons without. The latter also were succeeded by
papers of a still more violent character ; and tbp language with
whicb the press had attacked Bute was feeble in comparison witb
tbe powerful and fearless hostility of the celebrated Junius, or
the abuse of the Whisperer, a political paper established at tbe
beginning of 1770, wbich 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 tbe address at
tbe 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
witb greater unity tban had distinguished it for some time ; for
Lord Chatham had formed a close alliance witb the Rockingham
party, and the Marquis of Rockingham, who carried weight by
his integrity of character and bis parliamentary abilities, was

THE MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM.

317

THE IIABQUIS OF BOOKINGHAM.

personally a valuable ally in the House of Lords.* The two
principal subjects of contention
were, tbe ministerial policy witb
regard to America, where affairs
were progressing fast towards
civil war, and, at home, tbe in
fringement of tbe constitution in
the case of Wilkes and tbe Mid
dlesex election. On the fir.st de
bate on this question in tbe House
of Lords (Jan. 9), tbe chancellor,
Lord Camden, to tbe surprise of
everybody, seconded Lord Cha
tham, expressed bis opinion
strongly against tbe proceedings
of tbe ministers in the case of
Wilkes, and declared that, as a
minister of the Crown, be had
long disapproved tbe arbitrary
measures pursued by bis colleagues. Lord Camden was, as
migbt be expected, immediately deprived of tbe seals, and one
of tbe only men wbo brought any popularit3'- to the court party
was thus thrown into tbe 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, wbo bad been witb
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, tbe
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 BarrI,
George Grenville, Dowdeswell, and
others. Colonel Barre was particu
larly distinguished by tbe boldness ,
* The subjoined portrait of tbe Marquis of Rockingham, as well as that
of Colonel Barr^ which follows, is taken fr.im the series of shghtly carica
tured portraits etched by Sayer, and published in 1782. They are valuable
keys to tlie caricatures of the day.

COLONEL BAEEB.

3i8 THE NORTH ADMINISTRATION.
and vehemence with wbich be attacked tbe measures of govern
ment. He bad been first thrown into tbe opposition by per
sonal slights received from tbe Court ; and bis resentment was
afterwards embittered by ill-treatment which be experienced in
bis profession, tbe 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, tbe popu
lar commander-in-chief of tbe arm3', joined the opposition, and
subsequently threw up his appointment. The opposition was
here further strengthened by the acquisition of Mr. Wedderburn,
the solicitor-general, wbo followed bis friend. Lord Camden, and
by several other defections from tbe ministry. The latter, bow
ever, seemed but little weakened, when suddenly, at the end of
January, tbe Duke of Grafton gave in bis 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 tbus began on tbe 28th of
February, 1770.
At this moment some of the men began to take their place
on tbe political stage, wbom we shall find acting a prominent
part in tbe stirring events of tbe latter part of the century.
Among these was the celebrated Charles James Fox, tbe 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 Gi-afton_ and Lord North, and he thus began the
wbrld under the weight of unpopularity which had attached
itself to the names of those ministers. Charles Fox, as well as
bis elder brother, bad been earl3' initiated into the dissipations
of tbe time by their father ; and his passion for gambling bad
already reduced him to neediness. He was under age at the
time be entered tbe House of Commons, where the hope of place
made bim 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 whicb followed tbe
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 tho Treasury. Horace Walpole writes, on the 2nd of Feb
ruary, 1770, the day after Fox's first appointment to office,
" Charles Fox shines equally there [at tbe 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 tbe Admiralty." A few months later (April
1772), Walpole went to the house to bear the young orator, and
he tells us that " Fox's abilities are amazing at so very early a

CHARLES JAMES FOX. 319
period, especially under the circumstances of such a dissolute
bfe. He was just arrived from Nevvmarket, had sat up drinking
all night, and had not been in bed. How suob talents make one
laugh at Tully's rules for an orator, and bis indefatigable appli
cation ! Flis laboured orations are puerile in comparison of this
boy's manly reason," On the 27th of November, 1773, Wal
pole writes again, " Lord Holland is dying, is paying Charles
Pox's debts, or most of tbem, for thoy amount to one hundred
and thirty thousand pounds ! Ay, ay ; and has got a grandson
and heir. I thought this child a prophet, wbo came to foretell
the ruin and dispersion of the Jews ; but wbile there is a broker
or a gamester upon the face of tbe earth, Charles will not be
out of debt,"*
Wbile 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 bim, be became a mark for tbe popular
satirists and caricaturists, wbo gave him the title of " tbe Young
Cub," and made the most of bis private vices, A print in tbe
Oxford Magazine for February, 1770, immediately after Charles
Fox's appointment to a seat at tbe Admiralty board, is entitled
" Tbe 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 sucb vermin. The youthful statesman was
already remarkable for his corpulence. The same number of the
Oxford Magazine, which is illustrated by tbe 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 west 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 tbat 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, tbat "the late premier
(the Duke of Grafton) was at one period of his life so addicted to gaming,
that he lost bis seat of E — n-hall (Euston-hall) one Might to the Itle Duka

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 tbe fattest man in
England next to Mr. Bright." In December, 1773, tbe Oxford
^lagazine published another caricature against tbe famil3'- of tbe
Foxes. The old fox is seated at the table, apparently giving
the young ones bis serious advice, to which the son and heir,
seated to his left, appears to listen witb attention. Tbe "young

A NEST OE FOXES.

cub," Charles, who-, from his dark visage had already obtained
the nickname of Niger, sits on the otber side, picking his
father's pocket. In the original, over his bead, is the inscrip
tion "Hie niger est ;" benea-fh him, on the ground, lie Hoyle's
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, bad already quarrelled witb tbe
minister, and was throwing himself into the ranks of the
patriots. On tbe 24tb of February, 1774, 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 lo, 1774, tells of a still more extravagant amusement. One
of these gamblers, he informs us, "has committed 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, tbat it was
necessary thus to make indirect or concealed allusions even to the names of
the speakers.

POLITICAL AGITATION. 321
his correspondent in Italy, " Tbe famous Charles Fox was tbis
morning turned out of his place as lord of the Treasury, for
great fiippancies in tbe bouse towards Lord North. His parts
will now have a full opportunity of showing whether they can
balance bis character, or whether patriotism can whitewash it."
It is due to Fox's character to say, tbat from tbis moment he
continued during bis life steady and consistent in the political
principles be now embraced.
Wbile things were going on anything but peaceabl3'- within
tbe walls of the legislature, tbe agitation through the country
witbout was increasing, and tbe North administration soon
found itself engaged in a violent war witb tbe city, and involved
in tbe 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 tbe same year a petition from tbe 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, whicb b3' its venality had lost the
confidence of the country. Many of the counties, cities, and
towns througbout tbe 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, tbe King's speech spoke of a disease
that prevailed among horned cattle, instead of alluding to the
violent agitation under wbich 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
tban for tbe interests of his subjects ; and from tbis time he
w-as 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 bad gone so far as to construct " a
button ;" and tho 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 tho King's brothers, had just been surprised at St. Alban's
in an intrigue with Lady Grosvenor, for which he paid dear ; and
before many days had passed over tbe royal speech, a caricature
on the court appeared under the title, " Tbe Trial of Mr. Cum--
berland for spreading the distemper among tbe horned cattle at
St. Alban's and other parts." T \

322 THE LONDON REMONSTRANCM
Tbe King himself seemed bent upon desperate measures. Tbe
Whisperer (of Feb. 24, 1770) asserts, tbat, "when tbe Marquis
of Granby resigned bis employments, tbe King said to bim,
' Granby, do you think tbe army would fight for me ?' To
which the marquis nobly replied, ' I believe, sir, some of your
officers w^ould, but I will not answer for tbe men.' " Whether
tbis be true or not, it is certain tbat Lord Marchmont, one of
tbe most zealous of those wbom tbe King now began to term
" bis friends," was so indiscreet as to talk in tbe House of Lords
of tbe possible necessity of calling in foreign assistance. Ex
pressions like these were repeated and commented upon abroad ;
and tbe citizens of London, wbo had voted the petition to wbich
no answer bad been returned, were further irritated by a report
tbat some high persons about tbe throne had designated them
as " tbe scum of the earth and dregs of the people." They
determined to lay tbeir complaints again before tbe King ; and
a very strongly-worded document was got up, under tbe title of
an " Address, Remonstrance, and- Petition," which complained
of tbe dangers to which the country was exposed from secret
and evil counsellors and a corrupt majority of the House of
Commons, and called to tbe King's memory tbe fate of Charles
tbe First and James the Second. Tbe King is said to bave con
sented only v.dth extreme reluctance to receive tbis remon
strance : it was carried to St. James's on tbe I4tb of March by
tbe lord mayor, attended by a numerous body of the common-
counoilmen and city officers, and accompanied by an immense
mob ; and the King received it on the throne, but be is said to
bave shown a lowering countenance, and be returned a rebuking
answer, concealing bis anger witb difficulty. Some of the cour
tiers also are said to have used impatient gestures, and to bave
held out indecent threats of depriving tbe city of its liberties.
The court, indeed, at once resolved to proceed with rigour
against the persons chiefiy concerned in get-ting up tbis petition;
and some very angry proceedings took place in the House of
Commons ; but these were subsequently relinquished by tbe
urgent advice of Lord North and tbe more moderate of the
ministers. Tbe King is said to bave complained in private tbat
his ministers bad not supported bim in bridling tbe insolence of
bis subjects.
A number of caricatures, in rapid succession, exhibited tbe
bitter sentiments of tbe 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-MAKER. 323
senting their " Remonstrance," to which the King refuses to
listen, exclaiming, as be sbews his buttons to two noblemen in
attendance, " I cannot attend to your remonstrance ! Do not
you see that I bave been employed in business of much more
consequence ?" One of the noble attendants observes, " What
taste ! what elegance 1 Not a prince in Europe can niake suob
buttons 1" while tbe otber courtier, in tbe same strain, adds,
" What a genius ! why, be was born a button-maker !"
However rude tbe language of petitions and remonstrances in
speaking of tbe House of Commons may have appeared, the
great corruption of tbat branch of tbe legislature, at tbe period
of wbich we are now speaking, was notorious ; and it was tbe
money of tbe court only tbat overbalanced the eloquence of tbe
opposition. Tbe latter only became more violent by tbe con
sciousness of its numerical weakness. In tbe March of 1770
tbe popular leaders in both bouses were again declaiming against
the secret influence bebind tbe throne, and tbe cry was quickly
caught by the mob, and chalked up against every wall in execra
tions against tbe Dowager Princess of Wales. Men wbo bad
been ministers declared openly that their counsel had become
unpalatable to the royal ear the moment it savoured of consti
tutional liberty. On the 23rd of May, tbe lord mayor (Beck-
ford), witb some aldermen, and a numerous train of city worthies,
presented 'a new remonstrance to the King, less violent in its
language, but complaining of tbeir treatment on former occa
sions. Tbe reply was, a new rebuke ; upon wbich the bold lord
mayor obtained leave, in tbe confusion of the moment, to make
an extempore speech, which roused the King's anger so much,
that be immediately issued orders tbat no lord mayor should be
allowed tbus to address the throne again. Tbe indignation of
tbe city was so great, that, if some moderate men of 'their own
party had not persuaded tbem otherwise, tbey were on the point
of refusing to congratulate the King on the birth of a Princess ;
but very shortly afterwards, on the 21st of June, city patriotism
experienced a serious loss in tbe death of Beckford. About a
fortnight before tbis event, the Princess Dowager of Wales, the
object of so much popular odium, bad 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 tbe streets in ballads and lampoons with obsti-
T 2

3H

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 tbis period consisted of jest-books, which were some
times fertile in political satire. Thus, in tbe April of 1770 was
published a collection entitled, in allusion to the sobriquet of
Lord Sandwich, "Jemmy Twitcber's Jests." In the following
November appeared " The Button-maker's Jests," with a coarse
caricature on tbe King for & frontispiece. We may perhaps rest
satisfied with tbe opinion expressed in a contemporary review,
that it was a piece of "low scui-rilit3-." But the subject was
revived again and again in a variety of forms ; and in February,
17 7 1, when the peace between England and Spain was nearly
broken by tbe 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 n-ione3'^ on the Spanish King's lap is
described as "A bribe for the P  D  of W  s;" and

BDTTON-MAKCBS.

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 witb one
subject : he exclaims to his rival, " I say you never made so good
a button in all your life." Tbe preceding number of the same
magazine contains one of tbe latest caricatures on the petitions,
entitled " '.fhe Fate of City Remonstrances," in which the King
is represented as giving the petitions of his subjects to tbe
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. 325
garb, attending to his nursery and the state of tbe weather, and
utterly unconscious of the grievances of his country.
It was just at this moment that a now source of contention
arose to embroil the ministers with the city of London. The
former were constantly occupied witb prosecutions against tbe
Letters of Junius and otber violent political jiapers, from wbich
they derived no advantage, and which passed over witbout at
tracting more tban a very temporary notice ; but there were
strong tbings said within the -svalls of Parliament, wbich it was
the interest of ministers, satisfied with carrying all tbeir measures
by a large bought majority, to keep from the public ears. At no
period was tbe English Parliament so absurdly jealous of the
publication of its proceedings as at tbis time, when the licence
of the press out of doors was almost unbounded ; and tbe most
extraordinary precautions were taken to conceal what was said
within from the knowledge of those without. At tbe beginning
of 1 77 1, some newspapers ventured on giving reports of the par
liamentary debates, notes of wbich they of course obtained
through members of the house, when Col. George Onslow, one
of the lords of the Treasury, wbo bad 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, tbere were several warm
debates on the subject, and warrants were issued to arrest the
printers, wbo 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 tbe city magistrates. Another person
arrested was not only set at liberty, but be charged the mes
senger of the House of Commons with an assault ; upon which
the lord mayor (Crosby) witb two aldermen (Oliver and Wilkes)
signed a commitment againgt bim, and be was obliged to find
bail. On the i8th of March, the House of Commons, in a heat,
summoned the lord mayor to attend in bis place, whicb be did
tbe- next day, attended thither by a prodigious mob. Some
members who had been insulted by the mob, suob as Charles
Fox, spoke in great anger. Ever3' da3', 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 part3' of
the opposition publicly seceded, and Colonel Barre told the
bouse tbat tbeir conduct was infamous, that no honest man
could sit amongst tbem, and tben walked away. Ou the 28th

326 VIOLENT MOBS.
of March it was resolved to commit tbe lord mayor and Alder
man Oliver to tbe Tower. The bouse avoided attacking Alder
man Wilkes, who was probably the chief offender. The mob on
this day had been unusually violent, having dragged Charles
Fox and bis brother from their chariot, and assaulted tbem
violently ; and Lord North's chariot was destroyed, aud he him
self narrowly escaped being torn to pieces. The next day tbe
King went to tbe house, when tbe mob, which is said to have
assembled to tbe 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 tbe populace
would probabl3'- not have been carried so far as it was, but for
the indecent and most shocking behaviour of Mr. Charles Fox,
wbo is supposed to bave great influence witb bis Majesty, and
already assumes tbe style and post of minister. This youth, for
about half an hour, was leaning out of a coffee-bouse window in
Palace Yard, shaking his flst at the people, and provoking them
by all the reproachful words and .menacing gestures that be
could invent. George Selwyn stood bebind, encouraging bim,
and clapping bim on tbe back, as if he was a dirty ruffian going
to fight in the streets." The prisoners remained in the Tower
till after tbe prorogation of tbe Parliament, and were quite as for
midable tbere as in the Mansion House. The fashionable toast
in London was, in allusion to Alderrhan Oliver, " Success to
Oliver the Second !" Mobs continued to encumber tbe streets.
At mid-day, on tbe 5tb of April, two carts, preceded by a hearse,
were dragged in slow procession through tbe city to Tower Hill,
amidst a vast concourse of people. The two carts bad each a
gallows stretched' across, witb large pasteboard figures hung
upon tbem ; 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 bis known attachment
to ministers. Tbe figures in the second cart were labefled
"L— tbe Usurper," "De G— y" (De Grey), " J— y T— r"
(Jemmy Twitoher, 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 tbe dying
speeches of " some supposed malefactors" were subsequently
cried about tbe streets. A rudely engraved print of this mock
procession, with tbe speeches put into tbe mouths of tbe male
factors, is in tbe collection of Mr, Hawkins.

JUSTICE FIELDING.

527

The court party now made an attempt to strengthen tbem
selves a little in public opinion, by working upon the fears and
prejudices of the populace, and by other similar means, and witb
a certain degree of success. They raised suspicions of foreign
designs on tbis 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 bumble individuals were arrested on this cbarge. Tbis
affair seems to have caused no great excitement ; and we hardly
trace it in tbe journals of tbe time, except by a caricature pub
lished in tbe Oxford Magazine for September, 1771, designed^ as
a satire upon the venality and partiality of the police-courts
under tbe celebrated Justice Fielding. Fielding bad occupied
bis prominent seat on the magisterial bench for a great number
of years ; and be was now old, and remarkable for bis fatness
and his blindness. In a satirical list of imaginary masquerade
characters in tbe Westminster Magazine, for December, 1772,
tbe watchful, but now blind magistrate, is tbus introduced —
" Argus, wbose eyes were sealed by Mercury, Sir J. Fielding."
The caricature alluded to is entitled, " The blind justice, and the
secretaries One-eye and No-bead examining tbe old woman and
little girl about the firing Portsmouth dockyard." Justice
herself is represented as fat and
bloated, and as venal as ber
official representative. The
latter, blind as be is, addresses
himself to tbe prisoners : " I see
plainly you are guilty, you bave
a banging look." One of the
secretaries of state, wbo has
bis eye covered, adds, " Some
body must be banged for tbis,
right or wrong, to quiet the.
mob and save our credit." The
otber secretary, being repre
sented not only as intellectually
but bodily witbout a head, says
nothing. The woman accused
replies, " No more tban your ,
worships bave: I'm a poor
honest woman: my betters
know more of tbe fire than I."
Tbe ministers were now actively working in tbe city of Lon
don, by indirectly influencing elections, &c. to obtain a majority

JIJSTIOB.

328 THE AGITATION SUBSIDES.
or at least a greater influence, iu the city councils : and in this
they bad at times considerable success. The death of Beckford,
in the summer of 1770, bad 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 tbe city under the title of " Tbe diff'erence
of weight between court and city aldermen ;" in wbich 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 tbe wall above, poor
Britannia, wbom we bave so often
seen abused and ill-treated by one
party or tbe other, is repre
sented as having arrived at
the last degree of ignominy, by
being banged on a gallows. In
the October of tbe same year we
bave 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 tbeir festivities in
Guildhall by tbe violence of tbe
mob without.
Sever.il of tbe caricatures we have been describing were pub
lished with different monthl3' magazines, which from 1769 to
1772, bad been largel3'- illustrated with such subjects. The lull
of political agitation is at this time made evident by the altered
tone of these publications, whicb 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 witb Spain in 1771, and the man
agement of our increasing Indian empire about the same time,
were the subjects of considerable 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 support 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 tbe navy, tbe
natural defence of tbis country, which was under the direction
of the unpopular Lord Sandwich. The flrst number of the
Westminster Magazine for December, 1772, contains a pobtical
satire, entitled, " A conversation which passed between the lion
and the unicorn at St. James's, after tbe 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 bis subjects. The neglect of the navy is accounted
for by tbe supposition tbat tbe King cared only for the defence
of bis own person against his subjects, for which soldiers were
far more necessary than sailors, and it exhibits a little of the
old jealous3' against a standing army. Sandwich, says the lion,
cared little bow 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-fami.sh'd crows, which on can ion you've seen,
They will fly at the French with the stomachs of hogs,
And, like storks, in a trice clear tbe sea of the frogs.
"dniooen.
*"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 tbe pasture.
Will shipping defend him at London and Kew ?
No, — then what, pray, with shipping has Georgy to do ?
" 'Tis the soldiers, my boy, upon Wimbledon Common,
Tbat tickle bis 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, 1773, contains a caricature
entitltd " 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
number of ships of all sorts had perished.

330 AMERICA : TROUBLES IN BOSTON.
Bute is represented playing on the bagpipes tbe tune of " Over
the water to Cbarle3'." The Oxford Magazine of the following
May was adorned witb a caricature representing tbe King with
North and Sandwich in council, getting up a sham war, as an
excuse for raising money for tbe court, wbile tbey receive secret
subsidies from Prance to keep tbe nation quiet.
It was at tbis time, however, tbat our foreign relations were
becoming every day more complicated and threatening. Tbe
dispute witb the American colonies bad now continued for
several years ; and it became almost tbe sole question in debate
between our political parties at home. But, even among those
who complained most of tbe want of foresight shewn by our
ministers in their measures witb regard to tbe Americans, tbe
cause of tbe latter was not everywhere viewed in the same light;
for many condemned equally the violent conduct of the insur
gents, and the evident design, alteady encouraged by a number
of ambitious men amongst them, to tbrow off their allegiance to
the English Crown. 'This was tbe real hindrance to a recon
ciliation. Tbere were others, however, in tbe mother-country
who took up the cause of tbe colonists witb less reservation.
Among tbe numerous pamphlets on tbis subject announced in
the month of May, 1770, soon after the first collision between
tbe mob and tbe soldiers in Boston, in which tbe blame most

A BTEONG DOSE OF TEA.

certainly belonged to tbe 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 otber alleged acts of violence, were distributed abroad ; yet the
Eubsequent conduct of the Bostonians, and of tbe inhabitants of

THE WHITEHALL PUMP.

331

Rhode Island, exasperated tbe English people, and gave un
popularity to tbe cause of the Americans. This, however, did
save tbe English ministers from the charge of obstinate folly
and imprudence ; wbile conciliation might bave availed, tbey
were insolent and tyrannical, and wbile they provoked tbe
Americans more and more to resistance, tbey overlooked tbe
magnitude of the question, and took measures of defence totally
inadequate to avert tbe danger which was thus allowed to gain
bead, until conciliation was no longer available. Tbe 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 tbe late
obnoxious acts against tbe colonies, while Lord North pours
tbe tea down ber throat ; Britannia is seen behind, weeping at
her distress. In another caricature, published witb tbe West
minster Magazine for
April, 1 774, under the
title of " Tbe White
hall Pump," poor Bri
tannia is thrown down
upon ber child, Ame
rica, while Lord North,
who was remarkable
for his shortness of
vision, viewing her i
through his glass, is
pumping upon her,
and appears to be en
joying ber distress.
Ilnderneatb fallen Bri
tannia, a multitude of
acts and bills are scat
tered over tbe ground,
bearing tbe titles of
" Magna Charta,"
"The Bill of Rights,"
" Coronation Oaths," „, , „ -r i tit
" Remonstrances," "Petitions," &c. The chancellor. Lord Mans
field holding an act of Parbament in his hand, stands by tbe
prim'e-minister, to encourage and support bim. The other mem
bers of tbe cabinet, wbo are also in attendance, have joy marked
strongly on their countenances, Tbe pump is surmounted by
tbe not very intellectual features-of King George, Otber peo-

BEITANNIA IN DISTEESS.

the adv.antages of
A caricature, un
political Concert;"
and ber disobedient
and united in sup- in -

332 ENGLAND AND AMERICA.
ple_for tbere were many shades of opinion witii regard to
America — deceived by the outward de
clarations of the colonists, seized upon
every new breath of apparent concilia
tion to preach up
amity and concord,
dated, entitled "A
represents Britannia
t'aughter reconciled,
porting the cap of liberty. It was.
deed, the common outcry of the extreme
op))osition in this country, tbat the at
tack upon the civfl rights of the Ameri
can colonists was only a step towards the
destruction of popular liberty at home.
Among tbe caricatures on ministerial
improvidence, one pubbsbed in October,
CONCOED. 1 7 74> represents Lord North in the cha
racter of blustering " Boreas" (the sobri
quet whicb was commonly applied to bim), eyeing the distant colo
nies through bis glass, and shewing his ignorance of the difficul
ties with which be had to contend by the flippant and vaunting
threat " I promise to reduce the Americans in three months,"_
It was tbe 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 tbe latter
years of bis life. The English
Parliament, witb bill after bill,
irritated the colonists, until thej'
threw themselves into open war
witb tbe mother-country ; while
the insulting language of tbe
Americans only gave an excuse
for the English acts of Parliament
against them, and so much dis
gusted the people of England, that tbe strength of the English
ministry was daily increased. ' Tbe general election of 1774
added so much to their majority in tbe House of Commons, that
they were relieved of all fears from the opposition tbere. The
war with America, which may now be said to bave commenced,
was a series of blunders and folbes, which involved this country

LORD CHATHAM'S PROPHECY. 333
in perpetual disasters. The memorable battle of Bunker's Hill
was fought on the i6th of June, 1765 ; aud the same year the
"United States of America" made their declaration of inde
pendence. The war was now carried on witb 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, tbat tbeir 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 ber mother, Britannia, who, held down by tbe
ministers, is unable to defend herself. The British bon is
roused into a state of furious agitation, ready to throw himself
upon tbe assailant, but be is bridled and restrained by Lord
Mansfield, There were many who already foresaw what must
be tbe ultimate result of the contest ; and they looked forward
witb 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, Tbe 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 G.ige was hurried o'er
To dye his sword in British gore.
And plead the senate's right,
E't-n Chatham, with indignant smile,
Harangued in this prophetic style,
Illumed by freedom's I'ght I
"Your plumdd cops though Percy cheers,
And far-fumed Briliih grena-liei-s.
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 Spxrtan v.alour here renown'J,
Where laurels shade the sacred ground,
Heroic Warren fell !
"Erewhile a Howe indignant rose,
Against his country's, freedom'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 tbe furious blast,
"Though darkness all the horizon shroud,
And from the east yon thunder-cloud
IMenace 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 fieets or troops such spirits tame,
Although they view their 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. -f
" Midst the snow-storm % yon hero § shines.
Pierces your barrier, breaks your lines,
With splendour marks his days;
He falls, the soldier, patriot, sage !
His 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."
J The account of the attack on Quebec, published by the Congress, said,
"-When everthing 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,
II 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 smiles,
No longer dread this Queen of Isles,
No more her virtues charm ;
See her pursue th' ignoble strife
By the dire Indian's scalping-knife,
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 isle 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 tbe skies,
And Miltons wake the lyre,
" Behold her blazing flag unfurl' d,
To awe and rule the western world.
And teach presumptuous kings,
Though luU'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 !
"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 tbeir place !
No venal honours lift the base.
When Nature ranks her sons i
"Lo, Britain's ancient genius flies
Where commerce, arts, and science rise^
And war's dire horrors ce.ase ;
Exulting millions crowd her plains,
jiii'scaped from Europe's galling chaina
'To liberty and peace I "

33^ RESIGNATION OF THE DUKE OF GRAFTON
In tbe beginning of November, 1775, tbe Duke of Grafton,
disagreeing witb bis colleagues, was dismissed from the ministry,
and joined tbe opposition. This was followed by other changes
in the cabinet, the most important of whicb was the appoint
ment of tbe 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 tbe British government with the hope of
recovering its supremacy, wbile 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, tin tbe
i7tb 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, ironicall3% tbe glorious results of the
campaign, and the skill and prudence of the ministers at home,
and ends witb a congratulation on the old tale of King George's
mechanical amusements : —
"Then shall my 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, tbe opposition burst into a violent storm j
tbey reproached ministers witb the imbecility of their measures,
and laid all the faults and disasters on Lord George Germaine,
witb wbom they were said to have originated. The thunder of
Chatham's eloquence was again beard in tbe House of Lol-ds,
undiminished in force ; and Burke, Fox, and Barr^ overwhelmed
the ministerial organs in tbe House of Commons. A new
ground of complaint against the manner of conducting the war
had now presented itself in tbe employment of the American
Indians in the British army, whose cruel ravages on former
occasions were still remembered witb feelings of horror. It
does not appear that the Indians now employed in the British
army had committed any serious disorder ; but tbe opposition
not only saw them burning and niaps;icring the King's own sub
jects — men wbose veins flowed witb English b.'-)od, but they

THE AILIES.

337

lEE ALLIES,

conjured up fearful pictures of cannibalism ; and in a caricature
(intbecollection of Mr. Burke)
entitled, "The
Allies — par no-
bile frafrum,"
King George,
whose private
will, it was uni
versally bo-
Ueved, governed
in the cabinet,
was represented
in close league
witb his savage
ally, guawring the remains of the revolting feast.
Lord Chatham directed all the movements of tbe opposition
on tbis important question. Indignation at tbe way in which
tbe American war was misconducted seemed alone to keep the
veteran statesman alive. Whenever tbere was to be an attack
upon tbe ministers on that subject, he was carried into tbe house,
wrapped up in flannels, and supported on crutches, and be rose
up like a ghost from tbe grave to thunder forth bis condemna
tion of tbe past, and his warning for the future. On these
occasions he seemed suddenly
auimat-ed witb the fuU vigour of
his youth. General Burgoyne,
liberated on his parole, had now
returned to take his place in tbe
ranks of tbe opposition in the
House of Commons, of whicb
be 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 fi-om his place in the
bouse. When be made his re
appearance there, in the month
of March, 1778, he declared his
willingness to undergo any kind
pf trial, and threw the blame of the failure of the expedition on tbe
z

6ENEBAL BUKGOTNE.

338

ADMIRAL KEPPEL.

secretary for America, Lord George Germaine. A grand de
bate was expected in tbe House of Lords on tbe 5tb of April ;
and tben Chatham was again in bis place, but he looked more
like a man that was come tbere to die, tban one wbo would take
any part in tbe political passions which agitated his country.
There bad been a division in the ranks of the opposition, and
some now believing tbat the reduction of tbe colonies to obedi
ence was hopeless, advocated tbe immediate acknowledgment of
tbeir independence. Chatham arose, and, held up by two of bis
friends, spoke with eloquence and indignation against the threa
tened separation of tbe colonies from the mother country.
When be bad resumed bis seat, tbe Duke of Richmond, who
represented that portion of the opposition whicb now looked
upon tbat separa-tion as inevitable, spoke against bim, and
when be bad ended, Lord Chatham rose to reply. But, over
powered by bis feelings, bis strength failed bim, and the orator
fell back into the arms of his friends, and was carried out of
tbe bouse in a state of insensibility. He was taken next day
to his seat at Hayes in Kent, wbere, after lingering a little
more than a month, he died on
tbe 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 tbe latter country agai-ost
England. Tbe former had al
ready received indirect encou
ragement, and it appears to have
been only tbe reluctance of Spain,
which bad sucb extensive colo
nies of its own in the otber
hemisphere, to join witb France,
that hindered an open acknow
ledgment of American indepen
dence. By the month of June,
tbe English government was fully
informed tbat a treaty had been
concluded between tbe rebeUious
colonies and tbe Frencb King,
and a fleet was immediately sent out to watch the Frencb coasts,
under Admiral Keppel,* another active member of tbe opposition,
¦* The portraits of Admiral Keppel and that of General Burgoyne^

ADMIEAIi KEPPEL.

KEPPEL' S ACTION WITH THE FRENCH. 339
whom the Court was glad to remove from bis place in the House
of Commons. Keppel at once commenced hostilities, and after
making two or three small captures, be discovered that a large
Frencb fleet was at Brest, ready to put to sea. He immediately
returned to Portsmouth for reinforcements. On tbe 9th of
Jul3' both fleets put to sea, Keppel's forces being considerably
inferior to those of tbe Frencb under tbe Count d'Orvilbers.
The two fleets came in' sight of each otber on tbe 23rd, but the
Frencb being unwilling to fight, and having the advantage of
the wind, Keppel could not engage them till the 2 7tb, when a
dark squall brought them close together off Ushant ; then tbe
order was given for engaging, and a furious cannonade was kept
up for full two hours as tbe fleets ran past each other, in which
the Frencb lost many men, and tbe English ships sustained
considerable damage in their rigging, especially the division
under Sir Hugh Palliser. When Keppel attempted to renew
the engagement, PaUiser was unable or unwilling to obey tbe
signal, and tbe delay thus occasioned enabled the French fleet
to escape.
Tbis action led to events tbat again raised up tbe mob of tbe
metropobs, which, not many months afterwards, was urged into
acts of violence of a more serious character tban any of which
a London mob bad been previously guilty. In bis official dis
patches, Keppel had generousl3'- screened Sir Hugh Palliser from
blame in not having seconded bim properly in pursuing tbe
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 bim, was not only
in favour at Court, but one of tbe lords of the Admiralty.
Rumours bad gone abroad, and letters bad appeared in the news
papers, whicb were less sparing of Palliser's character than bis
superior officer had been ; whereupon Sir Hugh wrote a letter in
vindication, and demanded of Admiral Keppel an authentication
of all his statements, which tbe latter declined to give. The
subject was brought before tbe House of Commons at the be
ginning of December, and led to a rather angry debate, in which
Palliser charged his superior officer witb misconduct. The
Court seized on tbis question in the hope that tbey would be
able to crush Admiral Keppel, and the Admiralty ordered bim
to be brougbt to trial before a court-martial ; a proceeding which
gave great dissatisfaction to tbe officers of the navy in general,
and which was indignantly condemned by tbe popular party.
given above, -with others in this chapter, are taken from the series pub
lished by the caricaturist Sayer in 1782. Z 2

340 WAB WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN.
Tbe trial began at Portsmouth on the 7tb 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.
Tbe mob of London, wbich bad been all along in a state of
agitation, waited impatiently for this intelligence, and, when it
arrived, between nine and ten o'clock in tbe evening, the popular
exuitation knew no bounds, and, between joy at the event, and
fear of the populace, every bouse in London is said to have been
illuminated before eleven. Tbe bouses of Lord North and Lord
George Germaine were attacked, and the windows broken. The
windows of tbe Admiralty were also broken, and the large gate
forced off its hinges ; besides other violence. The effigy of Sir
Hugh Palliser was banged 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
tbe furniture into St. James's Square, where they burnt it.
Young men of rank gave encouragement to, and even joined
witb, the populace. Mr. Pitt, who began bis 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
tbe rioters, and passed the night in the watch-house. Tbe next
day was one of triumph to Keppel : tbe 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 bouses of Parliament. Another general illumina
tion took place the following night, but with less rioting.
Palliser resigned bis seat at the Admiralty board, and vacated
his seat in the House of Commons ; and be also was brougbt to
trial before a court-martial ; but tbe infiuence of tbe Court is
said to have been exerted to save him from a severe sentence.
From tbis moment tbe King looked upon Admiral Keppel as a
personal enemy, aud it is said that at tbe subsequent elections
the influence of the Castle was used in tbe most undisguised
manner to hinder his re-election to represent tbe borough of
Windsor. The attempt at individual persecution bad by no means
increased the strength of the ministry; Keppel's triumph led to
a violent attack on tbe 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 aud Howe, who now stood
forth witb the opposition, and laid all the misfortunes in

THE STATE PILOT.

341

America to tbe charge of ministerial imbecility. Tbe King of
France was now at open war with us, and the summer of 1779
brought tbe 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 tbeir gratitude for the assistance
tbus bestowed, by the title of tbe " 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 from
tbis war, into which tbey had entered unprovoked ; and it may
be doubted if it was of any great benefit to tbe Americans.
Although the final independence of the American colonies was a
thing which everybody now foresaw, the campaigns of 1779 and
1780 were not favourable to their cause.
Amid the incessant attacks to which its foreign policy exponed

BEITAIN'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 tbe opposition was
gaining force, and promised ere long to be the surest way to
place ; and thus its numerical majority in tbe House of Commons
became daily less. Towards the end of June, 1779, when
an open rupture bad taken place witb 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 Rook, to tbe great amusement of Lewis
Baboon, Don Strut, and Nic Frog." These three personages (the
frog emblematical of tbe Dutchman^ are looking on in mockery,
while North, in the character of the sloth, (he was remark
able for bis laziness,) is piloting Britannia's boat, whicb,
its sail torn- from its hold by the wind, is striking on tbe
fatal rock. At tbe masthead is tbe unpopular thistle, the
infiuence under which it was pretended the state boat sailed ; for
Bute still presented an object of apprehension. In allusion to
this, the engraving bears tbe 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 bis 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
shop are ornamented
(as was usual) with
broadside ballads, on
one of whicb we read
tbe title, " Taxation
no Tyranny, a new
song, as sung at the
-,,¦,,„ , Theatre Royal; the
words hy 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 virtues of " Dr.
Cromwell's effectual and only remedy for tbe king's evii ;" and
at the foot of the fourth, whicb contains a parody on "The
Highland Laddie," is seen the popular emblem of tbe boot. A

THE BOTCHING TAILOE.

"NO POPEBY." 3^3
picture suspended bebind, is a parody on tbe flight into Egypt,
and represents the King and bis family making a hasty exit oii
their way " to Hanover." Between tbe dates of tbese two
caricatures, tbere bad been one or two resignations in tbe
cabinet, whicb shewed tbat even among tbe ministers tbere was
not entire unanimity. Lord Gower, who had resigned the
presidency of tbe council, declared, in bis first speech in the
ranks of the opposition at the end of November, that " he bad
seen sucb 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 tbe national debt, and of the taxation of tbe country,
began now to excite loud complaints, and associations were
formed throughout England, with the object of opposing tbe '
extravagance of the government, and obtaining a reform in the
parliamentary representation, tbe corruptions of wbich, people,
began to look upon as one of tbe principal causes of tbe evUs
under which tbey suffered. But tbese complaints were rather
suddenly interrupted by a new subject of excitement, which led
to fearful scenes of violence in tbe metropolis. For some time
the dread of popery bad been gaining groimd, excited in some
degree by the outcries of those who were opposed to tbe question
of Catholic emancipation, whicb was now beginning to be
agitated. Some bigoted people were even weak enough to
believe tbat King George himself had a leaning towards the
Church of Rome. Tbis was especially tbe case in Scotland,
wbere there bad been serious no-popery riots in the beginning of
1779. It was a Scottish madman, tbe notorious Lord George
Gordon, whom Walpole designates as " the Jack of Leyden of
the age," who led the cry in England, and wbo had placed him
self at tbe head of what was called tbe Protestant Association.
After having troubled tbe House of Commons with inflammatory
speeches during tbe wbole of this session. Lord George gave
notice on the 26th of May, 1780, of bis intention on tbe 2nd of
June to present a petition against toleration of Roman Catholics,
signed b3' above a hundred thousand men, wbo were all to
accompan3' him in procession to the House. We are told that
the only precaution taken against the threatened inob was an
order of the privy council on the previous day, empowering tbe
first Lord of the Treasury to give proper orders to the civil
magistrates to keep the peace, which tbe first lord of tbe
Treasury forgot to put into effect.
On Friday, tbe 2nd of June, an immense multitude assembled
in St. George's Fields, wbere Lord George addressed tbem in an

344 THE GOBDON BIOTS.
inflammatory style, and then tbey marcbed in procession, six
abreast, over London Bridge and through the city to Old
Palace Yard, where tbey 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 witbout coming to an3' 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 tbe 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 tbe King's birth
day, tbe disturbances bad become much more serious. Under
tbe cry of " No Popery," all tbe worst part of the population of
the metropolis had now collected together, and London was
entirely in their power during the rest of tbe da3' and the whole
of the following night. Early on Monday morning they robbed
and burnt the bouse of Sir George Saville, in Leicester Fields,
because he had been tbe 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 tbe members were attacked on tbeir way, and
Lord Sandwich fell into tbe hands of the populace, and was witb
difficulty. torn from them after be 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 tbe prison, which was entirely destroyed,
and liberated all the criminals. These joined tbe 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
ligious reformers.* Tbe 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 Relormers."

LOBD GEOBGE GORDON.

3A5

A MOB BEFOEMEB.

broken into, and tbe 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, tbe 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 tbe other
prisons were burnt, and two at
tacks were made on the Bank of England, but tbe assailants were
driven back witb great loss by the soldiers who guarded tbat im
portant building. Various other public buildings were marked for
destruction. People, now, bowever, began to recover from their
panic, and voluntarily armed in defence of tbeir property, and
troops, as well of tbe regulars as of the militia, were pouring
into London ; yet during tbe Wednesday night the town was
on fire in no less than thirty-six places, and the destruction of
property was immense. On Thursday the 8tb of June, after
many had been killed by tbe 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 whicb seemed at one moment to threaten its entire de
struction. On Saturday, Lord George Gordon was committed to
the Tower ; and be was subsequentlj-- 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 tbe
civil authorities, who seem to bave lost all presence of mind ;
and by a want of foresight on the part of the government.
Tbe conduct of the city rulers, witb tbe exception of Wilkes,
bad been especially disgraceful, and the lordimayor was punished
for bis cowardice. A lew coarse and not well executed carica
tures, and some ballads and songs, held them 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

346

LORD AMHERST.

LOED AMHEEST.

vi'as now a courtier, an active man in the politics of tbe day,
directed the military operations against tbe rioters, and became
unpopular for bis 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 be bad uttered, be 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 beart. A caricature, pubbsbed
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 witb the words " The
holy Roman Cathohc faith ;" a crucifix
stands on tbe altar, and portraits of Boreas
and Jemmy Twitcber decorate tbe walls of
bis private chapel. A picture of tbe pope
bangs 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 tbe
wall. Burke, as tbe great advocate of Catholic emancipation,
was especially odious to the fanatical party ; and he obtained on
tbis occasion the character which was so often afterwards applied
to him of being a concealed Jesuit.
The "No-Popery I" cry was coupled witb new apprehensions
(though not very generally felt) of tbe Pretender, at wbose
return tbe imaginary Scottish influence was supposed now to
aim. I bave already mentioned a caricature in which tbis is
slightly alluded to. In another caricature published this year,
under the title of " Argus," King George is lulled into a pro
found slumber, wbile 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 ermined robe, " What shall be done
with it?" tbe reply is "Wear it yoursel', my laird." But
another of tbe 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
tbe English community, clasps his hands, and cries, "I bave
let them quietly strip me of everything." An Irishman, de-
* This caricature portrait of Lord Amherst is taken from the series by
Sayer.

PREROGATIVE! DEFEATED.

347

BEITANNIA IN SOEEOW.

parting, protests " tbat he will take care of himself and famil3r."
An American, leering upon tbe
dozing sovereign, says, " We in
America bave no crown to fight
for or lose." Behind the hedge
which forms tbe background, a
Dutchman feeds upon honey,
during the absence of tbe bees
from their hives. In one cor
ner Britannia sits weeping, and
ber 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 bad
not been assisted by the turbu
lent scenes we have just de
scribed, or by any favourable
change in tbe prospects of
tbe war. Before tbe 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 tbe country bad already alarmed the Court ; when, on
tbe 6tb of April, Mr. Dunning moved in the House of Commons
his famous resolution against tbe overgrown influence of the
Crown, whiob was carried against tbe Court, and was followed
by tbe adoption of other motions equally unpalatable. On tbe
loth of April the opposition was still in the majority, and otber
strong resolutions against prerogative were passed. Everybody
was in astonishment, and expected an immediate dissolution of
tbe cabinet and a change of measures. A caricature on this
occasion, published on tbe 2 oth of April, and entitled " Prero
gative's defeat; or. Liberty's triumph," is in tbe collection of
Mr. Hawkins ; it represents the downfall of Scottish influence,
while Ireland and America are both rejoicing, tbe latter exclaim
ing, "Now we will treat witb tbem." But tbe ministers bad
bad time to recover from their surprise, and an adjpurnment of
the house to tbe 24tb of April was employed in negotiating witb
those who had on this occasion deserted tbeir ranks. On tbat
day the ministers recovered their majorities, although tbey were
not now very large ones. In another caricature, entitled " The
Bull over-drove; or, tbe drivers in danger," the British bull is
represented in a rage, kicking at tbe ministers, oue of wbom

348

ADMIRAL RODNEY.

(Lord George Germaine) exclaims, " This is worse than the
battle of Minden ! " The Kings of France and Spain stalk
away, tbe 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 wbich Keppel and other liberal officers re
ceived from the Court brought unpopularity on those who were
put forward by tbe m.inistry, and this often embarrassed tbem in
their operations. Rodney had begun tbe 3'ear prosperously by
a decisive victory over the Spanish fleet oft' St. Vincent on tbe
i6th of January, which was followed by the relief of Gibraltar,
now besieged by the Spaniards ; but tbe unwillingness of bis
captains to obey a Tor3- commander deprived bim, in the middle
of April, of gaining a much more signal victory over the French
fleet in the West Indies. Tbe French escaped, and took shelter
in a friendly harbour,
and both sides boasted
of the superiority. A
caricature, entitled
" National Discourse,"
published after tbe in
telligence of tbese
events arrived in Eng
land, represents tbe
mutual feelings of the
sailors of the t-wo 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 unpollte reply,
"'You lie!" Rodney's
miscarriage led soon
after_ to the junction of the French and Spanish fleets, and
nothing but the sickness whicb fell upon tbem and weakened
tbem, and the mutual mistrust between these two allies, saved
our 'West Indian islands from conquest. The close of tbis year
saw Holland openly added to tbe number of our enemies. In
America the events of the war continued to be in general dis
couraging to the colonists, until tbe latter part of tbe year 1781,

NATIONAL DISCOUESB.

SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS.

349

when it suddenly took a decided turn to tbeir advantage, and
tbe capture of Lord Cornwallis and bis army may be looked
upon as having left no longer any doubt in people's minds as to
what must be tbe final result.
At the beginning ofthe year (on the i7tb of January, 1781,)
when tbe prospects of the British arms in America seemed to
be in tbe highest degree
promising, a caricature
was published, represent
ing Britannia and her
enemies weighed in tbe
balance. America is
seated in one scale in an
attitude of sorrow, sigh-
ins forth the unwilling
avowal, "My ingratitude
is justly punished." The
Spaniard and tbe French
man stand iu the scale
with her, and tbe Dutch
man is banging on with
bis wbole weight in the
effort to pull it down.
Tbe fir.st of these ex
claims, " Rodney has
ruined our fleet !" The
Frenchman addresses
himself to their new ally
tbe 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 bis pocket,
witb papers inscribed, " Demerara," " Essequibo," " St. Eustatia,"
"St. Martin," and other colonies which bad fallen into the
hands of the British. In spite of their exertions, Britannia,
standing alone in the other scale, is outweighing them all ; she
holds a drawn sword, inscribed " Justice," in ber hand, and ex
claims, " No one injures me with impunity." Other carica
tures, marking tbe popular exultation, appeared about the same
time. . .
In tbe general elections in tbe autumn of 1780, the minis-
terial majority was not as usual (and, perhaps, as was expected),.
increase^. The ppposition, feeling its strength, commenced £
resolute at t.ick onthe ministry, criticising its measures abroac

A LIGHT OOMPANT.

35°

A GENERAL ELECTION.

tOED SANDWICH.

and at home, and exaggerating its errors, and tbe consequences
that resulted from tbem. They fell
first upon Lord Sandwicb, and
brougbt forward the old grievance
relating to Admiral Keppel and
Sir Hugh PaUiser, tbe latter of
whom had been rewarded witb tbe
governorship of Greenwich Hos
pital. They next entered upon
the alleged ill-management of the
nav3f, and complained tbat it bad
been deprived of some of its ablest
officers in a time of great danger,
by the political partialities of the
Court. After Christmas, tbey re
turned to the charge, and accused
tbe ministers witb baviug unne
cessarily driven this country into
a war witb Holland. Tbe cbarge
of mismanagement of the navy
was then renewed. Burke next
brougbt 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 tbe eloquence of tbe opposition,
and tbe debate, on tbe second reading of his bill, on the 26th of
February, 1781, brought on his legs, for tbe first time in the
bouse, young Wilbam 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 tbeir first speeches
on tbis 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 aud other parts ; but in tbe
autumn even this prop began to give way, and when, on the
25th of November, tbe news of the surrender of Lord Corn-
wallis's army arrived, tbey were filled witb dismay. Parliament
opened two days afterwards, and tbe debates occasioned by tbis
disaster were violent in tbe extreme. Until tbe Christmas
recess, the bouse was almost entirely occupied witb tbe
American war, and tbe state of tbe navy. In tbe midst of tbis

PERTINACITY OF THE OPPOSITION. 351
warfare of words, young William Pitt was rising daily into dis
tinction. Afti.-r Christma.s, tho war between tbe opposition and the
niiniHtry was renewed with increased vigour. Lord Sandwich
was a^-ain the first object of attack. Charles Fox moved for au
inquiry into tho 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 other.s, because their political opinions were not
agreeable at Court. Ministers agreed to tbe inquiry, and tbere
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 tbe news of Lord
Cornwallis'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 wbo were likely to succeed to
power. On tbe 2otb of February, Fox renewed the attack on
Lord Sandwich, and tbe ministerial majorit3' was reduced to
nineteen. It was evident tbat 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 aa a reward for bis staunch support of tbe
King's policy, he was raised to the peerage by the title of
Viscount Sackville. On tbe 22nd of February General Conway
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 25th of February be calmly
brought forward his budget. The opposition was furious, and
attacked bis ways of raising money in the most violent terms.
Somo new taxes proposed on this occasion were very unpopular
out of doors, especially one on soap, whicb was made the subject
of a host of ballads and caricatures, tbat continued to be hawked
about long after North's ministry had fallen. In these tbe
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 tho caricatures, entitled
"Tbe M-n-s-r reduced ; or. Sir Oliver Blubber in bis proper sta
tion," the new washerwoman is occupied, as it appears, in

3.52

THE POLITICAL WASHERWOMAN.

THE WASHBEWOMAN.

this experiment, for, on the wall bebind is the notice, "Linen
wash'd 50 per cent, cheaper tban at any otber place in London,
by Mary North, author of
the treatise upon washing
witbout soap, and many otber
ingeniousperformances." At
a window before tbe portly
figure ofthe 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 tbe 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 witb 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, witb the hope of
appeasing the opposition. The latter now raised a loud cry
against the obstinacy with which Lord North elung to his place,
and Charles Fox in particular, whose unfortunate love of dissi
pation and gambling had reduced bim 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 np 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 wh?ifi

RESIGNATION OF LORD NORTH. 353
out, that he migbt share in the spoils. On the 8th of March,
Lord John Cavendish again brougbt 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 tbe 15th, Sir John Rouse made a new and
still more direct attack, in a motion declaring tbat the house no
longer placed confidence in the present ministers, wbose majority
was now only nine. Lord Surrey immediately gave notice that
be should bring forward another motion to tbe same effect on
the 2otb ; but when that day came, tbe debate was prevented
by Lord North's announcement to the house of tbe resignation of
ministers. The tenacity witb whicb 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
bis resignation. It was widely believed that tbe King's will had
for some time been tbe rule according to wbich bis ministers
shaped tbeir measures, and tbat be showed tbe 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 tbe
liberal party were to him objects of personal animosity.
The opposition itself, since Lord Chatham's death, bad become
more clearly divided into two sections, one of whiob acknowledged
Lord Rockingham for its leader, whilst the other was ranged
under tbe banners of Lord Shelburne ; tbe former numbered in
its ranks Charles Fox, Edmund Burke, and Admiral Keppel,
while witb Lord Shelburne were Colonel Barre and the young
and aspiring William Pitt. Tbe rivalry of tbese two parties
was at present rather personal tban founded on any especial
principle ; but tbe King bad less repugnance to the Shelburne
party, because they still shared in Chatham's objections to
acknowledging tbe independence of tbe Americans ; while the
Rockingham party insisted tbat the time was now come when
peace must be made witb tbe Americans at any rate, and
they called for the sacrifice of all claims to supremacy on tbe
part of the mother-country. The King is said to bave tried to
negotiate privately with Lord Shelburne ; but, the only leader
under wbom the wbole 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 RODNEY'S VICTORY.
being Lord Rockingham, be was sent for, and he undertook the
task of forming a new cabinet. The only one of tbe old ministers
wbom tbe King was allowed to retain was tbe lord-chancellor
Thurlow, and be remained but as a thorn in tbe sides of his
colleagues, for be was never prevailed upon to act cordially witb
them. It appears that, even at last, the negotiations between
tbe King and Lord Rockingham were carried on in great part
by the mediation of Lord Shelburne, which increased tbe jealous
feelings of the more liberal party towards the latter. The new
ministers were, Lord Rockingham as first lord of tbe Treasury ;
tbe 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 tbe Exchequer; Admiral Keppel, created a viscount,
first lord of the Admiralty ; General Conway, commander-in-
chief ; the Duke of Richmond, master-general ofthe 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 tbe 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 tbe new administration, and had been conceded by the
King; tbey were, i. peace with the Americans, and the
acknowledgment of their independence ; 2. a substantial reform
in the civil-list expenditure ; and 3. tbe diminution of the
influence of the Crown.
Tbe ministers proceeded immediately to carry out their
projected reforms, and evidently with good-will, but tbat tbey
were not especially palatable to tbe King was sufficiently clear
from the constant opposition tbey received from tbe Chancellor
Thurlow, witb wbom Fox bad expressed great reluctance to
take office. Keppel brougbt at least new vigour into the
Admiralty department ; and many of tbe old veteran officers,
who bad resigned after Keppel's trial, were restored to the
service. Rodney, a staunch Tory, who bad not yet performed
what was expected from him witb tbe fieet in tbe 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, whicb he represented in Parliament,
had declared their intention of nominating Mr. Pitt in bis place
for the next election. The position of England at tbis moment
was discouraging on every side; and our enemies, both in
America and in Europe, refused to treat except on bumfliating

RODNEY AND DE GRASSE.

355

conditions. In tbe midst of these embarrassments, on tbe i8th
of Jlav, tbe wbole country was struck witb astonishment, and
thrown into what has been described as " a delirium of J03%"
bv the arrival of tbe news of the glorious victoi-3' of the i2tb of
April gained by Rodney over tbe French admiral De Grasse,
which in one day restored England to tbe sovereignty of the
ocean. The English ministers, wbo bad blamed so much all
the naval schemes and operations of their predecessors, were
much embarrassed by tbis success, the honour of which really
belonged to Lord North, and by tbeir own proceedings witb
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 bouses to the victorious Rodney, and he was
raised to tbe peerage, but only as a baron, and was voted a
pension of but 2,000?. a-year. Sucb were tbe effects of tbe
violfenee 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 victor3'- turned less against
the ministry tban might bave been expected, but tbey were
attacked witb vigour
by tbeir predecessors,
wbo were now in tbe
opposition, and they
were glad to make
the best excuses they
could. Those sure con
comitants of a struggle
of parties in tbis
country, tbe carica
tures, had already been
launcbedagainst them,
aud Rodney's suc
cesses furnished abun
dant materials. One
of these, entitled,
" Rodney introducing
De Grasse," published
on tbe 7th of June,
represents tbe con
queror presenting his
illustrious captive at • i. 4
tbe foot of the throne. On one side of tbe sovereign stands
Admiral Keppel; on the other. Fox. Tbe latter is represented as
A A 2

BODNBT AND DE GEASSE,

35'^ THE SHELBURNE CABINET.
soliloquizing, " This fellow must be recalled ; he fights too
well for us ; and I have obligations to Pigot, for he has lost
i7,oooZ. at my faro bank." Tbe insinua
tion thus conveyed against tbe secretary
of state was to all appearance perfectly
unjust. Keppel is represented as jealous
of Rodney's glory ; be 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, " Tbis
is tbe very shi]5 1 ought to have taken on
the 27th of July." Another caricature,
published on tbe i3tb 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 witb the reward of a baron's
EEWAED. coronet, and exclaims (in allusion to Rod
ney's recall and elevation to the peerage),
" Hold, my dear Rodney, you bave done enough ! I will now
make a lord of you, and you shall bave the happiness of never
being heard of again." These two prints are reckoned to be the
first attempts of the celebrated Gillray, whom we shall soon
find for many years almost monopolizing, by his remarkable
talent, this branch of art. Tbe somewhat sudden death
of tbe Marquis of Rockingham,
on tbe ist of July, brougbt on
quite unexpectedly a new minis
terial crisis. It was soon known
that the King, who alwa3-s pre
ferred communicating with Lord
Shelburne, intended to place him
at the bead of the ministry.
Tbe Rockingham party, aud
more especially Fox and Burke,
(the former was accused by his
opponents of aiming at tbe place
himself), held a meeting, and
mo=t of them determined to
resign. Pox had already com
plained tbat be was in a situation

^0(!D SHELBUENB,

STATE PENSIONS. 357
where be was thwarted in his principles by a superior power,
and, although in a position of great pecuniary difficulty, he
refused under an3'^ condition to act in a ministry of which Lord
Shelburne was bead. He was followed by Burke, Lord John
Cavendisb, John Townshend, and others. Colonel Barre took
Burke's place, and was himself succeeded by DundaF ; Thomas
Townshend succeeded Fox as foreign secretarv ; and William
Pitt was raised to the post of chancellor of the l^.-^cbequer, in the
place of Lord John Cavendish, Thus began the Shelburne
administration, witb no great hopes of success, for it was
notoriously weak in parliamentary infiuence.
These changes led to acrimonious recriminations in tbe House
of Commons, in which Pitt shewed the commencement of bis
future bostility towards Fox. The King is said to have received
the resignation of tbe latter witb unconcealed satisfaction ; all
kinds of abuse were thrown upon Fox and Burke out of doors, and
tbe most selfish and factious motives were attributed to them.
One of the earliest caricatures by Sayer, a large print published on
the 17th of Jul3', and entitled "Paradise Lost," represents the
unfortunate pair cast out of tbe gate of the ministerial paradise,
which is adorned with the faces of Shelburne, Barre, and Donuing,
" 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 I
Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon.
Tbe 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 tbe subject of loud and bitter complaints by the
Tories, wbo compared it with tbe smaller reward which had
been doled out to Rodney for one of the most glorious victories
of the age. Another large print by Sayer, published on the 24tb
of August, under the title oi"Date obolum Belisario," rep»'--
sents the colonel receiving bis pension from Lord Shelburne at
tbe Treasury door.
" Home's veteran fought ber rebel foes.
And thrice her empire saved ;
Yet through her streets, bow'd down with woes,
An huaible pittance craved.

358 CARICATURES ON FOX.
" Our soldier fought a better fight.
Political contention ;
And grateful ministers requite
His service with a pension."

One of the few efforts of Gillray
at tbis early period of bis career,
related to tbe 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,
wbo are counting tbeir 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
tbe caricatures of whicb Fox and
bis friend were now made tbe
butt. In one, the discomfited
ex-secretary of state is seen under
tbe character of " Ahitophel in
the dumps," riding away dole
fully on his mule towards a gal
lows and block. In another, Fox

AHITOPHEL IN THE DUMPS.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.

359

HUDIBEAS AND HIS SQCIEE.

and his staunch supporter Burke, are placed in tbe stocks
as personifications of Hudibras and his squire.
'The Parliament, bowever,
was prorogued on tbe nth
of July, and tbe summer and
autumn were occupied iu
fruitless negotiations to se
cure a majority for tbe Shel
burne cabinet in tbe ensuing
session. Their apprehensions
were so great, that, as the
time for the onening of
Parliament approacned, Pitt
was emplo3red in a private
interview with Fox to gain
bim, over to tbe 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, wbo had always
been opposed to the recognition of American independence,
migbt be induced to yield to the King in countenancing the
sovereign's favourite measure of tbe war against America. Tbe
signal overthrow of tbe Frencb navy bad struck the Americans
witb dismay, and some of tbem began to despair ; but tbey 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 tbe re
duction of Gibraltar ; and be and tbe King of France put for
ward pretensions to which the English ministry could on no
conditions listen. Otber successes, however, attended our fieets
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 i3tb of
September 1782, and by tbe subsequent arrival of tbe fieet
under Lord Howe for tbe relief of tbe garrison, actions whicb
bave made tbe names of General Elliot and Admiral Howe im
mortal. All parties began now to talk witb more sincerity of
their desires for peace ; and the signing of preliminaries, wbich
was executed by the Americans and tbeir European allies inde
pendent of eacb otber, was hastened by tbeir mutual jealousies.
Tbe independence of tbe United States of America was tbus

36o AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
acknowledged ; but King George acceded to tbe wish of his sub«
jects on this point witb a very bad grace, and bis ill-humour
was even shewn in the speech witb wbich be opened bis Parlia
ment at tbe beginning of December. The King long detested
the very name of anything American ; and bis personal hatred
of Franklin, wbo bad certainly been one of the least conciliating
and least candid of the factious " patriots" on the otber side of
the water, was afterwards exhibited even in tbe peculiar colour
given to bis patronage of science and literature. It is said that
Sir John Pringle was driven to resign his place as president of
tbe 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 bis power to reverse the
order of nature, and resigned, and Sir Joseph Banks, who, like a
true courtier, advocated tbe opinion wbich was patronized by
the King, succeeded bim in the society's chair.
Feelings like these, long persisted in, tended to perpetuate
tbat estrangement of interes-ts between the mother- country and
ber 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 tbe Tories of this country, long after the con
test was over, could think and speak of the Americans only as
rebels ; and tbe latter, who seemed to bave adopted as tbeir
national character too much of tbe 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 tbat occurred wbile 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 aud hear a friend
Trill forth harmonious ditty ;
Strange things I'll tell, whicli late befell
In Philadelphia city.

THE BATTLE OF THE KEGS. 361
" 'Twas early day, 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 brewing.
" ' These kegs now hold the rebels bold.
Packed up like pickled herring ;
And they're come do-wn 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 ot 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,
' For God's sake, what's the matter !'
" At his bed-side he then espied
Sir Erskinet at command, sir;
Upon one foot he had one boot,
And t' other in his hand, sir.
" 'Arise ! arise I' 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 kegs,
Come driving dowu the tide, sir.
* Sir William Howe, who commanded in America from 1776 to 1778.
•I- Sir W. Ei-skine,

362 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:
The small arms maiie a rattie ;
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 :
'Wliysure,' thought they, ' the devil 's to pay
'Mongst folks above the water.'
"The kegs, 'tis said, though strongly made
Of ' rebel ' staves and hoops, sir,
Could not oopose their powerful foes,
The conquering British troops, sir.
" From morn to night, these men of might,
DispL-y'd amazing coui-age ;
And when the sun was fairly down,
Eetir'd to sup their porridge.
"A hundred men, with each a p'jii,
Or more, upon 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,
They'll make their boasts and brags, sir,"

3<53

CHAPTER X.
GEORGE IIL
Overthrow of Lord 'Jhelburne — The Coalition — Attacks on the Coalition —
Pox's India Bill — Carlo Khan — Back-stairs Influence — The Interfe
rence of the King, 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,
THE 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, wbo had been aiming at
popularity by bis 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 tbe minister of bis choice. But William Pitt
was hardly yet in the position to command a party, even though
backed by the King,
Sbelburne'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 tbe habit of shewing. We bave seen witb 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 tbe
privacy of bis chamber.. One of tbe best of those on tbe latter
subject, published on the 23rd of August, 1782, is entitled
" Cincinnatus in retirement ; falsely supposed to represent Jesuit
Pad driven back to his native potatoes." The metamorphosed
orator is taking bis frugal meal out of an utensil, inscribed
" Relic No. I, used by St. Peter," surrounded witb various em
blems of fanaticism and whisky-drinking. Fox and Burke, in
return, accused Lord Shelburne of treachery and selfishness ;
and tbese charges were re-echoed in satires which came more direct
from tbe Tories, and attacked indiscriminately both divisions of

364

STATE OF PARTIES.

EECEIMINATION.

tooth.'

the Whigs. Thus, in a print entitled " Guy Vaux and Judas
-^"-^ Iscariot," Shelburne, in the
latter cbaracter, is walking
off witb a bag inscribed
" Treasury," while the Guy
is detecting the traitor by
the light of his lanthorn,
Tbe Fox exclaims, " Ah !
what, I've found you out,
have I ? Who armed the
high priests and the people?
who betrayed bis mas , . , ?"
Judas retorts, " Ha, ha !
poor Gunpowder 's vexed —
he, be, be ! Shan't have the
bag, I tell you, old Goose-
Witb similar sentiments, others looked upon these rapidly
changing ministries as so many
parties of mischief-makers ;
andin one caricature, published
during the present year, King
George is seen slumbering on
bis throne, while his ministers
are dispatched rather uncere
moniously to a very warm ha
bitation. As tbe time for tbe meet
ing of Parliament approached,
people began to look witb
more anxiety to the position
whicb eacb of the three par
ties that now divided it was
likel3' to take. It was roughly
estimated that the ministerial
votes in the House of Com
mons were about a hundred and forty, tbat about a hundred
and twenty members followed the standard of Lord North, and
ninety that of Fnx, the remainder being uncertain ; and it was
evident, under these circumstances, that Fox could give tbe
majorit3' in the bouse to either of the two parties with whicb
be 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 5tb of
December, the preliminaries of the peace were made known, and
tbe King's speech was warmly attacked by Fox and Burke, to

A SLUMBEEING MONAECH,

THE COALITION. 365
wbom a spirited reply was made by Pitt ; but the opposition
shewed itself but slightly till after the Christmas recess. When
the bouse met again towards the end of January, the interval
had produced a union of parties which seems to have struck
most people witb surprise. The preliminaries of peace had been
signed at Paris on the 2otb of January (1783), and tbeir consi
deration in the House of Coiumons was fixed for the i7tb of
February, when the ministers moved an address of approval.
Tbe amendment, wb!.;h accepted the treaty, but demanded
further time to consider tbe terms before expressing a judo-ment
upon them, and was evid'.,iitly 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 bad for some days been talked of, was now openly avowed,
and both parties attacked the peace witb 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
tbey bad long been strangers ; and tbe ministerial speakers, in
tbeir repl3', fell witb the greatest acrimony upon what they
termed the monstrous alliance between tvvo men who had pre
viously made sucb strong declarations of political hostility.
Burke first spoke, in defence of tbe coalition ; be was followed
by Fox, wbo openly avowed it, and both be and Lord North de
clared that, even when they were most opposed to each otber.
they had regarded one another personally with mutual respect ;
that tbeir ground of enmity — tbe American war — being now at
an end, it was time for their hostility to cease also, and that tbey
bad 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
2 1st 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, whicb lasted till after four in tbe morning,
and was carried by a majority of seventeen. The coalition was
ao-aiii tbe 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
tbe public safety.
This second defeat was tbe death-blow of the administration,
and Lord Shelburne immediately resigned. The King, who
literall3' bated Fox, and who was enraged at the coalition, made
a fruitless attempt to form a ministry under Pitt. In the
]jeginning of March, the King had several interviews with Lor^

366 PARLIAMENTARY STRUGGLE.
North, whom he attempted to detach from bis new alliance, and
then be tried to form a half coalition ministry, from wbich Pox
was to be excluded. On the 24tb of March, when tbe country
had remained more than a monlih without a Cabinet, an address
was voted in the House of Commons almost unanimously, pray
ing the King to form immediately sucb au administration as
would command tbe confidence of tbe country. The King,
however, remained obstinate in his personal animosities ; and, on
the 31st of March, another and much stronger address was
moved by the Earl of Surrey ; upon which Pitt, wbo bad all
tbis time retained his office of chancellor of tbe Exchequer, and
wbom it was evidently tbe King's wish to make prime minister,
announced that he bad that day resigned. On the 2nd of
April, the King again sent for Lord North, and, through him,
gave full authority to tbe Duke of Portland, who was consi
dered as tbe bead of tbe 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 Stor-
mont (the only person admitted into tbe Cabinet to please the
King), president of tbe council ; and tbe 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. Asburst, and Sir Beaumont Hotbam. Tbe otber mem
bers of the ministry were, the Earl of Hertford, lord chamber
lain ; Viscount Townshend, master-general of the Ordnance ;
the Honourable Richard Pitzpatrick, secretary at war ; Edmund
Burke, paymaster of the forces ; Charles Townshend, treasurer
of the Navy ; James Wallace, attorney-general ; Richard Bi-ins-
ley Sheridan and Richard Burke, secretaries to tbe Treasury;
the Earl of Nortbington, lord-lieutenant of Ireland ; William
Windham, secretary for Ireland ; and William Eden, wbo is
said to have been tbe chief negotiator in tbe formation of tbe
coaUtion, vice-treasurer.
There seemed to be much greater cordiality in tbis alliance of
two parties tban bad been visible in any former coalition of tbe
same kind; and, to all appearance, tbe new ministry migbt have
been an efficient one, and beneficial to tbe country, had it not
been regarded from the first witb bitter dislike by tbe 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 cbaracter, which was far from giving general satisfaction, and
at first tbe liberal leaders lost much of their popularity. Oari-

CARICATURES AGAINST THE COALITION. .^67
catures were burled against tbem in greater numbers, and in a
better style of execution, tban bad been witnessed for several
years. In the windows of tbe print-shops the heads of the two
leaders were contrasted in tbeir new fraternity in a variety of
shapes, so as to exhibit the opposite cbaracter of their passions
and qualities. The sleek face and fashionably- dressed and pow
dered hair of Lord North seemed to reject all comparison witb
tbe dark countenance and the black and disordered looks of
Charles Fox. In one of these, by
Sayer, tbe profiles of tbe two
chiefs of the coalition are joined
together on tbe face of a medal
lion ; in another, by the same
artist, entitled " Tbe Mask," and
inscribed "fronti nulla fides" the
coalition is pictured by a full face
formed of one half of tbe face of
eacb joined in a vertical line ; tbat
of Fox, on the left, is made to
convey a rather vulgar intimation
of successful cunning, while tbe
more candid features of Lord
North represent a strange compound of vexation and satisfaction.

COALITION.

WAB.

Among tbe earliest of tbe caricatures against the coalition is
one by Gillray, published on the 9tb of March, representing in
two compartments the position wbich the coalescing parties

368

THE COALITION DANCE.

held towards eacb otber before and after tbeir union. The first
is entitled "War," and exhibits Fox and Burke thundering
against North, as minister, tbeir eloquent denunciations, and
stigmatizing as "infamous" tbe very idea of their ever consent
ing to act under the same banner witb bim. North's condem
nation of bis two adversaries is equally energetic. Beneath
the figures, whicb give us a characteristic sketch of the orato
rical attitudes of tbe three speakers, are inscribed extracts from
their speeches when tbus opposed to eacb other. In the second
compartment, or plate, entitled "Neither Peace nor \Yai-," 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 17th of March, represented North painting white tbe dark
features of his new friend, alluding to bis declaration in the
bouse, " I bave 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
Gilli-a3', published in the month of April, 1783, satirises tbe
new administration under the representation of a " coalition
dance," in whicb the principal characters in it figure under tbe
various garbs given to tbem by the prejudices of party faction.
Edmund Burke appears here
as the concealed Jesuit, a
character which, as we have
already seen, tbe extreme Pro
testant party had conferred
upon bim ever since his exer
tions for Catholic emancipa
tion. A large caricature by
Sayer, published on the 5tb of
May, is founded on a speech
made by one of the opposition
lords in the upper bouse im
mediately after the formation
of the new ministi-3', who,
speaking of Lord North, bad
expressed himself in these
terras: — "Such was the love
of office of the noble lord,
tbat, finding ho would not
* The dog is said to be intended as an allusion to an occurrence in the

A JESUIT.

"RAZOR'S LEVEE."

369

be permitted to mount the box, be bad been content to get
up bebind." The new Whig coach, with the Fox's crest on
tbe panels, is drawn by two meagre hacks of horses through a
rough road, jogging every minute against some ofthe 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, witb
an air of alarm ; whilst Fox and tbe Duke of Portland, seated
together on tbe box, are joining in
their efforts to draw in the reins. A
guide-post indicates the way they
are going, " To Bulstrode, tbrough
Bushy Park." On the a ist of April,
Sayer bad satirized tbe whole min
istry in a caricature, entitled,
" Razor's Levee ; or, tbe heads of
a new Whig Ad  n on a broad
bottom." Tbe scene is the shop of
a barber, wbo is busily engaged in
arranging a number of block-heads,
representing the members of the
coalition ministry. He is especially '
occupied on the beads of North and
Fox, joined on one stand. On the
wall, immediately bebind, ai-e sus
pended in juxtaposition the portraits
of Cromwell and Charles I., to inti
mate that tbe principles now
brougbt 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, aud Keppel, and Edmund Burke, each on its separate
stand. A broadside ballad is stuck against the wall immediately
behind Keppel, of whicb enough is legible to inform us that it
is " Rule Britannia, set to a new tune," on tbe " 27th July ;"
an allusion to Keppel's partial engagement witb the French,
whicb 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 the
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 dog is made to acoomp.iny Lord North in some of tha
subsequent caricatures, B B

THE DEIVEES OP THE STATE.

^70

TRE DUKE OF GRAFTON.

map of Great Britain and Ireland," from which Ireland is
nearly torn away. The celebrated publican and politician, Sam
House, wbom we shall soon meet again
as a prominent actor in politics, sits in
front witb a pot of beer in bis band,
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 wbo was accused
by his enemies of deserting or betray
ing them all, seemed now to bave fallen
entirely in political importance.^
Among the miscellaneous caricatures
against the coalition we may mention
one whicb represents tbe three chiefs,
Portland, Fox, and North, as a strange
THE DUKE OE GEAFTON. Z!eTOsnator«,examinedby 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 tbe hero of the back-stairs influence by
whicb this administration was eventually overthrown. In
another, represent
ing Fox and North
partaking of tbeir
bowl of pottage,
the fox is made to
take tbe place of
the satyr of tbe
fable, wbo found a
host wbo blew hot
and cold witb the
same breath. Ano
ther large print, or
rather series of
prints, in nine divi
sions, is entitled
" The loves of the Fox and tbe Badger ; or, the Coalition
Wedding," and represents a burlesque pictorial history of tbe
friendship between Fox and Lord North, tbe latter of wbom
was commonly designated by the sobriquet of " the badger."
Another caricature in compartments is entitled, " Slides to tbe
State Magic Lantern," and ridicules tbe history of the coali-

EOOST COMPANIONS.

THE NEW STATE IDOL.

371

the two politioal friends are

tion. In one of the divisions,
joined under one coat, and placed
on a pedestal as tho 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-
aeeeptable to the country ; and
another of the slides represents
the two candidates for power
rejected by Britannia, wbo points
to a distant view of the gallows
and the block as tbeir proper
destination. Tho first acts ofthe coalition ministry showed, however, that
it was strong in parliamentary influence. A rather heavy loan.

THE NEW STATE IDOL.

THE COALITION CANDIDATES EEJBCTED.
rendered necessary by tbe condition in wbich Lord Shelburne
had left the finances of tbe country, and a stamp-duty on
receipts, were carried by large majorities, in spite of the violent
efforts of tbe opposition ; and the favourite measure of William
Pitt, whenever be was out of office, a motion for parliamentary
reform, which he now brougbt forward to embarrass the cabinet,
n B 2

372 FOX^S INDIA BILLS.
was thrown out in a manner equally decisive. In the middle of
July, parbament separated, and tbe new ministers were left to
prepare in quiet tbe great measures wbich they intended to bring
forward for tbe consideration of tbe legislature.
The chief of these were two bills for the better regulation of
our extensive possessions in the East. The pubbc had been
long dazzled by tbe brilliance of our conquests in Asia, and
astonished at the riches which were daily brougbt home ; but,
in the transition from a company of traders to a body whicb
held sovereign power over mighty empires, the India directors
now stood in a position wbich called for tbe interference of tbe
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," wbo returned bome with immense fortunes, which
they bad amassed by every description of injustice and rapacity.
Tbe vices of tbis sj-stem had attracted attention for some time,
and the measures now brought forward by Fox were intended to
bring a remedy. He proposed to vest tbe affairs of the East
India Company in tbe bands of certain commissioners, for tbe
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 tbem other officers for tbe more immediate government of
India, witb powers, and under responsibilities, which were calcu
lated to put an end to tyranny and oppression, and to improve
tbe condition of the people througbout our Indian possessions.
Tbe plan was, of course, obnoxious to the company, aud they
employed freely tbeir immense riches in raising up opposition
to it : it was even hinted at b3- many that the King himself bad
indirectly taken money from the company to overthrow it.
Parbament met on the nth of November, and tben tbe first
measure brougbt forward was the bill for the regulation of India.
Pitt, Dundas, Jenkinson, and otber members of tbe 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 tbe Lords. Walpole writes on the 2nd of Decem
ber, " Tbe pobticians of London, who at present are not the
most numerous corporation, are -warm on a bill for the new
regulation of the Ea,>t Indies, brougbt in bv Mr. Fox. Some
even of his associates apprehended bis being defeated, or meant
to defeat him; but bis marvellous abilities bave hitherto
triumphed conspicuously, aud on two divisions in the House of

JWFajrholt JSAsc

¦A.M'LO KHA^-KS TIMUHPEI^n Ifi i-^T-

OPPOSITION TO THE INDIA BILLS. 373
Commons be had majorities of 109 and 114. On that field he
will certainly be victorious ; the forces will be more nearly
balanced when the Lords fight tbe battle; but though tbe
opposition wfll bave more generals and more able, he is confident
tbat bis troops will overmatcb theirs ; and in parliamentary
engagements a superiority of numbers is not vanquished by the
talents of tbe commanders, as often happens in more martial
encounters. His competitor, Mr. Pitt, appears by no means an
adequate rival. Just like tbeir fathers, Mr. Pitt has brilliant
language, Mr. Fox sobd sense, and sucb luminous powers of
displaying it clearly, tbat mere eloquence is but a Bristol stone
when set by the diamond reason."
The main grounds of opposition to tbis India bdl were, that
it was an infringement of vested rights as regarded the com pan 3-,
and that its tendency, and, probably, its object, was, by the
immense influence it gave to ministers, wbo had the appoint
ment of tbe India governors, to increase their power to such au
extent as to make tbem independent of tbe Crown. Some
people hesitated not to say that Fox aimed at establishing in
bis 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 caricatui-e
by Sayer, published on the 25th 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 graspuig at power, and a few days
after tbe appearance of tbe caricature last mentioned, on tbe
5tb of December, he published his 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 cbaracter of Carlo
Khan, is conducted to the door of tbe India House on the
back of an elephant, which exhibits tbe full face of Lord North,
and he is led by Burke as his imperial trumpeter ; for he had
been the loudest supporter of tbe 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 tbat bis India
Bill received its severest blow in pubbc estimation from this
caricature, which had a prodigious sale, and its effect was in
creased by the multitude of pirated copies aud imitations.
When Pitt came into power be rewarded the autbor witb a pro
fitable place.*
* James Sayer was the son of a captain merchant at Yarmouth, and

374 CARLO KHAN.
The sentiment which is said to bave weighed most with King
George, after his personal dislike to his ministers, was the dread
of diminishing the infiuence of tbe Crown, which was often and
carefully instilled into him by Lord Thurlow ; for tbe King held
private communication with tbe chiefs of the opposition, with
wbom be was concerting measures for bringing them back to
power. Tbe King's behaviour to his present ministers was,
indeed, most uncandid. He never informed them that he dis
approved of the India Bill; yet when the i5tb of December,
tbe day appointed for the second reading in tbe House of Lords,
approached, he gave Lord Temple, witb wbom he had had
several private interviews, a note in bis own handwriting to tbe
effect " that bis majesty would deem those who voted for the
bill not only not his friends, but his enemies ; and tbat if Lord
Temple could put this in still stronger words, he bad full au
thority to do so." Tbis note was shewn pretty freely to all
those peers who were supposed to be infiuenced by tbe royal in
clinations ; and the King further commanded the lords of tbe
Bedchamber to vote against bis ministers. Tbe consequence
was that the latter were beaten by a majority of eight. On the
i7tb of December tbe bill was finally thrown out by a majority
of nineteen. In the night of tbe i8th tbe King dismissed bis
ministers, and gave the seals into tbe bands of Lord Temple.
The opposition — whicb, in tbis instance, was tbe Court party,
— burst into loud exultation, wbich was as loudly re-echoed by
the newspapers, and trumpeted forth by their agents in a variety
of different shapes. On the 24tb 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, wbo is falling to
the ground witb the words, " secret infiuence " in his mouth.
Burke, having thrown down bis 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 tbe first of
which, entitled " The Fall of Phaeton," and pubbsbed on the
6tb of January, 1784, Fox is represented as falling headlong
from the car of state, tbe reins of wbich are held by tbe band
of royalty. In another, published on tbe i2tb of January,
under tbe 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 cursitoiship. 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 tbe political Satan, surrounded by his satellites, Lords Port
land, Carlisle, Cavendish, Keppel, North, and Burke, &o. with
rueful countenances, whom he is encouraging after their fall.
'* All these aud more came flocking, but with looks
Downcast aud 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, uot substance, gently raised
Their fainting courage and dispeU'd tbeir fears."
At this time, indeed, tbe representatives of tbe 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
be 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
bave been given by the King to Lord Temple, were made iu tbe
House of Lords ; but the House of Commons proceeded much
more energetically. Ou the 1 7 tb of December, the very evening
when tbis underhand infiuence 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
(tho 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 tbe members, is a high
Clime and misdemeanour, derogatory to tbe honour of the
Crown, a breach of the fundamental privileges of Parliament,
and subversive of tbe constitution of this country ;" and further,
" that this House will, upon Monday morning next, resolve
itself into a committee of the wbole 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 tbe government
of India. On the iptb of December, after tbe ministers had
been dismissed, the Court pai-ty, on a question of adjournment,
found tbemselves in so small a minority, that they did not dare
to divide. On Monday, the 32nd, it was notified tbat Earl
Temple, who bad been appointed oue pf tbe new secretaries of

376 STRONG RESOLUTIONS.
state, bad resigned his office in consequence of what bad trans
pired in the House on the 19th. A very strong address to the
King was then voted without a division, and was presented on
the 24tb, to which the King returned an evasive answer, but
made a distinct declaration tbat be would not prorogue or
dissolve the Pai-bament. On the I2tb of January, tbe first day
of meeting after Christmas, when tbere 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 "tbe short
time tbey bad to exist ;" and moved, " That it was tbe opinion
of tbe 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, an3' sum or sums of money voted for the service of the
present year, in ease 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 tbe House, and contrary to
tbe faith of Parliament." Tbis 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 i9tb of December, 1783, and tbe 12th of January,
1784, specifying eacb 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 tbe
present ministry to come into power, it required extraordinary
motions to prevent tbem doing mischief now they were iu 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 sueh 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 tbe late changes were preceded by
extraordinai-3' rumours, dangerous to the constitution, inasmuch
as the sacred name of Majesty bad been unconstitutionally used
for tbe purpose of affecting tbe deliberations of Parliament; and
the appointments that followed were accompanied by circum
stances new and extraordinary, and sucb as were evidently
calculated not to conciliate the affections of that House."

PITFS INDIA BILL THROWN OUT. 377
Tbis last motion was violently opposed b3T Pitt, Dundas, and
Scott (afterwards Lord Eldon), but it was carried b3f a majority
of fifty-four. On the 15th 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, tbe
following resolution was passed by a majority of twent3r-one : —
" That it is tbe opinion of tbis committee, it having been
declared by this House, that, in the present situation of bis
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 extraordinai'3f, such as were not calculated to conciliate the
aff'ections or engage the confidence of this House ; that his
Majesty's present ministers still holding high and responsible
offices, after sucb a declaration, is contrary to true constitutional
principles, and injurious to his Majesty and his people." The
debates on tbese 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 be was remarkable, and the King remained
obstinate in pursuing bis own course. On tbe 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 tbe same subject.
Tbe House was still labouring under tbe fear of a dissolution ;
and, on tbe 26th of January, a resolution was passed to avert it,
on which Pitt declared that be should not advise his Majesty to
dissolve the Parliament. An attempt was now made by some
persons of infiuence, who were alarmed at the threatening aspect
of affairs, to form a new coalition ; to wbich the King and Pitt
professed tbemselves favourable ; but it was soon seen tbat this
was merely done for the purpose of gaining time, and in the
hope of being able to soften down tbe opposition. On the 2nd
of February, Mr. Grosvenor, who bad been the chief actor in
tbis attempt, declared to the House bis failure, and moved a
resolution, which was carried without a division, setting forth
tbe necessity of an " united administration." Tbis 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, " Tbat it is tbe opinion of tbis 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, tbat a copy of tbe resolutions of
tbe preceding day should be laid before the King. On tbe 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 tbe 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 5tli,
a loyal address of tbe House of Lords was presented to tbe King.
The Commons resented tbis 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,
bad not dismissed his ministers, nor had those ministers re
signed." On tbe 2otb, another resolution agaiust the ministers
was passed by a majority of twent3r, and an address to the King
in tbe same spirit was passed ; and similar motions and addresses
were repeated, until, on tbe 24tb of March, the Parliament was
prorogued, with a discontented speech from tbe throne, and it
was dissolved on the day following, March 25tb. Thus ended
for the moment this threatening contest between tbe Crown and
tbe most important branch of the Legislature ; and tbe result of
tbe elections hindered it from being revived in tbe subsequent
session. During tbese 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 9tb 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
ment of the consideration of
tbe mutiny act : —
" Oui bono t — publico bono.
"Die Zunce, 9° Februarii, 1 784.
" In a committee on the sense ofthe 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, Cler. Par."

HEADS.

YOUNG HERCULES.

379

One or two other clever prints by Sayer were produced on
tbis occasion. An engraving by Gillray, published in the
month of Fel.ruary, represented Pitt under tbe character ot the
infant Hercules, strangling tbe two serpents of tbe coabtion,

TOfNG HZECTIES AND THE SEBPESTS.
Fox and North. Tbe coabtion was attacked in songs and
ballads, as well as in caricatures ; and tbe political tero-iversa-
tions, either real or pretended, of tbe chief's of the opposition,
were chanted incessantly, not only iu pubbc, 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 his fortune a sliilhng.
Derry down, down, do-wn, deny down.
*' Against him Charles Fox was a sure bitter foe.
And cried, that tbe empire he'd soon overthrow ;
Before him all honour and conscience had fled.
And voVd that the axe it should cut oflf his head.
Deny down, ic.
"Edmund Burke, too, was in a mighty great raje.
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 bom.
Deny 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 !
Deny 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 rain,
The people they serve in whatever they're doing.
Deny down," ts.

38o

THE UNFORTUNATE ASS.

Against tbe evils under which tbe 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 bave it be^
lieved tbat tbe opposition was a mere faction, unpopular
throughout tbe country ; and they expressed with great con
fidence tbat an appeal to the nation would end in their own
favour. A boldly-drawn carica
ture, entitled "Britannia Aroused;
or, tbe coalition monsters de
stroyed," represents Britannia
hurling tbe two chiefs of the
coalition from ber, as enemies to
that liberty of whicb 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
tbe 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 tbe violence
of the other was paving tbe way for tbe encroachments of demo-

EEITANNIA AEODSED.

A lOHG POLL AND A W80N9 ptil*.

CARICATURES AGAINST THE COURT. 381
oraoy. The voiee of tbis party is beard at times, but not very
loud. A oarieature, entitled "The Unfortunate Ass," pub
lished on the nth of Jlareh, 17S4, burlesques the long struggle
botweou King troorge and Charles Fox, which bad preceded the
dissolution of Parliament. Tbe ass represents the people laden
with taxes ; the King, armed witb the sword of " prerogative,"
is pulling in oue direction, whiob is designated 113"- a finger-post
as tho " road to absolute nionarohv," Fox is pulling with equal
obstinaov in the other diroetiou, which is similarly pointed out
as tbe "road to repubbcauisui." Fox exclaims, "I humbly insist
upon the management, or else will not grant anv supplies,"
Tbe 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 b^- wbich they had been brought into
power, Iu one of these, published on the 12th of January, the
King is represented with two faces, giving his hand openly on
one side to Fox, wbo has the India hill in his hand, and to
North, wbile with the other face he thrusts his hand through a
screen to a lord w-bo has mounted by the baek-stairs. Behind
North and Fox a piicture is suspended on the wall, repre.-ieiitiiig
Bute in the character of a Seottish eat, booted, with an insorip-
tioii iu French, iutimatlng that it is " the celebrated Seottisb
cat whiob obtained a place in the royal cabinet twenty-four
years ago : it is represented booted, and fierce, espeeiolly to the
King's ministers." Over the back-stairs entrance is an erapty
frame, witb the inscription, also in Freneb, " The frame for the
compauion to the Seottisb eat, which is not yet found."
Among a number of patriotio caricatures wliioh appeared
during the parliameutary struggle described above, aud on the
eve of tbe elections, we may mention three, which bear con
siderable resemblance to the style of Rowlandson, aud are pro
bably to be reckoned among his earl3' works. In the first, pub
lished on tbe nth of March, Fox is represeuted as " Tbe Cham
pion of the People," ai-iued 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," '" Seotob
polities," "Duplicity," and "Corruption." The two hitler,
with some others, are nlreadv out oft'. Behind the dragon, tlie
Dutehman, Frenchman, and other foreign enemies, are seen
dttiieinif round the standard of sedition. The ehampioii has on
liis side strong bodies of English and Irish, bearing aloft the
'• standard of universal libert\- ;" the former shout, •¦ While ho
protects us, we will support bim;" the hitter, "He gave us a

382

THE STATE AUCTION.

free trade, and all we asked ; he shall have our firm support."
Still nearer bim, the East Indians are on theu- knees praying for
his success. Tbe second of these caricatures, published on the
26tb of March, is entitled, " The State Auction." Pitt, as tbe
young auctioneer, is knocking down witb tbe hammer of " pre
rogative" most of tbe valuables of the constitution. Dundas,
as his assistant, is holding up for sale a heavy lot, entitled "Lot
I. The Rights of the People." Pitt cries, " Shew the lot tbis
wa3% 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 tbe left, the " chosen repre-
senters," as they are termed, are leaving the auction-room, mut
tering complaints, or encouragements, sucb as, " Adieu to
liberty!" "Despair not," "Now or never!" Fox alone stands
bis ground, aud makes a last effort, — " I am determined to bid
with spirit for lot i ; he shall pay dear for it tbat outbids me !"
Beneath the auctioneer stand what are termed the " hereditary
virtuosis;" the foremost of whom (apparently intended to re
present tbe lord-obancellor) leads them on witb the exhortation,
" Mind not the nonsensical biddings of those common fellows."
Tbe auctioneer's secretary observes, " We shall get tbe supplies
by this sale." The third of the caricatures alluded to, published
on the 31st of March, when the elections were beginning, alludes
more especially to tbe dissolution which had just taken place.
It is entitled " The Hanoverian Horse and British Lion ; — a
scene in a Uew play, lately acted in Westminster with distin
guished applause, act 2nd, scene last." Behind is the vacant
throne, with tbe intimation, " We shall resume - our situation
here at pleasure, Leo Rex." In
front, the Hanoverian horse, witb
out bridle or saddle, neighing
"pre - ro - ro - ro - ro-rogative," is
trampling on the safeguards of
the constitution, and kicking
out witb 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 tbe vaga
bonds packing." On tbe oppo
site side of tbe picture. Fox is
borne in, witb more gravity, on
THE BEmsH LION AND ITS EiDEB. ''he back of the British Uon, and

PITT'S MINISTRY. 383
holding a whip and bridle in his band. The indignant beast
exclaims, " If this horse is uot tamed, he will soon be absolute
king of our forest !" Tbe lion's rider warns his rival horseman
of bis danger, — " Prithee, BiUy, dismount before ye get a fall,
and let some abler jockey take your seat."
Wilbam Pitt, though only iu bis twenty-fifth year, was thus,
by tbe ro3"al will, firmly esfablished prime minister of England.
His eoUeasues were either those who were already well known
as "Tbe 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 tbe Treasury and chancellor of the
Exchequer. Lord Camden was president of the Council ; Vis
count Sydney and the Marquis of Carmai-then, secretaries of
State for Home and Foreign Affairs ; Earl Gower, privy seal ;
Earl Howe, first lord of tbe Admiralty ; Lord Thurlow, chan
cellor; the Duke of Richmond, master-general ofthe Ordnance;
Mr. W. GrenviUe and Lord Mulgrave, joint paymasters of the
Forces ; Mr. Dundas, treasurer of the Navy ; Mr. (afterwards
Lord) Kenyon, attorney-general ; and Mr. Pepper Arden, sob-
eitor-general. The opposition were fully aware ofthe disadvan-
¦fcages under which tbey would labour in a general election at tbe
present moment, and they had been anxious to avert a dissolu
tion ; their fears were confirmed by tbe event. The elections
were in many eases obstinat-e ; but Court influence, aud even tbe
King's name, were used openly, and from being tbe majority,
-the party wbic'n had been led by Fox and North numbered but
a comparatively small minority in tbe House of Commons. A
few passages from Horace Walpole's Correspondence will give
us the best picture of tbe feelings of tbe day. On the 30th of
March, be ivrites, " My letters, since tbe great change in the
administration, have been rare, and much less informing tban
tbev 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 de-al of boldness on both sides. Mr,
Pox, con-vineed of tbe nec^sity of hardy measures to correct
and save India, and coupling -with that rough medicine u desire
of confirming the power of himself aud his allies, had formed a
great system, and a very sagacious one; so sagacious, that it
struck France witb terror. But as this new power was to be
founded on the demolition of tbat nest of monsters, the East
India Company, and their spawn of nabobs, &c., they took the
alarm ; and tbe secret junto at Court rejoiced tbat tbey did.
The Court struck tbe blow at tbe ministers ; but it was the
gold of tbe company that really conjured up tbe stonn, and has

3 84 THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION.
diffused it all over England. On the other band, Mr. Pitt has
braved the majority of tbe House of Commons, has dissolved
tbe existent one, and, I doubt, giveu 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 ; and has
poured in addresses of thanks to tbe Crown 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 tbe new elections. The country has acted
witb such precipitation, and with so little knowledge of tbe
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 ; tbey probably will not bave 150. In short, between
the industry of tbe Court and the India Company, and tbat
momentary phrenzy tbat sometimes seizes a wbole nation, as if
it were a vast animal, such aversion to the coalition, and such a
detestation of Mr. Fox, have seized the country, tbat, even where
omnipotent gold retains its infiuence, tbe elected pass through
an ordeal of the most virulent abuse. Tbe great 'Whig families,
the Cavendishes, Rookingbams, Bedfords, bave lost all credit
in their own counties ; nay, bave been tricked out of seats where
tbe wbole property was tbeir 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, bowever, must have sown so deep resentment
as it was not wise to provoke ; considering tbat permanent fortune
is a jewel that in no crown is tbe most to be depended upon."
The most remarkable event in the history of tbese elections
was the obstinate contest for Westminster, which agitated tbe
metropolis in the most extraordinary manner during several
weeks. Westminster bad been represented in the Parliament
just dissolved b3' Fox and Sir Cecil Wray, who bad 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 (tbe admiral) were on the
present occasion proposed for Westmins-ter, the former being more
especially held forth as the antagonist of the " man of tbe
people." Tbe poll was opened on tbe ist of April, and
continued witbout intermission until the 17 th 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. 3^5
decidedly in tbe majority : but afterwards Fox gradually gained
ground, until, at the close of tbe election, be had a majority of
236 votes over bis rival, Sir Cecil. For a great portion of tbe
six weeks during which tbis contest lasted, tbe western part of
tbe town and, more especially, tbe streets in the neighbourhood
of Covent Garden, (where tbe election for Westminster always
took place), presented a scene of indescribable riot and confusion.
At the beginning of tbe election, Lord Hood had brought up a
considerable body of sailors, or, as others represented tbem, tbey
were ehielly hired ruffians dressed in sailors' clothes, wbo occupied
the neighbourhood of tbe hustings, and hindered many of Fox's
friends from approaching to register tbeir votes. When not
thus emplo3'ed, they paraded the streets, insulting and even
striking Fox's partizans. On the tbird day tbey came in greater
numbers, armed witb bludgeons, and surrounded the Shakespeare,
wbere Fox's committee met, and committed various outrages
during the day. At night they besieged the Shakespeare still
more 0108613"-, until tbe gentlemen within, provoked by tbeir
insulting behaviour, sallied out and beat them away. This
defeat only added to the excitement, for on tbe morning of tbe
fourth da3' of the election the sailor mob made its appearance
with a great accession of force, aud took up its position about
tbe 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 b3'- the conduct of tbe sailors, when tbe
latter began at the close of this day's poll to return to tbeir
usual outrages, tbe chairmen, whom the newspapers in the
interest of the opposition termed tbe "honest mob," fell upon
them and handled them so roughly that we are told tbat several
had tbeir skulls fractured, and that others were afterwards picked
up witb arras, legs, and ribs broken. The sailors then left the
neighbourhood of Covent Garden, and proceeded to St. James's
Street, wbere chiefly the chairmen plied for custom, with the
avowed intention of breaking their chairs ; but the chau-men
beat them again, aud the riot was at length put an end to
by tbe arrival of a body of tbe guards. The next day, whicb
was Tuesday, the sailors re-assembled in a threatening attitude
in Covent Garden, but when, towards the end of tbe poll, the
rival mob, composed now of a multitude of butchers, brewers, and
otber 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 takiug refuge in a private
C 0

386 ROUGH BEHAVIOUR OF THE CONSTABIES.
house ; and the mob, having visited Westminster -witbout
meeting with tbe object of their search, returned to tbe Strand,
where another combat took place between tbe adverse factions,
and tbe sailors were again defeated. Tbey met witb no better
success in two other battles that occurred in the course of ths
same even-Ins:, Wedn=5iay presented the same scenes of riot,
and, in tbe evening, a still more obst-'-n-?.te battle was f-?ngbt in
C-jvent Garden between the two mobs, in which the sailors were
utterlv defeated, and no less thin tvrenty or thirty of tbem are
said to have been carried to the hospitals with severe injuries.
Next dav few sailors made their appearance, and no more serious
riotintr occurred until measures were taken by the civil
authorities to prevent ar.y violent outbreak of popular feeling
whicb might occur at the close of the poll. The special con
stables were assembled at tbe places where Hood and Wray's
committee met, and behaved in a manner so evidently hostile to
tbe I'ricrids of Fox, tbat their presence tended rather to provoke
riot than otherwise. On tbe lotb of May, a party of constables
from Wapping were brought by order of Justice Wilmot,* in
opposition, it was said, to the opi-iions of the otber magistrates,
and the3' went about shouting "No Fox'.' and impeding and
insulting the liberal voters. Just as tbe poll closed, a slight
disturbance gave tbe excvise for an attack by tbe constables.
Tbe sound of nnu-row-bones and cleavers, the old signal for an
insurrection of tbe populace, was immediately beard, and a
rather serious scuffle ended in t'ne death of one of the constables.
Tbe party of Fox's opponents endeavoured to fix tbe death of
the constable on some individuals of the Foxite mob, wbo were
indicted for tbe murder, but acquitted : and it appeared pretty
evident on tbe trial tbat the victim had been knocked down by
mistake by one of bis fellow-constables in the beat and confusion
of the moment. But the violence of party faction was so great,
that one or two men of notoriously bad cbaracter were brought
forward, apparentlv hired, to swear that tbey 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 Fosite newspapers pretends that, a
short time before the cat^trophe mentioned in the text, he had addressed
to one of the chief booksellers in London a note worded as follows :
"JlE. EtaSS,
"Sir, I expects soon to be caUd out on a Mergensev, so send me all
the ax of parljment re Latin to a Gustis of Piece. I am,
" Youis to command, &c.
"Gdstis ^TmioT."

WRAY AND FOX. 387
cavalcade, witb flags, and incendiary handbills, on the 14th of
i\Iay, in the midst of the day's polling. Tbis was prevented by
the firmness of the parish officers, and by tbe proposal to close
tbe 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 tbis election for West
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, bis ingratitude towards Fox, for which bis
opponents treated him with tbe title of Judas Iscariot ; a pro
posal whicb be was said to bave made to suppress Chelsea
Hospital ; and a project of a tax upon maid-servants. To tbese
were added tbe more general cries against bis party, of undue
elevation of the prerogative and back-stairs infiuence. The
particular crimes laid against Fox, were tbe Coalition and tbe
India-bill ; but he was taxed with private immorality and with
revolutionary principles. His opponents represented that bis
attack on tbe East India Company's charter was but tbe 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 bis chain of political delinquencies ;
bis whole life, tbey said, bad been characterized by the same
want of sober principles : —
' ' 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 fiU'd with dire alarms
At such a beau gargon.
" He left the fair, and took to dice ;
At Brooks's they were not so nice.
But elear'd his pockets in a trice.
Nor left a wreck behind.
Nay, some pretend he even lost
That little grace ho had to boast,
And then resolved to seize some post^
Where he might raise the wind.
0 0 2

388 POLITIOAL 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, —
StiU keep him at a losing game ;
Bankrupt in fortune and in fame,
His day is almost done."
The grand enemy of tbe Crown, tbe Court agents said, was
no doubt at bis last gasp, and tbey began already to sing their
triumph over his grave : —
"Dear Car, is it true,
What I've long heard of you ?
'The man ofthe 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 ?
" 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 otber party, by dwelling continuall3' on Sir Cecil's
project of saving money to the state by abolishing Chelsea
Hospital, arrayed against him the numerous class wbo, one way
or other, derived benefit from tbat establishment ; and they
loudly represented tbat his proposed tax on maid-servants
would tbrow a great number of servants out of places, and that
it would tbus not only produce great distress, but that it would
indirectly increase the prevalence of prostitution. Tbere was
also a satirical story of bis keeping nothing in bis 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 tbe following specimen, belonging
to a class of parodies which were tben not uncommon : —
The first Cliapter of the Times.
.J.- " I. And it came to pass, that there were great dissensions in the West,
amongst the rulers of the nation.
"2. And the counsellors of the back-slairs 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 WRAY. 389
" 5. ' And with the scrip which will ai-ise, we will eat, drink, and be
merry.' Then he brought forth the roll of sheep-skin, and carue unto the
gin-shops, cellars, and bye-places, and said, — 'iSign your names,' — and
many made their marks.*
"6. Now it came to p.ass, that the time being coir.e when the people
choose their elders, that they assembled together at the hustings, nigh unto
the Place of Cabbages.
" 7. And Judas lif:ed up his prerogative phiz, and said, ' Choose me,
choose me I' But the people said, 'Satan, avaunt ! thou wicked Judas !
hast thou not deceived tliy best fiiend ? 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 luflunice!'
"9. And the people shouted, and cried with an exceeding loud voice,
saying, ' Fox is the man I '
" 10. Then they caused the trumpets to be sounded, as at tho 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 tbe maid-servants ;
nor was tbe old symbol of France and slavery — wooden shoes —
forgotten. The following, put out early in the canvass, may
serve as an example ; tbe allusion being more especially to
tbe extensive polling of soldiers for Hood and Wray at the
beginning of the election : —
" All Rorse-guarcls, Orenadier-guards, Foot-guards, and BlacJc-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 ' J;nocTc-me-down,' and plenty
of soap-suds, before they go to poll for Sir Cecil Wray, or eat.
" IS .B. — IChose that have no shoes or stockings may come without, there
being a quantity of wooden shoes provided for them."
The obnoxious tax upon tbe maids was a sufficient set-off to tbe
new taxes, especially tbat on receipts, wbich had been proposed
by Fox while in office, and were loudly cried down by his '"ory
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 sucb a pretender, wbose only claim was tbe love of
* This alhides 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, and signed onl/
By a few ignorant people.

3QO INTERFERENCE OF THE KING.
baoK-stairs intrigue, and wbose 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 I
" 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 tbe most
extraordinary kind. Tbe King is said to bave received almost
.hourly intelligence of what was going on, and to have been
afi'ected in the most evident manner by every change in the
state ef tbe 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 tbeir votes as householders, wbich 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 tbe same
side as the soldiers. When tbe popular party cried out against
tbis sort of interference, their opponents charged Fox and bis
friends witb bribery, and witb using various otber kinds of im
proper influence ; tbey insulted his voters by describing them
publicly as tbe lowest and most degraded part of the popula
tion ; and tbeir language became more violent as Fox gradually
rose on tbe poll. " It is an absolute fact," one of tbeir papers said,
" tbat if a person, on going up to tbe 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 witb an address
to Mr. Fox, at his ready-furnished lodgings, thanking bim for
bis interest in tbe late extraordinary circulation of handker
chiefs." Forgetting tbeir own sailors, they exclaimed against
the employment of persons of no better cbaracter than Irish

TRIUMPH OF THE FOXITES. 391
chairmen; and after tbe unfortunate affair on lotb of May,
tbey beaded tbeir bills witb sucb titles as, " No murder ! no
club-law ! no butchers' law ! no petticoat government !" It was
now, bowever, tbe turn of the Foxites to triumph in tbeir
increasing numbers of votes, and a shower of exulting squibs
and songs fell upon their opponents. Placards like tbe following
were scattered abroad before the eud of April : —
"Oh! help Judas, lest he fall into the Pitt of Ingratitude lit
" The prayers of all bad Christians, Heathens, Infidels, and Devil's-agents,
are most earnestly requested for their dear friend,
Jddas.Iscakiot, lenight ofthe bach-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."
Tbey published caricatures, in whicb the unsuccessful candidate
was driven away by a maid-servant's broom and a pensioner's
crutch ; or pursued by a booting crowd, bearing on tbeir
banners "No tax on maid-servants," &c. ; or riding dolefully on
a slow and obstinate ass, while tbe successful candidates are
galloping onwards to tbe end of the race, on high-mettled
horses, and leaving bim far in the distance. Even tbe Irish
chairmen were given tbeir 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.
Fari-a-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 laiches,
A frind to our liberties and our small beer.
Fa-ra-lal, &c."
Tbe ladies are tben represented as rejoicing in bis defeat, witb
tbe exception of his canvassing friend, Mrs. Hobart ; and
the songster concludes : —
"Ah now I pray let no jontleman prissent take this ill.
By my truth, Pat shall nivir use unshivil wards ;
But my varse sure must plaise, which the name of Sir Cecil
Hands down to oblivion's latest recards.
Fa-ra-lal, &c.

392

SAM HOUSE.

" If myshelf with the tongue of a prophet is gifted,
Oh ! I sees in a twinkling the knight's latter ind !
Tow'rds the varge of his life div'lish high he'll be lifted,
And after his death, never fear, he'll disoind.
Fa-ra-lal, &c."
The young Prince of Wales, who was now tho 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 ei-nplo3'ed in can
vassing for voters ; and some ofthe ministerial p.apei-s, which, in
their paragraplis shewed bttle respect for his character, declared
that be had canvassed in person ; one of them states, witb an
appended observation, the wit of whicb is not very remarkable,
that " The Prince appeared at Ranelagh last week with a Fox
cockade in bis hat, and a sprig of laurel; if be should ever be
sent a bird'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 whicb the Prince ever afterwards
entertained towards Pitt, and which was increased by tbe
minister's stiff and haughty bearing towards bim. 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 bis
odditiest and for bis political
zeal. During this election be
kept open bouse at bis own
expense, and was honoured
witb the company of many
of the Whig aristocracy.
An early caricature by Gill
ray, entitled " Returning
from Brooks's," represents
tbe Prince of Wales in a
state of considerable ine
briety, wearing the election
* The picture of Sam House occurs in many caricatures of the time.
The cut given above is copied from a plate by Gillray.
t Sam House was remarkable for his clean and perfectly bald head over

A PATEIOTIO PUBLICAN.

THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE. 393
eoclcade, and supported by Fox and tbe patriotic publican. The
wit of the ministerial papers was often expended on honest
Sam. At tbe beginning of the election, when Fox seemed to be
in a hopeless minority, one of tbem 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 S.un House, boys, for ever, for ever, for ever !
Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever 1
"Brave b.ild-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 hetid he honour'd for ever 1"
But the most active and successful of Pox'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 tbe elec
tion, wearing Fox's cockade, and she
went about personally soliciting votes,
whicb she obtained in great num
bers by the influence of her personal
charms and by her affability. The
Tories were greatly annoyed at ber
ladyship's proceedings ; they accused
ber of wholesale bribery ; and it
was currently reported that she bad
in one instance bought the vote of
a butcher with a kiss, an incident
whiob was immediately exhibited to
people's eyes in multitudes of pic
ture's, with more or less of exagge-
lation. But nothing could be more beibee-?.
disgraceful tban the profusion of
which he never wore hat or wig, Hia unvaried dress consisted of nankeen
jacket and breeches, brightly polished 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 elad, were always in stockings of
the finest quality ot silki

394 INSULTS ON THE DUCHESS.
scandalous and indecent abuse wbich was heaped upon this noble
lady by the ministerial press, especially by its two great organs,
the Morning Post aud tbe Advertiser. Tbe insult in some
cases was merely coarse, such as the following from tbe Morning
Post : — " The Duchess of Devonshire yesterday canvassed the
different alehouses of Westminster in favour of Mr. Fox ; about
one o'clock she took ber share of a pot of porter at Sam
House's in Wardour Street." The same paper makes ber write to
tbe candidate : — " Yesterday I sent 3'ou three votes, but went
through great fatigue to secure tbem ; it cost me ten kisses for
every plumper. I'm much afraid tve are done up, — will see you
at \}i\e porter-shop, and consult about ways and means." Otbers
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  grants /flyowrs to those wbo promise tbeir
votes and interest to Mr. Fox." — "A certain beautiful lady of
quality, wbo has for some days past canvassed on foot for
ber favourite candidate, met lately witb such a reception as she
migbt 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, witb a salute, tfiat be
will kiss fair, and not take improper liberties." Multitudes of
these paragraphs contained inuendos and aspersions far too
infamous to allow of tbeir being transferred to our pages;
we merely quote as one of tbe least objectionable, — " Ladies of
Pleasure have ever been of prodigious service to conspirators ;
not only Catiline, but also tbe famous Jacques Pierre, and
several other contrivers of mischief, bave carried on their
operations through the medium of a courtezan."
But tbe newspaper paragraphs were nothing in comparison
with tbe disgraceful, manner in which the duchess was treated
in the caricatures, in many of whicb she was figured and
exhibited to public view in tbe shop windows, in indecent
postures, accompanied witb allusions of the most infamous
kind. The Queen, who had all tbe caricatures on this occasion
brougbt to her, and was extremely amused witb tbe manner in
whiob the opponents of tbe Court were turned to ridicule, is
said to bave been much shocked by some of tbese coarse carica
tures against tbe Duchess of Devonshire, whicb had been acci
dentally brougbt to her among tbe otber political prints. Tbe
"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," tbe

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 bis wife

A GEOUP 01? CANVASSERS
with gold ; Fox is shaking hands witb another voter, who is
treated by Sam House with a pot of porter. In others she is
represented marching about witb
troops of canvassing ladies, bearing
banners witb appropriate mottoes ;
or practising various arts to con
vince unwilling- voters. In a cari
cature published immediately after
tbe election, entitled " Every man
has his hobby-horse," the successful
candidate is carried in triumph by
bis 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
convivial songster, Captain Morris,
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. Tlie following anecdotes of Fox's
personal canvass are related, He and his friends were often subjected to

THE SUOOESSEUI, OANEIDATB.

39<5 SONG AGAINST PITT.
able character. We shall soon meet witb bim again as one of
tbe boon companions of tbe heir apparent. The captain had
begun his career as a political songster in the ranks of the
Tories, and bad composed a bitter song against tbe 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, be 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 mini.ster
Pitt, entitled " The Baby and Nurse," wbich was enthusiasti
cally called for over and over again at tbe election dinners, and,
oddly enough, while he was himself singing tbis new song to tbe
Whigs, the Tories were singing bis old song against the coali
tion. Another song against Pitt, by Captain Morris, was popu-
lai during and after tbe election, under tbe title of
"BILLY'S TOO YOUNG TO DRIVE 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^ oi you and of me, sir.
Then while through this whirlabout journey wc 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 ear of Britannia, we all must allow,
la ready to crack with its load, sir ;
And wanting the hand of experience, will now
Most burely break down on the road, sir.
Then must we, poor passengers, quietly wait.
To be crush'd by this mischievous spark, sir ?
Who drives a d — d job in the carriage of state,
And got up Wee a thief in the darle, sir.
Then wbile through this whirlabout, &o.
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. family 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 his judgment more rotten than ripe, sir.
For all that he boasts of, what ia it, in truth.
But that mad with ambition and pride, sir.
He 'a the vices ot age, for the follies of youth,
And a d — d deal of cunning beside, sir.*
Then while through this whii-lab-iut, &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 mar
Who 's as chaste aa a baby at suck,' air.
* * *
"It's true, he 's a pretty good gift of the gab.
And was tauglit by his dad on a stool, sir ;
But though at a speech he 's a bit of a dab,
In the state he '3 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,f sir.
Then while through this whirlabout," &c.
The Westminster election of 1784 was the most remarkable
struggle of tbe kind that has ever been witnessed in this countr3',
and is an event of importance in the political history of the last
century, because it was tbe only very serious check tbat the
Court met witb at tbis time in its successful attempt to obtain
a strong Tory House of Commons. The superior power of tbe
Crown in tbe legislature, and tbe political influence of William
Pitt, were from this moment flrmly established J The principal
measures of tbe new ministers during tbe present year (1784)
were (witb 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 hia companions. Two stanzas and a half are omitted.
¦!¦ 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 v/n,* not hindered fi-om taking his seat
in the House ; and, after some months' dalay, the high-bailiff was not only
obliged to return him as member for Westiuiuster, but Fox brought an
action against hiin, and recovered heavy damages.

398

PITT AND TAXES.

crude tbat bis own friends -were obliged to emendate it from
beginning to end as it passed through tbe House, and several acts
were subsequently called for to explain it,) of a financial cbarac
ter ; and tbeir 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 tbe government plan of taxation,
and tbe public began to cry loudly against the burthens under
whicb tbey laboured. " Master Billy's Budget" was the burthen
of more than one satirical song ; and tbe following lines
" On the Taxes," published towards tbe end of tbe year, give a
tolerably comprehensive view of the various items of whicb it
consisted : —
" Should foreigners, staring at English taxation.
Ask why we still reckon ourselves afree 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-liiie 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 tbis moment to be sunk so
low in.pubbc opinion,
that the patriot's
" occupation" might
truly be said to be
gone. The serious pa
pers and the burlesque
caricatures joined in
treating the efforts of
tbe eountry party
with contemptuous
derision, Tbe support
tbey derived from the
Prince of Wales was
the onlj' thing whicb

PBEOEPTOE AND PDPIL,

THE PATRIOT TURNED P BE ACHE B. 399
gave uneasiness; and it provoked tbe King and Queen to the
highest degree. Tbey looked upon Fox witb abhorrence as
the corrupter of tbe royal youth ; and a caricature, published
in May, at tbe conclusion of tbe Westminster election, entitled
"Preceptor and Pupil," represents the opposition leader,
in loatbly 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," — tbe personification of Sloth,
Burke was equally an object of attack
to tbe resentful exultation of bis poli
tical opponents. His warmth of feel
ing and bis splendid eloquence made
bim one of tbe foremost champions in
the desultory warfare which was carried
on against the ministerial majorities in
tbe House of Commons ; and tbe cari
caturists made war upon bis pretended
Jesuitism, and even upon bis wordiness ;
and tbey pictured the writer on the ignavia.
Sublime and Beautiful as a raving demon
of sedition, one of the foremost of the followers of tbe pobtical
Satan, wbo is seen on tbe otber side of the picture smarting
under the mortification of his defeat, yet still rallying bis
dispirited troops, and -urging tbem
on to tbe 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 tbe same sentiment,
recommend bim to turn bis talents
to preaching, and, since tbe sinners
had left bim in the lurch, to aim at
tbe support of the saints. The
various pretences of the opposi
tion, says the song, were quite some op satans, troops,
worn out : —
* Entitled, "More ways than one; or, the Patriot turn'd Preacher,"
published on the ind 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 ?
"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 Seliate, and without,
Our credit fails ; th' enlighten'd nation
The boasted Coalition scout,
Aud hunt us from th' Administration.
"We've carp'd at this, and carp'd at that.
And who hath heeded what we said ?
The house is coj', they smell a rat, —
The time is past, and we are sped.
"And shall we then, like fools, despair 1
Can we no thriving scheme invent ?
Yes : — let cameleons fyed on air,
Such diet will not thee content.
"But why invent ? the plan is ready,
Form'd by a wag of late in jest :
Let us adopt it, firm and steady,
And, drowning, clasp it to our breast."
" Fox, tbe Preacher," occupies the pulpit, and has assumed his
most engaging and persuasive looks : —
" Quick let thy soul with grace be fiU'd I
Expect no other call but mine ;
With penitence I see thee thrill'd,
With new-born light I see thee shine.
" X see subscribers throng around,
(Can Brooks's e'er supply such prizes ?)
The pious bleed — .and from the ground,
Behold a Tabernacle rises I "
The sleek and good-humoured North is placed in the scat
below : — "How spruce will North beneath thee sit I
With joy ofSciate as thy clerk !
Attune the hymn, renounce his wit,
And carol like the morning lark I
"Or, if thy potent length of prayer,
I3.y chance induce a kindlj' doze,
V/ake in the nick with accent clea;-,
To cry, amen I and bless the closs ! '''

THE PATRIOT TURNED PBEACHEB. 401
Sheridan, wbo now shone as one of the opposition leaders, is to
act as pew-keeper : —
" To comic Eichard, 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, wbo has passed tbrough
another metamorphosis, puts on
the garb of feminine devotion, and
leads in the harmonious chorus : —

' For thee, 0 beauteous and sublime I
What place of honour shall we find ?
To tempt with money were a crime ;
Thine are the riches of the mind.

" mistress" bukke.

" Clad in a matron's cap and robe.
Thou shalt assist each loither'd crone I
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' uplifi;ed hand t
Thine to upheave th' expressive sigh,
And regulate the hoary band I"
Such a plan as tbis, it was represented, could not fail to be
profitable to tbe ranks of the defeated opposition, and migbt
raise up in another sphere those wbose 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, faith ! thou'rt in a piteous way,
And not a moment hast to lose !"

403

CHAPTER XI.
GEOEGE III.
Low State ofthe 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 ; E-oyal Parsimony and Royal Extravagance — The
Trial of Warren Hastings — Ministerial Corruption ; Antipathy of
Parties ; the Installation Supper— First Indisposition of the King ;
The Eegency Bill.
THE consequences of the defeat of tbe liberal party in tbe
elections of 1784 were very apparent in tbe Parliamentary
session of 1785, and are best described in a few words of Horace
Walpole, written oh tbe 2nd of February: — " The Parliament,"
be says, " is met, but as quietly as a quarter-session ; tbe 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 tbe
absurd persecution of tbe Westminster scrutiny, the popularity
of Charles Fox was already beginning to revive ; and the proud
and scornful bearing of tbe 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.
Tbe overbearing temper of tbe minister on one side, and the
mortification of the opposition on tbe other, caused tbe debates
in tbe House of Commons during tbe present session to degene
rate much more than was usual into attacks and recriminations
of a personal character. On the 9tb of February, 1785, when
Fox complained in sufficiently gentle terms of tbe Westminster
scrutiny as an act of persecution against himself, Pitt, turning
up bis nose with more tban usual scorn, (a characteristic of tbe
orator wbich is never forgotten in tbe caricatures in whicb he
figures,) fell upon bis rival in tbe following insulting language : —
"I am not surprised if be should pretend to be tbe butt of
ministerial persecution ; and if, by striving to excite tbe public
compassion, he should seek to reinstate himself in tbat popularity

THE MODEBN CATILINE.

403

whicb be once enjoyed, but which be so unhappily has forfeited.
For it is the best and most ordinary resource of tbese politioal
apostates to court and to offer themselves to persecution for tbe
sake of the popular predilection and pity whicb usually fall upon
persecuted men. It becomes worth tbeir while to suffer, for a
time, political martyrdom, for the sake of the canonization that
awaits tbe suffering martyr ; and, I make no doubt, the right
honourable gentleman has so much penetration, and at tbe same
time so much passive virtue about bim, tbat be 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 9tb of
March, when tbe same subject was in debate. Fox broke into au
ironical commendatiou of the present Parliament, a large portion
of whicb consisted of new faces tbat had never been in the
House before,* He said, that be highly approved of their
general conduct, although tbey bad been " called together by an
unfortunate political delusion," " Tbey were gentlemen with
whom be was entirely unacquainted, men wbose faces were un
known to any person ; but,
emerged from obscurity as tbey
had, he was happy to find tbat
tbey 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
tbe foundation of a print by
Sayer, published on tbe 17th of
March, under tbe title, " Cicero
in Catilinam." The leader of
the opposition, in the cbaracter
of Catiline, is represented as
seated on tbe opposition benches,
quaibng beneath the eloquent
invective of the political Cicero,
Pitt. Lord North is seated by
bis colleague, his face concealed
* No less than a hundred and eighty of Fox's ordinary supporters had
been thrown out in the election of 1784, and replaced by new meinbers,
who had not been in the House before. The rejected candidates received
the popular appellation of Fox's Martyrs. sua

CATILINE BEPEEHBNDEn.

404

POLITICAL MUSICIANS.

in a bundle of papers in wbich his attention appears to be absorbed.
In another caricature, by the same artist, tbe 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
bad 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 tbe opposition in the present Parlia
ment — Powis and Sawbridge — the former holding in bis hand a
bundle of papers inscribed " Memoranda of important observa
tions for reform in the representation, &c." The print is
entitied "* * * * (Burke) on the Sublime and Beautiful,"
alluding to the celebrated work published by the orator before
be bad become distinguished as a statesman. In another larger
print by Sayer, published on the /th of June, tbe opposition are
joining tbeir strength to get
up a concert. Fox and one
of bis colleagues are prac
tising on the fiddle ; the
former treading the music of
" God save the King" under
bis foot. The Duke of Port
land is occupied with the
piano ; Burke plays the
trumpet ; North performs
upon 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-
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 be
tbe " Probationary Odes for the Laureateship," and the " Rol-
Uad" and " Critique on the RoUiad," witty satires against the
ministers, vyhicb bad just been published, tbe work of spwe

PEAOTITIOMEES.

tive of Lord Loughborough.

THE PBOBATIONABY ODES. 405
young aristocratic poets of talent, but too minute in. tbeir per
sonal allusions to bave much interest at the present day,* The
"Probationary Odes" were especially clever; tbe vacancy iii tbe
laureateship was supposed to have called forth a host of candi
dates in rivalry of Thomas Warton (wbo succeeded to it), and
each of his Majesty's m.inisters 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 bave been guilty of some attempts at poetry,
and wbo 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 I — Why ?
It is because, great Caesar, you are clever —
Therefore we 'd sing of you for ever !
Sing — sing — sing — sin^ —
God save the King I
Smile then, Caesar, smile on Wray I
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 !
Caesar ! Caesar ! give it 1 — do ! —
Great Cssar, giv 't all ! — for my muse 'doreth you I"
After being wrapt for a wbile in tbe poetical contemplation of
his own grandeur, he ends by a sublime threat against the pre
sumption of bis rival.
-* Horace Walpole writes on the 30th of October, "As to your little
knot of poets. . . we have at present here a most incomparable set,
not exactly known by their names, but who, till the dead of summer, kept
the town in a roar, and I suppose, will revive by the meeting of Parliament.
They have poured forth a torrent of odes, epigrams, and part of an
imaginary epic poem, called the 'Rohiad,' with a commentary and notes,
that is as good as the 'Dispensary' and 'Dunciad,' with more ease. These
poems are all anti-ministerial, and the authors very young men, and little
known or heard of before. I would send them, but you would want
loo many kejs : and, 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 these
satires were, we are told, Mr, Ellis, a lawyer named Lawrence, Colonel B.
Fitzpatrick, and John Townshend, second son of George 'V soount
Townshend.

4o6 DUNDAS AND THURLOW.
" Yet if the laurel prize,
Deai-er than my 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, wbo bad obtained tbe nickname of " the
Chicken," stands forth as " a Chicken of the Muse," and
rejoices in tbe figure be makes iu tbe House, —
" Lo I how I shine, St, Stephen's boast 1
There, first of chichs, I rule the roast I
There I appear,
Pitt's Chanticleer,
The bantam-coch to oppositions !
Or like a hen.
With watchful ken.
Sit close and watch — the Irish propositions !"
These minor constellations are all thrown into tbe shade by
the appearance of tbe 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 thocghts the prize to win,
Sae dight your gobs, and stint your senseless din ;
Hoot 1 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 tbe candidates of higher note comes the profane-
swearing chancellor, of wbose 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 blooma for other brows, to gain.
Ia Thurlow yet so little known ?
By G — d I 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 baya for life to wear.
Once more, with mightier oaths, hy 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."
In the conclusion, the chancellor's ode loses itself in a

IRISH PROPOSITIONS. 407
magnificent phalanx of wild comminations against " tbe
factious crew" collectively and individually. Among tbe
especial objects of bis bostility are Lord Loughborough, whose
ambitious eye was fixed upon the woolsack — " D — n Lough
borough ! my plague, — would bis bagpipe were split." Lord
Loughborough was regarded as tbe leader of tbe opposition in
tbe House of Lords, and as tbe inciter and backer of Lord
Stormont, wbo also was now a bitter opponent of the ministry.
On tbe 3otb of July, 1785, 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
tbe 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,
wbose face is turned away, is represented as using bis instru
ment. Lord Stormont, to bore Lord Sydney, wbo appears as a

A BOEE.
piece of timber witb two knots, inscribed " ist Proposition" and
" 2nd Proposition."
Among tbe difficult questions with whicb tbe new ministry
had to contend, the state of Ireland was by no means tbe least.
Tbe discontented inhabitants of tbe sister isle, amongst whom
agitation had been more or less actively at work since tbe
beginning of tbe century, bad watched tbe 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, wbo demand an en-trance
into ber ports. In 1782, Grattan received from tbe Irish
Parliament a very handsome grant, in consideration of his
exertions iu securing its independence. Grattan continued to

4o8

GRATTAN AND FLOOD.

shine conspicuously among tbe Irish patriots for many years;
but bis patriotism was not of tbe 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
\vas 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,
wbich 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 tbe Parliament, laid their
complaints and demands before
the legislative assembly ; but
they were rejected by large
majorities, indignant at tbe
kind of intimidation which was
debates were often violent and
One of these scenes is represented

GEATTAN.

held out towards them. The
personal in the highest degree.
in a print published in London, on tbe 25tb of November, 1783,
in which a violently caricatured portrait of Grattan, copied in
tbe cut above, is represented exposing tbe
principles and designs of the Irish agitator
ofthe da3r. An equally caricatured figure
of Flood, launches as violent au invective
against his assailant, as be walks doggedly
out of tbe House. The convention, wbich
afterwards, in still closer imitation of the
Americans, took tbe 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 parbament
of the island. There were tbus two rival
governments existing at the same time.
Pitt brought forwards in tbe session of
1785, as a measure of pacification, his two
propositions or provisions, to allow the

LORD GEORGE GERMAINE. 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 ber revenue towards the
general expenses of the empire. These propositions soon excited
the jealous3' of the British merchants ; and thoy seem, indeed,
in their original form, to have been very defective. The
merchants were beard by counsel in the English Parliament ;
numerous petitions against the measure were presented ; and it
was attacked bitterly in both blouses. The minister was obliged
to yield in some degree to the popular feeling, and he modified
bis measure, and brought it forwards in an entirely new form on
the latb of May. It was tbese propositions which, in the House
of Lords, subjected Lord Sydney to tbe bore depicted above.
Among the foremost to attack tbem in the House of Lords was
Lord George Germaine, who is represented in a caricature by
Sayer, backed in tbe onslaught by Lords Stormont and Derby.
Lord George was now in tbe opposition, and, singularly enough,
the court threw into bis face the very charges relating to his
conduct at the battle of Linden, from whicb, while he supported
King George's measures, he had been so pertinaciously screened.
Tbe following verses wore at first placed on this caricature ; but
tbey 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 caricature 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
be is exposed by his accumulating taxes, and especially that on
shops, and that on maid-servants, which bad now been carried by
Pitt, and was a subject for endless jokes ; both had excited great
dissatisfaction. This print, wbich is very coarsely executed, is
entitled " Paddy O'Pitt's triumphant exit," and was pubbsbed
on the 2otb of June, 1785. People cried out tbat Pitt was
treating the Irish with undue partiality, wbile be was crushing
Englishmen with insupportable burthens.
It was during this session that Pitt made his last show of
attachment to the liberal principles he bad so warmly advocated

410 A BITTER DOSE.
wbile out of power, by bringing forward a bill for a reform iu
Parliament ; but it was so inefficient a measure, that it was only
ridiculed by the opposition, and, as be did not use his own
parliamentary infiuence to support it, it was clear be never
intended it should pass. He was ever after a resolute opponent
of parliamentary reform, in whatever shape it was presented. In
otber 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 liljeral opposition ; and a plan of
national fortifications, brought forward by the Duke of Richmond,
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 tbe subject of several caricatures and
squibs, in whicb tbe unceremonious extinction of the fortifications
by the speaker is made a subject of no little mirth. In a print
by Gillray, pubbsbed in tbe year following, tbe Duke of Rich
mond is made to swallow his own fortifications by another
individual, apparently intended to represent Lord Shelburne.

^^^^^^^^-

A EITTBE DOSE.

The affairs of India bad been made doubly prominent by tbe
succession of bills for the regulation of that distant empire, —
bills which, as we bave seen, underwent so many vicissitudes ;
and the attention began to be directed rather against individuals
who bad misgoverned, tban to the general subject of mis-
government. Several persons were successively pointed out to
popular execration for tbe tyranny and rapacity they had exer
cised in difl'crent stations of our Indian empire ; but at length

PBOCEEDINGS AGAINST HASTINGS. 411
tbe wbole indignation of tbe 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 bave been dragged, somewhat unwillingly, by
Edmund Burke into the long and tedious proceedings against
this man, wbo, having only done as others had done before him
under tbe same circumstances, and that in the service not only
of the company by wbom be was cnqiloyed, but of the English
Crown, was not a little astonished, on his return bome, to find
himself on the evo of being subjected to a state prosecution.
The proceedings of tho Company's servants in India wia-e
exactly of that kind wbich, if made jaiblic 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 tho year
1786 that be made the open declaration of his design to bring
this great ofl'ender to justice. lie had moved for the production
of Indian papers and correspondence as early as the month of
February in this year, and on the 4tb of April be stood up in
tbe House of Commons to charge Warren Plastings witb high
crimes and misdemeanours, exhibiting against bim nine distinct
articles of accusation, which, in a few weeks, were increased to
tbe number of twenty-two. The first cbarge was brougbt for
ward on tbe 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 tbe 13th 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
tbis cbarge 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 tbe King's favourable opinion in a special
degree, had calculated on the support of his ministers ; and
everybody's astonishment was great when tbey 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, wore jealous of Hastings's personal infiuence, and
feared his rising in Court favour ; and a variety of other equally
discreditable motives were assigned for tbis extraordinary change.
The return of the ex-governor's wife bad preceded his own,
and Mrs. Plastings was received at Court with much favour

412 THE DIAMOND.
by Queen Charlotte, wbo was generally believed to be of a verj
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 bave 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 infiuencing 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. Tbe Nizam of tbe 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 whicb to transmit it.
This peace-offering arrived in England on tbe 2nd of June,
while tbe first charge against Hastings was pending in the
blouse: and on the 14th of June, the day after the second
cbarge bad 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, tbe inti
mate friend and zealous champion of Hastings in the House,
was obbged to make an explanation in his defence. It was
believed that tbe 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 tbese
Hastings was represented wheeling away in a barrow tbe King
with his crown and sceptre, observing, " What a man buys, be
may sell;" and, in another, the King was exhibited on his knees
with bis mouth wide open, and Warren Hastings pitching dia
monds into it. Man3f other prints, some of tbem 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 ea-t stones, and bills of bis
exhibition were placarded on the walls, headed, in large letters,
" The great stone-eater ! " The caricaturists took tbe bint, and
drew the King witb a diamond between bis teeth, and a heap of
others before him, with the inscription, " The greatest stone-
eater 1 " Songs and epigrams on tbe diamond were passed about

THE SONG OF THE DIAMOND. 413
in all societies, and otbers, of a less refined character, were
sung about the streets, or sold to the populace by itinerant
ballad-dealers. One of tbese, now before me, printed on a slip
of coarse paper, with tbe title, "A full and true account of the
wonderful! diamond, presented to tbe King's Majesty, by
Warren Hastings, Esq., on Wednesday tbe i4tb of June, 1786,
being an excellent new song, to tbe tune of Derry down,"
deserves to be reprinted (witb 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 rin;^s,
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.
Derry down, &o.
" Lord Sydney stepp'd forth, when the tidings -were known —
It's his oflice'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 'a none such in the land ;
Major Scott, w-ith 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 aud rough,
Give him a Scoteh pebble, it's more than enough.
And jewels to Pitt, Hastings justly refuses.
For he has aheady more gifts than he uses.'
Deiry 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, &o.
" ' 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.'
Derry down, &c.
'' In the princesses run, and, surprised, cry, ' 0 la !
' 'Tis as big as the egg of a pigeon, papa !'
' Aud a pigeon of plumage worth plucking ia he,'
llepUea Qur good jnonarobj ' wlio sent it to me.'
Peri-y down, &c,

414

FARMER GEORGE.

" Madam Sohwellenberg peep'd through the door at a chink,
Aud tipp'd ou the diamond a sly German wink ;
As much as to say, ' Can we ever be cruel
To him who h.^s sent us so glorious a jewel ? '
Derry down, &c.
' ¦ Xnw, God save the queen ! while the people I teach,
Ho'v 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 his mill.
Derry down, &o."
The extreme frugality of the King and Queen in private life,
and tbe meanness which often characterized their dealings, bad
alreadv become subjects of populai- satire, and contrasted strongly
witb the reckless extravagance of the Prince of \Vales. This
became still more generall3' a subject of conversation, when, in
the session of 1786, an application was made to tbe House of
Commons for a large sum of money to clear off the King's
debts, which iu spite of tbe now enormous civil list, be bad
latterl3' incurred. As tbere was no visible outlet by whicb so
much money could have disappeared, people soon made a variety
of surmises to account for Kiug George's heavy expenditure ;
some said that the money was
spent privately in corrupting
Englishmen to pave tbe way
to arbitrary power, and most
people believed that their
monarch was making large
savings out of the public mo
ney, and boarding tbem up
either here or at Hanover.
It was said tbat the royal
pau- were so greedy in the
acquisition of money, that
tiiey condescended to make a
profit by farming ; and tbe
royal farmer and bis wife
figured about rather exten
sively in prints and songs.
In these the royal pair are
represented as haggling with tbeir tradesmen, and cheapening
their merchandize. Pictures represented tbem as visiting tbe
shops at Windsor, to make their bargains iu 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 iu every wild extravagance and fashionable

FAT^JIEE GEOEGE AND HtS -WIFE.

THE PRINCE OF WALES. 415
vice tbat cbsir.-icterized tbe age in which he lived. With the
tradition of the family fends, which seemed inseparable from the
bistorv of the priuoes of the House of Brunswick, tbe prince wa.'^
on very bad terms witb the Kiug, his fiither, and more especially
with the Queen. They disliked bim because be w!is profligate ;
tbev disliked his politics, and they disliked bim still mor,-
bocauso be took for bis comp;inions the very men towards whom
King Goorge nourished the greatest avei-sion. In 1783, when
the coalition ministry was iu power, aud the j)rinee had just
come of age, the ministers proposed tliar he should bave a settle
ment of a buud.'ed thousand a-year : but the King insisted on
allowing him no more than llftv thousand, making hinidependeu.
on bis bounty for the surplus. From this moment the prince
bce.une the inseparable friend and companion of Charles Fox,
and amoiiiT his pirini-ipal associates were Sheridan aud Lord
North. The King and Queen were further irritated by the
ro'i^ort of tlie prince's private marriage — which, of course, could
not be a legal one — with ^fi-s. Fitzberbert. This was a sore
subject at Court : and even Pitt was encouraged to look at the
p'iuce witb some sort of disdain. The miuisteri.il writers were
bv no means sparine: iu tbeir allusions, and the failings of the
heir-apparent were laid open to the public in frequent para
graphs iu tbe newspapers. As migbt be expected, the prince
was rapidly involving himself in debt, and his difficulties had
become so great in tbe summer of i;Sri, that he found it neces
sary to apply to tbe King for assistance ; but he met with a
peremptorv refusal. In bis distress, the Duke of Orleans, pro
verbial for his immense riches and for his dissipation, who had
been in England as Duke of Ciiartres in 17 S3 and 17S4, and had
then formed a close intiai;icv witb the Prince of Wales, imdwlio
was now airain on a visit to this country, oftered his assistance,
and the prince api^ears to have been only prevented bv the
earnest expostulfitious of some of his private friends from
borrowing a large sum of moiie\' of the French prince to relieve
himself. When be found tbat no assist.ance was to be expected from
tbe Kinc. the Prince of Wales determined to make a show of
ni-.uinanimity. aud adopted the resolution of suppressing bis
bi iisebold establishment, and retiring into a life of strict economy.
The works at Carlton House were stopped, the state apartments
shut up, aud his race-horses, hunters, and even his coach-horses,
wn-o sold bv public auction. He at tbe s.ame time vested forty
twm-Mid a vear — the greater ptort pf bis- income — for the pay
ment of bis debts. Tbe prince's frieuds, aud a large portibu

4t6

CARICATURES ON THE PRINCE.

even of the populace — for, in spite of bis irregularities, the
prince was at this time far from unpopular, — trumpeted him
forth as tbe model of honesty and noble self-denial. But tho
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 bis ministers unpopular.
The press — that portion of it which was under government
influence — published forth the prince's failings in an indecent
manner; bis riotous life, his connexion with Mrs. Fitzberbert,
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.
Tbe supposed alliance with Mrs, Fitzberbert was more especially
an object of pictorial scandal ; the prejudices of tbe mob were
worked upon by representations of the danger which threatened
the constitution from the marriage of tbe heir-apparent witb a
Catholic, which was represented as being the work of Fox and
Sheridan. Burke, under tbe character of a Jesuit, was seen
officiating at the marriage, and blessing tbe union. The alleged
poverty of the prince, it was said, had not put a stop to bis
riotous living, and bis 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 Gillray, the
party at Brighton are pictured (in allusion to tbe prince's cir
cumstances) as " Tbe Jovial Crew ; or. Merry Beggars." The

LANDING AT BOTANV B.VT,

prince's companions are Mrs, Fitzberbert, Fox, Sheridan, Burke,
Lord North, Captain Morris, and two others. Several other
web-executed engravings, undoubtedly by Gillray, embody severe
attacks on the prince and his friends. One, published on tbe
ist of November, 1786, and entitled " JSTon-cQmmisslop ofta-?T»

CAPTAIN MORRIS.

417

embarking for Botany Bay," represents tbe same party, with
the exception of the lady, setting out in a boat for the newl3'-
establlsbed 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 tbis, published on the i6tb of November, is
entitled " Landing at Botany Bay," The prince and his party
are now arrived at their destination. A man wbo takes tbe lead
carries a standard inscribed, "The Majesty ofthe People." He
is followed by Burke, with bis mitre and pastoral staff, who reads
tbe service from the Newgate Calendar. Captain Morris comes
next, witb the legs and lower extremities of a goat. The prince
is carried on shore on the shoulders of two convicts, supported
on eacb side by Fox and North, tbe former equipped in armour.
The ship which bad borne them over the ocean is entitled the
" Coalition Transport — C* Morris, Commander."
Captain Morris was now tbe constant attendant on the prince's
revelry, which be enlivened by his songs and by bis wit. Both,
it is hardly necessary to say,
were too often of a licen
tious description ; but tbe
captain's minstrelsy de
served tbe reputation it
enjoyed among bis contem
poraries. He was the best
song-writer of bis day, and
many of bis effusions bave
been thrown into unmerited
oblivion. At the time of
wbich we are now speaking,
in tbe firststruggles between
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 , ^ ¦ li.
a sketch by Gillray, in 1790, and represents the minstrel in the
moment of joviality. Amongst otber caricatures against the
prince was one pubbsbed on the i8tb of January, 1787, in which
he is represented in tbe cbaracter of the prodigal son, compelled
to tend upon and associate with swine. Near bim are tbe
"prince's feathers," tiirowninto tbe dirt ; and tbe inscription on
bis garter is reduced to tbe word "honi." Amid tbe shoal of such
caricatures, of \ybicb the Prince of Wi^lcs w^s at this tiuie

CAPTAIN M0EEI3.

4i8

THE PRODIGAL SON.

made the butt, those published in bis defence, or, rather
against bis alleged persecutors, were comparatively few, and not
very remarkable. But tbere 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 tbe question), entitled
"A New Way to pay tbe National Debt." Tbe King and
Queen, attended by tbeir band of pensioners, are issuing from
the Treasury gateway, all so laden with money tbat 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 tbeir majesties. On tbe wall, on tbis side of the picture', are

THE PEODI&AL SON,

several torn placards, one entitled "Charity, a romance;"
another contains the commencement of " God save the King."
One, that is not torn, has tbe 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
offer of a check for two hundred thousand pounds from a
foreigner, the courtly Duke of Orleans. Behind them, the walls

POVERTY RELIEVED.

419

POVEETT BELIEVED,

are also placarded. On one bill we read, " (Economy, an old
song ;" on another, " British property^ a farce ;" on a third, " Just
published, for tbe benefit of poste
rity, Tbe dying groans of liberty ;"
and two torn bills immediately over
the prince's bead bear, one, the
prince's feathers, with tbe altered
motto, " loh starve ;" tbe otber,
two hands joined, with the word ,
" Orleans " underneath. This bit
terly satirical picture is stated to be j
"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
tbe court, be agreed witb his confi
dential advisers tbat the subject
should be laid before tbe House of
Commons. This was accordingly
done on tbe 2otb of April, 1787,
by Alderman Newnham, wbo gave
notice of a motion for an address to the King, praying bim to
take the situation of tbe prince into consideration, and to grant
bim such- relief as he in bis wisdom should think fit. This pro
ceeding appears to have thrown the Court into great embarrass
ment. On the 24tb, Pitt brought up the question again,
declaring tbat tbe prince would receive no assistance from the
government ; pressed Newnham to drop bis intended motion ;
and held out a threat tbat if be did otherwise, be (Pitt) should
be driven to tbe disclosure of circumstances wbich be should
bave thought it otherwise bis duty to conceal. On the 27 th,
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 tbe very remarkable satire entitled " The
RoUiad" (already mentioned), spoke against the introduction of
such a motion, declaring tbat the question involved matter
tending immediately to affect the constitution in church and
state. This was understood to refer to the rumoured marriage
witb Mrs. Fitzberbert. Pitt supported Rolle, and again talked
of tbe debcate investigation whicb he wished to avoid. On
this, tbe Prince's friends, Sheridan and Fox, fired up, and a
£ E 2

420 THE IMPEACHMENT OF HASTINGS.
warm debate ensued, in the course of whicb Fox and Sheridan
denied that tbe prince was married to Mrs. Fitzberbert ; a
declaration whicb was never believed by tbe mass of the people.
They declared, moreover, that tbe prince was ready to submit
to any investigation, and tbat tbe motion should be persevered
in. This statement had its desired effect ; the ministry deter
mined not to expose tbemselves 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 tbat tbe motion should be withdrawn on the express
promise tbat everything should be settled to his royal bighuess'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
bis debts, and twenty thousand pounds to complete tbe 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 whicb for some
months bad drawn public attention from other matters.* The
prince and his friends bad sacrificed tbe cbaracter of Mrs. Fitz
berbert, much, as it was said, to ber indignation ; and several
pamphlets were published, one by Home Tooke, vindicating ber
honour from tbe blot it bad sustained from the light in wbich
ber connexion witb the Prince of Wales was placed by tbe
decLarations of bis friends in the House of Commons.
With tbe parliamentary session of 1787, Burke re-coramenced
bis attack upon Warren Hastings. Pitt bad already acknow
ledged tbat the second charge involved sufficient grounds for an
accusation; and when, on the 7th of February, tbis 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 tbe governor-general
were clothed in intensely exaggerated horror, — in tbe adjourned
debate on the following night, the premier declared bis full con-
* On the 2nd of August, 1/86, 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
strengthen 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 oifended at the prince, that he
did not allow any communication to be made to him on the subject ; and
when Ihe latter repaired to Windsor, to give his ))ersonal congratulations o»
the escape, it ja aaid that the King refused to adipit him to bis presence,

r ^ Pairli"1-trSA i

THIS F01LITICA.3L BA:^3D)ITTI ASSAIlLIBTtS- THE SA"V10TEm OF F_^TI>IAi

THE TRIAL. 421
viction of tbe criminality of tbe accused ; and cbarge after
charge was now carried against bim, until at the end of tbe
session it was resolved that ulterior proceedings should be imme
diately commenced. On tbe lotb of May, Burke accordingly
repaired to the bar of the House of Lords, and, in tbe name of
tbe House of Commons, and of all tbe Commons of Great
Britain, impeached Warren Hastings of high crimes and
misdemeanours, at tbe same time announcing tbat tbe Commons
w-ould witb all convenient speed e.'s.bibit articles against him,
Tbe trial of Warren Hastings took place in Westminster
Hall, which was fitted up for tbe occasion with great magnifi
cence, and commenced on the 15th of Febi-uai-3', 1788. Burke's
preliminary speech occupied four days, and produced an extraor
dinary effect on all his bearers. The Benares charge, and tbat
relating to the Begums of Oude, were proceeded witb in Feb-
riary and April. The proceedings, as a matter of course, closed
witb the session of Parliament. Domestic events at bome, and,
after them, still more extraordinary events abroad, came to
retard tbe progress of the impeachment. The dissolution of
Parliament in 1790, wbile tbe trial was still pending, created a
further embarrassment ; tbe parties originally united in tbe
prosecution broke up tbeir mutual friendship ; the public indig
nation, which at first tbey had so effectively stirred up, gradually
cooled, or was turned oft' 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.
Tbe party in Parliament, wbo were believed to represent the
King's private feelings, and especially tbe Lord Chancellor
Thurlow, had defended Hastings througbout his trial, — tbus
leaving no doubt of tbe royal sentiments. It is difficult to
assign any very plausible motives for tbe part acted by Pitt, and
especially for bis sudden change at the commencement of tbe
trial ; but it is a very remarkable circumstance tbat, of tbe two
great political caricaturists, wbile Gillra3'- (who first took part
witb Hastings) changed witb the minister, and subsequently
published caricatures against him, Sayer, although notoriously
patronized b3- Pitt, continued to the end to ridicule tbe accuser^
Some of the earlier works of the latter artist on tbis subject
are too minute in tbeir allusions to interest us much at tbe
present day.
On the nth of May, 1786, Gillray published one of the best
of bis earlier prints, under tbe title of " The political banditti
assaulting tbe saviour of India," in which Warren Hastings is
represented as defending himself witb tbe shield of honour

422

CARICATURES ON THE TRIAL.

against Burke, who fires a blunderbuss at bim in front, wbile
Fox is attacking him witb a dagger from behind. Lord North,
m tbe mean time, is robbing him of some of bis money-bags.
Tbe supporters of tbe impeachment represented Hastings as
another Yerres, called upon by tbe modern Cicero to answer for

A MODEBN CICEEO AGAINST VEEKES,
his oppressive government of the provinces entrusted to his
care, A bold sketch of tbe orator was published on the 7tb of
February, 1787, — tbe day on whicb proceedings against Hastings
were resumed in tbe House of Commons,— under the title of
" Cicero against Verres." Fox and North are seen behind tbe
eloquent accuser. In 1788, the year of tbe impeachment, the
caricatures on this subject
became more numerous.
One by Gillray, published
on the 1st of March, under
the titie of "Blood on
Thunder fording tbe Red
Sea," represents Hastings
carried in safety on tbe
shoulders of tbe Lord Chan
cellor Thurlow through a
sea of blood, strewed witb
tbe bodies of mangled In
dians. In another print by
Gillray, entitled "A Dish
of Mutton-chops," the bead
of King George is served on
a dish at a table, round
which sit Pitt, Hastings,

BLOOD ON IHDNDEB.

THE POLITICAL MAGIC LANTERN.

4^3

%nd Thurlow ; tlie 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 tbe nth of April, entitled,
" Tbe Managers in distress, in which Burke, Fox, and his fellow-
accusers are thrown from the bridge tbey designed to pass over,
owing to the giving way of the piers. Fox exclaims, " D  n
tbe piers, they wont support us!" 2. "The first Charge,"
published on the i4tb of April, and relating to a rather frivolous
article of accusation, tbat an Indian prince bad been deprived of;
bis hookah, or pipe, aud so hindered from smoking. The
accuser (Burke), with one of bis most energetic gestures, elo-
Cjuently appeals to tbe feelings of bis audience — " Guilty of not
suffering him to smoke for — two days!" 3. One published on:
tbe 26tb of April, under tbe title of " A Reverie," au allusion'

A Benares Plea. A Begum Wart. Begum's Tears.
OBJECTS MAGNIFIED.

AnOuzle.

to some curious information produced by Burke relating to the
private history of tbe Begum or princess. 4. " The Princess's
Bow, alias tbe Bow Begum," published on tbe ist of May, and
representing tbe Eastern princess seated, and receiving the
homage of Burke, Fox, and Sheridan ; beneatb ber seat we
perceive tbe face of Sir Philip Francis, tbe bitter personal enemy
of Hastings, and tbe prompter in many of the proceedings
against him : he says, " I am at the bottom of all this !" On
the wall above bangs a picture, illustrative of the old saying,
" Parturiunt monies, nascetur ridiculus mus." 5- " '-^'^e Galante
Show," published on the 6tb of May. This is tbe best of tbe
set ; it represents Burke as the showman, exhibiting, b3'- means
of a magic lantern, the magnified figures of different objects on
the wall. The objects are, " A Benares Flea," which takes tbe
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 appeaj's in the sem-

424

THE LAST SCENE.

blance of a whale. The spectators are delighted with the exhi
bition ; one remarks tbat tbe objects are " finely magnified ;"
another exclaims, witb poignant feelings, on observing the
dimensions of the tears, " Poor ladies — they have cried their
eyes out !" a tbird, evidently intended to represent Lord Derby,
remarks, that the last object is "very like an ouzle."
In 1795, at tbe end ofthe trial, Sayer published a large print,
entitled " T'be last scene of the manager's farce," in wbich the
bust of Warren Hastings is represented rising pure from the
black clouds of calumny with wbich 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 tbe hand of
the conjurer (Burke), wbo 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 bis cauldron are sinking
tbrough trap-doors in tbe stage ; tbe latter, is inscribed witb the
words, " Exit in fumo." Fox appears in tbe 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 tbrough tbe crevices,
and holds in its mouth one
of tbe tickets of admission
to tbe trial iu Westminster
Hall; and a snail, gradu
ally crawling its slow
course tbrough 3'ear after
A SNAIL'S PEOQKESS. year, 1787, 1788, 1789,
and so on to 1795, represents tbe dull progress of tbis tiresome
impeachment. Beneath tbe stage we have a glance of tbe evil
one in a warm place, designated as " a court below, to which the

HASTINGS ACQUITTED.

4^5

managers retire upon quitting tbe 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 otber sucb farces,
whicb bave little utility in tbemselves, it was the cause of the
reformation of much evil, and led tbe way to a more enlightened
and just policy with respect to our eastern empire.
Tbe proceedings against Warren Hastings were tbe only sub
ject wbich produced much excitement during tbe 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 tbe house was reduced almost to an opposition of
words. Out of Parliament, bowever, the feeling of discontent at
tbis state of tbings was gaining ground upon tbe strong reaction
which bad taken place at tbe beginning of Pitt's reign, and the
subject of parliamentary reform, which had been driven out of
tbe House of Commons, was in public canvassed more and more
every day. Tbe 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 wbich tbey seemed no longer to
possess within. The accusations against tbe court and ministers,
of purchasing power by corrupt means, were repeated more exten
sively, and it was comrac*ily believed that no small portion of
the burdensome civil list was expended for this
purpose. A clever caricature by Gillray w-as
published on tbe 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 Smithfield ;
and the dark, scowling figure of Chancellor
Thurlow, as the state farmer, stands forth as
tbe principal purchaser. At tbe 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 tbe King, in the guise of a
calf which he has purchased ; the influence
of Indian money and diamonds on the palace
was an article of universal belief. Fox,
Burke, and Sheridan are thrown from a sort of van, on wbich
they were driving, by the overwhelming rush ofthe cattle.

A BUYER OP CATTLB.

42<5

AN TNDEPENDENT VOTER.

yfv,

Tbe appointment of Lord Hood in tbe 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 tbe opposition interest by Lord John Townshend. The latter
\-.as well supported by his friends aud 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 bave used every kind of influence
to secure the return of Lord Hood, On the
14th of August, ten days after the close
of the poll, tbe corrupt practices of the
ministerial agents on this occasion drew
forth from Gillray a caricature witb the
title, "Election troops bringing in their
accounts to tbe pay-table." A motley as
semblage, consisting of newspaper-writers,
soldiers, ballad-singers, mob-exciters, false
voters, Jews, and a variety of otber charac
ters, besiege the door of the Treasury.
Among the rest, a worthy disciple of St.
Crispin, with tbe cockade of Lord Hood in
bis hat, 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 tbe moment when the proceedings against
Warren Hastings absorbed public attention, tbat Gillray brougbt
out a remarkable caricature, the only object of whicb appears to
have been to bring together, in a sort of unnatural famOiarity,
the figures of tbe 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 26th of May, 1788." To explain the title, it may be
observed that there bad been a grand installation of knights of
tbe Bath in Westminster Abbey on the 19th of May; aud that
the satirist supposes tbem to bave given a supper in conse
quence. Tbe Pantheon, tbe well-known scene of Mrs. Cornelys's
masquerades, had witnessed many assemblies which presented an
appearance equall3'- anomalous witb tbat here offered to our
view. At a long table, not over-well provided with the good
things of tbis world, the company is distributed in groups of

AN INEEPENDENT VOTEE.

HASTINGS AND BURKE.

427

gentlemen and ladies in familiar conversation, generally so
selected as to form tbe greatest outrage upon probability. Near
one extremity, tbe leaders of tbe two grand politioal parties, Fox

FEIENDBHIP BEHIND THE BACK,

and Pitt, wbose mutual personalities at tbis time so frequently
disturbed the equanimity of the House of Commons, are quietly
bob-nobbing behind tbe back of the grufi' chancellor, Thurlow,
whUe tbe latter is eagerl3' employed on the contents of bis plate,

WANT AND ABUNDANCE.

totally unaware of this singular conciliation. Almost at the
otber end of tbe table sits the ex-governor of India, Warren

428 THE king's FIRST DERANGEMENT.
Hastings, and bis lady all bedizened witb diamonds, Hastings
has appropriated to bimself a whole bam ; and bis antagonist,
Burke, who sits solitary and unserved on tbe opposite side of
the table, is petitioning in vain for a share in tbe spoil. Otbers
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 witb Lord Sydney ; and Lord Derby is closely
engaged in conversation witb Lady Mount Edgecumbe, an anti
quated member of the hon-ton, who still dreamt of conquest.
The princes are each seated between a couple of ladies ; tbe
Prince of Wales, besieged by Lady Archer (of gambling
memoi-3') on his right,
and Lady Cecilia John
son on bis left, listlessly
picks his teeth with his
fork. Next to them
Mrs, Fitzberbert is con
versing in the most
amiable familiarity witb
the ex-patriot. Alder
man Wilkes,
Since the arrange
ment of his debts, and
wbile tbe unsupported
eloquence of tbe opposition fell harmless upon tbe all-powerful
ministers, the Prince of Wales had become to a certain degree
reconciled witb his father, and he was received at court ; but a
few months brougbt about a new and very serious cause of rup
ture. On the iitb of July the King had prorogued tbe Parlia
ment to tbe 25tb of September, and it was thence re-prorogued
to the 2otb of November, The two Houses met at tbat time
under circumstances of extraordinary embarrassment. As early
as the month of JUI3'- a change was observed in tbe King's
health which gave considerable uneasiness to bis physicians, who
recommended a progress to Cheltenham, in tbe hope that be
might derive benefit as well from the change of scene as from
drinking tbe mineral waters. The King had at an early period
in bis 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 witb which he was received in tbe country
through which be had to pass. Early in October, after his
return, the symptoms became much more alarming, and by tbe

A PEINCE CLOSE BESET,

THE REGENCY QUESTION. 429
end of tbe month the truth began to be whispered abroad, and
bints of the insanity of tbe highest personage in tbe realm found
their way into tbe newspapers. At length, on the 5tb of No
vember, wbile seated at the dinner-table witb bis family, the
King became suddenly delirious, and from this moment he
remained in a state in which be could be communicated witb by
none but bis physicians. The condition of the sovereign was
publicly known before the period for the assembly of Parliament,
and tbe greatest anxiety was felt throughout the kingdom.
When the two houses met on tbe 2otb of November, they
adjourned to tbe 4tb of December, witbout entering upon busi
ness of any kind ; on that day a report of the privy council
relating to tbe King's malady was laid on the table, and they
adjourned again till tbe 8tb, 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 otber under very extraordinary circumstances. It was
generally feared tbat tbere was no hope of tbe King's recovery ;
and the Prince of Wales, as heir-apparent to the throne, being
of age, was naturally tbe person wbo would be selected, as regent,
to exercise the royal authority. Pitt, who was neither personally
nor politically the prince's friend, knew well tbat bis nomination
to the regency was tantamount to the dismissal of bis ministry,
and tbe return of tbe Whigs under Fox to power. He was
anxious, therefore, either to shut the door against bim, or, if
that could not be done, to restrict as much as possible bis power
of action. He hardly condescended to conceal his motives from
tbe world. The opposition, on the other band, were already
exulting in tbe prospect of place ; and Fox, wbo was on a tour
in Italy for tbe benefit of bis health, was hurried home in a
condition ill able to bear the fatigue and excitement wbich
awaited him," In tbeir baste to drive out tbeir opponents, the
leaders of tbe liberal party blindly took up a doctrine which
was quite inconsistent with their usual principles, and wbich
probably under otber circumstances tbey would have combated
with tbe greatest pertinacity ; they asserted that the prince, as
next heir to tbe throne, had an inherent right to the regency,
and tbat bis rigbt did not depend upon the will of the Parlia
ment ; and, in defence of this doctrine, Fox put forth his
eloquence, and Burke bis invective. Pitt and tbe Tories, with
equal inconsistency, threw tbemselves on the most popular prin
ciples of the constitution, and asserted that the prince had no
ipore right of himself to assume the government than any otber

430 FOX'S EQUIVOCATION.
individual in tbe country ; but tbat tbe rigbt of providing for
tbe government of tbe country, in cases where it was tbus sud
denly interrupted, belonged to tbe peers and to tbe nation at
large, tbrough its representatives, and was .to be regulated en
tirely bv their discretion. It was -simply two factions striving
for power, neither of whicb cared to abide by abstract principles
as long as these stood in tbe way of their ambition. Tbe
debates were consequently warm, and often personal. Fox, at
the commencement, bad bastily and rashly used words to tbe
effect tbat tbe Prince of Wales possessed the inherent right to
assume tbe government, or, at least, expressions that admitted
of that interpretation. Scarcely bad the words escaped bis lips,
when the features of tbe proud and stiff premier gave place to
an unusual smile, and slapping bis thigh with exultation, be
exclaimed to a member who was seated next to him, " I'll un-
Whig tbe gentleman for the rest of his life." During tbe rest
of the debates, be confuted Fox's arguments by asserting the
extreme doctrines of the liberal party. Pox's remarks were
commented upon in the same spirit by Lord Camden in the
House of Lords. On the latb of December Fox rose in bis
place in tbe House of Commons, and recurred to this matter to
protest against tbe construction which had been placed upon his
words ; be stated, that he did not say tbat the prince might
assume the administration in consequence of his Majesty's tem
porary incapacity, but that the riglit of administration subsisted
in him, and the assertion of bis having such right to govern
was different from saying tbat he migbt assume tbe reins of
government, — he bad the right, but not tbe possession, whicb
latter he could not legally take witbout the sanction of Parlia
ment, — be might appeal to tbe two Houses to recognise his
claim, in tbe same manner as persons wbo are entitled to parti
cular species of property apply, before they take possession, to
the proper court for a formal investiture, — tbe adjudication of bis
rigbt 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 bis own words. Among tbe multi
tude of caricatures which appeared on this occasion, one repre
sents him under the title of " The Word-eater," exhibiting bis
skill before the assembled legislature, and holding in his bands
bis " 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
tbe 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 aud evacuatea 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 eat 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 uew art, and will provide himself with
weighty arguments for his enemies."
Towards tbe end of the 'year, numbers of caricatures were
launched against the adherents of tbe Prince of Wales, satirizing
their eagerness for power, their presumed designs, and tbe pro
spects of tbe country under sucb a government as tbe Whigs
desired. One of tbese, entitled " A Touch on tbe Times," and
published on tbe 29tb of December, 1788, appears to bave been
very popular, as tbere was, at least, one imitation of it. Bri
tannia is represented as banding the prince to tbe throne, which
ber lion seems to bear witb anything but equanimity. The
foundation step ofthe throne, on 'which tbe prince is placing bis
foot, is, " The voice of the people ;" tbe second step, " Public
safety," is cracked and broken ; tbe 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, wbo seek to benefit
by bis accession : one,
wbo 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 tbe minister
had demonstrated by
the force of bis majo
rities tbat tbe ap-
-* Fox, in one of the debates on this occasion, had accused Pitt of uttering
doctrines that were a treason against the constitution.

OOMMEECE UNDEE THE EESENOT.

432 PITT'S PROPOSITIONS.
pointment of a regency was a matter which lay entirely at the
discretion of Parliament, he next brougbt forwards a string of
resolutions, which, though obstinately opposed, were passed on
the 19th of Januar3r, and whicb bad the effect of placing the
executive in the hands of tbe Prince of Wales, under restrictions
whicb 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 tbe Crown is retarded by the illness of bis 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 tbe royalties, functions, and consti
tutional authorities of the King, under sucb restrictions as shall
be hereafter mentioned. Tbat the Regent shall be prevented
from conferring any honours or additional marks of royal
favour, by grants of peerage, to any person, except to those of
bis 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, otber 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
Regent. That the care of his Majesty be reposed in the Queen,
to be assisted witb a council."
Pitt made no secret that his restrictions were mainly intended
to abridge tbe power that would fall into tbe hands of what be
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 b3'- bad advisers.. The prince bim
self was in a very iU-humour witb the minister, and held
frequent consultations with the opposition. When Pitt com
municated to bim his intentions, on tbe 3otb of December, his
Royal Highness consented to take the regency, but expressed
strongly his dissatisfaction at tbe restrictions, in a letter which
it- 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 tbe 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, publi.-died on the 3rd
January, 178^, the premier js representcvl 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 bis coronet.

THE VULTUEE OF THB CONSTITUTION.

The more numerous class of caricatures, bowever, were directed
against tbe party wbo demanded tbe unrestricted regency, and
the person of the prince was by no means spared, even in publi
cations which were known to come from people wbo were gene-
raUy looked upon as acting under the immediate patronage or
pay of the government. The private vices and weaknesses of the
prince and bis companions were again raked up and exhibited to
the public. Tbe former tbey represented as a mere tool in tbe
bands of a parcel of politioal adventurers, wbo aimed at gratifying
tbeir own ambition at the expense of the constitution of their
country. The circumstance, soon known, that tbe prince's
letter to Pitt bad been written by Sheridan, and shewn for
approval to tbe otber Whig leaders, was seized upon as another
proof that be was not acting by bis own independent judgment.
Sayer, who we bave already seen was an ultra- Pittite, and a paid
one, represented the heir-apparent under the form of a horse
(the old emblem of tbe family of Hanover), taught by Sheridan
to write a letter " to Mr. Pitt," while Lord Derby, as a monkey,
is perusing tbe 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 (Sheridan's)
me-nagery, the wonderful learned Han — r colt, wbo writes a
letter blindfolded. N.B, He is in training for several otber
useful purposes. Also, a very curious monkey, wbo can read and
write a little, and imitates the human voice. Also, several very
extraordinary rats, from Holland, Buckinghamshire, Milton, and
other places." Tbis print was published on tbe 27tli of January,
1789; Sayer bad already introduced tbe Hanoverian colt in a
F I"

434

THE HANOVERIAN COLT.

A CONVENIENT SCEEEN,

caricature published on tbe 12 th of January, under tbe title of
" A mis-fire at ,tbe Constitution." Sheridan is here holding the
colt by tbe bead ; and Fox,
as a bandit, is using it for a
screen, while be aims over its
back at the British lion,
which is holding the rights
of tbe people and supporting
the insignia of royalty.
Fox's discharge ^ turns out
but a flash in tbe pan. Tbe
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 ;" wbile a number
of papers fall from his pocket,
entitled " Paragraphs against
tbe ministers," "Puffs direct
for tbe P  e," " Obbque
" " Abuse of tbe ministers." It
would appear from tbis tbat Sheridan was looked upon as the
writer or prompter of a large portion of tbe newspaper para
graphs in tbe interest of the prince.
Tbe rats in the caricature flrst mentioned allude to a number
of little intrigues tbat were going on behind the curtain, among
men wbo were anxious to secure tbeir interests in tbe event of
tbe prince ascending tbe throne. Tbe greatest of political rats
was tbe chancellor, Lord Thurlow. In tbe conviction tbat the
King was past recovery, he at flrst held himself aloof under
different excuses from the consultations of the Cabinet, and
entered into secret communication witb tbe prince, with the
view of securing tbe chancellorship under tbe regency, to tbe
exclusion of his rival, tbe Whig Lord Loughborough, wbo, 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 tbe
ministerial party, and gave encouragement to his advances.
When Fox arrived from Italy, he found tbings in this state ; and,
strongly prejudiced against Thurlow, be was persuaded only witb
difficulty to use his personal influence in prevaUing with Lord
Loughborough to waive his claims for tbe present. The Whigs,
however, soon saw reason to be distrustful of Thurlow, and

puffs for the P  of W-

THE REGENCY BILL. 43,5
Loughborough was restored to his hopes of the chancellorship.
Thurlow, now perceiving tbat he was losing ground witb bis
own party, and not really gaining ground witb tbe other, and
having obtained some rather strong glimpses of a near prospect
of tbe restoration of tbe King to his mental faculties, suddenly
appeared on the woolsack witb all bis old zeal for tbe ministers,
and gave bis utmost support to Pitt's regency bill.
Tbis bill was brougbt into tbe House of Commons on the 5th
of February, and it increased tbe number of restrictions and
enumerated tbem in greater detail. One clause restrained tbe
regent from marrying a Papist, and in committee tbe zealous Mr.
Rolle, still harping upon tbe old story of Mrs. Fitzberbert,
moved to introduce a paragraph, providing tbat tbe regent
should be incapacitated if be " 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, tbe bill passed tbe Commons on the 12th of
February. It bad scarcely reached tbe other House, when tbe
reports of tbe King's recovery became stronger, and the Lords
adjourned from day to day, until tbe lotb of March, when tbe
complete restoration of tbe King was officially announced, and
tbe Parliament regularly opened b^ commission, with a speech
from the throne. Tbe regency bill was immediately thrown
aside, and the country was relieved from a great embarrassment,
which must, under the circumstances, bave led to much con
fusion. One important result of the agitation of tbe question,
was tbe establishment of a great principle in the constitution,
whicb was thus stamped with tbe sanction of tbat party in the
state who migbt bave been expected to be most decidedly opposed
to it.
The embarrassment of tbe situation was increased by the
somewhat factious conduct of tbe Parliament of Ireland, where
both Houses, it has been supposed at tbe secret instigation of
Burke, and by tbe active intervention of Grattan, had passed
resolutions in tbe precise spirit of the opposition in England,
for addresses to tbe Prince of Wales, to request bim to assume
of his own rigbt the regency of Ireland, without any restrictions.
The lord-lieutenant refused to be the medium of transmission ;
and tbe two Houses elected a deputation to wait on the prince
in London, wbere be received tbem with marked favour, but
informed tbem of tbe circumstances which now rendered tbeir
measures unnecessary. Tbis was contrasted witb tbe cold
manner in which be bad received tbe English deputation under
Mr. Pitt. Tbe prince's conduct throughout bad been most
r B 2

43'5 THE KING'S BECOVEBY.
obnoxious to the Queen, and gave great offence to the King,
who, after his recovery, expressed very openly bis displeasure,
Tbe caricatures and satirical paragraphs against the prince and
bis party, were repeated witb new spirit and violence. In one
of these, published by GUlray on tbe 29tb of April, under the
title of " Tbe Funeral Procession of Miss Regency," tbe bier is
preceded by .Burke, wbo, as a Jesuit priest, under tbe title of
"Ignatius Loyola," reads tbe service of tbe dead. The chief
mourner is entitled " Tbe Princess of W — s," — it is Mrs.
Fitzberbert ; tbe second mourners are Fox and Sheridan, who
are designated as " The rival Jacobites." There is an allusion
throughout to tbe rumours relating to Mrs. Fitzberbert, and
tbe dangers with which the Protestant church was supposed to
be threatened by the prince's connections.
The conduct of tbe Lord Chancellor Thurlow was not forgotten
in tbe royal displeasure ; and tbe confldence between him and
bis colleagues was never restored.
The rejoicing throughout England on the king's recovery was
loud and universal, and the joy -n'as certainly sincere. The
metropolis was illuminated with unusual brilliancy on tbe 12th
of March ; and tbe spontaneous burst of devotion to tbe royal
person which accompanied tbe grand procession to St. Paul's
on tbe 25th of April, the day fixed for public thanksgiving,
shewed bow much the King bad gained in popularity. The odes
and poems, usual on sucb occasions, filled the journals of the
day.* The popularity of the ministers did not increase in tbe same
proportion, for it was too evident to every one that tbey 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, he
taken as a measure of the popular /eeK«5f among the mass, and the magazine
in which it was printed thinks it " is not unworthy of being recorded."
"Few lines upon the recovery of his Majesty upon the old poam, way,
" Happy recovery for the king,
This matter ia mighty surprising,
God be thankd, its the next thing
As deliver the dead a living.
" Not by the fiole turn of the faculty,
It provd the providence of the AUmightj,
He has the mode of remedy,
Or turn us to eturnity.
" We ought not to thought such thing,
As Pitt is to appoint us a severing,
Nor keen Fox has the fixing,
God has the care to send us a king."

THE WEIBD SISTERS. 437
been actuated more by tbe spirit of political faction, wbich was
equally prevalent witb botb parties, tban by true patriotism.
We must not overlook a rather celebrated caricature by Gillra3--,
entitled " Minions of tbe Moon," published a little later (it is
dated tbe 23rd of December, 1791), but generally understood to
refer to tbis affair. It is a parody on Fuseli's picture of " The
Weird Sisters," who are represented witb tbe features of Dundas,
Pitt, and Thurlow ; tbey are contemplating tbe disc of tbe
moon, which represents on tbe bright side the face of the Queen,

THE WEIED SISTEES.

and on tbe shrouded side tbat of tbe King, now overcast witb
mental darkness. Tbe three " minions" are evidently addressing
their devotions to the brighter side.

438

CHAPTER Xn.
GEORGE IIL
The French Revolutionary Period — Effect of the Revolution in England —
Desertions from the Liberal Party in Parliament ; Burke's PhiUppics —
Revolutionary Sympathy in England ; Dr. Price, Dr. Priestley, and
Thomas Paine — Anti- Galilean Agitation — Satires on the King and
Queen — Agitation throughout the Country, and Government ilc-vsures
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 tbe most fearful social storm
that had struck Europe sinoe tbe days when tbe broken empire
of Rome was overrun b3' the barbarian hordes of tbe North.
To tbe eyes of profound observers, France had been long labour
ing under a compbcation of evUs, which must eventually lead to
some great national calamity. Reckless corruption, aud a selfish
contempt of tbe interests of the people, had, during man3- years,
been aggravating tbe irritation of tbe populace, whUe a school
of so-called philosophers were as industriously disseminating
principles whicb tended to undermine and dissolve the existing
frame of society. Tbe increasing difficulties of tbe 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 tbe former,
still rejoiced in the embarrassments at home, which hindered
France from being formidable to her neighbours, w bile tbey felt
a sort of exultation in seeing tbe government thus punished for
tbe part it bad acted in the war of American independence.
Amid so many elements of discord, it was tbe misfortune of
France to be governed bv a weak monarch, in every respect
unfitted to grapple with tbe difficulties of bis position, — a
people ill-disposed, an enormous national debt, and an adminis
tration filled with abuses, were tbe legacies bequeathed to him
by bis predecessors. A winter unusually severe, accompanied
with famine and its otber concomitant disasters, ushered in the
year 1789, and drove tbe mass of the people to little short of
despair. Tbe French King endeavoured to avert tbe danger by
repeated concessions, which always came too late, and only
exposed to his discontented subjects tbe weakness of bis posi-

ENGLISH SYMPATHY. 439
tion. Tbe attention of Englishmen had been called from the
affaire of France by tbe serious calamity which threatened them
at home, and by the rejoicings after they bad been relieved from
tbeir fears by the King's recovery ; for several months tbe news
from France bad occupied but a secondary place among our
foreign intelligence, when the extraordinary revolution of the
months of June and Jul3-, came suddenlj' to astonish all classes
of societv in this counti-3-.
The French revolution .at first excited considerable sympatb3'-
in England, although, as it proceeded, aud its true character
became developed, tbat sympath3' soon diminished. During the
latter part of the year 1789, tbe tone of tbe 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
iu its politics, makes tbe following reflections in the month of
September : — " The political phenomenon exhibited by France,
at this moment, is perfectly unparalleled througbout the annals
of universal history. If the constitution now forming, under
circumstances so pcculi;u-ly favourable, be finally established,
if the deliberations and wisdom of tbe philosopher be not
circumscribed by the intrigues of tbe pobtician, or destroyed b3-
tbe sword of faction, the result will be a chef-d'asuvre of govern
ment." Tbe interest which tbe English populace felt in tbe troubles
now going on in Paris, is shown by tbe frequency of allusions
to them on the stage. In some instances tbe scenes of tbe
incipient revolution were inti-oduced iu theatrical pageantry.
The popuhu-itv of sucb representations, and tbe class tbey were
intended to captivate, are testified by the words of an epilogue
pronounced on the 21st of August, in the private theatre of
Lord Barrvmore, at 'Wargrave, in presence of tlie Prince of
Wales, wliieb places tbese subjects in tbe same category witb
wonderful animals, boxers, aud 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 obtaui S
Here the spectator no dark Bastille sees,
Pasteboard Versailles, and ca»i ras Tuileries ;
No keen remarks concerning French affairs ;
No dancing turkies aud uo drumming hares;
Nor (;vs most fit in a gymnastic age)
Does Ben with Johnson fist to fist engage ;
Nor Humphreys here, Autjeus-like, renew
Bis stubboru contest with the rival Jew,"

44° THE STAGE USED POLITICALLY.
As we advance towards the end of tbe year, we find these
.attempts to bring French politics on the stage more frequent,
and tbe feeling was evidently extending itself to tbe bigheii.
theatres ; but at tbe same time tbe sentiments of tbe court
begin to be apparent in tbe proscription of them. On the 13th
of November, an opera, entiled "The Tale of St, Margaret,"
was brougbt out at Drury Lane in a mutUated form. It is
stated in the periodicals of tbe da3'- tbat tbis performance was
originally designed for a representation of the assault aud
destruction of the Bastille, with wbich was blended the story
of the Iron Mask ; but, wben 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 brougbt forward in a
maimed and mutUated state." Tbe prologue, spoken by Ban
nister, concluded with tbe following lines, wbich tended to pro
pitiate the power that bad curtailed tbe piece, as well as the
feelings of tbe populace. Britain, it says, stands as a blessed
beacon amid tbe storm wbich 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 ia law I"
An " occasional address " spoken at tbe 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 shall 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 ; hia hosts in terror fly.
And France ia blest with England's liberty !
The goddeaa, 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 evei- be the band adore.d
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, impearl the eye.
With gratitude increased we'll nightly strive
To keep the blest emotions alill alive 1
What scene more suited to a British stage,
Than that where Freedom glows with honest rage ;
Warms a whole kingdom to confess ita cause,
And fix indelible its sacred laws,
Firm 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 I
May proud Oppression from his throne be hurl'd,
And Freedom reign — the mistress of the world I"
The same call for stage representation of French politics, and
tbe same jealousy on the part of tbe government, extended into
tbe 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 hia 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 cbaracter, other sentiments were
occasionally pronounced. At Mr. Pectoris " private " theatre
at Dover, at a representation on tbe 4tb of November, an
epUogue closed with the lines, —
" But can we sit supine at others' woe ?
For royal sufferings loyal tears will flow ;
A generous nation mourns a fallen foe.
Witli grief our sympathising bosoms wring
At the sad fate of Gallia's captive king.
The monarch's palace is no prison here.
Free as his people — what has George to fear !
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 tho peace, and guard the rights of man."
The leaders of both the great political parties seem at first to

442 OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.
bave accepted the Frencb revolution as a good omen for the
future prospects of Europe, although tbeir eyes were soon
opened to tbe real character of the movement, aud tbe dangers
that were engendered by it." For some time, however, they
spoke witb caution, and seemed anxious to avoid every occasion
of bringing the subject into discussion, bowever strongly several
of them may bave expressed tbemselves in private. When tbe
parliament opened on the 21st of January, 1790, tbe speech
from the throne omitted even the name of France, though it
spoke of tbe " continued assurances of tbe good disposition of
all -foreign powers," but a passing allusion was made to " tbe
internal situation of different parts of Europe." Tbe addresses
of botb bouses were agreed to witb slight discussions ; the
movers spoke of tbe excellence of the English constitution, and
compared the constitutional liberty enjoyed in tbis country with
the anarchy and licentiousness which reigned in France. Most
of the speakers took it for granted tbat it had been the inten
tion of the revolutionists to form a government in imitation of
our constitution. Tbe House of Commons next proceeded to
the consideration of tbe slave trade, for the abolition of which
Wilberforce was now contending ; and no further allusion to
France was made until the 5tli of February, wben a discussion
arose upon tbe army estimates.
Although the ministerial speakers bad expressed no disappro
bation of the attempt of tbe Frencb people to relieve themselves
from a ruinous and despotic government, it was well known that
their private sentiments were hostile to tbe present state of
things. The atrocious character whicb the popular movement
in France bad now taken bad already disgusted a large portion
of those wbo at first viewed it witb favour, and it was destined
to break up, in a more disastrous manner tban any previous
question, the ranks of the opposition. The grand explosion of
bostility against the Frencb revolution came from a quarter in
which it might have been least expected. In the debate just
alluded to, Fox praised tbe conduct of the Frencb soldiers in
refusing to act against the people, and said that it took away
many of bis objections to a standing army. Tbis dangerous
sentiment drew forth some severe remarks, especially from tbe
military part of the House. Fox, it was well known, had
accepted tbe revolution, in spite of all its sinister accompani
ments, as tbe dawn of European regeneration ; and to tbe last
he defended its principles, and persisted in bis hopes of its
favourable termination, while be disupproved of the conduct of
those who bad driven it into so many excesses and calamities.

BURKE'S FIRST ATTACK. 443
One section of the Whig party fully partook in his sentiments
on this subject ; but there were many of bis old friends wbo
disagreed witb bim. When tbe debate on tbe army estimates
was resumed ou tbe 9th of February, Fox repeated bis remark
on the conduct of tbe Frencb soldiers, and openly avowed bis
opinion of the revolution, declaring that be exulted in tbe
successful attempt of our neighbours to debver themselves from
oppression, intimating at the same time his confident belief that
tbe present convulsions would, sooner or later, give way to con
stitutional order. Tbis declaration roused Edmund Burke, wbo
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 extraordinai-3' catastrophe,
and expressed bis fears that the movement might eventually
reach our own country, wbere, be said, there were people watch
ing only for tbe opportunity to imitate tbe French. Wben
Burke rose, be was evidently labouring under great agitation of
feeling ; and, in tbe warmth of his declamation, be declared
that he was prepared to separate bimself from bis oldest friends,
in order to defend the constitution of bis country against the
encroachments of the baneful democratical spirit whicb had
produced so much havoc in France. Fox replied with modera
tion, reasserted bis own sentiments on tbe subject, and lamented
in feeling terms tbe 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 wbo were virtuously engaged in
labouring to obtain tbe rights of men. Burke rose again,
expressed great indignation against Sheridan, and declared that
be considered their political friendship at an end for ever.
Pitt bad sat quietly on the Treasury bench, inwardly rejoicing
at tbe division whiob bad taken place among bis opponents ; but
be also rose after Burke's second speech, and, without making
any direct attack upon the French, be spoke of the necessity of
rallying round our own constitution, complimented Burke on the
sentiments be bad tbat day expressed, and declared tbat be had
earned tbe gratitude of his country to the latest posterit3^
Several others of the ministerial party followed Pitt in applauding
Burke's conduct. Fox felt personally for the disagreement, aud
tbe wbole Whig party took the alarm. Great exertions were
made to effect a reconcUiation, but without any satisfactory
results, for Burke continued cold and distant ; and Sheridan, who
seems to bave displeased his own party by his violence on this

444 THE REVOLUTION SOCIETY.
occasion, took little part in tbe parliamentary proceedings during
the remainder of the session.
Burke was correct in stating that tbere was a number of discon
tented people in this country who admired tbe conduct of the
Gallic democrats, and who were most anxious to estabbsb 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 politioal 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 tbe House on questions
likely to embarrass the ministers. Beyond tbis tbeir infiuence
was not great, and tbere was nothing in tbeir 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
tbe oldest of these clubs was tbat known by the name of the
" Revolution Society," whicb consisted of a number of the old
Whig party, who met every year on tbe 4tb 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 tban usual solemnity, and witb 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 tbe 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 cbaracter, and of that of the French populace, they
imagined that it would bear a strict comparison witb tbat which
bad hurled James II. from the English throne. The society
met as usual on the 4th of November, 1/89, under tbe presi
dency of Lord Stanhope, a nobleman wbose love of republican
principles was carried almost to insanity. Among tbe more
enthusiastic members of this society was an old man, a preacher
of tbe 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 be now did at those outbursts of tbe same zeal which
merited for bim the title of
" That revolution -sinner — Dr. Price."
On the morning of tbe anniversary dinner of tbe Revolution

FBATEBNIZATION WITH THE FBENCH. 445
Society in 1789, in tbe midst ofthe excitement produced in tbis
eountry by -the earlier acts of tbe French revolution, Dr. Price
preached at a dissenting chapel in tbe Old Jewry, before the
members of tbe society, a sermon " On the love of our country,"
wbich was subsequently printed, and was tbe cause of consider
able agitation. In tbis discourse. Price accepted the French
revolution as a glorious event in the history of mankind, as one
fraught with unmixed good to the wbole human race. At the
conclusion, be burst into a rhapsody of admiration. " What au
eventful period is tbis ! I am thankful tbat I bave lived to it :
and I could almost say, ' Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace, for mine e3'es have seen thy salvation.' I bave
lived to see a diffusion of knowledge whicb has undermined
superstition and error ; I have lived to see the rights of men
better understood tban ever, and nations panting for liberty
which seemed to bave lost tbe idea of it ; I bave lived to see
thirty millions of people indignantly and resolutely spurning at
slavery, and demanding liberty witb an irresistible voice ; their
king led in. triumph, and an arbitrary monarch surrendering
bimself to bis subjects. After sharing in tbe benefits of one
revolution, I bave been spared to be a witness to two other
revolutions, botb glorious ; and now methinks I see the ardour
for liberty catching and spreading, and a general amendment
beginning in human affairs — tbe dominion of kings changed for
tbe 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 bave not been in vain. Behold king
doms admonished by you, starting from sleep, breaking their
fetters, and claiming justice from tbeir oppressors! Behold the
light you bave struck out, after setting America free, reflected
to France, and there kindled into a blaze, tbat lays despotism in
ashes, and warms and illuminates Europe!"
Such were tbe sentiments whicb at this moment were gaining
ground in England; and tbe enthusiasm of the preacher seems
to bave communicated itself to his audience. At the meeting of
tbe society, wbich 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
tho late glorious revolution in France." This address was
transmitted by the chairman, Lord Stanhope, and was received
witb strongly marked satisfaction hy the body to whicb it was
sent ; but it bad tbe double effect of misleading the revolutionary
government as to the real feelings of the population of this

44*5 PAINE AND PBIESTLEY.
country in tbeir subsequent transactions witb England, and of
encouraging those attempts at politioal propagandism whicb
soon followed. A close correspondence was soon established
between the discontented party in this country, and the demo
crats in Paris, from which Fox bimself was not altogether free ;
and man3r new political societies were formed in different parts
of the island, some of them much more violent in their language
and professed objects tban the London Revolution Society.
Counter societies were likewise established, to combat the revolu
tion societies witb their own weapons of agitation. We shall
soon witness the effects of tbis popular antagonism.
Two other individuals stood prominent among the violent
revolutionists of this country. Tbe first was a man of low
origin, onl3'- half educated, but talented in tbat style of writing
whicb 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 bad subsequently been
an exciseman, then a sailor, after whiob be emigrated to America,
wbere bis 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 tbe 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 bis researches and discoveries iu
science, tban by his political and religious opinions, in botb of
which be was violently opposed to the established order of things.
Dr. Priestle3' was a Unitarian preacher, resident at Birmingham,
and belonged to a sect wbich had become numerous in various
parts of England, and which generally entertained political
opinions of a very liberal character. In the bands of people like
these, the clubs multiplied, and became more violent in tbeir
language; among the more celebrated of tbese were the Consti
tutional Society, tbe " Club of tbe I4tb of July," (the day of
the capture of tbe Bastille,) and the Corresponding Societ3', tbe
latter being the most violent of them all.
At tbe same time tbat these clubs were doing all tbey could
to spread democratical opinions tbrough England, King George's
disinclination to making concessions to the liberal party, seemed
to increase witb age and infirmities ; and be now adopted the
conviction tbat tbe concessions on tbe part of the crown had
been tbe chief cause of tbe Frencb revolution. The clergy,
terrified by tbe fate of tbeir Romish brethren on tbe other side
of tbe channel, seconded tbe King's resolution witb tbe cry that

PBEJUDICES AGAINST THE DISSENTERS. 447
tbe church was in danger ; they had been for some 3'-ears looking
witb alarm at tbe increase in tbe 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 tbe community called loudly for legislative
reform, and for religious toleration. The revolution in France
v;as set up as a sufficient argument against reform in England ;
tne 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
slaver3' was stifled by an appeal to the horrors perpetrated in
French republican St. Domingo.
Fox brougbt forward in tbe House of Commons a motion for
tbe repeal of tbe test and corporation acts, on the 2iid of March,
1790,- in a very able speech, to the principles of which no objec
tion was made. Some members avowed tbeir approval of tbe
measure, but said they considered themselves bound to obey the
will of tbeir constituents, wbo, in various instances, bad held
public meetings, and directed tbeir representatives to oppose all
concession to tbe dissenters. Pitt declared that his feelings
were in favour of toleration, but be was afraid that in granting
their wishes be migbt be overthrowing one of tbe barriers of the
constitution. It was Burke who, on this occasion, took upon
bimself tbe task of religious persecutor. He also made an
apology for the part he was taking, and tben he flew off to his
favourite subject, the horrors and crimes of the French revolu
tion ; be avowed general opinions totally at variance with those
witb wbom be bad acted so many years, declared that there was
no sucb thing as natural rights of men, and condemned the
wbole body of tbe dissenters in tbe strongest terms, as discon
tented people, wbose principles tended to tbe subversion of good
government. He even supported his opinions by calling to
memory tbe proceedings of the mad Lord George Gordon ; and to
prove tbe danger witb wbich the constitution was now threatened,
he spoke of tbe celebrated sermon of Dr. Price on the love of
our country, and of some political writings of Dr. Priestlej-.
The motion was rejected by a majority of nearly three to one.
The question of religious toleration was that on whicb the
Tory party flrst began to agitate the people, and they succeeded
in exciting tbe prejudices of tbe mob, and even of tbe middle
classes, to an extraordinary degree. It was little short of a
new Sacheverell crusade ; for tbere were " no dissenter" meetings
in all parts of tbe country, and in some places " nd dissenter'-'
mobs. Besides pamphlets of a more serious cbaracter, they were

^8 LOYAL SONG.
ridiculed and burlesqued in satirical songs and jDoems, many of
whicb incited tbe populace to insult and abuse tbem. A lawyer
of Birmingham, well known by the name of counciUor Morfit,
(as we find written b3^ 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 witb a large caricatured representation of tbe 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 kingl
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 !
" 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 ?
And they would overthrow
King, lords, and bishops too.
And, while they gave the blow,
Loyally sing,
" 0 Lord our God arise I
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 tbe 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 tbe

VIOLENCE OF THE DISSENTERS. 449
repeal of tbe test and corporation acts, bad asserted, witb truth,
tbat tolerant feelings were a thing unknown amongst the party
which was cr3'ing loudest for toleration, and all their proceedings
at tbis moment of agitation were strongly tainted with the
bitter animosity of tbe religious parties in the age of the Puritans.
Burke said that, according to tbe doctrines set forth by 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 tbe one and tho other.
A rather popular ballad, distributed about during the agitation
against tbe dissenters at tbe beginning of 1790, before the
motion in Parliament for the repeal of tbe test and corporation
acts, under the title of " Now or never ; or, a Reveillee to tbe
Church," pictures the terror of tbe church at tbe movement
among its opponents, —
" Oh, who shall blow the brazen trump,
By famed Sacheverell sounded.
That spread confusion through the Rump,
And silenced every Roundhead ?
" 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 ahould the beldame slip her wind.
You'll ne'er aee such another,"
The church, says tbis ballad in equally strong language, was
unwiUing 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 apitc of wind and weather,
" Her babes of grace, with tendt-r care,
She fed on dainty dishes ;
And none but they have had a share
Among the loaves and fishes,
" Shall Presbyterian shrieves and maycrg
Eat custard with the wise men —
Or meetings hear the pious prayers
Of searchera and excisemen ?
" The sects they prate of righta and stuff,
And brawl in fierce committees.
And soon will put on blue and buff,
While Price sings Nunc dimittie.
Qt 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 tbe attack , and
the ballad concludes witb an allusion to tbe part taken by some
of the towns and corporations in appealing to Parliament
against tbe dissenters.
Among tbe caricatures produced by tbis 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
tbe 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 tbe chapel of sedi
tion. Priestley, to the left, witb outstretched arms, is breathing
forth flames of "Arianism," " Socinianism," "Deism," and

A TEIO OP INCENDIAEIBS.

"Atheism." Price, in tbe 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 tbe anniversary of the revolution." The doctor holds
in bis band a paper inscribed, " Tbe prayers of tbe congregation
are desired for tbe success of tbe patriotic members of the
National Assembly now sitting in France." Dr. Lindsey, who
occupies tbe other side of tbe pulpit, is tearing to pieces a tablet
inscribed with tbe thirty-nine articles. Among tbe congregation
we see Fox (shouting " Hear, hear, hear ! ") Margaret Nichol-

NEW ELECTIONS.

45 i

son (tbe would-be regicide). Dr. Rees, Dr. Kippis, Lord Stan
hope (who is tearing to pieces the " Acts of Pariiament for the
uniformity of the Common Prayer and Administration of the
Sacraments"), and several others, some of wbom 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 Sanotoi-um" on tbe other side reveals to our view a
picture of CromweU suspended within. The foUowing lines,
inscribed at the foot of tbe print, express the spirit of the
wbole, — " From such implacable tormentors,
Fanatics, hypocrites, dissenters.
Cruel in 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 tbe dissenters, and the alarm caused by
tbe 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 tbe old one ; and tbe only incident of
much importance, as depicting tbe politioal movement of the
day, was the appearance of John Home Tooke (so well known
in the earlier part of tbe reign as Parson Home of Brentford),
who offered himself as a candidate to contest Westminster witb
Fox and Lord Hood. Neither Fox, nor his seconder, Sheridan,
were a match in mob-eloquence with Tooke, and tbe latter held
bis place manfully on tbe hustings ; but, at tbe end of the poll,
be was in a considerable minority. This man, wbo is best
known to the public by bis "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 tbe
reign a violent Wilkite : be bad subsequently quarrelled with
Wilkes, and done everything in his power to vilify his private
and public character ; since that he seemed almost to bave dis
appeared from the political stage, until tbe French Revolution
and the English political societies again brought bim to life,
G G 2

45* BURKEP S " REFLECTIONS."
On his rejection at Westminster he presented a petition against
tbe return, in a tone tbat gave great offence to tbe "House of
Commons. We shall soon see him stUl more active in the
political factions of the day. Tbe 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, wbo, it was
pretended by bis opponents, gained bis election by coalescing
with Lord Hood. "When tbe Tories wished to be very severe
on tbeir 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 tbe subject seemed to be avoided for a while
in the debates in either house. But, wbile it appeared tbus to
bave been discarded by tbe Court, it bad absorbed tbe whole
mighty intellect of Burke, wbo, a sbort time before the opening of
tbe session, bad 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 tbe danger of the extension of
republican principles to tbis country. Tbe English political
societies, tbe dissenters, and tbeir acknowledged or covert
designs, and especially Dr. Price's sermon, all became objects in
turn of bis indignant declamations, Perhaps no single book
ever produced so powerful an effect as these " Reflections ;"
their publication marked an epoch in tbe history of the country,
and we find tbat immediately after the appearance of this
pamphlet, not only did the general feeling 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 GUlray,
published on the 3rd of December, 1790, represents the long,
spectacled nose of tbe autbor of tbese Reflections, armed witb
the crown and the cross, penetrating into tbe secret study
of Dr, Price, and surprising him, surrounded by all tbe evidences
of sedition against Church and State.* The King and his
ministers, and all the Tory party, expressed unbounded admira
tion of tbis splendid defence of tbeir policy ; but it gave great
dissatisfaction to tbe 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
ia given in the accompanying plate*

DEFECTION OF BUBKE. 453
render tbem odious, and that be bad 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 tbe 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, bad now returned to England in tbe hopes of finding
here a soil fitted for tbeir reception. At first Paine's " Rights
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 tbe press in extraordinary numbers.
Tbe satisfaction wbich Burke's pamphlet gave to ministers,
was soon increased by bis entire defection from tbe standard of
opposition. The Whigs seemed to have designedly urged him
on to bis grand outbreak on tbis subject. For weeks tbeir
journals teemed with attacks on bis book, and witb bints at his
apostasy from the cause of freedom. When he rose in tbe
bouse to speak on French politics, tbey put him down by tbeir
murmurs, although Fox and Sheridan were ready to seize upon
any occasion of declaring their admiration of tbe revolution.
Burke kept silence during a large part of the session, or
said little ; tbe more moderate of the Whig party counselled
bim to act tbus, iu 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 tbe sub
ject on the 15th of April, in connexion witb tbe pending mea
sure for tbe government of Canada, and having given one or two
intimations tbat bis beart was full of a burthen whicb he was
resolved to discbarge, on tbe i6th of May be delivered bis
second grand philippic in the House of Commons against the
Frencb Revolution and its authors. He dwelt especially on the
horrible massacres which had devastated the Frencb Isle of St.
Domingo, and returned from tbem 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 tbe opposition, dnd Fox seized the opportu
nity of declaring how entirely be differed with bim on this
grand topic, and of speaking somewhat disrespectfully of his
book. It was then that Burke rose again, witb more warmth
tban ever, and, after complaining of tbe interruptions and

454 BUBKETS QUABBEL WITH 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 wbich they were propagated, on
the treasonable conduct of certain unitarian and otber dis
senting preachers in tbis country, who corresponded with tbe
French democrats, and held tbem up for imitation — he alluded,
of course, to Priestley and otber instigators of sedition ; Dr.
Price had died on the 19th of April, — and on the danger
that the Frencb 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, thau whom no man possessed a
kinder or more affectionate heart, rose to repl3' with tears
rolling down bis cheeks ; he appealed to their long friendship
and familiar intercourse ; to bis own unaltered attachment ; be
cited Burke's former opinions and exertions iu tbe cause of
liberty ; and he deprecated tbe idea tbat their personal friend
ship should be destroyed by a diff'erence of opinion on one
particular subject. He, however, intermixed bis reply with
some personal recriminations and observations which only
increased tbe irritation ; Burke remained cold and inexorable,
and all intercourse between tbe two statesmen was discon
tinued. Tbe loss of Burke was a severe blow to tbe party, and was a
subject of no small exultation to tbe ministry and to the
court. He became an object of unbounded admiration in
the Tory papers, wbile those of tbe opposition were equally
pertinacious in their attacks and in their abuse. Several clever
caricatures bave remained to us as testimonies of the former
feeling. One of those in which tbe sentiment is more coarsely
expressed, entitled " Tbe wrangling friends ; or, Opposition
in disorder," published on tbe loth of May, and an evident
attempt at imitating tbe style of Gillray, depicts the affecting
scene iu 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 wbo bad turned King's
evidence against bis accomplices, wbo they expected would
now be convicted and condemned. A caricature by GiUray,
published on the i4tli of May, represented Fox as the Guy
Faux of bis party, on the point of blowing up the King,
Lords, and Constitution, when be is detected and brougbt

CABICATUBES ON BUBKE.

455

to light by the vigilant watchman, Burke, wbo here appears in
the service of, tbe crown. Sheridan and others of bis col
leagues are seeking safety in flight. That be had entered
tbe service of the crown, and was to be paid accordingly, many
believed, or pretended -to
believe ; and botb parties ^^;>J'.-^^ /,
seemed not unwilling tbat xV^*^ r \ //
tbis impression should go
abroad. In one print, pub
lished at this time, Burke
is represented as receiving
from Pitt a coronet as tbe
reward of bis desertion.
Another caricature by
Gillray, published in May, ^
about tbe same time as I IkfI i<^. ^iimk V:*^V
the former, represents tbe
great impeacber pointing
out bis two colleagues
Fox and Sheridan, to jus
tice, witb tbe declaration, ""^ v^ilant watchman.
"Behold the abettors of revolution ! " It is entitled, "The
impeachment; or, Tbe father of tbe gang turned King's

an impeachment.

evidence." Botb parties, in the scene described above, des
cribed tbe other chiefs of the opposition as the political
offspring of Burke. Prom tbis time tbe face of Burke
appears much more rarely in tbe caricatures. A severe, and an
unjust caricature by Gillray, published on the i6tb of No
vember,. 1791, after Burke had accepted a pension from the
crown, represents bim under the title of "A uniform Whig."

45^

THE MEASUBEB OF THE CBOWN.

Tie is seen leaning with bis right arm on a pedestal supporting
Ih.c bust of King George, and holding in his band his " Re-
fkctions on the French Revolution." On this side of bis body,
his garb is new and fashionable, and bis pockets are over
flowing with ni( nc3'. On the other side he is dressed in rags,
his enipty pockets turned inside out, and be holds a cap of
liberty in his hand. The supposed changeabloness of his prin
ciples is intimated by a figure of Fame, making with its too a
taii.geiit on the extremity of the sail of a windmill. Under
neath is inscribed a sentence from bis own ''Reflections," — "I
jirescrvc consistency by varying my means to secure the unity
of my end." Burke was the last person in tho world to
condescend to use means, or to listen to motives, tbat were
i; can or dishonourable.
Encouraged by the desertions which were weakening the
opposition in parliament, and by the extraordinary effect
]ji-oduced throughout tbe 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
i'eelings 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 tbe 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 tbe measure of tbe
crown for a new pair of re
volution breeches," Paine
is here represented with the

A BAD MEASUEEE.

PBOSPECTS OF REVOLUTION.

457

conventional type of face whicli in the caricatures of this and
the subsequent period was always given to a Frencb democrat ;
— his tricoloured cockade bears tho inscription, " 'Five la liberti !"
And tbe following almost incolierent soliloquy is placed in bis
mouth : — -
" Fathom aud a half I fathom and a half I Poor Tom ! ah ! mercy upon
me ! that's more by half thau my poor measure will ever be able to reach I
— Lord ! Lord ! 1 wish I had a bit of the stay-tape or buckram which I
used to cabbage when I was a prentice, to lengthen it out, — Well, well,
\\ ho would ever have thought it, that I, who have served seven years ns
.111 apprentice, and afterwards worked four years as a journeyman to a
master tiiilor, then followed the business of an exciseman as much longer,
should not be able to tiiUe tho dimensions of this bauble ! — for what is a
crown but a bauble ? which we may see in the Tower fir sixpence a piece ?
—-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 niyht-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 so Flints aud Liberty for ever I aud d — n the Dungs !
Huzza I "
It was represeuted tbat those who were opposed to Pitt's
government aimed directly at tbe overthrow of tbe throne and
the constitution — tbat reform was a mask for republicanism —
tbat dissent from tbe church was
equivalent to atheism. Fox and bis
part3-, ill tho 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 79 1 , Amid tbe horrors of tbe suc
cessful revolution here pre-supposed, ;
the Queen and the prime minister
are seen on one side, eacb suspended
to a lamp. This was an example
borrowed from recent proceedings
of tbe Frencb democrats. It was
commonly believed tbat Pitt and
Queen Charlotte were closely leagued
together to pillage and oppress tbe

^.^

A I'AIK OP PENDENTS.

458

BIRMINGHAM RIOTS.

nation, and she was far less popular than tbe King, whose
infirmity produced a general sympathy, and who had many good
qualities that endeared him to those witb whom be came in con
tact. In another part of GUlray's picture, the King is brougbt
to tbe block, held down by Sheridan, wbile Fox, masked, acts as
executioner, Priestley,
witb pious exhortations,
is encouraging the fallen
monarch to submit to
bis hard fate.
The prejudice which
such productions were
intended to excite soon
communicated itself to
the populace, whicb
more especially caught
up the cry against the
dissenters. Tbere was
some rioting in several
parts of the country,
but the weight of the
popular ill-humour feU
upon Dr. Priestley, who
then resided at Birmingham. This town was, even then, tbe
place of all otbers where it was easiest to get together a mob
that would hesitate at nothing, with tbe prospect of mischief
and plunder befoi-e it. A number of Priestley's friends in Bir
mingham agreed to celebrate the second anniversary of tbe cap
ture of tbe BastUle on the i4tb of July, 1791, by a dinner,
which it was understood would be accompanied witb revolu
tionary toasts and songs. There were many people in tbe 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 tbere seemed
reason to believe bad come from London, was distributed about
the town. On the 14th, which was a Thursday, about eighty
persons sat down to dinner, but Dr. Priestley himself was not
present, A mob bad already assembled round tbe tavern at

ITAETTEDOM.

MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF YORK. 459
which tbe dinner was to be held, wbo shouted " Church and
King," and insulted tbe 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 bad
broken up ; but tben, encouraged by the loyalists wbo 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 tbey
considered bim), they rushed to bis chapel, the new meeting-
bouse, and burnt it to the ground. It was now evening, and
tbe 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 bouse of
Dr, Priestley, about a mile and a half from the town, which
tbev' also destroyed, witb his librar3', papers, and philosophical
instruments. Priestley and bis family had fled ; he reached
London in safety, and took tbe charge of Dr. Price's congrega
tion at Hackne3-. Tbe mob was now master of the place, and
for several successive days paraded Birmingham and its neigh
bourhood, burning aud destroying witbout interruption, until
the following Monday (tbe i8th), wben a strong body of mili-
tary arrived, and tbe rioters dispersed. An inclination to follow
tbe example of Birmingham was exhibited in some otber places,
and tbe outcr3' against dissenters and revolutionists became loud
from one end of the kingdom to tbe otber. The ultra-radicals
were strongest in London and in Scotland.
In the autumn, a domestic event came to throw a gleam of
joy amid tbe bitterness of political
and religious faction whicb now
reigned throughout the land. On ^
the 29th of September, tbe Duke of
York was married at Berlin to tbe
eldest daughter of tbe King of Prus
sia, and be arrived with his bride in
London on tbe 19th of October,
wbere tbey were received amid tbe
congratulations of all classes of
society. For some time nothing
was talked of or sung of but tbe new
duchess, and ber portrait was to be
seen in every print-shop. The mar
riage became soon the subject of a
variety of prints and caricatures. expectation.

4^0 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 tbe riches she was said
to have brougbt witb her. It is entitled " The Introduction,"
and was published on tbe 2nd of November. The duke is intro
ducing his bride, wbo carries ber apron full of money ; tbe King
and Queen are sbewing their satisfaction at her golden burthen
in unmistakeable gestures, tbe 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 bis family. Among the former,
by far the most remarkable was Dr. Wolcot, better known by
bis celebrated pseudonym of Peter Pindar, wbose clever but
daring infractions of royal inviolability bave not yet ceased to
amuse bis countrymen. These satirists invaded tbe most private
recesses of the palace, and dragged before tbe world a host of
ridiculous incidents witb wbich royal eccentricity furnished
tbem, and whicb 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 tbe habit of attending to
various ininutise of domestic economy whicb are more consistent
witb a low station in life tban with tbe public dignity of the
Crown, and scenes of tbis description were brougbt before the
eye of the public with the most provoking impertinence. A
caricature, published on the 21st of November, 1791, represented
the King and Queen in the cbaracter 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, tbey were
said to have had their provisions brougbt from Windsor by tbe
mail, free of carriage, because Weymouth was a dear place. So,
at least, says Peter Pindar, —
" The mail arrives ! — hark 1 hark ! the cheerful horn,
To majesty announcing oil and corn ;
Turnips and cabbages, and soap, and candles.
And, lo I each article great Ciesar 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 be meets with a drove of cattle,
carrying to the market for sale j — ¦

DOMESTIC OCCUPATIONS. 461
" A batch of bullocks ! — see great Csesar run :
He stops the drover — bargain is begun.
He feels their ribs and rumps— he shakes his head —
' Poor, drover, poor — ^poor, very poor indeed !'
Caesar and drover haggle — iiff'rence split — ¦
How much ? — a shilling ! what a royal hit
A load of hay in sight ' great C.es.ir flies —
Smells — shakes his head — ' Bad hay — sour hay' — he '.mys.
'Smell, Courtown — smell — good bargain — lucky h>.xd —
Smell, Courtown — sweeter hay was never mowM.'
A herd of swine goes by ! — ' Whose hogs are these ?
Hay, farme;-, hay V — ' 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 »iorS.'
Lo ! Csesar buys the pigs — he shly winks —
' Hay, Gwinn, the fellow is not caught, he thinks —
Fool, not to know the bargain I have got !
Hay, Gwinn — nice bargain — lucky, lucky, lot I' "
On the 28tb of November, 1791, appeared a brace of
prints, reflecting on the
housebold economy of tbe
palace. In the first the
King is represented in
very uncourtly dishabille,
preparing for breakfast by
toasting his own muffins ;
in tbe companion print,
the Queen, in homely
garb, although ber pocket
is overflowing witb money,
is frying sprats for supper.
A veryclever caricature was
published by GUkay, en
titled " Anti-saccbarites,"
in which tbe King and
Queen are teaching their
daughters to take theu- tea lOASTma mutpins.
without sugar, as " a noble example of economy." The princesses
bave a look of great discontent, but tbeir royal mother exhorts
them to persevere ; " Above aU, remember bow much expense it
wUl save your poor papa." The King, delighted with the ex
periment, exclaims, " 0 delicious ! debcious !" This print appeared
on tbe 27tb of Maich, 1 792 ; on the 28th of the foUowing July,

4^2

AVARICE AT COURT.

tbe same artist produced a beautiful plate under the title of "Tem
perance enjo3ing a fru
gal meal," in whicb the
King and Queen are
seated at their table,
eating eggs, and break
fasting with the great
est frugality out of tbe
most sumptuous uten
sils. All the accessories
ofthe picture offer innu
merable examples ofthe
savinghabitsoftbeillus-
trious pair.* Their ava
ricious disposition, espe
cially that of the Queen
(who was never very
popular), bad now be
come proverbial Thus,
in a print published on
Vices overlooked in the new

FETING SPEATS.

the 24th of May, 1792, entitled
poclamation," avarice is represented

by King George and

Queen Charlotte bugging their boarded millions in .mutual
satisiaction, witb a book of interest-tables beside them. Tbis
print is divided into four compartments, representing ava
rice — drunkenness, exemplified iu the person of tbe Prince of
Wales, — gambling, the I'avourite amusement of tbe 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 ofthe royal family of Great Britain,
King George was remarkable for slovenliness of manners, for
bis ungraceful and undignified carriage, for a love of entering
into conversation witb [leoide of all ranks, and for the volubility
with whicb be 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, privatcl3- expressed
his opinion of the King's intellectual qualities in the following
terms : — " His IMajesty seems to bo possessed of somo good
nature and much curiosity ; as for his noii.f, it is not contempti
ble. His Majesty, indeed, was multifarioiix 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 tbe otber through
page after page. A carica
ture, published by Gillray
on -the lotb of February,
1795, represents an exam
ple of royal "affability."
The King and Queen, in
tbeir rural walks, arrive at j
a dirty but, tho occupant
of which, no very high
sample of humanity, is
feeding his pigs witb wash,
Tho vacant stare on his
countenance shows bim
overwhelmed witb the rapid
succession of royal interro-
gatives, — " Well, friend, where a' you going, bay ? — what's 3-our
name, hay P^where d' ye live, bay ? — hay ?"
These "satirical attacks on roy.al manners were continued
tbrough the whole of the revolutionary period, and anywliere
but in England they could not have failed to bring the person
of the sovereign into contempt. Tbe King's familiarity of
manners, approaching to vulgarity, was exhibited in another
caricature by Gillray, published in tbe month of June, 1797,
representing a scene on tbe esplanade at 'Weymouth. The
King, distinguished by his awkward and shuffling gait (whicb is

EOTAL AFPABILITT,

4^4 ROYAL MANNERS.
not much exaggerated in the picture), has a word to say to
every one of the crowd through which be is walking. The con
stant practice of taking tbe air in uncere
monious excursions, and his great attach
ment to bunting, gave frequent occasions
for bringing forth tbese qualities of the
King, and led to scenes of a ridiculous kind.
One of tbese furnished the subject of a
caricature, published on the 2nd 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 tbe apples in ! — how ? are tbey
made without seams?" This subject had
already been treated by Peter Pindar : —

A KINd.

rHir?

T!is Kr^'a and the apple dumplinos.

' 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 tlirough curiosity a cot,
Where aat a poor old woman and her pot.
The wrinkled, blear-ey'd, good old granny,
In thia aame oot, illum'd by many a cranny.

ROYAL WISDOM. 465
3ad finiah'd apple dumplings for her pot :
In tempting row the naked dumplings lay,
AVhen, 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 I' 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 beata Pinetti's conjuring all to pieces —
Stiange I should never of a dumpling dream !
But, Goody, tell me where, where, n here'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 ?'
On which the dame the curious scheme reveal'd
By which the apple lay so sly conceal' d.
Which made tfie Solomon of Britain start ;
Who to the palace with full speed repair'd,
And queen, and princesses so beauteous, soar'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 !"
In the caricatures on more general subjects of a later period
tban that of which we are now speaking, we shall often find

JOTFUL NEWS.

these personal weaknesses of the royal family — the love of

4i56 GILLRAY AND GEORGE III
money, tbe homely savings, the familiar air, the taste for gossip
— introduced. A caricature b3f GiUi-ay, published in 1792, after
tbe 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 ro3fal huntsman and his
consort. It is entitled, " Scotch Harry's News ; or Nincom
poop in high glee." Tbe exulting secretary of state, who is
thus designated, announces tbat '' 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 — " Tall3'- ho ! ho ! ho !
bo !" while his queen, whose bead is running entirely on the
gain likely to result from these new conquests, exclaims, " 0 the
dear, sweet pagodas !"
The caricaturist wbo thus burlesqued royalty, had a pique
against George IIL, very similar to that of Hogarth against
George II. GUlray bad accompanied Loutberbourg 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 Loutberbourg, which were plain landsc;ipe sketches,
finished sufficientl3' to be pei-feotl3' intelligible. But wben he
came to Gillray's rough but spirited sketches of French officers
and soldiers, he threw tbem aside with contempt, meiely 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 be 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 bad not the same
dependence on court as Sayer, who was much inferior to bim in
talent, seldom loses an opportunity of turning the King to
ridicule. Nor did Pitt always escape bis satire. Tbe young minister,
who had so suddenl3' risen to tbe summit of power, and now
somewhat haughtily lorded it over his fellow statesmen, seems
io bave given offence to the artist, who, on tbe 2otb of December,
1791, caricatured him as an upstart fungus, springing suddenly
out of tbe hot-bed of royal favour, which is somewhat rudely com-

CARICATURES ON PITT.

407

A PUNOUS.

in spite of many defections

pared to a dung-biU. The print is entitled " An excrescence-
fungus, — alias, a toad-stool upon
a dung-hUl." The thin meagre
figure of tbe prime minister was
no less fruitful a matter for jest,
than that of bis fat and slovenly
opponent Fox. In one of Gill
ray's prints, dated tbe 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 bis figure
and bis 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,
became, under its old leaders, Fox
and Sheridan, and some of tbe
young and rising debaters, sucb
as Grey, Erskine, Lord Lauder
dale, Whitbread, and otbers, louder
and more menacing. Within par
liament, every question tbat would
admit of a debate, was contested
¦with tbe greatest obstinacy. The
session of 1 792 was first occupied
witb tbe foreign policy of tbe
preceding year, wbich, whether
in Europe or in India, was
analyzed and bitterly attacked.
Wilberforce's question of tbe
abolition of negro slavery em
barrassed tbe ministers, whose
chief argument against it was tbat it numbered among its advo
cates some of tbe revolutionary reformers, and among tbe rest
Thomas Paine ; tbey disposed of it eventually by a motion for
gradual abolition. The detection of a number of fiagrant
instances of improper interference in elections gave a new force
to tbe question of parliamentary reform, whicb was brougbt
H H 2

'A BOTTOMLESS PITT.

468

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 tbe ministerial benches v/as tbe
impolicy of tbe time at which tbe question was brought for
ward, and tbe 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 bad, more than twenty years before, raised up
John Wilkes, his North Briton, and his " Essay on Woman."
Burke, who opposed this motion witb great warmth, and who
declared bis belief that the House of Commons was as perfect
aa human nature would permit it to be, fiew out against French
revolutionists and English political societies, and talked of the
factious men with which England abounded, and who were
urging tbis country towards blood and confusion. In tbe heat
of party faction, the ministers exaggerated greatly tbe real
danger tbey bad to apprehend from people of this description,
while it was equally under-valued b3- tbeir opponents.
If, however, the question of parliamentary reform was, in
point of numbers, weakly supported in the bouse, it was making
substantial advances among people out of doors. In the debates
in tbe 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
especialh' recalled to their
memorv a meeting on
tbe subject, held at the
Thatched House Tavern,
in 1782, when Pitt and
the Duke of Richmond
had joined hand in hand
witb Major Cartwright
and Home Tooke. These
men bad tbere been as
decided instigators of se
dition as those to whom
tu^y now applied tbe
epithet. But a few years
of gratified ambition had
made Pitt and R chmond
tbe most resolute oppo
nents of liberal measures,
while Cartwright* and
The figure of Major Cartwright is taken from a print attributed to

MAJOR CAETWEIGHT.

POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS. 469
Tooke, wbo had not been exposed to tbe same seductions,continued
to walk in tbeir old path. Parliamentary reform had now become
tbe watchword of several ofthe political clubs, wbich were increas
ing in numbers, as well as in the violence of their language. A few
weeks had seen tbe formation of the " Corresponding Society,"
whicb 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, 1792, arose the "Society of the Friends ofthe
People," whicb was more moderate in its language and demands,
and counted iu 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,
tbat Grey and Erskine, wbo were both members, brougbt the
question of reform before tbe House of Commons, in the .spring
of 1792 ; and it was resolved that tbey should bring forward a
more formal motion on the subject in the ensuing session.
The ministry dreaded the way in whicb tbe opposition was
thus strengthening itself with political associations, and deter
mined to take measures to counteract them, and to suppress tbe
quantity of inflammatory 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 tbeir
apprehensions, is deserving of admiration. They even contrived
to make the odium of sedition recoil heavily upon the beads of
the leaders of the opposition in parliament, wbo were represented
as nourishing concealed views of ambition, and as close imitators

PATEIOTS AMUSINO THEMSELVES.
Gillray, published in 1784, in which he is caricatured as " the Drum-major
of gedition."

47° QUARREL IN THE MINISTRY.
of tbe worst of the ultra-democrats of France. In a caricature
by Gillray, published on the i9tb of April, 1792, and entitled,
" Patriots amusing tbemselves ; or, Swedes* practising at a
post," Fox and Sheridan are perfecting themselves in tbe use
of fire-arms. Dr. Priestley stands bebind, holding two pamphlets
in bis band, entitled " On the glory of revolutions," and " On
the folly of religion and order," and says to bis colleagues,
" Here's plenty of wadding for to ram down the cbarge with, to
give it force, and to make a loud report." Fox, bearing tbe
French cockade, witb tbe inscription "fa ira," is firing a
blunderbuss ; wbile Sheridan, loading his pistol, exclaims, " Well !
tbis new game is delightful ! — 0 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 i/ra /"
'The post at which tbey are shooting is rudely moulded into
the form of King George, surmounted by the royal bunting cap.
Tbe success whicb tbese attempts on people's fears and prejudices
met with, encouraged tbe 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 21st of May
appeared a royal proclamation against seditious meetings and
writings, but whicb 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, witb
a view to forward their criminal purposes in this country.
This proclamation was violently condemned in parliament, by
tbe opposition, as an injudicious and uncalled-for measure ; and
it produced debates in botb bouses, which shewed a number of
desertions from the popular party. Among tbe most important
in the House of Lords were the Duke of Portland and the
Prince of Wales, who both spoke energetically in favour of tbe
proclamation. At tbis moment some divisions shewed tbemselves also in the
midst of the ministerial camp. Tbere bad never been any
cordiality between tbe premier and the chancellor, since tbe
treacherous conduct of tbe latter on the occasion of the regency
bill ; and Thurlow not only spoke contemptuously of Pitt in
private society, but be more than once attacked his measures in
* An allusion to the assassination of the King of Sweden, iu the preced
ing year.

DISMISSAL OF LORD THURLOW. 471
tbe bouse. The King had a great disinclination to parting witb
bis chancellor, and tbings were allowed to go on for some time,
until, in tbe session of 1 792, tbe 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 tvvo
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, tbe provoked premier forced tbe King
to an alternative, it was notified to Thurlow that be must resign.
Thurlow obeyed, much against bis inclination ; though, on
account of business pending in the Court of Chancery, be con
sented to remain at his post till the end of the session. On the
day of prorogation, the i5tb of June, be gave up the seals,
whiob were placed in commission, but which were subsequently
given to his old rival Lord Loughborough, wbo was one of tbe
deserters from the Whig phalanx. Tbe caricatures on the dis
missal of Thurlow were bittei-13' sarcastic. One by Gillray,
published on tbe 24th of May, entitled " The fall of the Wolsey
of tbe Woolsack," represents bim engaged in a desperate struggle
for tbe insignia of office against the King and his two ministers,
Pitt and Dundas. Another caricature by the same artist,
published on tbe 9tb of June, and entitled " Sin, Death, aud 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 tbe two combatants, Death (bearing the
. semblance of Pitt) and Satan (who exhibits the dark frowning
countenance of Thurlow).
It was soon seen tbat Pitt's agitation against revolutionary
principles bad 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 tbe same moment forming with tbe avowed purpose of
restoring monarchy in -France by Ibrce of arms. A few months
left no doubt tbat England bad looked with favour upon the
secret treaty of Pilnitz. On the appearance of the royal
proclamation in May, tbe French ambassador, Chauvelin, wbo
bad but recently arrived in that capacity, made a formal
remonstrance against that part of it whicb alluded to tbe
correspondence with persons in foreign parts, as calculated to
-convey an impression that the English government gave credit

472 STATE OF FRANCE.
to reports tbat France was a party to tbe seditious practices in
England, and that England looked upon her neighbour with
hostUe feelings. The reply of the English secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, Lord Grenville, breathed tbe strongest senti
ments of peace and amity, and was accompanied with expressitms
that gave great satisfaction to the French revolutionai-3' govern
ment, wbich had suspected a secret understanding between the
English court and those wbo were leaguing against it on the
continent. Encouraged b3' Lord Grenville's language on tbis
occasion, the French government made a subsequent application,
through its ambassador, to engage the English King to use his
good offices witb bis allies to avert tbe attack witb which it was
threatened from witbout. 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 whicb engaged bis Britannic majesty
not to interfere witb tbe internal aff'airs of France, equally
tended to induce bim to respect tbe rights and independence of
other sovereigns, and particularly those of bis allies." Down to
tbis moment tbe French government appears to bave placed
entire faith in tbe good intentions of this country ; but tbe only
sense whicb it could possibly make of tbis document was that it
could no longer reckon on the friendship of England ; and this,
joined witb tbe arrogant manifestoes now published by tbe courts
of Berlin and Vienna, drove the Frencb to desperation, destroyed
entirely tbe little spirit of moderation that remained, and, no
doubt, contributed to tbe disastrous scenes whicb followed.
The calamities of that unhappy country now succeeded one
another in rapid succession. The proclamations of the allies
declared very unadvisedly tbat for some months the King of
France had been acting under constraint, and tbat he was not
sincere in bis concessions and declarations. This proceeding
only tended to aggravate tbe Frencb populace, and the fearful
events ofthe lotb of August overthrew the throne, and established
tbe triumph of democracy. Tbe English ambassador was
immediately recalled from Paris, on the pretext that bis mission
was at an end so soon as the functions of royalty were suspended.
The Frencb government still attempted to avert the bostility
of England, and kept tbeir ambassador in London, although the
King and bis ministers refused to acknowledge him in a public
capacity. Tbe horrible massacres of September quickly followed
to add to the general consternation ; and vast numbers of French
priests and refugees flocked to this eountry, to attract tbe
sympathy of Englishmen by their misfortunes, and increase tbe

ALARMING DECREE. 473
detestation of French republicanism by tbeir reports of tbe
atrocities wbich had driven them away. Various acts followed
which shewed too clearly tbe inclination of the French to
propagate tbeir opinions in other countries. In tbe National
Convention, which was called together at the end of September,
two members were elected from England, Thomas Paine and
Dr. Priestley ; tbe latter declined the nomination, but Paine
accepted it, and proceeded to Paris to enter upon bis legislative
duties. Addresses and congratulations, couched in exaggerated
and inflammator3'- language, were sent to the Convention from
some ofthe English political societies, whicb laid those societies
open to new suspicions ; and these suspicions, and the fears
consequent upon tbem, were increased by successes of the
republican arms, and the arrogant tone now taken by the
Convention itself. On the 19th of November the Assembly
passed by acclamation, tbe 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 tbey charge the executive power to send
orders to the generals to give assistance to such people, and to
defend citizens wbo have suffered and are now suffering in tbe
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 tbis country. The
seed whicb bad been sown so widely by Burke's " Reflections"
was thus ripened into a deep hatred of France and Frenchmen,
which was kept up by tbe activity of tbe 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 tbe constitution, and, as tbe meeting of
parliament approached, the ministers increased the panic by
calling out tbe militia to protect the government against what
were probably visionary dangers of conspiracy and revolt.
On the i3tb of December, the session of parliament was
opened witb 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 tbat it
bad been considered necessary to augment the military and
naval forces of tbe kingdom. Tbe opposition, wbich bad lost

474

COMPULSATORY FEEDING.

much in numbers, was warm, yet more moderate than usual in
its language ; it deplored tbe occurrence of seditious pro
ceedings, wherever tbey 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 aud, probably, a
calamitous war, and urged the propriety of re-establishing the
diplomatic communications between tbis 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 tbe beginning of 1793, M. Chauvelin, whom
the Frencb still considered in the light of an ambassador, was
ordered to leave the kingdom. When all hopes of avoiding
hostilities between the two countries bad vanished, the French
Convention anticipated our goveriiment by a Declaration of
War on tbe ist of February, 1793.
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 Frencb at bome ; of the miseries
and atrocities of republicanism ; of tbe altered condition of
England, if Frencb armies or ropublica!n 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 1st of December, " French
liberty " is compared

with what the repub
licans of France and the
poUtical societies here
so often designated as
" Engbsb slavery : " —
A jolly son of John
Bull, surrounded witb
provisions and all kinds
of com forts, is crying out
witb the fear of starva
tion and slavery, on one
side ; wbile on tiie other
the hungry, ragged
Frenchman is exulting
in his own misery. Tbe
leaders of tbe opposition

OOMPULSATOKT PEEEINO.

IMAGINARY DANGERS. 475
in Parliament, wbo were not daunted by tbe storm witb which
tbey bad to contend, became marked objects of popular odium.
Tbey were the men wbo, it was represented, directed the secret
weapon whicb was to strike at the constitution and prosperity
ofthe country. A caricature published on the 12th of January,
1793, entitled "Sans-culottes feeding Europe-with tbe bread of
libei-t3'," represents the Frencb 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
tbese loaves at tbe 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 i5tb of
December, under tbe title of " Loyalty against Levelling," re
presents the soldier and the sailor as being at this moment
England's onl3' defence against tbe infectious plague of repub
licanism. Tbe caricatures on tbe otber side of tbe question, at this
time, were few, and seems to have found little encouragement.
On tbe same day, however, which produced the caricature by
Sayer, just mentioned, tbe eccentric Gillray published one in an
entirely different spirit. It represents Pitt working upon the
terrors of John Bull, wbo carries in one arm a gun, while
the otber band is deposited in bis capacious pocket, and whose
wbole appearance bespeaks an alarm, witb the reasons of
which he is totally in the dark. Tbat seditious writings bad
not totall3' seduced him, is evident from the contents of his
waistcoat pockets, in one of whicb is the so much dreaded
" Rights of Man," while the otber contains one of the loyal
pamphlets, entitled " A Pennyworth of Truth ;" bis estimate of
the danger of cockades is evinced by the simplicity with which
he has placed in juxtaposition on bis hat the tricolor and
the true blue, one inscribed, " Vive la bberte," the other, " God
save the King." John Bull and his conductor are placed
within a formidable fortification ; tbe latter is looking through
a glass at a flock of geese which are seen scattered over tbe
horizon, but whicb he has metamorphosed into an army of dan
gerous invaders, Tbe terror of the minister is exhibited in his
incoherent exclamations : a burlesque on bis speech at the open
ing of parbament, — " 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
sans-culottes now on their passage ! — and tbere ! — look on the
other side, tbe Scotch bave caught tbe itch too ; and the wUd

476

JOHN BULL'S ALARM.

A BKACE or ALAEMI8T3.

Irish bave began to pull off their breeches ! — What wiU become
of us, John ! — and see there's five hundred disputing clubs with
bloody mouths ! and twenty thousand bill-stickers, witb Ca ira
jiastcd in the front of tbeir red caps !— where's the Lord Mayor,
John ? — Are the lions
safe ? — down with the
book-stalls ! — blow up
tbe gin-shops ! — cut off
the printers' ears ! — 0
Lord, .Tohn ! — 0 Lord !
— we're all ruined ! —
they 'U murder us, and
make us into aristocrat
pies !" John is alarmed
because bis master is
frightened, but his own
plain common sense is
only half smothered by
bis fears. — " Aristocrat
pies ! — Lord defend us I
— Wounds, measter,
3^011 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 bave mercy upon our
wives and daughters ! — And yet I'll be shot if I can see
anything myself but a few geese gabbUng together. — But Lord
help my silly bead, how should sucb 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 I ;
my business is onl3- to fire when and wbere measter orders, and
to pay for the gunpowder. — But, measter o' mine, (if I may
speak a word,) where's tbe use of firing now ? — What can
us two do against all them hundreds of thousands of mUlions of
monsters ? — Lord, measter, had we not better try if they wont
shake bands witb us and be friends ! — for if we should go
to fighting with them, and tbey should lather us, what will
become of you and I, then, measter!!!"
It must be confessed,, however, that the French democrats on
tbe otber side of tbe channel, and tbe demagogues of the clubs
on this side, almost daily gave new provocations to justify the
conduct of the English government, and the fears whicb were
now spreading universtiUy through English society. It was
becoming evident tbat no country could remain long at peace

THE "RIGHTS OF MAN." 477
witb the Frencb republic. In the National Convention on the
28th of September, 1792, on tbe question of making Savoy into
a department of France, Danton declared, amid the loud
applauses of tbe 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 w,ust be
no more Kings in Europe. One King would be sufficient to
endanger the general liberty ; and I request that a committee
be established for the purjiose of promoting a general insurrec
tion among all people against Kings." It was in tbis 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 tbe 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 tbe
English people were to be appealed to against thera. ^Vhcu
General Santerre made bis farewell address to tbe National
Convention on the iStb of May, 1793, on his departure to act
against the royalist insurgents in La Vendee, be concluded with
the words, " After the counter-revolutionists shall have been
subdued, a hundred thousand men may readily make a descent
on England, tbere to proclaim an appeal to the English people
on the present war." Similar doctrines were pro[jagated by the
revolutionary societies in England, who corresponded with the
democrats of Paris as with brothers, and who, in the latter part
of 1 792, 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
whicb were utterly subversive of government and society in
this country. Tbis pamphlet was spread through tbe kingdom
witb extraordinary industry, and was thrust into tbe bands of
people of all classes. We are told tbat, as a means of spreading
the seditious doctrines it contained, some of the most objec
tionable parts were printed on pieces of paper, whicb were used
by republican tradesmen to wrap their commodities in, and that
they were tbus employed even in wrapping up sweetmeats for
children. Proceedings were immediately taken against its
author, who was in Paris, for a libel against tbe government and
constitution, and Paine was found guilty. He was defended
witb great ability by Erekine, who, when he left the court, was
cheered by a crowd of people who had collected without, some
of whom took his horses from hi'i carriage, and dragged him

478 TRIAL OF PAINE.
home to bis bouse in Serjeants' Inn. The name and opinions
of Thomas Paine were at tbis moment gaining influence, in
spite of the exertions made to put tbem down.
In his speech in court, Erskine acknowledged tbat the voice
of tbe 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 bave in many instances
received direct encouragement from the government, was in
creased. Of tbese the most remarkable was the " Society for
preserving liberty and property against i-epublicans and levellers,"
which held its meetings at tbe Crown and Anchor in the Strand,
and which had distributed abroad penny tracts in large numbers.
These consisted of popular replies to tbe insidious doctrines
propagated by tbe disciples of Paine, of encomiums on the
excellence and advantages of tbe 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 tbese publications was the
tract entitled " Thomas Bull's One penny-worth of Truth,
addressed to his brother John." These tracts were often
accompanied witb loyal and anti-revolutionary songs, such as the
following, wbich was one of tbe most popular : —
"A WORD TO THE WISE.
" The Jlounseei-s, they say, have the world in a string,
They don't like our nobles, they don't Uke 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 Fiance,
And come here by hundreds to teach us to dance :
They say we are heavy, they say we are dull.
And that beef and plum-pudding'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 ;
Ci-vic feasts ! what are they ? — why, a new-fashion'd thing,
For which they remove both their God and their King.
Derry down, &o.
" And yet there's no eating, 'tia all foolish play —
For when pies are cut open, the birds fly away ;
And Frenchmen admire it, and fancy they aee
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 free,
'If your loife doa't suit you, sir, perhaps she'll suit me.'
Derry down, &o.
" But our women are virtuous, our women are fair.
Which ia more than, they tell us, your Frenchwomen are ;
They know they are happy, they know they ai-e free,
And that Liberty's not at the top of the tree. Deri-y 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. Deiry down, &c.
" Our soldiers and sailors will answer these sparks,
Though they threaten Dumouiier 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, &c.
" Ye Britons, be wise, as you're brave and humane.
You theu 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 iu the midst of her waves,
And chastise all those foes who dare call her sons slaves.
Derry down, &o."
The success of tbese tracts was so complete, and tbe 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 tbat tbere would be nothing but unity and
loyalty in "NINETY-THREE.*
" All true honest Britona, I pray you draw near ;
Bear a bob in the chorus to hail the new year ;
J oin 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 !'
" 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 que heart in a chorus to sing,
Drowning faction and party in ' God save the King !'
* This song was composed by Charles Dibdin.

4So 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 !
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 1'
" Thus here, though French fashions may please for a day,
As children prize plaything.s, then throw them aw.-iy ;
In a nation like England they never do hurt ;
We improve ou the ruffle by adding the shirt !
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 tbe 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. Tbe republican stay-maker, and
so-called citizen of the world, was represented reposing on his

BEITANNIA IN STA-fS.

bed of straw, and dreaming of judges' wigs, and of all sorts of
horrors, fears, and punishments. At his bed-head are twQ

FOX SAXS-CUr.OTTIZED. 481
guardian angels, prosoutiiig tho well-known faces of Fox and
Priest lev. On the 2nd of January, another caricature, entitled
" Fashion for ease ; or, a good constitution saoritlced for a
fantastic form," represents Paiue fitting Britannia with a new
pair of stays. Tho huly appears to sutl'cr under tho operation,
and she keeps herself stoadv b\' cliugiiig to a ponderous oak.
Over tbe door of a cottage ou one side is the sign, " Thomas
Paiue, stay-maker, from Thetford — Paris modes by express."
Pivine did uot venture to return to Fiiglaud, nor did bis popu
larity in Prance last long ; by advocating leniency towards the
uiifortunafe king, he fell under the hatred of the violent party,
aud was soon after thrown into a dungeon bv Robespierre and
his associates. In his coiifinenient ho composed the most
blasphemous of bis books, the " Age of Reason." Au accident
alone saved bim from the guillotine; and he sought his last
asNluiu in .-Vinerica, where ho lived uiauy years to publish
harmless abuse of the laws and institutions of his native country.
In the caricatures of the year 179,;, Fox and Sheridan are the
two extreme leaders of sedition — the a-lvocatcs aud couipanions
of Paiue — pictured litrrallg in the character of sans-culottes.
Tbe fallen hopes of the great chief of the opposition bad giveu
birth, on tho 2iul of dauuarv, to ji caricature by Gillray, in whicb
Fox, as the despairing Christian, eager for place and not ob
taining it, witb his eyes fixed on the glorious paradise of patriots,
the Treasury, is sinking into the ¦ slough of despond. " On the
1st of JLirch, the same artist pictured bim as "a democrat" —
a veritable saiis-culotto in all the porfeetiou of vultjarity of which
that character was thought susceptible. This print is said to
have given especial offence to Fox, Others represented bim in
all the difierent phases of saus-culottisui. In one he was a sans
culotte advocate — " The solioifcor-goucral for tbe French Repub
lic" — studving tbe directions lor its defence. — " ist. Insist we
have done evcrvthiug we ought to have done. 2nd. They have
provoked us, neglected, aud treated us with scorn. 3rd. How
desirous we were of peace, fraternity, aud equality: X.B., not
to lucntioii our uudei'-haud procccdiugs. 4th. Soften tho
luassacres. 5th. .Vbuse our adversaries. 6th. If likely to ter
minate against us, to demur to the matter of form, or move au
arrest in judgment." Iu another, he is represented witb his
boiiiu'f rotigr'. aud his tricolor cockade, armed cap-;\-pie with
evorv instrument of rebellion and destruction, as " The Repub
lican Soldier;" his "bead-quarters, the Crown aud Anchor —
parole. Reform — countersign, Anarchy."' TliQ result of his
efforts was repivsoiitcd iu a clever priut by GUlray, ou the joth
1 1

482 THE POLITICAL DENOUNCER.
of March, entitled, " Dumourier dining in state at St. James's,"
dedicated " to tbe worthy members of the society at tbe Crown
and Anchor." It appears that the liberal party bad their
meeting also in tbis tavern. GUlray's print represents tbe
republican general served at table by Fox, Sheridan, and
Priestley. The first brings him the bead of Pitt in a dish ;
Sheridan serves him witb the crown in a pie ; and Priestley
offers him the mitre in a tart : all tbese dishes are garnished
with fi-ogs. Otber caricatures exult over the fall of Fox's poli
tical power, and tbe desertions of many of bis friends. One of
these, published on the 7th of March, represents tbe two sans
culottes. Fox and Sheridan, discarded scornfully by tbeir old
ally, the Prince of Wales, wbo, a repentant prodigal, is returning
to bis father's home ; its title is, " False liberty rejected ; or,
fraternizing and equalizing principles discarded — no more coali
tions — no more Frencb cut-throats." Tbe desertion of Burke,
and bis continued philippics against tbe Frencb, were no less a
subject of exultation ; i-t was represented that his former asso
ciates were paralysed with fear lest he should divulge their
secrets, and denounce tbeir designs. In one of GUlray's carica
tures, dated on the i9tb 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 tbe Anti-Revolutionary Society,) inscribed as the "British
Inquisition." Burke, in bis new character, is writing tbe
" Black List. — Beware of N — rf — ^k ! P — tl — d loves us not !
The R — ss — Is will not join us! The man of tbe people has
lived too long for us ! Tbe friends of tbe people must be
blasted by us ! Sheridan, Ersk . . . ." Here we trace tbe 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 be certainly was — was
reduced to a condition of absolute poverty. He was obliged for
a wbile to resign even tbe 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
bis distressed condition into consideration. The popularity
wbich he still enjoyed was proved by a large subscription, with
which an annuity was purchased lor him. His enemies laughed
at bis wants, and mocked tbe charity by which be was sup
ported, in several caricatures published at the beginning of June.
Oue of these, pubbsbed by GiUray on tbe i2tbof June, bore the
title, " Blue and Buff Charity ; or, tbe patriarch of tbe Greek

THE HISTORY OF REFORM. 483
clergy applying for relief." Tbe chairman of tbe committee for
raising a pension for " tbe champion of liberty," Mr. Sergeant
Adair, is doling out to Fox a bundle of unpaid bonds, dis
honoured bills, and otber worthless paper ; while the receiver is
surrounded by tbe 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 tbe sobriquet of
" Liberty Hall :" he bad married the daughter of the eccentric
Lord Stanhope, who chose to prove bis sincere Ibve of tbe
French principle of equality and fraternity by marrying bis
child with a plebeian Mr. Hall is represented in tbe caricature
as a ragged personage, witb a phial in bis pocket containing
poison for Pitt.
Under all these circumstances, — tbe people influenced by fear
on one side and prejudice ou the otber, — -the old popular ques
tions of agitation in parliament had no longer an3' chance of
success. Economy, liberty, reform, were booted as so many
synonyms for spoliation, murder, and republicanism. At tbe
beginning ofthe 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 tbe midst of comforts, enjoys his
beef and plum pudding, and is only interrupted by three ragged
hunters of liberty, wbo advise him to seek reform. In tbe
second compartment, " Reform begun," John has entered ou the
patb tbus pointed out to him, but the prospect is not encou
raging ; he is reduced in his personal appearance, and hobbles
forward ou a wooden leg ; bis three advisers have become victo
rious mob-rovolutionists : tbey force him, with daggers and clubs,
to eat frogs, a diet to whiob he has evidently some difficulty in
accustoming himself. The movement once begun, John has no
longer tbe power to halt : " Reform Compleat " follows, and bis
three advisers, witb the torches of incendiarism blazing in their
hands, have thrown him down and are trampling bim under
their feet.
Such were to be tbe effects of reform, according to tbe tracts
spread abroad by tbe anti-revolution societies ; and they incul
cated tbe duty of unbounded gratitude to the minister tben at
tbe helm, who bad saved them from such disasters, and shielded
tbem against such advisers. In one of Gillray's best carica
tures, published on tbe 8tb of April, Pitt is represented steering
tbe bark of Britannia, in a mean and safe course through tbe
dangers with whicb 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
tbe "haven of pubbc 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 tbe features of Fox,
Sheridan, and Priestley.
Tbe Reign of Terror whicb now prevailed in France, was but
too vivid a commentary on tbese exaggerated representations of
tbe dangers of political innovation.
Nevertheless, the war in which this country bad engaged was
far from being popular. It was soon seen tbat our government
bad hurried into it without being well prepared for hostilities,
and that they carried it on without much skill. A body of
English troops, under tbe Duke of York, had been sent into
Flanders to co-operate with our German allies, but proceedings
on both sides were for a wbile guided almost more by accident
than by design, and a considerable diversion was made at tbe
beginning of April by tbe defection of the French commander
Dumourier, who left the service of tbe republic to tbrow himself
into tbe bands of the Austrians. Gillray, wbo was in Flanders
about tbis time, represented the " Fatigues of the campaign in
Flanders," in May, in a jovial picture of drinking and licen-
t'.ousness. Many began to compare the small advantages war was
likely to bring us, witb its expenses and its evils. On tbe 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 be appears happy and contented at
home, in tbe midst of bis family ; then, persuaded that his duty
calls him off, he marches away boldly to encounter his enemies ;
next, wbUe tbe war is prolonged abroad, we are introduced to
his home, where bis family are reduced by distress to carry all
their goods to tbe pawnbroker ; and, lastly, wben John returns,
ragged and crippled, be finds bis family is as great misery as
bimself. Towards tbe end of the year, wben the allies began
to experience reverses, the caricatures, on one side against the
war, and on tbe other against tbe French, became more nume
rous. Success seemed even to have quitted our old safeguard,
the navy, Howe had cruised the seas with an English fieet for
some weeks, and was popularly accused of having allowed the
Frencb fleet to slip away from bim out of Brest Harbour, for
wbich he was severely attacked in several caricatures. The
populace believed that Frencb gold alone had saved the repub
lican navy ; and GiUray represented the British Admiral blinded

ST. JANUARIUS. 485
by a shower of guineas, in a print, published on the lotb of
December, and entitled, " A French hail storm ; or, Neptune
losing sight of tbe Brest fleet." On tbe lotb of February,
1 794, a still bolder caricature, by tbe same artist, entitled
" Pantagruel's victorious return to the court of Gargantua,"
ridicules tbe warlike expedition of tbe Duke of York. The
Duke, returned from his Flemish campaign, brings to bis royal
father tbe keys of Paris. The monarch is seated carelessly on
bis throne, in bis hunting garb, to intimate that affairs of state
were not his favourite amusement. In a room bebind, we per
ceive tbe Queen carefully boarding her treasures, and receiving
further contributions from the spirit of evil. Pitt is contriving
new taxes, " Not to be felt by tbe swinish multitude." Tbis
last phrase, whicb had been uttered by Burke in his violent
declamations against democratic agitation, was long remembered
by tbe popular politicians, and became subsequently a sort of
watchword to the ultra-reformers.
In tbe beginning of 1 794, France, by immense exertions, had
rendered herself a formidable enemy to tbe rest of Europe, and
England at length was seized with the fear of invasion. Within
a few months, indeed, tbe Frencb bad invaded, with success,
nearly every country tbat bordered upon tbe Frencb territory.
Howe's victory of the ist of June, came fortunately to support
the spirits of Englishmen, wbo, bowever, bad already become
tbed of tbe war. Tbe opposition in parliament now raised their
heads witb exultation, and accused the ministry of rashness and
imbecility. The ministerial party subsidized abroad, and raised
soldiers at bome, and they affected to laugh at their parliament
ary opponents, as a parcel of quacks, wbo thought they pos
sessed a nostrum against all the evils witb which the country
was ever threatened. This nostrum, tbey 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 tbeir
patron saint, Januarius, and hold it forth as a safe shield against
the danger. Fox was, as it were, tbe political St. Januarius of
the English bberals. A caricature by Gillray, published on the
25th of July, 1794, and entitled, "Tbe eruption of tbe moun
tain, or tbe Head of the protector St. Januarius carried in pro
cession by the Cardinal Archev^que of the Lazzaroni," repre
sents the political volcano that was overwhelming and threaten
ing with destruction tbe nations of tbe earth, wbile the head of
Fox is brougbt forth by bis foUowers to stop the course of tbe
danger. The cardinal who officiates is Sheridan ; Lord Lauder-

486 STATE PROSECUTIONS.
dale carries tbe book, bell, and candle ; tbe Duke of Norfolk
assists with his earl-marshal's staff; Lord H. Petty and Lord
Derb3' 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 tbat bad been spread through the country, the
court bad proceeded to measures of domestic policy, the wisdom
of which migbt well admit of a doubt. The trial of Thomas
Paine was the corhmenoement of a series of state prosecutions,
not for political offences, but for political designs. To tbe
name of Paine bad been given sucb unenviable notoriety, and it
had caused so much apprehension in the minds of quiet people,
that bis case excited personally no great S3'mpathy, though
many dreaded tbe extension of the practice of making tbe 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 179',, followed prosecutions in Edinburgh,
where the minis-terial infiuence was great, against men who had
associated to do little more tban 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 ¦
irjustice of this kind, these societies would be intimidated.
Sucb, however, was not tbe case, for, from tbis moment, the
clubs in Edinburgh became more violent than ever, and the3'-
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 tbem in executic 11. In the similar prosecutions which tbey
now commenced in England, the Court was less successful. A
bookseller of London, who bad published a pamphlet of a demo
cratic tendency, entitled " Poli-tics for tbe People ; or, Hog's-
wash," and some violent democrats of Manchester, for an alleged
conspiracy, were all acquitted by tbe juries which tried them ;
and in the latter case one of the government witnesses was sub
sequently convicted of perjury, and sentenced to tbe pillory.
Tbe public agitation was much increased by tbese prosecutions,

AGITATION 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 tbere
was in general also a loyal mob — a mob for the prosecutors.
This latter-, in several instances, committed great outrages on
tbe property of individuals. The illuminations in London, on
tbe occasion of Lord Howe's victory, were attended witb con
siderable uproar, and attacks were made on tbe bouses of some of
the so-called revolutionists. It was generally believed tbat these
attacks were made under direct incitement from persons of
higher rank in society than those wbo engaged in tbem. The
next day, tbe un-aristooratic and more tban 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 nth and 1 2th 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 carnage, gave money to the people in the
street, to encourage them ; 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, wbo was in the carriage above-mentioned, in order that he may be
made amenable to the law. " SiANHOPE.'
Earl Stanhope, tbe " sans-culotte
peer," flgures in a multitude of cari
catures, during tbis and subsequent
years. In tbe one from whicb tbe
accompanying cut is taken, published
on tbe 3rd of May, 1794, be is re
presented- as tbe fool of tbe opposi
tion, holding for his bauble a standard
with the inscription, " Vive igalite!"
throwing away his breeches as a
garment inconsistent with his sans-
culottism, and trampling on bis
coronet. Tbe print gives bim tbe
titie of "Tbe noble sans-culotte,"
and is accompanied witb " a ballad
occasioned by a certain earl's styling
himself a sans-culotte citizen in tbe
House of Lords."

A SANS-CULOITB NOBLB.

" Rank, character, distinction, fame.
And noble bu-th, forgot,
Hear Stanhope, modest Earl, proclaim
Himself a sans-culotte.

,488 ATTACK ON THE 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 tbe month of May, tbe government made a direct attack
on two of the most violent and powerful of the London societies
— tbe Corresponding Society and tbe Societ3' for Constitutional
Information. Some of tbeir principal members, including the
Rev. Jeremiah Joyce, (Lord Stanhope's private secretary,)
Home Tooke, the afterwards celebrated political lecturer John
Tbelwall, Thomas Hardy, Daniel Adams, and three or four
others, were arrested and thrown into tbe Tower on a cbarge of
bigb-treason. The papers of tbe societies were seized, and laid
by a royal message before parliament, and, on a very vague
report of tbeir contents, tbe ministers succeeded by tbeir over
whelming majorities in carrying hurriedly that extreme measure
under imminent danger, tbe suspension of the habeas corpus
act. All tbis violence tended on tbe one band to destroy public
confidence, by disturbing the country witb unnecessary terrors,
wbile on tbe other it was hastening a reaction of the public
mind against tbe temper into wbich it bad been urged by con
servative agitation.
Tbe state trials took place in tbe months of October, Novem
ber, and December, and were tbe cause of very great excitement.
The courts were crowded to excess, and mobs assembled out of
doors. Hardy, wbo bad been secretary of tbe Corresponding
Society, was first brought to trial, which, after lasting eight
days, ended on tbe 5tb of November in an acquittal by tbe jury.
The evidence amounted to nothing more tban charging him with
holding certain principles, which be bad done in no manner tbat
was absolutely illegal ; and, as it appeared, tbe papers of the
society, on which so much stress had been laid, contained
nothing that had not before been printed in tbe newspapers.
Home Tooke was next acquitted, ou tbe 22nd of November;
and tbe same fate attended all the otber prosecutions. The Court,
mortified at tbis check, relinquished some other similar proceedings
whicb it bad already commenced, and certainly gained no popu
larity by what it had done. Many, wbo were personally hostile
to the opinions of tbe men prosecuted, rejoiced witb otbers at
tbeir escape, and exulted in the courage and probity of Engbsb
juries. The mob carried tbe prisoners and their legal defenders

CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY. 489
bome from the court in triumph. Tbe chief advocate iu tbe
defence in tbese state prosecutions, was Erskine.
In the course of tbese unwise proceedings, the ministry bad
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 tbe Foxites at the same time and on
tbe same grounds witb 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, tbe ministry underwent some other slight
modifications, the chief of whicb arose from the appointment of
Ea.'l Fitzwilliam. to the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and
of Earl Spencer to be first lord of the Admiralty, in place of
Pitt's elder brother, the Earl of Chatham, wbo took the privy
seal in exchange.

490

CHAPTER XIII
GEORGE in.
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 Tor3ism was now giving wa3' to a gradual re
action, and witb the year 1795 the opposition began for a
moment to raise its bead again. This was first shewn in the
increased clamour for peace. Even some of those who sat on
the ministerial benches, sucb as Wilberforce, expressed their dis
satisfaction at the warlike tone in whicb the session was opened,
and at tbe 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 tbat of France as a thing to whicb England could
hardly condescend ; tbey said tbat uo such peace could be
lasting, and they held up again the bugbear of republican propa
gandism. During tbe spring, motion after motion was made in
the House of Lords, as well as in tbe House of Commons, to
force upon the attention of the Court the necessity of negotia
ting witb our enemies on the other side of the water. The
leaders of the opposition lost no opportunity of agitating the
question ; and petitions against tbe war began to flow in from
different parts of tbe country.
The Court bad recourse to tbe old stratagem of exciting
popular terror, 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 bad now migrated to America ; but Fox and Sheridan
still fought tbeir old battle in tbe House of Commons ; and
they found able supporters among tbe young statesmen who
were coming forward in tbe political world. The ministers
represented tbat these men were betraying the interests of their

CLAMOURS FOR PEACE.

491

y

eountry to France, out of a blind admiration of its republican
institutions, and tbat it was the wish to see those institutions
established at home which led tbem to advocate peace. A cari
cature by GiUray, published on the 26tb of January, 179 c, pic
tures Fox as a " Frencb telegraph ,  , .
making signals in tbe 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, " Tbe
Genius of France triumphant, or
Britannia petitioning for peace;" and
represented Britannia offering ber
crown, sceptre, spear, shield, and
liberties, at the foot of a sans-culotte
monster, crowned witb the guillotine,
and resting its feet on tbe sun and
moon. Bebind ber come Sheridan,
bringing for his offering to this new
object of worship the English navy, ^ ^j_j »_^ 1-^.^sA 1
Fox, witb the bank, and Lord Stan- y\ .=> 1\ V  /
hope, bringing for bis sacrifice the ' ^ 'v ^  ''
English Parbament. On the 2nd of ^ ''bject op woeship.
March, Gillray depicted tbe conse
quences which we were to expect from tbus truckling to our
enemies, in a large plate, entitled " Patriotic Regeneration, or.
Parliament reformed a la Frangaise." In tbis "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, wbo bad long left the Tory
camp, is weighing the cap of liberty against tbe crown.
Pitt's own caricaturist, Sayer, published on the 14th of April
a series of what he entitled " OutUnes of the Opposition in 1795,
collected from tbe works of the most capital Jacobin artists."
In the first of these prints, Wilberforce is represented in the
cbaracter of a weathercock, blown round by tbe breath of repub
licanism till he stretches out his arms to " peace and fraternity
witb France," — the dove bringing tbe olive-branch in its beak
and tbe dagger in its claw. The next represents Whitbread,
under tbe cbaracter of a barrel of bis own beer, bursting and

49» " OUTLINES OF THE OPPOSITION."
driving out the members of the House by its stink ; in the
fumes whicb issue from it we read the' words " Reform,"
"Peace," "Liberty," "Equality," "No slave trade." The
speaker, witb averted bead, 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 "loyalty;" it is entitled "The Stan
hope republican gunboat, constructed to sail against windand tide."
A fourth plate is entitled " Tbe Bedford Level," and is aimed
against the Duke of Bedford, now one of tbe most energetic
opponents of the ministry, and who, on the 27tb of January,
had brougbt forward a motion in tbe House of Lords for nego
tiations for peace. At the entrance to Bedford House, a
buUder'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 tbe latter of tbe two alludes to tbe liberality witb which
the duke exjiended his money in tbe ''good cause." The next
caricature of this series, entitled "A recruit for opposition from
the Temple of Britisb Worthies," represents Fox and Lord
Derby enlisting the Duke of Buckingham. The diminutive
Earl of Derby, mounted on a table, is measuring tbe Duke's
height by the " standard of opposition'^," Fox's flag is inscribed
"-Watchword, Peace ;" the Duke shows Fox bis 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 tbe appre
hension held out by tbe opposition that the Frencb 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 Gillra3', which appeared at tbis period, in
volve bitter attacks on tbe opposition " patriots." The political
and religious excitement of the time, witb the wonderful events
tbat were passing every da3' 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 tbe
gospel often resounded witb denunciations in general terms of the
designs of providence, as evinced in tbe dreadful storm th&t was

MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. 493
now breaking over Europe, and they explained by tbem tbe un
fulfilled prophecies of Scripture, we need not be surprised if
there were otbers wbo believed tbemselves endowed witb tbe
spirit of prophecy, and wbo undertook to make known more
fully tbe events of the coming age. Among these, one of the
most remarkable was an insane lieutenant of tbe navy, named
Richard Brothers, wbo declared that be was tbe " nephew of
God," and that be bad a divine mission, and boasted that be
was unassailable by any human power. He announced tbat
London was on the eve of being swallowed up and totally
destroyed, and tbat immediately afterwards the Jews were
to be gathered together into tbe 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 be was believed to bave become tbe tool of faction, and that
be 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 tbeir assistants, and placed under restraint,
though they had some difficulty in keeping off the mob, wbo
attempted to rescue bim. Tbe next day Gillray published tbe
first of the caricatures just .alluded to, under tbe title of " The
Prophet of tbe Hebrews ;" but the Jews here carried to tbe land
of promise are tbe leaders of the opposition in Parliament, who
are borne away by the genius of revolution towards a fiery
gallows tbat blazes in the distance. In the otber caricature,
published on tbe 3 oth of April, under tbe title of " Light expel
ling Darkness," Pitt appears drawn in glory by the lion and tbe
unicorn, harnessed to a triumphal car, and trampling down or
scattering before tbem the leaders of the opposition.
Another royal union came tbis year to relieve the monotony
of tbe usual subjects of political agitation, and this was a marriage
which affected still more tbe 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
tbe ministry, and be had for some time discontinued bis support
of tbe opposition in Parliament. Tbe extravagance of bis private
life, however, had undergone no change, and he was again deeply
involved in debt. It was under these circumstances tbat be was
induced to marry the Princess Caroline of Brunswick, and the
marriage ceremonies were performed by tbe Archbishop of
Canterbury on the 8tb of April. Tbe Tories hoped that this
marriage, whicb was understood to have been a favourite measure
with the King, would entirely estrange tbe prince from bis

494 TAX UPON HAIR-POWDER.
Whig connexions, whicb tbey always pretended to be tbe 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 tbe
Prince's bed. Fox and Sheridan, his evil genu, are vanishing in
dariiness before tbe bright vision of beauty which bursts forth
on the other side. The hopes whicb everybody placed in tbis
union were sung about in joyful ballads, and exhibited witb 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, tbe country
was most agitated, were those of the increase of taxation and
parliamentary reform. Tbe necessarily great expenditure of tbe
war, made greater by tbe 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 wbich 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
immediatel3'- discontinued, and tbe produce of the tax was hardly
worth tbe -trouble of collecting it. It became at first a party
distinction ; tbe Whigs wore tbeir hair cut short bebind, and
without powder, wbich was termed wearing tbe hair d, la guil
lotine ; while the Tories, wbo 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, wbich, from this time to the end of the century,
became so numerous that they form a regular history of every
event that agitated societ3', even in a trifiing degree. 'The larger
portion of the caricatures of the period alluded to were from the
talented pencil and graver of GUlray, and are much superior to
those of tbe preceding or following periods. Tbe hair-powder
tax was brought forward by Pitt on tbe 23rd of February ; on

POPULAR DISCONTENT. , 495
tbe I oth of March, GUlray published a caricature under the
title of " Leaving off Powder ; or, a frugal family saving a
guinea." An anonymous caricature, published ou the 15th of
June, represents Pitt under the character of " a guinea-pig,"
and Pox as "a pig witbout a guinea." On tbe 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 ofi' 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 witbout mercy. Another caricature by GUlray, published
on the 4th of June, represents Pitt as Death on tbe 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 12th of June,
under the title of " Blind Man's Buff; or, too many for John
Bull," tbe minister is represented setting all tbe foreign
powers on poor John to drain bim of his money. A caricature
on tbe 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 otber sources of extravagant
expenditure, devouring England, Scotland, and Irelaud, which
are spread before it in tbe form of a cabbage-leaf ; next it is
represented in Holland, in its transition state, as a chrysalis ;
and lastly as a glorious butterfiy in republican France. This
allegory represeuted tbe sentiments tben held by many on the
progressive developments of the civil government, as the people
advanced from despotism to liberty,
Tbe popular discontent was increased by tbe great scarcity,
and consequent dearness of provisions, wbich began to be felt at
the beginning of summer, and increased to an alarming degree
during the autumn. From this cause, and from grievances
connected with recruiting and press-gangs, there was much
rioting througbout the country. Considerable uneasiness was
caused at Birmingham and otber places in that part of England
in tbe 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. Tbe government appears to
bave taken no effectual measures against the increasing distress ;
they merely recommended various expedients to lessen the

49(5

BILLY THE BUTCHER.

consumption of bread, by employing otber substances, and a bill
was passed to prevent, for a period, distiUation from grain ; but'
the attention of Pariiament was chiefly occupied witb
providing for tbe Prince of Wales. Pitt was said to have made -
tbe singular suggestion tbat people should eat meat to save
bread ; and a caricature, published on the 6th of July, represents
the minister as the " Britisb butcher," serving John Bull with
dear meat to stop bis cry for cheap bread. Beneath bim is tbe
epigram, — " BiUy the Butcher's advice to John BuU.
" Since bread is so dear (aiid you say you must eat),
For to save the'expense 3 ou 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, tbe agitation became stiU greater, and
the numerous demagogues
who addressed tbemselves.
to tbe populace and lower
orders, took advantage of
tbe general discontent to
spread abroad their se
ditious opinions. A nu
merous meeting bad been
held in St. George's
Fields in June to petition
for annual parliaments
and universal suffrage.
Tbis sort of agitation
went on increasing, and
tbe London Correspond
ing Society called a meet
ing on tbe 26tb of October
in Copenhagen Fields,
wbere au immense multi
tude assembled to vote
and sign addresses and
remonstrances onthe state
of tbe country. Three
wooden scaffolds - were
raised in different parts
of tbe field, from which three of tbe orators of tbe populace
addressed tbe assemblage in infiammatory language, which no
doubt contributed towards urging them to the disgraceful
outrage wbich followed three days later. The rogst active

AN OEATOE.

ATTACK ON THE KING. 497
speaker was Tbelwall, wbo bad just esoaped/rom prison.* The
opening of parliament was looked forward to witb great anxiety.
It was called together early, on account of tbe extreme distress
under which the country was labouring. As the time approached,
popular meetings were held in tbe metropolis, and preparations
were made for an imposing demonstration of mob force. During
tbe morning of the 29tb of October, tbe day on which tbe King
was to. open the session in person, crowds of men continued
pouring into the town from tbe various open spaces outside,
where simultaneous meetings bad been" called by placards and
advertisements, and before the King left Buckingham House, on
bis way to St. James's, tbe number of people collected on the
"ground over wbich he bad to pass is said in tbe papers of tbe
day to have been not less tban 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 witb bim!
down witb George!" and tbe like; and tbis tumult continued
unabated until the King reached tbe House of Lords, tbe Guards
witb difficulty keeping tbe mob from closing on tbe carriage.
As it passed through Margaret Street tbe populace seemed
determined to attack it, and wben opposite tbe Ordnance Office,
a shot of some kind, supposed to be a bullet from an air-gun,
passed tbrough the glass of the carriage window. The tumult
was, if anything, more outrageous on the King's return, and be
bad some difficulty in reaching St. James's Palace without
injury ; for tbe mob threw stones at the state-carriage and
damaged it considerably. After remaining a sbort time at St.
James's, he proceeded in his private coach to Buckingham
House, 'but the carriage was stopped in tbe park by the populace/
who pressed round it, shouting, " Bread ! bread! peace! peace!"
until the King was rescued from tbis unpleasan-t situation by a
strong body of the Guards.
Tbe Lords were much agitated at this gross insult offered to
tbe royal person, and were some time before tbey could calm
tbemselves sufficiently to proceed to business. Tbe Tories
made a new cry against tbe spread of revolutionary principles,
and tbe 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 out;
given in the preceding pa^e is taken from this print, and is understood
to represent Thelwall addressing the mob.

498 INCREASING AGITATION.
it was tbe opposition shewn to ministers in parliament that
encouraged tbe mob out of doors. GUlray gave to tbe public a
caricature on the ist of November, in which tbe attack upon
tbe King was travestied, and each of the opposition leaders bad
bis place in tbe scuffle. Pitt is seated on tbe 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 tbe wheels of the
carriage to stop its progress.
Tbe ministers took advantage of this riot to bring forward
new bills for the defence of bis Majesty's person, and to
prevent assemblies of an infiammatory cbaracter, wbere papers
were circulated and speeches made calculated -to irritate tbe
minds of bis Majesty's subjects against bis person and govern
ment. Tbis measure met witb tbe most violent opposition, and
it was extremely unpopular througbout tbe coun-try. People .
said that there were already laws enough for tbe protection of
tbe crown, witbout an3'- further infringement of the liberty
of the subject ; they beheld the government forming itself into
a sort of inquisition, from the e3'es of which no one would
be safe ; and they augured, tbat King George and William Pitt
were goading and irritating the people^ until tbey would produce
tbat very revolution of which they professed to' entertain sucb
profound fears. The political clubs througbout the kingdom
began immediately to agitate against Pitt's new bill ; and
tbe 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 21st of
November, in a caricature entitled, "The Royal Bull-fight," in
whicb Pitt, on tbe white horse (the emblem of tbe house
of Hanover,) is encountering tbe British Bull ; the inscription
is a parody on the account of a Spanish bull-fight — " Tben
entered a bull of the true Britisb breed, who appeared to
be. extremely peaceable tUl opposed by a desperado mounted upon
a white horse, who, by numberless wounds, provoked tbe animal
to -the utmost pitch of fury, wben collecting all its strength
into one dreadful effort, and darting upon its opponent, it'
destroyed both horse and rider in a moment," Sucb, it was
foretold, would be the fate of King George (tbe white horse of
Hanover), and bis rider Pitt, if tbey urged John Bull too far.
Another caricature which appeared on the 26tb of November,

flTT AND His BOTTLE.

499

represents Pox, and Sheridan, wbose opposition to the bill
against popular meetings bad been very galling to tbe minister,
tarring and feathering Pitt, tbeir tar being "tbe rights of
tbe people," ' made to boil over by a fire the fuel of whiob
was *' the sedition bill," " ministerial influence," and " infor
mations." Tbe system of spies and informers was now being
organised on a very extensive plan. A caricature, published on
tbe 1st of December, — one of tbe earlier works of this class by
Isaac Cruiksbank, — 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 24tb of December, took revenge' upon the minister
for tbe former joke of making meat a substitute for bread, and
represents bim and bis party feeding voraciously on English
gold as a stiU better subs-titute.
Caricatures, and otber satirical productions, attacked Pitt
severely for his apparent neglect, or want of foresight, in not
making some better provision against the visitation of famine,
Tbe premier was addicted somewhat immoderately to the
bottle, and he, as well 'as his great opponent, Fox, is said to
bave taken bis place in the House of Commons more tban once
in a state of absolute intoxication. We are frequently re
minded of this failing in tbe caricatures of tbe period of which
we are now speaking. When tbe scarcity of 1795 was just begin
ning, a print, published by Gillray on
tbe 27tb ot May, represents one ofthe
jovial, scenes at Pitt's country bouse,
at Wimbletou, between tbe minister
and bis friend Dundas, wbo 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 bis glass
from tbe wrong end of tbe bottle,
wbile bis companion, grasping pipe  ,
and bumper, ejaculates the words, —ji^
"BUI3S my boy — aU my joy!"
Another caricature by Gillray, pub
bsbed on the 9th of November,
represents tbe supposed "fatal
effects of Frencb defea;t," upon tbe ^ ^^^^,,^^ „, hiuh olee.
intelbgence of an unexpected success
gained by the allies; these effects are "banging" and " drowning:
K K 2

500

BACCHUS AND JOHN BULL.

— tbe former is supposed to be literal in tbe case of Fox, who
was always represented by tbe Tories as the friend of repubUcan
France ; but Pitt and Dundas are drowning in wine, tbe effects of
which are only fatal so far as to lay tbem helpless on tbe floor.
Among tbe new taxes brought forward in tbe spring of 1796,
was an additional duty of twenty pounds per butt on wine,
wbich provoked no little discontent ; and the minister's wine-
bibbing propensity furnished the subject of aqundance of
satire. Gillra3' represented him under the character of
Bacchus, and his friend Dundas under that of Silenus, in a
caricature published on the 20th of AprU, 1 796, with the title
of "The Wine Duty; or,
tbe Triumph of Bacchus and
Silenus." John Bull, with
empty bottle and empty purse,
and a very long face, addresses
bis remonstrance : — " Pray,
Mr. Bacchus, have a bit of
consideration for old John ;
— you know as bow I've
emptied my purse already for
you ; and it 's waundedly hard
to raise the price of a drop of
comfort, now tbat one's got no
money left for to pay for it ! "
The ministerial Bacchus, from
bis pipe of wine (wbich is sup
ported on tbe " treasury
bench,") hiccups forth his reply :— " Twenty pounds at-tun addi
tional duty, i-i-if you d-d-dont like it at
tbat,w hy, t-t-t-tben dad and I will
keep it all for 0-0-our own drinking,
so here g-g-goes, old Bu-bu-buU and
mouth!" The bibacious qualifications of the
patriots were, bowever, no less cele
brated tban those of the ministers, aud
were in tbeir turn brougbt forward as
subjects of satire or of joke. Fox and
Sheridan were notorious drinkers ; and
the former is said to have been some
times brougbt from tbe tavern late at
night to the House, on an extraordi
nary emergency, in such a condition tbat he required a long

BACCHUS AND SILENUS.

A EEz^NDT-DEINKEE,

JUSTICE MIDAS. 501
application of wet towels to bis head before be was able to go
to bis place and speak. In a caricature by Gillray, published on
tbe 4tb of February, 1797, representing one of the private par
ties of tbe Whig leaders, here described ironically as " tbe feast
of reason and the flow of soul," Sheridan, not satisfied with
drinking wine, bke bis companions, is filling bis bumper witb
brandy. The additional wine-tax furnished subjects for otber carica
tures besides tbat by Gillray. In one, published on tbe 25tb of
April, and entitled " Tbe 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 tbe Duchess of Gordon, Pitt's great
political supporter among tbe ladies. She is dressed in a
remarkable transparent vest, leans against a barrel, and she also
drinks, wbile she exclaims, " Ob, what a God is Justice Midas !
oh, tbe tremendous Justice Midas !"
Another tax, now laid for tbe first time, wbich excited botb
discontent and ridicule, was that upon dogs. Tbe debates
on tbis tax in the House of Commons appear to bave 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," be said, " one would imagine that dogs bad been
guiltyof burglary, though he believed they were a better pro
tection to tbeir master's property tban watchmen," After
having entertained tbe bouse with some stories about mad dogs,
and giving a discourse upon dogs in general, be asked, " since
tbere was an exception in favour of puppies, at what age they
were to be taxed, and how tbe exact age was to be ascertained."
Tbe secretary at war, who spoke against tbe. bill, said, "it
would be wrong to destroy in tbe poor tbat virtuous feeling
which they bad for their dog." In committee Mr. Lechmere
called tbe attention of the house, to ladies' lap-dogs : " be knew a
lady wbo bad sixteen lap-dogs, and wbo allowed tbem a roast
sboulder of veal every day lor dinner, while many poor persons
were starving — was it not therefore right to tax lap-dogs very
high ? He knew another lady wbo 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 I " Among the caricatures on this subject, one by Gillray

502 THE BLOOMSBURY FARMER.
(of whicb tbere were imitations) represented Fox and his
friends, banged upon a gallows, as " dogs not worth a tax,"
wbile the supporters of government, among whom is Burke
with " G. R." on his collar, are ranged as well-fed dogs, "paid
for." Tbe ministers carried tbeir bill to prevent seditious meetings
tbrough every stage by large majorities ; but in the course of
tbe 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 tbe 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 tbat the constitution of England might still go
on witbout tbeir aid." The wbole pamphlet was read before
the House of Commons, and excited considerable warmth ; but,
after several debates, the author was sent from tbe tribunal of
tbe House to a court of justice, in wbich he was prosecuted for
a libel on tbe constitution ; but he was acquitted by the jury on
tbe ground that bis motives were not sucb as were laid in the
information, though tbe jury condemned tbe pamphlet as " a
very improper publication." The ministers were, at tbe 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," Tbe societies were not destroyed,
as was expected, liy the government bill ; on tbe contrary, tbey
were encouraged by the support of some of tbe richer and more
powerful members of the parliamentary opposition, especially of
the Duke of Bedford, wbo now stood foremost in its ranks, and
was liberally expending bis money in tbe cause of freedom,
which was certainly threatened by the ministerial measures.
Gillray, on the 3rd of February, made tbe manner in which the
patriotic duke expended bis money a subject of satire in a cari
cature, entitled " The Geners3 of Patriotism, or the Bloomsburji
Farmer planting Bedfoidsbire Wheat." The duke is represented
sowing his gold on land ploughed by Sheridan, Fox, as tbe
sun, smiling roguishly from bis orb, warms tbe seeds into pro
ductiveness, and they spring up behind the sower in a numerous
crop of Frencb bonnets-rouges and Jacobin daggers.
In the middle of February Mr. Grey again introduced a motion
for peace, whicb was supported by tbe opposition, and replied to
witb much less warmth than formerly, and the minister acknow
ledged that the government was not averse to seize an oppor
tunity of negotiating. Tbe face of Europe bad indeed changed

A DISSOLUTION. 503
'considerab'y within a few months. On one side, our allies, in
spite of '-be extraordinary sums expended in subsidies, were
becoming faint and faUing off before -the immense armies of the
republic ; and, on tbe other, the republic itself, since tbe over
throw of the Jacobin pai-t3', seemed to be changing its character
from a democracy to a despotic oligarchy. The fear of propa
gandism appeared, therefore, to bave vanished, while it left us
to tbe 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 tbe will of the minister. On the 21st of
May, the day after tbe Parliament was prorogued, GiUray pro
duced a caricature, entitled " Tbe Dissolution, or the Alobymist
producing an sethereal Representation," in which Pitt appears
witb an immense retort, distilling the old House of Commons
into a new one, the members of which fall down worshipping at
bis feet. He beats tbe 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 6tb of October, the
speech from tbe throne announced tbat steps had been taken
which had opened tbe way for a direct negotiation for a Euro
pean peace, and that an ambassador would be immediately sent
to Paris witb full powers to treat. It was intimated, moreover,
tbat the wish for negotiation was hastened by the declared
intention of France to attempt an invasion of tbis 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 tbey exhibited their feelings somewhat tumultuously in tho
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 bim in a haughty and
insulting manner, gave bim a peremptory order to leave Paris
on tbe 19th of December, and tbus destroyed all hope of ob
taining peace, under any circumstances, from tbe 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 tbat its
only safety lay in conquering, entered upon it witb more resolu
tion and unanimity than ever.
The negotiation, perhaps, arose from a sudden misgiving on
the part of tbe minister, for it seems never to have been fully

504 CARICATURES AGAINST PEACE.
approved of by bis own party, and its expediency appears to
have been very generally doubted. Burke bad been the first to
protest against it, in his two eloquent " Letters on a Regicide
Peace," published in the course of tbe summer.* Earl Fitz
william entered a protest against it in tbe 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 tbe period for negotiating
approached. A large print by Sayer, dated the T4tb 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 whicb bis country was threatened. In
the frightful vision, republicm France is dictating its own terms,
whUe Britannia is practising a Frencb tune, whicb ber lion
accompanies witb a dismal bowl. Gillray's caricature, dated
tbe 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 Frencb revolutionized England (for tbe French
government still patronized democracy in the countries they
wished to conquer) and made tbe Foxite reformers masters of
the crown and constitution. In the foreground, Pitt is bound
to a post, and is scourged by Fox, between wbose legs M. A.
Taylor struts in tbe form of a crowing bantam-cock perched on
the handle of the bloody axe. The Duke of Bedford, as a bull,
urged on by tbe mob orator Thelwall, is tossing Burke into the
air. Lord Stanhope is weighing the head of Lord Grenville
against the ministerial weight of tbe broad bottom. Erskine,
to whom Lord Lansdowne is offering the Lord Chancellor's wig,
is employed in burning Magna Charta. Jenkinson and Canning
are banged on the lamps. Tbe princes are assassinated, and
tbeir bodies thrown from tbe windows of Brooks's. A compli
cated scene of murder and plunder fills tbe wbole picture, in the
back-ground of which we perceive tbe Palace of St. James's
enveloped in fiames.
Tbe failure of our negotiations had tbis advantage, that it
kindled throughout the island a flame of patriotic enthusiasm,
and a determination to resent to tbe 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-
* Thia publication was one of the last of Edmund Burke's politioal acts.
He died on the jth of July, 1797.

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 i7tb of November, Gillray
pubbsbed a caricature entitled tbe " Opening of the Budget ; or,
John Bull giving his breeches to save bis bacon," Pitt, witb a
large bag inscribed as the "requisition budget" open before bim,
is obliged to excite John Bull's apprehensions in order to extract
bis money from bis 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 Frencb
invaders, for Burke, Portland, and Dundas, as representatives of
tbe host of pensioners, are seen bebind tbe bag scrambling for
the gold, and seconding Pitt's exhortations witb tbeir 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 bis alarm at the report of invasion and his distrust
of tbe professed patriots, throws money and breeches and all
into the bag, with tbe 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 tbe world to save my
bacon, tban to stay and be strip'd stark naked by Charley and
the plundering Frencb invasioners, as you say ! " Charley (Fox)
is seen bebind declaiming across the Channel (with the fortifica
tions of Brest in the distance) — " What ! more money ? — Oh !
the aristocratic plunderer ! — vitel citoyens, vite! — depiohez-vous!
— or we shall be too late to come in for any smacks of the argent!
— vite! citoyens, vite! vite! " Gillray also published, at tbe
beginning of December, a caricature on the voluntary loan, in
which Pitt is represented in the character of a highwayman,
presenting liis blunderbuss at John Bull as he is passing by,
and asking bim for a voluntary contribution. It is scarcely
necessary to say that tbis 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 nationab glory-
to a far higher pitch tban it had attained at any former period.
The dangers to wbich this country was then exposed were of no
trifling character — witb a great burthen of taxation already
weighing upon it, it was threatened witb the whole resentment
of a powerful enemy, who expected to flnd disaffection at our
very heart, and who had Ireland ready to rise in rebellion at
the first signal tbat France was advancing to its assistance.
Although there must have been more of faction than of real

5o6 THE GIANT FACTOTUM.
patriotism in those who could embarrass tbe 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 tbe 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 tbis session in the
caricatures of the day, especially in the works of Gillray. The
failure of tbe French expedition whicb was to have landed in
Bantry Bay, produced from this artist, on tbe 2otb of January,
a caricature entitled tbe " End of the Irish Invasion ; or, the
destruction of tbe French Armada." The faces whicb_ here
man the sinking fieet, are those of Fox, Erskine, Tbelwall, abd
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, Dundas, W3'ndham, and the Marquis
of Buckingham, who occupy their mythological station in tbe
clouds. The next day Gillray gave to the public another cari
cature, in whicb the minister was represented as " tbe giant
factotum amusing bimself," Pitt, seated on tbe canopy over
tbe 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 tbe head of Wilberforce,
while Canning is devoutly kissing the toe, and the members
from tbe 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 tbe words of a well-
known song : — " Jove in his chair,
Of the shies lord-mayor.
When he nods, men, yea gods, stand in awe ;
O'er St. Stephen's school
He holds despotic rule,
And hia word, though absurd, must be law,"
The ministers, indeed, now confident in tbeir power, began to
treat the opposition with scornful superiority. When Fox con
tinued to declaim against the dangers to which they were
exposing tbe country by their ill-conduct and improvidence,
Dundas is said to bave spoken ofthe 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
cars with a noise about plots an J ruin and treasons and im-

THE DAILY ADVERTISER.

5°7

peacbments ; — wbile tbe contents of bis 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 eff'ect ; 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 tbe news of tbe
" Daily Advertiser," and knocking, but in vain, at the Treasury
gate. In their mortification at the increasing power of their
ministerial opponents, tbe 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 tbe
Whig club, on tbe i4tb of February: — "The tree of liberty
must be planted immediately ! tbis is tbe something whicb
must be done, and that quickly, too, to save the country from
destruction." Gillray's pencil immediately pictured the tree ot
libert3'-, ^^i® planting of whicb, in the opinion of tbe Whigs,'
would be the salvation of England — its foundation, a pile of
ghastly beads, at once recognised, as those of Sheridan, Stanhope,
Tbelwall, 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 tbe latter end of
February, the Frencb made a descent on tbe
coast of Wales, witbout any apparent object or
utility, wbich 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 tbe Whigs thought
they had thus gained on the minister, as "Billy
in the Devil's claws," tbe unfortunate premier
held in tbe brawn3'- grasp of Fox ; but the in
telligence of Jervis's brilliant victory over the
Spaniards came to set the captive loose, and jK
obliged tbe evil visitor to let go bis hold in
chagrin, whicb is represented in an accom
panying picture of " Billy sending the Devil
packing." The wbole is entitled " Tbe Tables
turned." A new cause of alarm was now furnished by eeuit op libeett.
the embarrassments of tbe Bank of England,
arising from tbe immense sums which had been advanced to
government, and the anxiety of people in general to withdrawr

-BER-\
-TAS-

5o8 INSOLENT THREATS OF THE FRENCH.
tbeir mone3'-, under the apprehension of an invasion ; and, in the
month of February, tbe 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 tbe circulation of gold coin became almost obsolete.
Several caricatures appeared on this occasion. In one, tbe
minister was represen-ted attempting a rape on tbe old lady of
Leadenhall-street. Another was a parody on tbe well-known
story of Midas — tbe 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 tbe
wind from it moves tbe reeds (tbe English opposition), which
sigh forth, " Midas has ears !" Tbe 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, bowever, remains
deaf to tbeir arguments.
John Bull's courage and patriotism, indeed, increased in
intensity, and bis 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 tbey 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 alread3', in imagination, plundered our capital. " Coura
geous citizens," he said to bis followers, in an address which
was circulated through France, " England is the richest country
in tbe world— and we give it up to you to be plundered. You
shall march to tbe capital of that haughty nation. You shall
plunder tbeir national bank of its immense beaps of gold. You
shall seize upon all public and private propert3- — upon their
warehouses — tbeir magazines — tbeir stately mansions — tbeir
gilded palaces ; and you shall return to your own country loaded
witb tbe spoils of tbe enemy. This is tbe only method left to
bring them to our terms. When tbey are bumbled, tben we
shall dictate what terms we think proper, and they must accept
tbem. Behold what our brave army in Ital3' are doing — they
are enriched with the plunder of tbat fine country , and they
will be more so, wben Rome bestows what, if she does not, wiU
be taken by force. Your country, brave citizens, will not de
mand a particle of tbe riches you shall bring from Great Britain.

THE HAT TAX.

S°9

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 wUl soon find your way to Loudon." These
lines, whicb were published in most of the English newspapers
and magazines in tbe month of March, added to the martial
spirit of the people, wbose property was thus threatened, and
volunteer troops began to be formed in all parts of tbe eountry.
The metropobs 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
tbe ist of March, may be compared witb 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 tbe dungbiU at Mary-
bone ;" and the assaUants are evidently gaining an easy victory
over the fashionable loungere ofthe former locality. A numbrr
of pictures representing tbe horrible consequences of French
success, published during March and AprU, tended to keep tbe
national spirit in a blaze.
StiU John BuU grumbled at being taxed, although he was so
eame.=tl3' assured that it was for bis own advantage. One of
tbe taxes proposed during the spring of 1797, which gave most
room for satire and ridi-
cule, was a duty on bats,
which people evaded by
wearing caps. Gillray, in
a caricature, published on
the 5th of AprU, entitled
" Le bonnet rouge : or,
John BuU evading the bat-
tax," intimates the danger
that sucb taxes migbt 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 bis taxes —
" Waunds ! wben Measter Billy sees I in a red cap bow he wUl
stare ! — egad, I thinks I sbaU cook 'en at last ! — weU, 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 stoekey soldier." Other carica-

jomr BULL IS BOinrET bocqe.

;io

THE MINISTERIAL RAREE-SHOW.

tures attacked tbe increasing system of taxation, and the minis-
tei- witb wbom it originated, witb much greater severity ; they
represented bim as practising a continued deception — of making
professions wbich be never intended to fulfil, and talking of
objects whicb be took no steps to gain — in order, to extract the
money from John Bull's pocket, A caricature, published on
tbe i5tb of August, under tbe title of " Billy's Raree-Show ; or,
John BuU era-bgbten'd,"
represents Pitt as the
royal showman, picking
John's pocket of bis "sav
ings," wbile the latter is
looking at his exhibition.
The showman, witb all
due gravity, is directing
John's attention — " Now,
pray, lend your attention
to the enchanting pros
pect before 3'ou — this is
the prospect of peace —
only observe what a busy
scene presents itself — tbe
ports are filled witb ship
ping, tbe quays loaded
witb merchandize — riches
are flowing in from every
quarter — this prospect alone is worth all the money you bave
got about you." Tbe simple auditor of tbis fine speech, totally
unconscious of the process to which 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, witb some mountains and molehills upon't —
as sure as a gun, it must be all behoind one of those!" The
fiag of the raree-show bears tbe inscription, " Licensed by
Authority, Billy Hum's grand exhibition of moving mechanism;
or, deception of tbe senses." Great as migbt be the increase of
taxes in one session, tbe next was sure to bring witb it the
addition of new ones. Scarcely bad tbe parliament begun busi
ness at tbe end of tbe year 1797, when it was announced tbat a
heavy addition would be made to tbe assessed taxes, A carica
turist, in tbe month of December, in a print entitled, " More
visitors to John Bull ; or, the Assessed Taxes," represents these
unwelcome guests introducing tbemselves to John Bull in a
bodUy form. The latter asks in surprise, as well as alarm,

THE DISHONEST SHOWMAN,

THE ASSESSED TAXES. Jii
"What do you want, you little devUs ? — 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 tbe assessed Taxes."*

WB ABE THE ASSESSED TAXES.
Amid so many subjects of uneasiness, witb preparations for.
invasion witbout, and wben our fleets were in open mutiny at
Spithead and the Nore, tbe question of parliamentary reform
was again agitated from one end of tbe 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 tbe 23rd, Fox himself moved for the
repeal of the acts passed in the preceding session against
sedition and treason. Tbe ministers defended warmly their
coercive measures, aud one of tbeir party declared " that he con
sidered tbis motion as a tissue of tbe 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 tbese acts he believed tbat tbe French national flag
would bave been hoisted on tbe Tower of London." After a
long debate. Fox's motion was rejected by two hundred and
sixty votes against fifty-two. On the i6tb, Mr. Grey moved for
leave to bring in a bill to reform the representation iu the
country, and explained at considerable length the principal
details of his plan. The motion was seconded by Erskine, and
tbe debate lasted till three o'clock in tbe 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 ia in the possession of
Mr, Burke.

512 SECESSION OF THE FOXITES.
despair of making any impression on tbe House of Commons,
and announced their intention for tbe 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 tbe century. Sheridan alone remained at bis post, and it
was commonly believed tbat be bad disagreed with his party,
and tbat he was looking out for encouragement to desert to the
ministerial side of the House. Upon this occasion tbe Tories
complained louder than ever of the factious behaviour of the
opposition ; tbey said tbat tbe opposition bad remained in tbe
House as long as tbere remained any prospect of doing mischief,
and tben shewed tbeir patriotism by leaving tbeir country to its
fate. Gillray published a caricature on the 28tb of May, the
spirit of whicb is sufficiently explained by its title of " Par
liamentary Reform ; or, Opposition rats leaving tbe House they
bad undermined." A caricature, published some days later,
represents Fox slinking away from the neighbourhood of the
House, after his partizans have laid the trains tbat were to blow
up tbe constitution. Otber caricatures traced the opposition
leaders into tbeir retreats, and shewed tbem encouraging and
aiding sedition without tbe House, now tbat their efforts bad
proved useless within. On tbe ,5tb of June appeared a carica
ture, entitled " Diversions of Purley ; or, Opposition attending
their private affairs," represents Pox and his political friends in
affectionate homeliness nursing two ill-favoured babes, " Sedition
and Revolution," Another caricature, published by Gilbay on
tbe i6tb of June, is entitled " Homer singing bis verses to tbe
Greeks ;" it represents Fox and bis party round tbe jovial table,
listening to tbeir old minstrel Captain Morris, wbo, all ragged
and wretched, is singing tbem a new song. Still later on in tbe
year, on tbe 24tb of November, in a caricature entitled " Le
coup de maitre," Gillray represented Fox in the character of a
political brigand, practising with bis gun at tbe crown, lords,
and commons.
It is certain tbat, after the secession of tbe opposition in the
House of Commons, tbe agitation throughout tbe country
became greater, and tbe activity of the politioal societies
increased, Political meetings to discuss tbe necessity of Par
liamentary reform became more frequent. One of the most
remarkable of tbese meetings was held on tbe grounds at Guy's
Cliff, near Warwick, under -the favour of Bertie Greatbead, Esq.,
tbe proprietor of that picturesque locality, and was commemo
rated by a medal, an article at tbis 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 tbe meeting at
Guy's Cliff, was parodied by a
loyal medal, which represented on
tbe obverse the devil holding
three baiters over the heads of
tbe demagogues, wbile on one
side tbe " wrong heads" are ap
plauding tbem, and on tbe otber
the "rigbt heads" are sbewing
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, tbe attacks of which assailed the ministers witli iiicjssant
gall, that tbe celebrated Anti-Jacobin was established in the
latter part of November, 1797. It was conducted by some of
the most talented men connected witb the administration, and is
remarkable for tbe bitterness of its satire, and the boLiness of
its personalities. In tbis respect one party was quite as little
scrupulous as the other. Tbe second number of this paper,
published on tbe 27th of November, contained that admirable
burlesque by Canning (one of the principal contributors) on the
pains taken by tbe political agitators and so-called philanthro
pists to instil discontent into the lower orders of society, even
wben of themselves tbey were not at all inclined to be
discontented : —

THE FRIEND OF HUMANITY AND THE KNIFE-GRINDER.
' ' 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 gut a hole in 't,
So have your breeche.? 1
" ' Weary knife-grinder I little think the proud ones.
Who in their coaches roll along the turnpike-
road, what hard work 'tis crying all day, 'Knivej and
Scissors to grind, 0 ! '
' ' Tell me, knife-grinder, how you came to grind knives ?
Did some rich man tyrannically use you ?
Was it the 'squire ? or parson of the parish ?
Or the attorney f
t L

514 CELEBRATION OF FOX'S BIRTHDAY.
" 'Was it the 'squire for killing of his game 1 or
Covetous parson for hia tythes distraining 1
Or roguish la-wyer made you lose your little AU in a lawsuit?
" ' (Have you not read the ' Rights of Man ' by Tom Paine ?)
Drops of compassion tremble on my eye-lids.
Ready to fall, aa soon as you have told your Pitiful story.'
' ' Knife-grinder.
" ' Story I God bless you ! I have none to tell, sir,
Only last night, a-drinking at the Chequers,
This poor old hat aud 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 ahould be glad to di-ink your honour'a 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.
" '/give thee sixpence 1 I will see thee damn'd flrst ! —
Wretch ! whom no sense of wrongs can rouse to vengeance ! —
Sordid, unfeeling, reprobate, degraded, Spiritless outcast I ' "
(Kiclcs the Knife-grinde); overturns his wheel, and exit in a transport of
republican enthusiasm and universal philanthropy.)
Tbis burlesque was reprinted in a broadside, on the 4tb of
December, with a large engraving by Gillray, in whiob tbe
"friend of humanity" carries tbe features of Tierney, and
it is dedicated " to tbe , independent electors of the borough
of Southwark," of which constituency Tierney was tbe repre
sentative. In their mortification at tbe steady and overwhelming
ministerial majorities in parliament, the opposition seceders
seem to have vented tbeir ill-humour in ultra-liberal toasts and
speeches at public dinners and entertainments, and under the
genial infiuence of the god to wbom tbeir devotions were always
fervent, they sometimes uttered sentiments tbat were not of tbe
most prudent description, and which were eagerly seized upon
by their opponents. On the 24tb of January, 1798, a grand
dinner was held in tbe 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. Tbe Duke of
Norfolk presided, and was supported by the Duke of Bedford,

THE MAJESTY OF THE PEOPLE.

,515

Eoi-ls Lauderdale and Oxford, Sheridan, Tierney, Erskine,
Home Tooke, .and others. Captain Morris produced three new
songs for tbe occasion. After dinner had been withdrawn in
the great room, the Duke of Norfolk, as reported in the news
papers, addressed tbe compan3- uearl3' as follows : " We ave met,
in a moment of most serious difficulty, to celebrate the birth of
a man dear to tbe friends of freedom. I shall only recall
to your memory, that not twenty years ago, tbe illustrious
George Washington had not more than two thousand men
to rally round him wben bis country was attacked. America is
now free. Tbis day full two thousand men are assembled
in tbis place. I leave you to make tbe application. I propose
to 3'-ou the health of Charles Fox." After this toast bad been
drunk, and warmly applauded, tbe duke gave successively,
'¦The Rights of tbe people;" "Constitutional redress of the
wrongs of the people ;" " A speedy and effectual reform in tbe
representation ofthe people in parliament;" "The genuine
principles of tbe Britisb constitution;" "The people of
Ireland, and may tbey be speedUy restored to tbe blessings of
law and liberty ," The health of the chau-man was tben drunk,
to which the duke responded by giving " Our sovereign's health
— tlie majesty of tlie people !" Tbe court gave a much less
favourable interpretation to tbese
proceedings than it was probable
that tbe actors in them ever con
templated, and tbe Tory press
was loud in its outcries. Tbe re
sult was, tbat, within a few days
after tbe meeting, tbe King dis
missed tbe Duke of Norfolk from
bis offices of Lord Lieutenaut of
tbe West Riding of Y'orksbire, and
Colonel in tbe militia, which caused
no less outcry in tbe newspapers of
the opposition, A print by GiUray,
pubbsbed on tbe 3rd of February,
represents tbe noble toastmaster,
giving "the loyal toast," sur-
rouncfed by Fox, Bedford, Stanhope,
Sheridan, "and otbers. The duke's
seat, in place of a coronet bears the
figure of a bonnet rouge. Above bis
bead appear two bands, one holding
a pair of scales, the otber witb a pair of scissors cutting off
L Ii 2

A NOBLE TOAOTMASTEE.

5i6

PATRIOTS DISGRACED.

from a long list of the honours bestowed by tbe crown upon the
Norfolk family tbe two just alluded to. Just three months
later, at a meeting of- tbe Whig club, at tbe 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 witb a speech strongly condemnatory of the conduct of
ministers, wbom he compared witb tbe Frencb Directory. A
simUar mark of resentment was shewn towards Fox, as bad
already been exhibited in the case of the Duke of Norfolk ; the
King immediately ordered bis name to be erased from the bst of
the privy council. Ano
ther caricature by Gill
ray, published on the
I2tb 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 tbe entrance
to St. James's. Fox,
wbo appears to have
just been refused admit
tance, exhibits a truly
rueful countenance, and
meeting the duke, ex
claims, "Scratch'd off!
— dish'd ! — kick'd out,
damme!" His companion in misfortune, from wbose pocket
bangs a paper containing tbe announcement of bis dismissal
from the lieutenancy, replies, " How ? what ! kick'd out ! —
— ah ! morbleu ! — chacun a son tour ! morbleu ! morbleu!"
During tbese transactions, tbe Frencb were constantly boast
ing of their preparations for the invasion of tbis country, and it
was openly declared tbat tbey were to be assisted with a rebel
lion in Ireland, some discontented and ambitious democrats of
tbat country having been in active communication witb the
governing powers in Paris. Threatening paragraphs from the
Frencb papers found their way continually into tbe English
journals, and helped to keep up the alarm. It was announced
tbat Buonaparte, now one of tbe most distinguished of tbe
generals of the republic, elated witb the victories of bis Italian
campaign, was to lead his veteran armies against England. A
paragraph from a Parisian paper Of the 26tb of November,

PATRIOTS IN DISMAT.

FRENCH PREPARATIONS FOR INVASION. 517
1797, proclaimed tbat "Tbe 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
ber activity against the tyrants of the seas." The London
newspapers, at the end of December, published the address of
tbe president of the Directory to Buonaparte on bis arrival from
tbe 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 infiiot on tbe 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 Roman general, go'
and chain down the gigantic pirate wbo lords it over the seas :
go and punish in London crimes which bave remained unpunished
but too long. Numerous votaries of liberty wait 3four 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 Em-ope, tbey are also tbe avengers of tbe rights
of nations."
Tbis constant declaration on tbe part of France that she
expected to secure powerful assistance in England, injured the
cause of tbe opposition in tbis country, and appeared to confirm
tbe charges brougbt against them by tbe Tories, wbose indig
nation was raised to the highest pitch, wben, in February, the
French papers brougbt over a printed copy of the letter by
which tbe notorious renegade, Paine, conveyed his sentiments on
tbe subject to tbe 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. I send a hundred livres, and with it all the
wishes of my beart for the success of the descent, and a volun
tary offer of any service I can render to promote it. Tbere will
be no lasting peace for France, nor for tbe world, until tbe
tyranny and corruption of the English government be abolished,
and England, like Italy, become a sister republic."
As spring approached, the Frencb papers brougbt frequent
intelligence of preparations and orders for tbis threatened
descent. In England tbe 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 tbe motievs
and designs of those who were in opposition to the ministers.

5i8 LOYAL SONGS POPULAR.
Loyal songs became suddenl3' more popular than all others, and
new ones were regularly given to tbe world in tbe columns of
the Anti-Jacobin and other publications. Tbe foUowing 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 1
Old Ocean shall waft her, unruffled by storm,
While our shores are all lin'd with t\ie 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 lioh, the defenceless,' she comes —
Hark ! my boy^ to the sound of the Jacobin drums !
See Corruption, Pre.-cription, and Pnvilege fiy.
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 Guillotime. ,:
" See the level of Freedom sweeps over the land —
The vile aristocracy's doom is at hand 1
Not a seat shall be left in the house that we Jmow,
But for Earl Buonaparte and Baron Moreau.
But the righta of the Commona 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 1 and up with t'be five/
How our bishops and judges will stare with amazement,
Wben their heads are thrust out at the national casement J*
When the national razor has shaved them quite clean,
What a handsome oblation to Sainte Guillotine I"
A caricature by Gillray, published ou the ist of February,
1798, under the title of " Tbe storm rising ; or, Tbe Republican
Flotilla in danger," represents Fox, Sheridan, and tbeir allies,
drawing tbe enemy's flotilla to our coast by means of a capstan
and cable, wbile Pitt, from above, is blowing up tbe storm that
is to drive it away — in the winds we discern the names of Dun
can, Howe, Gardiner, &c., tbe admirals who were now making the
name of England respected on tbe seas. Tbe flotilla has in
front the flag of "liberty," but the flag bebind is inscribed as
* La petite fenStre and le rasoir national were popular terms applied to
the guillotine by the mob in France,

CONSEQUENCES OF FRENCH INVASION. 519
that of " slavery." Tbe 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 fortifl-
cations of Brest, witb tbe guiUotine raised on its principal
tower, and the devil dancing over it and playing tbe tune of
"Over de vater to Charley!" Plenty of pictures were now
published, to shew tho disastrous state of things to be expected
in tbis country, when tbe Whigs should have helped the French
to the mastery. Of tbese the most remarkable was a series of
four plates, engraved by GiUray, and published on the ist of
March, and said, in tbe corner of eacb plate, to be " invented "
by Sir John Dalrymple. Tbey are entitled, " The consequences
of a successful French invasion." The first represents the
House of Commons occupied by tbe triumphant democrats ; the
mace, records, and other furniture of the bouse, are involved in
one common destruction, and tbe members are fettered in pairs,
in tbe garb of convicts, ready for transportation to Botany Bay.
In the second, tbe House of Lords is the scene of similar havoc ;
a guillotine, supported by two Turkish mutes witb tbeir bows,
occupies tbe place of tbe throne ; and tbe commander-in-chief,
in bis full republican uniform, pointing to tbe mace, says to one
of bis creatures, " Here, take away this bauble ! but if there be
any gold on it, send
it to my lodghig."
In tbe 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
tbem witb tbe whip.
The fourth is a lesson
for Ireland ; having
come over witb tbe
specious pretext of
delivering tbe Ca
tholic faith from Pro
testant supremacy,
they abuse the Ca-
thobo clergy and
plunder and profane
their churches.

A PEENCn KEFOBMEE IN PARLIAMENT.

520

IRISH REBELLION.

Ireland was at tbis time breaking out into open rebeUion, and
occupied tbe attention of both political parties in England as
seriously as the threatened invasion from France. Tbe Whigs
accused the Tories of having provoked the Irish into resistance
by their tyrannical measures, and affected sympathy for their
sufferings ; tbe Tories accused tbe Whigs of having encouraged
disaffection by their example, and by the propagation of their
republican doctrines. Among those wbo
preached most about English injustice in
tbe sister island, was Lord Moira, who has
been mentioned before as Lord Rawdon,
and wbo was incessant in bis declamations
against English misrule. A caricature,
published by Gillray on the 1 2tb of March,
represents him as "Lord Longbow, the
alarmist, discovering the miseries of Ire
land," and doing his best to blow the
diminutive flame across the channel into a
blaze witb his small breath. On tbe 2otb
of March, Gillray published a caricature,
entitled " Search Night; or, State Watch
men mistaking honest men for CQUspira-
tors," in which Pitt and Dundas, as watch
men, are breaking through tbe door of the
secret apartment in which tbe " Corre
sponding Society" are supposed o be de
liberating. Tbey find tbe room full of
daggers, caps of libert3'-, &c., and a party
of conspirators brooding over Irish insur
rection. The approach of the watchmen
has been the signal for a general fiight ;
the Dukes of Bedford and Norfolk make
their escape through tbe chimney ; Fox and Sheridan mount
through a trap-door ; Tierney and -two otbers seek concealment
under the table ; Moira alone, who boasted that he managed
well with both parties, stands bis ground : over the mantel
piece are portraits of Robespierre and Buonaparte. In June,
people were excited against the Irish by pictures of tbe atroci
ties committed by the rebels, which rivalled almost tbe doings
of Frencb republicanism ; and, among other caricatures on the
same subject, published in October, is a picture of " Tbe aUied
Repubbcs of France and Ireland," in which the French ally,
after enriching himself by plunder, is riding upon poor Ireland
•lansformed into a donkey. This picture is accompanied by a

LOED LONQBOW THE
ALAEMIST.

CARICATURES ON THE WHIGS. 521
mock song, burlesquing the national burthen of " F.riii go
bragh :" " From Brest in the Bay of Biskey
Jlo come for de very fine whiskey.
To make de Jacobin friskey,
\Vhile Erin may go bray.
" Me have got de mealy pottato
From de Irish democrato.
To make de Jacobin fat, O,
While Eiiu may go bray,
" I got by de guillotine axes
De wheats and do oats, and de flaxes,
Do rents, and de tydes, and de taxes,
\\'liile Eiiii m.ay go bray,
"I put into requisition
Do yirl 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 iu his hovel,
And Erin may go bray.
" De beef is good for my bolly,
De calf make very fiue jelly.
For me to kiss Nora and Nelly,
And Erin may go bray.
"Fitzgerald and Arter O'Connor
To Erin have done do great honour
To put me astride upon hor,
For w hieh she now does bray.
" She may fidget aud caper and kick, 0,
But by de good help of Old Nick, 0,
De Jacobin ever will stick, 0,
And Klin may go bray."
The Whigs continued to be caricatured as tbe patrons of
Frencb principles, whether in England or in Ireland, GiUray
published, on the i8th of April, a series of "French Habits,"
in wbich tho principal English Whigs were equijipcd in the gay
theatrical costumes of the difi'erent officers of tbe French republi
can government of that time ; Fox led tbe way as " le ministre
d'ilat en grand costume." On the 231-d of IMay, a caricature
bj' Gillray parodied Milton in representing " The Tree of Liberty,
with the Devil tempting John Bull." Fox, as the serpent, is
oft'ering John Bull tlic apple of " Reform ;" but tbe latter is
not to be tempted, for his pockets are filled with better fruit,
A caricatuic by the same lu-tist, published on the 26th of May,

522 PREPARATIONS AGAINST INVASION.
represents the " Shrine at St. Aiine's Hill ;"* Fox worshipping
tbe bonnet rouge, wbich is supported'on a republican altar, with
the bust of Robespierre on oue side, and that of Buonaparte on
the otber ; the beads of tbe otber leaders of tbe opposition,
witb red caps on their beads, appear as cherubs attendan-t
on bis devotions. In another caricature by Gillray, entitled
"Nightly Visitors at St. Anne's Hill," published on tbe 21st of
September, the ghosts of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and tbe
headless trunks of others who bad fallen a sacrifice in tbeir
rebellion against tbe government in Ireland, are made to disturb
Fox in bis slumber, and accuse him of having been tbeir first
seducer. The threats of France and ber ostentatious preparations, bad
greatly injured tbe cause of the Whigs in England, where tbe
warlike spirit had been increased by tbe victories gained by
Duncan and otber admirals at sea. Our fleet seemed to be
rapidly rising in glory since tbe repression of tbe memorable
mutiny at the Nore. The enthusiasm was kept up by every
kind of incentive, even by " loyal "performances at the theatres.
On the 9tb of Februar3-, a tragedy, entitled " England Pre
served," an interlude, and the farce of tbe " Poor Sailor," were
acted at Covent Garden Theatre, and tbe receipts of tbe bouse
appropriated to the voluntary contribution for tbe defence of
the country. There were present Lord Bridport and Lord
Hood, whose healths being drunk in tbe interlude occasioned
such extraordinary bursts of applause, tbat botb those naval
heroes were obliged to come forward and shew tbemselves to the
audience. This and other performances were accompanied witb
appropriate prologues, epilogues, and addresses, all calculated to
produce the same effect. Even Captain Morris became loyal,
and wrote some truly patriotic songs, of whicb tbe following,
which was very popular in tbe month of May, is one of tbe
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. 523
" 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 ua, 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, &o,
"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 uo Frenchman shall rule.
So let them come on, &o.
" 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 lot 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'll 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 tbe departure of Buonaparte for Egypt shewed that tbe
ambitiou of France was directed for the present to another
quarter. At tbe beginning of October, tbe news of tbe great
and decisive victory of tbe Nile came to cheer all hearts, except
those of the seditious few wbo had built their prospects on tbe
assistance of French bayonets, Tbe Tories exulted over tbe
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 diff'erent Whig leaders giving unequivocal evidence of their
disappointment, A caricature, published on tbe 6tb, represents
Nelson with a club, inscribed, " Britisb Oak " clearing the Nile
of its monsters — it is entitled, " Extirpation of tbe Plagues of
Egypt ; destruction of revolutionary crocodUes ; or, The British
hero cleansing the mouth of tbe Nile." Scarcely a day now
passed without bringing intelligence of some new success of the
Britisb navy at sea, and John Bull seemed iu danger of being

5M

JOHN BULL'S LUNCHEON.

surfeited witb the multitude of bis captures. On the 24tb of
October, GiUray published his caricature of "John BuU taking
a luncheon ; or, British cooks cramming old Grumble-Gizzard
witb bonne chere." John sitting at his well-furnished table, is
almost overwhelmed b3' the zealous attentions of his (naval)
cooks, foremost a-.-i-iong whom, the hereof tho Nile is offering
bim a " fricassee a la Nelson," — a large dish of battered Frencb
ships of tbe 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," " d
la Gardiner," &c. John Bull
is deliberately snapping up a
frigate at a mouthful, and he
is evidently fattening fast upon
bis new diet ; be exchiims, as
bis cooks gather round bim,
" What ! more frigasees! — why,
you rogues you, where do you
think I .shall find room to stow all you bring in ?" Beside
bim stands an immense jug of "true Britisb stout" to wash
them down ; and be
bind bim, a picture of
"Buonaparte in Egypt,"
suspended against tbe
wall, is con cealed by
Nelson's bat, which is
hung over it. Through
the window we see Fox
and Sheridan running
away in dismay at John
Bull's voraoit3'. It was
now pretty generally
tbe hope of some, and
tbe fear of many, in
France as well as in
England, tbat Buona
parte would never be
able to get back to bis own country, and all eyes were fixed

A GOOD CATEEEE.

JOHN BULL TAKING A LUNCHEON.

JACK TAR SETTLING BUONAPARTE, 525
with anxiety upon tbe East. Gillray pubbsbed a caricature on
tbe 20th of November, entitled " Fighting for the dunghill ;
or, Jack Tar settling Buonaparte," in whicb Jack is manfully
disputing his enemy's rigbt to supremacy over the world ; 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 bome the plan of a descent upon
England was so far modified, that tbe invasion was to be made
through Ireland, and the command of tbe army destined for
this purpose was given to the repubUcan General Hoche ;
but, while Jack Tar was thus settling Buonaparte in tbe

DISPUTED POSSESSION.
East, General Hoche died unexpectedly in France, and so
entirely had tbe success of our fieets restored the feeling
of security in England, tbat bis disappearance from the stage
would hardly bave been perceived, had it not been announced
by tbe grand print of Gillray, entitled " The Apotheosis of
Hoche," published on the nth of December, 1798, and tbe
representing in one vast panorama tbe horrors of tbe French
revolution crowded around its hero. Tbe same year tbat wit
nessed the signal defeat of the navy of France, saw also tbe
overthrow of tbe Frencb prospects in Ireland, by the suppres
sion of tbe rebellion.
During the spring and summer of 1798, the prosecutions for
political offences bad increased in number, and tbe whole country
seems to bave been invaded witb an arm}- of spies and informers.
Men were dragged into court on informations of the most trifiing
and ridiculous kind, and it was long before this country was

526 NEW COALITION.
relieved from tbe 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 2i]d of April, and alluding .appa
rently to some incident that had occurred at Winchester, is
entitled " The Sedition blunter 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." Tbe sensation against tbe
iuforn-ier 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." Tbe Tories continued to exult over tbe defeat of " the party."
Tbere had taken place at the beginning of the year a sort of
coalition between the Foxites and some of tbe more violent demo
crats, sucb as Home Tooke and Frend, wbo had formerly repu
diated Fox as not sufficiently democratic in his views, but who
now expressed themselves satisfied at bis. declaration in favour of
parliamentary reform, and proclaimed the necessity of union.
On the 3otb of October, after the glorious successes which bad
added so much to tbe strength of tbe 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
bebind it as chief mourners ; tbe Duke of Norfolk leads the
procession, bearing the banner inscribed tbe " Majesty of the
People;" and behind him Home Tooke reads tbe service from
"The Rights of Man," This was followed, on the 6tb of
November, by "Stealing off; or, Prudent Secession," a carica
ture alluding to the secession of tbe Whigs in the previous
spring, and representing Fox flying from tbe House, where tbe
opposition bowed down tbeir beads overwhelmed by the suc
cesses of government. On the 17th of November, came "The
Fall of Phaeton," Fox struck from bis chariot by tho lightning
of royalty, and tbe Whig club involved in bis 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 bad
published a pamphlet under the title of " Two Pair of Portraits,"
in wbich be contrasted, much to tbe advantage of tbe former,
the two Pitts with the two Foxes. A caricature by Gilbay on
tbis subject, of whicb tbe accompanying plate is an accurate
copy, was published on the 1st of December, with tbe Anti-

J-Gillra-y-, deO.

F'WFeli'-Iio'I'- "^SA sc

"TWO F.AI1R OF POJRTmAJTTSr

EiJTEi; TO ALL THE TJ3>rBIASSED FI=ECTOR£ OT GREAT BRITAIN, SY J-QHIT HORITE TOOKF

PROPERTY AND INCOME TAX. 527
Jacobin Review ; Home Tooke is redaubing bis portrait of
Charles Fox, and is surrounded on every side with pictures
allusive to tbe varying principles of bis life.
Tbe parliamentary session of 1799, opened at the end of
November, 1798, wben Fox kept bis word of absenting bimself
from the debates ; yet in tbe caricatures be was always placed
foremost in tbe opposition. Tbe announcement of a property
and income tax at tbe beginning of December, produced a cari
cature, published on tbe I3tb, under the ironical title of
"Meeting of tbe Moneyed Interest," in which Fox witb a
begging-box by bis side, is exciting against tbe bill a meeting of
wbich the greater part appears to be anything but " moneyed."
It was Fox, according to the same caricatures, wbo, in bis 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 tbe channel,
reposing amid plenty and happiness, offering to Ireland on tbe
otber side a " 'Union of security, trade, and liberty." The face
of Fox is just seen from bebind a bush, (whicb conceals bim
from Britannia, wbo appears not to be aware of bis presence),
whispering across tbe 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 tbat tbis 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 ber knap
sack to carry off' your property, and to ravish your whole country,
man, woman, and child ! — why, 3'-ou are blind, sure ! Rouse
yourself, man ! raise all the lawyers and spur up the corpora
tions ; flght to tbe last drop of blood, and part witb tbe last
potato to preserve your property and independence !" Pat, who
is covered witb rags and wretchedness, wbose whole property is
comprised in a broken pike, his bouse in flames iu tbe distance,
looks, to use his own expression, entirely "bothered." He
scratches his head as be makes bis reply, " Plunder and knap
sacks ! and ravishments and ruin of little Ireland ! — why, by St.
Patbrick, it's very odd, now ; for tbe old girl seems to me to be
offering me her beart and her band, and ber trade and tbe use of
ber shillalee to defend me, into tbe bargain ! By Jasus, if you
was not my old friend, Charley, I should think you meant to
bother me witb your whisperings, to put the old lady in a
passion, that we may not buss one another, or be friends any
more." Tbe year 1 799 was tbat at which the outcry against sedition

528 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 tbe extreme
measure of subjecting printing-presses to a licence. Tbe Tory
caricatures still boasted of tbe 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 poUtical persecution. The King's Bench, and New- -
gate, and Coldbatli Fields, began to be filled witb political
offenders ; the last had received tbe popular epithet of the
"Bastile." A caricature published with the Anti-Jacobin
Review, and entitled, "A charm for democrac3-, reviewed,
analysed, and destroyed, January ist, 1799, to the confusion
of its affiliated friends," represents the members of the opposi
tion assembled in the cave of Despair, where Tooke and two of
bis violent colleagues, as witches, are mixing up tbe 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,
Eussell's liver, tongue of cur,
Norfolk's boldness, Fo.-i's fur ;
Add thereto a tiger's chaldron,
For the ingredients of our caldron."
Above, in tbe sky, appears the King on bis throne, backed by
bis ministers, throwing a glare of bght on the machinations of
the disaffected patriots. The King says, " Our enemies are con
founded !" Pitt urges, " Suspend tbeir 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, tbe proposition for a union with
Ireland was laid before Parbament in a message from the Crown.
This subject, with the rebellion of tbe preceding year, caused
the affairs of tbe sister island for some time to occupy a con
siderable share of public attention in this country. Caricatures
on the subject -were ver3' numerous, as well as prints exhibiting
respectively the violence and cruelty of tbe rebels, and the con
sequence of Frencb influence. Ou tbe ist of March was pub
bsbed witb tbe Anti-Jacobin Review a print, apparently from the
pencil of Rowlandson* (a copy of which is given in tbe accom
panying plate), entitled "An Irish bowl." It represents the
' Most of Rowlandson 's earlier political caric iturea were published
without his name, and many of them were not engraved by himself, ao that

JOHN BULL'S GUARDIAN ANGEL.

529

A OUAEDIAN ANGEL.

United Irishmen terror-struck at a vision of tbe consequences
of tbe Frencb republican influence wbich they had invoked.
The property and income tax was a fruitful source of populai
complaint, Gillray published on tbe i3thi of March a caricature
entitled " John Bull at bis
studies, attended by bis
guardian angel ;" in which
John Bull is seen puzzling
bimself over an immense
mass of paper, rather ironi
cally entitled, "A plain,
short, and easy description
of the diff'erent clauses in 1
tbe income tax, so as to
render it familiar to the
meanest capacity," He re
marks very gravely,' " I
bave 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 witb, " Above,
Pitt appears, as John's guardian angel, playing to bim upon
the Irish barp,^ "Cease, rude Boreas, blust'iing railer,
Trust your fortune's care to me."
A paper on tbe table bears tbe descriptive lines, —
"The sweet little chei-ub that sits up aloft,
To keep watch for the purse of poor Jack."
Various seizures were made about tbis time of the persons and
papers of some of tbe active members of the political societies,
and tbe 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,
bowever, was made to believe the contrary ; and a large and
elaborate print by Gillray, published on the 15th of AprU,
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 w-e are hero
ap^.aking, however, bears very evident traces of his style, especially in
some of the faces.

530 TEE ENGLISH DEMOCRATS.
turning away in dismay from tbe light thrown upon tbeir
proceedings by the committee, wbich illuminates a large trans
parency, exhibiting in four compartments the expected pro
ceedings of the democrats in power, as tbey bad been described
over and over again in tbe Tory prints during the few years
preceding : — first, tbey plunder tbe bank, — then they assassinate
the Parliament (Fox is stabbing Pitt), — next, they steal the
crown and tbe 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 Frencb
soldiery into the palace of St. James's. There must bave been
few persons left wbo would pay much attention to sucb exagge
rated improbabiUties as tbese. Yet the caricaturists persisted in
their tactics of identifying English Whigs with Frencb repub
licans. On tbe /tb of May, Gillray published a series of
engravings entitled a " New Pantheon of Democratic Mytho-
log3'," in one of which Fox, in allusion to bis secession and
retirement to the privacy of St. Anne's Hill is represented under
the cbaracter of " Hercules reposing ;" in another, Tierney, Sir
George Shuckborough, and Mr. Jekyl, as " Harpies defiling tbe
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 tbe Britisb lion. In
another caricature by GUlray, published on the ist of May, Fox
is represented iu bed, ridden over by the Hiberno-Gallic repub
lican nightmare. It is a parody on the well-known picture by
Fuseb, During the summer of 1799, domestic agitation seems to
bave experienced a calm ; but, wben the Parliament opened at
tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe 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, witb 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.

531

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 tbe cbarge of tbe minister: —
" Fourpence a pot for porter ! — mercy
upon us ! Ah ! it's all owing to tbe
war and tbe cursed ministry ! Have
not tbey ruined the harvest ? — have
not they blighted all tbe bops ? — bave
not tbey brougbt on tbe destructive
rains, tbat we migbt be ruined in
order to support tbe war ? — and bribed
tbe sun not to shine, that they may
plunder us in the dark ? (Vide, the
Doctor's reveries, every day after
dinner y
It took nearly two years to com
plete the union with Ireland; diffi
culties of various kinds arose, aud
bad to be overcome-; and some of
tbese 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
"buss" whicb a former caricature
insinuated tbat it was tbe aim of
the Whigs to hinder.-* Tbe Union
took effect on tbe 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 fieur-de-
lis, was omitted.
With the end of tbe century the
continent of Europe entered upon
a new phase of its history. After
a long stay in the east, whicb bad
no other result than tbat of ex
hibiting to the world an extra
ordinary picture of the reckless
injustice and rapacity of repub-
* This out is taken from a large caricature by Gillray, published in 1801,
entitled "The Union Club." The two figures there occupy the back of the
president's chair.
M M 2

DEATH IN THE POT.

to join in tbat kindly

A KISS AT LAST,

532 BUONAPARTE FIRST CONSUL.
lican France, Buonaparte made bis escape from Egypt. He
appeared suddenly in France, and succeeded in overthrowing
the Directory, and placing himself at the bead of the state,
under the title of first consul, on the I3tb of December, 1799,
The repubhc bad now but a nominal existence, and even tbis
shaolow of the so long vaunted French liberty had but a tem
porary duration. The war had been carried on by England at
sea witb unvar3-in^ success ; and the troops of the republic bad
sustained several severe defeats on the continent of Europe
before tbe allied armies of the new coalition, whiob bad been
formed at tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe
French Directory; it was published on tbe 21st of November,
1799, and is entitled " Exit Liberte S, la Franfaise ! or, Buona
parte closing tbe farce of EgalitS at St. Cloud, near Paris, Nov.
I oth, 1799."

533

CHAPTER XIV.
GEORGE III.
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. Coruelys 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 tbe state of society in England, during
tbe latter part of tbe last century, we must acknowledge
tbe existence of many of tbe same causes whicb had led to such
a fearful convulsion in tbe social system in France. Rousseaus and
Voltaires were not wanting among our writers, and tbe fashion
able philosophy of tbe day bad made a deep impression. Hand
in band 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 wbo were
;-eady to follow any desperate course, in tbe hope of retrieving
tbeir shattered fortunes. The unjust monopoly of patronage
by the aristocratic infiuence, and the neglect of a large mass of
the talent of tbe country, was gradually teaching disaffection to
tbe latter, and making it eager for any change that promised a
chance of reaching tbe elevation to which it aspired. In all
tbese respects, English society was closely imitating the example
set in France ; as it was in frivolity of inanners, and in tbe
extravagance of modes and dress. Tbis imitation, towards tbe
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 tbe daughters of tradesmen and farmers
were sent for education to fashionable boarding-schools, and
were taught to exchange tbe 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 tbe
manners of the age, and are therefore not unworthy of our
attention. For some years preceding the French revolutiou-

554

THE BAILIFF OUTWITTED.

the dress of the ladies was distinguished by tbe same superfluity
iu dimensions and stiffness in form tbat bad shone so conspicu
ously in tbe costume of tbe age of the Macaronis, Tbe artificial
mass of bead-dress bad, it is true, been discarded, and the
natural liair had been allowed to form the chief ornament of the
bead, though frizzled into a bush ; but tbis coiff'ure bad been
followed by enormously broad-brimmed bats, and the dress of
tbe body was gathered into immense projections befoie and
bebind. This costume, than wbich nothi'ng could be less graceful
or more absurd, soon became the object of abundance of jokes and
ri^dicule. Tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe person ; whilst others pretended to shew that tbey
migbt be turned to useful purposes on extraordinary occasions.
They originated, it appears, like most other fashions in dress
which bave prevailed in tbis country, in Paris, and tbere it was
said that the posterior prominence was turned to a good account
for the purpose of smuggling brandy through tbe gates of the
city ; a caricature, published in 1786, represents, in a humorous
manner, tbe discovery of tbe fraud. The purposes to which
such dresses were to be turned in Eng
land are described as exhibiting still
greater ingenuity. Tbe dress was so arti-
fieiall3- built, and so much larger than the
body, tbat it was supposed that the latter
might be withdrawn from its covering
without seriously deranging it ; in a cari
cature, published on the 6tb of May,
1786, entitled, "The bum-baihff out
witted," a lady is represented as thus es
caping from the hands of her pursuer.
Tbe bailiff is seizing ber from behind, and
holding forth his warrant witb one hand ;
wbile the lady slips away en chemise
below, leaving the shell without the sub
stance — hat, wig, and dress sustain tbem
selves so well in bis grasp, that it is some
time before be perceives the trick which
has been put upon bim. In tbe January of tbe year following
(1787), when tbe dimensions of the bats, as well as of the pro
minences behind and before, had increased considerabl3r, a cari
cature, entitled "Mademoiselle Parapluie," sbews how, in a

THE BAILIPj- OUTWITTED.

MADEMOISELLE PARAPLUIE. ^,3^,
sudden shower, tbis dress migbt be made to serve tbe purpose of
au enormous umbrella,
and shelter under its
protection a whole
family. As it will be ob
served in tbis last ca
ricature, tbe otber sex
had begun to adopt a
bat resembling in form
tbat worn by the la
dies, instead of the
cocked hat previously
in use. It was with
the entire change in
tbe character of tbe
dress of both sexes,
which followed the
French revolutiouj
tbat the tall, narrow-
brimmed bat for men
— the precursor of tbe
bat as worn at the
present day — was first
introduced. At tbe 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, whicb procured for the
wearers and their apparel tbe title of
" zebras." A fop of -this period is here
given, from a caricature published on tbe
29tb of March, 1791, entitled "Jemmy
Lincum Feadle :" the style is French in
the extreme, and tbe 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, haa seen
How Jove incensed to monkeya changed
A tribe of worthless men.
" Jove with contempt the men survey'd,
Nor would a name bestow ;
But woman liked the motley breed,
Aud call'd this thing a benu."

MADEMOISELLE PAB-iPLDIB.

A "ZEBEA,'

53'5 FASHIONS AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
Witb the opening of tbe revolutionary period, tbe costume of
the ladies underwent a very remarkable change iu two of its
striliing peculiarities : tbe extraordinary stiffness and redun
dancy wbich bad characterized the dress of the succeeding
period was suddenly changed for extreme lightness and loose
ness, and the waist, which bad formerly been long, was dimi
nished untU it disappeared altogether. The buffonts and tbe
" 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, witb thin petticoats only beneath. A
turban of muslin was wrapped round the head, surmounted
witb one, two, or three (seldom more) very high feathers,
and often with straw, the manufactures in which bad 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 tbe caricatures of
dress during tbat and tbe 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 tbe year just men
tioned ; tbe 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 bim the
appearance of being as lightly
covered as his partner. The
immense cravats of tbe men
are caricatured in otber prints
wbich appeared during this

EXQUISITES IN 1794.

3'eai-. In a caricature by Gillray, published in the year following,
entitled "A lady putting on her cap," the lady requires tbe aid
of two maids to hold up the immense length of muslin which,
seated at her toilet, she is wrapping round her bead in tbe form
of a turban. This turban, and its single feather rising high into
tbe air, as well as tbe naked breasts and tbe deficiency of waist,
are exhibited in the next figure, taken from a caricature entitled
"Tbe Graces for 1794," pubbsbed on the 21st of July 'in that

DISAPPEARANCE OF LADIES' WAISTS. 537
year. This lady wears another personal ornament in voo-ue 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 tbe breasts. From this
girdle, without any waist, tbe robe flows
loosely, giving the whole person an appear
ance as if the legs sprang immediately
from tbe bosom.
This peculiarity was carried to still
greater extravagance towards the end of
tbe year. On the ist of December, 1794,
a caricature, entitled "The Rage; or, Shep
herds, I bave lost m3'- waist," represents a
lady in tbis predicament, refusing cakes and
jelly offered ber by an attendant, because
ber dressmaker bad left her no body
wherein to bestow either ; it is accompanied
witb 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. ^^^ ^^ ^^j, qjjaokS.
"Never shall I see it more,
Till common sense returning,
My body to my legs restore,
Tben 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 1"
This absolute banishment of tbe body from tbe female form
is exhibited in tbe adjoining figure of a lady in full promenade
dress, taken from a caricature by Gillray, entitled " Following
tbe fashion," published on the 9tb of December, 1794. This
caricature, in the original, consists of two compartments : in
tbe first, tbe figure here given is described as " St. James's
giving tbe 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
ber body — she is an emblem of " Cheapside
aping tbe mode, a body witbout a soul."
The dress of the man of fashion appears to
bave remained much the same from 1791 till
near the end of the centur3-, witb tbe excep
tion of the bat, which, at the period of wbich
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 threwtheir hair back over theshoulders,
and wore a hat resembling in form that
of tbe other sex, but much smaller, with
immense bushes of straw above. This also
was the period when parasols came into
general use, and tbey were carried in the
manner represented in the following figures,
taken from a caricature published on the
15th of January, and entitled " Parasols for
1795." The lady's hair, in tbis instance,
appears to be spread out and plaited at the
NO-BODY. ends, and it extends over ber back in such a
manner as to answer almost the purposes of a
mantle. The fashionable pair are represented in full promenade
costume, and tbe hat of the gentleman and tbe lady's parasol
appear to answer much the same purpose.
During this year, the loose dresses, especially for in-door
parties, continued in fashion witb tbe lofty feathers, which,
to judge by their representation in tbe engravings of the time,
must have bad a picturesque effect in large assemblies. The
sbort waists also s-till furnished matter for ridicule. In a cari
cature published on tbe 4tli of August, 1795, the ladies'
dresses are ridiculed under the title of " Waggoners' frocks,
or no bod3's of 1795." The satirists began also at tbis time to
01-3'- out against sbort petticoats, and it appears to bave become
the fashion to expose the legs. Straw was coming more
and more into vogue, and was more especially used in tbe bead-
dresses, and in tbe out-of-doors costume, and sometimes so pro
fusely scattered over tbe bead and body that a print published
on the 1 2tb of July, represents a fashionable lady under the
title of " A bundle of straw." It was at tbis period that
straw-bonnets began to come into use. An epilogue spoken at
Drury Lane, in November, jokes on the prevailing fashion.

STRAW HEAD-DRESSES. 539
"What a fine harvest this gay season yields !
Some female heads appear like stubblc-fidds.
AVho now of threaten'd fiiniine d.^re complain,
AYhen everj- female forehoad teems with grain f
See how tho wheat-shearcs nod amid the plunios !
Our 6a?-iis are now transferred to drawiug-roomd ;
W'hile husbands who delight in active lives
To fill their granaries may thmsh their wives.
Nor wives, lUone prolific, notice draw,
Old miuds aud young ones, all are in the straw!"
The loose style of tbe frock is ridiculed in a caricature
published ou the 9tli of December, under tbe title, " A
fashionable information for ladies iu tbe country," which
yis illustrated by an extract from some oue of the milliners'

PABASOLS FOE IfpS.

announcements for the season — " tbe present fashion is the
most eas3- aud graceful imaginable — it is simply tbis — the
petticoat is tied round the neck, and tbe arms ai-e put through
the pocket-boles."
The fashion of light covering and exposure of tbe person was

MO

LIGHT COVERING OF THE LADIES.

increasing at the beginning of 1 796. A caricature published on
the 2otb of January, intended to improve on the actual
manners of the day and picture " A lady's dress as it soon wUl
be," represents the loose frock — the only covering — so arranged
as to expose to view at ever3' movement the wbole of tbe bod3-
below the waist. According to other caricatures, tbe dresses
actually worn were approaching fast towards such a con
summation ; for the body is re
presented as covered witb little
more than a mere light frock, the
very pocket-hohs of whicb be
came the subject of many a
wicked joke. Gillra3'-, in a carica
ture published on the I5tb 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 tbe rout, could
perform tbe duties of a mother,
wbile her carriage waited at tbe
door, witbout any derangement of
her garments. The title of tbis
print is, " The fashionable mamma,
or the convenience of a modern
dress ; vide. The Pocket-bole, &c."
If we believe numerous carica
tures published at this time,
ladies wbo carried fashion to the
extreme were not content witb
this paucity of covering, but they had it made of materials of
sucb transparent texture, that tbey rivalled tbe celebrated cos
tume among tbe ancients of whicb Horace has told us —
" — Cois tibi poeiie videre est,
Ut nudam."
In the caricatures of the spring of 1796, we see through the
thin frock the tie of tho garter and the outUnes of the body.
We bave already had to aUude to a print of this date, in which
tbe Tory Duchess of Gordon is leprcsented 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, £01.

A PASHIONABLE MAMMA,

LADY GEORGIANA GORDON.

541

the time, tbe duchess's daughter, Lady Georgiana Gordon
shortly afterwards married to tbe Duke of Bedford, is repre
sented in tbe very height of fashion,
witb a vest more transparent even tban
we have here ventured to represent.
The caricatures are of course con
siderably exaggerated, but they leave no
room to doubt that tbe peculiarities
which tbey ridicule were carried often to
an extent that we should now have a
difficulty in reconciling with pro
priety. Lady Georgiana's bead-dress furnishes a
good example of the fashionable turban
and feathers, whicb, with most of the
other characteristics of the costume of
tbis 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-
spicuousl3'-, except between those wbo
were personally acquainted. A caricature,
published by GUlray on the 21st of ,
March, 1 796, and entitled " High 'Change jj^ j^ g
in Bond Street ; or, la Politesse du Grande
Monde," represents tbe fashionable loungers in tbat well-
known promenade taking tbe pavement, wiiile the ladies are
obliged to walk in tbe gutter. One of these, seen from behind
represents a back view of tbe loose dress, and of tbe manner in
which tbe hair was turned up over the turban.
Tbe caricatures on dress became less frequent after 1796,
until 1799 aud 1800, when tbey were again numerous. Tho
principal change which had tben taken place is the altered
shape of the ladies' hats, whicb 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
tbe limbs, and even tbe g.arters. Examples may be seen in a
caricature by Gillray, entitled " Monstrosities of 1799 — see Ken
sington Gardens," published on the 25th of June in that year,'
fiucl in seve^-aj others of the same date. It would appear,

IHE HEIOHT OP FASHION

542

MONSTROSITIES.

that tbis taste for transparencies vanished in tbe severe winter
wbich closed the year just mentioned, as a caricature, dated on
the 5tb of January, 1800, represents the
ladies forced by tbe rigour of the weather
to cover tbeir bosoms, and adopt drawers
and petticoats under their thin robes ; it
is entitled " Boreas effecting what health
and modesty could not do,"
Tbe male costume among people of
fashion had gone through a greater change
during the last years of tbe eighteenth
century, tban tbat of the ladies. Among
the " monstrosities" of tbe June of 1799, "^
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 tbe chin, and a hat approaching
nearer in shape to those worn at the pre
sent day. This costume, whicb was ex
tremely ugl3', was imported directly from
France. The coat, perhaps from its inventor,
was known by tbe name of a " Jean-de-
Bry." -If in former days of peace with
France, which then under its King pos
sessed tbe most polite court in Europe,
our countrymen cried out against the im-
.portation of French fashions, we need
hey did the same now that tbe two coun-
long engaged in- a war distinguished by
bitter animosity on botb sides, and wben Englishmen had
been taught to look upon our republican neighbours as models
of everything that was barbarous. A caricature by GiUray,
published on tbe i8tb of November, 1799, represents a "Frencb
tailor fitting John Bull with a Jean-de-Bi-y." 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 liberty ! — 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, wbo stands in bis 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 VIEW,
not be surprised if
tries had been so

JOHN BULL NEW CLOTHED.

543

quoth'a! why, zound, I can't move my arms at all! for all it
looks woundy big ! — ab ! d — n
your French a la modes, tbey give
a man tbe 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 in counteracting tbe infection
of Frencb example in this respect ;
and in the very 3'ear when we
were about to be terrified with the
most extraordinary preparations
for Frencb invasion, our enemies
sent us a costume which was uglier
even tban that last spoken of. Its
distinguishing features were the
coverings of the bead, 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 tbe ac
companying cut, taken from a caricature entitled, " Two of the
Wigginses — tops and bottoms of
1803," published on tbe 2nd of
Jul3' in that 3-ear.
'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
otber paths of life., not only among
tbe 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 tbe object of
adoration of the multitude as well john bull teansformed.

ONE OP THB MONSTEOSITIES.

5'H

THE AIR-BALLOONS.

THE MODE IN 1803.

as of the select wbo gave tbe ton. London was never so full of
strange sights ; and its population
were never so ready to be gulled by
tbem. It stands recorded in tbe
newspapers of tbe time, on the
9tb 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 bis promise in a dis
honest manner, and it was fortunate
for him that tbe indignation of tbe
multitude be had been the instru
ment of bringing together, did not lead them to open violence.
In otber fashionable amusements we seemed to be going back
to the ages of tbe Roman gladiators. It was at this period tbat
Astley established his amphitheatre.
One of the most remarkable fashions of this period was a
sudden and extraordinary rage for ascending in balloons, which
bad been brought to a certain degree of perfection by some
Frenchmen, for it was from France also that tbis mania was
imported. It vvas at its height in England during the years
1784 and 1785. As early as tbe 2nd of December, 1783, when
tbose 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 1
Should fire or w-ater spread destruction drear.
Or earthquake shake this sublunary S]-ihei-e,
In air-balloon to distant realms I fly,
And leave the creeping world to sink and ui§,"

BALLOON ASCENTS. 545
The invention was already giving rise to some apprehensions
in France, for at tbe commencement of May a royal ordonnance
forbad tbe construction or sending up of " any aerostatic
machine," witbout 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 tbis
"sublime discovery" fall into neglect, but only to confine the
experiments to tbe direction of intelligent persons. Blancbard
was at tbis time the most distinguished and enterprising of the
Frencb aeronauts ; bis tbird " aerial voyage," which took place
on the 1 8th of July, 1784,* made a great noise in England, and
was soon imitated. An Itaban gentleman, named Lunardi,
secretary to the Neapolitan embassy, is said to bave been the
first person wbo ascended in a balloon in tbis country ; be left
the Artillery Ground in London, in company with an English
man, at a quarter before two o'clock on 'Wednesday the i5tb of
September, 1784, and descended in a field near Ware, in
Hertfordshire, at about six o'clock in tbe evening. In October,
Blancbard came to London, and ascended from Chelsea witb an
Englishman named Shellon, on tbe i6tb of October. On the
i2tb of November, Mr. Sadler made the first of a numerous
series of aerostatic voyages, starting from Oxford. It began
now to be generally acknowledged tbat these locomotive

POLLY 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 -21st of November, 1783. The ascents
il; France during the year 1784 were very numerous, and excited interest
even in England,

546 BALLOONS IN THE DECLINE.
machines were so liable to accidents, tbat they were never
likely to serve any useful purpose. Yet tbe 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, tbe bead of Folly occupies the place of the
ball, with the inscription " The English Balloon, 1784," on tbe
front of the cap. We may quote as another proof of the extra
ordinary share of public attention which tbese machines occupied,
a successful farce, entitled " Aerostation ; or, the Templar's Stra
tagem," brougbt out at Covent Garden on tbe 29 tb of October ;
in it tbe passion of a lady of fortune for balloons, and her desire
to ascend in one, was made to furnish a Templar witb the
occasion for a stratagem by which be eventually obtains her
band. The prologue to this piece thus declares the future
advantages whiob were to arise from tbe popular discovery,
" I 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 17851
describes upwards of twenty remarkable balloon excursions made
during that year, seven of whicb occurred in the month of May.
Blancbard bad crossed the Channel from Dover to France in a
balloon, on tbe 7tb 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 vo3'age into the clouds, and nobodv has 3'et broken a neck, so
neither good nor harm has hitherto been produced by tbese
aerial enterprises," On the 13th, Walpole adds, " Mr, Wind-
bam, tbe member for Norwicb, has made a voyage into tbe
clouds, and was in danger of falling to earth, and being ship-
vjrecked. . . Three more balloons sail to-da3' ; in short, we shall
bave a prodigious nav3' in the air, and tben what signifies having
lost the empire of the ocean ?" On the 15th of July, M, Rozier
and another Frenchman, ascended from Boulogne, and tbeir
balloon taking fire at an immense elevation, the aeronauts were
both thrown to the earth and kUled. This disaster seemed to

LORD KENYON AND FARO'S DAUGHTERS. 547
bave checked tbe passion for travelling in tbe air a little ; yet
tbere were several ascents in this country in July, and au
attempt was made to pass the Irish channel, which failed.
They became less frequent during the following mouths, and by
tbe next session tbey seem entirely to bave lost tbeir popularity,
to make way for some new object of temporary excitement.
No single vice was contributing so much to demoralize the
nation as tbe 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 tbat ladies of rank
and fashion in tbe world associated together to support their
private extravagance by seducing young men to tbe gambling
table, and stripping them of their money in the manner profes
sionally termed " pigeoning," Paro-tables for this purpose were
kept in tbe bouses of some of tbe aristocrae3'. Three ladies in
particular enjoyed tbis reputation. Lady Buckinghamshire, Lady
Archer, and Lady Mount Edgcumbe, wbo from this circumstance
became popularly known by tbe epithet " Faro's daughters."
Numerous caricatures, among whicb are some of Gillray's bappiest
conceptions, have preserved tbe features and renown ot this cele
brated trio. Their infamous conduct had provoked in an especial
degree tbe indignation of Lord Kenyon, wbo, on tbe 9th of May,
1796, in summing up a case connected with gambling, and
lamenting in forcible terms tbat that vice so deeply pervaded
tbe wbole mass of society, animadverted with great severity on
tbe higher orders wbo set tbe pernicious example to their
inferiors, adding, witb some warmth, " Tbey think they are too
great for the law: I wish. they could be punished;" — and tben,
after a slight pause, be added, " If any prosecutions of this
nature are fairly brougbt before me, and tbe parties are justly
convicted, whatever be tbeir rank or station in the country —
though they should be the first ladies in the land — tbey shall
certainly exhibit themselves on the pillory.*' If they escaped
tbat pillory to which tbe angry judge bad devoted tbem, there
was another pillory which exposed these gaming ladies to equal
scandal, if not to an equal punishment, aud instead of being
pilloried once, tbeir ladyships stood for the public view, for weeks
instead of hours, in the windows of every print-shop in the town.
On the i2tb of May, Gillray published a caricature entitled the
" Exaltation of Faro's daugbters," in whicb Ladies Buckingham
shire and Archer are placed side by side in tbe 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 tbe pillory describes tbis process as a " Cure for gambling,
NNa

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 tbis print of Gillray appeared
on the i6tb of May, under the title of " Cocking the Greeks," in
which tbe same ladies are simUarly exposed, but tbe sbort and
 - plump Lady Buckingham is
^ obbged to stand on the tip
of her toes upon ber own
faro-bank box to raise her
neck on a level witb that of
her taller companion ; Lord
Ken3'on, 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
I uneasiness and distress in
families, by keeping bad
bouses, late hours, and by
shuffiing and cutting bave
obtained divers valuable
articles ; — Whoever will bring before me  "
Lord Kenyon's threat, and the noise it then made abroad,
seem to have bad equally little effect on the patrician offenders to
wbom it was designed to serve as a warning. Other caricatures
followed witb 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
bave purloined from tbe pockets of tbeir casual admirers. On
one occasion, at the period just alluded to. Lady Buckingham
shire's faro-bank was stolen, wbile 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 2nd of Februai-3', 1797, and gave rise to a mock
heroic poem entitled " The Rape of the Faro-bank," which made
its appearance about tbe same time, it was not long after this
event that the off'ending ladies did fall into the power of their
foe ofthe 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 keening

LADIES OP ELEVATED BANK.

THE AGE OF HIGHWAYMEN. 549
faro-tables in their bouses; and on tbe nth of tbat month tbey
were convicted of tbat offence, but Lord Kenyon seems to have
forgotten his former threat, and be only subjected tbem to
rather severe fines. This disaster furnished matter during
several successive weeks to tbe newspapers for continual para
graphs, and the caricaturists took care to remind the judge
of tbe disproportion between bis present punishment aud
bis former threat. In a caricature published on tbe 25tli
of March by Gillray, Lady Buckinghamshire is undergoing tbe
punishment of being publicly flogged at the cart's tail, wbile
two of ber companions are suff'ering in the pillory in tbe
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, pubbsbed by tbe same artist on
the i6tb of May, is entitled "Faro's daugbters, or the Ken-
yonian blow up to tbe Greeks." Four ladies here figure in tho
pillory, and Fox (who it was said often made one of the
gambling party), bimself in tbe stocks, supports one of the
sufferers on bis shoulders. Lord Kenyon is busily occupied in
burning the cards, dice, and faro-bank. The lesson tbis time
seems to bave been more effectual than the former, and we bear
little of Faro's daughters after this scandal bad passed away.
The pernicious effects of tbe passion for gambling on society
are but too evident in the manners and condition of tbe time.
It was rapidly demoralizing all classes, and was accompanied
everywhere witb a general increase of crime, of which we evi
dently see but a small portion reported in tbe newspapers.
Various pamphlets on tbe criminal statistics of tbe metropolis,
shew us tbe alarming danger tbat existed, and the difficulty of
grappling witb it. Tbe latter part of the eighteenth century
was proverbially tbe age of highwaymen. On the 8tb of
September, 1782, Horace Walpole writes, "We are in a state of
war at bome that is shocking. I mean from the enormous
profusion of housebreakers, highwaymen, and footpads ; and,
what is worse, from tbe savage barbarities of the two latter,
wbo 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
tbe relief of Gibraltar."* Walpole repeats this complaint of the
numbers and boldness of highwaymen not unfrequently during
the following years; in January, 1786, tbe mail was stopped in
Pall Mall, close to tbe palace, and deliberately pillaged, at so
* It was the time of the celebrated siege of Gibraltar, when that spot waa
go gallantly defended by General Elliott.

55° REVIVAL OF THE MASQUERADES.
early an hour as a quarter past eight in the evening. Walpole
observes in continuation of tbe passage just cited, " You may
judge how depraved we are, when tbe war has not consumed
half the reprobates, nor press-gangs thinned their numbers! !
But no wonder — bow should tbe morals of tbe people be purified,
when such frantic dissipation reigns above them ? Contagion
does not mount but descend." And he adds further, " a new
tbeatre is going to be erected merel3' for people of fashion, tbat
tbe3' may not be confined to vulgar hours — that is to day or
night." Previous to this, the masquerades, whicb 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 Coruelys, who bad 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, whicb was carried on until she was prosecuted by the
manager of the Opera in the Haymarket, and compelled to close
ber bouse by tbe decision of a court of justice. Horace Wal
pole gives the following account of Mrs. Coruelys 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, witbout a licence
erected an opera at Madame Cornelys's. This is a singular
dame ; she sang here formerly by tbe name of Pompeiati, Of
late years she has been the Heidegger of tbe 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 assembbes and balls by sub
scription. At first they seandabzed, but soon drew in botb
righteous and ungodly. She went on building, and made
ber bouse a fairy palace, for balls, concerts, and masquerades.
Her opera, wbich she caUed Harmonic Meetings, was splendid
and cliarming. Mr. Hobart began to starve, and the managers
of the theatres -R'ere 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 tbe mob,- — and succeeded in gaining
their princely favour. She then declared her masquerades were
for the benefit of commerce." Mrs. Cornelys's masquerades
bad made the greatest noise, and been most magnificent, during
the year 1770: they were attended regularly b3'- all the
principal nobility and gentry in the kingdom, (as we are told, at

CHARACTERS IN THE MASQUERADES. 551
eacb representation, by tbe newspapers of tbe day,) who went
in splendid dresses ; and one peculiarity was, tbat now all
tbe masks acted up to their characters. On one occasion we
learn tbat "Miss Monckton, daughter to Lord Gallway,
appeared in the cbaracter of au Indian sultana, in a robe of
cloth of gold, and a rich veil, Tbe seams of her habit were
embroidered witb precious stones, and she bad a magnificent
cluster of diamonds on ber bead : tbe jewels she wore were
valued at thirty thousand pounds." Some notion may be
formed of tbe sort of performance exhibited at these meetings
from the following fragment of a newspaper report : — " Miss
G  , in Leonora, looked charming ; sbe sang the favourite
air in the ' Padlock' witb great sweetness. The situation of
ber pretty tame bird was envied by many, Mr, Andrews, in
tbe dress of the Calmuc Tartar, was taken great notice of ; the
character he supported extremely well. Tbe lady run mad for
the loss of ber lover, was a cbaracter well sustained for some
time ; but sbe soon recovered ber senses ; no otber madhouse
could bave administered more effectual remedies, Tbe two
jockeys, wbo pretended to be just arrived from Newmarket,
were very little knowing iu any respect, and seemed more calcu
lated for a country bop tban tbe turf. The nurse witb the
child was rather diverting, but tbe brat very noisy and trou
blesome." Sucb remarks as tbese were continued through the
whole assembly. On tbe 27tb of February, 1770, we are
informed that " Some of tbe most remarkable figures were, — a
bigblander (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, witb 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, witb a cap set witb
diamonds, and the words 'Tuesday night's club' in the front
(tbe Earl of Carlisle) ; bis Royal Highness tbe Duke of Glou
cester in the old English habit, with a star on the cloak," &o.
One of the grandest masquerades at the Soho rooms was that on
tbe 7tb of February, 1771, where two royal dukes, and nearly
all the fashionable portion of the aristocracy, were present. Ou
this occasion Colonel Luttrell (the same wbo bad opposed
Wilkes in tbe election for Middlesex,) appeared as a dead corpse
in a shroud, witb his coffin. The taste for political allusions at
these assemblies gained ground, and tbey soon became veritable
caricatures, not only upon society itself, but upon the events of
tbe day. At a masquerade in 1784, we are informed in tbe

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 witb a girdle, labelled ' Secret Influence,' — a
double face, and a wooden temple on tbe top of his head.
A ladder was painted down bis back, entitled ' The back stairs.'
He bad a dark lantern in his band ; but with all these accoutre
ments be was very dull ; be hardly opened his mouth, and when
he did, be muttered some jargon in a whisper unintelligible
to common ears ; but perhaps he was in cbaracter to speak
in whispers, and his inefEcacy was design. He was followed by
Public Ruin, whicb 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 wbo attended tbem, great
improprieties were allowed, and they led, under cover of tbe
mask, to extraordinary licentiousness, Mrs, Coruelys was pro
secuted for giving masquerades witbout licence, in 1771 ; and in
the same year bills of indictment were preferred agains-t ber by
the grand jury of Middlesex, in which she is accused of
" keeping and maintaining a common and disorderly house," and
tbe fashionable company who frequented it are described as
" divers loose, idle, and disorderly persons, as well men as
women !" wbom she " did permit and suffer to be and remain
during the wbole night, rioting, and otherwise misbehaving
themselves." So far, however, from tbe masquerades being
checked by such scandal, it was at tbis time that the rival and
splendid Pantheon in Oxford Street (then called Oxford Road)
was opened, and for several years the two establishments
emulated each otber in magnificence and gaiety, although Mrs.
Coruelys became involved in difficulties, and ber establishment
experienced a temporary interruption.
The disorders of these assemblies seem, bowever, to have
increased, and the public ear was continually offended with the
scenes tbat took place in them. The want of delicacy in the .
fashionable company who chiefly supported Mrs, Coruelys had
winked at the admission of loose women, and tbis 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 tbeir 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 tbis case also tbat their only
object was tbe charitable one of raising money for tbe suffering
poor. A caricature, representing tbe Macaronis petitioning the
bishops in favour of tbe masquerades, entitled " The Pantheon
Petition," was published with the Oxford Magazine in January,
1773. At a masquerade at the Pantheon on tbe i8th of
February following, the number, of people of rank and position
in tbe world wbo attended was estimated at fourteen hundred.
Yet during tbis and tbe following year tbe licentiousness of
tbese mixed assemblies was carried to so alarming a height,
that the very actors in tbem became gradually disgusted,* and
they seemed to be rapidly going out of fashion. In 1776 Mrs.
Coruelys re-opened Carlisle House in a style of extraordinary
splendour, and tbe masquerades became as much the fashion as
ever. In 1778, this lady, wbo had ruined herself by her exer
tions, was obliged to quit tbe 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 totall3' different cbaracter. The European Magazine
for July, 1789, contains "An Elegy written in Soho Square, on
seeing Mrs. Cornel3's's House in ruins." Mrs. Cornelys herself
was eventually reduced to a state of helpless poverty ; she died
in the Fleet Prison in 1797.
Tbe masquerades con-tinued to flourish at the Pantheon, aud
were given also at tbe Opera House, at Ranelagh, and in otber
places, but they became gradually more and more degraded in
their moral cbaracter. Oue of the newspaper critiques on the
masquerade at Carlisle House in February, 1779, laments
gravely, " We were sorry to see sucb spirited exertions so poorly
* The report of the masquerade at the Pantheon, in May, 1774, given
in the Westminster 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 ; and,
towards the conclusion of the debauch, I beheld scenes in the rooms up
stairs too grosa for repetition. I saw ladies and gentlemen together in atti
tudes and positions that would have disgraced the court of Comus ; ladies
with their hair dishevelled, and their robes almost torn off. In short, I am
ao thoroughly sick of masquerading, from what I beheld there, that I 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 fills 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, tbat " No amusement seems to have
fallen into greater contempt in tbis country tban tbe 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."
Tbe extreme licentiousness whicb appears to have reigned
amid tbese 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 wbich reigned among the higher classes in
general, and which was propagated by example to tbe middle
and lower classes, is but too evident in tbe popular writings of
tbe da3'. 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 wbose business it was to furnish
means of concealing pregnancy and, wben it could no longer be
concealed, to deliver privately and dispose of the offspring so as
to save tbe mother from scandal, Tbe 'reign of George III.
was especially the age of adultery in this country, whicb
had really taken its place among the fashions of tbe day, and tbat
crime bad become almost a mania in the higher classes : there
is, unfortunately, no want of evidence to prove tbat it was
common enough in tbe middle and lower classes. In many
cases, the trials laid open scenes of profligacy in high life of the
most revolting cbaracter. Ineffectual efl'orts were made at
different times to check tbis evil by placing difficulties in the
way of divorce. In the spring of 1779, Shute Barrington,
Bishop of Llandaff, introduced into tbe House of Lords a bUl
witb the object of discouraging tbis crime, by fixing a brand of
infamy on the adulteress that migbt operate as a terror upon
the mind ; and he stated tbat as many divorces had occurred
during the first seventeen years of the present reign as. bad
taken place during tbe wbole recorded history of tbe country :*
the bill passed tbe Lords, but was thrown out in the House of
Commons. Several similar attempts were made at different
times ; and one of tbese, in 1798, drew tbe Bishop of Durham
into a severe attack upon tbe 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. ^55
The Ope. a had lost somewhat of the novelty which it bad
possessed under George IL, and for a wbUe it seemed to be
almost ecUpsed by the popularity of Carlisle House and tbe
Pantheon. Foreign singers no longer attracted that extraor
dinary worship which bad been bestowed on them formerly, and
towards the end of tbe century tbe managers seemed to bave
aimed at moving the passions of the audience by the small
quantity of apparel which was allowed to tbe danseuses, and
tbe freedom with whicb tbey 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 1796, and seems to have led the
new fashion for this kind of exhibition. A caricature picture
of her by Gillray, published on the i2tb of April, 1796, bears
the motto, "No flower tbat blows is like this Rose." On tbe
fifth of May following, Gillray caricatured this new style of
dancing in a caricature entitled, " Modern Grace ; or, the Opera-
tical flnale to the ballet of Alonzo e caro." On tbe 2nd of
March, 1798, there was a debate in tbe House of Lords on a
¦ divorce bill, in the course of whicb the Bishop of Durham took
occasion to complain of the frequency of such bills, and laid the
fault upon tbe French government, wbo, 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
whicb country, finding tbat they were not able to subdue us by
tbeir arms, appeared as if they were determined to gain tbeir
ends by destroying- our morals, — tbey bad sent over persons to
this country, wbo made tbe 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 bim to order all suob dancers out of the kingdom,
as people vvho were likely to destroy our morality and religion,
and "wbo were very probably in tbe pay of France ! " This
appeal, seems to have produced some interference of authority;
for on the very next night, Saturday, tbe 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 otber dresses could be prepared. The improvement,
as we learn from the newspaper reports, consisted in substituting
less than 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 one 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 tbe subject of abundance of ridicule ;
the bishops and tbe opera-dancers figured together in numerous
caricatures. In one by Gillray, published on the i4tb of March,
a group of danseuses ai-e made to conceal a portion of tbeir
personal charms by adopting tbe episcopal apron ; it is entitled
" Operatical reform ; or, la Danse a I'Eveque," and is accom
panied with tbe 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 rigbt will be recognised as that of Miss
Rose. Another ca
ricature by Gillray,
publi shed on the 19th
of March, and en
titled " Ecclesiasti
cal Scrutiny ; or, the
Durham Inquest on
Duty," represents
tbe bishops attend
ing at tbe dressing
of the opera girls,
where one is mea
suring tbe length of
their petticoats with
a tailor's yard, an
other is arranging
their stockings in
the least graceful
manner possible, and
a third is giving directions for tbe 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 au
uproar," and represents tbe bishop armed with bis 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 tbe infiuence of Vestris.
The regular drama, in the meantime, continued to hold the
elevated position given to it by Garrick, and a number of actors

THE DANSB A l'eVEQUE.

SUCCESS OF PIZARRO.

557

of first-rate talent drew constant audiences to tbe theatres. It
would take too much room in a slight sketch like tbis 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 whicb deserve
only to be forgotten. Drury Lane flourished undei tbe pro
prietorship of Sheridan, and witb the dramas which have given
celebrity to his name, while it enabled bim in more ways tban
one to support his position as a statesman, although bis thought
less extravagance often drained its resources, and sometimes
clogged the regular movement of tbe company.' In the Sep
tember of 1788, John Kemble became the stage-manager, and
gave strength to the company. On tbe extraordinary success
of the tragedy of " Pizarro" in 1799, the Tory party seem to
have attributed it in great part to Kerable's acting ; and a cari
cature, published with the Anti-Jacobin Review on the ist of
October, represents Sheridan in tbe character of Pizarro borne
through upon Kem-
ble's bead. Gillray
bad published a ca
ricature on tbe 4tb of /^^Ty^rr&f iC=:^^mj\'ii,
June, entitled " Pi
zarro contemplating
over the product of
bis new Peruvian
mine," wbich repre
sents Sheridan exult
ing over bis newly-
acquired riches. The /''>5^ f )' -^ Ml/ 1 1 ^"'"'^ A
popularity of this ' vv«»^ *v »^
play was so great,
that it produced a
number of pamphlets
relating to its hero, and made multitudes road 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, ou the 5th of December, 1803, a
"serio-comic romance" was brought out under the title of "The
Caravan," the chief characteristic of whiob was tbe introduction
on tbe stage of real water and of a large Newfoundland dog,
whicb was made to rush into it and drag oUt the figure of a
child. A contemporary criticism tells us that " the main object ot
the author seems to bave been to produce novelty, and, through
novelty to excite surprise. The introduction of real watey

SHEEIDAN UPON KEMBLE.

558

THE INFANT ROSCIUS.

flowing across tbe stage, and a dog acting a principal part,
chiefly attracted attention, and seemed amply to gra-tify curi
osity." This piece, in spite of the puerility of tbe idea, had
an extraordinar3' 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 tbis as a well-
timed and very necessary refief; and Sa3'er, in a large caricature
published on the i7tb of December, represents the dog Carlo, in
bis artificial pond on tbe stage, holding Sheridan's head above
water. It is inscribed, " Tbe Manger and his Dog ; or, a new
way to keep one's bead above water, a Farce performed with
rapturous applause at Drury Lane Theatre. Motto for the
Farce, — 'And Folly clapped bis bands and Wisdom stared.' "
Thalia, on a pedestal, is represented weeping at tbe prostitution
of the drama.
The Drury Lane company appears to have been now under
tbe frequent necessity of having recourse to expedients of tbis
kind to catch popular favour. The year 1805 witnessed the
extraordinary sensation produced by the " infant Roscius,"
(Master Betty), wbo w-as brougbt on tbe stage at Drury Lane
wben only twelve years of age. The extraordinary sums of
money whicb tbis child produced were an important assist
ance at this moment to Sheridan, who made the most of bis
good fortune. His political op
ponents were loud in tbeir
declamations against " The The
atrical Bubble," a title under
whicb Gillray published a cari
cature on tbe 7tb of January,
1805, in which be represented
Sheridan as Punch on the boards
of old Drury, witb a few addi
tional gems added to his ruby
nose from tbe profits of his the
atrical treasury, blowing the
bubble wbich bad replenished it,
and surrounded by some of his
friends who had been loudest in
tbeir patronage ofthe prodigious
infant, among whom we easily
recognise Lord Derby, Lord
Carlisle, Mrs. Jordan, and her
admirer tbe Duke of Clarence.
Fox is expressing somewhat
boisterously bis joy at the success of bis political friend.

A BUBBLE,

COVENT GARDEN THEATBE BEBUILT. 559
Tbis appears to bave been the most prosperous period of
Sheridan's finances. On tbe 24tb of February, 1809, Drury
Lane tbeatre was burnt to the ground, wbile Sheridan was at
bis post in tbe House of Commons. With it ended bis theatri
cal and parliamentarj- prospects,
Govent Garden tbeatre bad been involved in tbe same
calamity only a few months before, on the morning of Tuesday
tbe i9tb of September, 1808, and was now in rapid progress of
rebuUding. Its reopening led to the most extraordinary
theatrical riots tbat this country has ever witnessed, John
Kemble bad left Drury Lane to become part proprietor and
manager of Covent Garden, wbere be made his first appearance
on the 24tb of September, 1803, Kemble was unpopular with
all but the aristocratic portion of bis audience, to wbom exclu
sively be was accused of paying his court. He is said to have
been proud and authoritative in his bearing towards others, and
to bave given disgust by tbe affectation which was exhibited in
bis manners, language, and even in bis acting. An amusing
'instance of tbis was shewn in the obstinacy with which be con
tended that tbe word ache should be pronounced as if written
aitche, and in tbe pertinacity with wbich he held himself to that
pronunciation. In a sketch of tbe history of Covent Garden in
tbe same number of tbe Examiner which contains the account
of tbe burning of tbe tbeatre, the writer expresses the popular
sentiments in bis concluding observation : — " From tbe general
tenour of bis management, I anx sorry tbat instead of con
cluding tbis brief chronicle witb the customary ' whom God
long preserve ! ' it will be much more congenial to tbe wishes of
tbe town to hope tbat, as a stage-manager, Mr, Kemble may be
speedUy removed."
Immediately after the destruction of the theatre by fire,
Kemble solicited a subscription to rebuild it, whicb was speedily
filled up, the Duke of Northumberland, to whose son be bad
given instruction in elocution, contributing the handsome dona
tion of ten thousand pounds. Gillray has commemorated tbis
circumstance in a caricature entitled, " Theatrical Mendicants
relieved," in which the manager of Covent Garden theatre is
represented in garments all tattered and tom, seeking charity at
the door of Northumberland House. The first stone of the
new building was laid witb great ceremony by the Prince
of Wales, (as grand master of the British free-masons,) on tbe
last day of tbe year 1808, and it was completed with sucb
rapidity, that on tbe i8th of September, 1809, it was opened
with Macbeth, Kemble himself appearing in the cbaracter
of Macbeth. In the new arrangement of the hall, a row of

560 THE 0. P. BIOTS.
private boxes formed the third tier under tbe gallery ; they were
twenty-six in number, witb a private room behind each, and the
access was by a staircase exclusively appropriated to tbem, with
an exclusive lobb3'- also, having no communication with the
other parts of the bouse. Tbe furniture of each box and of the
adjoining room, was to be according to the taste of tbe several
occupants. To make these extraordinary accommodations
for the great, the comforts of the rest of the audience were
considerably diminished, especially in the otber tiers of boxes, and
the gallery, and one part was reduced to a little better than a
row of pigeon-boles. To crown all, the tbeatre opened witb an
increase of tbe prices, the pit being raised from three shillings
and sixpence to four shillings, and the boxes from six shillings
to seven shillings. Tho manager said that this was necessary to
cover the great expense of rebuilding the theatre ; but the
public were not satisfied with this explanation ; tbey declared
that tbe 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 bad been engaged at one hundred and
fifty pounds a week to perform two nights only,) and to pander
to the luxury of tbe rich. The popujar belief in the extreme
profligacy of tbe higher classes, led people to figure to tbem
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 tbeatre.
On tbe first night of representation, which was Monday, the
curtain drew up to a crowded theatre, and tbe audience seemed
to be lost in admiration at tbe beauty of the decorations, until
Kemble made his appearance ou the stage in tbe 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, whiob drove him from the
stage, after two or three vain attempts to proceed, and which
was redoubled every time be made an attempt to return, Mrs.
Siddons tben came forward, but met witb no better reception
than ber 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 tbat be would not give in to the popular
clamour, and had anticipated tbat 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 KEMBLE. 561
ever, and to tbe voice were now added a multitude of cat-calls,
horns, trumpets, rattles, and a variety of other instruments
of discordan-t music. An attempt at intimidation served only
to. increase the exasperation ofthe audience. On Wednesday
night, the manager came forward to address tbe audience, and
attempted to make a justification of bis conduct, which vvas not
accepted ; on Friday he presented bimself again, and proposed
that the decision of the dispute should be put to a committee
composed of tbe governor of tbe Bank of England, tbe attorney
general, and a few otber great names. On Saturday night this
was agreed to, and the tbeatre was shut up till tbe decision was
obtained, tbe obnoxious Catalani having, in the meantime,
agreed to cancel her engagement. On the following Wed
nesday the tbeatre was reopened, but tbe report , of the com
mittee being of a very unsatisfactory kind, for it was believed
tbat tbe wbole was a mere trick to gain time, in hopes tbat tbe
excitement would subside, tbe uproar became greater tban ever.
Tbe manager, who was determined to vanquish tbe popular
feeling, is said to bave hired a great number of boxers, and
on tbe Friday night following tbe various pugilistic contests in
the pit gave it tbe appearance of a regular boxing-school. Bow-
street officers were also called in, but tbey appear to bave acted
indiscreetly, and tbe only effect of this appeal to violence was
to fill the police-offices witb cases of assault and riot, tbe result
of wbich added fuel to tbe flame, which it appeared totally
impossible to extinguish.
The rioters, who appear to have been acting under tbe
guidance of people of education and talent, did not restrict
tbemselves to mere noise, Tbey said it was John Bull against
John Kemble, and tbey were determined tbat John Bull
should have tbe mastery. As no expression of sentiments could
be beard amid tbe uproar, tbey stuck up placards, and raised
banners all over tbe bouse, covered with proverbs, lampoons,
and encouragements to persevere, written in large characters,
and to tbese were soon added large painted carica-tures. In the
latter Kemble was figured hanging, or fixed in tbe pillory, or in
some otber ignominious position. The private boxes, and those
wbo came to occupy tbem, were tbe especial objects of abuse,
and tbe tbeatre was filled witb placards, inscribed, " No private
boxes for intrigues !" — "No private boxes witb sofas!" — "No
crim. con. boxes !" Tbese were mixed witb numerous others, of
tbe most licentious description, and large pictures of suob a
cbaracter tbat it was impossible for any respectable woman
to remain in the tbeatre a moment. The consequence of tbis
0 0

562 GOD SAVE JOHN BULL.
was, tbat very few attended except those who took part in the
riot, and tbe part of the theatre wbich contributed most to the
treasury was nearly empty. Songs were also made for the
occasion ; and tbe following parody on tbe national anthem wsa
especially popular : —
" God save great Johnny Bull,
Long live our noble Bull,
God save John Bull !
Make him uproarious.
With lungs like Boreas,
Till he's victorious,
God save John Bull I
" 0 Johnny Bull, be true,
Oppose the price.? nevj,
And make Ihom fall !
Curse Kemble's politics,
Frustrate his knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix.
Confound them all I
" No private boxes let
Intriguing ladies get, —
Thy right, John Bull !
From little pigeon-holes
Defend us jolly souls.
And we will sing, by GolesI
God save John Bull 1"
There was much satire expended on Kemble, and his '' aitches "
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, wbile songs and caricatures circulated freely
about the town. Badges, consisting of the letters 0. P.
{old prices), in large characters, were worn at tbe tbeatre, 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 tbe bead of
Kemble, wearing a fool's cap, and accom
panied witb a penny-trumpe-t and a rattle ;
above it is the inscription, " Ob, my head
aitches!" and below the word, "Obsti
nacy !" The reverse bears the letters 0. P.
in the centre, surrounded with the inscrip
tion, "John Bull's Jubilee— Clifford for
AN 0. P. MEDAL. evcr !" Tbe allusion is to the jubilee, to
celebrate tbe completion of the fiftieth

MEDALS AND PLACABDS. 563
3'ear of the King's reign, and to a barrister of tbe name of
Clifford, wbo was understood to be tbe chief leader of tbe riot.
Tbis profuse exhibition of placards was quite a novelty
in theatrical rioting. One of tho placards in the month of
October was inscribed, " A row for our rights to be continued
ioi forty nights," but the uproar seemed likely to bo carried on
for ever. It soon took a form quite regular and systematic :
tbe play was heard witb few interruptions till half-price ; tbe
boxes, especially tbe private ones, were nearly empt3', and even
tbe pit was almost deserted. At half-price the rioters rushed
in, the placards were raised, the uproar commenced, and all
tbat passed on tbe stage afterwards was mere pantomime. At
tbe conclusion, tbe audience rose and sang " God save tho
King!" had a dance in the pit, gave three groans for John
Kemble, tben three cheers for John Bull, and so dispersed.
Sometimes tbe uproar was continued in tbe streets, and in more
than one instance it was carried to Kemble's bouse, and he was
bimself mobbed and insulted. This was continued night after
night, with scarcely any interruption, not for weeks only, but
for more tban three months. During this period everything
distinguished by the epithet 0. P. became fashionable. There
was an " O, P, dance," The most active agent of the managers
against tbe rioters, and, therefore, the most unpopular witb
them, was the box-keeper, Mr. Brandon. He bad caused
Clifford to be arrested on slight grounds, and the latter brougbt
an action against him for damages, and obtained a verdict against
bim in the Court of Common Pleas on the 5tb of December.
GiUray on that day published a caricature entitled " Counsellor
0, P, — defender of your theatric liberties," in which Clifford is re
presented holding a torch behind bim, and looking on wbile
Covent Garden Theatre is in flames. The verdict against
Brandon gave new courage to the opponents of tbe new prices ;
and finding it utterly impossible to appease tbem in any other
wa3', Kemble at length gave up the contest. A public dinner
of the more respectable of tbe 0. P. agitators was held on the
i4tb of December at the Crown and Anchor, at which no less
than five hundred persons are said to ba,ve attended, and
Kemble came in person to make an apology for bis conduct, and
announce bis willingness to accede to any compromise that
should be agreeable to tbem. After dinner there was a crowded
theatre, and amid considerable uproar, a humble apology was
accepted from tbe manager, and it was agreed that tbe private
boxes should be reduced to the same number which existed iu
1802 ; that tbe pit should be reduced to its original price
002

564 SHEBIDAN LEAVES DBUBY LANE.
of 3s. 6d., but that the price of admission to the boxes should
remain at 7s. ; that tbe obnoxious Mr. Brandon should be
dismissed (at least be was compelled to resign his place) ; that
all prosecutions and actions on botb sides should be abandoned ;
and that Kemble should make a public apology for having
introduced improper persons into the theatre. The last article
referred to the boxers aud police. After all these demands bad
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 tbis extraordi-
nar3' contest. A theatrical reconciliation dinner was given on
tbe 4th of January, 18 10, at wbich both parties attended, and
at wbich Clifford was placed in tbe chair.
Drury Lane tbeatre was also rebuilt by subscription, under the
directions of Mr. Whitbread, who agreed that Sheridan should
receive £20,000 for bis moiety of the property, with an addi
tional £4000 for the property of tbe fruit-offices and reversion
of boxes and shares, in consideration of whicb he was to have
no connexion whatever witb the new undertaking. Many com
plained of the manner in whicb Whitbread tbus thrust Sheridan
out of tbe proprietorship whicb bad so long supported bim to be
an ornament of tbe legislative assembly of tbe nation, while
others exulted in his
overthrow. A carica
ture, published in the
October of 18 1 1, when
the new tbeatre was
completed, and these
stipulations put in
force, is entitled,
" Clearing away tbe
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 bis entire,
be has washed me out with only £20,000, but I know how to
palaver them over, and get in again."
Tbe general taste for tho drama had certainly increased

CLEAEING AWAT KUBBISH.

THE PIC-NICS. 56'5
towards tbe end of the last century, aud it was evinced in tbe
new fashion for private performances among tbe aristocracv.
The bouses where this fashion was indulged in witb greatest
splendour, were Wyniistay, the scat of Sir ^V. W. Wynne ;
Wargrave, tbe seat of Lord Barrymore ; and Crewe Hall, near
Chester. The parties at Wynnstay were especially distin
guished for their elegance. At tbe commencement of tbe
century, a society of private, or, as they termed themselves,
"dilettanti" actors, was formed in London, and assumed tbe
name of tbe Pic-Nic Society, from the manner in which they were
to contribute mutuidly to the general entertainment. That old
meteor of Loudon fashion, Lady Albina Buckinghamshire, is
understood to have been the originator of this scheme, in which,
besides the performance of farces and burlettas, tbere were to be
feasts and ridottos, aud a variety of other fashionable amuse-
iiionts, each member drawing from a silk bag- a ticket wbich was
to decide tbe piortiou of entertainment which he was expected to
aflbrd. The performances took place in rooms in Tottenham-
street, This harmless piece of fashionable amusement iirodueed
a greater sensation than it is now possible to conceive. The
populace bad been so long- accustomed to bear of aristocratic
depravity, that tbev could undcr^tand nothing priv;ite in high
life without attaching to it ideas of licentiousness, aud tbere was
a notion tbat the Pic-Nic Society implied some wav or other au
attack upon public morals. Complaints were made against it
whicb led almost to a pamphlet war. The professional theatri
cals were angry and jealous, because tbe3'- thought that the
aristocratic love of theatrical amusements, which had supported
them in tbeir exertions, w-ould evaporate in private parties.
Nearlv the whole periodical press attacked the Pic-Nics with
out mercv, and the dailv papei-s teemed with abuse and scandal.
The3' were ridiculed and caiicatm-ed on every side. Gillray
produced no less than three caricatures on the Pic-Nics. The
first of tbese, published on tbe 2iid of April, 1802, soon after
the society bad been established, is entitled '' Blowing up the Pic-
Nics ; or Harlequin Quixottc attacking- the Puppets, — vide, Tot
tenham Street Pantomime," The Pic-Nic part3' are represented
as puppets iu the midst of their festivities, which ai-e disturbed
by the attack of the infuriated actors, among whom we recog
nise Kemble, Siddons, Billington, itc, led by Sheridan, who,
dressed as harlequin, rushes to tbe assault, ai-uied with tbe peu
of the Post. Chronicle, Herald, Evening Courier, &c., whose
attacks he is supposed to have directed against tbem. In
another of GUb-ay's c;U'icatui'es, entitled '- Tbe Pic-Nie Or

566 THE SHAKSPEARE MANIA.
chestra," tbe noble and fashionable performers are represented
on duty. A tbird caricature, published on the i8tb of Feb
ruary, 1803, is entitled "DUettanti Theatricals, — vide Pic-Nic
Orgies;" it represents tbe motley group dressing for the stage,
and is full of humour, with a considerable sprinkling of licen
tiousness. At tbis latter date the society seems to bave been
already sinking under the load of obloquy and ridicule to which
it was exposed, and before the year was out tbe regular theatricals
wrere relieved from any jealousy that sucb attempts might excite.
During tbe wbole 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 witb
success, Garrick had done most of any to bring the bard into
fashion, and tbe Stratford Jubilee in 1769 had raised an abso
lute Shakspeare mania, Tbis new fasbion bad also exhibited
itself in the extensive study of Shakspeare's writings, and in
the extraordinary number of new editions that succeeded each
otber, Annotator followed annotator, and the text of tbe poet
seemed in danger of being torn to pieces amid Shakspeare ad
mirers and Shakspeare disputes. The following ballad, from
tbe Westminster Magazine for October, 1773, gives rather an
amusing and not an inaccurate enumeration of the Shakspeare
editors who had succeeded eacb otber previous to tbat period : —
"SHAKSPEARE'S BEDSIDE.
" Old Shakspeare waa sick ; — for a doctor he aent ;
But 'twas long before any one came ;
Yet, at length, his assistance Nic Rowe* did present :
Sure all men have heard of his name,
" As he found that the poet had tumbled hia bed,
He smooth'd it as well .as he could ;
He gave him an anodyne, comb'd out his head,
But did his complaint little good.
" Doctor Pope to incision at once did proceed.
And the bard for the simples he cut ;
For his legular 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;
Tet he caused the physician of Twick'nham to pack,
And the patient grew cheerful eiiough,
* Nicholas Rowe was the first editor of Shakspeare ; his edition appeared
in seven volumes in 1709-10,
•)¦ Theobald's edition of Shakspeare was fir.st printed iu 1733, andwas
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
" Next Hannier,'" who fees ne'er descended to crave,
In gloves lily-white did advance ;
To the poet tho gentlest of purges he gave.
And, for exoroiso, taught him to dance.
" One Warburton then, though allied to the church.
Produced his alterative atorea ;
But his med'cines the case so oft left in the lurch,
That Edwardst kicked him out of doors,
" Next Johnson arrived to the p.atient's relief,
And ten years he had him in hand ;
But, tired of his tas.k, 'tia 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 hia pate ;
By styptics, called stops, he contracted each limb,
And crippled for ever hia gait.
" From Gopsal then atrutted a f0rm.1l 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 awallow 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 hia pill,
Fresh doctors he call'd to his aid.
" First, Steevens came loaded with black-letter hooka,
Of fame more desirous than pelf ;
Such reading, observers might read in his looks,
As no one e'er read but himself,
" Then Wai-uer, 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 pontifioalibus pinii'd.
Next Percy the great did appear ;
And Farmer, 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 tbis rage for everything Shakspearian tbat brougbt
into existence those forgeries of William Henr3' Ireland, so well
* Sir Thomas Hanmer's handsome edition waa published at Oxford in
1744- -|- " 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 Edwanls published, in 1748, what is described as a Supple
ment to Wai-burton'a Shakspeare, under the title of " 'The Canons of Cri
ticism aud Glossary."

568 THE SHAKSPEARE PAPERS.
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 bis Rowley Papers,
and indeed to tbat of all other literary frauds of tbe 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. Tbese tbe 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, sucb
as Dr, Parr, Dr, Warton (wbo bad previously believed in the
Rowley Papers), Bos well, Erskine, and others, declared their
•full belief in tbeir authenticity. In 1796, a substantial fobo
was published, containing miscellaneous papers and legal instru
ments, under the hand and seal of Wilbam SbaliSpeare, with
tbe tragedy of "Lear" and a fragment of " Hamlet," from tlie
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, wbo were more critically acquainted witb
tbe writings of tbe great poet, at once pronounced all tbese
documents as forgeries, and Malone published a volume, ad
dressed to Lord Charlemont, exposing the fraud. Before this
exposure came out, young Ireland bad proceeded another step in
tbe plot, for he produced a play entitled " Vortigern," as an un
known work of Shakspeare, which had been found among the
same papers, and be took it to Sheridan for representation at
Drury Lane. Sheridan made no pretensions to antiquarian
knowledge ; be expressed some surprise at tbe mediocrity of
many parts of the play, but be said that it was evidently an
ancient manuscript, and he thought that tbe public excitement
on the subject might justify his bringing it forward at Drury
Lane. The night fixed for tbe representation of " Vortigern" was
tbe 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 tbe company. Malone's critique on the
printed 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 replj', A prologue bad been written by Pye, the

VORTIGERN. 56^
poet laureate, which seemed to insinuate a doubt of the fact ot
Shakspeare being the author, and this was therefore laid aside,
to make place for one written by Sir James Bland Burges,
which, read by Mr. Whitfield (who is said to have been too
flurried to speak it), commenced with a bold assertion that tbe
piece about to be acted was the work of Shakspeare, and de
manded tbe 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 hia courae sublime, and leads his 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 tbe beginning of tbe fourth act, Kemble came forward,
and begged tbey would hear it througb with candour ; and it
was tben allowed to go on ; but the proposal to give it for
repetition was received witb sucb loud and universal disapproba
tion, tbat it was not persevered in. An epilogue, delivered by
Mrs. Jordan, spoke not of tbe piece which had been acted, but
called upon tbe sympathy of the audience in general terms for
Shakspeare, compared the characters of the old drama witb
those of the present day, and ended witb a faint appeal to their
indulgence : —
" 'Tis 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 cheriah, and averse to blame,
Foe to deception, ready to defend,
A kind protector, and a generous friend."'
The result of the performance at Drur3' Lane sealed tbe fate
of tbe 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-

57° THE SHAKSPEARE GALLERY.
lisbed a full confession of tbe forgery, and joined in tbe ridicule
cast on Dr. Parr, Warton, and others. Samuel Ireland, tbe
father, now came forward, to disavow any complicity in the
affair, and declare tbat be had been a dupe equally witb others.
Tbe question continued to agitate tbe public during the whole
of the year 1 797, and on the first of December, Gillray published
a portrait of the author of the fraud, under the title of " Noto
rious Characters, — No. i," witb tbe following fines, said there
to be written by Mason (but on better authority attributed to
Steevens), comparing the four great literary forgers of the age,
Lauder, Macpherson, Chatterton, and W, H. Ireland : —
" Four forgera, born iu 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 sou their three-fold impudence,"
The popularity of Shakspeare bad, in another quarter, acted
in a very different manner, and produced an infiuence upon
native art wbich, whatever tbe jealousy of that age may bave
said; must ever render tbe 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 witb so much success, that at tbe end of bis career tbe
exportation of English engravings far exceeded the number of
foreign ones imported. Not content witb 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 celebrit3'- of tbe ancient
masters. Seizing on the popular object of adoration,, be em
ployed tbe first Engbsb artists of tbe age, at high prices, in
painting compositions illustrative of tbe works of the bard of
Avon. Sir Joshua Reynolds, as well as West, Barry, Fuseli,
Northcote, Opie, Smirk, and all the chief painters of tbe time,
contributed to tbe celebrated Shakspeare Gallery, wbich 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, bowever, appear to
have been jealous of Boydell's efforts, which tbey represented- as

THE WORSHIPPER OF AVARICE. 571
the mere schemes of an avaricious man to gather money into bis
own private treasury. Gillray entered into tbis feeling in a
truly magnificent caricature, entitled " Shakspeare Sacrificed ;
or, tbe Offering to Avarice," published on the 2otb of June,
1789. The genius of Avarice, the object of BoydeU's adoration,
is seated alott on a ponderous volume, entitled " List of Sub
scribers to tbe Sacrifice," wbich is
supported on portfolios of the works
of " Modern Masters;" be grasps in
his arms two bags of money, and an
imp on bis shoulder, with peacock's
feathers for hair, is blowing the bub
ble "immortality" witb a pipe.
Within the magic circle, surrounding
the object of his worship, Boydell
stands by a fire, into wbich be is ,
casting tbe tattered fragments of ^^ik
Shakspeare's works, in tbe smoke of '
which, as it rises towards heaven, we
see exaggerated sketches of some of
the more remarkable designs whicb
bis gallery bad brougbt together.
Outside the circle, the portfolio of
tbe "Ancient Masters" lies neglected
on the ground, and a snail is seen ^^^ ^^j,^^, ^^ ^^^^^^^^^_
crawling slowly over it, Jn the
distance. Fame is blowing away tbe great bubbles of former
days, while be scatters around bim a shower of puffs from tho
Morning Herald and other papers, as tbe only effectual instru
ments of fame in modern times.
Boydell's opponents, indeed, accused him not only of puffing,
but of resorting to all lands 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 bimself was the perpetrator of this act of
Vandalism. GiUray, wbo was no friend to the Shakspeare
Gallery, published, on the 26th of April, a caricature portrait of
tbe alderman in tbe act of mutilating his pictures ; and,
in allusion to a malefactor of the name of Renwick WiUiams,
whose attacks upon helpless females by cutting tbem 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
tbe motives supposed to have
led to it, will be understood
by tbe soliloquy here put into
Boydell's mouth: — "There,
there ! — there's a nice
gash ! — There ! — ab ! 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 ! tbere !
AN AMATEUE op the PINE AETS, " ^ <^,^«''f ^^ ^^ S"*^ ^^\
mg about the Gallery; and
it will bring in a rare sight of shillings for seeing of the cut
pictures ; tbere ! and tbere 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 tbe sake of making it look as if people eitvied 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 tbe cheapest way to work, to keep up the reputation ol
the Gallery ; tbere ! tbere ! there ! — tbere ! tbere !"
In his memorial to tbe House of Commons, at tbe beginning
of the present century, praying for an act to enable bim to
dispose of bis stock in trade of the fine arts by lottery, Boydell
stated tbat be had expended more than four hundred thousand
pounds in encouraging talent in tbis country. He had become
reduced in circumstances, and tbe Gallery was dispersed by
public sale. At a later period be was obliged to appeal to the
law to oblige many of his subscribers to continue tbeir subscrip
tions to bis series of Shakspeare illustrations, which tbey
refused to do on account of tbe length of time tbat bad elapsed
before the publication was completed.
Witb 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 fiourished under the equivocal
kind of patronage which the third of tbe Georges bad substi
tuted for the scornful contempt shewn to art as well as literature
by bis two predecessors. West, witb bis coarse Scriptural pieces,
* The words in itahcs are crossed through iu the engraving, as though to
ke eraseJi

PETER PINDAR AND THE ARTISTS. 573
and tbe foreign Loutberbourg witb bis gaudy landscapes, basked
in the sun of royal favour, wbile Sir Joshua Reynolds and
Wilson were treated witb neglect. West was elected president
of tbe newl3'-instituted Royal Academy, and received every kind
of mark of royal attention ; for tbe King was rather vain of
passing for a connoisseur, and be liked to show it by his fami-
barity with tbe artist. Before Boydell came forward to offer
encouragement to art, tbe academicians had been exposed to tbe
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 tbat made
known tbe name of Peter Pindar. Tbe humorous but skilful
critic of art, wbo made his debut under tbis pseudonym, sbews
no mercy to the academic president, the favourite of royalt3'-,
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 dev'l hia due, thou dost inherit
Some pigmy portion of the painting spirit ;
But 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 ma,n."
Peter treats witb as little ceremony the favoured portrait-
painter Cbamberlin, and tbe royal landscape-painter Loutber
bourg, — " Thy portraits, Cbamberlin, 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 1
" And Loutberbourg, when heav'n ao wille
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 Loutberbourg is most amazing 1'
" But thou must wait for that event —
Perhaps the change is never meant —
Till then, with me thy pencil will not shine^
Till then, old red-nosed Wilson's art
Willhold its empire o'er my heart,
By Britain left in poverty to pine.

574 ^-Z-S 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 be antici
pated, for the works of Wilson are now bought up at high
prices, wbile tbose of tbe men who were most cried up in bis
time are thrown aside with contempt. Among the latter was
Wright of Dei-b3', 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 ;
W^here sea-reflections nothing nat'ral tell ye.
So much like fiddle-strings, or vermicelli ;
Where ev'rything exclaimeth (how severe !)
' What are we ?' and ' What business have we here ?'"
Reynolds was one of those wbose works had no charms for tbe
e3'es of royalty, and tbe satirical critic exclaims, witb an air of
satisfaction, —
" Thank God 1 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 iu the drama, to get meat to munch,
His brush divine had pictured scenes for Punch I
" Whilst West vvas whelping, 'midst his paints,
Moses and Aaron, and all sorts of saints I
Adams and EvSs, 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 beads 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 thia 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 attack's on the academicians
with an expression of rtither general censure, —
" Ye royal sirs, before I bid adieu,
Let ine inform you, some desei-vo ray praise ;
But trust uie, gentle squires, they ai-e but faw
Whose names would not disgraco ray lays.
You'll say, with griiinin;,', iiharp, saic/istic face,
'We must be bad indrnJ,, if that's the case.'
Why, if the truth I must declare.
So, gentle squires, you really are."
But a few years pas.sed over from tbe time Peter Pindar thus
pointed out the empty pretensions of so many of the earlier
academicians, wben 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 Mis,"* Provis, professed
to have discovered tbe long-lost secret by whicb Titian and tbe
other great artist.s of the Venetian school produced their gor
geous colouring, and, by dint of puffing and other tricks, she
succeeded in gaining tbe 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,
Stotbard, Smirk, and Rigaud. UntU her discovery was exploded,
tbis lady sold it in great secret for a very high price. She would
now probably bave been entirely forgotten, but for the pencil of
GiUray, who, on tho 2nd of November, 1797, made her secret
the subject of a very large and remarkable caricature, entitled
" Tltianus redivivus ; or, the Seven Wise Mon consulting tho
now Venetian Oracle," In the upper part of this bold picture,
the lady artist is dashing off a daring subject with extraordinary
cd'cct of light and shade, ber long ragged train ending in the
iramenKO tail of a peacock. The three naked Graces behind hor,
in the genuine coloured copi<.s of this caricature, are painted of
tbe gayest buos. Sbe is leading tbe crowd of academicians by
the nose over the gaudy rainbow to her study to behold ber
specimen of Venetian aA. On one side, the buildings appro
priated to tbe Royal academy at Somer,set House are falling
into ruin, while on tbe other the temple of f.<''ame 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 tbe merits of the new discovery.
The ghost of Sir .losliua Reynolds rises up from tbe floor, con-
tempTatcB tho 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 I"

57<5 NEWSPAPEBS AND MAGAZINES.
On the opposite side are three persons making a hasty fiight ;
they are West, the president of tbe Academ3', who was not a
believer ; Boydell, whose fears are excited for the fate of his
Galler3', if tbis new invention should succeed and destroy tbe
value of what bad been done while it was unknown ; and
Macklin, wbo experiences an equal alarm for his grand illustra
tions of tbe Bible, which were put up by lottery, the tickets five
guineas each. These fears, as far as tbe " 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. tban the periodical
ju-ess, wbich was especially affected by the revolutions in poli
tical and moral feelings which characterised the age preceding,
as well as tbat which followed the bursting out of the French
revolution. The newspapers, which bad varied but little iu
appearance from the beginning of the century to tbe earlier part
of George's reign, now appear witb 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 dail3-, six weekly, and ten
evening papers three times a week, were published in England,
in 1792 there were published in London thirteen dail3', twenty
evening, and nine weekly papers, besides seventy country papers,
and fourteen in Scotland. Among the London papers we recog
nise tbe names of the principal daily papers of modern times.
The Morning Chronicle was establisbed in the year 1770, the
Morning Post in 1772, and tbe Morning Herald in. 1780, and
they were followed by tbe Times in 17.88. They began, in-
accordance witb tbe depraved taste as well as manners of that
age, witb 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. Tbe Chronicle was from tbe first tbe organ of the
Whigs ; tbe Post was at first a violent organ of Toryism, it
subsequently became revolutionary in its principles, and tben
returned to its original politics ; tbe 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 Magaz'me, the Matri
monial Magazine, the Macaroni Magazine,, the Sentimental
Magazine, the Westminster Magazine, and tbe Oxford Maga
zine, two at least were obscene publications, and the feeling of
tbe time allowed tbe titles of the licentious plates whicb illus
trated tbem and of tbe articles tbey contained to be advertised

STATE OF LITERATURE. 577
monthly in the most respectable newspapers in words which left
no doubt of their cbaracter. 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 tbe
outrage, tbe newspapers became less libellous, and tbe offensive
magazines disappeared.
Tbe literarj' 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 bad appeared before, of crude
essa3's by unpaid correspondents, wbo were ambitious of seeing
tbemselves in print, and of reviews of new publications, whicb
constituted the most original part of the mixture. The reviews
continued for a long time to be sbort and flippant, and in many
cases tbe writer seems to bave read or seen only tbe title of the
book be 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 witb similar
brevity — " Crude, obscure, and bombastic." In the same maga
zine for September, 1774, that important work, Strutt's "Regal
Antiquities," is dismissed witb the observation, — " Curious,
useful, and pleasing." Tbe triad of epithets, whicb recurs per
petually, is amusing. It is an authoritative style of giving
judgment tbat 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 term.s : —
" The Exhibition in Hell ; or, Moloch turned Painter. Svo, price is.
A hellish had painter, and a d — d bad writer!"
A few years later, tbe 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 tbe European Magazine,
they added a chapter at tbe end, under tbe title of -" Anecdotes
of tbe Author," in wbich they stated all they knew of bis pri
vate history. Towards tbe close of tbe century, professed
reviews, in contradistinction to magazines, began to be more
common. The reviewers of the last century were strongly tainted witb
tbe feelings whicli agitated and divided society, and tbey con-

578 REVOLUTION IN LITERATURE.
stantly overlooked that necessary quaUfication of a critic, — im-
partialit3' ; they too often punished tbe pobtical 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 tbey deserve praise for tbe constancy witb which tbey
attacked that shoal of frivolous and often pernicious matter that
was daily sent into tbe world in tbe shape of novels and secret
memoirs, of tbe most nauseous and indelicate description. The
infiuence of these was most extensive previous to the year 1790.
The violent intellectual agitation which foUowed T}he 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 tbe mental
energies, and to promise them relief from tbat cold infiuence of
interested patronage wbich bad so often blighted genius in the
bud. Tbe most distinguished literary charactei-s of the last age,
tbe Wordsworths, Campbells, Soutbeys, Coleridges and Roscoes,
began tbeir career in ardent admiration of the democratic
principles which were spreading from revolutionized France:
they imagined they bad fallen upon the opening of a new aud
brighter era, and they looked forwards in vain hopes to the
prospect of an age in whicb genius would no longer be the slave
of selfish or capricious patronage on tbe one band, or of specula
tive avarice on tbe otber. The illusion soon passed away, but
not without leaving an imprint which has effected a -total
change in tbe literature of tbis coimtry.
The change whiob was taking place at tbe end of the century,
placed the two literatures of the past and tbe future for a wbUe in
direct bostility to eacb other, and produced a number of satbical
writings of a new description, the types of which are found in
" Tbe Pursuits of Literature," pubbsbed anonymously, but now
understood to be tbe work of Matbias, and tbe " Baviad and
Mteviad" of Gifford. These now appear dull enough, but they
applied tbe lash unsparingly to tbe crowd of fashionable writers
who constituted the literary legacy of the preceding age. Per
haps, among tbe different shades of literary pretension wbich
were struggling for fame at the period wben the influence of the
French revolution began to be felt, tbe least dignified was that
party of individuals who attempted to raise a reputation on the
fragments which had been scattered from tbe table of Johnson.
BosweU, and Madame Thrale, wbo had by a rather discreditable
marriage with a music teacher, taken the name of Piozzi, and
several others, long disputed over tbe remains of the "great

THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. 579
moralist," as be was termed, and afforded no small amusement
to the public. This was oue of the few public literary ques
tions whicb, during tbe latter part of the century, became the
subject of e:iricatnros, and those possess nothing very striking in
their cbaracter. Two of tbese, published in 1786 and ijSS,
were by Sayer. Tbis disjiute, which caused niucb sensation for
several years, is better known by Peter Pindar's " Town Eclogue"
of Bozzi and Piozzi.
The uiigenial 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 tp be formed more generally to for
ward literary and scientific objects, but tbev in some instances
seemed to share iu the jealousy tbat was shewn towards political
associations. The Society of .Vntiquaries, whicb bad rtxxivcd its
charter of incorporation from George II., was received into
some degree of favour bv his grandson, wbo, iu 1780, placed it
in apartments near his favourite "Aeadenu'" in Somerset House.
Us labours bad hitherto been little productive, and often puerile;
it took no prominent part, even iu tbe historical literature of
the day, and is seldom mentioned iu the popular literature,
except in terms of ridicule. In 1772, the society was brought
on the stage by Footo, 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 iu Kennington Lane, on the
site of an ancient palace of Hanbcnut, bearing .an inscripti-ni
to that mouarodi's memory in Saxon characters and in Anglo-
Saxon verse, which, Uterally translated, informed tbe world that
'• Here Hai-dyknute the king drank a wine-horn dry, and stared
about bim and died." It is said that this inscription and ex
planation were received and read at one of tbe meetings of tbe
societ3- of antiquaries as a bond fldc communication, and the
perpetrator of the joke immediately made it public for tho
iimusement of tbe world, and to the discomfiture of the learned
aro-bivologists. 'This trifling incident made its noise at the time,
and was taken up iu a satirical vein by other humorists, who
followed it up with mock dissertations and mock translations.
Some of tbe latter exhibited the same vein of personal satire
which bad dictated the longer and more celebrated "probationary
odes." Thus Sir CeoU Wray is made to contribute the following
poetical vei-sion — F p a

58o HARDICNUT' S 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 (0 brute I)
Did swill 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 tbe first line of
that by M. le Texier, wbo be says bad, "with tbe levity peculiar
to his countrymen," given a gay turn to the epitaph, wbich he
made to open thus —
"Aha! cher Monsieur Ardiknute I"
And he adds, " The last has the same defect as the two preced
ing ones, for it is rather a sportive paraphrase tban a fair trans
lation. As it comes, bowever, from a young poetical divine,
resident in tbe arcbiepiscopal palace at Lambeth (the very place
of Hardyknute's demise), it will possibly be received witb in
dulgence, and especially by the gentleman wbo produced its
original -to the Antiquary Societ3'.
" 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 tbeir character as societies, and however
talented and well-intentioned some of tbeir members, it must be
acknowledged tbat neither archseology nor science were at this
time receiving tbe benefits they might have done from the
labours of tbe society of Antiquaries and its neighbour the
Royal Society. The latter was rent to pieces by jealousies and
disputes. It had received a gleam from tbe sun of royal fa-your
in -the person of its president, Sir Joseph Banks, wbo had pur
sued science in company witb Captain Cook in the distant isles
of the Pacific, and whose adventures ii. the study of natural
history at bome and the undue eminence which be was beUeved

SIR JOSEPH BANKS.

561

to bold by tbe mere title of royal favouritism, made bim tbe
object of many a caricature and satire. In one of tbe latter, in
the collection of Mr. Burke, tbe
1- arned president of the Royal
Society is represented under tho
character and title of " The great
South-sea Catterpillar trans
formed into a Bath butterfly."
Mis wings arc adorned with figures
of starfish, crabs, and other fa
vourite objects of his attention.
This print is dated on the 4tb of
.luly, 1795, soon after Sir Joseph
had been chosen a knight of the
Bath, Another caricature, also
in tbe possession of Mr, Burke,
represents the scene described in
Peter Pindar's well-known tale of
" Sir Joseph Banks and tbe Em-
])eror of Morocco," The " presi
dent in butterllies profound," as he has termed him, was a sub
ject of frequent satire from Peter's peu.

THE BUTTEEPLY OP SCIENCE.

58a

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 *-gitation ; Volunteers ; Caricatures and Songs —
Return of Pitt to Power — Buonaparte Emperor — Trafalgar — Death of
Pitt — The Broad-Bottom Ministry — Death of Fox — General Electioh —
The War.
THE nineteenth century opened in tbis country witb political
prospects by no means of tbe most cheering description.
With a burthen of taxation infinitely beyond anything tbat had
ever been known before, England found herself in danger of
being left single-banded in an interminable contest witb a power
whicb was now rapidly bumbling at its feet tbe wbole of the
continent of Europe, and which bad already adopted, witb
regard to us, tbe old motto of delenda est Carthago. We bad
uo longer to contend with a democratic republic, as heretofore,
but witb a skilful and unscrupulous leader, wbo was already a
sovereign in fact, and wbo was marching quickly towards a throne.
The union witb 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 cbaracter. Tbe union itself bad not passed
witbout considerable opposition in tbis country, and the advan
tages which its advocates promised as tbe result, were ridiculed
or disbelieved. Among tbe caricatures on tbis subject which
appeared during the year 1800, one represented Pitt from the
state pulpit publishing tbe banns of union between John Bull
and Miss Hibernia. In another, under tbe title of " A Flight
across the Herring-pool," tbe Irish gentry are seen quitting
their country in crowds to share in the good -things which Pitt is
laying before tbem in England, tbus setting tbe example of that
evil of absenteeism which has been so much complained of in
more recent times.
Tbe first imperial parliament met on the 22nd of January,
1801, and was attended witb two remarkable circumstances, the
election of tbe Rev. John Home Tooke for tbe borough of Old
Sarum, and tbe reappearance of Fox at bis post in the House

THE ADDINGTON MINISTRY. 583
of Commons. Fox reappeared in the house for the first time
on tbe 2nd of March, and one of tbe earliest signs of bis
returning activity was his support of tbe rigbt of Home Tooke
to a seat tbere. A caricature, published on tbe i4tb of March,
entitled "The Westminster Seceder on Fresh Duty," represents
Fox bending bis broad back to enable the reverend candidate to
get into St. Stephen's chapel througb the -window, wbile Lord.
Temple is shutting tbe door against bim. Tooke bad been
retm-ned for Old Sarum by Lord Camelford. His admission was
opposed on tbe ground of bis clerical profession, and it led to a
biU making clergymen incapable of sitting in parliament.
Tooke held bis seat for a very brief period, during which he did
no act of importance. A caricature, by Gillray, published on
the i5tb of March, under the title of "Political Amusements
for Young Gentlemen ; or, tbe old Brentford Shuttlecock,"
represents tbe bead of Tooke formed into a plaything, the
feathers of which intimate sufficiently bis character, tossed
backwards and forwards between Lord Camelford, to wbom he
owed bis election, and Lord Temple, wbo led the opposition to
bis admission.
Before tbis question came under discussion, Pitt bad quitted
the ministry. Having in his anxiety to procure tbe support of
tbe Catholic body in Ireland for bis
grand project of union, made an implied
promise to support tbe cause of Catholic
emancipation, and finding tbe King ob
stinately opposed to it, be seized upon
tbis as the occasion for retiring from
ofiice. Tbe opposition ascribed to him
different motives : they said that,
alarmed at the difficulties into wbich
he bad plunged tbe country, be wished
to withdraw from personal responsibility,
and they prophesied tbat he would con-
,. , ¦','¦ ¦ c i. I, -„- ¦ i -A- SHUTTLECOCK.
tmue to be, in fact, as much minister as
before. Tbis seems to receive some confirmation from the fact
tbat Henry Addington, the son of Doctor Addington, one
of the physicians wbo bad attended on the Kiug in bis derange
ment, aud tbe s^eeiaX protege of tbe Pitt family, was nominated
for bis successor. A caricature, published on tbe 2otb of
February, under tbe title of " The Family Party," represents
Pitt, Dundas, Grenville, and Canning, seated round the card-
table ; Pitt gives bis band to Addington, saying, " Here, play
my cards, Henry; I want to retire a little;" and the otber

584 ILLNESS OF THE KING.
players join bim in the wish to remain a while behind tbe
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 tho 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 tbis, probably, which drew Fox to town, and
restored bim 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 tbe 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 of
tbe Exchequer ; tbe Duke of Portland re
mained president of tbe 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 tbe Board of Control
for the Affairs of India. Gillray, wbo, on
tbe 24tb of February, had represented Pitt
and his colleagues marching out of tbe
Treasury witb conscious honesty on their
features, wbile tbe Whigs were with diffi
culty hindered from rushing in to seize
upon their places,* now (on tbe 28th of
May) made a humorous comparison be
tween the old ministers and tbeir suc
cessors, in a caricature, entitled " Lilli
putian substitutes;" a title whicb was
not ill bestowed on tbe latter, for tbey
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/'

A NEW MINISTEE IN
OLD BOOT.

THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 585
entirely from view its new wearer. Next to it stands on tho
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 mo 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 BUly himself." Lord Hawkes
bury, who had t.ilked of marching to Paris, has his spare form
enveloped in Lord Grenville's capacious breeches — "Mercy upon
me! what a deficiency is here! — ab, poor Ha-.vkic! 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
witb " 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
shaU never be able to bear them long on my corns ! — -zounds !
are these shoes fit for a man in present pay free quarters ?"
At tbe beginning of
tbe 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
tbe 1st of October, pre
liminaries bad been
agreed to and were
signed, and Lord Corn
wallis was soon after
wards sent over as
minister plenipoten
tiary. Buonaparte bim
self was evidently desirous of a cessation of hostilities that be
might be left for a while to pursue bis ambitious designs at
home. After many crosses and difiicUtics, and sufficient evi
dence of bad faith on the part of the French government,
the definitive treaty of peace was si^'ned at Amiens on tbe 27th
of March, 1802,
There was stiU a strong war-party in England, and many with
keen foresight looked at it as an unnecessary sacrifice of our own
dignity, rendered futile by the certainty that no peace could be

LARGE SHOES POR LITTLE PEOPLE.

586 CLAMOUR OF THE WAR PARTY.
of long duration witb tbe tben ruler of France, unless pur-
chased witb an unconditional submission to his will. Tbe oppo
sition was strong in parliament, and wben tbe 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
ber overwhelming infiuence on the continent. Tbe peace was,
however, lauded by Fox and the Whigs, and approved by Pitt.
On tbe 6th of October, GUlray published a caricature, entitled
" Preliminaries of peace ; or, John Bull and his little friend
marching to Paris." Tbe little friend is Lord Hawkesbury,
wbo is leading the way across the channel, over a rotten and

BEITANNIA VICTIMIZED.
broken plank ; John Bull, accompanied by Fox and all the
approvers of tbe negotiations, allows bimself to be led by the
nose, wbile Britannia's shield
and a number of valuable con
quests are thrown into the water
as useless. On the 9tb of Novem
ber appeared another caricature by
Gillray, entitled " Pobtical dream-
ings ; visions of peace! — perspective
horrors !" Windham bad described
in strong language tbe evils whicb
tbe peace would drawdown upon this
country, and, as embodied in this
picture, they are certainly fearful.
! Tbe preliminaries are endorsed as
" Britannia's death-warrant ;" and
sbe herself is seen in the clouds
dragged off to tbe guillotine for
execution by the Corsican depredator. Visions of headless bodies

AN OMINOUS SBEENADEE.

SIB FRANCIS BURDETT. 587
crowd around. Lord Hawkesbury's hand, as be signs tbe 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 tbe long gaunt foi-m of death treading in stilts (two spears)
on tbe roast beef and otber good tbings of old England. At
tbe foot of Windham's bed, Fox, as an imp of darkness, gives
tbe serenade.
At first tbe new administration went on smoothly ; it escaped
attack, in tbe eagerness of tbe old Whig opposition to attack its
predecessors. They imagined that Pitt and bis colleagues bad
been overthrown by the weight of their own iniquities, and they
talked of visiting them witb parUamentary censure, and even
witb impeachment. The leader in tbe projected attack was to
be Sir Francis Burdett, and great threats were held out, wbich,
bowever, had no serious result. A caricature by Gilbay,
entitled " Preparing for the grand attack," pubbsbed on tbe 4th
of December, 1801, represents Burdett rehearsing for bis speech
against ministers ; Sheridan is instructing him in eloquence ;
Fox draws up tbe accusations ; and Home 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 tbe sinking fund to rebeve tbem from much of the burthen of
the public debt. Some of the caricaturists ridiculed the
popular credulity on tbis point. The mania for balloons bad
been revived, after the reconcUiation with France, where tbey
still remained fashionable, and were more caricatured tban in
England ; and in a caricature, entitled " Tbe national para
chute ; or, John Bull conducted to plenty and emancipation,"
published on the loth of July, Pitt is represented supporting
John Bull in tbe air in a parachute, entitled " Tbe sinking
fund." WbUe the new peace occupied everybody's attention,
the Parliament was aUowed, without much opposition, to vote
a miUion sterling to pay off debts contracted on tbe civU
list. On the other side, repubbcanism stUl appeared to bave
some advocates, and the close of tbe year witnessed the dis
covery of the mad conspiracy of Colonel Despard and bis com
panions, who were executed early in 1803. A new parba
ment bad been elected in autumn, in whicb Westminster was
again contested with obstinacy. In France, on the 6th of
August, 1 802, Buonaparte advanced another step in bis course of
ambition, by obtaining tbe appointment of consul for life : it was
but another name for a crown.
Peace was at first hailed with joy thougbout the country. It

588 BRITANNIA IN HER CHILDHOOD.
produced, within a few weeks, illuminations, feasts, congratulatory
addresses, sermons, poems, in great profusion. Englishmen
wont to visit Paris in hundreds and thousands, and tbis country
was inundated witb 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 bis nephew. Lord Holland, aud with Erskine, Grey, and
some otber members of the opposition in parliament. They
were treated with marked attention b3' Buonaparte ; and tbeir
admiration was carried to a degree of indiscretion which did not
increase tbeir popularity in England, where tbey were accused
of obsequious li.attery to the oppressor of Europe. On the i5tb
of November, Gillray published a caricature entitled, " Intro
duction of citizen Volpone and bis suite at Paris," in which
Fox and bis wife. Lord and Lad3' Holland, aud Gre3', are
stooping low to tbe new ruler of France. A few days before
(on the 8th of November) an anonymous caricature on tbe
same subject appeared under the title of " English patriots
bowing at tbe shrine of despotism." Gillray published on tbe
4th of December, a caricature, entitled "The nurser3', with
Britannia reposing in peace," in whicb Britannia is represented
as an overgrown baby, reposing iu ber cradle, and nursed in
French principles by Addington, Lord Hawkesbury, and Fox.
It was at tbis moment tbat 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. Tbis dissatisfaction was most strongly expressedin the
English newspapers, which is said to bave given so much offence
to the first consul, that he forbade tbeir circulation in France.
Still, although the general dissatisfaction in England was
increasing, the peace continued popular tiU the end of tbe year.
On the 1st of January, 1803, Gillray satirized tbe posture of
afiiiirs in a humorous caricature, entitled "The first kiss this ten
3-ears ; or, the meeting of Britannia and citizen Fi-an9ois."
Britannia, who has suddenly become corpulent, appears as a fine
laiiv in full dress, ber shield and spear leaning neglected against
the wall. The citizen expresses his joy at tbe 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 ! ! !" Tbe lady, blushing deeply at tbe salute
(in the coloured copies a strong tint of red is bestowed on her
cheek), replies—" Monsieur, you are truly a well-bred gentleman^!
— ar.d though you make me blush, yet you kiss so delicately that I
cannot refuse you, though I was sure you would deceive me

i!"

THE FIRST KISS. 589
again !" On tbe wall, just bebind these two figures, are firamed
profiles of King G-:;r,rg.i and Buonaparte scowling on each other.
This caricature enj-03'ed an unusual degree of popularity ; many
copies were sent to France, 'dnd Buonaparte bimself is said to
have been highly amused by it.

THE PIEST KIS8 THESE TEN TEABS,

From tbis 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 tbe peace could not be of long
duration. The Frencb con,5ul was anxious to obtain possession
of Malta, and wbile be accused England of breaking the faith of
treaties, be acted in everything contrary to the spirit of the
treaty which be bad so recently concluded with her. He
required tbat we should drive the royalist emigrants from our
shores, demanded that the English press, whicb be looked upon
as one of bis -most dangerous enemies, should be deprived of its
liberty as far aa regarded French affairs, and he actually asked
for modifications in our constitution. At the same time be was
actively employed in exciting a rebellion in Ireland, and
distributing agents, under the cbaracter of consuls, along our
coasts, -with treacherous objects, which were accidentally
discovered by tbe seizure of tbe secret instructions to tbe consul
at Dublin, wbich 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

593 SIGNS OF. RETURNING WAR.
can be procured, you are to point out witb what wind vessels
can come in and go out, and what is the greatest draught of
water witb wbich vessels can enter the river deeply laden."
There began to appear other indications equally distinct of
ulterior designs against tbis country, which it was of tbe utmost
importance to anticipate. Even Fox and his party, while they
advocated peace as long as it could be maintained, acknowledged
that tbere was room for suspicion. A patriotic indignation was
raised throughout the country in tbe March of 1803, by tbe
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 tbat Buonaparte only
delayed open hostilities as long as be could gain anytbing from
us by pretended negotiations, and tbat be was preparing to
crusb us by the magnitude of bis attack. It was the misfortune
of tbis country to bave at such a moment an administration
remarkable for its incapacity. Pitt is said to bave 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.
Tbe Foxites were afraid tbat if tbey entered into opposition,
tbey would only throw tbe Doctor, as tbey all styled him
contemptuously, into tbe 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 9tb of February, is entitled
the "Evacuation of Malta," The French ruler is forcing
Addington to evacuate one conquest after another, until be 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 Frencb officer who is re
ceiving what tbe minister gives up, expostulates witb bis
commands, " My general, you bad better not get bim turned
out, for we shall not be able to humbug them any more,"
The statement officially made by tbe Frencb government,
tbat England was not able to contend witb France single-
banded, produced a violent outburst of indignation in tbe House
of Lords on tbe 9tli of March, The day before, a royal message
had been laid before botb Houses, stating tbat tbe King bad
received positive information that very considerable military
preparations were carrying on in tbe ports of France and
Holland, and tbat he bad judged it expedient to adopt additional
measures of precaution for tbe security of bis dominions. At
the same time proclamations were issued encouraging the en-

SHERIDAN'S PATBIOTISM. 591
listing of seamen and landsmen, calling up the militia and
volunteers, and ordering the formation of encampments in the
maritime countie-;. The volunteer associations, which had been
formed two years before in anticipation of invasion, also began
to reassemble. On the debate upon tbe King's message, Fox
seemed to think the apprehensions were premature, and advised
caution ; Windham, wbo 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 tban
we should have been bad tbe war continued ; but tbe most
patriotic of all p:itriotic speeches made in the House of Commonj;,
was that of Sheridan. He accused Windham of entertaining
the same sentiments on tbe weakness of this country wbich bad
been expressed by Buonaparte, "Whatever sentiments both of
them may entertain," be said, "witb respect to tbe incapability
of the country, I hope and trust, if unhappily war be unavoidable,
tbat we shall convince that rigbt honourable gentleman, and
tbe flrst consul of France, tbat we bave not incapacitated ourselves
by making peace, to renew tbe war witb as much promptitude,
vigour, and perseverance, as we bave already evinced. 1 trust,
sir, we shall succeed in convincing them, tbat we are able to
en-ter single-handed into war, notwithstanding the despondency
of tbe rigbt 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 witb perfect confidence
to the issue ; and we are justified in entertaining a well-founded
hope, that we shall be able to convince not only tbe right
honourable member and tbe first consul of France, but all
Europe, of our cap:-bility, even single-handed, to meet and
triumph over the dangers, bowever great and imminent, wbich
threaten us from the renewal of bostilities."
Tbis debate was made the subject of a clever caricature by
Gillray, published on the 14th of March, under tbe title of
" Physical aid ; or, Britannia recovered from a trance ; also the
patriotic courage of Sherry Andrew, and a peep through the
fog." Tbe " peep" exhibits in the distance Buonaparte leading
on tbe French boats, whicb are to carry over tbe army of in
vasion. Britannia, waking suddenly from ber 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 dis-grace defend me !" Her shield is cracked and
ber spear blunted. Addington and Lord Hawkesbury stand by
her, giving encouragement 5 tbe former applies a bottle of
gunpowder to ber nose to revive ber. Sheridan wields the

59^

THE THEATBICAL HE BO.

club, inscribed, "Dramatic loyalty," in threatening attitude
against the invaders, and
blusters out his menace,
" Let 'em come, damme ! —
damme ! ! — where are the
French buggabos ? — Single-
banded I'd- beat forty of
'em ! ! damme, I'll pay 'em
like renter shares, sconce off
tbeir half crowns, mulct
tbem out of their benefits,
and come tbe Drury Lane
slang over 'em !" A crowd
of people are excited in dif
ferent ways. Fox, half con
cealing his face in bis hat,
cannot see the buggabos,
and wonders, " why the old
lad3' has woke in sucb a
fright."
The negotiations were still persevered in, although it was
daily more evident tbat they would fail to avert bostilities.
Even as late as tbe 2nd of May, caricatures appeared ridiculing
John Bull's submission to the continued demands made upon
his forbearance, Tbe date just mentioned is tbat of a cari
cature by Gillray entitled, " Doctor Sangrado curing John Bull
of repletion." Lord Hawkesbury is holding up John Bull, sick

A THEATBICAL HEEO.

JOHN BULL IN BAD HANDS.

and emaciated, wbile Addington performs tbe operation ; the
blood which issues from tbe incision is inscribed witb tbe names
of Malta and the otber 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 tbe patient to bave
courage. It was but a few days after tbis, tbat our ambassador, wbo
had been personally insulted by Buonaparte, and wbo had long
perceived that tbe latter had carried on the negotiations merely
for the sake of gaining time, received final orders to leave Paris,
and the Frencb ambassador, Andreossi, was ordered to quit
England. Tbe declaration of war was received throughout
England witb enthusiastic joy ; — tbe falsehoods and prevarica
tions which Buonaparte had made use of throughout the nego
tiations, whicb now exposed bis true character to the world ; the
infamous manner in wbich be bad treated tbe countries tbat had
fallen under bis power ; and the reckless contempt of the laws
of nations witb wbich be seized as prisoners of war the crowds
of English visitors wbom bis peaceful declarations bad allured
into France ; all made tbe ruler of France an object of sucb
abhorrence and hatred that war seemed to every one preferable
to peace, and tbe ministers were only rendering tbemselves un
popular by continuing tbe friendly relations between tbe two
countries so long. Gillray has perpetuated tbe memory of tbis
feeling in a clever caricature, published on the i8th of May,
entitied " Armed Heroes." " Addington,"* tbe " doctor," is
represented in a ridiculous dilemma, between assumed courage
and real fears, anxious to preserve tbe roast beef threatened by
tbe Corsican usurper. Lord Hawkesbury, seated bebind him
witb an equally passive appearance of courage, calls to mind his
old threat of marching to Paris.
Buonaparte commenced bostilities by seizing Upon Hanover,
and raising a rebellion in Ireland. The former was an inevitable
evil ; and tbe latter was soon subdued. But tbe immense pre
parations for invasion were a cause of more serious alarm, and
called forth a unity of patriotic exertions sucb as had never been
seen before. Tbe 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 sbe was
marching to tbe opposite coast ber best troops in fearful masses.
Buonaparte came in person to overlook tbe preparations, and to
take the command of the invading forces when they were com
pleted. He establisbed bis head-quarters at Boulogne, on tbe
roads to whicb finger-posts were erected to remind all French
men that it was tbe way to London. Every possible means was
* A copy of this caricature is given in the accompanying plate.

594 SATIRES ON THE INVADERS.
resorted to for exciting tbe people against tbe Engbsb, and
attracting tbem to his standard. Tbe soldiers were promised
indiscriminate plunder, and they were reminded that the English
women were the most 'beautiful in tbe world, and tbat no restric
tion should be placed on the gratification of their passions. In
fiammatory addresses from tbe 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 tbe 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 tbemselves individually, as well as in associations,
in printing and distributing what were known as " loyal papers"
and " loyal tracts," wbich were bought up in immense numbers,
and tbe proceeds often applied to tbe defence of tbe country.
Some of these consisted of exaggerated and libellous biographies
of Buonaparte and his family ; accounts of the atrocities perpe
trated by himself and bis armies in tbe oountries they bad over
run ; burlesques, in wbich be was treated witb 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 Britisb bravery in former times ; every
thing, in fact, that could stir up and support the national spirit.
Every kind of wit and humour was brougbt into play to enliven
these sallies of patriotism ; sometimes they came forth in the
shape of national playbills, sucb as the following : —
"Thkatee Rotal, England.
" In Rehearsal, and meant to be speedily attempted, a farce in one act
called The Invasion op England. Principal BuffiD, Mr. Buonaparte,
being his first (and most likely his 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 moi! 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 1 ! 1 but we will venture to affirm will
never equal the success of John Bull. It is, however, likely that 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 t;entleman'a
merits may be on the tragic boards of France, but he will never succeed
here ; his figure is very diminutive, he struts a great deal, aeema to have no
conception of his character, and treads the stage very badly; notwith
standing which defects, we think if he comes here, he will get an engage
ment, though it is probable that he will shortly after be reduced to the
situation of a scene- shifter.

THE WONDERFUL ANIMAL. 595
"As for the Faroe, we recommend il to be withdrawn, as it is the
opinion of all good political critica, that if play'd it will eertainly be
damned. " Vivant rex et regima."
Sometimes tbey were coarse and laughable dialogues between
tbe Corsican and John BuU, or some other worthy, wbo gave
bim small encouragement to persevere in bis undertaking. Then
we bad laughable proclamations to his own soldiers, or to tbose
be was threatening witb invasion. Now the invader was com
pared to a wild beast, or some object of curiosity, for a promised
exhibition. Sucb bills as tbe following were common : —
" Most wonderful wonder of wonders! I
"Just arrived, at Mr. Bull's Menagerie, in British Lane, the most
renowned and sagacious man tiger or ourang outang, called Napoleott
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 iu law, divinity, and physio. He proves inoontrovertibty
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 picles 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 vitce; 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 ou 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, aud 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 exhibit his monkeys 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 he
was very near losing him.
" He used also to perform some wonderful tricks with gumpowder ; but his
monkey was very siek in passiug the channel, and has shewn a great
aversion to them ever since.
' ' Admittance, one shilling and sixpence.
" N.B. — If any gentleman of the corps diplomatique should wish to see
his ourang outang, Mr. BuU begs a line or two first ; as, on such occasions,
Q Q 2

59(5 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 auch preparation."
In otber papers, tbe conqueror of tbe greater part of Europe
was ridiculed as a mere pigmy, wben compared to King George
and bis valiant Britons : —
" Come, I'll sing you a song, just for want of some 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," &c.
It was in tbis spirit tbat GUlray, on tbe 26tb of June, repre
sented King George as the king of Brobdignag, eyeing his dimi
nutive assailant with contempt. Otber caricatures represented

THE KING OP BEOBBIGNAO AND GULLIVBB.
the blustering invader in tbe same cbaracter. In a flue engrav
ing by GUlray, bearing the same title ,as tbe one just mentioned,
'"The King of Brobdignag and Gulliver," the diminutive boaster
is seen attempting to manceuvre his small boat in a basin of
water, to the great amusement of King George and bis court.
Songs innumerable, of encouragement and defiance, were dis
tributed about tbe country in tbe same form of loyal broadsides,

SONGS AGAINST INVASION. 597
as well as in tracts and collections.* Of many of tbese, tbe 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 Enghshman doubles his fist.
" But if they feel stout,
Why, let them turn out.
With their maws stuff d with frogs, soups, and jellies ;
Brave Ne'son'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 hia 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 raaher of bacon."
The following song was sung in tbe theatres, and drew tbe
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 I —
The brave volunteers of the Island !
The fraternal embrace
If foes want in this place.
We'll present all the arms in the Island.
" They say we keeji shops
To vend broad-cloth and slops.
And of merchants they call us a aly land ;
* Theae 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 its
ground almost undiminiabed.

598 THE FLEET VEE'SUS THE INVADERS.
But though war is their trade.
What Briton's afraid
To say he'll ne'er sell 'em the Island.
They'll pay pretty dear for the Island !
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.
*' If 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 I
Huzza ! for the king of the Island !
Shall our father he robbed of his Island ?
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 tbe caricatures, it was confi
dently prophesied tbat, if the enemy should escape our ships at
sea, it would only be to meet certain destruction on landing.
Gillray published several caricatures during tbe months of June
and 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 BuU is represented bearing the
bleeding head of the irvader in triumph on his pike. In a tbird,
the King, in his bunting garb, is holding up the Corsican fox,
which he has bunted down witb bis good bounds, 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
tbe Channel, and insulted tbe Frencb coasts, destroying towns
and shipping witb impunity, tbere was little chance tbat our
enemies would be able to put tbeir threats in execution. They
stood there manoeuvring, and blustering, and threatening, while
Jack Tar was waiting very impatiently for their coming out.
"They've frara'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 tbe distinguished courage so much boasted of
in the proclamations and bulletins of tbeir leader, it was said

JOHN BULL'S IMPATIENCE.

599

tbat tbey waited for tbe first fog, tbat tbey migbt 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 couquer's the same,'
Jack Tar's impatience was set forth in a caricature by Gillr.a3',
published onthe 2nd of August, iu which .lobn Bull is repre
sented as taking to tbe sea in person, to chant the serenade of
defiance. The head of Buonaparte is just seen over tbe battle
ment, uttering tbe threat which be bad now been repeating

JOHN BULL OPPEBINO LITTLE BONEY FAIR PLAT.
several weeks: "I'm a coming! — I'm a coming!" His boats
arc safely stowed up under tbe triple fort in which he has
ensconced himself for personal secm'ity, aud John Bull taunts
bim witb some ill humour : —

" You're a coming ? —
If you mean to invade us, why make such a rout J
I say, little Boney, — why don't you come out ?
Yes, d — you, why don't you come out ?"
One of the songs distributed in the " lo3'al papers," which
seems to bave been a very popular one, furnishes us with —

<5oo 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 hia fleeta 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 BuU ;
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 0, my Johnny, my deary.
Do, let us good fellows come over,
To taste your beef and beer-y.
"I've read and I've heard much of Wales,
Its mines, its meadows, and fountains ;
Of black cattle fed in the valea.
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.
0 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 PU 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.
0 my Sawny, my Sawny,
Your bagpipes will make us all frisky;
We'll dance with your laasea so bonny,
Eat haggis and tipple your whisky.
" Hibernia's another anug place,
I hope to get there, too, some day,
Though our ships they got into disgrace
With Warren near DonegaU Bay.

AN ALARMIST.

601

Though my good friends at -Vinegar Hill,
'I hey fail'd ; be assured, Jack, of this,
I'll give them French liberty still,
As I have to the Dutch and the Swiss.
0 my Paddies, my Paddies,
You are all of you honest good creatures j
And I long to he with you at Cork,
To sup upon fish and potatoes.
"A fair wind and thirty-six hours,
Would brinij us all over from Brest;
Tell your shijis to let alone ours,
And we'll manage all the rest.
Adieu, my dear boy, till we meet ;
TaUe care of your gold, my honey;
And when I reach Threadneedle Street,
ru help you to count out your money.
But my fears they mount up, up, up.
And my hopes they sink down-y, down-y ;
My heart it beats backwards and forwards.
And my head it runs round-y, round-y."
The House of Commons, whicb was not prorogued tiU late in
tbe summer, added by its votes to
tbe general patriotic spirit of the
countr3'. Sheridan was there the
foremost in praising and encourag
ing tbe volunteers, and in calling
attention to the important service
done by tbe multitude of placards
and songs tbat were tbus distributed
about the country. Those of hia
party wbo followed Fox in still
wishing for friendship with France,
and believing it possible, set bim
down for a confirmed alarmist ;
and in a print, published on tbe
ist of September, Gillray has cari
catured him as a bill-sticker, alarm
ing John Bull with tbe announce
ments of peril and danger, which
be is so busy scattering over the
land. Tbe print is explained by
the following dialogue :— ait alaemibt.
" JOHN BULL AND THE ALARMIST.
" John Bull as lie sat in his 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 daughtere

6o2 CARICATURES ON BUONAPARTE.
" ' Let him come aud be d — d !' thus roar'd out John BuU,
' AVith my crabatick assur'd I will fracture his skull,
Or I'll squeeze the vile reptile 'twixt my finger and thumb,
Make him atink like a bug if he darea to presume.'
" '(They say a full thousand of flat-bottom'd boats,
Each a hundred and fifty have warriors of note,
All fully determined to fea,st on your lands,
So I fear you will find full enough on your hands.'
"John smiling arose upright aa a post, —
'I've a million of friends 'oravely guarding my coast;
And my old ally Neptune will give them a dowsing,
And prevent the mean rascals to come here a lousing I' "
The effect of the songs and papers was confined to bome, but
tbe caricatures were carried abroad, and gave no little uneasiness
to Buonaparte, for the3' were often coarsely personal, and tbe
first consul was particularly sensitive to anything like ridicule
against bimself or his family. Tbe caricature wbich gave him
tbe greatest offence was a rather celebrated one by Gillray, pub
lished on tbe 24th of August, 1803, under tbe title of "The
Handwriting upon the Wall." It is a broad parody on Bel-
sbazzar's. feast. The first consul, bis wife Josepbine (to wbom
the artist has given a figure of enormous bulk), and otber mem
bers of bis 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 tbe palace of St. James's, which is
seen in his plate witb bis fork stuck into it ; another worthy is
swallowing the Tower of London ; Josepbine is drinking large
bumpers of wine. A plate, inscribed " Qb, de roast beef of Old
England !" bears the head of King George. -Tbe bottle labelled
" Maidstone" is understood to refer to some of tbe Irish con
spirators, tried at tbe assizes in that town. A band above holds
out the scales of Justice, in whicb tbe legitimate crown of
France weighs down tbe red cap witb its attendant chain —
despotism under the name of liberty. Bebind Josepbine stand
the three princesses of the afterwards imperial family, the
Princess Borgbese, tbe Princess Louise, and tbe Princess Joseph
Buonaparte. These ladies, who were tbe cause of some scandal
by tbeir alleged irregularities, were bitterly satirized, not only
in caricatures, but even in medals and in other shapes, some of
which were not of a cbaracter to describe here. In Gilbay's
large caricature of " The grand Coronation Procession," pub
lished on tbe ist of January, 1805, on occasion of Napoleon's
assumption of tbe imperial dignity, tbe three princesses, clad in
very meretricious garb, walk at the bead of tbe procession as

I ^ fa. t5

<»1" fill -^,

,iV-^,)/'','\

THE THREE GRACES.

603

"the three imperial Graces," and scatter flowers in tbe way of
the emperor and empress.
Most of the caricatures published during tbe latter part of
the year 1 803 were personal attacks on tbe ruler of France. In
°"e, published in September, "The Butcher Buonaparte" is
lifted on the shoulders of Talleyrand tbat be may spy over bis
battlements tbe English cannon destroying bis navy of gun
boats ; be is made to exult over the slaughter of bis own sub
jects, who began to be an embarrassment to him. It is said
that TaUeyrand always advised bim against tbe invasion. In

THE GEACES.
another caricature, published on the 6th of October, tbe spirit
of evil is represented roasting Buonaparte for bis supper ; it is
tbe fulfilment of a wish expressed in one of tbe songs quoted
above. A tbird, published on tbe 25tb of October, represents a
party of " Frencb volunteers marching to tbe conquest of Great
Britain." Tbe miserable "volunteers," wbo have been dragged
from tbeir homes much against tbeir will, and shew very little

6o4 THE "LO YAL PA PERS.' '
inclination for tbe employment, are marcbed along chained an(3
manacled. Several of the " loyal papers " contain expressions wbich shew
that there were still apprehensions that many people in tbis
country were so discontented witb King George's government
tbat they would join the invaders, or, at least be very lukew.arm
in resisting them. To counteract this feeling, the associations
distributed strong appeals to the patriotism of all classes,
shewing tbat the evUs whicb they complained of at present
were trifling in comparison with tbose that were threatened
from 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 vigorouslj'
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 tbe olden time) of loyal songs introduces
them discussing " the Invasion " in tho 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 quaff'd.
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 schtnie that he 'a able ;
He 'U find ua as firm and as hard to be broke.
As the bundle of sticks in the fable,'
"The Scot and Hibernian replied — 'You are rights
Let him go the whole length of his tether ;
When England, and Scotland, and Ii-eland 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
wUl not be experienced again. It was but a gloomy Christmas
which closed it, and ushered in a new year witb little improve-

PITT IN OPPOSITION. 605
ment in our prospects. Every intelligence from abroad spoke
ofthe marching of troops from all parts of tbe French territory
to the coast from whicb the invasion was to be made. It was
known tbat Buonaparte had been at Boulogne just before Christ
mas, to visit and inspect the preparations. The general uneasi
ness was increased towards tbe 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 tbe active assistance of its monarch at tbe moment of
peril. Fortunately, bowever, tbe King's illness was not this
time of long duration, and as summer approached tbe fears of
invasion aLso began to wear away,'* and public attention was
called off to political changes of another kind,
Pitt, wbo had previously supported the Addington ministry,
suddenly quarrelled witb it in the spring of 1 804, and placed
bimself in tbe opposition. This defection was at first evinced
in frequent observations on tbe incapacit3' of tbe present go
vernment to help tbe country out of its difficulties, and in wishes
for tbe formation of a slirong administration on a " broad
bottom" which should include "all tho talents" of the different
parties. It was soon known tbat Temple and the Grenvilles
bad joined Fox's party, but Pitt cautiously avoided compromis
ing himself, although be spoke as much as anybody in favour of
a coalition of parties. On the 14th of March, Gillray published
a caricature entitled " The State Waggoner and John Bull ; or,
tbe Waggon too much for tbe Donkeys, — together witb a dis
tant view of tbe 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, Tbe unfortunate driver screams out — " Help,
Johnny Bull ! help ! — my waggon's stuck fast in the slough ! —
help ! help !" John Bull, dressed in the tben 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 0' nothing at all ! — what signifies whether they
matches in colour, if they do but drag the waggon out ofthe mud ?
— don't you see how the very thought o' being put into harness
* In July, 1S04, tbe 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 bo
CoUeoted,"

6o6 NEW COALITION OF PARTIES.
makes 'em all love and nubble one another ?" Tbe horses to which
he points occupy a neighbouring bank, and present tbe 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,
Castlereagb, Lord Carlisle,
Canning, Wilberforce, Wind
ham, and Sheridan, the two
latter of wbom are kicking at
each other, Tbe day after tbe
date of this print, on the 15th
of March, Pitt made a direct
attack on the ministry in a
motion on tbe naval defence
of the country, whicb was sup
ported by Fox, but opposed by
Sheridan, wbo seemed to have
deserted his old party to leasrue
JOHN BULL TUENED VOLUNTEER, ^-^j^ Addington, _ After the
Easter recess, the opposition took a much more decisive charac
ter. On the 23rd of April, Fox brougbt forward a motion
relating to the defence of tbe country (the subject now nearest
to everybody's beart) ; and be was opposed by Addington, wbo
insinuated that the mere object of the mover was to embarrass
and overthrow his ministry. Pitt then rose to support Fox ;
be declared tbat be bad no confidence in ministers, whom be
blamed severely for their want of intelligence and foresight. In
tbe course of the debate wbich followed tbe coalition was openly
spoken of; but it was denied by Fox and Pitt, wbo declared
that tbey were only united in a common opinion of tbe ineffi
ciency of tbe men tben in office. On a division, tbe 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 witb
tbe King for the formation of a new cabinet. A large carica
ture by Gillray, was published on the ist of May, under the
title of the "Confederated Coalition; or, the giants storming
heaven, witb the gods alarmed for their everlasting abodes ;" in
whicb the discordant elements of the opposition are represented
under tbe cbaracter 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 12th of May, tbe Gazette announced tbat William
Pitt was restored to bis old place of chancellor of the Exchequer.
In forming his cabinet, Pitt neither coalesced with Addington
nor took in Fox. Plis quarrel with the former bad ripened into
personal bostility. He appears to bave wished to conciliate Fox,
and to give him a place in bis cabinet ; but here he bad to con
tend witb tbe bostility of the King, who met tbis proposal with
a flat refusal. Lord Temple and the Grenvilles, wbo bad en
gaged tbat Pox should come in, refused to take office without
him. In tbe new administration, the Duke of Portland was
president of the Council ; Lord Eldon, chancellor ; tbe Earl of
Westmoreland, lord privy seal ; Lord Chatham, master-general
of tbe ordnance ; and Lord Castlereagb president of tbe board
oi control. Tbese bad all formed a part of tbe Addington
ministry. Pitt's friend, Dundas, wbo had now been raised to
the peerage under tbe title of Lord M.el ville, was appointed first
lord of tbe 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 tbe House of Commons, was made treasurer of tbe
Navy, without a place in the cabinet,
The change in the ministry produced a clever caricature from
Gillray, published on tbe aotb of May, under the title of
" Britannia between Death and tbe Doctors — Death may decide
wben Doctors disagree." Britannia is reclining on ber bed of
sickness, witb abundance of nostrums scattered over tbe room,
but evidently not much relieved by ber physicians. One of
thera. Fox, who grasps in his hand a bottle of "republican
balsam," lies on the floor, stretched beneatb the foot of Pitt,
wbo witb tbe otber foot is kicking Addington and bis "com
posing draught" out of doors. The new doctor raises triumph
antly in bis band a bottle of bis "constitutional restorative."
Wbile tbe doctors are tbus settling their dispute, death, in the
personage of Buonaparte (wbo still kept his immense army on
the opposite coast witb tbe professed intention of invading us)
steals from bebind tbe curtains, and aims a blow witb his spear
at tbeir patient.
Tbe opposition, thus swelled by tbe accession of Addington
and his friends, as well as the party of the Grenvilles, was very
formidable, and Pitt actually came in witb smaller majorities
tban those upon whiob Addington went out. The first trial of
strength was on tbe 5tb pf June, wben Pitt brougbt forward

<^o8 HOSTILITY TO PITT.
bis plan for tbe military defence of tbe country. Sheridan
attacked tbe new ministers witb great bitterness, pointed out
tbeir weakness in tbe House of Commons, and expressed his
opinion that tbe3' ought not to remain in office with such a
strong feeling tbere against them. Pitt shewed more anger
than it was usual for bim to exhibit ; he said, in reply to Sheri
dan, tbat, " as to tbe bint which bad been so kindly given him
to resign, it was not broad enough for bim to take it; even if
tbe bUl were lost, be should not, for tbat, consider it his duty
to resign — his Majesty had the prerogative of choosing his own
servants ;" and he complained much of the oppositioii 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
bad to encounter. It was clear tbat tbe old and compact party
witb which he bad so long ruled tbe country, had been entirely
broken up, and he seemed confused and irritated among the dis
cordant materials tbat now lay before him. The singular
position in which the little parties that had thus sprung up
stood towards eacb other, and the personal intrigues they engen
dered, afforded subjects for tbe caricaturist on every side, and
tbese were not overlooked. On the i8tb 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 tbis period that Sayer
produced some of bis latest efforts in the cause of his old patron,
Pitt. Many believed that the statesman's influence was sensibly
affected b3' the jirobability that a new reign was near at band,
when be would no longer enjoy tbe royal countenance ; and ou
the nth of July Sayer published a large caricature, in which tbe
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 sa3'S to Lord
Temple, " Lower, my lord," although the " Greeks " tbemselves
remain upright ; and a solitary individual on one side is des
cribed as " Acbitopbel ; an old Jew Scribe, lately turned Greek."
A paper, which protrudes from his pocket, exbibits tbe words,
" Secret advice to his R.ll. — No respecter of persons, to invite
tag, rag, and bobtail to dine . . ."
The caricaturists attacked Pitt unsparingly. One of -theiy

SIR FRANCIS BURDETT.

609

prints, tbe only copy of whicb that I have seen is in tbe posses
sion of Mr. Hawkins, pub
lished on tbe ist of August,
tbe day of tbe .prorogation of
parliament, represents the
minister in tbe cbaracter of a
Pierrot, playing on his puppet,
whiob is apparently intended
to represent Canning. The
performer addresses bimself to
his audience, — " Here he is,
gentlemen, a chip of tbe old
block, one of my own manu
factory, — EILLX PIEEEOT AND HIS PUPPET.
" Here you go up, up, up.
And there you go down, down, down-y ! "
Fox bad latterly assumed a much more moderate tone than
wben Pitt's supreme influence left bim no hopes of power ; be
spoke witb less bitterness of bis political opponents, rested
bis opposition on tbe necessity of joining all parties in tbe
support of tbe country and its constitution ; be 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 tbere was another party now
gaining head, much more extreme in its political principles than
the Foxites, and which a little later assumed tbe name of
Eadieals. The leader of tbis party in tbe House of Commons
was Sir Francis Burdett, wbo was taking tbe position in politics
whicb bad 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 bad
already commenced bis 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 GUlray, pub
lished on the 7th 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 tbe hustings, to which Burdett
is carried in triun.ph iu his barouche, with Home Tooke, bis
pocket full of speeches, as driver. Bebind stand Sheridan,
Tierney, and Erskine, carrying flags and banners. That held up
by Sheridan bears the representation of Britannia fixed in tbe
BB

6x0

BRITANNIA SCOURGED.

BEITANNIA S00UE6ED.

pillory, and scourged by Pitt, in aUusion to tbe punishment
of political offenders in
tbe prison of Coldbath
Fields, tbe key of which
is carried by Tierney,
while Erskine hoists the
standard of tbe " good
old cause." In place of
horses, tbe carriage is
dragged along by tbe
chiefs of the Whig
party, consisting of Fox,
the Dukes of Norfolk
and Bedford, the Mar
quis of Lansdowne,
Lords Derby, Carlisle,
and St. Vincent, witb Grey and Bosville. Lord Moira acts as
drummer. Tyrrell, Jones, Grattan, and Fitzpatrick are at the
bind wheels. In the distance we see tbe Radicals pelting with
mud the sign of Church, King, and Constitution.
Witb so many difficulties to face, Pitt seemed to lose his
wonted courage, and his health, impaired by bis devotion to the
bottle, was rapidly breaking down. He did not venture to meet
parliament until tbe I5tb of January, 1805, wben, after vain
efforts to bring over the Grenvilles, be bad at last succeeded in
detaching Addington from the opposition. Tbe latter was
rewarded with a peerage, under tbe title of Viscount Sidmouth,
and tbe office of president of the council, vacated by Lord
Portland on account of bis advanced age. Still Pitt -u'as not
strong in bis majorities, and tbe opposition be bad to encounter
was remarkably pertinacious and annoying. His own friends
seemed to join in giving bim uneasiness. At tbe 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 tbe impeach
ment of Pitt's old friend Lord Melville (Dundas) for wbom he
bad contracted a sort of puritanical dislike, because be was a
bard drinker and sometimes a rather profane joker. Wil
berforce's conduct on tbis occasion, is said to bave given great
annoyance to Pitt. Sayer has commemorated the attack upon
Lord Melville in two caricatures, in botb of whicb Wilberforce
is represented as tbe puritan preacher, venting from bis tub bis
saintly spleen against the sinner. In one of these, Whitbread,
wbo had led tbe attack, is represented as a barrel of porter

CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 61 1
bursting, and stinking the members out of the bouse ; Wilber
force exclaims, from bis tub, " 'Tis tbe Lord's doing, and has
spoUt our brewery." In the other, Whitbread, a figure built up
of tubs and barrels, is aiming a blow at tbe Scotch thistle
(Melville) witb bis flail. This print is entitled, " Tbe brewer
and the thistle," and is accompanied witb an epigram on Whit
bread : " Sanaterre foraook hia malt and grains.
To mash and batter nobles' brains.
By lev'Uing rancour led;
Our Brewer quits brown stout and washey,
His malt, his mash-tub, and his quashea.
To mash a Thiatle's head."
In May, Pitt had to contend witb tbe question of all others
most disagreeable to bim at tbe present moment, from tbe part
be bad already taken iu it, that of Catholic Emancipation,
which, however, be opposed on tbe ground of tbe inexpediency
of bringing it forward under tbe circumstances of tbe time. On
tbe defeat of this attack from the opposition, Gillray published
a caricature, dated the i7tb of May, and entitled " The end of
tbe Irish farce of Catholic Emancipation." The opposition,
under tbe guidance of Fox, seated on a bull (of Irish breed) witb
a miniature of Buonaparte round its neck, after having reached
tbe very threshold of tbe treasury, are overthrown by three
blasts wbich come from tbe mouth of Pitt, Hawkesbury, and
Sidmouth. Lord Grenville, wbo was in advance of tbe attacking
party, and bears tbe crosier, is staggering backwards. Lord
Moira is rolling over Mrs. Fitzberbert, 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 tbe bell in alarm. Home Tooke carries the
cross, whicb is crowned witb tbe bonnet rouge. Cobbett ex
bibits tbe Weekly Register, and carries a representation of an
auto dafe performed in Smithfield, Others are acting a variety
of parts. In tbe foreground stand the Duke of Clarence, wbo is
struck witb astonishment ; the Duke of Bedford, meditating on
transubstantiation ; the Duke of Norfolk, preparing to toast the
host in a goblet of Wbitbread's entire ; and Lords Derby,
Carlisle, and Thanet, Sir Francis Burdett, and Mr, Grattan,
singing vespers.
Pitt's budget was n'jt allowed to pass witbout severe remarks,
and a heavily increased luty on salt excited general dissatisfac
tion. People said tbat ,when the grand contriver of taxes bad
visited every corner ofthe bouse above stairs,be had now descended
B B 2

6i-.

TAX ON SALT.

ElLLT IN THB SALT-BOX.

into tiie kitchen ; and one of tbe caricatures published at this
period, represents the
premier alarming the
poor cook by popping
bis bead out ofthe salt-
box, witb tbe unex
pected salutation —
" How do you do,
cook-e3'?" Tbe person
thus apostrophised cries
out in consternation,
'¦ Curse the fellow, how
be has frightened me I
— -I think, in my beart, be is getting in everywhere ! — who the
deuce w-ould have thought of finding bim in tbe salt-box ?"
One only incident occurred to cheer the minister in bis painful
struggle to carry out bis plans, and that was one of an unusual
character in tbe political warfare of former days. When an
attempt, in bis absence, was made to implicate Pitt in the
charges of malversation brought against Lord Melville, Fox
generously stood forward in his defence, and bore testimon3' of
bis high opinion of the personal integrity ofthe premier. Some
said that -this indicated in Fox a wish to be allowed to share in
tbe pleasures of office, a sentiment which is exhibited in a cari
cature published by GUlray on the 21st of June, under tbe title
of " Political Candour; i. e. Coalition Eesolutions of June 14,
^S°-5'" In the midst of tbis parliamentary strife at home, our invete
rate enemy Buonaparte had made the last grand step in his
politioal ambition. He was proclaimed emperor of the French,
under the title of Napoleon I., on tbe 20th of May, 1804, and
crowned in Paris witb extraordinary ceremonies on tbe 2nd of
December following. A few days before this latter event, on
the 26th of November, Gillray rejoiced all loyal volunteers, who
bated tbe very name of tbe new sovereign, witb a caricature,
entitled " The Genius of France nursing her Darling," in which
tbe genius is represented in tho form of a veritable poissarde,
ber garments stained witb blood, and ber spear, dripping with
gore, supported against tbe wall. A picture of the head of Louis
XVI. is thrown on one side. Tho lady is tossing Napoleon,
armed with his sceptre, as a child in one band, and endeavour
ing to pacify his cries for a rattle surmounted witb a crown,
which she holds in tbe otber. She sings a parody on the old
nursery rhyme, —

NAPOLEON CONQUERS THE AUSTRIANS. 613
" There 'a a little King Pippin I
He shall have a rattle and crown !
Bless thy five wits, my baby !
Mind it don't throw itself down.
Hey, my kitten, my kitten. T'
The same caricaturist published, on the ist of January, 1805, a
large burlesque print of " The Grand Coronation Procession."
From tbis time, during several months, caricatures on tbe 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 danger ; 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 bimself to tbe whole of Europe, Measures, bowever,
were now in active preparation for disputing with the new pre
tender to tbe insignia of sovereignty bis claims to the share
which he tbus arrogated to bimself. In the course of tbe sum
mer a tbird 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 tbe title of "Tom Thumb at bay ;
or, tbe Sovereigns of the Forest roused at last ;" Napoleon, flying
from tbe eagle of Austria, tbe Russian bear, and the Westphaliau
pig, and dropping his crown and sceptre in his fiight, is rushing
into tbe open jaws of the Britisb lion. In tbe distance the
Dutchman is tbrowing off his yoke, and advising Spain and
Portugal to do tbe same, and still further off is seen the British
fleet riding triumphant on the sea. The new war on the con
tinent only led Napoleon to new victories ; after the Austrians
bad experienced several defeats, General Mack made a dishonour
able surrender of Ulm to the French on the i7tb of October,
and thus laid open the Austrian empire to the invaders. Only
four days after this disastrous event, on tbe 21st of October, tbe
combined French and Spanish fleets were utterly destroyed in
tbe memorable battle of Trafalgar, But tbe French army con
tinued its victorious career ; on the I4tli of November Napoleon
made bis entry into Vienna ; and the 2nd of December was fought
the fatal battle of Austerlitz, which compelled tbe Russians to
retreat and tbe Austrians to submit to a bumiliating peace.
The caricatures on these momentous events have little merit,
and are scarcely worth enumerating. On the 23rd of January,
1806, when Napoleon had begun bis system of king-making with
his kings of Wirtemberg and Bavaria, Gillray produced one of a

6i4 DEATH OF PITT.
superior cbaracter, under tbe title of " Tiddy Doll, the great
gingerbread baker, drawing out a new batch of kings, bis man,
hopping Talley, mixing up tbe dough," Talleyrand, wbo was
short of one leg, is employed as tbus described, while bis master,
Napoleon, as baker, is drawing from the oven a batch of ginger
bread kings, A number of figures scattered over the bakehouse
represent tbe melancholy condition of Europe at tbis period.
On a board on one side stands a number of " little dough vice
roys intended for tbe next new batch," on whicb 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 tbe autumn and
winter, and parliament met on tbe 21st of January, 1806, only to
witness bis 'death, which occurred on the 231-d. A new opening
was thus made for tbe intrigues of parties, and tbe task of forming
a ministry was not an easy one. The King still detested the
name of Fox ; but after several persons bad refused to take the
responsibility of forming a ministry, among wbom were Lord
Hawkesbury, Lord Sidmouth, and, it is said, the Marquis Wel-
lesley, be was at length obliged to tbrow himself on the Gren
villes and Foxites, and consented to tbe formation of the com
prehensive coalition ministry, wbich became known by the title
of " All the Talents." In -this ministry, the formation of wbich
-was announced on tbe 4tb of February, Lord Grenville was first
Lord of the Treasu!-3' ; Fox, Secretary for Foreign Affairs ; Lord
Sidmouth, Lord Priv3' 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 tbe minor places, Sheridan, wbo 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 again.st this " broad-bottomed"
ministry was very great. An anonymous print, published on
the 2otb of February, represents the King making a bowl of
punch from a number of bottles, each bearing tbe face of one or
otber of tbe members of this strange coalition : he says, .
" Though the ingredients, taken separately, may not be pleasing
\o every palate, yet, wben mixed together, tbey may go down

FOX AS MINISTER. 615
witb a tolerable relish." On tbe same day, GUlray published a
humorous caricature entitied, "Making decent; i. e. Broad
Bottomites getting into the Grand Costume ;" in whicb most of
the new ministers, wbo had long been out of office, are repre
sented as dressing tbemselves for presentation at court. On tbe
5tb of March, the same artist published a caricature entitled,
" More pigs tban teats ; or, tbe 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
tbe fear tbat there will soon be nothing left for " Boney," if be
come. Another of GiUray's caricatures, pubbsbed on tbe 14th
of March, and entitled, "A tub for the whale," represents the
crew of^the "Broad-bottom packet," tbrowing out a tub to
amuse the whale tbat pursues tbem, (public opinion,) whicb is
spouting out " ridicule" and " contempt ;" the sun of Whig
government is setting, and a broom at the mast-bead indicates
tbat tbe vessel is for sale. Another, by the same artist, on tbe
5tb of April, under tbe title of " Pacific overtures ; or, a flight
from St. Cloud's ' over tbe water to Charley,' " burlesques tbe
attempt at negotiations for peace with Prance, provoked by
Napoleon bimself, but overthrown by bis extravagant pretensions.
It is described as "a new dra.xa3.ti0 peace, now rehearsing," and
implies a somewhat unmerited censure on the Whigs. Fox, as
minister, shewed no inclination to sacriflce the honour of his
country, in these futile negotiations. On tbe 21st of April
GUlray founded a caricature on a declaration by Fox that his
place was not a bed of roses ; which be entitled, " Comforts of
a bed of roses ; vide, Charles's elucidation of Lord Castlereagb's
speech! — a nightly scene near Cleveland Row." Fox and his
wife are asleep in bed, when Napoleon is attacking the minister
in tbe midst of bis slumber ; the ghost of Pitt rouses bim —
" Awake ! awake ! or be for ever fallen !"
Tbe moderation which bad lately characterized Fox's senti
ments, was accounted for by some by supposing that be had fallen
under tbe influence of Lord Grenville ; in fact, Lord Grenville,
tbey thought, bad tamed tbe bear. A caricature by Gillray,
published on the i9tb of May, was entitled " Tbe bear and bis
leader," and represented Lord GrenvUle 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, witb a patch
on one eye, acts as fiddler, and M. A. Taylor sustains tbe
cbaracter of tbe monkey.

6i6 UNPOPULARITY OF THE MINISTRY.
Tbe necessity under which Fox, who bad so severely criticised
tbe acts of former ministers in this respect, found bimself of

THE BEAE AND HIS LEADEH.
increasing the burthen of taxation, completed the unpopularity .
of tbe new ministry. Two caricatures by GiUray, pubbsbed on
tbe 9tb and 28th of May, have reference to tbis 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
fiice of Lord Henry Petty,
Fox's Chancellor of tbe Ex
chequer, adorns tbe foun
tain from which the flood
of taxation issues ; and a
numerous herd of placemen,
in the likeness of so man3'
cormorants, are greedily
snatching at the loaves and
fishes. In the second of
these caricatures, whicb is
entitied, " The ' Friend of
the People ' and his Petty
new Tax-gatherer paying
John Bull a visit," Fox
and Lord Henry Petty, with
a terrible book of new
John T?i>11 *,i,„i, I- i I.- , ^^^^^' ^^^^ tl'eir caU on
John Bull, who has shut up his shop (which is announced "ta

TAX OATHEEEES.

WHIG TAXES. 617
let") and removed his famil3'- to the first floor, from motives of
economy. Lord Henry Petty knocks, and raises tbe cry,
"Taxes! taxes! taxes!" to which John BuU responds from
the window above, " — Taxes ! taxes ! taxes ! — why bow am I
to get money to pay them all ? I shall very soon have neither
a bouse nor bole to put my head in." The man ofthe people,
little touched by this appeal, shouts to bim, "A bouse to put
your head in ? — why what tbe devil should you want witb 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 tbe
cellar ? — Taxes must be bad, Johnny- — come, down witb j'our
cash ! — it's all for tbe good of your dear country !"
Tbe proceedings on Lord Melville's impeachment drew otber
caricatures on the Foxites, and, of course, more especially on
Whitbread, wbo 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 2otb of June, 'm. a caricature by Gillray,
entitled, " Bruin in his boat, or tbe 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 28tb of July, under tbe title of
"Visiting tbe Sick," represents Fox on bis couch of death,
insulted by some, mourned over by a few, while many are
rejoicing at tbe prospect of getting rid of him. On the ist of
September, when every one was aware that tbe minister bad but
few days to live, Gillray ridiculed bis attempts at negotiating for
peace in a caricature entitled, " Westminster Conscripts under
the training act," in whicb Fox appears as drummer to his
awkward squad, and Lord Lauderdale, his ambassador, is a
Scottish dove, bearing tho insulting " terms of peace " for bis
olive branch. On tbe 13th of September, Charles James Fox
followed bis great rival to tbe grave, doubling the irretrievable
void whicb bad already been felt on the political stage. On the
very day of bis death, Gillray published a new caricature, in
which bis negotiations for peace were again incidentally turned
to ridicule ; it is entitled, " News from Calabria ; capture of
Buenos Ayres ; i. e. tbe 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
whicb he is said to have been subject under contradiction or
disappointment : tbe cause on this occasion is an accumulation
of bad news from different parts of the world ; the breakfast-
table is kicked over ; tbe hot water thrown on the empress, who
is losing her crown in tbe first start of consternation.

^i8 THE DEATH OF FOX.
The death of Fox produced no immediate change in tbe
ministry of any importance. He was succeeded as Foreign
secretary by Lord Howick (Grey), wbo was now tbe true
representative of Fox's principles. Mr. T. Grenville sueceeded
Lord Howick as first lord of the Admiralty ; Sidmouth became
president of tbe Council in place of Lord Fitzwilliam, wbo had
resigned, and was succeeded as keeper of the Privy Seal by Lord
Holland, tbe only new member introduced into tbe cabinet.
For reasons wbich are not very evident, an immediate dissolution
of Parliament was resolved upon, and tbe new elections were
not altogether favourable to ministers, who, moreover, had
never enjoyed the confidence of tbe King. Tbe most remarkable
of tbe elections were tbose for Middlesex and Westminster,
whicb produced a considerable number of caricatures, besides
multitudes of politioal squibs of all descriptions. Gillray
published not less tban balf-a-dozen caricatures on tbis occasion.
Sir Francis Burdett figured prominently in botb elections, — be
was beaten at Brentford by tbe Court candidate (for be was in
opposition), and at Covent Garden be supported bis radical
friend, Paul, against Sheridan and Lord Hood, who had formed
a coalition against bim. Tbe first of Gillray's caricatures is
entitled the " Triumphant procession of little Paul tbe tailor
upon his new goose;" Burdett was usually caricatured by bis
opponents under the form of a goose; he is here led in a noose
by Home Tooke, and urged forwards witb a kick from Cobbett
behind. His second, published on tbe i8tb of November,
represented Sheridan and Hood tossing Paul iu the coalition
blanket, and was -entitled, " Tbe bigh-fiying candidate (i.e.,
little Paul Goose) mounting from a blanket." A tbird carica
ture by Gillray, is a very spirited sketch entitled " Posting to
tbe Election; a scene on the road to Brentford, Nov. 1806."
Each of tbe 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 ; bung to the horse's side is a pannier of " Subscrip
tion malt and hops from the Whitbread brewery ;" in bis pocket
a manuscript entitled, " Neck or Nothing, a new coalition." A
kick of tbe horse behind is overthrowing Paul from his
donkey. On tbe other side, rapidly gaining ahead of them, is
Mr. MeUish, one of tbe victorious candidates for Middlesex,
driven by Lord Grenville in a coach and four, bebind whicb, as
footmen, stand the Marquis of Buckingham, Lord Temple, and
Lord Castlereagb. They are followed close by Mr. Byng, in a

SHERIDAN AND HOOD.

6lQ

post-chaise drawn by two spirited hacks ; be represents the old
Whig interest, and has a wooden bust of Fox on the box before
him. Lasticomes Burdett, in a cart slowly dragged through a
pool of muddy water by four donkeys ; behind him in the cart

A COALITION OP CANDIDATES.
are Home Tooke, Mr. Bosville (one of the very active
radicals ofthe day), aud Cobbett, wbo is acting as drummer,
witb bis "Political Register" 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 ofthe Hustings in Covent
Garden," published by Gillray on
the i5tb of December, represents
Hood and Sheridan browbeaten by
the mob-eloquence of tbeir opponent
Paul ; Whitbread is encouraging
and consoling Sheridan witb a pot
of porter. A fifth caricature on
tbis subject, published by Gillray
in December, is entitled, " Peter
and Paul expelled from Paradise ;"
they are on their way to Wimble- a eadioal deummbk.
don, where Tooke resided, and their
condition is intimated by a parody on MUton, —

620 DISMISSAL OF THE " TALENTS."
" The world waa all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Parson Tooke their guidn."
No measures could now save tbe present ministry long, for
tbe King had already determined tbey should go out, and only
waited for an occasion for dismissing them. This was furnished
in March, 1807, by a bUl proposed by Lord Grenville for the
relief of the Roman Catholics in Ireland. Tbe King announced
bis intention of changing bis ministers about the middle of
March ; be appears to have carried on private negotiations be
fore tbat time, or even before the opportunity for tbe blow was
given ; but it was not till tbe beginning of April that the new
ministry was definitely formed. It consisted of tbe Duke of
Portland, first lord of tbe treasury ; Lord Hawkesbury, home
secretary ; George Canning, secretary for foreign affairs ; Lord
Castlereagb, 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
Batburst, 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 tbe chief.
The court, in making tbis change, adopted the tactics so
often used witb success before, of raising an agitation against
the Whigs, by stirring up popular prejudices. The cry of "No
popery !" was raised again, and witb good effect ; and a host of
new caricatures came out to ridicule the broad-bottomed admi
nistration of "All the Talents." On tbe 23rd of March, Gillray
represented tbe King kicking out his old ministry ver3' 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 4tb of AprU, under
the title of " The Protestant St. George too much for all the
Tallons ; or. The beast witb seven beads," represents the King
encountering bis ministerial hydra, while Mrs. Fitzberbert is
seen behind lamenting over its defeat, and the prince is making
bis escape to hide himself, A caricature published by GiUray,
on the 1 8th of April, represented King George as John Bull's
farmer, driving the herd of rapacious pigs out of bis sty — it is
entitled " The pigs possessed ; or, the broad-bottomed litter
running headlong into the sea of perdition." The artist had
already, on tbe 6th of April, celebrated tbe demise of the
ministry in a humorous caricature, entitled " The funeral pro
cession of Broad-bottom." About the same time, GUlray pub--
ishcd a clever caricature, entitled "Charon's boat; or, the

THE POLITICAL ICARUS. 621
ghosts of All tbe 'Talents taking their last voyage." The boat,
with Earl St. Vincent at the helm, is heavil3' 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 tho
clouds are the three fatal sisters who bad joined in cutting the
thread of tbe broad-bottomed cabinet, bearing the figures of
Lord Hawkesbury, Lord Castlereagb, and George Canning, In
another caricature, published on the 28tb 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 be had provided bimself, while in office, witb a small per
quisite, to the amount of between one and two thousand pounds'
worth of stationery. This story was tbe subject of many jokes
and epigrams. Under tbe title of " The fall of Icarus," Gillray
represents Lord Temple attempting to fiy away with wings made
of the quills be bad tbus appropriated to bimself, but the wax
being melted by tbe sun (exhibiting the face of King George),
the adventurer is falling in a very perilous posture on " a s'take
from tbe jiublic 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 !"
'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 tbe new administration. Immense sums of money were
expended on tbe elections, and the country was agitated in the
most violent planner. Westminster was again tbe scene of a
turbulent contest. Burdett, who bad quarrelled witb bis old
fellow-radical Paul, after the election of the year preceding, to
sucb a degree that it ended in a duel in which both were
wounded, now offered bimself as a candidate against bim at tbe
election, and was placed at tbe head of the poll. He was again
backed by Home Tooke, and a caricature, published in May,
represented the Brentford parson carrying tbe successful candi-
* This alludes to an incident iu 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 had 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 THB HEAD OF THE POLL.

date at the end of hii pole, and exhibiting bim to tbe crowd col
lected in Covent Garden ;
it is entitled " Tbe head of
the Poll ; or, tbe Wimble
don Showman and his Pup
pet," Tooke exhibits bim
as "the finest puppet in
tbe world, gentlemen, en
tirely of my own forma
tion, I bave only to say
the word, and he'll do any
thing," Gillray adopted
the same pun in a carica
ture published on tbe 2otb
of May, under the title of
" Election Candidates ; or,
the republican Goose at the
top pf the pole." Tbe four
candidates, Burdett, Lord
Cochrane, Sheridan, and
Paul, are climbing tbe election pole ; Burdett, as a goose, is
percbed on the top, where be is held by the assistance of the
evil one ; next below bim is Lord Cochrane, then Sheridan, and,
finally, Paul, wbo, having missed bis grasp, comes tumbling to
the* ground.
Tbe Tories, now in power, attacked tbe foreign policy of tbeir
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. GUlray, 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 tbe numerous new
kings lately raised into existence by Napoleon, 'The Marquis of
Buckingham, Lord GrenvUle, and Lord Lauderdale are demo
lishing the royal oak, whUe 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 tbe royal pippin-tree in Napoleon's band is seen tbe
bead of Lord Moira,
Tbe war bad not, bowever, been inglorious to England,
although aUiance after alliance had been broken up, and all the
great powers of the continent had not only been separated from
us, but tbey had been obliged to turn against us. Nevertheless,
the battle of Maida, in tbe simmer of 1806, had broken the

JOHN BULL AND THE CORSICAN.

623

spell which bad made people believe tbat the Frencb armies
were invincible ; and victory continued to attend our fleets in
every part of tbe world. It was in 1807 tbat Napoleon begar.
to shew his designs upon Spain,
and commenced the war which
first brought bim in direct con
tact witb Britisb armies,' and
contributed so much to his
final overthrow, InEnglandthe
terrors of " invasion" bad given
way to a feeling of triumph
and exultation in our position
in tbe war. On tbe first day
of tbe year 1807 appeared a
caricature representing John
Bull grasping the " little Cor
sican" as a fiddle, and playing
upon bim witb bis sword, to
the tune of " Britons, strike
bome !" it is entitled, " John
Bull playing on tbe base vil
lain." Caricatures in tbis
spirit began now to be fre
quent ; and tbe numerous
prizes brougbt in by our ships,
during the very period at
which the French emperor expected to ruin us by setting tbe
wbole continent against
us, animated tbe English
people to new exertions
and new sacrifices. Among
the caricatures published
at tbis period, was oue
by Woodward, which ap
peared on tbe 27tb of No
vember, 1807, soon after
tbe British order of coun
cil placing all France
under blockade, in answer
to Napoleon's Berlin de
cree ; it is entitled, " Tbe
continental dockyard. "
On one side of the Chan
nel is " Tbe GaUic store-

JOHN BULL TURNED PIDDLBE.

MASTEE AND MAN.

624

THE CONTINENTAL DOCKYARD.

bouse 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 !" Tbe shipwright, aghast, replies, " Please you, my

JOHN BULL AND HIS INDUSTIIIOUS SEEVANTS.
grand Erapereur, tes no use vatever ; as fast as ve do build dem,
he vas clap dem in his storehouse over de way," On tbe other
side ofthe water stands John Bull's storehouse full of captured
ships, with John himself surrounded by his industrious tars,
whom be addresses, " I say, my lads, if be 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. A.ND THE EEGENCY.
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.
THE prospects of England under tbe 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 tbe time
wben we should have to prepare for an invasion under much ,
greater disadvantages tban iu 1803, Few months had passed
since the formation of the cabinet, wben Russia, which declared
war against England on tbe ist of December, leagued witb
France, and was added to the list of- our enemies. In the course
of 1808 tbe French occupied Spain, and invaded Portugal.
Austria rose up in indignation at the bumiliating treatment she
received from the French emperor in tbe spring of 1 809 ; but
within four months her territory was overrun by tbe victorious
armies of her enemy, and sbe was compelled to accept a still
more humiliating peace.
Tbe nation in general, bowever, felt no discouragement, and
people indulged more than ever in coarse ridicule on the person
and pretensions of the Emperor of the French. Tbe caricatures
became now so numerous, that in the course of a few years tbeir
titles alone would fill a volume. Gillray's labours in tbis line
closed with the year 1809. On tbe lotb 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 1 — Glorious Prospects !" The minis
ters, full of wine and punch, are sunk in slumber, under tbe
shade of vvhioh splendid visions break in upon tbem, Britannia
and ber lion occupy a triumphal car, formed of tbe bull of a
Britisb 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, wbile a crowd of English soldiers and sailors escort and
welcome ber. On tbe nth of July of tbe same year, when
B B

626 THE TRIUMPH OF BRITANNIA.
Napoleon, by the basest treachery, had plunged himself into the
fatal Spanish war, be was represented by Gil]ra3' as a luckless
" matador," engaged in a Spanish bull-fight ; be has already
broken bis sword in the animal's flank, but witb onl3' partial
effect, and bis infuriated opponent is tossing him witb his horns
aud goring bim to death. The spectators in the gallery' are the

BEITANNIA TEIUMPHANT.

different sovereigns of Europe, among wbom King George of
England appeai-s to take most interest in tbe combat. Another
caricature on foreign affairs was published by Gillray on the
24th of September, under tbe title of " Tbe Valley of the
Shadow of Death," Napoleon is represented, witb tbe Russian
bear at his command, entering the fearful vale, wbei-e his pro
gress is arrested by tbe British lion, the Sicilian terrier, and the
Portuguese wolf, wbo are urged on by Death mounted on a
horse of the "royal Spanish breed;" others of tbe European
states appear as monsters ready to beset bim 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 — tbe Rowlandsons,
AVoodwards, Cruikshanks, and their companions — under whom
the taste for tbese productions was not allowed to diminish.
Prom tbeir bands our foreign enemies were assailed witb nume
rous caricatures dming this and the following year. As the
power of Napoleon seemed to become more firmly established,
these became more insulting ; aud no event produced a greater
number tban his divorce and bis marriage witb tbe arch-duchess,
but tbey 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 bave envoys intriguing at Constantinople, and in Syria
and Egypt. Oue of tbe best of tbe anonymous caricatures of

NAPOLEON SURPRISED. 627
che year 1808 was published on the 9tb of July, under the titie
of" Boney bothered; or, an unexpected Meetmg." Tbe hero
thinks tbat be has made bis way through the gbbe unperceived,
and suddenly starts forth and places bis foot upon Bengal, but
in bis dismay at finding John Bull there before bim, he drops

¦«l-5^

AH UNEXPECTED HEBTINO.

his sword and bis " plan of operations in tbe East Indies," and
exclaims, " Beg-ar, Monsieur Jean Bull again ! — ^Vat, you know
I vas come here ?" His sturdy opponent, who has bis pocket
full of letters of "secret intelbgence," 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."
Tbe ministry of 1807 bad other and greater difficulties to
contend against than the embarrassments of foreign affairs. It
bad sueceeded 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 imanimity, tbat they are said to bave disagreed almost
as soon as they were brought together. The success of the cry
of "no popery," whicb bad been spread abroad witb extraordi
nary zeal, and tbe fear of our enemies abroad, bad ensured tbem
a majority in Parbament ; but the opposition was stUl strong,
botb from the questions it bad to work upon, and from tbe
number of small parties wbo, included in tbe proscription of the
S S 2

628 ELIJAHS MANTLE.
"broad bottoms," were willing to join in embarrassing those
who kept tbem from office, on whatever question the attack
might be based. Out of doors the dissatistaction was increas
ing, people became more clamorous and more riotous, and the
radical party was gaining ground rapidly. We can only briefiy
trace tbe struggle of parties in a few of the more striking of the
caricatures to which it gave rise. The satire of GUlray was now
invariably directed against tbe opposition. On the 22nd of
March, 1808, in a caricature entitled "Phaeton alarmed," he
represented Canning as tbe political Phaeton, setting the world
on fire by driving too near "the sun of Anti-Jacobinism," The
heavens are filled witb threatening constellations, — here Leo
Britannicus disturbs bim by bis roar ; tbere the Duke of Nor
folk, under the figure of Silenus, threatens bim with bis 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, witb 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 Hawkesbur3' (now Lord Liverpool), Mr. Perceval, Lord
Castlereagb, and Lord Eldon. Neptune looks aghast on the
scene of devastation. Pitt, in the character of Apollo, is rising
to tbe rescue ; and Fox, as Pluto, is taking a peep from the
shades. On tbe 2nd of May, under the title of " Broad-bottom
drones storming the hive ; wasps, hornets, and bumble bees join
ing in tbe attack," Gillray represented the Treasury as the
royal hive, witb its honey-pots filled witb gold ; tbe industrious
bees wbo are in office rush out boldly to defend tbeir pleasant
quarters from tbe crowd of assailants, wbose difference of colour
and method of opposition is represented by tbeir division into
drones, wasps, hornets, and bumble-bees. In AprU, he had
published a caricature entitled, " The Constitutional squad (e. 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 tbey aimed at tbe introduc
tion of popery. Mrs. Fitzberbert was again brougbt on the
stage ; and it was intimated that, through ber influence, the
Prince of Wales, who still supported the Whigs, had been
induced to favour tbe claims of the Catholics for relief. The
suspicion of a tendency towards Rome, thus raised, remained

REFORM AGITATION. 629
years afterwards attached to tbe prince in the belief of a con
siderable portion of English society. Several caricatures, whicb
appeared about tbis time, represented the opposition as led by
the prince, Mrs. Fitzberbert, and the pope. On tbe 25tb of
June, 1808, appeared a bold and clever print by Gillray, en
titled, " Disciples catching tbe mantle; tbe spirit of darkness
overshadowing- the priests of Baal." On one side the ministers
are seen standing round " Tbe 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 flery chariot,
and tbey are receiving bis mantle. The opposition, on tbe other
side, are scattered in confusion and dismay on the " broad-bottom
dunghill," wbere the spirit of Fox, in tbe shape of a fiend, is
hiding tbem under bis cloak ; Lord GrenvUle is getting into
" Chariey's old breeches."
During the following year (1809) a number of unfortunate
occurrences, tbe mismanagement of tbe Spanish war, tbe reve
lations of Mrs. Clarke, and above all the expedition to Wal-
cheren, strengthened the opposition and embarrassed the court.
The ministers were irritated at tbe pertinacity of tbe attacks to
whicb tbey were exposed within doors and witbout, and they
retaliated by more frequent prosecutions for political writings or
speeches. Tbis method of lacing tbe danger only made the
evil worse, and the cry for reform soon took a form too threat
ening to be disregarded. Tbe Tory party continued to tell
people tbat reform was only another name for republicanism, but
people would no longer believe it, now that they were relieved
from the fears of Freuch propagandism. Gillray published ou
the I4tb 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 bis supporter Cobbett, are represented
as so many incendiaries burning tbe records of the rights and
privileges of Englishmen, while the mob are busily destroying
Westminster Hall and tbe 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 tbey took of him, were tbe last political works of
Gillray ; and it is not an unimportant sign of tbe times,
tbat most of tbe numerous caricaturists who sprang up to
supply bis place took tbe 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. Tbe enforcing tbe standing orders
against the admission of strangers during tbe inquiry concerning
the Walcberen expedition bad given great offence to tbe 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 tbe public from its debates,
and tbe bouse 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 tbe bouse, and afterwards
published it witb an equally intemperate letter to his con
stituents in Cobbett's Weekly Register, This was a much more
gross attack upon tbe House of Commons tban anytbing that
had been said in tbe debating society, and seemed intended only
to stir up the most violent passions of tbe populace. The
House of Commons voted Sir Francis into the Tower, and
the Speaker issued a warrant for bis apprehension ; but be shut
himself up in his house in Piccadilly, and barricaded it for a

JOHN BULL ENJOYING THE SUNSHINE,
siege, and tben set the Speaker and tbe House of Commons at
defiance. Inflammatory placards were displaj'ed in every part
of the town, an immense mob collected, it was found necessary
to bring out the military, and for several days tbe metropolis
presented scenes of riot and violence sucb as bad rarely
been seen. Some persons were killed, and tbe jury, under the
strong influence' of party feeling, .brought a verdict of guilty
against the military, Burdett, bowever, was at last secured in
the Tower, wbere be remained till tbe close of the session
of parliament, wben 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 tbe populace tban be was beforo.
One of tbe political squibs of the day announced that " on
Thursday, June tbe 21st (the period for the prorogation of par
liament), or near tbat time, tbe sun of patriotism will emerge
from tbe region of darkness in the east, and again cheer the
inhabitants of tbe west witb tbe warmth of bis rays, tbe malig
nant planets will, for some time at least, lose their baleful
influence under the cloud which ought to obscure tbem for ever."
A caricature, apparently by Woodward, entitled, " Genial rays ;
or, John Bull enjoying tbe 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
centui-3'-, Tbis singular personification of Old England seems to
bave been brougbt into existence by tbe admirable political
satire of Pope's friend, Dr, Arbutbnot, For a long time
Britannia and her lion were tbe only national representatives in
the caricatures, and John Bull hardly took a pictorial form
before tbe time of Gillray. It was in bis bands tbat be became
tbe plump, sleek, good-humoured individual we are at present in
tbe habit of beholding. In tbe first attempts at representing
bim, he had none of these characteristics. Different artists of a
later period, wbile they gave bim more
or less individuality, according to their
own style and sentiments, still kept
the general cbaracter whicb be had
received from Gillray's pencil. Thus
Rowlandson pictured bim witb tbat
coarse and vulgar air whicb cha
racterizes all his drawings, and for which
tbat artist migbt not unaptly be termed
tbe Reubens of Caricature. The type of
John Bull, according to Rowlandson's
idea of him, here given, is taken from
a caricature of tbat artist, entitled
" The Head of the FamUy in Good-
humour." An amusing caricature,
entitled "John Bull come to tbe john bull a la eowlandson.
Bone," perhaps by Woodward, and
published at the time of the peninsular war, wben John was
suffering heavily from tbe burthen of taxation, represents bim as
.reduced to poverty which is accompanied by a great reduo-

632

THE WALCHEREN EXPEDITION.

He still, however, retains
oak." In this condition

tion of bis personal appearance.
bis stick of good "Wellington
be is accosted by the Frenchman, who exults in tbe belief
tbat bis poverty has almost made bim 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 bave a little sprig of oak
in my band that 's as strong as ever;
and if you give me any of your palaver,
I 'U be d — d if you shan't feel the
weight of it."
The Walcberen expedition had the
almost immediate effect of breaking up,.
or at least of dividing, tbe 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 Castlereagb are said to bave
been personally jealous of eacb other
JOHN BULL EATHEE THIN. fQj,jn ^hc first. 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 tbe administra
tion. Mr. Perceval and Lord Liverpool remained, who made an
ineffectual attempt to form a coalition with Lord GrenviUe 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 tlie Duke of Portland's place of president of the
council along with his own, Lord Liverpool took the place of
Lord Castlereagb as secretary of war, and tbe Hon. R. Ryder was
appointed home secretary.
Tbe disastrous results of tbe Walcberen 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 afflietion, brought on, at tbe end of October, 181O/ R

DECLINE OF NAPOLEON.

633

new attack of insanity, from which be never recovered. The
Parliament met on tbe ist of November under the same embar
rassing circumstances as in 1788, and a bill of regency was now
brougbt 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 tbe 8th of February, 1811, the
Prince of Wales was formally installed as Prince Regent. This
event produced ou tbe whole less sensation than might have been

A FALLEN HEEO,
expected, certainly much less tban it would have done wben Pitt
and Fox were alive and in their vigour.
Contrary to people's expectations, tbe
regent retained tbe ministers whom
be found in office, and he afterwards
separated bimself from the Whigs.
The successes of tbe peninsular t.
war were now filling tbe country
with exultation, and caricatures
against the Frencb and against Na
poleon were becoming more numerous
than ever. Burlesques on tbeir 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
I oth of July, 1813, under the title
of " A Scene after the battie of Vit-
toria ; or, more Trophies for White-
ball," The Russian campaign, and
tbe disastrous retreat, were still more
fertile in subjects for satire and
burlesque. Jack Frost and his mer-
eiless allies, the Cossacks, are represented taking their revenge

SNUFFING OUT.

634

NAPOLEON IN ELBA.

on tbe invader in every possible manner. In one by George
Cruikshank, published on tbe ist of May, 1814, tbe commander
of tbe latter is represented very unceremoniously "snuffing out
Boney."— Cruiksbank was tbe great caricaturist of this period.
The English bad now fought tbeir way through Spain, and
entered tbe Frencb territory on the soutb, while the allies
advanced on all sides upon Paris from tbe nortb, and tbey entered
tbe Frencb capital in triumph on tbe last day of March. Among
the numerous caricatures celebrating these events, one, published
on the 9th of April, represents " Blucher the brave extracting the
groan of abdication from tbe Corsican Bloodhound." The abdica
tion and tbe departure for Elba, were celebrated witb a mass of
pictorial exultation. The caricatures of tbis period appear under
such titles as " Bloody Boney tbe carcass-butcher left off trade
and retiring to Scarecrow Island ;" "The
Rogue's March," exhibiting the impe
rial culprit drummed out of his kingdom, .
while tbe kings of Europe are sbewing
tbeir joy by dancing round a political
May-pole ; " A grand Manoeuvre ; or,
tbe Rogue'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 25tb of April, 1814,
and is entitled " Nap dreading bis doleful
doom ; or, bis grand entry into the Isle
of Elba." Tbe exile has just landed,
and receives no great encouragement in
the coarse physiognomy and manners of
tbe inhabitants, who rush from the hills
in crowds to welcome him. Witb any
tbing but joy in bis countenance, be exclaims, " Ah ! woe is me !
seeing what I bave and seeing what I see!" A beauty of the
island offers bim consolation in tbe 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, wben he left tbe narrow
limits of his island, reappeared in France, and entered Paris in
triumph. Europe again resounded witb tbe 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, tbe great and deci
sive battle of Waterloo consigned bim to tbe prison of St.
Helena,

A DOa CAUGHT.

UNPOPULARITY OF THE REGENT. 63^
We will only allude briefiy to tbe subsequent history. Tbe
Prince-Regent bad already rendered bimself extremely un
popular at home by bis selfish love of indulgence, by bis ex
travagance, and, above all, by his treatment of his wife. When

A EECEPTION AT ELBA.
tne Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia visited tbis
country, after the restoration of the Bourbons in 18 14, numer
ous caricatures, songs, and squibs contrasted tbe soberness and
activity of the foreign monarchs with the voluptuous life of tbe
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 atorie.
Thoae from the North great Warriors be,
And warriors they have in their corapanie.
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 auch goodly companie ;
For to say what his usual consorts be.
Would make but a pitiful storie,"

636

TAXATION AND REFORM.

People's minds were now left at liberty to contemplate the
condition of tbe country at bome, and they began to be more
and more alarmed at tbe fearful weight of taxation with which
it was burthened. Increasing dissatisfaction and distress pro
duced louder cries, and tbe financial sins of ministers were visited
with caricatures and satires, as well as witb the severer com
ments of radical journals and pamphlets. The tax on soap in
1816, is celebrated in a caricature, published on the 2 ist of June,
representing a scene in a wash-bouse, wbere tbe merry figure of

A MINISTEE IN THE SUDS.

the minister, Vansittart, issues from a tub of suds, to tbe great
astonishment of tbe 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, wben all tbe excitement
which supported bim in that policy bad long died away ; and
they went on increasing tbe general discontent by a stUl more
rigorous system of resistance to popular complaints and by an
increase of political prosecutions. The period of tbe 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 tbat 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 tbe place in mob popularity wbich bad before been held
by Burdett. A caricature, published in July, 1819, entitled,
" The Smithfield Parliament ; *. e. universal suffrage — the new
speaker addressing tbe members," represents Hunt with the
head of eu &»n) mounted ou a eart, and addressing an imments

COSTUME. 637
assemblage of cattle, sheep, pigs, donkeys, and other cquall3i
sapient animals, " I shall be ambi
tious, indeed, if I thought my bray
would be beard by tbe immense and
respectable multitude I have tbe
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 tbe few
years immediately preceding and fol
lowing it, English society went
througb a remarkably rapid change ;
a change, as far as we can see, of a
decidedly favourable kind. In social
condition and cbaracter, public senti
ment and public morals, literature, and
science, were all improved. As the vio
lent internal agitation of tbe country
during tbe regency increased the num
ber of political caricatures and satirical writings, so tha succ
sion of fashions, varying in extra
vagance, whicb characterized tbe
same period, produced a greater
number of caricatures on dress
and on fashionable manners, tban
bad been seen at any previous
period. During the first twelve or
fifteen years of tbe present century,
the general character of the cos
tume appears not to bave under
gone any great change. The two
figures here given, which represent
tbe mode iu 1810, may be com
pared witb tbose of 1803, given on
a former page. The principal dif
ference consists in tbe change of
tbe wide cravat, for a very large
shirt collar, in the gentleman ; and,
in tbe lady, the excess of covering
to her person. Between cap, bonnet,.
collar, and friU, even their faces are
nearly concealed ; and it is probably
for this reason that tbey are termed in the original print.
"invisibles."

INVISIBLES.

638

THE DANDIES.

jr^<-^-'

A few years later the fashionable costume furnished an
extraordinary contrast with tbat just represented. The waist
was again shortened, as well as tbe frock and petticoat, and,
instead of concealment, it seemed to be the aim of the
ladies to exhibit to view as much of tbe body as possible. The
fops of 1 8 19 and 1820 received the
name of dandies, tbe ladies that of
dandizettes. Tbe accompanying cut is
from a rather broadly caricatured print
of a dandizette of the year 18 19. It
must be considered only as a type of
tbe general cbaracter of tbe foppish
costume of the period ; for in no time
was tbere ever such a variety of forms
in tbe 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 tbe same year.
Tbe number of caricatures on tbe
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 tbe old rage for balloons— it
was tbe mania for hobby-horses. For two or three years it
might literally be said tbat every man bad his hobby. Hobby
horses figured in tbe parks, and were to be seen in every road,
not onl3' round London, but near most large towns in the
country, whither tbis fasbion was carried. Dandies, or not
dandies, all were infected witb tbis strange mania, which fur
nished matter for caricature upon caricature in great abundance.
In tbese, tbe bobby mania was often applied pobticaUy, and
all colours, and parties, and ranks, — whether prince or minister,
Tory or Radical — were made to ride their hobbies in one way
or otber. Tbe cut witb wbich we close the volume is taken
from a caricature published on tbe 8tb of April, 1819, and
represents the military episcopal Duke of York — ^he was com
mander-in-chief and prince-bishop of Osnaburg — riding bis bobby
for economy, on tbe road to Windsor. It was a period at which
tbe outcry against the extravagance of the civil list — in which
the duke partook largely — was particularly loud and violent.
John Bull, wbo is somewhat astonished at tbe figure cut by
the royal hobby-rider, and bis boasts of economy, exclaimt,
" Dang it, mister bishop, thee art saving, indeed ; thee used so

A DANDIZETTE.

HOBBY-HORSES. 63^
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 I"

A EOTAL DUKE AND HIS HOBBY,

Trivialities like these close one of tbe most extraordinary
periods of our history.

THE ENP.

lO.NDOK ;
SA-yiLL, EDWARDS AND CO., PRIMKRS, CHANDOS STREET,
OOVENT OARDEH.

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Tale for a Cliinmey Comer. By Leigh Hunt.

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. By
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La Mort d' Arthur; Selections from Mallory.
Provincial Letters, of Blaise Pascal.
Maxims and Reflections of Rochefoucauld.

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THE PICCADILLY NOVELS.
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By MORT. & FRANCES C0LU1NS.
Transml^ratibn. 1 From Midnight io Mid-

. By Mrs. ALEXANDER.
A LUe Interest | tlona's Ohofce ] By Womui'B Wit
^ By F. M. ALLEN.
Qreen aa Orasa. By ORANT ALLEN.

The Great Taboo.
Dumaresti's Daughtsr.
Ducbess of Fowyslaud.
Blood BoyaL
I. Groet's Masterpiece.
The Scallywag.
At Market Value.
Dnder Sealed Orderi.

Fhflbtla. I Babylon.
Strange Stories.
For Mlalmie^fi Bake,
In all Shades.
Ihe Beckonlitg Band.
The DeviPs I>ie.
Tbis Mortal CoU.
Ihe Tents of Bbem.
By MARY ANDERSON.
Othello's Occupation.
By EDWIN L. ARNOLD.
Phra the Phoenician. | Constable of St. Nicholas.
By ROBERT BARR.
In a Steamer Cbalr. t A Woman Intervenes,
From Wbose Bourne. } Revenge I
By FRANK BARRETT.
2]he Womanof tbe Icon Bracelets.
The Harding Scandal. I A Missing Witness.
By 'BELLE.'
Vashti and Esther.
By Sir W. BESANT and J. RICE.

Beady-MoneyMortlboy.Myr Uttae GirU
With. Harp and Crown.
This Son of Vulcan.
The Golden Butterfly.

By Celia's Arhour.
Chaplain of tbe Fleet.
The SeamyBlde.
The Case of Mr. Lucraft,
In Trafalgar's Bay.

TUfl Monka of Thelema. I The Ten Years' Tenant,
By Sir WALTER BESANT.

Ail Sorts and Condi
tions of Men.
The Captains' Room.
All In a Garden Fair.
Dorothy Forjiter.
Uncle Jack.
World Went Well Tben,
Children of Glbeon.
Herr Paulus.
For Faith and Freedom,
To Call Her Mine.
Tho Revolt of Man.
The Bell of St. Paul's.

Ihe Holy Koae.
j^morel of Xyonesse.
^.Eatberbie's bv Tower
.Vecbena Camellia Ste*
phanotls.
.The Ivory Gate.
The Kebel Queen.
•Beyond the Dreams of
Avarice.
The Master Craftsman.
The City of Refuge.
A Fountain Sealed.
The Charm.

By AMBROSE BIERCE.
In the lUdst of Life,
By PAUL BOURGEU
A Living Lie.
By ROBERT BUCHANAN,

Sbado-iir of tbe Sword.
A Child of Nature.
God aud the Man.
Martyrdom of Madeline
Love Me for Ever.
Annan Water.
Foxglove Manor.
ROB. BUCHANAN & HY.
Tbe Charlatan. _
By J. MITCHELL CHAPPLE,
The i/bnoT Chord. By HALL ^AINE.
^be Shadow of a Crime. I The Deemster.
A Son of Hagar. By ANNE COATES.
r. '

The Kew Abelard.
Matt. I Ra«hel Dene.
Master of the Mine.
The HelrofLinne.
Woman and the Man.
Bed and White Heather.
Lady Silpatrlck.
" MURRAY.

Kle's Diary.

By WILKIE COLLINS.

Armadale. jAfterDark.
mo Kame. I Antonlna
Basil. I Hide and 8e<k.
The Dead Secret.
ifjueen of Hearts.
Ky Hiscellanles.
^he Woman in Wbltt«
The Moonstone.
Man and Wife.
l>aor Miss Flnob.
ftlttorMri.7. ,
he New Maffd&ltB.
sue Frozen Seep.

The TwoDestinles.
The Law and the Lady.
The Haunted Hotel.
The Fallen Leaves.
Jezebel's Daughter.
The Black Robe.
Heart and Soiens*. t .-
'I, Say No.'
Little Novell.
Tbe Evil Osnim,
Tbe Legacy of Oobb
ABoganidfa, ,.
XUad Z«T«, ^^^

^lagksmith idt Scholar. I night.
The Tillage <Jojaedy . ) Tou Play me False.
By MACtAREN COBBAN.
The Red Sultan. Jibe Burden of Isabel.
By M. J. COLQUHOUN.
Every Inch a Soldier.
By E. H. COOPER.
Qeoffory Hamilton. By V. CECIL COTES.
Two Girls on a Barge.
By C. EGBERT CRADDOCK.
His Vtknlehed Star.
By H. N. CRELLIN.
Romances o{ tbe Old Seraglio,
By MATT CRIM.
The Adventures of a Fair Rebel.
By S. R. CROCKETT and others.
Tales of Our Coast, f

CROKER. .TbfrBeal Lady Hilda.
Married or Siu£le ?
* Two-Masters. DitheKtngdom of Kerry
Znterl^rence.A Third Person,
Beyond the Pale.

By B. M.
Diana Barrington.
Proper Pride.
A^Famlly Likenesi .
Pretty Miss Seville,
A Bird of tas^Bage.
'To -Let,' I Mr. Jervls.
Village Talea. ._ .^  , _ _.
By WILLIAM CYPLES
Hearts of Gold.
By ALPHONSE DAUDET.
The Bvangellst ; or, Port Salvation.
' Hy H. COLEMAN DAVIDSON.
Mr. Sadler's Daugbters.
By ERASMUS, DAWSON.
The Fountain, of Youth.
By JAMES DB MILLE.
A Castle in Spain.
By. J. LEITH DERWENT,
Onr Lady of Tears. I Circe's Lovers.
By DICK DONOVAN.
Tracked to Doom. . VXhe Mystery of Jamaica
Man from Manchester. | Terrace.
Tbe Chronicles of Michael Danevitch.
By RICHARD DOWLINQ.
Old Corcoran's Money.
By A. CONAN DOYLE.
The Firm of Glrdlestouo.
By S. JEANNETTE DUNCAN.
A Daughter of To-day. j Vernon'.s Aunt.
By ANNIE EDWARDES.
A Plaster Saint.
By a, S. EDWARDS.
SnazellepariUa. By G. MANVILLE FENN.
The New MistreSs. I The Tiger Lily.
V/itnef s ttf tbe De,ed. [ The White Virgin.
By PERCY Fi rXGERALD.-FataJZero.
By R. E. FRANCILLON.
One by One. 1 Ropes of Sand.
A Dog and ills Shadow. Jack Doyle's Daughter.
A Real Queen. |
By HAROLD FREDERIC.
Seth'sBrother's Wife. 1 The Lawton Girl.
By PAUL GAUCOT.
The Red Shirts.
By CHARLES GIBBON.
Robin Gray. | Of High Degi-ee.
Lovio,g a Dream. | The Golden Sbaft.
By E. GLANVILLE.
Tlie Lost HeircBB. j The Qolden Rock.
A Fair Colonist. j Tales from tbe Veld.
The Fosalcker. I
By E. J. GOODMAN.
Tbe Fate of Herbert Wayne.
By Rev. S. PARINO GOULO<
ftedflpldw. -^- tM«,

i§ CHAi^rO & aVINDU^. f^ubiisfecrs, iii ^t. MartJti^ji U^fe, LAfltioK, W.C.

Protf-gee of Jack
Hamlin's,
Clarence.
Barker's Luck.
Devil's Ford, [celsior.'
Tbe Crusade of the ' Ex-
Three Partners.

The Piccadilly (3/6) Nqvkls — continued.
By CECIL GRIFFITH.
Corinthia Harazion.
By SYDNEY GRUNDY.
The Days of bis Vanity.
By OWEN HALL.
Tbe Track of a Storm. I Jetsam
By THOMAS HARDY.
Under tbe Greenwood Tree.
By BRET HARTE.
A Waif of the Plains. . - . -
A Ward of the Golden
Gate. [Springs.
A Sappbo of Grreen
CoL'Stai'bottle's Client.
Susy. I Sally Dows.
Bell-Rlnger of Angel'a. _ _
Tales of Trail and Town.
By JULIAN HAWTHORNE.
Garth. I Dust, > Beatrix Randolph.
ElUce Quentln. David Poindexter's Dls-
Sebastian Strome. appearance.
Fortune's Fool, | Spectre of Camera.
By Sir A. HELPS. -ivandeBirou.
By I. HENDERSON.-AgathaPaae. By Q. A. HENTY.
Fulnh the Juggler. | The Queen's Cup.
Dorothy'a Double. |
By JOHN HILL.
The Common Aucedtor.
By TIGHE HOPKINS.
'Twizt Love and Duty.
By Mrs. HUNGERFORD.
Lady Verjier's Flight. | Nora Creica.
The Red-iTouae Mystery An Anxious Moment.
The Three Graces. I April's Lady.
Professor's Eayicriment. ( Peter'a Wife.
A Point of Conscience, | Lovlce.
By Mrs. ALFRED HUNT.
The Leaden Casket. | Self-Cordomned.
ThatOther Pereon. I Mrs. Juliet;
By C. J. CUTCLIFFE HYNE.
Honour of Thieves. By R. ASHE KING.
A Drawn Game,
By EDMOND LEPELLETIER.
Madame Sans G-i.ne,
By ADAM LILBURN.
A Tragedy In Marble.
By HARRY LINDSAY.
Rhoda Roberts. By HENRY W. LUCY.
Gideon Flevce By E. LYNN LINTON.

pAtricia Kemba,ll,
Under which Lord?
' I»Iy Love I ¦ I lone,
Paston Carew.
Sowing tha Wind.

The Atonemenf of Leam
Dundas.
Tha World Well loat.
The One Too Many,
Dulcie Everton.

By JUSTIN McCarthy.

A Fair Saxon.
Linloy Rochford.
Hear Lady Disdain.
C-imlolaWaterdale Neighbours.
My Enemy's Daughter.
Miss Misanthrope.

Donna Qidxote.
Maid of Athens.
The,Comet of a Season.
The Dictator.
Red, Diamonds.
The Riddle Rinp:.
The Three Disforacea.

By JUSTIN H. McCARTHV.
A London Legend. | The Roval Chri.'iU)pher.
By GEORGE MACDONALD.
Heather and Snow. | Phantaste*.
By PAUL & VICTOR MAR6 UERJTTE
The Disaster By L. T. MEADE.
A Soldier of Fortune. | The Voice of the
In an Ijon Grip Charmer
Dr. Bumaey'B Pat'ent. '
By LEONARD MERRICK.
This Stage of FooU. | Cynthia
By BERTRAM MITFORD
The Oun Runb-r. I The KJr^fs _a sso -a!
LttukolGarardBldgeley. I ReaJdi, I^anniUij sliuett,

By J. E- MUDDOCK.
Uald Harlan and X*bta Hood.

BaaUe tbe J«|rt«r.

( Young Lochinvar.

By D. CHRISTIE MURRAY

Tbe Way of the World.
BobMartin's Little Girl.
Time's Revenges.
A Wasted Crime.
In Direst Peril.
Mount Despair.
A Capful o' flails.
Tales in Prose & Verse.
A Race for MIUIods.

A Life's Atonement.
Joseph's Coat,
CoaU of Fire.
Old Blazer's Hero.
Val Strange. | Hearti.
A Model Father.
By the Gate of the Sea.
A Bit of Human Nature.
First Person Singular.
Cynic Fortune.
By MURRAY and HERMAN,
The Bishops' Bible. I Paul Jones s Abas,
One 'J^rlivel!e^ Returns. |
By HUME NISBET.
'Bb.11 Up t' By W. E. NORRIS.
Saint Ann'M. | Billy Bellew^
By G. OHNET.
A Weird Gift. By Mrs. OLIPHANT.
Tbe Sorceress. By OUIDA

Held in Bondage.
Strathmore. | Obandot.
Under Two Flags.
Idalia. [Gaga.
Cecil Oastlemaine'e
Tricotrin. | Pncic,
FoUe Farine.
A Dog of Flanders.
Pa<3carel. | Slgna.
Princess Napra:tine,
Two Wooden Shoes.

In a Winter City.
I*riend8bip.Moths. t I^ni^o.
Flpistrello. | Ariadne.
A village Commune.
Bimbi. | Wanda.
Frescoes, j Othmar.
In Maremma.
Byrlin. j Guilderoy.
Santa Barbara.
Two Offenders.
By MARGARET A. PAUL.
Gentle aud Simple. By JAMES PAYN.

Lost Sir Massingberd.
Less Black tban We're
Painted.
A Confldentia,! Agent
A Grape from a Thorn.
In Peril and Privatjon.
Tbe Mystery of Mir-
Bv Proxy. (bridge.
The Canon's Ward.
Walter's Word.
High Spirits. By WILL PAYNE.
Jerry the Dreamer.
By Mrs. CAMPBELL PRAED.
Outlaw and Lawmaker. | Mrs. Tregaakias.
Chrlatina Chard. | Wnima.
By E. C. PRICE.
Valentina. | Forelpners. | Mrs. Lancaster's Rival
By RICHARD PRVCE.
Miss Maxwell's Affections.
By CHARLES READE.

Under One Roof.
Glow-worm Tales.
Tbe Talk of the Town.
HoUddty Tasks.
For Cash Only.
The Burnt Million.
The Word and tbe WilL
Sunny Storlfea.
A Tcving Pationt.
A Modem Dick Whit
tlngton.

Peg Woffington ; and
Obvlstie *> Johnstone,
Hard Ca!>h.
Cloister & the Hearth.
Never Too Late to Mend
Tbe Course of Tme
Love Nevet Did Run
Smooth ; and Single-
heart an dDoubleface.
Autobiography of a
Thief; Jack of all
Trades; A Hero and
a Martyr ; and The
Wandering Heir.
Grlfllfch Gaunt.
By Mrs. J
Weird Btorlea. By AMELIE RIVES.
Barbara Denng. ' | Meriel.
By F. W. ROBINSON.
The Hands of Justice. ' Woman In the Daj-k,
^ ^By HERBERT RUSSELL.
'fme Blue.

Love Me Little, Love
Me Long.
The Double Marriage.
Foul Play.
Put Yourself in Hia
Place.
A Temblo Temptation.
A Simpleton.
A Woraan-Hatcr.
The Jilt, iS; othi'rS' r^r.f-i ;
&GoodStori''.sof Miii
and other Aoimala.
A Perlloiis S^-crin
Readiana; and liili:o
Char.Tctera.
H. RIDDELL.

CHAttO A WiNbllS, t*ubiisufcr^. lii St. Ma»jtin'A LahS, Utiitofl, W.C. a&

The Piccadilly (3/6) Uov^hs—tontinued.
By W. CLARK RUSSELL.
I the  . — — . - -

My Sbl^mate Louise.
Alone onWideV71d<3 Sea.
Tbe Phantom Death.
Il He the Man 7
Good Ship 'Mohock.'
The Convict &blp.
Heart of Oak.
Tbe Tale of the Ten.
The Last Entry.

Round tBe B»UeyTir«.
In tha Kiddle Watch,
On the FolL'Ble Head.
A Voyage to the Cape.
Book forthe Hammock.
Myateryof 'Oceui Star"
The Komauc* of Jenny
Harlowe.
An Ocean Tragedy.
By DORA RUSSELL.
A Country Sweei:heart. ] The Drift of Fate.
By BAYLE ST. JOHN.
A Levantine Family.
By ADELINE SERGEANT.
Dr. Endicott's Experiment.
By HAWLEY SMART.
Without Love or Licence. [ Tbe Outsider.
Tbe Master of Rathkelly. Beatrice & Benedick.
Long Odds. I A Racing Rubber.
By T. W. SPEIGHT.
A Secret of the Sea. I A Minion of the Moon.
Tbe Grey Monk. Tbe Secret of Y/yvern
Tbe Master of Trenanco I Towers.
By ALAN ST. AUBYN.
A Fellow of Trinity. I In Face of the World.
The Junior Dean. Orchard Damerel.
Maaterof BtBenedlct's. The Tremlett Diamonds.
To his Own Master. I
By JOHN STAFFORD.— Doris and 1.
By RICCARDO STEPHENS.
The Cni<:lform Mark.
By R. A. STERNDALE.
The Afghan Knife.
By R. LOUIS STEVENSON.
The Boiulde Club.
By BERTHA THOMAS.
Frond Maisle. i The Violin-Flayer,
By ANTHONY TROLLOPE.
The Way we Live How, | Scarborough's Family.
Frau Frohmann. | Tbe Land-Leaguera
By FRANCES E. TROLLOPE.
Like Ships upon .the J Anne Furness.
Sea. I Mabel's Progress.
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The Fortune of the Rougona.
The Abbe Mouret's TransiiTesaion.

Thu Downfall.
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The Fat and the Thin.
His Excellency.
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Rome. I Paris.
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Madame Sana Gene.
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Fatricia Kemball.
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Fasten Carew.'
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Dulcie Everton.
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Dear Lady Disdain.

Dgnna Quixote.
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The Dictator.
Red Diamonds.
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ear I . ,
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Linley Rochford.
Miss Misanthrope.
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Mr. Stranger's Sealed Packet.
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A Romanco of the Nine- 1 Tho New RopubUo.
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It ia Never Too Late to
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Christie Johnstone.
Tbe Double Marria.5e.
Put Yonraelf in His
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The Cloister and the
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A Country feweetheart.
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Gaslight and DayJii^ht.
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My Shipmate Louins.
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Zeph.Momoira of a Landlady.
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Tinkletop'a Crima.
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A Match in tho Dark.
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Without Love or Licence. I The Pitinger.
r.^atrlue and Benedick. Long Oddfi,
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The Mysteries of Heron
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Back to Life.
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Quittance in Full.
A Husband from the Sea

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Orchard Damerel.
In the Face of theWorld.
The Tremlett Diamond!.

A Feliow of Trinity,
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Master of St.Benedict'l
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The Afffbau Knife.
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New Arabian Nights.
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Diamond Cut Diamond.
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Frau Frohmann. The Land- Leaguers.
Marion Fay. ».^_ ._ , _ .. _
Kept in the Dark.
John Caldiffate,
Tbe Way We Live Now.
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FarncU'a Folly.
By IVAN TURGENIEFF, &c.
Stories from Foreign Novelists,
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The American Senator.
Mr. Scarborough's
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GoldouLion of Oranpere

Life ou the MisslsaipnL
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A Yankee at the Court
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Tbe £1,000,000 Bank.
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What Shep ame Thro URh
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Cltoyenne Jaquelind.

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Tom Sawyer.
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Nobleaae Oblige.
Disappeared. By ALLEN UPWARD.
Tbe Quoen against Owea. | Prince of Balkistan.
' God Save the Queen I '
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Tbe Forlorn Hope, 1 Castaway
Land at Last. |
«v .. ^ ^^ '• ZANGWILL,
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