Chapter VIII: Preface: 'Tuâ nobis est gratiâ.'--CIC (8)

Mr. Bate's paper, _The Morning Post_, obtained much celebrity by the exposure of the three gentlemen for their rude attack upon a lady. The _rencontre_ begot a paper war, which was, for some weeks, maintained with great rancour on both sides; but the superior wit and powerful satire of Parson Bate were so manifest that his opponents were beaten out of the literary arena.

'Subsequent proceedings led to a meeting of the parties at a tavern, where, it seems, some explanation was entered into and an apology was offered. This, as appeared later on, was a discreditable stratagem on the part of the aggressors to revenge themselves on this redoubtable priest, by procuring for him, as they anticipated, a sound drubbing; they had, however, once more mistaken their man.

'These three confederates met according to appointment, and Mr. Bate brought his friends too. A strapping spark was then introduced to the party as Captain----, who had been prompted to insult the pugnacious reverend, with the hope of provoking him to a personal attack, as at Vauxhall. This mock captain was a well-known prize-fighter. The parson, not at all daunted by the insolent threats of the ruffian, fell upon him, and with his own weapons, so completely thrashed him that he was taken away almost senseless in a hackney-coach.'

A farewell incident of Vauxhall, and we will leave for good the precincts memorable in the history of the past. This time we are carried to the _rendezvous_ with Angelo and his friends in company with the most incorrigible blades of the town.

'Lord Barrymore's fondness for eccentricities ever engaged his mind. Whether in London or Wargrave 'twas all the same--always in high spirits, thinking of what fun he should have during the day. Seated, after dinner, at eleven o'clock, on one of the hottest evenings in July, he proposed that the whole party should go to Vauxhall.

'The carriage being ordered, it was directly filled inside; and the others outside, with more wine than wit, made no little noise through the streets.

'We had not been long at Vauxhall when Lord Barrymore called out to a young clergyman, some little distance from us, who, when he approached and was asked, "Have you had any supper?" to our surprise answered, "Vy, as how, my lord, I have not as yet had none." A waiter passing by at the time, Lord Barrymore said, "You know me; let that gentleman have whatever he calls for;" when he told the parson to fall to, and call for as much arrack punch as he pleased. "Thank ye, my lord," said he, "for I begins to be hungry, and I don't care how soon I pecks a bit."

'Lord Barrymore had that morning, unknown to us, contrived to dress Tom Hooper, the tin-man (one of the first pugilists of that time), as a clergyman, to be in waiting at Vauxhall, in case we should get into any dispute. This fistic knight now filled the place of a lackey, and was constantly behind the carriage, a sworn votary of black eyes and disfigured faces. His black clothes, formal hat, hair powdered and curled round, so far disguised him that he was unknown to us all at first, though Hooper's queer dialect must have soon discovered him to the waiters. This was a _ruse de guerre_ of Lord Barrymore's. About three o'clock, whilst at supper, Lord Falkland, Henry Barry, Sir Francis Molineux, &c., were of our party; there was at this time a continual noise and rioting, and the arrack punch was beginning to operate.

'On a sudden all were seen running towards the orchestra, the whole garden seemed to be in confusion, and our party, all impatience, sallied out, those at the further end of the box walking over the table, kicking down the dishes. It seems that the effects of the punch had not only got into Hooper's head but had excited an influence over his fists, for he was for fighting with everybody. A large ring was made, and, advancing in a boxing attitude, he offered to fight anyone; but all retired before him. Felix McCarthy, a tall, handsome Irishman, well known by everybody at that time, soon forced his way through the crowd and collared him, at the same time saying, "You rascal, you are Hooper, the boxer; if you do not leave the garden this instant I'll kick you out." The affrighted crowd, who before retreated as he approached them, now came forward, when Hooper, finding himself surrounded, and hearing a general cry of "Kick him out!" made his retreat as fast as possible, thus avoiding the fury of those who would not have spared him out of the gardens, if he had been caught. We found him at five in the morning behind Lord Barrymore's carriage, with the coachman's great-coat on, congratulating himself upon having avoided the vengeance of those to whom, a short time previously, he had been an object of fear.'

_July 24, 1785._ _The Slang Society._

_August 11, 1785._ _Introduction._--There is hardly sufficient authority to warrant the editor in directly ascribing this print to Rowlandson; the work is evidently early, and very French in the characteristics of costumes, surroundings, and subject. There are points in the etched outline and in the general spirit and method of execution, which lead to the impression that Rowlandson is at least answerable for the etching and mezzotinting of the design. From the costumes worn by the figures the date of the subject may be assumed to be some time before the French Revolution. An overdressed old abbess, her head and shoulders enveloped in a cardinal, is introducing a French peer, who is toothless and decrepit, to a tall and fashionably-attired beauty, who is rising to receive the visitor with an air of dignified modesty.

_September 5, 1785._ _Aërostation out at Elbows, or the Itinerant Aëronaut._

_Vincent Lunardi._

Behold a hero, comely, tall, and fair!
His only food is philogistic air!
Now on the wings of mighty winds he rides!
Now torn through hedges! dash'd in ocean tides!
Now drooping roams about from town to town,
Collecting pence to inflate his poor Balloon.
Pity the wight and something to him give,
To purchase gas to keep his frame alive!

1785. _Going, a-going._--A handsome young huntsman has encountered, in the course of his sport, a pretty country maiden, neatly apparelled, and beaming with all the freshness of rustic simplicity and artlessness. Her budding charms are tempting the youth to court the maiden, to her own manifest embarrassment; meanwhile the gay Lothario's huntsman is shown in the distance 'going' off with the horses: the young squire's hunting, as far as the chase of the fox is concerned, being evidently finished for the day.

1785. _Gone!_

_September 30, 1785._ _Too Many for a Jew._ Published by S. Alken, Soho.

_October 1, 1785._ _An Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful._ Published by T. Cornell, Bruton Street.--A ragged enthusiast, who, as we gather from the shoe half-thrust into his coat-pocket, combines the cure of human souls with the cobbling of leather soles, is holding forth to a devout congregation.

The companion print to this caricature is called _The Maiden Speech_, and represents a Member, on the floor of the House, favouring the representatives of the people therein assembled with their first experience of his oratorical powers within the Parliamentary walls.

_October 5, 1785._ _Captain Epilogue_ (Major Topham, Editor of 'The World') _to the Wells_ (Mrs. Wells). (See March 7, 1786.)

_Col. Topham endeavouring with his Squirt to Extinguish the Genius of Holman._ (See December 1784.)

To what, O Muse! can I compare
In heaven, water, earth, or air!
The furious Epilogue.
His dress to ape, if ape they can,
Of every fop is now the plan,
And he's alone the vogue.

See to the side-box now he flies,
The optic to his eye applies
To aid his _piercing_ sight;
Whate'er he cannot comprehend
His _fiat_ to the Shades shall send,
And damn to endless night.

Should Holman _Garrick's_ art display,
'Tis twaddle, boreish, damn'd _outré_,
Quite vulgar, unrefin'd;
His Wells and Henderson alone
Possess'd of merit will he own;
To others' worth is blind.

The macaroni Col. Topham, held in leading strings by Henderson and Mrs. Wells, is vainly trying, armed with a critical squirt, to suppress the rising celebrity of Holman, the actor, and writer for the stage. Holman, it will be remembered (see life of Rowlandson), was one of the caricaturist's schoolfellows.

_October 5, 1785._ _Captain Epilogue._ Republished March 7, 1786, by E. Jackson, 14 Marylebone Street, Golden Square.--The figure of Captain Topham, (afterwards Colonel) of the _World_ newspaper, of which he was proprietor, editor, critic, and scandalmonger--the fashionable intelligencer, _arbiter elegantiarum_, and man of fashion and gallantry. We find the macaroni soldier and journalist a prominent personage in the satirical effusions of his time; we recognise him among Gillray's caricatures as the _Thunderer_ (August 20, 1782), and later as the _Windmill_, standing forth advocating the interests of Mrs. Robinson, the _Perdita_ who, deserted by the Prince of Wales, found, it was hinted, refuge in the championship of _Captain Epilogue_. In another cartoon Major Topham is bringing his lengthy accounts to Pitt's pay-table, 'for puffs and squibs,' the literary services which he had placed at the Ministerial disposal, and directed against the Whig candidate, Lord John Townshend, during the Westminster Election (August 14, 1788), which occurred when Lord Hood was appointed to the Treasury Board. We find the gallant quill attacking merit where it crossed his partialities, and the present caricature seems designed to expose the Captain's _tendresse_ for the actress of his choice. Epilogue is dressed, as he is always represented, in the height of the latest French fashion, his coat, his stockings, his pumps, his frill and ruffles, and his wig and queue being the very latest importations from Paris; a finger-post is pointing to the _Wells_, and the somewhat suggestive and highly modish figure of the lady is drawn below it.

1785. _A Cully Pillaged._ (Same date as _Comfort in Gout_.)--A stalwart-looking bully has suddenly burst into an apartment; he has seized and is securely holding an alarmed individual, whose hat is thrown off and his wig is knocked awry; his pigtail is rigid with terror; he is standing on tiptoe, his limbs paralysed with fear, while a very picturesque-looking Cyprian, with hair and dress in somewhat dishevelled condition, is deliberately exploring the pockets of the victim.

1785. _Copper-plate Printers at Work._--This sketch, which is vastly interesting, is probably drawn from the room in which the caricaturist's etchings were pulled, an apartment evidently near the sky. A couple of stalwart printers are hard at work rubbing ink into the copper-plates. A sturdy workman is turning the press, while a little oddity of a printer is drawing an impression from the copper lately under pressure. A connoisseur, in spectacles, of the old-fashioned type, is holding up a print at arm's length with a deeply critical expression on his sharp features. Numerous prints are hung up to dry on lines stretched across the chamber.

_About 1785._ _A Bed-warmer._--Another print, which was published about this date, bears the name of H. Wigstead as _delt. et fecit_; but, by a strange anomaly, although a few strokes of the outline here and there belong to Wigstead's hand, which, from its untutored, straggling style, is easy of recognition, the figures and filling in are unmistakably by Rowlandson, who has paid his friend the compliment of ascribing the entire credit of the composition to his name. The subject represents a bedchamber; clothes, &c., are scattered about the room; a venerable libertine, whose bed has evidently been recently warmed, is endeavouring to retain by her skirt a remarkably handsome and sprightly-looking chambermaid, whose figure is gracefully expressed in Rowlandson's most felicitous manner, both as regards ease and action. The offended nymph is making off with the chamber candle and the warming-pan, the latter a formidable weapon for the defence of assaulted virtue.

1785. _Temptation._--A companion plate was executed under the same auspices, but the name of H. Wigstead in this instance appears as designer only. It represents a scene of temptation. A decrepit and, as far as years go, venerable libertine is offering certain proposals to a pretty and finely-shaped maiden, who is weighing a purse with an air of indecision, while the vicious dotard is pressing her disengaged hand and leaning on her shoulder. The chamber is evidently the workroom of a cobbler; his bench and a pile of shoes in the foreground have been thrown over by the gambols of a dog and cat. In this case it is easy to see that if the maiden does not retire from the struggle with unstained hands, the elderly reprobate, whose crutch is under his arm, will not come off unscathed, for behind the curtains of the bed, in the shadow of the apartment, which seems to serve as workroom, kitchen, parlour, and bedroom in one, appears the half-concealed and brawny person of the cobbler himself, who is evidently enjoying the prospect of the vengeance which he is about to let fall on the head of the old sinner.

1785. _Grog on Board._ (See Jan. 1794.) Published by S. W. Fores, 3 Piccadilly.

1786. _Tea on Shore._ (See June 1794.) Published by S. W. Fores, 3 Piccadilly.

_November 24, 1785._ _By Authority Persons and Property Protected._ Published by S. W. Fores.--His Majesty's (G.R.) Royal Mail Coach is in a quandary; one horse is down, and a second is rearing; the hind wheel is off; a fair traveller is sent sprawling on the ground in an attitude which is neither easy nor becoming. An unfortunate passenger has lost his wig, and in seeking to recover it has become jammed in the coach-window. The coachman has lost his balance, and the shock is capsizing his seat; the concussion has discharged the huge blunderbuss borne by the guard through the letter-bags; the mails, and other contents are scattered to the winds by the explosion; and, to cap the misfortune, the lurch has accidentally loosened the trigger of a huge horse-pistol carried in the guard's belt for extra security, and the contents are peppering an unfortunate lady who has fallen on the highway.

_November 28, 1785._ _Doctors Differ._ Published by S. W. Fores, 3 Piccadilly.

_November 30, 1785._ _The Sad Discovery, or the Graceless Apprentice._ Published by J. R. Smith, 83 Oxford Street.

_November 30, 1785._ _Intrusion on Study, or the Painter Disturbed._ Published by S. W. Fores.--The studio of an artist, who is somewhat of a macaroni; the painter is hard at his work; on his easel is a classic subject; the principal figure is drawn from a pretty girl, his model, who is 'sitting' before him; a squire and a young foxhunter are dashing in, alike disregardful of the remonstrances of the artist and the confusion into which their unceremonious entry has thrown his blushing model, whose nude figure he is endeavouring to block out with his palette. (Republished July 1, 1802.)

_November 31, 1785._ _Jockeyship._ Published by J. R. Smith, 83 Oxford Street.--A view of that portion of the racing-ground where the jockeys are about to mount. Various interested groups are represented as surrounding the riders, and secret counsel, at the last moment, is given to jockeys by owners of horses--possibly parting instructions to ride either a winning or a losing race, as their private arrangements may require. That the proceedings of the Turf were not perfectly pure and above the comment of suspicion in the infancy of horse-racing is indicated by the caricaturist in the last action of 'jockeyship;' the riders, while shaking hands finally with their owners and backers, are shown taking care to keep their left hands open behind their backs for bribes from the other side; this signal is meeting a golden response. The crowded stand and the racecourse are sketched in the background.

_December 1785._ _An Italian Family._ Rowlandson, delt.; Alken, fecit. (See 1792.) Published December 1785 by S. Alken, Dufour's Place, Broad Street, Soho. Sold by W. Hinton, Sweetings Alley, Cornhill.

_A French Family._ Sold by W. Hinton, Sweetings Alley, Cornhill. (Republished 1792.)

_December 15, 1785._ _Courtship in High Life. Courtship in Low Life._--A pair of prints designed and executed by Rowlandson in imitation of drawings, and belonging to the same period as the more finished and special works which the artist produced published by J. R. Smith. In the former subject _High Life Courtship_ is represented in the figure of an elegant young noble--probably meant for the Prince of Wales--kneeling at the feet of a graceful and charming young lady of extreme fashion; the portrait exhibits certain indications of being intended for that of Mrs. Fitzherbert. There is a great deal of animation and good taste in the composition. The companion print of _Low Life Courtship_ introduces a British sailor, (who has lost an eye and gained a wooden leg in the service of his country), pouring out a bumper of spirits and regarding with a longing eye a careless and semi-intoxicated-looking damsel, who, in spite of evident symptoms of dissipation, is represented as buxom, fresh-looking, and well-favoured.

_December 15, 1785._ _City Courtship._

_December 15, 1785._ _Rustic Courtship._ Published by J. R. Smith, 83 Oxford Street. H. Wigstead, del.--Rowlandson has given his unmistakable characteristics to this plate, which is executed in outline etching, and filled in in aquatint, in admirable facsimile of the artist's drawings, washed in Indian ink, and tastefully coloured. A fair cottage beauty is spinning flax; her wheel is placed outside the cottage-door; she is being stared at in vacuous admiration by a rustic Colin Clout, who is grinning from ear to ear and scratching his forehead in perplexity. Hop-poles are seen in the distance, and the landscape is one of those pretty country scenes such as may often be seen in England.

_December 1785._ _Filial Affection, or a Trip to Gretna Green._ (Companion to _The Return from Gretna Green, or Reconciliation_.)--This plate, which is executed in mezzotint, is usually worked up in imitation of a water-colour drawing--its resemblance to the original sketch, if judiciously tinted after Rowlandson's drawing, is sufficiently close to prove deceptive. A post-carriage is tearing along down hill, on the road to Gretna Green, drawn by four prancing horses, ridden by a pair of jockeys, and pursued by a posse of mounted horsemen. The foremost rider, a squire, booted and spurred, is coming close to the elopers and flourishing his whip revengefully at the occupants of the chaise; his horse is turned aside by the threatening attitude of the fugitives. The lady, her feathers flying in the wind, is leaning out of one window, pointing a formidable pistol at her parent's head; while the dandified young swain who is the abductor in this case is pointing a second pistol through the other window. The rest of the chase are lost in the clouds of dust which the wheels of the post-chaise are throwing in the rear. One venerable gentleman's hat and wig are being left far behind, like those of our old friend John Gilpin.

_December 17, 1785._ _The Reconciliation, or the Return from Scotland._ Published by W. Hinton, 5 Sweetings Alley, Royal Exchange.--The pair of fugitives we saw in the previous subject are now, like a brace of repentant turtledoves, returning to the family nest which they had rashly forsaken. The gallant husband is all submission and civility, pointing to the tears of his bride as their intercessors to the hearts of the parents. The father is indicating that a place at his fireside is still the right of his child; the old footman is joyfully placing a chair for his young mistress; and the servants, introduced in the doorway of the apartment, are in ecstasies to see the runaway couple return and the domestic breach happily repaired.

_December 21, 1785._ _Botheration_ (Bar). Published by W. Hunter. (Engraved by Alken.) Dedicated to the Gentlemen of the Bar.

_December 21, 1785._ _The Loss of Eden and Eden Lost._ N.B. 'Every man has his price.'--_Sir Robert Walpole's politics._ Published by W. Hinton, 5 Sweetings Alley, Royal Exchange.--This caricature gives the portraits of two would-be benefactors of their country, who, the satirist is inclined to hint, were not acting from purely disinterested motives. General Arnold, dressed in his uniform, and with his sword drawn, while offering up an invocation to _Liberty_, is one of the figures; Eden (Lord Auckland) is the other; the patriotic statesman has also apostrophised _Liberty_, and successfully in this instance, with his pen; his pocket is well supplied with those good things which have fallen to his share--'6,000_l._ _per annum_,' '_Commissioner to America_,' '_Commercial Negociator to France_.'

Two patriots in the self-same age were born,
And both alike have gain'd the public scorn:
This to America did much pretend,
The other was to Ireland a friend.

Yet sword or oratory would not do,
As each had different plans in view.
America lost! Arnold, and, alas!
To lose our Eden now is come to pass.

1785. _Sympathy, or a Family on a Journey laying the Dust._ Designed and etched by T. Rowlandson. Published by W. Humphrey.--The halt of a coach on the road. The occupants have descended, and the coachman and footman, horses, &c., are occupied as described by the title.

1785. _John Gilpin's Return to London._ Aquatinta by F. Jukes.

Away went Gilpin, and away
Went Postboy at his heels,
The Postboy's horse right glad to miss
The lumbering of the wheels.

Six gentlemen upon the road,
Thus seeing Gilpin fly,
With Postboy scamp'ring in the rear,
They rais'd the hue and cry:

'Stop thief! stop thief! a highwayman!'
Not one of them was mute;
So they, and all that pass'd that way,
Soon join'd in the pursuit.

1785. _Harmony--Discord._ A pair of contrasts.--_Harmony_ is a remarkably graceful example of the artist's skill in indicating pleasing forms and easy, flowing outlines. The warrior, we presume, is relaxing the stern front of Mars by the practice of the softer arts, and is seated at the side of a fair companion, who is holding her hero's music-book on her lap.

1785. _Effects of Harmony._ (Companion to the above.)

1785. _Tastes Differ._--An antiquated individual, evidently a connoisseur of old prints, dressed in his morning cap and dressing-gown, is buried in the study of a large folio spread before him; all his admiration is absorbed in his hobbies, to the neglect of a young and pretty woman by his side, who is consoling herself, in dreams, for the neglect with which as the plate seems to hint, the superannuated spouse is treating the charms of her company and person.

1785. _Nap in the Country. Nap in Town._ Published by S. Alken, Dufour's Place, Soho.--_A Nap in the Country_ represents the mid-day rest of a rustic pair, who, while their sheep are calmly grazing and their dog is keeping faithful watch, are, beneath the shadows of spreading trees, indulging in 'forty winks' in the open country, after their early morning toils.

A _Nap in Town_, which may also be taken as an afternoon siesta, though equally luxurious, is not enjoyed under such healthy conditions as the preceding; the town pair are taking their repose with as much lazy ease as the circumstances will permit.

1785. _Sea Amusement, or Commanders-in-Chief of Cup and Ball on a Cruise._--It appears from this print, which in the coloured editions is judiciously tinted to make it resemble a drawing, that the inactivity of our commanders at sea was attracting popular censure. In the plate we find the admiral and his commodore, instead of sweeping the foes of Britain from the ocean, as was the desire of the entire nation, seated in the state-cabin, with a pile of gold-pieces on the ground, devoting their energies to gambling with a child's toy. Scattered around and trodden upon unheeded are plans of fortifications to be bombarded, the charts of oceans to be navigated, and rough draughts for the arrangement of the ships at the beginning of a sea-fight, such as we find Nelson drew up for the guidance of his captains before going into action on the eve of his glorious victories. An old salt, who is pouring out tea for these degenerate warriors, is regarding their puerile dispositions with an air of disgust and distress.

_December 26, 1785._ _French Travelling, or the First Stage from Calais._

_December 26, 1785._ _English Travelling, or the First Stage from Dover._

1785. (?) _Opera Boxes.

1786.

_January 1, 1786._ _The Supplemental Magazine._ Published January 1, 1786, by S. W. Fores, 3 Piccadilly.

_January 1, 1786._ _Private Amusement._ (See October 28, 1781), _E. O. or the Fashionable Vowels_.

_January 5, 1786._ _Box-Lobby Loungers._ Designed by H. Wigstead; etched by Rowlandson; published January 5, 1786, by J. R. Smith, 83 Oxford Street.--The diversities of character introduced into this drawing, which is one of Rowlandson's larger productions, entitle it to a prominent place in a collection of the artist's works. Glimpses of the theatre are seen through the open doors. In the coloured editions of this plate, which is scarce and valuable, the most conspicuous figure is that of a military hero, the adventurous Colonel George Hanger (afterwards Lord Coleraine), companion and instigator of the Prince of Wales's early frolics; well known to the satirists, and in short one of the notorieties of his generation. This inveterate 'man about town' is shown with his invariable companion, christened by the eccentric Colonel, who rejoiced in a vocabulary of his own, his '_Supple-Jack_,' a thick stick carried under his arm; the gallant lounger, who has left the world a volume of eccentric _Memoirs_, with his _Advice to Lovely Ciprians_ by way of Appendix, is lost in admiration of two highly attractive nymphs, possible members of the 'Sisterhood;' while Georgey Hanger's truant eyes are engaged in the contemplation of the personal charms of these butterflies of fashion, the hand of a pickpocket is equally ready to carry off the Colonel's seals from his fob, as a souvenir of the _rencontre_. On the right of the ubiquitous hero another pair of lovely damsels, displaying the follies of the mode in their attire, are attracting the somewhat marked attentions of a circle of elderly admirers. A dwarfed and deformed beau, elaborately dressed in the French fashion, probably designed for the figure of Sir Lumley Skeffington, who was the authority, among the _bucks_ and '_fashionables_' of his day, on theatrical matters, is getting into trouble by the awkwardness into which his near sight and his gallantry are combining to betray him; the train of an antiquated belle is coming to grief through the clumsiness of _The Skeffington_. The lady, whose native charms, in their decay, are considerably heightened by art, has evidently availed herself of her fortune to secure a handsome dandified young cavalier; two sturdy old retired sea captains are contemplating the '_Skittish Skeffy_,' and his monkey-like escapades with expressions of profound contempt. A superannuated man of quality, a venerable _beau_ of scarecrow aspect, is foppishly cultivating the good graces of a dashing 'girl of the period;' while two extraordinary Don Juans, who, judging from their exteriors, would not be suspected of engaging themselves in amorous intrigues, are enlisting the friendly offices of a comfortable old body, who unites the twin occupations of selling oranges and play-bills, with the manipulation of delicate negociations, a recognised and experienced ambassadress, in fact, to the court of Cytherea, duly credentialised, and, as far as appearances can be relied on, a thoroughly discreet and capable person in her profession. A play-bill, adhering to the green-baize-covered walls of the Lobby, is intended to apply to the situation of the frivolous habitués who are haunting the crowded lounge--'_The Way of the World_,' and '_Who's the Dupe?_' Beyond the main groups we have particularised, there are numerous individuals scattered about, probably well-known characters in their generation, whose persons and portraits were doubtless familiarly recognised at the date Rowlandson favoured his contemporaries with this suggestive view of their private amusements in the _Box Lobbies_.

_January 13, 1786._ _Love and Learning, or the Oxford Scholar._ Drawn by Rowlandson. Engraved and published by B. Smith, 10 Pleasant Row, Battle Bridge.--A print engraved in somewhat peculiar style as an attempted _facsimile_ after the original drawing. The subject is an undergraduate, who is leading a tall and graceful female tastefully dressed in white, through a wood; the cavalier is pointing out the beauties of the scene; the face of a forsaken lady, wearing a malignant expression, appears from the concealment afforded by the forest shade.

Beauty invites, and love and learning plead;
The Oxford scholar surely must succeed.
Yet oh! ye blooming, soft inclining fair,
Of his too fatal eloquence beware;
For see, a slighted fair one is behind,
With jealous eye and most distracted mind!

_February 10, 1786._ _Sketch of politics in Europe January 24, 1786._ _Birthday of the King of Prussia._ _Toasts upon the occasion._ '_King of Prussia_,' '_King of Great Britain_,' '_The Berlin Union_,' '_Confusion to the Bavarian Project_,' '_The Wooden Walls of Old England_,' '_The Illustrious House of Brunswick and Wolfenbuttel_,' '_Destruction to the French Interest in Holland, and prosperity to the House of Orange_,' '_May the British Lion and the Prussian Eagle remain united for times everlasting_,' '_May the United strength of the British Lion and the Prussian Eagle preserve the Ancient Constitution of the German Empire, and the Protestant interest_,' '_May Universal Monarchy, the bane of Human Nature, for ever remain a baseless vision!_' This general view of the political prospects of Europe is pictorially set forth in the fashion of an escutcheon, representing the two Protestant monarchs under a pavilion, and seated side by side on one throne--a Prussian grenadier behind the Great Frederick, and a British sailor behind George the Third. Frederick is holding the double-headed eagle of Austria in golden fetters, with his feet on the motto _Universal Monarchy_. The names of the various German States, Hanover, Brunswick, Hesse, Saxony, Deuxpont, and Mayence, are on two shields at the sides of the pavilion. The reigning Duke of Brunswick, and Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, are standing on either side of the monarchs in the centre, as supporters, with their hands on their swords; both are declaring to 'the twin Protestant heroes,' 'When you agree, I am ready.' The neighbouring States are variously symbolised. The Prince of Orange is praying for protection; Holland is figured as a milch cow, of which France is monopolising the produce; and above, a monkey, with the Crown and Insignia of France, has perched on the globe, and is pointing his claw to Holland. Busts of the reigning monarchs are ranged around. Denmark 'lays by' for the present; Sweden is 'in the pay of France;' Portugal is crying, 'Oh! buy my wine;' Spain wants 'the Rock;' Sardinia is declaring, 'You shall not settle without me!' The Polish Bear, who is announcing that he 'is not muzzled,' is standing between Russia and the Sultan of Turkey; the latter is hurling defiances at Catherine, 'By the great prophet thou art but a woman!' Russia, as a crowned beast of prey, is 'tortured by ambition, and backed by Brother Joseph.'

_March 6, 1786._ _La Négligé._ Designed by '_Simplex Mundities_.' Published by S. W. Fores.

_March 7, 1786._ _Captain Epilogue_, published by E. Jackson, 14 Marylebone Street.--The macaroni editor's portrait, as described in the previous print (October 25, 1785), with the addition of a notice-board, introduced above the post which points _To the Wells,--A Prospectus for the 'World and Fashionable Advertiser.'_

_March 7, 1786._ _An Ordnance Dream, or Planning of Fortifications_, published by S. W. Fores, 3 Piccadilly.--The Duke of Richmond--who, perhaps in some degree on account of his partial French extraction, and his left-handed Stuart descent, did not enjoy unmixed popularity, was constantly brought into ridicule, with which the satirists met his abortive fortification schemes, and a certain gun, of his own construction, reputed of leather, which it is said he was anxious to introduce.

The caricaturist has represented the distinguished Master-General of Ordnance, an insipid edition of _Uncle Toby_, as the Duke was frequently nick-named. The Duke is in his study, fast asleep in his arm-chair, surrounded by his novel experiments. His foot is resting on the 'Trial of Colonel Debbeig.' A case of fresh ammunition, in the form of tobacco pipes, is lying by his side, and a number of rolled up plans of the projected fortifications are thrown about the place. On the walls are a pair of views on the subject of the proposed fortifications; one picture represents the bare ground, with labourers and wheel-barrows, and the skeletons of a projected fleet; the second view gives the fortifications under the state of their imaginary completion, furnished with guns and ammunition, and duly manned, with a bulwark of our wooden walls beyond. The solid and assuring conditions of the preparations on paper are badly sustained in practice. A pile of card-houses, disposed round the study-table, do duty for fortresses; broken pipe-bowls and stems take the place of stoneworks and guns. An empty decanter accounts for the Duke's faith in this imaginary system of protection. A cat is clawing at the table-cloth, and threatening the total destruction of the projected defences at one swoop; she is mounted on the muzzle of a sample gun of the problematical leathern ordnance, of which, rumour asserted, the Duke of Richmond had ordered a snuff-box maker to supply him patterns. In the struggles in Parliament, where the Duke's plans were the subject of vexed discussion, more stress was laid on his political apostasy than upon the inefficiency of his propositions, patriotism in the senate being subordinated at all times to the workings of party, and the intrigues for political power.

_March 7, 1786._ _Luxury--Misery._ Published by E. Jackson, 14 Marylebone Street, Golden Square.--The luxury of a breakfast in bed on downy pillows, surrounded by all the allurements of ease and other superfluities, is contrasted with the _Misery_ of perishing of starvation and thirst on the wide ocean, with nothing but a mast between the frozen unfortunates and a watery grave, and no object of relief on the bare horizon to suggest a ray of hope to the solitary sufferers.

_March 8, 1786._ _The Morning Dram._ Published by J. Phillips, 164 Piccadilly.--The toilette of a lady whose tastes are, to say the least of them, slightly inclined to the social glass; while her French hair-dresser is attending to her luxuriant locks, the fair, free and easy divinity is not too ethereal to decline recruiting her spirits with a cordial.

_March 1786._ _The Polish dwarf_ (Count Boruwloski) _performing before the Grand Seigneur_. Published by E. Jackson, 14, Marylebone Street.

The famous Count Boruwloski visited nearly all the courts of Europe, where he was made the most of on account of his remarkable diminutiveness, as at the age of twenty his height was but two feet four inches. This Polish miniature man differed from dwarfs in general, as his figure was well-proportioned, and he further possessed perfect breeding, was intellectual, good-natured, and accomplished, and, among other gifts, enjoyed a talent for music, which he had cultivated. His memoirs, written by himself, first appeared in 1788; he lived to the advanced age of ninety-eight, he was born at Chaliez, in Russian Poland, November 1739; he died at Banks' Cottage, near Durham (the gift, it is said, of some of the prebendaries of Durham Cathedral), September 13, 1837.

The artist, who had an opportunity of studying this duodecimo edition of humanity from the life, has represented Count Boruwloski in the act of favouring that mysterious potentate, the Grand Seigneur, with a tune on the violin, within the sacred and unapproachable precincts (as far as mankind is concerned) of the harem. The contrast presented between this perfect miniature and the full-blown and highly developed beauties of the seraglio, the overfed Grand Turk, and his gigantic guards, is ludicrously marked.

_April 1, 1786._ _The Dying Patient, or the Doctor's Last Fee._ Published by H. Brookes, Coventry Street.

1786. _Brewer's Drays._ Published by E. Jackson, 14, Marylebone Street, Golden Square.--An unusually careful sketch--for Rowlandson--of the interior of the premises of a certain great brewer, most probably those of the renowned Mr. Whitbread, in Chiswell Street, visited in state by their gracious Majesties about this period, when the Royal condescension was made the subject of the famous ode by Peter Pindar--

Full of the art of brewing beer,
The monarch heard of Whitbread's fame;
Quoth he unto the queen: 'My dear, my dear,
Whitbread hath got a marvellous great name.
Charly, we must, must, must see Whitbread brew
Rich as us, Charly, richer than a Jew.
Shame! shame! we have not yet his brewhouse seen!'
Thus sweetly said the king unto the queen.

* * * * *

Now did the king for other beers inquire,
For Calvert's, Jordan's, Thrale's entire;
And after talking of these different beers,
Asked Whitbread if his porter equalled theirs--
A kind of question to the Man of Cask
That even Solomon himself would ask.

1786. _Contrasts: Youth and Age._--An exceedingly witch-like looking elderly female is endeavouring to entertain a young beauty with some piece of news from a paper, to which the maiden, it appears, is most indolently indifferent.

1786 (?). _Sailors Carousing._--A bacchanalian scene, picturing the diversions of salts on shore in the days when tars indulged in such jocularities as frying gold watches, and eating one-pound Bank Notes on bread and butter. The 'Pollies from Portsmouth' have evidently exceeded the bonds of strict moderation in their applications to the punch-bowl. A Dutch skipper is calmly smoking and drinking himself into philosophic stupidity, regardless of the uproar proceeding around him, of singing, shouting, and fiddling, in drunken discordance.

1786 (?). _The Return from Sport._--A bold and well-executed etching, to which a further interest is added by Rowlandson's easy and flowing touch, of a rustic subject in Morland's manner. The results of the morning's sport are chiefly remarkable for their ludicrous insignificance.

_May, 1786._ _A Theatrical Chymist._--We have already seen the genius of Holman, who was, as we have noticed, at school with the Caricaturist, rising like the sun as represented by Rowlandson's pencil and graver: we now find the satirist giving his alliance to the other side, although the former print, _Topham endeavouring with his squirt to extinguish the rising genius of Holman_, was being reissued. Probably the success on one side induced the artist--who, we presume, sought only to exercise his art, and was not inconvenienced by party prejudices--to try and make as fair a counter-hit as we so often find him doing. The figure of Holman, a mean and by no means imposing-looking personage, is issuing from a still, together with a discharge of 'puffs,' &c. The _Theatrical Chymist_ is a clerical-looking worthy, our old friend Parson Bate, who is employing a decayed military buck, in tattered regimentals, seated on a pile of paper, to fan the furnace _Academy_ with the _Morning Post_ bellows; the materials, from which the actor Holman is being distilled, are _Ignorance_, _Impertinence_, _Coxcomity_, _Misconception_, _Raving_, _Ranting_, _Grinning_, _Snarling_, _Tortured Attitudes_, _Envy_, _Detraction_.

1786. _A Box-Lobby Hero. The Branded Bully, or the Ass stripp'd of the Lion's Skin._--The incident which forms the subject of this plate is now forgotten, but it appears some overgrown and swaggering personage had constituted himself the tyrant of the box lobbies. The old fable of the Ass in the Lion's skin is verified. Although a head and a half taller than any of those present, the _Branded Bully_ is allowing a mere dwarf to pull his enormous pigtail, and kick him. The ladies are jeering at the discomfitted swaggerer, who, it seems, is in such abject fear that he is suffering all sorts of indignities without attempting to resent them.

_May 6, 1786._ _More of Werter. The Separation. Charlotte preserved from destruction by Albert and Hymen, whilst Werter in the excess of frenzy puts an end to his existence._ Designed by Collings, etched by Rowlandson, published by E. Jackson, Marylebone Street.--The last scene of Werter's tragedy is represented as taking place on the brink of a precipice. The adolescent divinity Hymen, in whose path flowers are strewn, is conducting Charlotte away from the fate which is hanging over her lover; Hymen's torch is interposed between them, and his hand is on the matrimonial chain by which Charlotte is bound to her faithful husband, about whose head is a vision of antlers. Charlotte is hurried off in despair. As to the hero of the story, he is writhing about in a passionate paroxysm, a serpent is stinging him, a death's head looms above his own, the suicide is grasping a pistol in each hand, and a devil with a scourge of snakes and a vial of poison, is pouring the fatal potion over his head like Macassar oil, of which his locks, like a Turk's head broom, standing bolt on end with excitement, do not appear to have any need.

_July 20, 1786._ _Covent Garden Theatre._ Published by H. Brookes, Coventry Street.--An interior of the old theatre filled on all sides with a diversified and appreciative audience. The etching is made with a bold free point, and from its ease and simplicity bears the closest resemblance possible to the artist's original outlines, drawn with his famous reed pen, in the facile exercise of which Rowlandson attained peculiar excellence.

_September 1, 1786._ _Outré Compliments._

_October 1, 1786._ _The Jovial Crew._ Published by S. W. Fores, 3, Piccadilly.--This print, which is somewhat suggestive of Rowlandson's manner, has evidently lost much in the engraving, which is due to another hand. The group consists of a brace of jolly mariners--probably intended for captain and mate--whose characteristics are somewhat of the Dutch skipper type, in company with a black sailor, who is holding a punch-bowl, and is seated on a coil of rope on the deck of the vessel.

1786. _A Visit to the Uncle._ Published by E. Jackson, Marylebone Street. (See 1794.)

_A Visit to the Aunt._ Published by E. Jackson, Marylebone Street. (See 1794.)

1786. _The Wood Eater (Fox)._ (See December 20, 1788.)

_Illustrations_ to poems by Peter Pindar, 1786-92. Printed for G. Kearsley at the Johnson's Head, 46, Fleet Street.

_Peter's Prophecy, or the President and Poet_;

OR AN IMPORTANT EPISTLE TO SIR JOSEPH BANKS ON THE APPROACHING ELECTION OF A PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

BY PETER PINDAR.

_The Banquet Scene: a Repast of the Acclimitative Order._

SIR J. BANKS (_loquitur_).

Zounds! ha'nt I swallow'd raw flesh like a hound?
On vilest reptiles rung the changes round?
Eat every filthy insect you can mention;
Tarts made of grasshoppers, my own invention?
Frogs, tadpoles by the spoonful, long-tail'd imps,
And munch'd cockchaffers just like prawns or shrimps?
Hell seize the pack! unconscionable dogs!
Snakes, spiders, beetles, chaffers, tadpoles, frogs,
All swallow'd to display what man can do--
And must the villains still have something new?
Tell, then, each pretty President creator--
Confound him--that I'll eat an alligator.

PICTURESQUE BEAUTIES OF BOSWELL.

'Part the First, containing ten prints, designed and etched by two capital artists' (Collings and Rowlandson). 'Published in May, 1786, by E. Jackson, 14 Marylebone Street, Golden Square.

'To any serious criticism or ludicrous banter to which my journal may be liable, I shall never object, but receive both the one and the other with perfect good humour.'--_Vide_ Boswell's Letter in the _Public Advertiser_ of March 10, 1786.

1. _Frontispiece._--Representing General Paoli, Dr. Johnson, and the Journalist practising his celebrated imitations.

Ursa Major and the General are drawing the elated advocate in a go-cart, which bears his initial, with a fool's cap worn over an advocate's wig. The Journalist has bells to his Scotch bonnet, a pen behind his ear, a portrait of Bruce, his reputed ancestor, round his neck, a rattle is in his hand, while his publications, _Journal to the Hebrides_, and _Corsica_, are by his side; he is indulging his famous imitation of a '_Moo, oah_' cow (see plate 10, vol. ii). 'All hail, Dalblair! Hail to thee, Laird of Auckinleck.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 38.

2. _The Journalist, with a view of Auckinleck or the Land of Stones._

Bozzy is shown strutting with his short legs very wide apart, posed for the heroic, with a plaid blowing over his shoulder, a feather in his bonnet, an ink-bottle at his button-hole, and an advocate's wig and bands: a bulky manuscript, 'Materials for the Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.,' is serving as his buckler, and the _Journal_ is flourished as a claymore. _Ogden on Prayer_ is in his pocket.

'I am, I flatter myself, completely a "Citizen of the World." In my travels through Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Corsica, France, I have never felt myself from home; and I sincerely love every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation'--(p. 11).

'My great-grandfather, the husband of Countess Veronica, was Alexander, Earl of Kincardine. From him the blood of Bruce flows in my veins; of such ancestry who would not be proud, and glad to seize a fair opportunity to let it be known?'--_Vide Journal_, p. 16.

3. _The Embrace at Boyd's Inn._

'On Saturday, August 14, 1773, late in the evening I received a note from Dr. Johnson that he was arrived at Boyd's Inn at the head of the Cannongate; I went to him directly. He embraced me cordially, and I exulted in the thought that I now actually had him in Caledonia.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 12.

4. _Walking up the High Street, Edinburgh._

'Dr. Johnson and I walked arm in arm up the High Street to my house in James's Court. It was a dusky night, I could not prevent his being assailed by the evening effluvia of Edinburgh.

'As we marched along he grumbled in my ear, "I smell you in the dark."'--_Vide Journal_, p. 13.

5. _Tea at the Journalist's House in James's Court._

'My wife had tea ready for him, which it is well known he delighted to drink at all hours, particularly when sitting up late. He showed much complacency that the mistress of the house was so attentive to his singular habit, and as no man could be more polite when he chose to be so, his address to her was most courteous and engaging, and his conversation soon charmed her into a forgetfulness of his external appearance.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 14.

6. _Chatting 'till two o'clock in the Morning._

'We talked of murder, and of the ancient trial by duel. We sat till near two in the morning, having chatted a good while after my wife left us. She had insisted that, to show all respect to the sage, she would give up our own bedroom to him, and take a worse. This I cannot but gratefully mention as one of a thousand obligations which I owe her since that great obligation of her being pleased to accept of me as her husband.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 15.

7. _Veronica, a Breakfast Conversation._

'Dr. Johnson was pleased with my daughter Veronica, then a child about four months old. She had the appearance of listening to him. His motions seemed to her to be intended for her amusement, and when he stopped she fluttered, and made a little infantine noise, and a kind of signal for him to begin again. She would be held close to him, which was a proof, from simple nature, that his figure was not horrid. Her fondness for him endeared her still more to me, and I declared she should have five hundred pounds of additional fortune.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 17.

8. _Wit and Wisdom making preparations for dinner._

'We gave him as good a dinner as we could. Our Scotch wild-fowl or grouse were then abundant, and quite in season; and so far as wisdom and wit can be aided by administering agreeable sensations to the palate, my wife took care that our great guest should not be deficient.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 123.

9. _Setting out from Edinburgh on the Tour._

'Wednesday, August 18. On this day we set out from Edinburgh, attended only by my man, Joseph Ritter, a Bohemian, a fine stately fellow, above six feet high, who had been over a great part of Europe, and spoke many languages. He was the best servant I ever saw. Let not my readers disdain his introduction, for Doctor Johnson gave him this character: "Sir, he is a civil man, and a wise man." My wife did not seem quite easy when we left her, but away we went.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 47.

10. _Scottifying the Palate at Leith._

'I bought some speldings, fish salted and dried in a particular manner, being dipped in the sea and dried in the sun, and eaten by the Scots by way of relish. He had never seen them, though they are sold in London. I insisted on Scottifying his palate, but he was very reluctant. With difficulty I prevailed with him. He did not like it.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 50.

I see thee stuffing, with a hand uncouth,
An old dry'd whiting in thy Johnson's mouth;
And, lo! I see, with all his might and main,
Thy Johnson spit the whiting out again. PETER PINDAR.

Second Volume. Same title as the first part.

1. _Frontispiece. Revising for the Second Edition, under the inspection of a learned friend._

'Having found, on a revision of this work, that a few observations had escaped me, the publication of which might be considered as passing the bounds of strict decorum, I immediately ordered that they should be omitted in the present edition.'

Let Lord M'Donald threat thy breech to kick,[29]
And o'er thy shrinking shoulders shake his stick;
Treat with contempt the menace of this Lord--
'Tis Hist'ry's province, Bozzy, to record.

Vide _Poetical Epistle to Jas. Boswell, Esq._, by PETER PINDAR, Esq.

2. _The Procession to St. Leonard's College. St. Andrews._

'After supper we made a procession to Saint Leonard's College, the landlord walking before us with a candle, and the waiter with a lantern.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 54.

3. _The Vision at Lord Errol's. Slain's Castle._

'I had an elegant room, but there was a fire in it that blazed; and the sea, to which my windows looked, roared; and the pillows were made of some seafowls' feathers, which had to me a disagreeable smell, so that by all these causes I was kept awake a good time. I saw in imagination Lord Errol's father, Lord Kilmarnock (who was beheaded on Tower Hill in 1740), and I was somewhat dreary, but the thought did not last long, and I fell asleep.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 110.

4. _Lodging at Mr. M'Queen's, in Glenmorison: the celebrated Spider Scene._

'There were two beds in the room, and a woman's gown was hung on a rope to make a curtain of separation between them.... Doctor Johnson fell asleep immediately; I was not so fortunate for a long time. I fancied myself bit by innumerable vermin under the clothes, and that a spider was travelling from the wainscot towards my mouth. At last I fell into insensibility.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 153.

5. _Reconciliation at Glenelg, after the Journalist had ridden away from Ursa Major._

'I resumed the subject of my leaving him on the road, and endeavoured to defend it better. He was still violent upon that head. I had slept ill; Dr. Johnson's anger had affected me much. I considered that, without any bad intention, I might suddenly forfeit his friendship, and was impatient to see him this morning. I told him how uneasy he had made me by what he had said. He owned he had spoken to me in passion, and that he would not have done what he had threatened, and added, "Let's think no more on't."--Boswell: "Well, then, sir, I shall be easy. Remember, I am to have fair warning in case of any quarrel. You are never to spring a mine upon me. It was absurd in me to believe you." Johnson: "You deserved about as much as to believe me from night to morning."'--_Vide Journal_, p. 164.

6. _Highland Dance on the top of Dun-Can._

'Old Mr. Malcolm McCleod, who had obligingly promised to accompany me, was at my bedside between five and six. I sprang up immediately, and he and I, attended by the two other gentlemen, traversed the country during the whole of this day. Though we had passed over not less than four-and-twenty miles of very rugged ground, and had a Highland dance on the top of Dun-Can, the highest mountain in the island, we returned in the evening not at all fatigued, and piqued ourselves at not being outdone at the nightly ball by our less active friends who had remained at home.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 192.

7. _The Recovery, after a severe drunken frolic at Corrichatachin._

'I awaked at noon, with a severe headache; I was much vexed I should have been guilty of such a riot, and afraid of a reproof from Dr. Johnson. About one he came into my room and accosted me, "What, drunk yet!". When I rose I went into Dr. Johnson's room, and taking up Mrs. McKinnon's Prayer-book, I opened it at the twentieth Sunday after Trinity, in the Epistle for which I read: "And be not drunken with wine, wherein there is excess." Some would have taken this as a divine interposition.'--_Vide Journal_, p. 318.

At Corrichatachin's, the Lord knows how,
I see thee, Bozzy, drunk as David's sow,
And begging, with rais'd eyes and lengthen'd chin,
Heav'n not to damn thee for the deadly sin.
PETER PINDAR'S _Epistle_.

8. _Sailing among the Hebrides,--the Journalist holding a rope's-end._