This would appear to be the subject which produced George Cruikshank"s graphic satire of the _Interior View of the House of G.o.d_, in the first volume of "The Scourge." The pulpit is occupied by two fanatics, one of whom rants, while the other snuffs the candles; the devil, in the gallery above, ridicules the proceedings by rasping, _a la_ fiddle, the bars of a gridiron with a poker; among the numerous congregation present we notice some attentive and interested listeners, whilst others evidently attend from mere motives of curiosity. Above the composition appears the quotation, "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of G.o.d: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." The satire, _The Examination of a Young Surgeon_, which appears in the same volume, is aimed at the medical profession. One of the examiners is deaf, another has the gout, a third is asleep, while two others (unmistakable Scotchmen) discuss the merits of their respective snuff-mulls. The deaf man calls upon the frightened candidate to "describe the organs of hearing." The table is garnished with "The Cow Pox Chronicle," and a skull and bones, while the walls are decorated with pictures depicting a fight between death and a pugilist, the Hottentot Venus, a group of various nations worshipping the golden calf, and the lady without arms or legs. The hand of the clock points to the hour of eleven. Judging by the pile of money-bags lying at the foot of the president"s chair, and the two members of the court who are busily engaged in counting coin, George would seem to insinuate that the fellows of the college of his time were a decidedly mercenary set.
"THE SATIRIST."
Of character akin to "The Scourge" (the ten volumes of which were published between 1811 and 1815 inclusive); is "The Satirist, or Monthly Meteor," the thirteen volumes of which made their appearance between the years 1808 and 1813. Both publications, which now command prices very far beyond what they are intrinsically worth, contain a number of satires, of more or less merit (generally _less_), by various satirists, including George Cruikshank; so far as "The Satirist" is concerned, the designs of the latter are confined to the thirteenth and last volume, and his caricature contributions are of a vastly superior order of merit to any of those by which they are preceded. Besides those in "The Scourge" and "The Satirist," may be mentioned George Cruikshank"s comic designs in "Fashion," printed for J. J. Stockdale, of Pall Mall, in 1818; and his very admirable series of untinted etchings in "The Loyalist Magazine; or, Anti-Radical," a publication exclusively devoted to the ministerial side of the Carolinian scandal, and published by James Wright, of Fleet Street, in 1820.
One of the earliest caricatures I have met with by George is ent.i.tled, _Apollyon_ [_i.e._, Napoleon]_, the Devil"s Generalissimo, Addressing his Legions_; it is signed (contrary to his usual custom), "Cruikshank del.," and was executed (if I am right in a.s.signing it to him) when he was sixteen years of age.
1813. DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS OF CHARLES I.
The attention of the public in 1813 was, as we have seen, attracted by the Regent"s treatment of his miserable wife; and in April the sympathy of the Livery and Corporation of London, and other public bodies, found expression in an address which was presented to Her Royal Highness. On the 28th of March of that year, the remains of Charles the First had been discovered in the vault of Henry the Eighth, at Windsor, a circ.u.mstance which suggested to George Cruikshank his admirable satire ent.i.tled, _Meditations amongst the Tombs_. It shows us His Royal Highness gazing at the recovered bodies, and regretting that while Henry had managed to dispose of many wives, _he_ found it impossible to get rid of one. A figure behind him points to the headless corpse, and significantly remarks, "How rum King Charley looks without his head!"
The Battle of Vitoria (fought this year) forms the subject of a pair of roughly executed caricatures, ent.i.tled respectively, _The Battle of Vitoria_, and _A Scene after the Battle, or More Trophies for Whitehall_. Other satires of the year, are _Double Ba.s.s_, and _A Venomous Viper Poisoning the R--l Mind_, the latter as coa.r.s.ely and indelicately handled a subject as any caricaturist of the old school might possibly desire.
1814.
_Little Boney gone to Pot_ (Thomas Tegg, May 12th, 1814), is one of the artist"s contributions to the series of caricatures which followed the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Here the satirist has seated the emperor (a lean, ragged, forlorn, miserable, diseased object) on a huge article of bedroom furniture, labelled, "Imperial Throne." He is in a forlorn condition, suffering from itch, with large excrescences growing on his toes. He is all alone in his island prison (Elba), and tempted by a fiend, who tenders him a pistol--"If you have one spark of courage left," it says, "take this." "Perhaps I may," replies Napoleon, "if you"ll take the flint out." By his side we find a pot of brimstone, numerous medicine bottles, and "a treatise on the itch, by Dr.
Scratch."[70] One of the imperial boots, mounted on a tiny carriage, forms a dummy cannon. His back leans against a tree, to which is nailed the "Imperial Crow," while from the branches depends a ragged pair of breeches and stockings. It was a sorry libel on the unfortunate emperor, whose courage was undoubted, and who, at this time, instead of being the scarecrow the artist has represented him, had grown extremely corpulent.
_Snuffing out Boney_ follows up the same subject, and represents a cossack snuffing out Napoleon, who figures as a candle; another caricature on the great subject of the year bears the t.i.tle of _Broken Gingerbread_ (Napoleon selling images).
[Ill.u.s.tration: GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. _Published July 11th, 1814, by_ S. W. FORES, _Piccadilly_.
RUSSIAN CONDESCENSION, OR THE BLESSINGS OF UNIVERSAL PEACE.
_Face page 133._]
VISIT OF THE ALLIED SOVEREIGNS.
On the 8th of June, 1814, the Emperor of Russia, with his sister the d.u.c.h.ess Oldenburg, the King of Prussia, and his two sons, with Prince Metternich, Marshal Blucher, General Barclay de Tolly, the Hetman Platoff, and other persons of distinction, arrived in London. The strangers were splendidly entertained by the merchants and bankers of London at Merchant Taylors" Hall, and by the Corporation of London at Guildhall. On the 20th there was a grand review of regulars and metropolitan volunteers in Hyde Park; the ceremony of announcing to the inhabitants of the metropolis the conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace with France took place with all its ancient and accustomed solemnities. On the 25th of July a grand naval review was held at Portsmouth, and on the 27th the ill.u.s.trious visitors embarked at Dover for the Continent. The handsome Russian emperor and his handsome sister acquired great popularity by the condescension and affability they displayed during their short visit. This is commemorated by George Cruikshank in a satire published by Fores on the 11th of July, ent.i.tled, _Russian Condescension, or the Blessings of Peace_, in which a coa.r.s.e woman is represented as kissing the emperor, who is habited in English military uniform. "There, Sal," says she to her companion, "I can boast of what none of the ----s at Billingsgate can, having kissed the king"s emperor of all the Russian bears, and he is the sweetest, modestest, mildest gentleman I ever kissed in all my life." On the other side a huge country gawky shakes hands with the d.u.c.h.ess, whose vast bonnet is a study. "Dang it," he says, "when I goes back and tells the folks in our village of this, law! how they will envy I!" In the distance we see another female in pursuit of the frightened Hetman Platoff.
The reader will remember, that from the state ceremonies and festivities which took place on this memorable occasion the miserable Caroline had been excluded, nor did she of course receive recognition or visits from any of her husband"s ill.u.s.trious visitors. The state of social isolation to which she was thus consigned is referred to by George Cruikshank in a very roughly executed caricature ent.i.tled, _The British Spread Eagle_, "Presented to the northern monarchs as a model for their national banner in consequence of the general peace." The Regent, holding in his hand a bottle of port wine, turns away from his neglected wife: "I"ll go," he says, "to my bottle, my marchioness [of Conyngham], my countess" [of Jersey], who may be seen close at hand in an adjoining thicket; "and I,"
answers Caroline, "to my child, my only comfort." The "only comfort" is seen coming to her mother"s a.s.sistance in the distance, uttering the trite quotation, "The child that feels not for a mother"s woes, can ne"er be called a Briton."
_The Impostor, or Obstetric Dispute_, a still more roughly executed satire (published by Tegg in September, 1814), refers to the wretched impostor Southcott. Doctors called in to report on her condition "differed" according to their proverbial custom. Three of these learned pundits may be seen in consultation in the right-hand corner. A blatant and irascible cobbler, standing on a stool, loudly proclaims the woman to be "a cheat!" "a f.a.ggot!" "a bag of deceit!" "a blasphemous old hag!"
The indignant Joanna, far advanced in her dropsical condition, rushes at him, brandishing a broom in one hand and her book of prophecies in the other, to the delight of certain members of the "great unwashed." The buildings at the back appropriately include "New Bethlehem," and the house which the reader may remember was engaged for the purposes of her miraculous _accouchement_. A rougher and coa.r.s.er piece of workmanship, if possible, will be found in _Gambols on the River Thames, February, 1814_ (published also by Tegg), which commemorates the memorable frost of that year.
1815. THE CORN LAWS.
On the 17th of February, 1815, Mr. Frederick Robinson, vice-president of the board of trade, moved for the House of Commons to resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, for the purpose of considering the state of the corn laws. This having been done, he proceeded to lay before the House certain resolutions, three of which related to the free importation of grain to be warehoused and afterwards exported, or to be taken for home consumption when importation for that purpose was allowable. The fourth and most important stated the average price of British corn at which free importation was to be allowed, and _below which it was to be prohibited_, and this for wheat was fixed at eighty shillings per quarter. An exception was made in favour of grain produced in the British colonies, which might be imported when British grown wheat was at sixty-seven shillings. All the resolutions were read and agreed to, with the exception of the fourth, and this in the end also pa.s.sed in the face of every amendment.
On the 1st of March, Mr. Robinson brought in his bill "to amend the laws now in force for regulating the importation of corn." By this time very numerous pet.i.tions against the bill were coming in from the commercial and manufacturing districts; riotous proceedings also took place on the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of March, in the course of which the mob cut to pieces many valuable pictures belonging to Mr. Robinson, destroyed and pitched his furniture into the street, and did a variety of mischief to the property of other well-known supporters of the measure. The riots (which were of a most formidable character) were only quelled by the number and determined att.i.tude of the military and constables. In spite, however, of the unmistakable unpopularity of the measure, and of the strenuous opposition to it both in and out of Parliament, the bill pa.s.sed the House on the 10th of March, and the Upper House on the 20th.
The consequences of this measure were not such as were expected either by its promoters or opposers. Former importations, or more probably the effect of two abundant harvests, combined with the greatly extended cultivation of grain, produced a gradual and steady reduction in prices; so that instead of approaching the limits at which alone importation was allowable by the Act, it sunk to a level below that of several years past. The farmers, who were labouring under exorbitant rents in addition to other increased expenses, were general sufferers, and the landlords found it necessary in many instances to make great abatements in their dues. In the result many leases were voided and farms left without tenants.
To this most unpopular measure a satire, published by Fores on the 3rd of March, 1815, has reference. It is ent.i.tled, _The Blessings of Peace, or the Curse of the Corn Bill_, a very rough affair, etched by George (as it appears to me) from the design of an amateur whose hand may be recognised in more than one of his caricatures. A foreign vessel is approaching our sh.o.r.es laden with best wheat at 50_s._ a quarter. A figure with a star on his breast, emblematical of course of the aristocratic influence which was supposed to have dictated the unpopular corn law, forbids the sailors to land it: "We won"t have it," he says, "_at any price_. We are determined to keep up our own to 80_s._, and if the poor can"t buy at that price, why, they must starve. We love money too well to lower our rents again, tho" the income tax _is_ taken off."
His sentiments are re-echoed by companions belonging to the same cla.s.s as himself. A farmer and his starving family, however, come forward.
"No, no, masters," he remonstrates; "I"ll not starve, but quit my native country, where the poor are crushed by those they labour to support, and retire to one more hospitable, and where threats of the rich do not interpose to defeat the providence of G.o.d!" Behind the starving family is a warehouse absolutely bursting with sacks of grain at 80_s._ "By gar!" says the foreign captain, "if they won"t have [the wheat] at all, we must throw it overboard," which they accordingly are depicted as doing. The subject is followed up by a still more slovenly affair by the artist himself, bearing the t.i.tle of _The Scale of Justice Reversed_, published by Fores on the 29th of March. An eighteenpenny loaf in one scale is overmatched by the acc.u.mulated weight of taxes in the other.
The overbalanced scale in its descent knocks down and crushes John Bull under its weight. "The bread," he cries, "is out of my reach, and those cursed taxes will break my back. That large one ["duty on manufactories," which the chancellor is just putting into the scale]
will do for me." Beyond, a usurer and four large landowners are seen rejoicing at the flight of the "Property Tax," an alleviation which is calculated to do no good to any one but themselves.
NAPOLEON RETURNS FROM ELBA.
John Bull"s trials, however, were in reality just commencing. Only seven months before he had held a grand "jubilee" in the parks, to celebrate the return of peace, treating his little difficulty with the Americans as a _bagatelle_ not worth serious consideration. Four months before that celebration, "his majesty the Emperor Napoleon" had formally "renounced for himself, his successors, etc., all right of sovereignty and dominion, as well to the French empire and the kingdom of Italy, as over every other country." In return for this concession, as if in absolute mockery, "the isle of Elba, adopted by his majesty the Emperor ... as the place of his residence," was formed during his life into a separate princ.i.p.ality, to "be possessed by him in full _sovereignty and property_," besides a certain annual revenue mentioned in the articles of treaty of the 18th of April, 1814. Here the Regent and his very good friends the allied sovereigns had been content to leave him, dreaming apparently, that the man whose military genius had held Europe at defiance, was disposed of "for ever and a day;" disregarding the feeble capacity of the Bourbon who succeeded him; the magic influence wielded by the man who thought the world too small for his ambition over a soldiery he had created and trained into perfection, and who regarded him in the light of a demi-G.o.d.
On the 26th of February, 1815, Bonaparte embarked at Porto Ferrago on board a brig, followed by four small vessels conveying about 1,000 men--French, Poles, Corsicans, Neapolitans, and natives of Elba. On the 1st of March the expedition anch.o.r.ed off the town of Cannes, in Provence, where these heterogeneous forces were landed. The small and motley force of filibusters was forthwith marched on Gren.o.ble, which was reached on the 8th. The seventh regiment of the line, under Colonel Labedoyere, had meanwhile joined the adventurer; the rest of the garrison opened their gates, delivered their a.r.s.enal and magazine, and thus placed him at the head of a body of regular troops with a train of artillery. Only five short months afterwards, while the unfortunate emperor was on his way to St. Helena, poor Labedoyere was shot on the plain of Grenelle, for the "treason" of re-swearing fealty to the original master he had loved so well.
On the 9th of March, Bonaparte appeared before Lyons, which he entered without resistance. Once in possession of this important city, and hailed Emperor by his beloved soldiery, Bonaparte a.s.sumed the "sovereignty and dominion" which he had "renounced" for ever.
"Frenchmen!" he said, after his sententious but stirring manner, "there is no nation, however small it may be, which has not had the right, and which may not withdraw itself from the disgrace of obeying a prince imposed on it by an enemy momentarily victorious. When Charles VII.
re-entered Paris, and overthrew the ephemeral throne of Henry V., he acknowledged that he held his throne from the valour of his heroes, and _not from a Prince Regent of England_."
Although the troops a.s.sembled around him were comparatively a handful, Bonaparte had unquestionably obtained sufficient a.s.surance of the general disposition of the army in his favour. Preparations indeed had been made for collecting a large body of troops at Melun for the immediate protection of Paris, while another was posted at Fontainebleau, so as to place the adventurer as it were between two fires. The greatest hopes were derived from the professed loyalty to the Bourbon cause of Marshal Ney, who had spontaneously presented himself at the Tuileries and proffered his services to the king. With the marshal, 12,000 or 15,000 men were posted at Lons-le-Saulnier, whence it was understood that he would fall on the rear of Bonaparte. Instead of doing so, he joined him at Auxerre with his whole division, which had already hoisted (under his orders) the tri-coloured flag. This defection practically decided the contest; and Bonaparte entered Paris on the evening of the 20th as a conqueror, received everywhere by the military in triumph.
Meanwhile, on the 13th of March, the powers who had signed the Treaty of Paris a.s.sembled in congress at Vienna, "being informed of the escape of Napoleon Bonaparte, and of his entrance into France with an armed force," issued a formal declaration, in which they stated that, "by thus breaking the convention which established him on the island of Elba, Bonaparte had destroyed the only legal t.i.tle on which his existence depended; ... deprived himself of the protection of the law; and manifested to the universe that there could be neither peace nor truce with him. The powers consequently declared that he had placed himself without the pale of civil and social relations, and as an enemy and disturber of the tranquility of the world, rendered himself liable to public vengeance;" and, by a treaty concluded at Vienna on the 25th of March, Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia bound themselves to maintain the Treaty of Paris of 30th May, 1814, and for that purpose each was to keep constantly in the field a force of 150,000 men, and not lay down their arms until Bonaparte should have been rendered absolutely unable to create disturbance, and "renew his attempts for possessing himself of the supreme power in France."
REAPPEARANCE OF BONAPARTE.
The excitement which this portentous event occasioned amongst the nations of Europe is admirably realized by a caricature of George Cruikshank"s, published by Fores on the 6th of April, and ent.i.tled, _The Congress Dissolved before the Cake was Cut up_. Alexander, engaged in cutting up the cake (_i.e._ Europe), and apportioning to each nationality a share of the whole, drops the knife as Napoleon rushes in among them, with the tremendous c.o.c.ked hat, huge sword, and boots a.s.signed to him on the authority of James Gillray. Crushing under his feet the "Decrees of the Congress," "An Account of the Deliverance of Europe," "A Plan for the Security of Europe," and other doc.u.ments of a similar character, he shouts to the affrighted company, "Avast! ye bunglers; the cake you have been these six months disputing about the cutting up, I will do in as many hours." Holland in his fright has dropped off his stool to the ground. "O Donner and Blixen!" he exclaims, "_my_ Hollands is all gone!" "I thought England had promised to guard him," says Saxony, alluding to the kind of naval supervision of Elba by English armed cruisers, which appears to have been exercised, so far as we can see, without any _direct_ claim on our part to control the movements of Bonaparte. "Hold him! seize him!" cries Austria. "Seize him! kill him!" re-echoes Prussia.[71] "Who"ll begin?--There"s the rub!"
is the sensible observation of Sweden. "Oh dear! oh dear!" groans his holiness the Pope, crowned with a composite hat, the crown of which is composed of his mitre; "what will become of me?" The only one who says nothing, but seems prepared to act with determination and prompt.i.tude, is the representative of England, who is shown in the act of drawing his sword.
Napoleon (we need not say) did not exactly act as the caricaturist describes: he endeavoured to re-establish relations with the foreign powers. On the 14th of April, however, Coulaincourt, the minister of foreign affairs, published his report to the emperor, giving an account of the result of the applications which had been made to foreign courts.
From this it appeared that while no communication was permitted with the actual government of France, all the allied powers were diligently making preparation for war. "In all parts of Europe at once," said the minister, "they are arming, or marching, or ready to march." The powers, of course, were acting strictly within the terms of their expressed declaration to make "neither peace nor truce with Bonaparte." The emperor"s practical reply to this declaration was made in the Champ de Mars on the 1st of June. Descending from his throne, he distributed the imperial eagles to the troops of the line and the national guards as they marched past, and swore to defend them at the hazard of their lives, and to suffer no foreigners to dictate laws to their country. All this time reinforcements were being despatched from England without intermission, and the Duke of Wellington had arrived to take command of the troops, native and foreign, in Belgium. There was nothing left for Napoleon except to fight. In the latter end of May, the headquarters of the French army of the north was established at Avesnes, in French Flanders; while, in the apprehension of an invasion by the allied armies on that part, Laon and the Castle of Guise were put in a defensive condition. On the 12th of June Bonaparte left Paris, accompanied by Marshal Bertrand and General Drouet, and proceeded to Laon.
TRI-COLOURED "EAGLES."
At this point we meet with a piece of George Cruikshank"s handiwork which is curious as indicative of the spirit which pervaded England at this momentous period. I am not at present in a position to refer to a newspaper of the period; but it would appear from the sketch referred to that, on or about the very day that Napoleon left Paris to join the splendid army which six days afterwards was so disastrously routed at Waterloo, a city fete was held at the Mansion House, at which that eccentric and st.u.r.dy nationalist, Sir William Curtis, whose face and figure were a fortune to the caricaturists of the period, covered the floor of the Mansion House with the tri-coloured eagles captured from the French in Peninsular battle-fields, while the banners of England domineered from the walls above. The exceedingly rare sketch which ill.u.s.trates this incident is labelled appropriately by the artist, _Opening of Sir William Curtis"s Campaign against the French Colours_.
Six days afterwards, the star of Napoleon Bonaparte had set for ever in the lurid and ensanguined battle clouds of Waterloo. Scarcely one month later on--that is to say, on the 15th of July, 1815--he had surrendered to Captain Maitland, of his majesty"s ship _Bellerophon_, under circ.u.mstances which, while they reflect no discredit on the honour of that gallant officer, seem to us, so far as England was herself concerned, scarcely to have justified her subsequent treatment of the great but unfortunate emperor. With this, however, we have nothing to do. The _Bellerophon_ on the evening of the 23rd, brought the distinguished exile within sight of the coast of England, a circ.u.mstance to which a subsequent caricature (_etched_ by the artist) has reference. On the 6th of September was published by Fores, _Boney"s Threatened Invasion brought to bear, or Taking a View of the English Coast from ye p.o.o.p of the Bellerophon_. The little emperor, confined to the mast by a chain fastened to his leg, leaps on the breech of one of the _Bellerophon"s_ guns, spy-gla.s.s in hand. "By gar, mon Empereur,"
says Count Bertrand, "dey have erect von prospect for you." The "prospect" is far from encouraging--a fort with the English flag flying from the central tower, and a gibbet erected in front of it. No wonder that the emperor expresses himself dissatisfied with a "prospect" of so lugubrious a character. An English sailor seated on a neighbouring gun, delivers the sentiments of the day after the plain-spoken fashion of his countrymen. This design, which is by no means in the artist"s usual style, was etched by him from the design of some one whose name or initials are not recorded.
The actual circ.u.mstance to which the foregoing sketch refers is related to us by the commander of the _Bellerophon_:--
"At daybreak on the 24th of July, we were close off Dartmouth. Count Bertrand went into the cabin and informed Bonaparte of it, who came upon deck about half-past four, and remained on the p.o.o.p until the ship anch.o.r.ed in Torbay. He talked with admiration of the coast, saying, "You have in that respect a great advantage over France, which is surrounded by rocks and dangers." On opening Torbay, he was much struck with the beauty of the scenery, and exclaimed, "What a beautiful country! It very, very much resembles the bay of Porto Ferrago, in Elba.""[72]
The same year, and on the same subject, the artist gives us _Boney"s Meditations on the Island of St. Helena, or the Devil addressing the Sun_, in which the idea is manifestly borrowed from a design by James Gillray; _The Corsican"s Last Trip under the Guidance of his Good Angel_ [the devil]; _The Genius of France Expounding her Laws to the Sublime People_; and a very admirable and original design, _The Pedigree of Corporal Violet_; all of which are etched from the designs of other artists.
Hardly was Napoleon despatched to the island prison which was so shortly to prove his grave, and replaced by the unwieldly Louis, than the latter came in for his full share of satire. In another of George Cruikshank"s caricatures of the same year, he shows us _The Royal Laundress_ [Louis the Eighteenth] _Washing Boney"s Court Dresses_, Napoleon watching the process the while from St. Helena. "Ha, ha!" he laughs, "such an old woman as _you_ might rub a long while before they"ll be all white, for they are tri-coloured in _grain_." Another shows us fat Louis climbing the _mat de cocagne_ (soaped pole) and clutching the crown of France; he clambers up on the shoulders of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, his immediate supporter being England. Napoleon watches his progress from across the sea; "_I_ climbed up," he says, "twice, without _any_ help."
Other subjects of the year are: _Friends in Need_, and _John"s Dream, or the Prince and Old England for Ever!_
1816. AVERSION OF THE REGENT TO RETRENCHMENT.
The repugnance of the Regent to the economical measures which were forced upon the ministry in 1816 is well-known. The people complained with every just reason of the pressure of taxes, which were levied, as they said, upon the industrious, to be squandered in extravagant salaries, sinecures, and unmerited pensions. They complained of the large standing army, which the Regent insisted to be necessary for the maintenance of "our position and high character among the European powers." The prince"s aversion to the popular cry for retrenchment and reform is shown by one of George"s caricatures ent.i.tled, _Sick of the Property Tax, or Ministerial Influenza_, published by Fores on the 8th of March, 1816, where we see the ministers vomiting into a huge receptacle labelled "Budget," the matter voided consisting of "Standing armies," "Property tax," "Increase of salaries," and so on. The gouty, self-indulgent prince hobbles up to his ministers on a pair of crutches marked respectively, "More economy" and "Increase of income." Under his arms he carries bundles of accounts, most of which relate to his own private expenditure, and are labelled, "Expenses of [Brighton]
Pavilion," of "Furniture," "Drinking expenses." "Aye, this comes," he exclaims, "of your cursed pill economy, which you forced me to take a month back; no one knows what I have suffered from this economical spasm. I am afraid we shall all be laid up together." On the table behind him lie the medicines which have been prescribed for him, certain pills labelled "Pet.i.tions against the property tax," and a huge bolus ticketed "economy," "to be taken immediately." On the same subject a month later on is a sketch by an amateur, etched by the artist, bearing the t.i.tle of _Economical Humbug of 1816, or Saving at the Spiggot and Letting Out at the Bunghole_. From a series of small vats, "a.s.sessed taxes," "Property tax," "Customs," "Excise," and other streams of "supply," are pouring into a huge vat labelled "The Treasury of J.