the wonderful dogs that would have put in an appearance in the various sporting scenes and incidents which form the subject of these "horsey"
romances; we should like, for instance, to see what he would have made of the pretty serving woman who figures in the frontispiece of "Ask Mamma;" how he would have treated the fair "de Glancey"; how he would have grouped and dressed his figures at _The Handley Cross Ball_; how he would have treated poor old Jorrocks when he fell into the shower bath.
But, admirable as are Leech"s book ill.u.s.trations and etchings, it is in the minor designs which he executed for _Punch_ during the short quarter of a century allotted to him that we must seek for Leech"s _genius_: it is these little drawings which place him in the front rank of nineteenth century graphic satirists. They are characterized by genuine humour and satire, unalloyed with a single trace of ill-humour, exaggeration, or vulgarity. It was in this direction that the artistic instincts of poor Robert Seymour inclined him; but his imagination and invincible tendency to exaggerate, inherited from the caricaturists who preceded him, failed to bear him beyond the limited sphere of c.o.c.kney sports and c.o.c.kney sportsmen in which his soul delighted. Here, we have the swells and vulgarians, the flunkies and servants, the old men and maidens, the soldiers, the parsons, the pretty women of English everyday life, placed in situations more or less embarra.s.sing, but presenting nevertheless perfect types of the respective cla.s.ses thus harmlessly and admirably satirized. In this lies their chief value, and as years roll on and the _Punch_ volumes become scarce, this value will necessarily increase.
ABHORRENCE FOR FRENCHMEN.
A shy and un.o.btrusive member of the society in which he moved, and which delighted in the enjoyment of his friendship, John Leech was the keenest of observers, noting and satirizing as no one before his time had attempted, or indeed had been able to do, the cant and hypocrisy, the pride and selfishness, the upstart and arrogant exclusiveness, the insular prejudices and weaknesses, which form a part of our national character; but doing this, he loved his countrymen and countrywomen for their finer qualities, and hated the bungling foreigners who presume to caricature them without the barest knowledge of their subject. This is the secret of the hearty abhorrence which Leech always testified for Frenchmen. The ignorance of his countrymen on the subject of English women has been amusingly ridiculed by one of the most distinguished of their own writers--Eugene Sue, in his novel of "Mathilde":--"_That_ an Englishwoman! Nonsense; there is nothing more easy to recognise than an Englishwoman; you have only to look at her dress; it is simple enough, in all conscience! A straw bonnet all the year through; a pink spencer; a Scotch plaid petticoat, and bright green or lemon-coloured boots; you may see the costume any day in _Les Anglaises pour rire_, at the _Varietes_. We all know it is a Vaudeville, and it would not be publicly acted unless it were authentic. I repeat it once more, ever since this world has been a world, Englishwomen--real genuine Englishwomen--have never been differently dressed." M. Taine, who devoted himself to the study of our language and literature, and spent much time amongst us, has (if I remember rightly) admitted the errors which prevail amongst his countrymen and women with reference to ourselves; but such observers as M. Taine and M. Sue are unfortunately rare in France, and many have essayed to depict us, with as much knowledge of their subject as our Sir John Maundeville possessed when he sat down to write his absurd but quaint and amusing "Book of Voiage and Travaile." John Leech resented this deplorable ignorance on the part of our neighbours; and the _Punch_ volumes are filled with biting sarcasms on French habits, manners, and sentiments, which were keenly felt, because, unlike the English who figure at the Varietes or in French caricatures, in the dirty men who regard with astonishment the English washstand at the exhibition, the cabs full of hirsute monstrosities, the "Flowers of the French army,"
the grimy Revolutionists of Leicester Square--the hundred and one Frenchmen who figure in the satires of John Leech, the Parisian recognises compatriots whose ridiculous lineaments have been too faithfully reproduced to render identification a matter of doubt or difficulty.
Leech executed very few ill.u.s.trations for d.i.c.kens; and the amusing blunder which he perpetrated in "The Battle of Life," in allowing the lady to elope with the wrong man, and the "horror and agony" of the author in consequence thereof, have been set forth in Forster"s "Life."
The mistake was discovered too late for correction, and remains a curious proof of the carelessness with which distinguished artists will sometimes read the ma.n.u.script of an author however ill.u.s.trious.
[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN LEECH. "_Illuminated Magazine._"
"I HOPE MR. SMUG, YOU DON"T BEAT YOUR BOYS?"
_Face p. 292._]
The Surtees" novels afford singular evidence of the keenness of John Leech"s critical observation. An ardent lover of sport himself, and a frequent attendant at the "Pytchley," when he went a day"s hunting it was his custom to single out some fellow disciple of Nimrod that happened to take his fancy, keeping behind him all day, noting his att.i.tudes in the saddle, and marking every item of his turn-out, to the last b.u.t.ton and b.u.t.ton-hole of his hunting coat. It was in this way that he obtained the correctness of detail which renders his famous sporting etchings so wonderfully true to nature. Strange to say, notwithstanding his knowledge of every detail of the huntsman"s dress, even to the number of b.u.t.tons on his coat, he himself, with reference to his own outfit, invariably presented in the hunting field a somewhat incongruous appearance. Either he would wear the wrong kind of boots, or would dispense with some detail which on the part of an enthusiast would be considered an unpardonable omission. Leech, however, was not what is called a "rough rider," his const.i.tutional nervousness prevented him indeed from making a prominent figure in the hunting field, and his friends attributed this want of attention to detail in dress to his sensitiveness to criticism, and his unwillingness to place himself in any position which would be likely to incur it.
FOOTNOTES:
[126] Vol. iii., 1860.
[127] Shirley Brooks in the _Ill.u.s.trated London News_, 19th Nov., 1864.
[128] George Redway, 12, York Street, Covent Garden.
[129] They include also some (pirated) impressions from the designs of George Cruikshank, which set that irritable genius, as might have been expected, in a fume.
[130] Chapman & Hall, 186, Strand, 1st November, 1840.
[131] "Adventures of Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy."
[132] He subsequently returned to it for a short time only.
[133] The serial commenced 17th July, 1841.
[134] That this was the case, see Mr. Joseph Hatter"s "With a Show in the North;" see also a remarkable letter of Mr. William Tegg in the _Athenaeum_ of 16th October, 1875.
[135] Thackeray in the _Quarterly_.
[136] I calculate that the minor drawings number about 2,500; if to these we add 638 cartoons, we get a sum total of over 3,100 ill.u.s.trations for _Punch_ alone. If we say nearly 1,000 for Mr.
Surtees" sporting novels, without taking into account Leech"s other work, we may form some notion of his untiring industry.
[137] MS. Diary of Shirley Brooks (October 31st, 1864).
[138] Compare, for instance, Leech"s _Black Mousquetaire_ in the original edition with Cruikshank"s reproduction of the same subject in the "64 edition.
CHAPTER XIV.
_THE "PUNCH" CARTOONS OF JOHN LEECH._
We have seen that at the time John Leech commenced work as a comic artist, the art of caricature was practically dead; it was not therefore at all surprising, under the circ.u.mstances, that he should reverse, as it were, the order of things: commence as an ill.u.s.trator of books, and finish his career as a graphic humourist. Although his first contribution to _Punch_ commences in the fourth number, his cartoons so called (from which, in accordance with the plan of this work we now proceed to select a few examples) seem to us to call for little mention before the year 1843.
PRINCE ALBERT.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, who held high rank in the British army by virtue of his exalted position, was most unjustly suspected in those early _Punch_ days of a desire to interfere unduly with its administration. He took, however, much interest in the dress and comfort of the British soldier; and those who remember what military costume was in 1843, will admit that there was room for improvement. Changes were made indeed, but these changes can hardly be said to have been made in the direction of either comfort, convenience, or good taste. The "Albert hat" (as it was called), one of the ugliest, most ungainly, and preposterous of military shakoes that was ever invented, made its appearance about this time, and the idea was credited (rightly or wrongly) to the amiable prince. Constant reference to this preposterous invention is made in the pages of _Punch_, and the prince"s questionable taste in the matter of military costume is specially satirized in Leech"s amusing cartoon ent.i.tled _Prince Albert"s Studio_.
Mr. O"Connell, at a great Repeal meeting held in September, 1843, had expressed a hope that he should be able to give his dupes "as a new year"s gift a parliament on College Green." No one knew better than himself the absurdity of such a promise. Had he named the first of April for the presentation instead of the first of January, it would have been more appropriate, and at least equally veracious. A great Repeal meeting was intended to be held in October at Clontarf, three miles from Dublin, at which certain supporters of the movement were to have attended on horseback and paraded in the character of the "Repeal Cavalry." This meeting the Irish executive prohibited by proclamation, and on the 14th, O"Connell and other prominent leaders were arrested, and held to bail on a charge of conspiracy. On the 24th of May, 1844, the Irish judges sentenced him to twelve months" imprisonment, and a fine of 2,000. The cartoon of _The Probable Effects of Good Living and no Exercise_ refers to this result; but _Punch_ on this occasion was wrong. O"Connell proved "too many" for the Irish lawyers. He appealed by writ of error to the Lords, and on the 4th of September the judgment was reversed.[139] Sir James Graham, the Home Secretary, and the government to which he belonged, had encountered much odium in consequence of the opening of certain letters which had pa.s.sed through the post office. The result was the appointment of a Committee of Secrecy by both Houses to inquire into the official practice, and it would appear from their report that every administration had been in the habit of exercising this espionage under the authority of a warrant of the Secretary of State. The sins of the past as well as of the present were visited on the head of Sir James, who sought to throw the responsibility on higher powers; and in reference to this, Sir James Graham and Sir Robert Peel figure respectively as _Sairey Gamp_ and _Betsey Prig_, after Phiz"s well-known drawing. Sir James indeed seemed to have had rather a facility for getting himself into trouble. There was much excitement in and out of the House with reference to the additional grant to Maynooth College. In the course of the debates, Sir James Graham retracted an expression which he said had fallen from him in the heat of debate, viz. that concession in favour of Ireland had reached its utmost limit, and hoped that his actions had proved better than his words. Among the subsequent cartoons by Leech, he figures as _Peel"s Dirty Little Boy_. "Drat the boy," says Dame Peel (as she chastises him), "he"s _always_ in a mess."
Towards the close of the debate two remarkable speeches were delivered by Lord John Russell and Sir Robert Peel, both of whom concurred in the necessity of a conciliatory policy towards Ireland. This _rapprochement_ between the two leaders of the opposite camps, and the leanings of Sir Robert in the direction of a Liberal policy, are referred to in Leech"s cartoons of _How do you Like the New Whig?_ and the _Premier"s Fix_ (Peel between Free Trade and Protection), the last borrowed from one of Cruikshank"s drawings. _The Railway Juggernaut of 1845_ (also suggested by Cruikshank"s well-known etching), refers to the then mania for dabbling in railway shares.
Between the two stools of Free Trade and Protection, Sir Robert, as might have been antic.i.p.ated, ultimately fell through; an event which is chronicled in vol. x., the idea in this instance being taken from the celebrated drawing in the late Mr. Clarke"s "Three Courses and a Dessert," the cartoon of Peel driving the vehicle of Protection, which has broken down, bearing the t.i.tle of _The Deaf Postilion_. A change of ministry took place in 1846, little Lord John replacing Sir Robert Peel as "First Lord of the Treasury." He cuts an amazingly queer figure (in vol. xi.) in the ex-premier"s huge hat, vast coat, and voluminous waistcoat and inexpressibles. Little Lord John was an enduring subject of _Punch"s_ satire during that statesman"s somewhat unsatisfactory political career, and Leech was never weary of comparing him with his far more brilliant and able contemporary. Here we have the pair figuring as _Dombey and Son_ (Dombey being Sir Robert, and the son Lord John), "Mr. Dombey was in a difficulty. He would like to have given him (_the boy_) some explanation involving the terms circulating medium, currency, depreciation of currency, paper, bullion, rates of exchange, value of precious metals in the market, and so forth." The _Portrait of a n.o.ble Lord in Order_ refers to one of those exhibitions of want of tact, taste, and temper in which Lord Brougham would seem to have delighted.[140] "Who calls _me_ to order?" cries the "n.o.ble and learned"
lord, "Who calls _me_ to order? Pooh! Pooh! Fiddle-de-dee! I never was in better order in my life. n.o.ble lords don"t know what they are about;"
a conspicuous and aggressive appurtenance of the "n.o.ble and learned," by the way, is his preposterous umbrella. One of the most barbarous and disgraceful of London neighbourhoods in 1847, and for many years afterwards, was Smithfield; the present generation can form no idea of the state of things thirty years ago, which is referred to in the cartoon of _Punch and the Smithfield Savages_, the artist borrowing his idea from West"s well-known picture of "Penn"s Treaty with the Indians."
The odious matrimonial swindle perpetrated by Louis Philippe with the idea of ultimately seating a member of his family on the Spanish throne, which has cast an indelible stain on his memory, had now been found out, and attracted universal indignation. We find him, in reference to this shameless piece of business, figuring as the _f.a.gin of France after Condemnation_, the idea being suggested of course by Cruikshank"s famous etching in "Oliver Twist." Retribution overtook the mercenary monarch in the year of disquietude and national unrest--1848; foreign kings and potentates were sent flying in all directions, and Louis Philippe, who, like the rest of his family had learnt nothing by misfortune, was among the first to go. _Put Out_, one of the best of the artist"s political cartoons, represents an armed _ouvrier_ clapping the cap of _liberte_ by way of extinguisher on the French candle (King Louis). Uneasy were the heads which wore crowns in that year; and to the throned and unthroned sovereigns, the former of whom watched these untoward events with nervous interest, John Leech presented a seasonable gift in the form of _A Const.i.tutional Plum Pudding_, served up by Mr. Punch on Magna Charta, and curiously compounded of "Liberty of the Press," "Common Sense,"
"Order," "Trial by Jury," "Religion," and "True Liberty of the Subject."
Among the sovereigns who had a peculiarly insecure seat at this period was Mastai Ferretti, better known as Pope Pius IX. His temporal power was weak, whilst his spiritual dominion, as might have been expected, had never been much stronger. To bolster up the former, and at the same time find employment for his troops, Louis, Prince President of the French Republic, sent an army to Rome, thus affording matter for the speculation of his countrymen, who were puzzled to know what possible concern a French Republic could have with the affairs of the Papacy.
Allusion to this is made in Leech"s cartoon of _The French c.o.c.k and the Roman Eagle_, in which the bird of higher caste, chained and fettered, is unable to offer anything like fair resistance to his unwilling antagonist. In a _Bright Idea_, we have the apostle of peace (whose uncompromising arguments in its favour have driven us before now in the direction of war) figuring as a recruiting sergeant, and endeavouring to enlist the "Iron Dook."
GENERAL HAYNAU.
In no country perhaps are women more cruelly used than among the poorer cla.s.ses of England, while in no country under the sun is greater sympathy expressed for the weaker s.e.x; a paradox which was strikingly exemplified in 1850. The Austrian General Haynau in that year paid a visit to this country. Some time before he had earned unenviable notoriety by his treatment of the wives and daughters of Hungarian insurgents who fell into his hands, and it was reported, probably with much exaggeration, that regardless of s.e.x and condition he had subjected these hapless fugitives to the indignity of corporal punishment. The rising had been however some time repressed, and there was every reason to believe that in this country at least the rumour had been forgotten.
Among the sights the General had been recommended to visit in London was the celebrated brewery of Messrs. Barclay & Perkins, and no sooner was his presence discovered, than he was simultaneously attacked by the draymen, and narrowly escaped with his life. He got small sympathy from _Punch_, who, in vol. xix., presented Leech"s _Sketch of a Most Remarkable Flea found in General Haynau"s Ear_. "_Who"s Dat Knocking at de Door?_" is a question put by Johnny Russell to old Joe (Hume), who once in every session in those days stood knocking at the door with his banjo labelled, "Extension of the Suffrage."
THE "PAPAL AGGRESSION."
Macaulay, writing in 1840,[141] referred to the progress of what he happily termed "The Catholic Revival of the Nineteenth Century." This revival was never more clearly exemplified than at the very time the temporal power was most seriously endangered. Such of the temporal power, indeed, as was left to it has gone, probably for ever; while the spiritual power of the Papacy, at least in Protestant England, as must be patent to any one who has given the subject the smallest attention, has unostentatiously but enormously increased, especially within the last twenty years. The year 1850 was remarkable for what was then known among us as the "Papal Aggression," and _Punch_ and his "right-hand man"
were exceedingly angry. Among the cartoons which they fulminated on the occasion were the following: _The Guy Fawkes of 1850_ [_i.e._ the Pope]
_Preparing to Blow up all England_; _The Thin End of the Wedge_ [the Pope trying with his jemmy, labelled "Roman Archbishopric of Westminster," to force the doors of the English Church]. It is both a singular and significant circ.u.mstance, that at this time the Ritualists, or rather Puseyites, were helping on the work of Rome by promoting, if not schism, at least dissension in the Church of England by advocating the strictest attention to the letter instead of the spirit of the rubric and liturgy. We find, in special reference to the a.s.sistance thus, in some cases we believe unconsciously, rendered to the Romish Church, _The Puseyite Moth_ flying into the Roman Catholic candle; and _Fashion in 1850, or a Page for the Puseyites_, in which we see the Bishops of Lincoln, Oxford, and Exeter dropping the hot poker of Puseyism, and the Pope, as monkey, making a _catspaw_ of _poor Pus(s)ey_ [the Doctor lately deceased]; again, in vol. xx., Punch (a boy) inquires of an episcopal showman, who holds the model of a church on his stand, "Please, Mr. Bishop, which is Popery and which is Puseyism?" To which the episcopal showman replies, "Whichever you like, my little dear"; another cartoon represents a Puseyite parson who has received "warning" from his cook. Inquiring the reason of her dissatisfaction, he receives the following reply: "Well, sir, the fact is I aint equal to them Fast days; for what with a hegg here, and a hegg there, and little bits of fish for breakfastes, and little bits of fish for dinners, and the sweet omelicks, and the fried and stewed hoysters, and the Bashawed lobsterses, and one think and the hother, there"s so much cooking that I aint even time to make up a cap!" Another influential person besides Mr. Punch was terribly indignant at this aggressive movement on the part of the Papacy, and loudly avowed his determination to go any length to put a stop to it. This was my Lord John Russell, who, after vapouring like "ancient Pistol," quietly sneaked off after his usual fashion, and did nothing. He got, however, a well-merited dressing from Leech, who showed him up in his true character in a contemporary number as _The Boy who Chalked up "No Popery," and then Ran Away_. It was these Papal satires (as we shall afterwards see) which led to the secession from _Punch_, and the consequent loss to satiric art, of one of its most genial and capable professors, the late Richard Doyle;[142] a loss followed (if we may so term it) by a compensating gain. Richard Doyle"s place was almost immediately taken by an artist of great and exceptional power, for more than twelve years the friend and coadjutor of John Leech--Mr. Tenniel, who makes his first appearance in _Punch"s_ twentieth volume.
The long peace which followed the national and European struggle with Napoleon had produced a curious effect upon ourselves. While Russia took advantage of the lull to recruit her colossal forces, and Prussia to perfect the military system which took us so much by surprise half a century afterwards, we, on the other hand, wearied with our long and arduous struggle, had fallen asleep, and dreamed pleasantly that the "Millennium" was at hand. With this idea apparently in our minds, we inscribed on the walls of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Scriptural text which tells us that "swords shall be beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, neither shall they learn war any more." A significant commentary on the text was found in the fact that many of the exhibits at the "World"s Fair" consisted of cannon, rifles, and other lethal instruments of improved method and construction, intended for the wholesale destruction of the human race. We read the Scriptural text, and viewed these exhibits as relics of a barbarism which had existed six and thirty years before, oblivious of the circ.u.mstance that an incompetent general had "wiped out" a British army in Afghanistan, and that we had crushed the empire of Runjeet Singh on the banks of the Sutlej not so many years before. The closing of the Exhibition is commemorated by a cartoon, in which Leech shows us the famous Amazon putting on her bonnet and shawl, chatting the while with Hiram Power"s Greek Slave, who, habited in "bloomer" costume, prepares likewise to take her departure. Allusion to the bribery and corruption prevalent at a notorious borough of that day is made in a sketch which depicts the _Horror of that Respectable Saint, St. Alban"s, at Hearing the Confession of a St. Alban"s Elector_.
THE COUP D"eTAT.
Remarkable results were destined to follow the year of unrest--1848.
Louis Philippe had been replaced in France by Louis Napoleon, who seems to have been elevated to the Presidency of the Republic because he was considered to be so absolutely harmless, the principle followed being a.n.a.logous to that observed at the election of a Pope, which has resulted more than once in an unpleasant surprise for the cardinal electors.
Those who had formed a low estimate of his abilities, found that Louis was no longer the "half-saved" youth of Boulogne and Strasburg; that he had learnt some stern lessons in the hard school of adversity; that he had developed, moreover, a firm and decided will of his own. We thought it a hazardous experiment on the part of French Republicans, for Louis held a craze on the subject of his uncle"s "ideas," and the craze had sufficient "method" to induce us to believe that he was the last man who would have been selected to fill the presidential chair. As a refugee in England, we had given him small credit for sagacity; and as an emperor and a man, history has already said of him that he was cunning, unreliable, and thoroughly unscrupulous. Although a comparison between the two men is impossible, there was at least this similarity between the two Napoleons, that both were indebted for their elevation to the imperial purple to a revolution; here, however, all resemblance ceased.
The first Napoleon relied upon himself alone, while Louis was advised by counsellors and adventurers wiser and more unscrupulous than himself, and who were prepared to back his fortunes with a view of advancing their own. At the close of 1851, Europe was electrified by the unexpected and dastardly blow delivered by these men, and by means of a "great crime," the history of which has been so graphically related by Victor Hugo, Louis Napoleon, Prince President of the Republic, found himself master of the destinies of France. The event is referred to by John Leech in the cartoon of _France is Tranquil!!!_ which she cannot well fail to be, seeing that we find her bound hand and foot; a chain-shot fastened to her foot, and a sentry menacing her with his bayonet. The next volume shows us the Prince President in the act of being measured by his military tailor, while he offers money to his cast-off mistress _Liberte_, her mother (France) looking indignantly on.