English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century Part 11

"NO. 111, RUE DU FAUBOURG ST. HONORe, a PARIS.

Sir,--People are buying themselves so fast out of my book, ...[55]

that I have no time to attend to them; should be sorry not to give each _a chance_, if they _chuse to be out_. You are quizzed most _unmercifully_. Two n.o.ble dukes have lately taken my word, and I have never named them. I am sure ---- would say you might trust me never to publish, or _cause_ to be published, aught about you, if you like to forward 200 directly to me, else it will be too late, as the last volume, in which you _s.h.i.+ne_, will be the property of the editor, and in his hands. Lord ---- says he will answer for aught I agree to; so will my husband. Do _just as you like_--consult only yourself. I get as much by a small _book_ as you will give me for taking you out, or more. I attack no poor men, because they cannot help themselves.

"Adieu. Mind, I have no time to write again, as what with writing books, and then altering them for those who _buy out_, I am done up--_frappe en mort_.

"Don't trust to bag[56] with your answer."

That this extraordinary communication was no idle threat was proved by the fact that a respectable statuary, carrying on business in Piccadilly, who had refused to pay _black-mail_, brought an action for libel in the King's Bench on the 1st of July against a man named Stockdale, publisher of the infamous production referred to, and recovered 300 damages. The same year Popple, the printer, brought his action against this fellow; but Mr. Justice Best directed him to be nonsuited, on the ground that he was not ent.i.tled to remuneration for printing a work of such a character.

The Catholic Relief Bill, which was thrown out this year, is the subject of several of Robert's satires, bearing the t.i.tles of _John Bull versus Pope Bull_; _Defenders of the Faith_; _The Hare Presumptuous, or a Catholic Game Trap_; _A Political Shaver, or the Crown in Danger_. _The Catholic a.s.sociation, or Paddy Coming it too Strong_, has reference to Mr. Goulburn's motion to suppress the Catholic a.s.sociation of Ireland, which was carried by 278 to 123, and the third reading by a majority of 130. The language used by Mr. O'Connell on the occasion was so strong that an indictment was subsequently preferred against him, which, however, was thrown out by the grand jury. _Matheworama_ for 1825 depicts that celebrated impersonator in thirteen of his characters.

_Duelling_ deserves particular mention by reason of the admirably designed landscape and figures. It represents one of the princ.i.p.als (who looks very far from comfortable) waiting, with his second and a doctor, the advent of the other parties. _The Bubble Burst, or the Ghost of an old Act of Parliament_, has reference to the speculation mania of 1825.

Others of his satires for the year are labelled respectively, _Frank and Free, or Clerical Characters in 1825_; _A Beau Clerk for a Banking Concern_; _The Flat Catcher and the Rat Catcher_; and _A Pair of Spectacles, or the London Stage in 1824-5_, which, although unsigned and bearing no initials, I have no hesitation in a.s.signing to Robert Cruikshank.

I am unable to indicate the dates of the following: _Football_, very clever, and probably earlier than any of those already mentioned; _Waltzing_, "dedicated with propriety to the lord chamberlain," a very coa.r.s.e and severe satire upon the immoralities of the Prince Regent.

Besides those we have already mentioned, we have others with which the volume miscalled "Cruikshankiana" (so often republished) has made the general public probably more familiar, such as the _Monstrosities of 1827_; _A Dandy Fainting, or an Exquisite in Fits_; _The Broom Sold_ (Lord Brougham); _Household Troops_ (a skit on domestic servants); and _A Tea-party, or English Manners and French Politeness_, all of which may be dismissed with the remark that they are the worst specimens of Robert's work which could probably have been selected.

SCARCITY OF ROBERT'S SATIRES.

With the year 1825, our record of Isaac Robert Cruikshank's caricature work somewhat abruptly terminates. We cannot a.s.sert that after that date it wholly ceased, but, inasmuch as we have selected those we have named from a ma.s.s of some of the rarest pictorial satires published between the years 1800 and 1830, I think we are fairly justified in a.s.suming that after this period his contributions to this branch of comic art became fewer. If this be the fact, it confirms the conclusion at which we have arrived, that at this time caricature had begun its somewhat hasty decline. Those I have named comprise over seventy examples; and their value, which is great on account of their scarcity, will be increased by the possibility that in the conception and execution of some of them the mind and hand of Robert might have been a.s.sisted by those of the more celebrated brother. "When my dear brother Robert,"

says George in writing to the compiler of the famous catalogue of his own works, "when my dear brother Robert (who in his latter days omitted the Isaac) left off portrait painting, and took almost entirely to designing and etching, I a.s.sisted him at first to a great extent in some of his drawings on wood and his etchings." If this be the case, it is at least possible that he lent the a.s.sistance of his cunning hand and original fancy to the preparation of some of these contributions to pictorial satire. It appears to us, therefore, that a just idea of George's own work as an artist can scarcely be arrived at (especially his share of the famous "Life in London") until we have first considered the early work of himself and his brother Robert as graphic satirists and caricaturists. They were closely a.s.sociated in artistic work during their early career; and it was not until both had given up social and political satire, and devoted themselves to the then comparatively new field of book ill.u.s.tration and etching on copper, that the superiority, originality, and genius of the younger brother became so manifest and incontrovertible.

FOOTNOTES:

[50] The name given him by Bernard Blackmantle.

[51] Further particulars of them will be found in the "Memoirs of the d.u.c.h.ess d'Abrantes" (Madame Junot). The fas.h.i.+ons of the years which immediately preceded the Revolution appear to have been almost as funny. I have somewhere seen a French semi-caricature depicting fas.h.i.+onables of the Palais Royal in 1786, and the people who had their heads cut off in '93 were almost as queer as the dandies of the Directory and the Consulate.

[52] The treadmill was the invention of Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Cubitt, of Ipswich. It was erected at Brixton gaol in 1817, and was afterwards gradually introduced into other prisons.

[53] The Marquis of Londonderry.

[54] What became of Seurat we do not know, but we lately came across the following: "the Siamese twins married; the _living skeleton_ was crossed in love, but afterwards consoled himself with a corpulent widow." The authority is George Augustus Sala in "Twice Round the Clock." We strongly suspect that the wit extracted the information out of his own "inner consciousness."

[55] We purposely omit the t.i.tle.

[56] Presumably post "bag."

CHAPTER VI.

_ROBERT CRUIKSHANK_ (_Continued_).

_"LIFE IN LONDON" AND OTHER BOOK WORK._

In perusing various articles on George Cruikshank in which reference is made to the "Life in London," we have been struck with the almost utter absence of Robert Cruikshank's name; further than this, it seems to have been the almost universal impression that it was his a.s.sociation with George on this memorable book which secured such reputation as Robert himself enjoyed. So far, however, was this from being the case, that not only was Robert, in 1821, a caricaturist and satirist of acknowledged reputation, but he was believed at this very time by the general public to be the cleverer artist of the two. Robert, indeed, has been treated with curious injustice in relation to this famous book, which owes its very existence (as we shall presently see) to him alone. While according to George (as in effect they do) the whole merit of the performance, many of the writers of the articles referred to acknowledge that they find it impossible to a.s.sign to him his share of the ill.u.s.trations; and that difficulty will be largely increased to any one who has studied Robert Cruikshank's caricature work. The fact is that few of these famous plates will bear comparison with the best of Robert's pictorial satires; while the kindred book of the "English Spy," which was ill.u.s.trated (with the exception of one plate) by Robert alone, contains designs quite equal to those which adorn the "Life in London." When it is admitted that Robert executed three parts of these ill.u.s.trations, while those who have written upon him say that they are unable to identify George's share of the work,[57] it seems unjust (to say the least of it) that the credit of the _whole_ performance should be a.s.signed to him alone. Let us be just to Robert, even though his merit as a draughtsman has been lost sight of in the fame which the younger brother achieved by virtue of his greater genius.

POPULARITY OF "LIFE IN LONDON."

The reader need not be told--and we are not going to tell him what he knows already--that the "Life" was dramatized by four writers for different theatrical houses. The most successful version was the one produced at the Adelphi, previously known as the _Sans Pareil_ theatre.

The first season of this house, which Messrs Jones and Rodwell had recently purchased for 25,000, was only moderately successful; but the fortune of the second was made by "Tom and Jerry." Night after night immediately after the opening of the doors, the theatre was crowded to the very ceiling; the rush was tremendous. By three o'clock in the afternoon of every day the pavement of the Strand had become impa.s.sable, and the dense ma.s.s which occupied it had extended by six o'clock far across the roadway. Peers and provincials, dukes and dustmen, all grades and cla.s.ses of people swelled the tide which night after night rolled its wave up the pa.s.sage of the Adelphi. It was a compact wedge; on it moved, slowly, laboriously, amid the shouts and shrieks, the justling and jostling of the crowd which composed it, leavened by the intermixture of numbers of the swell mob, who plied their vocation with indefatigable industry and impunity. Nevertheless, the reader will be surprised to learn (and it is probably little known) that in spite of this amazing popularity, the first night of "Tom and Jerry" met with such unexpected opposition that Mr. Rodwell declared it should never be played again. Luckily for himself and his partner he was induced to reconsider this decision. The tide was taken at the flood, and it led--as the poet a.s.sures us that it will lead when so taken--to an a.s.sured fortune.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBERT CRUIKSHANK. _From "The Universal Songster."_

"By this take a warning, for noon, night, or morning, The devil's in search of attorneys."]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBERT CRUIKSHANK. _From "The Universal Songster."_

"With her flames and darts, and apple tarts, her ices, trifles, cherry-brandy, O, she knew not which to choose, for she thought them both the Dandy."

_Face p. 110._]

One night a stranger entered the private box of the Duke of York at the Adelphi, and seated himself immediately behind his Royal Highness, who took but little notice of the intruder. The mysterious stranger had been brought in and was fetched by a plain green chariot; and the few that saw him said that he was a portly gentleman, wrapped in a long great coat and m.u.f.fled up to the eyes. Keeping himself well behind his Royal Highness, the portly stranger took a deep but unostentatious interest in the performance. In his Haroun al-Raschid character he had been present, with his friend Lord Coleraine (then Major George Hanger), at some of the actual scenes represented; and in particular, by virtue of the fact of his wearing "a clean s.h.i.+rt," had been called upon by the ragged chairman at a convivial meeting of the "Cadgers" to favour them with a song, which had been sung for him by his friend and proxy the Major. The mysterious stranger in fact, as the reader has already guessed, was his gracious Majesty King George the Fourth, and his visit _incognito_ having been made by previous notice and arrangement, the pa.s.sages were kept as clear of the general public as possible.

The scenery of the Adelphi version was superintended by Robert Cruikshank himself. "Tom and Jerry" brought a strange mixture of visitors to attend the rehearsals. Corinthians (men of fas.h.i.+on)--members of the turf and the prize ring, who found a common medium of conversation in the sporting slang which Mr. Egan has made so familiar to us. Naturally there was a mixture. Tom Cribb, whom the Cruikshanks had temporarily elevated into the position of a hero, was indispensable; and the silver cup which figures in Robert's sketch was every night made use of in the scene depicting the champion's pot-house sanctum. Among the frequenters at these rehearsals was a quiet man of unusually un.o.btrusive deportment and conversation,--this man was Thurtell, the cold-blooded murderer of Mr. Weare.

Since the days of the "Beggars' Opera," a success equal to that which attended the "Life in London," and its several dramatized versions by Barrymore, Charles Dibdin, Moncrieff, and Pierce Egan, had been unknown.

The exhausted exchequers of four or five theatres were replenished; and as in the days of the "Beggars' Opera" the favourite songs of that piece were transferred to the ladies' fans, and highwaymen and abandoned women became the heroes and heroines of the hour, so, in like manner, the Cruikshanks' designs were now transferred to tea-trays, snuff-boxes, pocket-handkerchiefs, screens, and ladies' fans, and the popular favourites of 1821 and 1822 were "Corinthian Tom," "Jerry Hawthorn,"

"Bob Logic," "Bob the dustman," and "Corinthian Kate."

The success of "Life in London" was not regarded with equal satisfaction by all cla.s.ses of the community; the serious world was horribly scandalized. Zealous, honest, fervid, and terribly in earnest, these good folks, in their ignorance of the world and of human nature, only added to the mischief which it was their honest wish to abate. They proclaimed the immorality of the drama; denounced "Tom and Jerry" from the pulpit; and besieged the doors of the play houses with a perfect army of tract droppers. Anything more injudicious, anything less calculated to achieve the end which these good people had in view, I can scarcely imagine; for it is a well-known fact that the best method of making a book or a play a "commercial success," in England, is to throw doubts on its moral tendency.[58] The more respectable portion of the press did better service to their cause by showing that, in spite of their popularity, "Tom and Jerry" were doing mischief, and that the theatres lent their aid to disseminate the evil, by nightly regaling the female part of society "with vivid representations of the blackest sinks of iniquity to be found in the metropolis." Called on to defend his drama, Moncrieff, strange to say, proved himself no wiser than his a.s.sailants. All he could allege in its behalf was that "the obnoxious scenes of life were only shown that they might be avoided; the danger of mixing in them was strikingly exemplified; and every incident tended to prove"--what? why,--"_that happiness was only to be found in the domestic circle_"! This was special pleading with a vengeance! Of course all that the theatres really cared to do was to fill their exhausted exchequers; while as for Bohemian Robert and his friend Egan, the idea of making the "Life in London" a moral lesson never once entered their heads. The artist however was shrewd enough to take note of the observation for future use; and seven years later on, when he and Egan produced their "Finish to the Adventures of Tom, Jerry, and Logic in their Pursuits through Life in and out of London," endeavoured to profit by the storm which had been raised by the good people of 1821, by tagging a clumsy moral to the sequel.

By this time, however, the excitement which had attended the original work had evaporated; by this time, too, the public had learnt to discriminate between the pencils of the brothers Cruikshank; and the "Finish," as compared with the original "Life," fell comparatively flat.

It made however some sort of sensation in its day, but has become not only a scarce book, but one that is little sought after. The genius and reputation of George and the pen of Thackeray have kept alive the popularity of the "Life,"[59] while the "Finish"--left to the unaided but clever hand of Robert--has like himself been almost forgotten.

And yet it scarcely merits this fate. It contains thirty-six etchings by Robert Cruikshank, some of them of singular merit. Among them may be mentioned, _The d.u.c.h.ess of Dogood_; _Splendid Jim_; _Logic Visiting his Old Acquaintance on Board the Fleet_; _Corinthian Kate in the Last Stage of Consumption, Disease, and Inebriety_; and if not the production of a genius, the hand of an artist of singular merit, ability, and power is manifest in the etchings ent.i.tled, _The Hounds at a Standstill_; _Logic's Upper Storey_; and _The End of Corinthian Kate_.

PIERCE EGAN.

Although modestly claiming for himself the merits of this book, Pierce Egan stands in relation to it in the position of a showman, and nothing more. He is not even ent.i.tled to the credit of being the originator,--for the originator and suggestor was Robert Cruikshank, who informs us of the fact (after his own characteristic fas.h.i.+on) by way of footnote to his frontispiece to the "Finish."[60] But Egan is undoubtedly a clever showman; if he displays rather more vulgarity than we altogether like, we must not forget the audience to whom he addresses himself, and for whom indeed his show is specially intended. We cannot admit that the popularity of this book was _entirely_ due to the merit of the artists whose canvas he elucidates and (after his own fas.h.i.+on) explains. In common fairness some credit should be conceeded to Egan himself. Of literary talents he had not a particle; and if he lacked taste and refinement, it may at least be urged in his behalf that the age was not one of refinement, and that sixty years ago we had scarcely emanc.i.p.ated ourselves from the barbarism and vulgarity some remnants of which had descended to us from the time of George the Second. The bent of his taste and the scope of his abilities may be guessed from the fact that his "account of the trial of John Thurtell, the murderer," pa.s.sed into at least _thirteen_ editions. A man of this stamp could scarcely be expected to recognise the true value of the work with which he had the honour to be a.s.sociated; he never looked beyond his patrons of the day, and as a natural consequence posterity has troubled itself little about him. You will search the biographical dictionaries in vain for any account of him;[61] and this oblivion he scarcely deserves, for not only was he one of the most popular men of sixty years ago, but he would scarcely have attained that position without a fair share of merit. He was not deficient in energy, and his talent is shown by the fact that he understood and (in a measure) led the taste of his day, taking advantage of his knowledge to raise himself to a position unattainable had such taste been of a more elevated and refined character. His descriptive powers (such as they were) were sufficient to procure him the post of recorder of the "Doings of the Ring" on the staff of the _Weekly Dispatch_, which post he occupied at the time he officiated as literary showman to "Tom and Jerry." He had however tried many trades,--had been in turn a compositor, bookseller, sporting writer, newspaper reporter, and even secretary to an Irish theatrical manager. The success of "Life in London," which he arrogated to himself, raised up a crop of enemies as well as friends, and he soon afterwards received his _conge_ from the proprietors of the _Dispatch_. Pierce Egan, however, was not a man to be daunted by any such discouragement; he was found equal to the occasion, meeting his employers' _coup d'etat_ by starting a sporting paper of his own, to which he gave the name of his successful book,--_Pierce Egan's Life in London, and Sporting Guide_. This counter movement proved the germ of a great enterprise. Probably his venture was no very great success; it ran only for three years from its commencement on the 1st of February, 1824. On the 28th of October, 1827, _Egan's Life in London_ was sold by auction to a Mr. Bell, and thenceforth a.s.sumed its well known and now time honoured t.i.tle of _Bell's Life in London_.

CHARLES MOLLOY WESTMACOTT.

Another friend of the artist was Charles Molloy Westmacott, as he called himself, but who is supposed to have been--_filius nullius_ or _filius populi_--the child of Mrs. Molloy, a pretty widow who kept a tavern at Kensington. Westmacott was one of a cla.s.s of writers who not only existed but thrived in the early part of our century by the levying of literary black-mail. The _modus operandi_ (as given by Mr. William Bates, from whom we derive our information respecting this man) appears to have been as follows: "Sometimes a vague rumour or hint of scandal, accompanied perchance by a suggestive newspaper paragraph, was conveyed to one or more of the parties implicated, with a threat of further inquiry into its truth, and a full exposure of the circ.u.mstances which excited the sender's virtuous indignation. This, if the selected victim was a man of nervous, timid temperament, often produced the desired effect; and although possibly entirely innocent of the allegation, he preferred to purchase silence, and escape the suspicion which publicity does not fail to attach to a name. If, on the other hand, no notice was taken of the communication, the screw received some further turns. A narrative was drawn up, and printed off, in the form of a newspaper paragraph, and was transmitted to the parties concerned, with a letter, intimating that it had been 'received from a correspondent,' and that the publisher thought fit, prior to publication, to ascertain whether those whose names were mentioned desired to correct, modify, or cancel any part of the statement. There is no doubt that very large sums have been extorted by these scoundrelly means, and a vast amount of anxiety and misery occasioned."[62] This was "the sort of man" that Charles Molloy Westmacott appears to have been; and I learn on the same authority that by these means he was enabled in one instance alone to net not much less than a sum of 5,000. "Pulls" of this kind enabled this fellow to live at his ease in a suburban retreat situated somewhere between Barnes and Richmond, which he fitted up (for he considered himself, as some others of his more modern cla.s.s appear to do, a "man of letters") with books and pictures.

"THE ENGLISH SPY."

In 1825 this man brought out, under his pseudonym of "Bernard Blackmantle," a veritable _chronique scandaleuse_ of the time, ent.i.tled, "The English Spy," the t.i.tle page of which describes it as "an original work, characteristic, satirical, and humorous, containing scenes and sketches in every rank of society; being portraits of the Ill.u.s.trious Eminent, Eccentric and Notorious, drawn from the Life by Bernard Blackmantle." This extraordinary work presents us with pictures of "life" at Eton, at Oxford, and in fas.h.i.+onable society in London, Brighton, Cheltenham, Bath, and elsewhere; and the seventy-two admirable copperplate aqua-tinted etchings, with one exception (which is by the veteran Rowlandson), are the work of Isaac Robert Cruikshank. This is a far rarer and more valuable book than the "Life in London." In place of "Corinthian" hook-nosed Tom, rosy-cheeked Jerry, and the vulgar _gobemouche_ Logic, we find figuring amongst the interesting groups, scenes, and characters all the notabilities of the day: celebrities such as George the Fourth and his favourite sultana the Marchioness of Conyngham, the Princess Augusta, Charles Kemble, Matthews, Fawcett, Farren, Grimaldi, Macready, Young, T. P. Cooke, Elliston, Dowton, Harley, Munden, Liston, Wallack, Madame Vestris, Townsend (the Bow Street "runner"), "Pea Green" Hayne, Lord William Lennox, Colonel Berkeley, Hughes Ball, and others. The etchings are singularly clear and distinct, and the colouring bright and pleasing. Among the ill.u.s.trations which specially deserve notice are: _The Oppidans' Museum_; _The Eton Montem_ (an admirable design); _The First Bow to Alma Mater_; _College Comforts_ (a freshman taking possession of his rooms); _Kensington Gardens Sunday Evenings, Singularities of 1824_ (woodcut); _The Opera Green-room, or n.o.ble Amateurs viewing Foreign Curiosities_; _Oxford Transports, or Albanians doing Penance for Past Offences_; _The King at Home, or Mathews at Carlton House_; _A Visit to Billingsgate_; _Characters on the Steyne, Brighton_; _The Cogged Dice, Interior of a Modern h.e.l.l_; _City Ball at the Mansion House_; _The Wake_; _The Cyprians' Ball at the Argyle Rooms_; _The Post Office Bristol, Arrival of the London Mail_; _The Fancy Ball at the Upper Rooms, Bath_; and _Milsom Street and Bond Street_, containing portraits of Bath fas.h.i.+onables.