Coriolanus (George IV.).
Plebs:
Dr. Watson.
Preston.
Carlile.
W. Cobbett.
Orator Hunt.
Thelwall.
Sir F. Burdett.
W. Hone.
Wooler, the Black Dwarf.
Cartwright.
Hobhouse.
Alderman Waithman.
Cruikshank.
CORIOLANUS ADDRESSING THE PLEBS. 1820. BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.
[Page 338.
Beneath the quotation is a passage from Buffon, eulogizing the nobility of the figure above, “L’image de l’âme est peinte par la physionomie”—“animé d’un feu divin,” and other extravagances, such as “his majestic presence, and the firm and bold deportment which marks his nobility and rank.” In the other “Great George’s” parody, the various sections, from Reformers to Revolutionists and Socialists, are carefully kept apart, although the plebeians at the first glance appear but a miscellaneous mob.
First comes “Liberty of the Press,” a tricolour standard, topped by the “cap of liberty.” At the front stands William Hone, a stalwart champion, armed with two formidable clubs, one is styled “Parody,” and the other inscribed with the names of the famous satirical tracts, “The Man in the Moon,” and “The House that Jack Built,” both objectionable weapons in the eyes of the “Coriolanus” of the picture. Behind his ally and publisher, Hone, is the portrait of the artist himself, with a tricoloured portfolio marked “Caricature.” George Cruikshank, in his later days, when turned to Tory proclivities like one or two other notabilities in the group, endeavoured to soften the impression conveyed by this print, and described “your humble servant” as “one of the moderate reformers,” evidently not relishing the company of those among whom, in his early truculent days, he had voluntarily enrolled himself. Next comes the figure of the champion of the Princess of Wales, “Sheriff Double Hue,” otherwise Waithman, who is hugging a project for “Hell-wide Measures;” beneath the standard of the “Examiners” and “Chronicles” stands a figure clad in complete Highland garb; this is Douglas Kinnaird, on the alert, and armed with his trusty claymore. Sir Francis Burdett and John Cam Hobhouse, jointly grasping a formidable weapon, are enlisted under the standard of “Parliamentary Reform.” Hobhouse is trampling on the “Trifling Mistake,” a parodied version of the speech which procured him more notoriety than was desirable: over his head is seen Thelwall as a champion lecturer; Major Cartwright, the so-called “Drum-Major of Sedition,” after all his struggles in the cause, is but a broken-down leader, supported on a crutch stick with one hand, while raising the redoubtable sword of “Universal Suffrage” in the other. Prominent in front of the group enlisted under the ensign of “Revolution and Plunder,” capped with the Death’s head, stands Wooler, travestied as the “Black Dwarf,” after the paper he had then made notorious. Orator Hunt, with pike reversed, is resting one hand on Cobbett’s shoulder; the latter, a brawny figure, flourishing two gigantic bones (of contention?); another communist is skulking away, having let fall Tom Paine’s “Age of Reason.” The publisher of the “new lights,” Carlile, is resting on a staff capped with a thistle; Preston, the bootmaker, a violent Democrat, together with Thistlewood and others holding extreme views, are enrolled under a bond of “Blood and Plunder.” The figure to the extreme left, next to the screen of Carlton House, is described by Cruikshank as intended for Dr. Watson. Truly the “Plebs” form a muster-roll of all the prominent Radicals and Revolutionists of a period when secret societies of those whose designs were inimical to constitutional order were presumed to flourish.
The evils which disfigured constituencies in the boroughmongering days are pictorially set forth by George Cruikshank, under date April 23, 1820, in a caricature entitled “Freedom and Purity of Election!!! Showing the Necessity of Reform in the Close Boroughs.” The scene refers to the elections in Cornwall; the locality being indicated by a signpost as Tregony and St. Austel. The unhappy villagers, by the independent exercise of their suffrages, have displeased their feudal proprietor, and are being summarily evicted from their houses, with their household belongings, by a truculent steward, with a list of the “proscribed” held in his hand. Old and young, women and children, are alike doomed, because they or their protectors have dared to act with independence, and have not voted according to the fiat of the lord of the manor. Daniel O’Connell appears as the unsuccessful candidate; he is viewing this mischief with compassion, and is encouraging those evicted “not to be cast down, as there are other houses besides his lordship’s,” and that he—the Liberator—“will not desert them, although they have lost the election.”
Parliament reassembled at the end of April, 1820, and in May, George Cruikshank again favoured the public with another anti-reform cartoon, “Radical Quacks giving a New Constitution to John Bull!” In this version the persons most prominent among the “Plebeians” are alluded to incidentally. John Bull, the national prototype, is reduced, under the new “regimen,” out of all recognition; in fact, he is but the mangled remnant of his former portly self, for the new charlatans are having “their own sweet will.” John Bull is placed between Burdett and Hobhouse; many desperate operations have already taken place. He wears the bonnet-rouge of “Liberty” as a night-cap. His left arm is in a tricoloured sling, while his right arm is being bled. His two sufficient supports of Church and State have been amputated, and in their places are strapped two wooden-legs—“Universal Suffrage,” propped on the “Rights of Man,” and “Religious Freedom,” which is raised on the “Age of Reason;” the legs of his invalid-chair are equally unreliable—“Mistaken Confidence,” and “Mistaken Security;” the sufferer is resting on a pillow stuffed with “False Promises” and “Reformers’ Opinions.” Sir Francis Burdett, as a professional adviser, is holding the arm from which he is draining the patient’s blood:—
“Mr. Bull, you have lived too well, but when we have renovated your constitution according to our plan, the reform will be so complete—that you will never again be troubled with any fulness whatsoever!”
John Cam Hobhouse is administering a tricoloured bolus of formidable dimensions, to be followed by a corresponding draught:—