1791. A Squall in Hyde Park. Drawn and etched by T. Rowlandson; aquatinted by T. Malton.—The fashionable throngs which Rowlandson, with his marvellously faithful pencil, has so often drawn, disporting themselves in the paths of frivolity amidst the haunts of the ton, are viewed by him under a more excited aspect. The promenaders, in a state of sauve qui peut, are rushing off pellmell in an attempt to preserve their dripping finery from the effects of a sudden thunderstorm. Doubtless A Squall in Hyde Park may occur frequently enough in our day, but the artist who proposes to lend his graphic powers to delineate the episodes of such a stampede in the present generation would not have his eye for the picturesque gratified by the discovery of such grotesque elements as gratuitously lent themselves to the appreciative caricaturist a century back. Rowlandson's animated cartoon successfully includes all the diversities of the situation. The park-gates are crowded by the sudden exeunt omnes—pedestrians, horses, and carriages are mixed in one confused mass in the struggle to escape from a miniature tempest. Peers and pedagogues, the man of fashion in search of gallant adventures, and the hypochondriac, limping parkwards to take the air; the ignorant, new-fledged squire, the rustic dandy, whose head-dressing does not extend beyond the powdered and frizzed peruke, and the man of knowledge and philosophy, are thrown into violent contact, and unexpectedly realise whose cranium is the hardest. The storm breaks, the black clouds gather and meet, down pours a very torrent, and the wind suddenly takes to blowing 'big guns;' hats, caps, and bonnets, wigs and head-gear generally, are sent flying off on independent excursions; the sport of the sudden squall, to the dismay of the bereaved owners; umbrellas of the period—still popular novelties, in substantiality very different to their genteel descendants—are without exception blown inside-out; feathers, which were worn of great height, splendour, and profusion, are moistened and dripping like weeping willows. The Prince of Wales, in 'blue and buff,' on horseback, followed by his groom, is pushing forward for Carlton House; Lord Barrymore, in his lofty phaeton, [38] has to exert all his charioteering skill to restrain his terrified and plunging high-mettled steeds; while the fair companion perched by his side, high over the heads of the humbler stream of struggling humanity, is complacently enjoying the spectacle of the dilemmas around her. Footmen are dripping; naval and military heroes are retreating; such hats as have not been violently carried off are secured by handkerchiefs tied under the chin, or held on by main force; petticoats are turned over shoulders. The spectacle of confusion is fairly completed by an unfortunate slip, which has left the person of the unhappy victim a stumbling-block for the general capsizing of the hurried file which is following in his footsteps. A sturdy old admiral, in an advanced stage of corpulence, is rather enjoying the opportunity, to which the ruffling winds are contributing, of viewing the points of the dishevelled fair, and, spyglass in eye, like his Grace the notorious Peer of Piccadilly, he is quizzing the ankles and criticising the symmetry of the dainty belles before him; the long, gauze-like, and limp drapery in multitudinous folds then in vogue being exceptionally liable to come to grief under all such sinister emergencies. To add to the terrors of the flight, a fierce bulldog, irritated with the general condition of things, is taking exception to this universal attempt at escape, as indicating suspicion to his faithful mind; he is making darts at the passengers, and it will go hard with the fugitives he may take it into his head to arrest by the tension of his formidable teeth.
Plates dated 1791–93 and 1795–96. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, by Henry Fielding, Esq. With prints by Rowlandson. Edinburgh and London (Longman & Co.), republished 1805.
Volume I.
- Frontispiece, book I. c. iii. The Infant Jones found in the bed of Mr. Allworthy.
- Book II. c. iv. The astonished Partridge meets the vengeance of the whole sex (Partridge cruelly accused and maltreated by his wife).
- Book IV. c. v. Tom Jones discovers the Philosopher Square in the Chamber of Moll Seagrim.
- Book V. c. x. The constancy of Tom Jones subdued by meeting Molly Seagrim in the wood.
Volume II.
- Book VIII. c. xiv. Terror of the Sentinel on seeing Jones issue from the Chamber in search of Northerton.
- Book IX. c. ii. Tom Jones rescues Mrs. Waters from the violence of Northerton.
- Book IX. c. iii. Battle of Upton; Tom Jones and the Landlord, Partridge and Susan, Mrs. Waters and the Landlady.
- Book XI. c. ii. Sophia's modesty shocked by a fall from her horse.
Volume III.
- Book XIII. c. ii. Tom Jones refused admittance by the porter at the door of an Irish peer.
- Book XIII. c. ii. Jones and Sophia interrupted in a tête-à-tête by Lady Bellaston.
- Book XIV. c. ii. Partridge interrupts Tom Jones in his protestations to Lady Bellaston.
- Book XV. c. 5. Lord Fellamar rudely dismissed by Squire Western.
1791–93, 1795–96. The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle; in which are included Memoirs of a Lady of Quality. By T. Smollett, M.D. With plates by Rowlandson. Edinburgh and London (Longman): 1805.
Chap. xxvii. Fire at the Inn. Peregrine Rescues Emilia, &c.