December 10, 1813. The Mock Phœnix!!! or a vain attempt to rise again. Published by R. Ackermann.—Holland, in the person of a Dutch skipper, and Russia, in that of a Cossack, are blowing and stirring a fire which is to consume the Corsican. Flames are issuing from the furnace, and, in spite of the exertions of the stokers, the figure of the Emperor is seen dwarfed, but still intact, in the thick of the fire, but whether he will rise seems doubtful; his diadem is in full blaze, while the orb and sceptre are snatched away by certain diabolic claws, and the phœnix process threatens to prove a signal failure. Serpents are crawling out of the mouth of the furnace; showers of snakes, dragons, devils, and all kinds of monsters, kin of the phœnix, are hovering amidst the smoke, and making hostile demonstrations against the declining conqueror.
December 12, 1813. Friends and Foes—up he Goes—Sending the Corsican Munchausen to St. Cloud. Published by R. Ackermann.—The Emperor is left, unsupported, in the hands of his enemies, now turned into tormentors: he is thrown into a blanket and tossed up into the air, and is suffering worse discomforts than did Sancho Panza under a similar infliction; crown, sceptre, and sword are shaken off. 'O misericorde!' cries the flying Munchausen as he is sent up to the clouds. John Bull (whose wig and hat have been thrown aside), the Dutch Mynheer, and Spanish Don are performing wonders with their side of the blanket; then come the Cossack, the Pope, the Pole, the Prince Imperial of Austria, the Emperors of Russia and Austria, and the Kings of Prussia, Hanover, and Würtemburg, who are all lending a hand to torment the Corsican.
December 14, 1813. Political Chemists and German Retorts, or Dissolving the Rhenish Confederacy. Published by R. Ackermann.—A delicate operation, which has engaged the attention of all the leading Powers of Europe, is supposed to be proceeding. The colossal power of the Corsican is undergoing transmutation, and the conqueror is gradually being resolved into his original elements. A German Stove supplies the furnace, and the fuel is recruited from John Bull's Coal Tub; that patriotic person is assisting the process as one of the leading experimental chemists; Dutch bellows are furnishing various powerful blasts; the Spanish Don is pounding some effectually irresistible chemicals in his famous mortar, Saragossa. The Corsican has been forced into a receiver; Bernadotte is pouring in a portion of sulphate of Swedish iron before the cover is fixed on; the Emperor, who has been reduced to mere pigmy proportions, is praying for time: 'Oh, spare me till the King of Rome is ripe for mischief yet to come!' In various retorts are seen the several elements which entered into the Imperial analysis, now resolved apart—Intrigue and Villany, Ambition and Folly, Gasconade and Lies, Arrogance and Atrocity, Fire and Sword, Murder and Plunder. All the leading States of Europe are engaged in the operation; the King of Würtemburg is giving his instructions; Prussia, Austria, Hesse, &c., are all interested in the success of the operation. The Pope has contributed two potent agents, Fulminating powder, and Drops from the vial of wrath. Russia, Poland, the Emperor of Austria, &c., are seated, as chemists, at a table dividing out the agents selected to dissolve the structure raised by Napoleon. From certain tracts at the Cossack's feet we learn that the 'liberty of Germany' and the 'downfall of Boney' are settled projects; while the name of Napoleon, as protector of the Rhenish confederacy, is crossed out, and that of 'Francis, Emperor of Austria, restored 1813,' is substituted in its old ascendency.
Napoléon le Grand. Inventée par Dubois; Alex. Tardieu effigiem del. Deposée à la Bibliothèque Impériale.—A parody of the French plate of Napoleon's apotheosis—
Astre brillant, immense, il éclaire, il féconde,
Et seul fait, à son gré, tous les destins du monde.-Vigée.
The head of Napoleon appears as the centre of the constellation, Polar Star, elevated, in this case, like that of a traitor, on a pole, and surrounded by entwined and hissing serpents. Above is the face of Satan, wearing a crown of Damnation, supported by two escutcheons, marked Heart of Tyrant, and Vulture, with scourges and pronged forks. The pole is elevated on the great globe; in either corner is a French eagle; above the Imperial ensigns are pikes, axes, and standards, 'flags manufactured for the Empress,' &c.
The lustre of the constellation, Napoleon, is likely to suffer an eclipse from the sudden descent of a Dutch comet—a philosophic Hollander, seated astride on a barrel of Hollands Schiedam, the contents of which he is ignominiously discharging over the head of the solitary star of the firmament. The golden rays with which the astre brillant is illuminating the universe owe their source to the following luminous achievements:—
- Assisting in the assassination of Louis the Sixteenth, my Benefactor.
- Murdering the citizens of Paris under Robespierre.
- Murdering the citizens of Toulon.
- Insulting the Pope, robbing and plundering the churches, &c., &c.
- Poisoning my own sick soldiers at the hospital at Jaffa.
- Murdering the Duke d'Angouléme.
- Treacherously betraying the King of Spain and his family.
- Murdering the inhabitants of Madrid in cold blood.
- Murdering Captain Wright in the Temple, at Paris.
- Marrying two wives and intriguing with the daughter of one of them.
- The murder of Palm, of Hofer, &c., &c.
- Leading 500,000 Frenchmen to perish in Russia by the severity of the season 1812.
- Losing another similar army the following year in Germany, 1813.
- Writing lying bulletins.
- Losing all the colonies, commerce, and shipping.
- And for all these brilliant exploits I am now to be sent headlong to the Devil.
December 25, 1813. Mock Auction, or Boney Selling Stolen Goods. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.—Napoleon is pictured, before his reverses became of a decided character, contemplating realising the conquests he had in hand, with a possible view of retiring from the trade. The Emperor has a sale-pulpit, and is himself officiating as auctioneer; the lot which is being offered is the crown of Spain; an old general is holding up the diadem, and the auctioneer, impatient at the indifference of the purchasers, is crying, 'What! no bidding for the crown of Spain? Then take the other crowns and lump them into one lot'—referring to a pile of diadems, the crowns of Russia, Austria, Prussia, the Papal tiara, &c., thrown into a corner, with bundles of standards, 'lots of useless eagles,' &c. Lot 2, 'Twenty flags, the property of the Empress,' 'Kingdom of Prussia,' 'Kingdom of Westphalia,' 'Saxony,' 'United Provinces,' &c. The Empress is standing behind her husband, with the infant prince in her arms. Napoleon's heir is dressed in a uniform like his father's; his face is that of a monkey. 'I suppose daddy will put us up for sale?' he is represented as saying to the Empress.