The Mock Auction has drawn plenty of company together. The Dutchman is smoking his pipe with his accustomed philosophy; a British tar is patting him on the back, as his very cordial ally, and ridiculing the Corsican's failure. The King of Würtemburg, Russia pictured as a Cossack, Austria as a huzzar, Prussia, Bavaria, and other Powers are present. The Spanish Don is making light of Buonaparte's pretence of offering his crown for sale; 'That a crown!' he is shouting. 'It's not worth half a crown!'
December 30, 1813. How to Vault in the Saddle, or a new-invented Patent Crane for the Accommodation of Rheumatic Rectors. Rowlandson delin. and publisher.—The incident depicted is taking place at the door of the rectory, beside the church porch, where a crane has been erected for the accommodation of the gouty and unwieldy divine. Two frisky and solidly-built damsels are hauling away at a rope, to which a sling is attached. The corpulent rector is swinging in mid air, preparatory to being lowered into the saddle; in his pocket is shown a discourse on the apposite text—'He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.' A grinning groom is holding the head of a high-cruppered horse; the minister's steed is a curiously constructed instance of equine anatomy, fondly reviving the image of the faithful Grizzle, rendered memorable as the Rosinante of Doctor Syntax, the long-enduring companion of his famous Tour in Search of the Picturesque.
1813 (?). Witches in a Hayloft. Woodward delin., Rowlandson sculp. Published by T. Tegg (226).—Two witches of orthodox type, with broomsticks, red cloaks, and steeple-crowned hats, are seated at a cauldron, working incantations, to assist at which serpents, hobgoblins, and various weird monsters are conjured up. A rustic clown, with a lantern and hayfork, who has thrown back the trapdoor, and is ascending to the hayloft for some purpose, is paralysed with horror and affright at the unholy spectacle suddenly revealed to his sight.
1813. Business and Pleasure. Published by T. Tegg. (272).
1813. The Glutton. Published by T. Tegg (274).
1813. The Quaker and the Commissioners of Excise. Woodward del., Rowlandson sculp. Published by T. Tegg (276).—Four well-fed Commissioners, the members of a board, seated at the green baize, are cross-questioning a Quaker, represented in a suit of conventional sad-coloured apparel, and wearing the typical broad-brimmed hat. The humility of the sectarian has proved too deep for the inquisitors, whose exactions he is evading. The chairman is indignantly remarking, 'What an impertinent fellow to keep on his hat before such a dignified assembly!' Cries one of the examiners, 'None of your thees and thous here, sir—come to the point—we know you have evaded certain duties.' 'Pray, sir, do you know what we sit here for?' pertinently demands another commissioner; to which the Quaker, with clasped hands, and rocking himself, like Mawworm, on his toes, responds, 'Verily I do—some sit here for five hundred, others for a thousand; and moreover I have heard it reported that some sit here for two thousand pounds per annum!'
DR. SYNTAX, IN THE MIDDLE OF A SMOKING HOT POLITICAL SQUABBLE, WISHES TO WET HIS WHISTLE.
1813. [Doctor Syntax, in the Middle of a Smoking Hot Political Squabble, wishes to Wet his Whistle.] Published by Thomas Tegg, Cheapside (209).