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-m-n-»,n a -»-. >- MODERN OAllICATUEE
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MODERN CARICATURE.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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At tins ' point Mr . Wameb must have felt that he had no rival in the globe—except ' Tom Satebsu But now , having' set him up on so high a pedestal , Mr . Hoesmak proceeds to knock him down . It would really seem as if it was only to make him a convenient cockshy that he gave him so elevated a place . " Now that you are up there , " " ' says Mr . HobsmAn , " let me tell you that' the journalism of England , so honourably conducted- —elevating the tone of public morality and sustaining : the character of public men— -is of inestimable
value in strengthening the national institutions , but , —look out there , on the top of the garden wall , — -here comes the well-aimed pebble , — " but it is nothing short of a national calamity when public opinion is influenced by great journals , which , less mindful of the responsibilities than the privileges of the press , show themselves true to no principle , constant to no policy , and disdainful of all rules of public justice and morality . " And here Humpty Dumpty had his great fall , coming down crash , while the boys on the Opposition benches hailed his discomfiture with fiendish glee .
Unfortunately , however , for Mr . Hobsmai * , he had lavished both his praise and his blame upon the wrong party . It was not of Mr . Walter's speech that he complained , but of Mr . Walters leading article , and of Mr . Waxteb ' s influence as chief proprietor of and leader in the councils of the Times . " When Charles the Second puzzled the savans with the problem , Why was not a vase of water heavier when a fish was put into it , ? a simple-minded philosopher put an end to the vexed question by simply denying the premises . So Mr . Wai / teb demolished Mr . Hoesman by declaring , first , that he was not the principal proprietor of the Times and ruler of its councils ; secondly , that he had no hand in the article of which Mr . Hobsmajt complained ; and thirdly , and lastly , that he did not even know who was the author of that article .
Thus it is that a very laughable farce is often constructed on a very slender plot , involving some ludicrous mistake . And , as we ¦ wonder , on calm reflection , at the improbabilities of these dramatic trifles , so we must wonder at the innocence displayed by < Mr . Horsman in imagining that , because Mr . Wai / tee is a proprietor of the Times , he must necessarily edit the paper and write all the leading articles . Does Mr . Hoesman still believe that the moon is . made of green cheese , and that babies are dug out of parsley beds ? We have it on high authority that an old lady of fourscore and odd is a large shareholder in the JTimes . Why does not Mr . Horsmax fall foul of her ? Is it because of this new act . Twlnch is to hedge the sex round without an . outwork of whipping posts ? And is it not a fact , too , that Sir Walter Cardex , Knight , is a proprietor of the Times ' ? And does not the editor of the Times pitch' inlo-hirn when occasion requires , nevertheless and notwithstanding .
But there is an epilogue to this coniic drama , Lord Palmerston and Mz % 'Di-sbaeli coming forward at the end to speak it in duologue . Mr . Hoesman had wanted to know what were the magnetic influences which drew Mr , Delane , one of the editors of the Times , towards Lord Paliierston ? Mr . Horsman was evidently more than half inclined to think that there was something wrong . He had seen Mr . Delakte's name in the list of Lord Palmerston ' s dinner guests , and amongst her Ladyship ' s Saturday evening visitors ; and why should an editor hob-a-nob with such great folks if there were not a secret compact between them ? The case was clear . Mr . -PBirA ^ E ^ iad-sold-t heJjailnejiijcejxf -lhe- 2 Y // ieg for a mess of 'Gunteb * s pottage , and a smile from my lady . Was it not so F ! wish it were , "
says the noblo Lord , " I should be most happy to plead guilty to the soft impeachment . " And this elicits the flattering reason of Mr . Delane ' s being made so much of at Cambridge House . " The contributors to the press "—we take a pride in these words- —" are the favourites and the ornaments of every society into which they enter . They are generally men of very great attainments and great information , and therefore men in whom society must be interested . " His Lordship ' s intimacy with Mr , Dei . aNe was of that character , of course . Did the noble lord know what an agreeable person we are , would he not invite us to dine with him at once ? And would not her ladyship put < us on the free list of her Saturday Nights' Entertainments ? Can there be a doubt about it P Mr . Hoesman , we
are ashamed of you . And now Mr . Diseaeli , with the moral . He has less respect than the noble lord for able editors , and consequent ^ ' may be expected to bo chary of his mutton in that quarter . He objects to leading articles being quoted in the debates , as being a practice derogating from the dignity and independence of the House ; and , as a guardian of the British Constitution in its Integrity , he must deny to the press the usurped title of the Fourth Estate . And finally , to make Mr . Horsman and everybody else happy , ho brings down the curtain with an assurance that the good . people whom the wicked Times has slain arc not dead after all , but are all alive and kicking , and ready to dio to-morrow night , and 43 very night to the end of the session .
-M-N-»,N A -»-. ≫- Modern Oallicatuee
entirely to pore liquids and to contemplation , to the acquisition of wisdom and water cresses , might well wonder at the immense animus which pervades each party . " Sublime essence of things , " he would cry , " can it be that men place their happiness in retailing slow poison in pewter measures over pewter counters all day long ? Awd oh , dost th ' ou ordain that those who vend coloured liquids as a spurious grape juice , should be jealous of the success of the other poisoners ! " It is probable that the Brahmin would find the men and measures which lie contemplated equally ridiculous . But , as if sufficient ridicule were not inherent in the case , we have a considerable quantity imported into it by the professional caricaturists who live by showing her Majesty ' s lieges the vis comiccc of things actual . Whether the matter be purely political , or purely
social , or politico-social , or simply pertaining to commerce , it matters not . A certain quantity of fun has to be made every week , and it is but to do justice to the industrious purveyors of the article to own that if the quality be not always first-rate , the supply at least never fails . Here it is only the other day that we had " General Beer being routed by the French Light Wines , " and a day or two ago the difference between the " Pious Public House" and the " Pernicious Pastrycook's" was drawn with all the old vigour of the well-trained artist . As the teetotallers know perfectly well , that one full gadfly or bloodsucker is much less troublesome than a dozen or so fresh , vigorous , and hungry ones , we have the amusing spectacle of these virtuous people taking up arms in favour of the vested
interests of the publicans , and from shop windows and hoardings appealing by caricature and burlesque verses to the feelings of the people . The inside of a wine shop , as it will be , is drawn with great vigour ; and poor Hood ' s Song of the Shirt , parodied into the behest of " Drink , Drink , Drink , " flames on the walls hitherto sacred to much less poetical announcements . All this is quite refreshing . We forget the alcoholic battle , and cannot help going back to the days of Pitt , Fox , and Castlereagh , and to those times , enlightened by the shop-window genius of James G-ilray and of the elder Cruiksnauk , when the great supporters of " Fox for Westminster" were the aforesaid artists , the Duchess of Devonshire , and Sam House , who was proud to sign himself both a " publican and republican . "
The part played in modern political history by caricature is not altogether an unimportant one , and as we have already * hastily traced up to a certain period what it has done , we may here take the opportunity of continuing the sketch , and of . showing what it still continues to do . The pencil of the artist seems to be no longer an irregular force , but like our volunteers has of late years been well drilled , and serves the -political party to which it is attached as light horse , infantry ,. and skirmishing bodies in general * do the great body of the army . The largest amount-of this sort of power , however .
lies now , and has always laid , on the side of the popular party in the State . Whether the aristocratic element disdains ' the weapon , ' or whether it be totally deprived of pictorial wit , it is hard to say ; but , certainly , with the exception of a wooden and stiff draughtsman , only . clever at taking portraits , and whose imagination was of the very poorest , the governing classes appear to have been very little indebted to this kind of art . As a general rule , it may be stated that those out satirise those who are in , whilst the latter seem to be unable or unwilling to use the pencil against the opposition .
Perhaps within the memory of man the greatest effect upon any paiM . y-fprodJicedLenii ^ M-by-parody and carickture , jva £ that from the hands of Mr . Hone , the bookseller , and George Cruikshanlrr ~ Partjr feelings then ran high , . 'arid the nation was , through the obstinacy of its rulers and the vicious stupidity of its monarch , in a very great danger . Reform was loudly called for , and as vigorously denied . Riots took place in the manufacturing districts , the . soldiery and yeomanry were called out , and the "Doctor" —Addington—tried / as they then said , to cure the people ' s complaint by a strong dose of " steel lozenges "—meaning , by poetic license , soldiers' bayonets . Into this turmoil Hone and Crnikshank threw their little hrochure , " The Political House that Jack Built , " intending by this the constitution then assailed , in political slang , by " rats . " Who that has seen th tt
this book does not wonder at and admiro the boldness of e aris ? The people were then not awakened from their pride in their King , whom they devoutly believed to be the first gentleman in Europe , and whose melodious voice and distinct tones in rending roynl speeches were dwelt upon with as much delight as now are those of our present Queen . But the caricaturists put an end to all this . The portraits of the courtly artists of the day were painted to please ; the caricatures were made purposely to ridicule , and the iihmense bulk of the king , his foppery , and unwieldy figure , the dull pride painted on each heavy feature , were given with a force which tho voyal " party" could not ondure , but writhed under . The rhymes were as rough and vigorous as the pictures ; and the g . iy » brilliant , haughtv , and almost , us he believed , absolute monaroh , was described
as " The dandy of sixty , who bows with a graoe , And has taste in ivigH , collars , cuimsses , and lace , Who to tricksters and fools leaves the State and its treasure , And when Uritain ' s in tears sails about at his pleasure ; Who spurned from his presence tho friends of his youth , And now hag not one who will tell him tho truth . " We doubt whether the bitter satiric answers of BiruinmcU and tho taunt about the " fat friend" hurt the king so much as this , for these caricatures , if small and powerless , aro like tho spawn , of old Nile , which in tho ton plagues atill managed to pervade the land nnU penetrate into kings' palaces . Upward * of ono hundred thousand copies , in epito of prosecution and opposition , in spite of informers and spies , were sold , and proved tho trenchant power ofoancatnre ;
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May 12 , 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 447
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* Saturday Analyst , No . 2 , page 41 .
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nPHE battle between the two alcoholic intoxicants , beer and wine , ¦* - is vaging as fiercely as ever , and it is curious to mark that the old war cries and party feelings crop out now , as they did formerly . We hear still , that " firm and erect the Caledonian stood , ¦ His drink vros claret , and his mutton good . " And we hear also that port and poison are synonymous , that perseverance and pulo ale go together , and that the British constitution , in both the senses of that noun , is irretrievably ruined if wo tnko from John Bull his customary beex * . This is , as Mr . Dickens would say , a " gushing thing 1 " to contemplate , A Brahmin , given
Modern Caricature.
MODERN CARICATURE .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 12, 1860, page 447, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2347/page/11/
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