CHAPTER XX.

“This curé had a way of his own to chant the different offices of the church, and above all he disliked the way of saying the Passion in the manner it was ordinarily said in churches, and he chanted it quite differently. For when our Lord said anything to the Jews, or to Pilate, he made him talk high and loud, so that everybody could hear him, and when it was the Jews or somebody else who spoke, he spoke so low that he could hardly be heard at all. It happened that a lady of rank and importance, on her way to Châteaudun, to keep there the festival of Easter, passed through Brou on Good Friday, about ten o’clock in the morning,and, wishing to hear service, she went to the church where the curé was officiating. When it came to the Passion, he said it in his own manner, and made the whole church ring again when he saidQuem quæritis? But when it came to the reply,Jesum Nazarenum, he spoke as low as he possibly could. And in this manner he continued the Passion. The lady, who was very devout, and, for a woman, well informed in the holy scriptures, and attentive to the ecclesiastical ceremonies, felt scandalised at this mode of chanting, and wished she had never entered the church. She had a mind to speak to the curé, and tell him what she thought of it; and for this purpose sent for him to come to her after the service. When he came, she said to him, ‘Monsieur le Curé, I don’t know where you learnt to officiate on a day like this, when the people ought to be all humility; but to hear you perform the service, is enough to drive away anybody’s devotion.’ ‘How so, madame?’ said the curé. ‘How so?’ said she, ‘you have said a Passion contrary to all rules of decency. When our Lord speaks, you cry as if you were in the town-hall; and when it is a Caiaphas, or Pilate, or the Jews, you speak softly like a young bride. Is this becoming in one like you? are you fit to be a curé? If you had what you deserve, you would be turned out of your benefice, and then you would be made to know your fault!’ When the curé had very attentively listened to her, he said, ‘Is this what you had to say to me, madame? By my soul! it is very true, what they say; and the truth is, that there are many people who talk of things which they do not understand. Madame, I believe that I know my office as well as another, and I beg all the world to know that God is as well served in this parish according to its condition, as in any place within a hundred leagues of it. I know very well that the other curés chant the Passion quite differently; I could easily chant it like them if I would; but they do not understand their business at all. I should like to know if it becomes those rogues of Jews to speak as loud as our Lord! No, no, madame; rest assured that in my parish it is my will that God be the master, and He shall be as long as I live; and let the others do in their parishes according to their understanding.’”

Another story, equally worthy of Ulric von Hutten, is satirical enough on priestly pedantry:—

“There was a priest of a village who was as proud as might be, because he had seen a little more than his Cato; for he had readDe Syntaxi, and hisFauste precor gelida[the first eclogue of Baptista Mantuanus]. And this made him set up his feathers, and talk very grand, using words that filled his mouth, in order to make people think him a great doctor. Even at confession, he made use of terms which astonished the poor people. One day he was confessing a poor working man, of whom he asked, ‘Here, now, my friend, tell me, art thou ambitious?’ The poor man said ‘No,’ thinking this was a word which belonged to great lords, and almost repented of having come to confess to this priest; for he had already heard that he was such a great clerk, and that he spoke so grandly, that nobody understood him, which he now knew by this wordambitious; for although he might have heard it somewhere, yet he did not know at all what it was. The priest went on to ask ‘Art thou not a fornicator?’ ‘No,’ said the labourer, who understood as little asbefore. ‘Art thou not a gourmand?’ said the priest. ‘No.’ ‘Art thou not superbe [proud]?’ ‘No.’ ‘Art thou not iracund?’ ‘No.’ The priest seeing the man answer always ‘No,’ was somewhat surprised. ‘Art thou not concupiscent?’ ‘No.’ ‘And what art thou, then?’ said the priest. ‘I am,’ said he, ‘a mason; here is my trowel!’”

At this time “Pantagruelism” had mixed itself more or less largely in all the satirical literature of France. It is very apparent in the writings of Bonaventure des Periers, and in a considerable number of satirical publications which now issued, many of them anonymously, or under the then fashionable form of anagrams, from the press in France. Among these writers were a few who, though far inferior to Rabelais, may be considered as not unequal to Des Periers himself. One of the most remarkable of these was a gentleman of Britany, Noel du Fail, lord of La Hérissaye, who was, like so many of these satirists, a lawyer, and who died, apparently at an advanced age, at the end of 1585, or beginning of 1586. In his publications, according to the fashion of that age, he concealed his name under an anagram, and called himself Leon Ladulfil (doubling thelin the name Fail). Noel du Fail has been called the ape of Rabelais, though the mere imitation is not very apparent. He published (as far as has been ascertained), in 1548, his“Discours d’aucuns propos ruftiques facétieux, et de singulière récréation.”This was followed immediately by a work entitled“Baliverneries, ou Contes Nouveaux d’Eutrapel;”but his last, and most celebrated book, the“Contes et Discours d’Eutrapel,”was not printed until 1586, after the death of its author. The writings of Noel du Fail are full of charming pictures of rural life in the sixteenth century, and, though sufficiently free, they present less than most similar books of that period of the coarseness of Rabelais. I cannot say the same of a book which is much more celebrated than either of these, and the history of which is still enveloped in obscurity. I mean the“Moyen de Parvenir.”This book, which is full of wit and humour, but the licentiousness of which is carried to a degree which renders it unreadable at the present day, is now ascribed by bibliographers, in its present form, to Béroalde de Verville, a gentleman of a Protestant family who had embraced Catholicism, and obtained advancements in the church, and it was not printed until 1610, but it is supposed that in its presentform it is only a revision of an earlier composition, perhaps even an unacknowledged work of Rabelais himself, which had been preserved in manuscript in Beroald’s family.

Pantagruelism, or, if you like, Rabelaism, did not, during the sixteenth century, make much progress beyond the limits of France. In the Teutonic countries of Europe, and in England, the sceptical sentiment was small in comparison with the religious feeling, and the only satirical work at all resembling those we have been describing, was the “Utopia” of Sir Thomas More, a work comparatively spiritless, and which produced a very slight sensation. In Spain, the state of social feeling was still less favourable to the writings of Rabelais, yet he had there a worthy and true representative in the author of Don Quixote. It was only in the seventeenth century that the works of Rabelais were translated into English; but we must not forget that our satirists of the last century, such as Swift and Sterne, derived their inspiration chiefly from Rabelais, and from the Pantagruelistic writers of the latter half of the sixteenth century. These latter were most of them poor imitators of their original, and, like all poor imitators, pursued to exaggeration his least worthy characteristics. There is still some humour in the writings of Tabourot, the sieur des Accords, especially in his“Bigarrures,”but the later productions, which appeared under such names as Bruscambille and Tabarin, sink into mere dull ribaldry.

There had arisen, however, by the side of this satire which smelt somewhat too much of the tavern, another satire, more serious, which still contained a little of the style of Rabelais. The French Protestants at first looked upon Rabelais as one of their towers of strength, and embraced with gratitude the powerful protection they received from the graceful queen of Navarre; but their gratitude failed them, when Marguerite, though she never ceased to give them her protection, conformed outwardly, from attachment to her brother, to the forms of the Catholic faith, and they rejected the school of Rabelais as a mere school of Atheists. Among them arose another school of satire, a sort of branch from the other, which was represented in its infancy by the celebrated scholar and printer, Henri Estienne, better known among us as Henry Stephens.

The remarkable book called an“Apologie pour Herodote,”arose out of an attack upon its writer by the Romanists. Henri Estienne, who was known as a staunch Protestant, published, at great expense, an edition of Herodotus in Greek and Latin, and the zealous Catholics, out of spite to the editor, decried his author, and spoke of Herodotus as a mere collector of monstrous and incredible tales. Estienne, in revenge, published what, under the form of an apology for Herodotus, was really a violent attack on the Romish church. His argument is that all historians must relate transactions which appear to many incredible, and that the events of modern times were much more incredible, if they were not known to be true, than anything which is recorded by the historian of antiquity. After an introductory dissertation on the light in which we ought to regard the fable of the Golden Age, and on the moral character of the ancient peoples, he goes on to show that their depravity was much less than that of the middle ages and of his own time, indeed of all periods during which people were governed by the Church of Rome. Not only did this dissoluteness of morals pervade lay society, but the clergy were more vicious even than the people, to whom they ought to serve as an example. A large part of the book is filled with anecdotes of the immoral lives of the popish clergy of the sixteenth century, and of their ignorance and bigotry; and he describes in detail the methods employed by the Romish church to keep the mass of the people in ignorance, and to repress all attempts at inquiry. Out of all this, he says, had risen a school of atheists and scoffers, represented by Rabelais and Bonaventure des Periers, both of whom he mentions by name.

As we approach the end of the sixteenth century, the struggle of parties became more political than religious, but not less bitter than before. The literature of the age of that celebrated“Ligue,”which seemed at one time destined to overthrow the ancient royalty of France, consisted chiefly of libellous and abusive pamphlets, but in the midst of them there appeared a work far superior to any purely political satire which had yet been seen, and the fame of which has never passed away. Its object was to turn to ridicule the meeting of the Estates of France, convoked by the duke of Mayenne, as leader of the Ligue, and held atParis on the 10th of February, 1503. The grand object of this meeting was to exclude Henri IV. from the throne; and the Spanish party proposed to abolish the Salic law, and proclaim the infanta of Spain queen of France. The French ligueurs proposed plans hardly less unpatriotic, and the duke of Mayenne, indignant at the small account made of his own personal pretensions, prorogued the meeting, and persuaded the two parties to hold what proved a fruitless conference at Suresne. It was the meeting of the Estates in Paris which gave rise to that celebratedSatyre Ménippée, of which it was said, that it served the cause of Henri IV. as much as the battle of Ivry itself.

This satire originated among a party of friends, of men distinguished by learning, wit, and talent, though most of their names are obscure, who used to meet in an evening in the hospitable house of one of them, Jacques Gillot, on the Quai des Orfèvres in Paris, and there talk satirically over the violence and insolence of the ligueurs. They all belonged either to the bar or to the university, or to the church. Gillot himself, a Burgundian, born about the year 1560, had been a dean in the church of Langres, and afterwards canon of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, and was at this time conseiller-clerc to the parliament of Paris. In 1589 he was committed to the Bastille, but was soon afterwards liberated. Nicolas Rapin, one of his friends, was born in 1535, and was said to have been the son of a priest, and therefore illegitimate. He was a lawyer, a poet, and a soldier, for he fought bravely in the ranks of Henri IV. at Ivry, and his devotion to that prince was so well known, that he was banished from Paris by the ligueurs, but had returned thither before the meeting of the Estates in 1593. Jean Passerat, born in 1534, was also a poet, and a professor in the Collège Royal. Florent Chrestien, born at Orleans in 1540, had been the tutor of Henri IV., and was well known as a man of sound learning. The most learned of the party was Pierre Pithou, born at Troyes in 1539, who had abjured Calvinism to return to Romanism, and who held a distinguished position at the French bar. The last of this little party of men of letters was a canon of Rouen named Pierre le Roy, a patriotic ecclesiastic, who held the office of almoner to the cardinal de Bourbon. It was Le Roy who drew up the first sketch of the“Satyre Ménippée,”each of the others executed his part in the composition, and Pithou finally revised it. For several years this remarkable satire circulated only secretly, and in manuscript, and it was not printed until Henri IV. was established on the throne.

The satire opens with an account of the virtues of the“Catholicon,”or nostrum for curing all political diseases, or thehiguiero d’infierno, which had been so effective in the hands of the Spaniards, who invented it. Some of these are extraordinary enough. If, we are told, the lieutenant of Don Philip “have some of this Catholicon on his flags, he will enter without a blow into an enemy’s country, and they will meet him with crosses and banners, legates and primates; and though he ruin, ravage, usurp, massacre, and sack everything, and carry away, ravish, burn, and reduce everything to a desert, the people of the country will say, ‘These are our friends, they are good Catholics; they do it for our peace, and for our mother holy church.’” “If an indolent king amuse himself with refining this drug in his escurial, let him write a word into Flanders to Father Ignatius, sealed with the Catholicon, he will find him a man who (salva conscientia) will assassinate his enemy whom he has not been able to conquer by arms in twenty years.” This, of course, is an allusion to the murder of the prince of Orange. “If this king proposes to assure his estates to his children after his death, and to invade another’s kingdom at little expense, let him write a word to Mendoza, his ambassador, or to Father Commelet (one of the most seditious orators of the Ligue), and if he write with thehiguiero del infierno, at the bottom of his letter, the wordsYo el Rey, they will furnish him with an apostate monk, who will go under a fair semblance, like a Judas, and assassinate in cold blood a great king of France, his brother-in-law, in the middle of his camp, without fear of God or men; they will do more, they will canonise the murderer, and place this Judas above St. Peter, and baptise this prodigious and horrible crime with the name of a providential event, of which the godfathers will be cardinals, legates, and primates.” The allusion here is to the assassination of Henri III. by Jacques Clement. These are but a few of the marvellous properties of the political drug, after the enumeration of which the report of the meeting of the Estates is introduced by aburlesque description of the grand procession which preceded it. Then we are introduced to the hall of assembly, and different subjects pictured on the tapestries which cover its walls, all having reference to the politics of the Ligue, are described fully. Then we come to the report of the meeting, and to the speeches of the different speakers, each of which is a model of satire. It is not known which of the little club of satirists wrote the open speech of the duke of Mayenne, but that of the Roman legate is known to be the work of Gillot, and that of the cardinal de Pelvé, a masterpiece of Latin in the style of the“Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum,”was written by Florent Chrestien. Nicolas Rapin composed the “harangue” placed in the mouth of the archbishop of Lyons, as well as that of Rose, the rector of the university; and the long speech of Claude d’Aubray was by Pithou. Passerat composed most of the verses which are scattered through the book, and it is understood that Pithou finally revised the whole. This mock report of the meeting of the Estates closes with a description of a series of political pictures which are arranged on the wall of the staircase of the hall.

These pictures, as well as those on the tapestries of the hall of meeting, are simply so many caricatures, and the same may be said of another set of pictures, of which a description is given in one of the satirical pieces which followed the“Satyre Ménippée,”on the same side, entitled,“Histoire des Singeries de la Ligue.”It was amid the political turmoil of the sixteenth century in France that modern political caricature took its rise.

POLITICAL CARICATURE IN ITS INFANCY.—THE REVERS DU JEU DES SUYSSES.—CARICATURE IN FRANCE.—THE THREE ORDERS.—PERIOD OF THE LEAGUE; CARICATURES AGAINST HENRI III.—CARICATURES AGAINST THE LEAGUE.—CARICATURE IN FRANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.—GENERAL GALAS.—THE QUARREL OF AMBASSADORS.—CARICATURE AGAINST LOUIS XIV.; WILLIAM OF FÜRSTEMBERG.

It has been already remarked that political caricature, in the modern sense of the word, or even personal caricature, was inconsistent with the state of things in the middle ages, until the arts of engraving and printing became sufficiently developed, because it requires the facility of quick and extensive circulation. The political or satirical song was carried everywhere by the minstrel, but the satirical picture, represented only in some solitary sculpture or illumination, could hardly be finished before it had become useless even in the small sphere of its influence, and then remained for ages a strange figure, with no meaning that could be understood. No sooner, however, was the art of printing introduced, than the importance of political caricature was understood and turned to account. We have seen what a powerful agent it became in the Reformation, which in spirit was no less political than religious; but even before the great religious movement had begun, this agent had been brought into activity. One of the earliest engravings which can be called a caricature—perhaps the oldest of our modern caricatures known—is represented in our cut No. 171, is no doubt French, and belongs to the year 1499. It is sufficiently explained by the history of the time.

No. 171. The Political Game of Cards.

At the date just mentioned, Louis XII. of France, who had been king less than twelve months, was newly married to Anne of Britany, and had resolved upon an expedition into Italy, to unite the crown of Napleswith that of France. Such an expedition affected many political interests and Louis had to employ a certain amount of diplomacy with his neighbours, several of whom were strongly opposed to his projects of ambition, and among those who acted most openly were the Swiss, who were believed to have been secretly supported by England and the Netherlands. Louis, however, overcame their opposition, and obtained a renewal of the alliance which had expired with his predecessor Charles VIII. This temporary difficulty with the Swiss is the subject of our caricature, the original of which bears the title“Le Revers du Jeu des Suysses”(the defeat of the game of the Swiss). The princes most interested are assembled round a card-table, at which are seated the king of France to the right, opposite him the Swiss, and in front the doge of Venice, whowas in alliance with the French against Milan. At the moment represented, the king of France is announcing that he has a flush of cards, the Swiss acknowledges the weakness of his hand, and the doge lays down his cards—in fact, Louis XII. has won the game. But the point of the caricature lies principally in the group around. To the extreme right the king of England, Henry VII., distinguished by his three armorial lions, and the king of Spain, are engaged in earnest conversation. Behind the former stands the infanta Margarita, who is evidently winking at the Swiss to give him information of the state of the cards of his opponents. At her side stands the duke of Wirtemberg, and just before him the pope, the infamous Alexander VI. (Borgia), who, though in alliance with Louis, is not able, with all his efforts, to read the king’s game, and looks on with evident anxiety. Behind the doge of Venice stands the Italian refugee, Trivulci, an able warrior, devoted to the interests of France; and at the doge’s right hand, the emperor, holding in his hands another pack of cards, and apparently exulting in the belief that he has thrown confusion into the king of France’s game. In the background to the left are seen the count Palatine and the marquis of Montserrat, who also look uncertain about the result; and below the former appears the duke of Savoy, who was giving assistance to the French designs. The duke of Lorraine is serving drink to the gamblers, while the duke of Milan, who was at this time playing rather a double part, is gathering up the cards which have fallen to the ground, in order to make a game for himself. Louis XII. carried his designs into execution; the duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, nick-named the Moor, played his cards badly, lost his duchy, and died in prison.

No. 172. The Three Orders of the State.

Such is this earliest of political caricatures—and in this case it was purely political—but the question of religion soon began not only to mix itself up with the political question, but almost to absorb it, as we have seen in the review of the history of caricature under the Reformation. Before this period, indeed, political caricature was only an affair between crowned heads, or between kings and their nobles, but the religious agitation had originated a vast social movement, which brought into play popular feelings and passions: these gave caricature a totally new value.Its power was greatest on the middle and lower classes of society, that is, on the people, thetiers état, which was now thrown prominently forward. The new social theory is proclaimed in a print, of which a fac-simile will be found in the“Musée de la Caricature,”by E. J. Jaime, and which, from the style and costume, appears to be German. The three orders, the church, the lord of the land, and the people, represented respectively by a bishop, a knight, and a cultivator, stand upon the globe in an honourable equality, each receiving direct from heaven the emblems or implements of his duties. To the bishop is delivered his bible, to the husbandman his mattock, and to the knight the sword with which he is to protect and defend the others. This print—see cut No. 172—which bears the title, in Latin,“Quis te prætulit?”(Who chose thee?) belongs probably to the earlier half of the sixteenth century. A painting in the Hôtel de Ville of Aix, in Provence, represents the same subject much more satirically, intending to delineate the three orders as they were, andnot as they ought to be. The divine hand is letting down from heaven an immense frame in the form of a heart, in which is a picture representing a king kneeling before the cross, intimating that the civil power was to be subordinate to the ecclesiastical. The three orders are represented by a cardinal, a noble, and a peasant, the latter of whom is bending under the burthen of the heart, the whole of which is thrown upon his shoulders, while the cardinal and the noble, the latter dressed in the fashionable attire of the court minions of the day, are placing one hand to the heart on each side, in a manner which shows that they support none of the weight.

Amid the fierce agitation which fell upon France in the sixteenth century, for a while we find but few traces of the employment of caricature by either party. The religious reformation there was rather aristocratic than popular, and the reformers sought less to excite the feelings of the multitude, which, indeed, went generally in the contrary direction. There was, moreover, a character of gloom in the religion of Calvin, which contracted strongly with the joyousness of that of the followers of Luther; and the factions in France sought to slaughter, rather than to laugh at, each other. The few caricatures of this period which are known, are very bitter and coarse. As far as I am aware, no early Huguenot caricatures are known, but there are a few directed against the Huguenots. It was, however, with the rise of the Ligue that the taste for political caricature may be said to have taken root in France, and in that country it long continued to flourish more than anywhere else. The first caricatures of the ligueurs were directed against the person of the king, Henri de Valois, and possess a brutality almost beyond description. It was now an object to keep up the bitterness of spirit of the fanatical multitude. In one of these caricatures a demon is represented waiting on the king to summon him to a meeting of the “Estates” in hell; and in the distance we see another demon flying away with him. Another relates to the murder of the Guises, in 1588, which the ligueurs professed to ascribe to the councils of M. d’Epernon, one of his favourites, on whom they looked with great hatred. It is entitled,“Soufflement et Conseil diabolique de d’Epernon à Henri de Valois pour faccager les Catholiques.”In the middle of the picture stands the king, and beside him D’Epernon, who is blowing into his ear with a bellows. On the ground before them lie the headless corpses of thedeux frères Catholiques, the duke of Guise, and his brother the cardinal, while the executioner of royal vengeance is holding up their heads by the hair. In the distance is seen the castle of Blois, in which this tragedy took place; and on the left of the picture appear the cardinal de Bourbon, the archbishop of Blois, and other friends of the Guises, expressing their horror at the deed. Henri III. was himself murdered in the year following, and the caricatures against him became still more brutal during the period in which the ligueurs tried to set up a king of their own in his place. In one caricature, which has more of an emblematical character than most of the others, he is pictured as“Henri le Monstrueux;”and in others, entitled“Les Hermaphrodites,”he is exhibited under forms which point at the infamous vices with which he was charged.

No. 173. The Assembly of Apes.

The tide of caricature, however, soon turned in the contrary direction, and the coarse, unprincipled abuse employed by the ligueurs found a favourable contrast in the powerful wit and talent of the satirists and caricaturists who now took up pen and pencil in the cause of Henri IV. The former was, on the whole, the more formidable weapon, but the latter represented to some eyes more vividly in picture what had already been done in type. This was the case on both sides; the caricature last mentioned was founded upon a very libellous satirical pamphlet against Henri III., entitled“L’Isle des Hermaphrodites.”It is the case also with the first caricatures against the ligueurs, which I have to mention. The Estates held in Paris by the duke of Mayenne and the ligueurs for the purpose of electing a new king in opposition to Henri of Navarre, were made the subject of the celebrated“Satyre Ménippée,”in which the proceedings of these Estates were turned to ridicule in the most admirable manner. Four large editions were sold in less than as many months. Several caricatures arose out of or accompanied this remarkable book. One of these is a rather large print, entitled“La Singerie des Estats de la Ligue, l’an 1593,”in which the members of the Estates and the ligueurs are pictured with the heads of monkeys. The central part represents themeeting of the Estates, at which the lieutenant-general of the kingdom, the duke of Mayenne, seated on the throne, presides. Above him is suspended a large portrait of the infanta of Spain,L’Espousée de la Ligue, as she is called in the satire, ready to marry any one whom the Estates shall declare king of France. In chairs, on each side of Mayenne, are the two “ladies of honour” of the said future spouse. To the left are seated in a row the celebrated council of sixteen (les seize), reduced at this time to twelve, because the duke of Mayenne, to check their turbulence, had caused four of them to be hanged. They wear the favours of the future spouse. Opposite to them are the representatives of the three orders, all, we are told, devoted to the service of “the said lady.” Before the throneare the two musicians of the Ligue, one described as Phelipottin, the blind performer on the viel, or hurdy-gurdy, to the Ligue, and his subordinate, the player on the triangle, “kept at the expense of the future spouse.” These were to entertain the assembly during the pauses between the orations of the various speakers. All this is a satire on the efforts of the king of Spain to establish a monarch of his own choice. On the bench behind the musicians sit the deputies from Lyons, Poitiers, Orleans, and Rheims, cities where the influence of the Ligue was strong, discussing the question as to who should be king. Thus much of this picture is represented in our cut No. 173. There are other groups of figures in the representation of the assembly of the Estates; and there are two side compartments—that on the left representing a forge, on which the fragments of a broken king are laid to be refounded, and a multitude of apes, with hammers and an anvil, ready to work him into a new king; the other side of the picture represents the circumstances of a then well-known act of tyranny perpetrated by the Estates of the Ligue. Another large and well-executed engraving, published at Paris in 1594, immediately after Henri IV. had obtained possession of his capital, also represents the grand procession of the Ligue as described at the commencement of the“Satyre Ménippée,”and was intended to hold up to ridicule the warlike temper of the French Catholic clergy. It is entitled,“La Procession de la Ligue.”

Henri’s triumph over the Ligue was made the subject of a series of three caricatures, or perhaps, more correctly, of a caricature in three divisions. The first is entitled the“Naissance de la Ligue,”and represents it under the form of a monster with three heads, severally those of a wolf, a fox, and a serpent, issuing from hell-mouth. Under it are the following lines:—

L’enfer, pour asservir soubs ses loix tout le monde,Vomit ce monstre hideux, fait d’un loup ravisseur,D’un renard enveilly, et d’un serpent immonde,Affublé d’un manteau propre à toute couleur.

L’enfer, pour asservir soubs ses loix tout le monde,

Vomit ce monstre hideux, fait d’un loup ravisseur,

D’un renard enveilly, et d’un serpent immonde,

Affublé d’un manteau propre à toute couleur.

The second division, the“Declin de la Ligue,”representing its downfall,is copied in our cut No. 174. Henri of Navarre, in the form of a lion, has pounced fiercely upon it, and not too soon, for it had already seized the crown and sceptre. In the distance, the sun of national prosperity is seen rising over the country. The third picture, the“Effets de la Ligue,”represents the destruction of the kingdom and the slaughter of the people, of which the Ligue had been the cause.

No. 174. The Destruction of the Ligue.

No. 175. General Galas.

The caricatures in France became more numerous during the seventeenth century, but they are either so elaborate or so obscure, that each requires almost a dissertation to explain it, and they often relate to questions or events which have little interest for us at the present day. Several rather spirited ones appeared at the time of the disgrace of the mareschal d’Ancre and his wife; and the inglorious war with the Netherlands, in 1635, furnished the occasion for others, for the French, as usual, could make merry in their reverses as well as in their successes. The imperialist general Galas inflicted serious defeat on the French armies, and compelled them to a very disastrous retreat from the countries they had invaded, and they tried to amuse themselves at the expense of their conqueror. Galas was rather remarkable for obesity, and the Frenchcaricaturists of the day made this circumstance a subject for their satire. Our cut No. 175 is copied from a print in which the magnitude of the stomach of General Galas is certainly somewhat exaggerated. He is represented, not apparently with any good reason, as puffed up with his own importance, which is evaporating in smoke; and along with the smoke thus issuing from his mouth, he is made to proclaim his greatness in the following rather doggrel verses:—

Je suis ce grand Galas, autrefois dans l’arméeLa gloire de l’Espagne et de mes compagnons;Maintenant je ne suis qu’un corps plein de fumée,Pour avoir trop mangé de raves et d’oignons.Gargantua jamais n’eut une telle panse, &c.

Je suis ce grand Galas, autrefois dans l’armée

La gloire de l’Espagne et de mes compagnons;

Maintenant je ne suis qu’un corps plein de fumée,

Pour avoir trop mangé de raves et d’oignons.

Gargantua jamais n’eut une telle panse, &c.

No. 176. Batteville Humiliated.

Caricatures in France began to be tolerably abundant during the middle of the seventeenth century, but under the crushing tyranny of Louis XIV., the freedom of the press, in all its forms, ceased to exist, and caricatures relating to France, unless they came from the court party, had to be published in other countries, especially in Holland. It will be sufficient to give two examples from the reign of Louis XIV. In the year 1661, a dispute arose in London between the ambassador of France, M. D’Estrades, and the Spanish ambassador, the baron de Batteville, on the question of precedence, which was carried so far as to give rise to a tumult in the streets of the English capital. At this very moment, a new Spanish ambassador, the marquis de Fuentes, was on his way to Paris, but Louis, indignant at Batteville’s behaviour in London, sent orders to stop Fuentes on the frontier, and forbid his further advance into his kingdom. The king of Spain disavowed the act of his ambassador in England, who was recalled, and Fuentes received orders to make anapology to king Louis. This event was made the subject of a rather boasting caricature, the greater portion of which is given in our cut No. 176. It is entitled“Batteville vient adorer le Soliel”(Batteville comes to worship the sun). In the original the sun is seen shining in the upper corner of the picture to the right, and presenting the juvenile face of Louis XIV., but the caricaturist appears to have substituted Batteville in the place of Fuentes. Beneath the whole are the following boastful lines:—

On ne va plus à Rome, on vient de Rome en France,Mériter le pardon de quelque grande offence.L’Italie tout entière est soumise à ces loix;Un Espagnol s’oppose à ce droit de nos rois.Mais un Français puissant joua des bastonnades,Et punit l’insolent de ses rodomontades.

On ne va plus à Rome, on vient de Rome en France,

Mériter le pardon de quelque grande offence.

L’Italie tout entière est soumise à ces loix;

Un Espagnol s’oppose à ce droit de nos rois.

Mais un Français puissant joua des bastonnades,

Et punit l’insolent de ses rodomontades.

No. 177. William of Fürstemberg.

From this time there sprung up many caricatures against the Spaniards; but the most ferocious caricature, or rather book of caricatures, of the reign of Louis XIV., came from without, and was directed against the king and his ministers and courtiers. The revocation of the edict of Nantes took place in October, 1685, and was preceded and followed by frightful persecutions of the Protestants, which drove away in thousands the earnest, intelligent, and industrious part of the population of France. They carried with them a deep hatred to their oppressors, and sought refuge especially in the countries most hostile to Louis XIV.—England and Holland. The latter country, where they then enjoyed the greatest freedom of action, soon sent forth numerous satirical books and prints against the French king and his ministers, of which the book just alluded to was one of the most remarkable. It is entitled“Les Heros de la Ligue, ou la Procession Monacale conduite par Louis XIV. pour la Conversion des Protestans de son Royaume,”and consists of a series of twenty-four most grotesque faces, intended to represent the ministers and courtiers of the“grand roi”most odious to the Calvinists. It must have provoked their wrath exceedingly. I give one example, and as it is difficult to select, I take the first in the list, which represents William of Fürstemberg, one of the German princes devoted to Louis XIV., who, by his intrigues, had forced him into the archbishopric of Cologne, by which he becamean elector of the empire. For many reasons William of Fürstemberg was hated by the French Protestants, but it is not quite clear why he is here represented in the character of one of the low merchants of the Halles. Over the picture, in the original, we read,Guillaume de Furstemberg, crie, ite, missa est, and beneath are the four lines:—

J’ay quitté mon pais pour servir à la France,Soit par ma trahison, soit par ma lacheté;J’ay troublé les états par ma méchanceté,Une abbaye est ma recompense.

J’ay quitté mon pais pour servir à la France,

Soit par ma trahison, soit par ma lacheté;

J’ay troublé les états par ma méchanceté,

Une abbaye est ma recompense.

EARLY POLITICAL CARICATURE IN ENGLAND.—THE SATIRICAL WRITINGS AND PICTURES OF THE COMMONWEALTH PERIOD.—SATIRES AGAINST THE BISHOPS; BISHOP WILLIAMS.—CARICATURES ON THE CAVALIERS; SIR JOHN SUCKLING.—THE ROARING BOYS; VIOLENCE OF THE ROYALIST SOLDIERS.—CONTEST BETWEEN THE PRESBYTERIANS AND INDEPENDENTS.—GRINDING THE KING’S NOSE.—PLAYING-CARDS USED AS THE MEDIUM FOR CARICATURE; HASELRIGGE AND LAMBERT.—SHROVETIDE.

During the sixteenth century caricature can hardly be said to have existed in England, and it did not come much into fashion, until the approach of the great struggle which convulsed our country in the century following. The popular reformers have always been the first to appreciate the value of pictorial satire as an offensive weapon. Such was the case with the German reformers in the age of Luther; as it was again with the English reformers in the days of Charles I., a period which we may justly consider as that of the birth of English political caricature. From 1640 to 1661 the press launched forth an absolute deluge of political pamphlets, many of which were of a satirical character, scurrilous in form and language, and, on whatever side they were written, very unscrupulous in regard to the truth of their statements. Among them appeared a not unfrequent engraving, seldom well executed, whether on copper or wood, but displaying a coarse and pungent wit that must have told with great effect on those for whom it was intended. The first objects of attack in these caricatures were the Episcopalian party in the church and the profaneness and insolence of the cavaliers. The Puritans or Presbyterians who took the lead in, and at first directed, the great political movement, looked upon Episcopalianism as differing in little from popery, and, at all events, as leading direct to it. Arminianism was with them only anothername for the same thing, and was equally detested. In a caricature published in 1641, Arminius is represented supported on one side by Heresy, wearing the triple crown, while on the other side Truth is turning away from him, and carrying with her the Bible. It was the indiscreet zeal of archbishop Laud which led to the triumph of the Puritan party, and the downfall of the episcopal church government, and Laud became the butt for attacks of all descriptions, in pamphlets, songs and satirical prints, the latter usually figuring in the titles of the pamphlets. Laud was especially obnoxious to the Puritans for the bitterness with which he had persecuted them.

In 1640 Laud was committed to the Tower, an event which was hailed as the first grand step towards the overthrow of the bishops. As an example of the feeling of exultation displayed on this occasion by his enemies, we may quote a few lines from a satirical song, published in 1641, and entitled “The Organs Eccho. To the Tune of the Cathedrall Service.” It is a general attack on the prelacy, and opens with a cry of triumph over the fall of William Laud, of whom the song says—

As he was in his braverie,And thought to bring us all in slaverie,The parliament found out his knaverie;And so fell William.Alas! poore William!His pope-like domineering,And some other tricks appearing,Provok’d Sir Edward DeeringTo blame the old prelate.Alas! poore prelate!Some say he was in hopeTo bring England againe to th’ pope;But now he is in danger of an axe or a rope.Farewell, old Canterbury.Alas! poore Canterbury!

As he was in his braverie,And thought to bring us all in slaverie,The parliament found out his knaverie;And so fell William.Alas! poore William!

As he was in his braverie,

And thought to bring us all in slaverie,

The parliament found out his knaverie;

And so fell William.

Alas! poore William!

His pope-like domineering,And some other tricks appearing,Provok’d Sir Edward DeeringTo blame the old prelate.Alas! poore prelate!

His pope-like domineering,

And some other tricks appearing,

Provok’d Sir Edward Deering

To blame the old prelate.

Alas! poore prelate!

Some say he was in hopeTo bring England againe to th’ pope;But now he is in danger of an axe or a rope.Farewell, old Canterbury.Alas! poore Canterbury!

Some say he was in hope

To bring England againe to th’ pope;

But now he is in danger of an axe or a rope.

Farewell, old Canterbury.

Alas! poore Canterbury!

Wren, bishop of Ely, was another of the more obnoxious of the prelates, and there was hardly less joy among the popular party when he was committed to the Tower in the course of the year 1641. Anothersong, in verse similar to the last, contains a general review of the demerits of the members of the prelacy, under the title of “The Bishops Last Good-night.” At the head of the broadside on which it is printed stand two satirical woodcuts, but it must be confessed that the words of the song are better than the engraving. The bishop of Ely, we are told, had just gone to join his friend Laud in the Tower—

Ely, thou hast alway to thy powerLeft the church naked in a storme and showre,And now for ’t thou must to thy old friend i’ th’ Tower.To the Tower must Ely;Come away, Ely.

Ely, thou hast alway to thy power

Left the church naked in a storme and showre,

And now for ’t thou must to thy old friend i’ th’ Tower.

To the Tower must Ely;

Come away, Ely.

A third obnoxious prelate was bishop Williams. Williams was a Welshman who had been high in favour with James I., but he had given offence to the government of Charles I., and been imprisoned in the Tower during the earlier part of that king’s reign. He was released by the parliament in 1640, and so far regained the favour of king Charles, that he was raised to the archbishopric of York in the year following. When the civil war began, he retired into Wales, and garrisoned Conway for the king. Williams’s warlike behaviour was the source of much mirth among the Roundheads. In 1642 was published a large caricature on the three classes to whom the parliamentarians were especially hostile—the royalist judges, the prelates, and the ruffling cavaliers; represented here, as we are told in writing in the copy among the king’s pamphlets, by judge Mallet, bishop Williams, and colonel Lunsford. These three figures are placed in as many compartments with doggrel verses under each. That of bishop Williams is copied in our cut No. 178. The bishop is armed cap-à-pie, and in the distance behind him are seen on one side his cathedral church, and on the other his war-horse. The verses beneath it contain an allusion to this prelate’s Welsh extraction in the orthography of some of the words:—

Oh, sir, I’me ready, did you never heereHow forward I have byn t’is many a yeare,T’oppose the practice dat is now on foote,Which plucks my brethren up both pranch and roote?My posture and my hart toth well agreeTo fight; now plud is up: come, follow mee.

Oh, sir, I’me ready, did you never heere

How forward I have byn t’is many a yeare,

T’oppose the practice dat is now on foote,

Which plucks my brethren up both pranch and roote?

My posture and my hart toth well agree

To fight; now plud is up: come, follow mee.

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