The little Princemustlove the poor,And he will heed the cryOf the pauper mother, when she findsHer infant's fountains dry.He'll fill the cruse, and bruise the ear,To make those founts o'erflow,For they have vow'd our little PrinceNo "vanities" shall know.And we will rattle our little bell,And laugh, and dance, and sing as well—Roo-too-tooit! Shallaballa!Life to the Prince! Fallallalla!And death's dark bones will then becomeLike iv'ry pure and white!His blood-dyed robe will moulder off,And his garments be as light;For man will slaughter man no moreFor wrong begot by wrongs,For our little Prince will say—"To meNor life nor death belongs."So we will rattle our little bell,And laugh, and dance, and sing as well—Roo-too-tooit! Shallaballa!Life to the Prince! Fallallalla!
The little Princemustlove the poor,And he will heed the cryOf the pauper mother, when she findsHer infant's fountains dry.He'll fill the cruse, and bruise the ear,To make those founts o'erflow,For they have vow'd our little PrinceNo "vanities" shall know.And we will rattle our little bell,And laugh, and dance, and sing as well—Roo-too-tooit! Shallaballa!Life to the Prince! Fallallalla!
The little Princemustlove the poor,
And he will heed the cry
Of the pauper mother, when she finds
Her infant's fountains dry.
He'll fill the cruse, and bruise the ear,
To make those founts o'erflow,
For they have vow'd our little Prince
No "vanities" shall know.
And we will rattle our little bell,
And laugh, and dance, and sing as well—
Roo-too-tooit! Shallaballa!
Life to the Prince! Fallallalla!
And death's dark bones will then becomeLike iv'ry pure and white!His blood-dyed robe will moulder off,And his garments be as light;For man will slaughter man no moreFor wrong begot by wrongs,For our little Prince will say—"To meNor life nor death belongs."So we will rattle our little bell,And laugh, and dance, and sing as well—Roo-too-tooit! Shallaballa!Life to the Prince! Fallallalla!
And death's dark bones will then become
Like iv'ry pure and white!
His blood-dyed robe will moulder off,
And his garments be as light;
For man will slaughter man no more
For wrong begot by wrongs,
For our little Prince will say—"To me
Nor life nor death belongs."
So we will rattle our little bell,
And laugh, and dance, and sing as well—
Roo-too-tooit! Shallaballa!
Life to the Prince! Fallallalla!
But while taking the Prince's future very seriously,Punchcould not emulate those writers in the Press who, with goose-quill in hand, could not approach the ordinary trials from which even Royal infants are not exempt, save on their knees:—
It has been announced to the public, through the medium of the Press, that a most important epoch has arrived in the life of the Prince of Wales. It is a strange fact, that this "important epoch" has not been noted in the biography of any previous Prince of Wales; for we look in vain through the pages of Hume and Smollett, Rapin, Lingard, Miss Julia Corner, and indeed every other corner within our reach, without being able to ascertain when Edward the Black Prince was driven from the breast to the bottle. The Heir Apparent to the English throne has, we are told, been lately subjected to this frightful vicissitude; and though his Royal Highness is said to have borne it tolerably well, it will appear that while he took to the pap-spoon with princely fortitude, there was something of the infant perceptible in his mode of first receiving it.
It has been announced to the public, through the medium of the Press, that a most important epoch has arrived in the life of the Prince of Wales. It is a strange fact, that this "important epoch" has not been noted in the biography of any previous Prince of Wales; for we look in vain through the pages of Hume and Smollett, Rapin, Lingard, Miss Julia Corner, and indeed every other corner within our reach, without being able to ascertain when Edward the Black Prince was driven from the breast to the bottle. The Heir Apparent to the English throne has, we are told, been lately subjected to this frightful vicissitude; and though his Royal Highness is said to have borne it tolerably well, it will appear that while he took to the pap-spoon with princely fortitude, there was something of the infant perceptible in his mode of first receiving it.
When another Princess was born in 1843, we read that "there were some apprehensions that the nasal organ of the Heir Apparent might be affected by the birth of a younger sister, but we are happy to say that there are no symptoms of a derangement of the Prince's proboscis at present," also that Donizetti had been requested to arrange a series of concertos for the penny trumpet, and had sent to the Prince one on the noble theme of "This little pig went to market" to the Italian words:—
Questo piccolo porcoE andato al mercato.Questo piccolo porcoE a casa restato.Questo piccolo porcoHa avuto del rosbief per pranza.Questo piccolo porcoNiente ebbe nel sua stanza.
Questo piccolo porcoE andato al mercato.Questo piccolo porcoE a casa restato.Questo piccolo porcoHa avuto del rosbief per pranza.Questo piccolo porcoNiente ebbe nel sua stanza.
Questo piccolo porco
E andato al mercato.
Questo piccolo porco
E a casa restato.
Questo piccolo porco
Ha avuto del rosbief per pranza.
Questo piccolo porco
Niente ebbe nel sua stanza.
These familiar jocularities, redeemed by their general good humour from the charge of disrespect, are harmless compared with the sustained campaign of ridicule directed against Prince Albert as tailor and sportsman. German sovereigns and princes have always been great on uniforms, and Prince Albert undoubtedly suffered severely from this hereditary failing. A concise biography in theAlmanackfor 1842 states that he was born on August 26, 1819, and afterwards invented "a shocking bad hat for the British Infantry, but England refused to put her Foot in it." From this time onward the attacks are constant and malicious. The Prince's bell-shaped hat repeatedly figures in cartoons. He "bresents his gompliments" to Herzog Jenkins (of theMorning Post), for whom he has "gomposed a dugal goronet."
Prince Albert as Tailor
In the following year there is a cartoon representing the Prince in his sartorial studio surrounded by designs and models; the following comment is associated with the cartoon:—
Ever since the accession of Prince Albert to the Royal Husbandship of these realms, he has devoted the energies of his mind and the ingenuity of his hands to the manufacture of infantry caps, cavalry trousers, and regulation sabretaches. One of his first measures was to transmogrify the pantaloons of the Eleventh Hussars; and as the regiment alluded to is Prince Albert's Own, His Royal Highness may do as he likes with his own, and no one could complain of his bedizening the legs of the unfortunate Eleventh with scarlet cloth and gold door-leather. When, however, the Prince, throwing the whole of his energies into a hat, proposed to encase the heads of the British soldiery in a machine which seemed a decided cross between a muff, a coal scuttle, and a slop pail, thenPunchwas compelled to interfere, for the honourof the English army. The result has been that the headgear has been summarily withdrawn by an order from the War Office, and the manufacture of more of the Albert hat has been absolutely prohibited.
Ever since the accession of Prince Albert to the Royal Husbandship of these realms, he has devoted the energies of his mind and the ingenuity of his hands to the manufacture of infantry caps, cavalry trousers, and regulation sabretaches. One of his first measures was to transmogrify the pantaloons of the Eleventh Hussars; and as the regiment alluded to is Prince Albert's Own, His Royal Highness may do as he likes with his own, and no one could complain of his bedizening the legs of the unfortunate Eleventh with scarlet cloth and gold door-leather. When, however, the Prince, throwing the whole of his energies into a hat, proposed to encase the heads of the British soldiery in a machine which seemed a decided cross between a muff, a coal scuttle, and a slop pail, thenPunchwas compelled to interfere, for the honourof the English army. The result has been that the headgear has been summarily withdrawn by an order from the War Office, and the manufacture of more of the Albert hat has been absolutely prohibited.
Gigantic cartoon goose.THE TAILOR'S GOOSE—THE TERROR OF THE ARMY
THE TAILOR'S GOOSE—THE TERROR OF THE ARMY
Prince Albert as Sportsman
The campaign reached its height in 1845 whenPunchwas given an irresistible opportunity on the occasion of the Prince being entertained by the Merchant Tailors. The Prince,Punchaverred, was a born tailor, the Prince of Tailors, the true British tailor. He sought to make the British Army invincible by rendering them so comical that, by coming rapidly on the enemy, they might convulse him with laughter and paralyse his defence. He had fraternized with the Goose of Great Britain, and might sit cross-legged in the eyes of posterity. After thisoutburst of derisionPunchgave the Prince a rest as tailor, but took up the running—or baiting—with renewed energy against his sportmanship.Punch, it may be noted, was not an unmitigated admirer of field sports; he denounced otter hunting as cruel, and more than once protested against officers and others who rode their horses to death for a wager. It was part of the humanitarianism which impelled him to support the abolition of capital punishment, though here his argument was based on the view that death was a release for the murderer, who was more effectually punished by being kept in life-long penance for his crime.Punchwas never an enemy of fox hunting. Doubtless the influence of Leech counted for something. But the organized slaughter of game filled him with disgust, and the exploits of the Prince in the Highlands in the autumn of 1842 prompted the first of many tirades.
Stag Slaughter at Gotha
The pheasant battues at Drayton, when the Queen and Prince Albert were the guests of Sir Robert Peel, are treated in the same spirit, and the Ballad of Windsor Chase, with its grotesque illustration of fat beagles and obese hares, the Prince on horseback, and the Queen in her pony phaeton, carries on the satire in this fashion:—
Six hares alive were taken outEach in its canvas sack;And five as dead as mutton, inThe same were carried back.
Six hares alive were taken outEach in its canvas sack;And five as dead as mutton, inThe same were carried back.
Six hares alive were taken out
Each in its canvas sack;
And five as dead as mutton, in
The same were carried back.
The battue of hares at Stowe during the Prince's visit to the Duke of Buckingham in January, 1845, is the subject of another derisive ballad modelled onJohn Gilpin, and of a cartoon showing the Prince shooting down the tame quarry point-blank from an easy chair. The grand climax to this raillery, however, was reached during the Royal visit to Germany in September, when the stag hunt at Gotha was scarified with pen and pencil. In two parallel cartoons of "Court Pastimes" are contrasted the bear-baiting under Elizabeth with the butchery of stags under Victoria; and the hand of Thackeray is unmistakable in the "Sonnick, sejested by PrinceHalbert gratiously killing the Staggs at Sacks-Cobug-Gothy":—
Some forty Ed of sleak and hantlered dearIn Cobug (where such hanimmles abound)Were shot, as by the nusepapers I hear,By Halbert Usband of the British Crownd.Britannia's Queen let fall the purly tear;Seeing them butchered in their silvn prisns;Igspecially, when the keepers, standing round,Came up and cut their pretty hinnocent whizns.Suppose, instead of this pore Germing sport,This Saxn wenison which he shoots and baggs,Our Prins should take a turn in Capel CourtAnd make a massyker of English Staggs.[12]Pore Staggs of Hengland! Were the Untsman at you,What avoc hewouldmake and what a trimenjus battu!
Some forty Ed of sleak and hantlered dearIn Cobug (where such hanimmles abound)Were shot, as by the nusepapers I hear,By Halbert Usband of the British Crownd.Britannia's Queen let fall the purly tear;Seeing them butchered in their silvn prisns;Igspecially, when the keepers, standing round,Came up and cut their pretty hinnocent whizns.Suppose, instead of this pore Germing sport,This Saxn wenison which he shoots and baggs,Our Prins should take a turn in Capel CourtAnd make a massyker of English Staggs.[12]Pore Staggs of Hengland! Were the Untsman at you,What avoc hewouldmake and what a trimenjus battu!
Some forty Ed of sleak and hantlered dear
In Cobug (where such hanimmles abound)
Were shot, as by the nusepapers I hear,
By Halbert Usband of the British Crownd.
Britannia's Queen let fall the purly tear;
Seeing them butchered in their silvn prisns;
Igspecially, when the keepers, standing round,
Came up and cut their pretty hinnocent whizns.
Suppose, instead of this pore Germing sport,
This Saxn wenison which he shoots and baggs,
Our Prins should take a turn in Capel Court
And make a massyker of English Staggs.[12]
Pore Staggs of Hengland! Were the Untsman at you,
What avoc hewouldmake and what a trimenjus battu!
Jeams.
Bear baiting in bear pit.ELIZABETH
ELIZABETH
Victoria at a killing.VICTORIA
VICTORIA
Even more lacerating is the use made in the same number of the comment of a loyal eye-witness quoted by theStandard:—
TEARS AT GOTHA
TheStandardgives the following extract of a letter from Gotha to a gentleman in London:—"This (the deer killing) was very shocking. The Queen weptI saw large tears in her eyes: and Her Majesty tells me that she with difficulty kept the chair during what followed. When the Queen saw the otter hunt in Scotland, the pity that shenaturally feltat the death of the animal wascounterbalanced by a knowledge of his propensities, so that it is almost as meritoriousto destroy an otter as it is a snake; but this was a totally different case; nor is Her Majesty yet recovered.For the Prince, the deer were too numerous, andmustbe killed.Thiswas the German method; and no doubt the reigning Duke will distribute them to his people, who will thank Prince Albert for providing them venison."
TheStandardgives the following extract of a letter from Gotha to a gentleman in London:—
"This (the deer killing) was very shocking. The Queen weptI saw large tears in her eyes: and Her Majesty tells me that she with difficulty kept the chair during what followed. When the Queen saw the otter hunt in Scotland, the pity that shenaturally feltat the death of the animal wascounterbalanced by a knowledge of his propensities, so that it is almost as meritoriousto destroy an otter as it is a snake; but this was a totally different case; nor is Her Majesty yet recovered.For the Prince, the deer were too numerous, andmustbe killed.Thiswas the German method; and no doubt the reigning Duke will distribute them to his people, who will thank Prince Albert for providing them venison."
Victoria with a distressed albert.THE MOMENTOUS QUESTION"Tell me, oh tell me, dearest Albert, haveyouany Railway Shares?"
THE MOMENTOUS QUESTION
"Tell me, oh tell me, dearest Albert, haveyouany Railway Shares?"
This incident marked the high-water level ofPunch'santi-Albertianism—at any rate, in the domain of sport; we find an address of condolence to the Prince on the conclusion of the shooting season a year and a half later, but, in the main, the criticisms of the Royal Consort henceforth are founded on other grounds of dissatisfaction. What infuriatedPuncheven more than the ineptitudes of the Court was the fulsome adulation of theLickspittle-offsof the Press, who were prepared, not only to defend, but to eulogize them. "The amount of good that Royalty can effect in this country is astonishing,"Punchfrankly admits, while caustically adding: "only less astonishing than that which it has yet to do." But between a generous acknowledgment of what could be done by royal example (as, for instance, its discouragement of gambling) and the "insanity of loyalty," there was an immense gulf, andPunchwas never weary of gibbeting those writers in and out of the Press who thought they "could best oppose the questioning spirit of the time—questioning, as it does, the 'divinity' that hedges the throne—by adopting the worse than foolish adulation of a bygone age." Assuredly, the absolutereductio ad absurdumof this courtiership was reached when the Queen was extolled for behaving as any reasonable woman would:—
The excessively loyal man has the ugliest manner of paying a compliment. He evidently takes his king or queen as a carved log dropped from the skies, or he would not marvel as he does when the aforesaid image shows any touch of life or human sympathy. If his idol perform the commonest act of social courtesy, he roars—"what condescension!" If it display the influence of affections,he screams—"a miracle!" Her Majesty, on her arrival at Windsor from Scotland, has her babies immediately brought to her: whereupon, saysThe Atlas—"The woman and the motherfor a momentproclaimed the supremacy of nature over the etiquette of a court, and thesplendour of a diadem!"What very ill-breeding on the part of "nature"—but then, we presume, she is such a stranger at courts! Was there no Gold Stick in Waiting to show the baggage to the door?
The excessively loyal man has the ugliest manner of paying a compliment. He evidently takes his king or queen as a carved log dropped from the skies, or he would not marvel as he does when the aforesaid image shows any touch of life or human sympathy. If his idol perform the commonest act of social courtesy, he roars—"what condescension!" If it display the influence of affections,he screams—"a miracle!" Her Majesty, on her arrival at Windsor from Scotland, has her babies immediately brought to her: whereupon, saysThe Atlas—"The woman and the motherfor a momentproclaimed the supremacy of nature over the etiquette of a court, and thesplendour of a diadem!"
What very ill-breeding on the part of "nature"—but then, we presume, she is such a stranger at courts! Was there no Gold Stick in Waiting to show the baggage to the door?
The same offender is brought to book in the following issue for deprecating royal excursions by railway:—
The Atlasthus sermonizes upon Royalty "by the rail":—"We are aware that every precaution is taken by the directors and managers of the Great Western Railway, when Her Majesty makes use of a special train, and we are not less acquainted with the courage and absence of all fear from the mind of the Queen. But a long regency in this country would be so fearful and tremendous an evil, that we cannot but desire, in common with many others, that these royal railway excursions should be, if possible, either wholly abandoned or only occasionally resorted to."There is danger by the railway; and therefore, saysThe Atlas, the Queen should be only "occasionally" exposed to it. Say the chances against accident are as nineteen to twenty, shall the Queen "take a chance"? "Yes," says loyalty, "the Queen mayoccasionallytake a chance!"
The Atlasthus sermonizes upon Royalty "by the rail":—
"We are aware that every precaution is taken by the directors and managers of the Great Western Railway, when Her Majesty makes use of a special train, and we are not less acquainted with the courage and absence of all fear from the mind of the Queen. But a long regency in this country would be so fearful and tremendous an evil, that we cannot but desire, in common with many others, that these royal railway excursions should be, if possible, either wholly abandoned or only occasionally resorted to."
There is danger by the railway; and therefore, saysThe Atlas, the Queen should be only "occasionally" exposed to it. Say the chances against accident are as nineteen to twenty, shall the Queen "take a chance"? "Yes," says loyalty, "the Queen mayoccasionallytake a chance!"
Punch, as the accompanying cartoon shows, refused to take a serious view of railways where Royalty was concerned, and went to the length of maliciously insinuating that Prince Albert, wearying of his rose-leaf fetters, had been indulging in a "flutter" on the Stock Exchange.
Syncophancy Rebuked
Criticism of the Court on the one hand and obsequious toadyism on the other were much more pronounced eighty years ago. The later vice is well rebuked in the fictitious Royal Proclamation issued in connexion with the Queen's visit to Scotland in the autumn of 1844. It will be noticed that here, as on so many occasions,Punchadopted the device of assuming that the exalted personages adulated resented the adulation:—
Her Majesty has just issued a Proclamation, of whichPunchhas been favoured with an early copy.WHEREAS, on each and every of Our Royal Movements, it has been, and is the custom of sundry weakly-disposed persons known as "our own correspondents," "our private correspondents," and others, to write, and cause to be printed, absurd and foolish language, touching Ourself, Our Royal Consort, and Beloved Babies—it is Our Will and Pleasure that such foolish practices (tending as they really do to bring Royalty into contempt) shall be discontinued; and that from henceforth, all vain, silly, and sycophantic verbiage shall cease, and good, straightforward, simple English be used in all descriptions of all progresses made by Ourself, our Royal Consort, and Our Dearly Beloved Children. And FURTHERMORE, it shall be permitted to Our Royal Self to wear a white shawl, or a black shawl, without any idle talk being passed upon the same. AND FURTHER, Our Beloved Consort shall, whenever it shall so please him, "change his round hat for a naval cap with a gold band," without calling for the special notice of the Newspapers, AND FURTHER, That Our Beloved Child, the Princess Royal, shall be permitted to walk "hand in hand" with her Royal Father, without exciting such marked demonstrations of wonderment at the familiarity, as have been made known to Me by the public Press.BE IT KNOWN, That the Queen of England is not the Grand Lama; and FURTHER BE IT REMEMBERED that Englishmen should not emulate the vain idolatry of speech familiar in the mouths of Eastern bondmen.VICTORIA REGINA.Given at Blair Athol,September 16, 1844.
Her Majesty has just issued a Proclamation, of whichPunchhas been favoured with an early copy.
WHEREAS, on each and every of Our Royal Movements, it has been, and is the custom of sundry weakly-disposed persons known as "our own correspondents," "our private correspondents," and others, to write, and cause to be printed, absurd and foolish language, touching Ourself, Our Royal Consort, and Beloved Babies—it is Our Will and Pleasure that such foolish practices (tending as they really do to bring Royalty into contempt) shall be discontinued; and that from henceforth, all vain, silly, and sycophantic verbiage shall cease, and good, straightforward, simple English be used in all descriptions of all progresses made by Ourself, our Royal Consort, and Our Dearly Beloved Children. And FURTHERMORE, it shall be permitted to Our Royal Self to wear a white shawl, or a black shawl, without any idle talk being passed upon the same. AND FURTHER, Our Beloved Consort shall, whenever it shall so please him, "change his round hat for a naval cap with a gold band," without calling for the special notice of the Newspapers, AND FURTHER, That Our Beloved Child, the Princess Royal, shall be permitted to walk "hand in hand" with her Royal Father, without exciting such marked demonstrations of wonderment at the familiarity, as have been made known to Me by the public Press.
BE IT KNOWN, That the Queen of England is not the Grand Lama; and FURTHER BE IT REMEMBERED that Englishmen should not emulate the vain idolatry of speech familiar in the mouths of Eastern bondmen.
VICTORIA REGINA.
Given at Blair Athol,
September 16, 1844.
In this context should be noted the constant criticisms of theCourt Circular—the ironical suggestions that it should be published in French or Italian,[13]and the castigation, under the heading "Genteel Christianity," of the announcement of the confirmation of the "juvenile nobility and gentry" by the Bishop of London in the Chapel Royal, St. James's.
Five years later we come across a truly delightful suggestion, prompted by the vacancy in the Laureateship, for the employment of the new occupant of the post:—
... The chief difficulty we see about the office, is the fact of there being nothing to do in it. The virtues of our Queen areof too matter-of-fact a sort, and of too everyday occurrence, to be the subject of mere holiday odes, or, indeed, of fiction in any shape. If any duties are to be attached to the Laureateship, we would propose that they should consist of the task of giving a poetical turn to that otherwise very dull and uninteresting affair, theCourt Circular, which fills the somewhat contemptible duty of Paul Pry in constant attendance on what ought to be the domestic privacy of royalty. As an illustration of what we mean, we give the following specimen:—
... The chief difficulty we see about the office, is the fact of there being nothing to do in it. The virtues of our Queen areof too matter-of-fact a sort, and of too everyday occurrence, to be the subject of mere holiday odes, or, indeed, of fiction in any shape. If any duties are to be attached to the Laureateship, we would propose that they should consist of the task of giving a poetical turn to that otherwise very dull and uninteresting affair, theCourt Circular, which fills the somewhat contemptible duty of Paul Pry in constant attendance on what ought to be the domestic privacy of royalty. As an illustration of what we mean, we give the following specimen:—
This morning at an early hour,In Osborne's peaceful grounds,The Queen and Prince—'spite of a shower—Took their accustomed rounds.With them, to bear them company,Prince Leiningen he went,And with the other royal three,The Duchess, eke, of Kent.His Royal Highness Prince of WalesWent forth to take the air;The Princess Royal, too, ne'er failsHis exercise to share.On the young members of the flockWas tenderest care bestowed,For two long hours by the clockThey walked—they ran—they rode.Calmly away the hours wearIn Osborne's tranquil shade,And to the dinner-party thereWas no addition made.Judge-Advocate Sir D. DundasHaving returned to town,The Royal family circle hasSettled serenely down.
This morning at an early hour,In Osborne's peaceful grounds,The Queen and Prince—'spite of a shower—Took their accustomed rounds.With them, to bear them company,Prince Leiningen he went,And with the other royal three,The Duchess, eke, of Kent.
This morning at an early hour,
In Osborne's peaceful grounds,
The Queen and Prince—'spite of a shower—
Took their accustomed rounds.
With them, to bear them company,
Prince Leiningen he went,
And with the other royal three,
The Duchess, eke, of Kent.
His Royal Highness Prince of WalesWent forth to take the air;The Princess Royal, too, ne'er failsHis exercise to share.On the young members of the flockWas tenderest care bestowed,For two long hours by the clockThey walked—they ran—they rode.
His Royal Highness Prince of Wales
Went forth to take the air;
The Princess Royal, too, ne'er fails
His exercise to share.
On the young members of the flock
Was tenderest care bestowed,
For two long hours by the clock
They walked—they ran—they rode.
Calmly away the hours wearIn Osborne's tranquil shade,And to the dinner-party thereWas no addition made.Judge-Advocate Sir D. DundasHaving returned to town,The Royal family circle hasSettled serenely down.
Calmly away the hours wear
In Osborne's tranquil shade,
And to the dinner-party there
Was no addition made.
Judge-Advocate Sir D. Dundas
Having returned to town,
The Royal family circle has
Settled serenely down.
It is not too much to assume thatPunch'sridicule assisted in eliminating some, at least, of these excrescences on the official record of life at Court.
We may pass over the chaff of Prince Albert as a farmer, and of his prize pigs and oxen. The bestowal of the D.C.L. degree at Cambridge in October, 1843, is treated with acidulatedsatire, and in his imaginary speech in dog-latin the Prince presents the University with a new academic cap (novus pileus academicus) of his own designing. A month later the Prince's gratuitous distribution, through the clergy, of Professor Buckland's pamphlet on the treatment of the potato—on the eve of the Irish famine—is described as a mockery to hungry people, "but then Princes are such wags," addsPunch. The much-canvassed appointment of the Prince as Chancellor of Cambridge University in 1847 led to sardonic comment:—
Nothing in England has been thought too good for the members of this happy family; but really it is rather too humiliating when we begin to express our doubts whether we can find anything, among the most venerable of our institutions, good enough to place at the feet of a Prince of Saxe-Gotha.
Nothing in England has been thought too good for the members of this happy family; but really it is rather too humiliating when we begin to express our doubts whether we can find anything, among the most venerable of our institutions, good enough to place at the feet of a Prince of Saxe-Gotha.
The Prince of Bricklayers
But though the compliment is left-handed, there are symptoms of a friendlier tone in the parallel between Prince Hal (Henry V) and Prince "Al."Punch, furthermore, congratulates the Prince on giving up the hat-business, interesting himself in the welfare of the working classes, and contributing by his speeches and subscriptions to the advancement of social reform. A year later he is saluted as the Prince of Bricklayers:—
His Royal Highness is now always laying the foundation stone of some charitable institution or other.... The services of Her Majesty's Consort ought to be duly requited, andPunch, in order to reward him in kind, hereby spreads the mortar of approbation with the trowel of sincerity, upon a Prince who really appears to be coming out like a regular brick.
His Royal Highness is now always laying the foundation stone of some charitable institution or other.... The services of Her Majesty's Consort ought to be duly requited, andPunch, in order to reward him in kind, hereby spreads the mortar of approbation with the trowel of sincerity, upon a Prince who really appears to be coming out like a regular brick.
But, as we have noted elsewhere, it was the Exhibition of 1851 which, more than anything else, tended to enhance the Prince's repute and popularity. It was a great and fruitful idea—and the Prince was its only begetter. The speech of the Prince Consort in explaining the significance of the Exhibition as the realizing of the solidarity of the world, Thackeray's May Day Ode, which appeared inThe Times, and other utterances in the Press show, as Professor Bury points out inThe Idea of Progress, that "the Exhibition was,at the time, optimistically regarded not merely as a record of material achievement and technical progress, but as a demonstration that humanity was at last on its way to a better and happier state.... A vista was suggested, at the end of which far-sighted people might think they discerned Tennyson's 'Federation of the World.'"Punchnever failed to give the Prince the credit of initiating the scheme, and, after a little wavering, gave it his enthusiastic support. The change in public opinion towards the Prince is well reflected in the frank but friendly palinode which appeared in the issue of November 26, 1853, as a result of the suggestion made by City magnates to erect a statue to the Prince in Hyde Park:—
PRINCEPUNCHTO PRINCE ALBERT
Illustrious and excellent brother,Don't consider me rude or unkind,If, as from one Prince to another,I give you a bit of my mind—And I do so with all the more roundness,As your conduct amongst us has shownA propriety, judgment and soundnessOf taste, not surpassed by my own.You've respected John Bull's little oddities,Never trod on the old fellow's corns;Chose his pictures and statues—commoditiesWherein his own blunders he mourns.And if you're a leetle more GermanIn these than I'd have you—what is'tBeyond what a critic may term anEducational bias or twist?
Illustrious and excellent brother,Don't consider me rude or unkind,If, as from one Prince to another,I give you a bit of my mind—And I do so with all the more roundness,As your conduct amongst us has shownA propriety, judgment and soundnessOf taste, not surpassed by my own.
Illustrious and excellent brother,
Don't consider me rude or unkind,
If, as from one Prince to another,
I give you a bit of my mind—
And I do so with all the more roundness,
As your conduct amongst us has shown
A propriety, judgment and soundness
Of taste, not surpassed by my own.
You've respected John Bull's little oddities,Never trod on the old fellow's corns;Chose his pictures and statues—commoditiesWherein his own blunders he mourns.And if you're a leetle more GermanIn these than I'd have you—what is'tBeyond what a critic may term anEducational bias or twist?
You've respected John Bull's little oddities,
Never trod on the old fellow's corns;
Chose his pictures and statues—commodities
Wherein his own blunders he mourns.
And if you're a leetle more German
In these than I'd have you—what is't
Beyond what a critic may term an
Educational bias or twist?
You have never pressed forward unbidden;When called on you've never shown shame,Not paraded, nor prudishly hiddenYour person, your purse, or your name;You've lent no man occasion to call youIntruder, intriguer, or fool;Even I've not had often to haul youO'er the coals, or to take you to school.All this, my dear Prince, gives me boldness—Which,au reste, our positions allow—For a hint (which you'll not charge to coldness,After all I have written just now):Which is to put down certain flunkies,Who by flatt'ry your favour would earn,Pelting praise at your head, as at monkeysTars throw stones—to get nuts in return.
You have never pressed forward unbidden;When called on you've never shown shame,Not paraded, nor prudishly hiddenYour person, your purse, or your name;You've lent no man occasion to call youIntruder, intriguer, or fool;Even I've not had often to haul youO'er the coals, or to take you to school.
You have never pressed forward unbidden;
When called on you've never shown shame,
Not paraded, nor prudishly hidden
Your person, your purse, or your name;
You've lent no man occasion to call you
Intruder, intriguer, or fool;
Even I've not had often to haul you
O'er the coals, or to take you to school.
All this, my dear Prince, gives me boldness—Which,au reste, our positions allow—For a hint (which you'll not charge to coldness,After all I have written just now):Which is to put down certain flunkies,Who by flatt'ry your favour would earn,Pelting praise at your head, as at monkeysTars throw stones—to get nuts in return.
All this, my dear Prince, gives me boldness—
Which,au reste, our positions allow—
For a hint (which you'll not charge to coldness,
After all I have written just now):
Which is to put down certain flunkies,
Who by flatt'ry your favour would earn,
Pelting praise at your head, as at monkeys
Tars throw stones—to get nuts in return.
Then silence your civic applauders,Lest better men cease from applause.He who tribute accepts of marauders,Is held to be pledged to their cause.Let no Corporate magnates of LondonAn honour presume to award:Their own needs, till ill-doings be undone,Little honour to spare can afford!
Then silence your civic applauders,Lest better men cease from applause.He who tribute accepts of marauders,Is held to be pledged to their cause.Let no Corporate magnates of LondonAn honour presume to award:Their own needs, till ill-doings be undone,Little honour to spare can afford!
Then silence your civic applauders,
Lest better men cease from applause.
He who tribute accepts of marauders,
Is held to be pledged to their cause.
Let no Corporate magnates of London
An honour presume to award:
Their own needs, till ill-doings be undone,
Little honour to spare can afford!
Prince Punch to Prince Albert
A little later on, on the eve of the Crimean War,Punchwas evidently impressed by the alleged interference of the Prince in high affairs of State. The cartoon of January 7, 1854, represents the Prince skating on thin ice marked "Foreign Affairs—Very Dangerous," andMr. Punchshouting to him; and in the same issue the lines "Hint and Hypothesis" warn the Prince against shifting his tactics and adopting therôleof an intriguer. These rumours were so persistent that Lord Aberdeen felt it necessary to allude to them in the House of Lords at the opening of the Session, declaring that not only was there no foundation for the charge that the Prince had interfered with the Army or the Horse Guards, but that he had declined the suggestion of the Duke of Wellington that he should succeed him as Commander-in-Chief. His interest in the Army was naturally keen, but it was general. That he was the adviser of the Queen, in his capacity of husband and most intimate companion was beyond all doubt, but Lord Aberdeen vigorously maintained that he had never uttered a single Syllable in the Council which had not tended to the honour, the interest, and the welfare of the country. Still suspicion was not wholly appeased, andPunch'sreferences to the Prince duringthe Crimean War were none too friendly. In 1855 he is credited with the intention of heroically resigning his Field Marshal's bâton and pay, as a "noble beginning of Military Reform," in response to the public cry for the dismissal of "incompetent nobility." And at the end of the year his desire to go to the Crimea is made the subject of ironic remonstrance. As a matter of fact, the reader of to-day must be told, the intention and the desire were both inventions ofPunch, who was playing his favourite game of attributing to exalted personages resolves and actions which they never contemplated, but which he wanted them to make or take, and which if they had taken, he would probably have criticized as unnecessary and injudicious. Even more malicious was the picture ofPunchregarding a portrait of the Prince, exhibited in the Academy of 1857, in Field Marshal's uniform, and saying to himself, "What sanguinary engagement can it be?"Punchcannot be acquitted of treating the Prince Consort—as he only now began to be generally called—with less than justice in view of the difficult and delicate position he occupied. The impression was given that the Prince wanted to meddle in the conduct of the War, and that it was necessary to prevent him from making himself a nuisance by going to the front. And mixed with this was the impression, which these cartoons and comments prompted, that the Prince was making a request which he knew would be refused; that, in short, he was at once vain-glorious, insincere, and self-protective. It was not the first timePunchhad been unjust to the Prince: he had failed to recognize him as a powerful ally in the campaign against duelling in 1843. In the main, however, it may be urged that ridicule gave place to criticism in the latter years of the Prince's life; but the revulsion of feeling inPunch—and the public—did not set in until after his death. Like Peel, the Prince Consort had to die before his services to the country were recognized.
Queen surrounded by mythical creatures,THE GRASSHOPPERS' FEAST: A PROPHETIC VISION.Queen Butterfly received by Lord Grasshopper—Monday, October 28, 1844.
THE GRASSHOPPERS' FEAST: A PROPHETIC VISION.Queen Butterfly received by Lord Grasshopper—Monday, October 28, 1844.
As the Prince Consort was, often without just grounds, the chief cause of the unpopularity of the Court and the favourite target of satire, we have given him priority in this survey. But, quite apart from the influence which he exerted, or was supposed to exert, upon her, the Queen was by no means exempt fromdirect censure, remonstrance, and exceedingly frank criticism. In one respect, however, the Queen was treated with invariable consideration. Even in his most democratic daysPunchnever caricatured the Sovereign. The portraits of the Queen are always pleasant, even flattering. Witness the delightful picture of her visit to the City in 1844. ThoughPunch'spen was sharp his pencil was kind, though at times extremely familiar, as in the prophetic cartoon published under the heading, "A Royal Nursery Rhyme for 1860[14]":—
There was a Royal Lady who lived in a shoe,She had so many children she didn't know what to do.
There was a Royal Lady who lived in a shoe,She had so many children she didn't know what to do.
There was a Royal Lady who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do.
As early as the Christmas number of 1842Punchhad given "the arrangements for the next ten years of the Royal family," with the names and titles of eleven princes and princesses! In the spring of 1843 he comments, with mock sympathy, on the Queen's liability to income tax. More serious is the charge, brought in his favourite oblique fashion, against the Queen for the neglect of her duties.—
TREASONOUS ATTACK ON HER MAJESTYPunchhas been greatly shocked by a very treasonable letter in the columns ofThe Times. WhetherPunch'sfriend, the Attorney General, has had the epistle handed over to him, and contemplates immediate proceedings against "C. H.," the traitorous writer,Punchknows not; but after this information, the distinguished law-officer cannot plead ignorance of the evil, as an apology for future supineness. The letter purports to be a remonstrance to our sovereign lady, the Queen; in a measure, accusing Her Gracious Majesty of a certain degree of indifference towards the interests of London trade, of literature, the arts and sciences. The rebel writes as follows:—"Buckingham Palace is neither so agreeable nor salubrious a residence as Windsor, but neither is the crown so pleasant to wear as a bonnet. I trust it is not necessary to remind Queen Victoria that royalty, like property, has itsdutiesas well as itsrights. One of these duties is to reside in the metropolis of the kingdom, the presence of the sovereign in the capital being essential on many occasions. I could enumerate other duties of the sovereign, such, for instance, as conferring fashion on public entertainments thatdeserve to be encouraged by attending such places of amusement, and countenancing science, literature and the arts, by honouring distinguished professors with marks of approbation; in which respect it is much to be regretted there is too much room for those remarks on the remissness of Her Majesty in these respects that are so frequently made in society. When we know how much discontent, engendered by widely spread and deeply-felt distress is expressed by persons not to be numbered among 'the lower classes,' it is not without alarm that the influence of these acts of omission on the part of Queen Victoria can be regarded; and it becomes the duty of every friend of the monarchy and the constitution to warn the Sovereign of the danger, not merely to her personal popularity, but to the feeling of loyalty to the throne, that is likely to accrue from such neglect."
TREASONOUS ATTACK ON HER MAJESTY
Punchhas been greatly shocked by a very treasonable letter in the columns ofThe Times. WhetherPunch'sfriend, the Attorney General, has had the epistle handed over to him, and contemplates immediate proceedings against "C. H.," the traitorous writer,Punchknows not; but after this information, the distinguished law-officer cannot plead ignorance of the evil, as an apology for future supineness. The letter purports to be a remonstrance to our sovereign lady, the Queen; in a measure, accusing Her Gracious Majesty of a certain degree of indifference towards the interests of London trade, of literature, the arts and sciences. The rebel writes as follows:—
"Buckingham Palace is neither so agreeable nor salubrious a residence as Windsor, but neither is the crown so pleasant to wear as a bonnet. I trust it is not necessary to remind Queen Victoria that royalty, like property, has itsdutiesas well as itsrights. One of these duties is to reside in the metropolis of the kingdom, the presence of the sovereign in the capital being essential on many occasions. I could enumerate other duties of the sovereign, such, for instance, as conferring fashion on public entertainments thatdeserve to be encouraged by attending such places of amusement, and countenancing science, literature and the arts, by honouring distinguished professors with marks of approbation; in which respect it is much to be regretted there is too much room for those remarks on the remissness of Her Majesty in these respects that are so frequently made in society. When we know how much discontent, engendered by widely spread and deeply-felt distress is expressed by persons not to be numbered among 'the lower classes,' it is not without alarm that the influence of these acts of omission on the part of Queen Victoria can be regarded; and it becomes the duty of every friend of the monarchy and the constitution to warn the Sovereign of the danger, not merely to her personal popularity, but to the feeling of loyalty to the throne, that is likely to accrue from such neglect."
In these years, and for a good many years to come,Punchhunted in couples withThe Times.
Neglect of Native Talent
The neglect of native talent and the encouragement of foreign artists, musicians, men of letters, is harped upon in number after number for year after year. Here again the method is sometimes direct, sometimes oblique, as in the fictitious list of people invited to the Court: Dickens, Hood, Mrs. Somerville, and Maria Edgeworth. Another opportunity was when it was announced that the Danish Royal family had attended the funeral of Thorwaldsen in deep mourning,Punchexclaims, "imagine for a moment English Royalty in deep mourning for departed genius!" The often-repeated visits of "General Tom Thumb" to Court in 1844 made him very angry. At the second "command" performance the General "personated Napoleon amid great mirth, and this was followed by a representation of Grecian statues, after which he danced a nautical hornpipe, and sang several of his favourite songs" in the presence, asPunchnotes, of the Queen of the Belgians, daughter of Louis Philippe. ButPunchhad his revenge on this curious and deep-rooted interest of Royalty in dwarfs—Queen Isabella of Spain had one permanently attached to her staff—by indulging in a delightful speculation on the happy results that would have ensued if George IV, like General Tom Thumb, had stopped growing at the age of five months:—
How much we should have been spared had George IV only weighed 15 lbs. and stopped at 25 inches! How much would have been saved merely in tailors' bills, and how many pavilions for his dwarf majesty might have been built at a hundredth part of the cost that was swallowed by the royal folly at Brighton!
How much we should have been spared had George IV only weighed 15 lbs. and stopped at 25 inches! How much would have been saved merely in tailors' bills, and how many pavilions for his dwarf majesty might have been built at a hundredth part of the cost that was swallowed by the royal folly at Brighton!
The Georges, it may be remarked, were no favourites ofPunch, nor was this to be wondered at when one recalls their treatment at the hands of Thackeray, the least democratic member of the staff.Punchconsidered that Brummell was a better man than his "fat friend," and consigned the latter to infamy in the following caustic epitaph, one of a series on the Four Georges:—
GEORGIUS ULTIMUS
He left an example for age and for youthTo avoid.He never acted well by Man or Woman,And was as false to his Mistress as to his Wife.He deserted his Friends and his Principles.He was so ignorant that he could scarcely spell;But he had some skill in cutting out Coats,And an undeniable Taste for Cookery.He built the Palaces of Brighton and of Buckingham,And for these Qualities and Proofs of Genius,An admiring AristocracyChristened him the "First Gentleman in Europe."Friends, respect the KING whose Statue is here,And the generous Aristocracy who admired him.
He left an example for age and for youthTo avoid.He never acted well by Man or Woman,And was as false to his Mistress as to his Wife.He deserted his Friends and his Principles.He was so ignorant that he could scarcely spell;But he had some skill in cutting out Coats,And an undeniable Taste for Cookery.He built the Palaces of Brighton and of Buckingham,And for these Qualities and Proofs of Genius,An admiring AristocracyChristened him the "First Gentleman in Europe."Friends, respect the KING whose Statue is here,And the generous Aristocracy who admired him.
He left an example for age and for youth
To avoid.
He never acted well by Man or Woman,
And was as false to his Mistress as to his Wife.
He deserted his Friends and his Principles.
He was so ignorant that he could scarcely spell;
But he had some skill in cutting out Coats,
And an undeniable Taste for Cookery.
He built the Palaces of Brighton and of Buckingham,
And for these Qualities and Proofs of Genius,
An admiring Aristocracy
Christened him the "First Gentleman in Europe."
Friends, respect the KING whose Statue is here,
And the generous Aristocracy who admired him.
In the same yearPunch, with malicious inventiveness, represented Queen Victoria in the act of unveiling a great statue to Shakespeare on Shakespeare Cliff, adding as her epitaph: "She rarely went to the Italian Opera and she raised a statue to Shakespeare." In these agilitiesThe Timesagain proved a useful ally, for in the same number we find the following:—
HIGH TREASON
A traitor, who signs himself "Alpha," and writes inThe Times, writes thus:—
"It is no use to conceal the fact—British high artis hated at Court, and dreaded by the aristocracy. They don't want it; they can't afford it; they think any art, which does not cultivate their vanity or domestic affections, can have no earthly use!"We trust that the writer of the above will be immediately committed to the Tower, there, in due season, to be brought to the block.
"It is no use to conceal the fact—British high artis hated at Court, and dreaded by the aristocracy. They don't want it; they can't afford it; they think any art, which does not cultivate their vanity or domestic affections, can have no earthly use!"
We trust that the writer of the above will be immediately committed to the Tower, there, in due season, to be brought to the block.
Overcrowded room full of ladies.TRAINING SCHOOL FOR LADIES ABOUT TO APPEAR AT COURT
TRAINING SCHOOL FOR LADIES ABOUT TO APPEAR AT COURT
It was a letter inThe Timesthat again promptedPunch'sremonstrance, in July, 1845, against the Queen's preference for French milliners, and an historical contrast is rubbed in by the article on the imaginary "Royal Poetry Books," or didactic poems, for the benefit of the Royal infants, of which two specimens may be quoted:—
THE NEW SINGER OF ITALY
There was a new Singer of ItalyWho went through his part very prettily;"Mamma tinks him so fine,We must have him to dine!"Papa remarked slily and wittily.
There was a new Singer of ItalyWho went through his part very prettily;"Mamma tinks him so fine,We must have him to dine!"Papa remarked slily and wittily.
There was a new Singer of Italy
Who went through his part very prettily;
"Mamma tinks him so fine,
We must have him to dine!"
Papa remarked slily and wittily.
THE OLD SINGER OF AVON
There was an old Singer of Avon,Who, Aunty Bess thought, was a brave one;But Mamma doesn't careFor this stupid swan's air,Any more than the croak of a raven.
There was an old Singer of Avon,Who, Aunty Bess thought, was a brave one;But Mamma doesn't careFor this stupid swan's air,Any more than the croak of a raven.
There was an old Singer of Avon,
Who, Aunty Bess thought, was a brave one;
But Mamma doesn't care
For this stupid swan's air,
Any more than the croak of a raven.
Scene from mythology.CALYPSO MOURNING THE DEPARTURE OF ULYSSESCalypso, Q——n V——a; Ulysses, K—g of the F——h.
CALYPSO MOURNING THE DEPARTURE OF ULYSSESCalypso, Q——n V——a; Ulysses, K—g of the F——h.
Royal Visits and Visitors
The Court was certainly not addicted to extravagance, but the Queen's "bal poudré" in June is heavily ridiculed, largely, no doubt, because ofPunch'sfrequently expressed conviction that the British never shone as masqueraders. Cobden's speech in 1848, attacking highly-paid sinecures in the Royal Household, is approved, butPunchwas no advocate of parsimony. The new front of Buckingham Palace is severely criticized in March, 1849: its only beauty is that of hiding the remainder of the building like "a clean front put on to make the best of an indifferent shirt." The "mountainous flunkeydom" at Royallevées is a frequent incentive to ridicule with pen and pencil;Punchis happy in pillorying theMorning Postfor the use of the phrase, "the dense mass of the nobility and gentry" at one of Lady Derby's receptions; while he applauds the Queen for setting a good example by giving early juvenile parties in the season of 1850. Her visits and visitors were carefully scrutinized and freely criticized, beginning with the Royal tour in Belgium and France in the autumn of 1843, when Queen Victoria is represented as mesmerizing Louis Philippe with a Commercial Treaty.Punchwas in frequent hot water with Louis Philippe—whom, by the way, he once represented as Fagin—and the impending visit of the FrenchSovereign, at the close of 1844, led to some plain talk on his folly in proscribing and impoundingPunch, followed up by a burlesque account of his arrival at Portsmouth, with an ironical reference to the omission of all literary men, painters, musicians, sculptors, etc., from the invitations to meet him at Court. When the French King left,Punchburlesqued the situation by representing the Queen as Calypso.Punch, like theSkibbereen Eagle, always kept his eye on the Tsar of Russia—and, indeed, upon all foreign potentates. The Tsar Nicholas stood, to him, for all that was evil in "the King business." His attacks began in 1842 and never ceased in the Tsar's lifetime. The visit to England in the summer of 1844 was the signal for an explosion of bitter hostility. Readers ofPunchare advised to carry every penny of the largess he drops to the Polish Fund. They should be polite, but avoid any approval of his looks or manners. The Tsar's misdeeds and acts of harshness to Poles and Jews are minutely recalled. Queen Victoria is shown in a cartoon offering Poland as a bun to Nicholas the Bear at the Zoo. The Tsar's lavish presents are flouted and condemned. A design for the 500-guinea cup he offered for Ascot is made a hideous memento of savage repression. His subscription to the Polish Ball is compared to the action of Claude Duval fiddling to his victims. The Tsar, in short, was "good for Knout"; and John Bull was being led by the nose with a diamond ring in it. Nor hasPuncha single good word to say for the King of Prussia right from 1842 to 1857. His visit in the former year, "to strengthen the cast of the Prince of Wales's christening," met with anything but a friendly welcome. When he returned in the year 1844,Punchprofoundly distrusted the King's humility when he visited Newgate with Mrs. Fry and knelt and prayed in the female prisoners' ward; and his suspicions were confirmed by his treatment of the refugee Poles, who were handed back to the mercies of Tsar Nicholas. Throughout the entire period the King of Prussia figures as "King Clicquot," from his alleged fondness for the bottle. The King of Hanover comes off even worse. Witness the truly amazing frankness of the comments on his visit in June, 1843:—
TRIUMPHAL RETURN OF THE KING OF HANOVERThe King of Hanover is once more among us. After a painful absence of six years—intensely painful to all parties—the monarch returns to the country of his birth, a country to which he will leave his name, as Wordsworth says of Wallace, "as a flower," odorous and perennial. He arrives here, it is said, to be present at the marriage of his niece, the Princess Augusta, with a German Prince, who is not only to take an English wife, but with her three thousand pounds per annum of English money; of money coined from the sweat of starving thousands; money to gild the shabby Court of Mecklenburg with new splendour. Sir Robert Peel has been, it is said, under a course of steel draughts, and other invigorating medicine, the better to fortify himself in his address to the Commons for the cash. Sir Robert, however, acutely alive to our fallen revenue, is still very nervous. It is reported that, on the evening when the demand upon the patience and the rags of John Bull was made, the Prime Minister blushed "for that night only."Herein is the extreme value of the numberless scions of Royalty with which England is over-blessed. The Duke of Cumberland (we mean the King of Hanover) has £23,000 a year from the sweat of Englishmen. And does not his Highness, or his Kingship, whilst taking a salary, exercise a most salutary effect upon Britons? Does he not practically teach them the beauty of humility—of long suffering—of self-denying charity and benevolence? Why, he is a continual record of the liberality and magnanimity of Englishmen, who, if ever they fall into an excess of admiration for royalty, will owe the enthusiasm to such bright examples as the monarch of Hanover. In the East there are benevolent votaries who build expensive fabrics for the entertainment of the most noisome creatures. Englishmen are above such superstition; and in the very pride and height of their intelligence, allow £23,000 to the King of Hanover.
TRIUMPHAL RETURN OF THE KING OF HANOVER
The King of Hanover is once more among us. After a painful absence of six years—intensely painful to all parties—the monarch returns to the country of his birth, a country to which he will leave his name, as Wordsworth says of Wallace, "as a flower," odorous and perennial. He arrives here, it is said, to be present at the marriage of his niece, the Princess Augusta, with a German Prince, who is not only to take an English wife, but with her three thousand pounds per annum of English money; of money coined from the sweat of starving thousands; money to gild the shabby Court of Mecklenburg with new splendour. Sir Robert Peel has been, it is said, under a course of steel draughts, and other invigorating medicine, the better to fortify himself in his address to the Commons for the cash. Sir Robert, however, acutely alive to our fallen revenue, is still very nervous. It is reported that, on the evening when the demand upon the patience and the rags of John Bull was made, the Prime Minister blushed "for that night only."
Herein is the extreme value of the numberless scions of Royalty with which England is over-blessed. The Duke of Cumberland (we mean the King of Hanover) has £23,000 a year from the sweat of Englishmen. And does not his Highness, or his Kingship, whilst taking a salary, exercise a most salutary effect upon Britons? Does he not practically teach them the beauty of humility—of long suffering—of self-denying charity and benevolence? Why, he is a continual record of the liberality and magnanimity of Englishmen, who, if ever they fall into an excess of admiration for royalty, will owe the enthusiasm to such bright examples as the monarch of Hanover. In the East there are benevolent votaries who build expensive fabrics for the entertainment of the most noisome creatures. Englishmen are above such superstition; and in the very pride and height of their intelligence, allow £23,000 to the King of Hanover.
The wedding of the Princess Augusta, daughter of the Duke of Cambridge, to the Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was the occasion of a wonderful explosion in theMorning Post:—
Royal ParasitesJenkins was present at the ceremony. He was somehow smuggled into the Royal Chapel, and stood hidden in a corner, hidden by a hugebouquet, quite another Cupid among the roses. Let us, however, proceed to give the "feelings" of Jenkins, merelypremising that we should very much like to see Jenkins, when he feels "proud, elated and deeply moved." He says:"We felt alternately proud, elated, and deeply moved during the ceremony asin turnwe cast a glance at the illustrious witnesses to the solemnity. There was our gracious Queen, beaming with youth and beauty,through which is ever discernible the eagle glanceand the imposing air of command so well suited to her high station. Next to the Queen, the Royal Consort,one of the handsomest Princes of the age, in whom the spirit of youth is so remarkably tempered by thejudgment and wisdom of age. The Queen Adelaide, living model of every Virtue which can adorn a Woman either in private life or on a throne."So far theMorning Post. What says (perhaps?) an equal authority,The Times?"The Queen Dowager was prevented from being present at the Ceremony in consequence of indisposition."
Royal Parasites
Jenkins was present at the ceremony. He was somehow smuggled into the Royal Chapel, and stood hidden in a corner, hidden by a hugebouquet, quite another Cupid among the roses. Let us, however, proceed to give the "feelings" of Jenkins, merelypremising that we should very much like to see Jenkins, when he feels "proud, elated and deeply moved." He says:
"We felt alternately proud, elated, and deeply moved during the ceremony asin turnwe cast a glance at the illustrious witnesses to the solemnity. There was our gracious Queen, beaming with youth and beauty,through which is ever discernible the eagle glanceand the imposing air of command so well suited to her high station. Next to the Queen, the Royal Consort,one of the handsomest Princes of the age, in whom the spirit of youth is so remarkably tempered by thejudgment and wisdom of age. The Queen Adelaide, living model of every Virtue which can adorn a Woman either in private life or on a throne."
So far theMorning Post. What says (perhaps?) an equal authority,The Times?
"The Queen Dowager was prevented from being present at the Ceremony in consequence of indisposition."
The old Duke Adolphus Frederick of Cambridge was another target of never-ending ridicule. He was a great diner-out, and his fatuous after-dinner speeches are cruelly parodied. He was also "the Duke who thinks aloud," whether at the play or at the Chapel Royal:—
A few Sundays ago, the Minister and the Duke proceeded as follows:Minister.From all evil and mischief; from sin, from the crafts of the devil——(Duke.To be sure; very proper—very proper.)Minister.From all sedition, conspiracy, and rebellion——(Duke.Certainly; very right—very right.)And thus Parson and Duke proceeded together almost to the end. However, the worthy clergyman had to offer a prayer for the sick. Proceeding in this pious task, he thus commenced:Minister.The prayers of this congregation are earnestly desired for——(Duke.No objection—no objection!)
A few Sundays ago, the Minister and the Duke proceeded as follows:
Minister.From all evil and mischief; from sin, from the crafts of the devil——
(Duke.To be sure; very proper—very proper.)
Minister.From all sedition, conspiracy, and rebellion——
(Duke.Certainly; very right—very right.)
And thus Parson and Duke proceeded together almost to the end. However, the worthy clergyman had to offer a prayer for the sick. Proceeding in this pious task, he thus commenced:
Minister.The prayers of this congregation are earnestly desired for——
(Duke.No objection—no objection!)