January 10, 1812. A Portrait: Duke of Cumberland. Published by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street.—The Duke, with his spyglass, dressed in a blue coat with red facings (Windsor uniform); in the background is shown Kew Gardens, with the Pagoda House. The drawing from which this print was etched is entitled Blood Royal.

January 10, 1812. A Portrait: Lord Petersham. Published by H. Humphrey, 27 St James's Street.—St. James's Palace at the back of the subject.

January 10, 1812. Wet under Foot. Designed by an amateur. Published by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street.—This small sketch represents a pouring wet day; a lady on pattens, holding an umbrella over her head, is endeavouring to pass the gutter without injury to her stockings. The point of view is supposed to be taken from the junction of Petticoat Lane with Smock Alley. Scavengers are shovelling mud into their carts; and the general downpour is further aggravated by denizens of the upper floors, who are discharging vessels over the soaked and dripping passengers below.

February 26, 1812. A Portrait: Lord Pomfret. Published by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street.

February 28, 1812. Plucking a Spooney.—A promising young 'spooney,' according to the artist's view, is entering on life's dangers—represented pictorially in three subjects which are hanging over the head of the victim: 'the fair sex—drinking—and gaming,' being the evils set down to avoid. The novice is evidently well advanced on the downward route, and has fallen among experienced professors of the plucking process. A gaily-dressed lady by his side, a 'decoy duck,' of captivating exterior, is beguiling the senses of the self-satisfied dupe with various familiarities; while a smug stout person, dressed like a parson, is discreetly keeping up the spirit of the affair by filling the glasses and manufacturing fresh supplies of punch, which the 'spooney' is imbibing freely and without regard to the consequences. A pile of gold and notes has been laid on the table by this very innocent pigeon, and opposite to him sits the crafty and accomplished 'rook'—a captain, from his 'keeping'—who, by a skilful manipulation of the cards, assisted by the carelessness of the simple young rouÉ, bids fair to succeed in leaving the pigeon 'without a feather to fly with;' the plunder to be apportioned amongst the hopeful triumvirate in whose company the youth has the misfortune to find himself.

March 1, 1812. Catching an Elephant. Published by T. Tegg (146).—Two attractive and winsome damsels, standing outside a portal labelled 'Warm Baths,' have just succeeded in capturing an elderly colossus of a man, whose bulk should fairly entitle him to take his place amongst elephantine monsters; the expression of his senile features is designed to carry out the resemblance.

March, 1812. Description of a Boxing Match between Ward and Quirk for 100 Guineas a side. Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.

March 2, 1812. Spanish Cloak. Rowlandson del. Published by T. Tegg (39).—A superior officer, going his midnight rounds of the sentries posted on a line of fortifications, is amused at discovering the phenomenon of two pairs of legs below one cloak. A trooper has taken advantage of his ample garment to smuggle in a fair companion to share his vigils. The lady seems to enjoy her situation.

March 20, 1812. Fast Day. Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.—Four learned Doctors, dressed in their clerical vestments, are keeping in their own fashion a day set apart by the Church for general mortification. The portly four are seated at a well-furnished board, and trains of servants are, with respectful attention, bringing in fresh supplies—poultry, dainty meats, and other delicacies. The well-stocked collegiate cellars have been laid under contribution; bottles of choice vintage are standing in wine-coolers and in promising rows on the floor, beside a liberal jorum of punch in a Bowl for a Bishop. The nature of the private meditations of these epicurean worthies is thus made manifest, while the order of the repast is further set forth in a lengthy bill of fare irreverently written on a New Form of Prayer for the Fast Day, by way of menu. The walls are suggestively hung with Lists of the Great Tithes and such congenial paintings as A Bench of Bishops, represented regaling at a roystering banquet, Susannah and the Elders, Brasenose College, &c.

March 25, 1812. Sea Stores.—A bevy of females consisting of a negress and other beauties from the purlieus of the port, 'waiting for Jack,' are sportively accosted by a dapper young midshipman who has been sent on shore to procure supplies for his ship, which is lying off. (Companion print to Land Stores.)

March, 1812. Land Stores.—A dark beauty, of colossal proportions, is embraced by an officer whose figure is dwarfed by comparison with the monster negress. A placard posted on the walls of the fortification, where these extraordinary Land Stores are supposed to be lodged, announces 'Voluntary subscription for a soldier's widow; the smallest donations will be gratefully received,' &c.

April 2, 1812. The Chamber of Genius. Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street.

The apartment of an enthusiastic genius, whose ambitions seem to have taken various forms of expression. Music, painting, sculpture, literature, chemistry, and other arts and sciences seem to have occupied his attention by turns, and instruments suggestive of the respective pursuits are muddled up with domestic details incidental to the confinement of a wife and family to one solitary chamber, together with the utensils of cookery, besides the food itself. The genius has left his rest under the impulse of an inspiration; he has an old nightcap worn over his wig, and is still in his night-shirt, with down-at-heel slipper on one foot, and a ragged stocking on the other. He is seated, in an attitude expressive of sudden exaltation before an easel which bears the canvas he is filling out with rapid energy; his left hand grasps a pen, and a black cat in demanding attention has fixed her claws in his unclad limbs; but the artist is so absorbed in his subject as to be unconscious of pain; miscellaneous litter, a bust, a palette, and a sheaf of brushes, paint-pots, a still and furnace, books, scales, syringes, a fiddle, and a post horn are scattered behind the easel. The female companion of this genius is tranquilly sleeping in an easy attitude through all the confusion; on the table by the bedstead (on which her husband's garments are displayed) is a coffee-pot and some suggestions of breakfast; an unclad infant is leaning over the table, and pouring gin into a wineglass. Another semiclad child is seated on a tub before a blazing fire, amusing herself with the bellows, and is in danger from a steaming kettle and a red-hot poker. Food, knives, forks, plates, and a pewter quart-pot are at the artist's feet; he has just kicked over a large porringer of milk, and is heedless of the mischief. Lamps, caudle-boats, strings of candles, and bunches of onions are the decorations of the chimneypiece; ragged clothes and unmended stockings are hanging over a rope stretched across the chamber; on the wall is hung a smart three-cornered hat and a sword by the side of pictures of 'Aerostation' and the portraits of a ballet-dancer and 'Peter Tester.'

Rowlandson has put his own name to the print as the 'inventor;' the satire is very unsparing, and the squalor he has attributed to his professional brother is of the direst and most ludicrous description, but the figure of the painter is marked with vigorous characteristics, and the outline of the face which he has bestowed on his erratic genius, designedly or not, bears a suggestive resemblance to his own strongly-defined features.

April 4, 1812. In the Dog Days. Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.

The representation of an extravagantly corpulent couple, whose rest is apparently fitful; the lines attached to the plate, which is not remarkable for refinement, form its best description.

April 12, 1812. The Ducking Stool. Republished. (See April 12, 1803.)

May 30, 1812. Italian Picture Dealers Humbugging my Lord Anglaise. Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.—'Milord' is a very dandified young sprig of nobility, who is an evident macaroni, with the ambition to shine as a man of taste. A 'foreign nobleman'—that is to say, according to English views at the period—a 'speculative Count,' who is very splendid in exterior, is evidently a confederate of his countryman, the Italian picture dealer, and has accompanied the noble incipient collector as a decoy to puff the wares, and if need be to offer fictitious sums in opposition to 'Milord' and spur his enthusiasm for the fine arts, which are respectably represented around, as far as good names go. A sensuous Magdalen, attributed to Guido, is exciting the admiration of the party and employing the wily dealer's eloquence. Around are supposititious examples of Rubens, Carracci, Titian, Teniers, Salvator Rosa, and other 'undoubted originals,' the major part of which in all probability owe their well-disguised paternity to the versatile 'Van Daub.'

May 30, 1812. A Brace of Blackguards. Published by T. Rowlandson, St. James Street, Adelphi.—It has been mentioned in respect to this eccentric production that the figures of the two gentlemen to whom this dubious compliment is rendered are intended to represent those of Rowlandson, the caricaturist, in the boxing attitude, and his friend George Morland, the painter, seated in the chair.

June 4, 1812. Broad Grins, or a Black Joke. Published by T. Tegg.—A clerical-looking gentleman is thrown into consternation at the interesting condition of a rustic female, who is standing beneath a board announcing 'Man-traps laid in these grounds.' The head of a black footman peering through a hole in the garden-wall indicates the true source of the 'Black Joke.'

July 14, 1812. Miseries of London. Watermen. Oars? Sculls? Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.—Entering upon any of the bridges of London or any of the passages leading to the Thames, being assailed by a group of watermen, holding up their hands and bawling out 'Oars? Sculls, sculls? Oars, oars?'

1812 (?). Racing. Published by T. Tegg (158).

July 14, 1812 (?). Glow Worms. (See 1805.) Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 St. James Street, Adelphi.

July 14, 1812 (?). Muck Worms. (See 1800.)

July 14, 1812 (?). The Rivals.

July 15, 1812. A Seaman's Wife's Reckoning. Published by T. Tegg (275), Woodward delin., Rowlandson sculp.—An old salt, with his dog at his elbow, is seated beside his blooming daughter-in-law, a pretty young mother, dandling a fine infant; the lady is using her eloquence and trying to flatter this obdurate relative into confidence in her story. The experienced mariner is declaring, 'Why, d'ye see, I am an old seaman, and not easily imposed upon. I say that can't be my son Jack's child. Why, he has not been married but three months, and during that time he has been at sea—the thing is impossible! You may as well tell me that my ship Nancy goes nine knots an hour in a dead calm. And now I look again it's the very picture of Peter Wilkins, the soap-boiler.'

The fair object of suspicion is by no means confounded at this logical deduction. 'My dear father-in-law, I'll make it out very easily—Jack has been married to me three months,—very well,—I have been with child three months,—which makes six,—then he has been at sea three months, has not he?—and that just makes up the nine!'

The fortunate husband, who sports a new rig-out—with a bright bandanna round his neck, and his pipe stuck in the band of his hat—is lurching into the apartment with a sea-roll. He is quite satisfied with his wife's arithmetic, and is arguing on the side of his tender partner: 'Father, father, don't be too hard upon Poll; I know something about the logbook myself, and dash me but she has kept her reckoning like a true seaman's wife!'

July 15, 1812. The Secret History of Crim Con. Plate 1. Published by T. Tegg (161).

July 15, 1812. The Secret History of Crim Con. Plate 2. Published by T. Tegg (161).

August 29, 1812. Setting out for Margate. Woodward del., Rowlandson sculp. Published by T. Tegg (166).—A stout citizen, smartly clad, with his wife, whose apparel is still more festive, are setting out upon a holiday excursion. The heads of two geese are hanging over the coat-tails of the cockney traveller: 'Why, my dove, I am loaded with provisions, like a tilt-cart on a fair-day, and my pockets stick out just as if I was just returned from a City feast.' The correct partner of his joys is responding, 'Don't be so wulgar, Mr. Dripping; you are now going among genteel folks, and must behave yourself. We shall want all the wickalls on the woyage, depend upon it. Bless me, how varm it is! I am all over in a muck!' To them enters their foreman: 'An' please you, master and missis, the sailor-man has sent word as how the wessel is ready to swim!'

August 30, 1812. The Sweet Pea. Published by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street.

October 1, 1812. Refinement of Language. Woodward del., Rowlandson sculp. Published by T. Tegg (171).—Six subjects, illustrating the results of the advance of genteel ideas and the introduction of a new-fashioned system of refining on everything. A ragged match-seller is elevated into a 'timber merchant.' A postman becomes a 'man of letters.' A gardener is raised to a 'Master of the Mint.' A Jew hawker, who cries, 'Any old clothes to shell?' is changed to a 'merchant tailor.' A sexton, pressing down the mould on a grave, is translated into 'a banker;' and a poulterer easily becomes a 'Turkey merchant.'

1812. Bitter Fare, or Sweeps Regaling.—As in the preceding caricature the date of this plate has been altered; it was probably published in 1802, and re-issued later, a common occurrence with Rowlandson's prints. Bitter Fare, or Sweeps Regaling, was, it seems likely, designed as a companion to Love and Dust (1792, &c.), and it partakes of the same ragged inspiration. In the hovel tenanted by the somewhat undesirable 'Chummey family' smoke is the prevalent element; the sooty company, sufficiently black and begrimed in their own persons, seem perfectly in their element before a smoking fireplace—as they are reposing luxuriously on sacks of soot. The heads of the family are amiably sharing their enjoyments, drinking beer from a pewter measure, and smoking long clay pipes; the sweeper lads, but for a coat of soot comparatively unclad, are revelling amidst the cinders on the hearth, divided between the congenial relaxations of eating porridge and tormenting an unfortunate cat. Brushes, shovels, and the professional belongings of chimney-sweeping are scattered about; the only article of fancy admitted into the establishment is a blackbird, which is possibly present on the ground that its hue offers a resemblance to the general complexion.

October 12, 1812. Raising the Wind. Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.

Rowlandson's print introduces the nobleman at the precise moment his affairs need 'patching up,' for 'mended' he never can be after he has put himself into the spider-like clutches of plausible Isaac and his 'friend in the City.' The 'little Jew broker' has brought a rich usurer of his tribe, and between them his lordship's career of folly will be swiftly run. All the ready-money is gone, and the racing stud has followed it; but the 'road to ruin' is only just opening up. The spendthrift is a comparative beginner; the next step is raising money on his title deeds, which are undergoing inspection under the vulture-like eye of the scrivener, who, it appears, lends money on good security and traffics in annuities and jointures.

The borrower is evidently accustomed to take life easily, he is putting himself into the claws of the Israelites, and is otherwise 'going to the bad' with perfect good humour and in a sociable frame of mind, not unlike the way of proceeding practised by the heroes of Sheridan's comedies; indeed, there is a great deal of the Charles Surface element in the composition.

The pictures which fill young Hopeful's walls tell his story after the Hogarthian method. There are portraits of the relatives who have left their savings and estates to the present careless holder: Sir Matthew Mite, a miser; Lady Crane; and Sir Peter Plumb—all persons of a 'warm' disposition as to wealth. There is a 'view of the Yorkshire estate;' then there is 'The Prodigal Son,' which may be held to apply to the heir, whose ways of making the money fly are further illustrated by such pictures as a 'Hazard Table,' 'A game fighting-cock,' a racehorse, 'Sancho,' on the course; and a blood mare, 'Diana,' and foal; the breeding and running of racehorses being considered then, as now, among the most expeditious routes to insolvency.

November 30, 1812. Christmas Gambols. Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi.—The festivities represented, which partake of the free and frolicsome description, are taking place in the servants' hall. Full drinking has been the order of the evening; the master's cellar and the servants' heads have both been lightened simultaneously, and the results are displaying themselves under the mistletoe and in horseplay. A footman and a parlour-maid are rolling over one another indiscriminately on the hearthrug amidst the fragments of crockery demolished in their downfall. A sturdy black footman is lifting a fat wench in his arms for a chaste salute. Practical joking is the order of the evening; the fat cook has been toppled back in her armchair, and is vainly flourishing her basting-ladle to drive off her assailant, while her feet are in the air; and the butler, as author of the mischief, is making the best use of his opportunities, while another couple are exchanging kisses with evident goodwill.

1812. The Successful Fortune-hunter (Bath Crescent), or Captain Shelalee leading Miss Marrowfat to the Temple of Hymen.—In the distance are indicated the regular frequenters of Bath, sufferers from gout on crutches, and invalids in wheeled-chairs. A dashing Irish adventurer, one of the bold fortune-hunters—notorieties from the Sister Isle in Rowlandson's day—is leading captive the wealth and person of a somewhat vulgar and stumpy heiress, whose figure is loaded with jewellery fashioned on a scale of oppressive magnitude.

1812. Hackney Assembly. 'The Graces, the Graces, remember the Graces!' From erasures in the date of this plate it seems probable that it was originally issued ten years earlier. As the title indicates, this sketch is a broad burlesque of the deportment displayed by the frequenters of a suburban ball-room. The awkward and ungainly carriage of all the figures is amusingly exaggerated. A master of the ceremonies, the expression of whose features is complicated by a decided squint, is briskly performing the rites of his office and introducing a cobby little gentleman as a partner to an angular and misshapen spinster, who, in consulting the graces, has thrown her Gothic frame into an absurdly constrained and affected posture.

1812. The Learned Scotchman, or Magistrate's Mistake. Woodward del., Rowlandson sculp. Published by T. Tegg (150).—A Scotchman is led before a country justice, charged with drunkenness; the magistrate's wife is seated by the side of her lord, and is much shocked at the learned Caledonian's defence; bowing low, bonnet in hand, the Scot is throwing himself on the clemency of the court: 'I own, your honour, I was a little inebriated, but your worship knows Nemo mortalium omnibus hooris saupit.' 'What's that you say, fellow,' retorts the magistrate, 'about a sawpit?—a very improper place to go with such company. I wonder you are not ashamed to mention such a thing, and before my wife too. But, however, as it is your first offence, I will discharge you this time; but never come here with such a story again!'

1812 (?). Preaching to some Purpose.—An open-air meeting of rustic worshippers. Great astonishment is pictured on the upturned faces of the expectant congregation. The preacher is raised on an extemporised pulpit; he is clad in black, but in the rear of his nether garment appears a formidable rent, which his hand is not sufficiently broad to conceal. He is earnestly addressing his perplexed hearers to the following purpose: 'Dearly beloved, before I begin my discourse, I have three things to inform you of. The first thing I know, and you do not know. The next thing you know, and I do not know,—and the third thing none of us know, viz., in my way here to preach, crossing Farmer Hobson's stile, I tore my breeches,—the extent of the rent I know, and you do not know. Secondly, what you are willing to subscribe to get them repaired you know, and I do not know. And lastly, what Tim Snip, the tailor, will charge for the job, that none of us know!'

1812 (?). New Invented Elastic Breeches. H. Nixon invt., T. Rowlandson sculp.—Two tailors are using considerable manual force trying to pull a customer into a pair of close-spring breeches. The scene is taking place on the premises of the inventor and manufacturer of the patent articles in question.

No date. 1812 (?). A Visit to the Doctor. Woodward del., Rowlandson fecit. Published by T. Tegg.—The consulting-room of a learned physician; an imposing bookcase fills the background. The doctor's man has just shown up a comfortable-looking couple, who have called for the benefit of the physician's advice—the practitioner is one of the old school—full-bottomed wig, powder, and pigtail, a learnedly long-skirted square-cut suit, lace frill and ruffles, huge spectacles, and a professional gold-headed cane held up to the nose; he is standing on the hearthrug, warming his learned back at the fireplace; above the mantelpiece is a bust of Galen. The patients, who are evidently robust country folks, thus set forth their case:—'Do you see, Doctor, my dame and I be come to ax your advice—we both of us eat well, and drink well, and sleep well,—yet still we be somehow queerish!' The Doctor is equal to the emergency and prepared to alter all this promptly. 'You eat well, you drink well, and you sleep well,—very good. You were perfectly right in coming to me, for depend upon it I will give you something that shall do away with all these things!'

1812 (?). Puff Paste.—A fat cook is rolling out pudding paste; around her board are spread codling tarts, apple dumplings, and batter puddings; a footman is embracing her ample shoulders, and familiarly patting her under the chin.

1812. Mock Turtle pictures a pair of elderly suitors cooing over a bowl of mock turtle soup; a pair of real turtledoves, perched on a branch, are introduced to carry out the allusion.

1812. Off She Goes. Rowlandson fecit. Published by T. Tegg.—An elopement unexpectedly accelerated. A rope-ladder has enabled a stout abductor to assist the flight of a somewhat mature and remarkably corpulent lady from the window of her chamber. A rung of the rope-ladder has given way with the weight; at the moment a male relation, nightcap on head, is discovering the flight and throwing a light on the subject with a chamber candle which he is holding out of the bedroom window. The partner of the elopement is an officer; he is precipitated on to his back, and forms a convenient cushion to receive the lady's fall, which is complete and overwhelming. A postchaise, prepared for the flight, is seen in the distance; the postilion is enjoying the spectacle of his employer's downfall; and the moon, peeping over a cloud, is represented with a broad grin on its face at the expense of these disconcerted 'fly-by-nights.'

1812. English Exhibitions in Paris, or French People astonished at our improvements in the Breed of Fat Cattle.

1812. A Cat in Pattens. Rowlandson invt.—Though thoroughly in Rowlandson's characteristic manner the scene is somewhat suggestive of Hogarth's plate of 'Morning,' 'Times of the Day,' in which the portrait of Miss Bridget Allworthy is exhibited, the introduction of whose burlesqued resemblance is said to have cost the painter the loss of a legacy. An old maid whose countenance certainly bears a close resemblance to that of a cat, is shuffling along in the breeze on pattens; she has a boa and an enormous muff; before her trots a French poodle, clipped fantastically to resemble a parody of a lion; behind her shivers a black page, in a tight gaudy uniform; under his arm is his mistress's umbrella, and he holds before him a bundle of cat's meat. A half-naked and ruffianly beggar is trying to excite the benevolence of this shrewish Cat in Pattens.

PETTICOAT LOOSE.

A FRAGMENTARY TALE OF THE CASTLE.

WITH FOUR PLATES ETCHED BY ROWLANDSON.

London: J. J. Stockdale, 41 Pall Mall, Feb. 12, 1812. 4to.

The argument upon which the story is founded is set forth in the following 'advertisement':—

'Dublin Castle. The Adventure of the Under Petticoat at the Castle Drawing Room. "Honi soit qui mal y pense." All the world has been amused with the singular disaster that befel a lady on Thursday night last at the Viceregal Palace, by the loss of her under petticoat, which, from the pressure of the crowd, unfortunately slipped down through the capacious encumbrance of her hoop, and was soon trampled on the floor—though likely to become as renowned as Penelope's web: for the lady to whom it belonged lost by night the comfort and protection that was her security by day. One of the young pages (who are always peeping and bustling on such occasions) first made the discovery. The trophy was soon displayed in order to find out the fair owner; which, however, still remains a secret, except to the person immediately concerned. But, like the shield of Achilles, the little petticoat soon became the subject of admiration and contention.

'At the first impression the master of the ceremonies claimed the prize, as his official perquisite, alleging it was dropped in the Presence Chamber. But the Chamberlain insisted the drawing-room was his champ d'or, and every windfall on such occasions his exclusive property. That as a true knight he must take up the gauntlet thus thrown down by a lady.

'The household troops, particularly the young aides-de-camp, struggled through the crowd to see the cause of such bustle; and having satisfied their curiosity, whispered one another, and, in their usual way, set up a great titter. The chaplain in waiting had his eye upon the petticoat, and said he thought in decorum it ought to be deposited among the new antiquities in Bedford Chapel.

'The Duke, with his usual good humour, liberality, and regard for the fair creation, decided the contest by saying that it should be suspended as a banner round the temple of love and beauty; and that as Edward the Third constituted the Order of the Garter from a similar accident at the British Court, he would solicit the Prince Regent, in the true spirit of chivalry, to establish and become Sovereign of the Order of the Petticoat in Ireland, in commemoration of the pleasant adventure,' &c.

Plate 1. Capture of the Petticoat. February 12, 1812.

Plate 2. Breakfast Room at an Inn. February 12, 1812.

Plate 3. College Green before the Union. February 12, 1812.—A scene of state, bustle, and prosperity.

Plate 4. College Green after the Union. February 12, 1812.—Shabbiness, poverty, and beggary have sole possession of the scene.

VIEWS IN CORNWALL.

April 10, 1812. View of a Farm House at Hengar, Cornwall. Published by T. Rowlandson.

April 12, 1812. Cottage at the Foot of Router Mountain, Cornwall. Published by T. Rowlandson.

1812. Cornwall. An Overlooker.

1812. A Cornish Waterfall.

1812. A Watercourse.

April 12, 1812. View of the River Camel, Cornwall. Published by T. Rowlandson.

1812. Near Helston, Cornwall.

April 12, 1812. Cottage near the Devil's Jump, in the Duchy of Cornwall. Published by T. Rowlandson.

1812. View of the Church and Village of St. Cue, Cornwall. Published by Ackermann.

April 12, 1812. View of Liskeard, Cornwall. Published by T. Rowlandson.

1812. The Lion Rock, Cornwall.

1812. A Cornish Road.

1812. A Hill Side, Cornwall.

1812. A Cornish View.

TOUR OF DOCTOR SYNTAX IN SEARCH OF THE PICTURESQUE.

In 1812 the poem and illustrations of The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque were issued as an independent volume, when the success with which it was received was more decidedly marked than when it first appeared in the Poetical Magazine under the title of The Schoolmaster's Tour. Five editions were issued between 1812 and 1813.

The work was described as The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque. A Poem. With new plates.

The old subjects, it appears, were re-engraved by Rowlandson's hand, with but slight variations from the originals. The outlines are somewhat less bold, and three new subjects are added; one being the frontispiece, which represents the worthy Doctor at his desk, seated in his armchair, in deep cogitation, touching his forehead as the idea of his famous Picturesque Tour suggests itself to his brain. The window of his study is opened, that he may contemplate the exterior prospect at his ease, while a sketch, by his own hand, in India-ink, is displayed before him. Various papers and books are scattered about, with sundry objects which indicate his versatile accomplishments—a fiddle hung on the wall, books of travel, sheets of the Doctor's original treatise—Every Man his own Farrier—with a goodly jar of cherry bounce to rejoice the learned man's spirits.

On the titlepage is engraved a quaint vignette of architectural relics, ruins, a castle, &c., the detached monuments being disposed so as to form the word Picturesque.

The third addition is plate 27, in the body of the Tour, introducing The Doctor's Dream (in his patron's library) of the Battle of the Books, which was not included in the work on its original publication.

This edition is preceded by an Introduction, which in some degree explains the relative positions—as far as the preparation of the work was concerned—of the artist and William Combe, the author, who thus sets the matter before his public: 'The following poem, if it may be allowed to deserve the name, was written under circumstances whose peculiarity may be thought to justify a communication of them. I undertook to give metrical illustrations of the prints with which Mr. Ackermann decorated the Poetical Magazine, a work published by him in monthly numbers, for the reception of original compositions. Many of these engravings were miscellaneous, and those (which were, indeed, the far greater part of them) whose description was submitted to such a muse as mine represented views of interesting objects and beautiful scenery, or were occasional decorations appropriate to the work. Those designs, to which this volume is so greatly indebted, I was informed, would follow in a series, and it was proposed to me to shape out a story from them. An etching, or a drawing, was accordingly sent to me every month, and I composed a certain proportion of verse, in which, of course, the subject of the design was included; the rest depended on what my imagination could furnish. When the first print was sent to me I did not know what would be the subject of the second; and in this manner, in a great measure, the artist continued designing, and I continued writing, every month for two years, till a work containing near ten thousand lines was produced; the artist and the writer having no personal communication with or knowledge of each other....

'Mr. Ackermann has his reasons for risking a republication of it in its present form; and I now feel more than common solicitude that it should answer his expectations.... The Battle of the Books was an after-thought, and forms the novelty of this volume.

'I have only to add, that though, on a first view of some of the prints, it may appear as if the clerical character were treated with levity, I am confident in announcing a very opposite impression from a perusal of the work.'

The origin of Doctor Syntax is ascribed, with characteristic partiality, to John Bannister, the comedian, by his biographer, John Adolphus.

'Of another graphic series, which owed its existence almost entirely to the invention of Bannister, I have the following account:—Dining at a tavern, with him and a third person, Rowlandson was asked, "What are you about, Rolly?" "Why, nothing in particular," he said. "I think my inventive faculty has been very sluggish of late; I wish one of you would give me a hint." Being asked of what kind, he answered, "I feel in a humour to sketch a series where the object may be made ridiculous without much thinking. I have been making a tour in Cornwall and Devonshire with a friend, who, as I have made sketches on the coast for him, wishes me to introduce adventures at inns, and other comic incidents, in which he was the principal party. But what can I do for such a hero?—a walking turtle—a gentleman weighing four-and-twenty stone—for such scenes he is quite out of the question. I want one of a totally different description." And he named a celebrated tourist, who by a recent publication had given much celebrity to the Lakes.

'"I have it!" said Bannister. "You must fancy a skin-and-bone hero, a pedantic old prig, in a shovel-hat, with a pony, sketching-stools, and rattletraps, and place him in such scrapes as travellers frequently meet with—hedge alehouses, second and third rate inns, thieves, gibbets, mad bulls, and the like. Come!" he proceeded, warming with the subject, "give us a sheet of paper, and we'll strike out a few hints." The paper was produced, Bannister gave his ideas, Rowlandson adopted them, Combe explained them in a well-written poem; and to this conversation and to the lively invention of Bannister the public is indebted for a highly favoured publication, The Tour of Doctor Syntax.'

It is by no means improbable that Bannister's suggestion had something to do with the eccentric personality of the hero of the Picturesque Tours; but the author of the Memoir of John Bannister assumes too much when he records that the ideas for the adventures of Doctor Syntax were struck out at a sitting and in the easy fashion he has described; it is known that the original designs were furnished at the rate of three a month, and that their invention was spread over the entire period of the publication.

The popularity enjoyed by this Tour was manifested in the number of editions sold; it was further pirated and imitated in various forms. A German edition was published in Berlin in 1822; the poem was translated under the title of Die Reise des Doktor Syntax um das Malerische aufzusuchen. Ein Gedicht frei aus dem Englischen ins Deutsche Übertragen. Lithogr. v. F. E. Rademacher. The illustrations were copied in outline on stone, either with a fine point or a pen; the lines are wire-like and give neither fullness nor effect; the pictures are also coloured in a feeble and powerless style, and the whole is a very poor rendering, as far as the artist's work is concerned.

A French edition, freely translated by M. Gandais, appeared in Paris, with twenty-six engravings—rendered with considerable ability by Malapeau (lith. de G. Engelmann)—drawn on stone with care and spirit in lithographic chalk; these illustrations, printed in a warm tint, and coloured by hand, will compare fairly with even Rowlandson's original etchings. We give the title of this edition:—Le Don Quichotte Romantique, ou Voyage du Docteur Syntaxe À la recherche du Pittoresque et du Romantique; PoÊme en XX chants, traduit librement de l'Anglais par M. Gandais, et ornÉ de 26 gravures par Malapeau. À Paris chez l'auteur, rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 45, et PÉlicier libraire, cour du Palais Royal. 1821. The author's advertisement, as written by Combe, is carefully and literally rendered, and the translator has added a slight avertissement of his own, briefly alluding to the reputation enjoyed in England by the original engravings and the descriptive verses which accompany them, and setting forth the circumstances of his own version, &c.

Numerous imitations, less legitimate than the foreign translations alluded to, also appeared in this country, such as The Tour of Doctor Syntax through London; Doctor Syntax in Paris, in Search of the Grotesque; Doctor Prosody; Sentimental Tour through Margate and Hastings by Doctor Comparative, Junr.; and Doctor Syntax's Life of Napoleon, which is possibly due to Combe's pen, and derives a strong additional interest from the illustrations, which are fair examples of George Cruikshank's handiwork. A parody, in verse, entitled The Adventures of Doctor Comicus, by a modern Syntax, was also issued, with coloured imitations of Rowlandson's designs.

The success which had attended the first Tour of Doctor Syntax was so flattering and remunerative that the publisher and his able collaborateurs, the artist and author, projected a second series, entitled Doctor Syntax in Search of Consolation—for the loss of that termagant spouse who figures in the original Tour, and is decently buried, in the first cantos of the new adventures, to give the hero a fitting cause for pursuing his eccentric travels. The renewal of Dr. Syntax's journeys, which appeared in monthly parts, was completed in 1820, when it was republished by Mr. Ackermann, uniform with the first volume; it was less successful than its predecessor, but it ran through several editions.

The plates, which were contributed by Rowlandson, much on his old principle, were as follows:—

• Frontispiece.—Doctor Syntax and his Counterpart.
• Doctor Syntax lamenting the loss of his Wife.
• ""at the Funeral of his Wife.
• ""setting out on his Second Tour.
• ""and the Gypsies.
• ""loses his Wig.
• The visit of Doctor Syntax to Widow Hopeful, at York.
• Doctor Syntax amused with Pat in the Pond.
• ""in the Glass House.
• ""visits Eaton Hall, Cheshire.
• ""making his Will.
• ""in a Court of Justice.
• ""present at a Coffee-house Quarrel at Bath.
• ""and the superannuated Fox-hunter.
• ""with the Skimmington Riders.
• ""and the Bees.
• ""visits a Boarding School for Young Ladies.
• ""making a Discovery.
• ""Painting a Portrait.
• ""Marriage of Doctor Dicky Bend.
• ""at an Auction.
• ""and the Bookseller.
• ""at Freemasons' Hall.
• Miss Worthy's Marriage—Doctor Syntax in the chair.

A third and final Tour, ending with the hero's funeral, concludes the poem. The last volume, which had appeared, like its predecessors, in monthly parts, was put forth in its collected form in 1821; and, similar to the first and second series, with which it was afterwards re-issued, it received sufficient patronage to carry it through several editions, although neither the Second nor Third Tours were reckoned so successful as the original series.

The Third Tour of Doctor Syntax—in Search of a Wife appeared with the following 'Preface,' from the pen of the veteran Combe, who, for his private reasons, preferred to continue anonymous throughout.

'This prolonged work is, at length, brought to a close. It has grown to this size under rare and continuing marks of public favour; while the same mode of composition has been employed in the last as in the former volumes. They are all equally indebted to Mr. Rowlandson's talents.

'It may, perhaps, be considered as presumptuous in me, and at my age, to sport even with my own dowdy Muse, but, from the extensive patronage which Doctor Syntax has received, it may be presumed that, more or less, he has continued to amuse: And I, surely, have no reason to be dissatisfied, when Time points at my eightieth year, that I can still afford some pleasure to those who are disposed to be pleased.

'The Author.'

The illustrations to the third volume, which are quite equal both in spirit, invention, and execution to those designs which suggested the framework of the first and second Tours, are as follows:—

• Frontispiece.—Doctor Syntax setting out in search of a Wife.
• Vignette, on Titlepage.—Doctor Syntax assisting at an Instrumental Trio.
• Doctor Syntax Soliloquising.
• ""turned Nurse.
• The Banns forbidden.
• Doctor Syntax with a Blue Stocking Beauty.
• The Cellar Quartetto.
• Doctor Syntax Presenting a Floral Offering.
• The Billiard Table.
• Misfortune at Tulip Hall.
• The Harvest Home.
• The Garden Trio.
• Doctor Syntax at a Card Party.
• ""Star-gazing.
• ""in the wrong Lodging-House.
• ""received by the Maid instead of the Mistress.
• The Artist's Room.
• Death of Punch.
• The Advertisement for a Wife.
• Doctor Syntax and the Foundling.
• The result of Purchasing a Blind Horse.
• A Noble Hunting Party.
• Introduction to Courtship.
• Doctor Syntax in Danger.
• The Funeral of Doctor Syntax.

The popularity which attended the three Tours in the form of their original publication induced Mr. Ackermann to issue a fresh edition in 1823. The three volumes were printed in 16mo, instead of royal 8vo, and the plates were re-engraved, one-third of the original size. This pocket edition, containing all the illustrations, in a reduced form, was published at the moderate price, considering the plates were coloured by hand, of seven shillings a volume; the former series having been produced at one guinea per volume.