"Three volunteers or militiamen, three-quarter length figures, exult at the head of Bonaparte which one of them (right) holds up on a pitchfork, saying, "Here he is Exalted my Lads 24 Hours after Landing." The head is in profile to the left, the sharp well-cut features contrast with those of the chubby yokels. The centre figure, holding out his hat, says, turning to the left: "Why Harkee, d'ye zee, I never liked Soldiering afore, but some how or other when I though [sic] of our Sal the bearns, the poor pigs, the Cows and the Geese, why I could have killed the whole Army my own Self." He wears a smock with the crossed straps of a cartouche-box. The third man (left) in regimentals, but round-shouldered and unsoldierly, says: "Dang my Buttons if that beant the Head of that Rogue Boney - I told our Squire this Morning, what do you think say's I the Lads of our Village can't cut up a Regiment of them French Mounsheers, and as soon as the Lasses had given us a Kiss for good luck I could have sworn we should do it and so we have." All three have hats turned up with favours and oak-twigs, the favours being inscribed respectively (left to right): 'Hearts of Oak'; 'Britons never will be Slaves', and 'We'll fight and We'll Conquer again and again'. In the spaces between these foreground figures is seen a distant encounter between English horse and foot and French invaders, who are being driven into the sea, on which are flat-bottomed boats, all on a very small scale. Two women search French corpses; one says: "why this is poor finding I have emtied the pocketts of a score and only found one head of garlic 9 onions & a parcel of pill Boxes." Cf. British Museum Satires No. 8145."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Levée en masse, or, Britons strike home and Britons strike home
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Charles Williams in the British Museum catalogue., Publisher's advertisement below image, in lower right: Folios of caracatures [sic] lent out for the evening., and Sheet trimmed to plate mark on top and bottom.
Publisher:
Pub. Augt. 6th, 1803, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 and Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821.
Subject (Topic):
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815, Proposed invasion of England, 1793-1805, Soldiers, British, French, Militias, Pitchforks, Heads (Anatomy), Decapitations, and War casualties
"Britannia, tall and powerful, holds Napoleon across her knee, and raises a birch rod to thrash his bleeding posterior. She wears Roman draperies, with corslet and plumed helmet. The rod is tied with a ribbon inscribed: 'United Kingdoms'. She says: "There take that and that and that, and be carefull not to provoke my Anger more." He exclaims: "oh forgive me this time and I never will do so again, oh dear! oh dear! you'll entirely spoil the Honors of the Sitting." Beside Britannia (left) are her spear and sword; beside Napoleon (right) his huge cocked hat and sabre. The scene is by the sea (left), with a fleet of retreating vessels flying the tricolour flag. On the right is a cliff on which a small British lion lies on a scroll inscribed: 'Qui uti scit ei bona' [good things to him who knows how to use them]."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker identified as Charles Williams in the British Museum catalogue., Publisher's advertisement in lower right: Folios of caracatures [sic] lent out for the evening., With watermark: A. Stace., and Matted to 49 x 38 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. June 13th, 1803, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Subject (Topic):
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815, Britannia (Symbolic character), Spanking, Warships, and French
"A mounted officer with drawn sabre heads a procession of 'Volunteers' linked by a chain to his horse and to each other. The horse is a well-bred animal with handsome trappings, but the rider is lean and has torn breeches. He is followed by a file of three whose necks are attached to the horse and whose hands or arms are pinioned. All are miserable wretches, barelegged and ragged; the last, less abject, has sabots and takes snuff. He is chained to the neck of a donkey on whose back is a pannier containing three despairing conscripts. To the animal's tail is tied a low truck on which a moribund shackled man lies on his back, his knees drawn up. To the truck is chained, in a stooping position, a man whose hands are tied behind his back, his nails being long talons. Birds, scenting carrion, fly towards the procession. Below the design: 'Dedicated (by an Eye Witness) to the Volunteers of Great Britain'."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched in top part of image., Printmaker identified as Gillray and the artist questionably identified as Charles Loraine Smith in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on three edges., Watermark: 1809 J. Whatman., and Mounted on leaf 68 of volume 5 of 12.
Publisher:
Pubd. Octr. 25th, 1803, by H. Humphrey, 27 St. Jamess [sic] Street
Subject (Geographic):
France.
Subject (Topic):
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815, Soldiers, French, and Starvation
"A mounted officer with drawn sabre heads a procession of 'Volunteers' linked by a chain to his horse and to each other. The horse is a well-bred animal with handsome trappings, but the rider is lean and has torn breeches. He is followed by a file of three whose necks are attached to the horse and whose hands or arms are pinioned. All are miserable wretches, barelegged and ragged; the last, less abject, has sabots and takes snuff. He is chained to the neck of a donkey on whose back is a pannier containing three despairing conscripts. To the animal's tail is tied a low truck on which a moribund shackled man lies on his back, his knees drawn up. To the truck is chained, in a stooping position, a man whose hands are tied behind his back, his nails being long talons. Birds, scenting carrion, fly towards the procession. Below the design: 'Dedicated (by an Eye Witness) to the Volunteers of Great Britain'."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched in top part of image., Printmaker identified as Gillray and the artist questionably identified as Charles Loraine Smith in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on three edges., 1 print : etching on wove paper, hand-colored ; sheet 21.8 x 60.4 cm., and Sheet trimmed within plate mark; mounted to 28 x 66 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. Octr. 25th, 1803, by H. Humphrey, 27 St. Jamess [sic] Street
Subject (Geographic):
France.
Subject (Topic):
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815, Soldiers, French, and Starvation
