Ah! then dismounted from his spavin'd hack,
To Bethlehem's walls, with Burke, I saw him borne,
There the straight waistcoat close embrac'd his back:
While Peggy's wreath of straw did either brow adorn,
And there they sit, two grinners, _vis-a-vis_;
He writing Grub Street verse, Burke ranting rhapsody.
_Vide Melancholy Catastrophe_, _by_ PETER FIG, Esq.
The bard Peter Pindar is leaning his elbows on a sheet of verses lately
commenced, 'An Ode to Paine,' his poems the 'Lousiad,' 'Pension,' 'Ode
upon Ode,' &c., are scattered on the ground. Burke, with a shaven
head, and wearing a rosary round his neck, is declaiming impassioned
eloquence, while his foot is trampling upon two volumes, the 'Rights of
Man,' and 'Common Sense,' with Peter Pindar's 'Ode upon Ode.'
1800 (?). _Country Characters. No. 1, A Publican._ Woodward del. Etched
by Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.--The parlour of a
country public-house, hung round with pictures on equestrian subjects,
after the manner of the inimitable gallery of Professor Gambado: _Horse
Accomplishments_, introducing such peculiarities as _An Astronomer, or
Star-gazing Steed_; _An Arithmetician_, where the animal is working out
problems with his nose on the ground; _A Loiterer_, where the horse
pauses to ruminate, &c. The publican is drinking in true old-fashioned
landlordlike style with the squire, a Tony Lumkin of a landed
proprietor; mine host wears a red nightcap, and clean white sleeves,
apron, and stockings. Tony Lumkin has been trying to palm off an old
story on his friend, but the landlord's experience is too much for him.
'Come, squire,' he cries, 'that won't do; that's Joe Miller, I'm sure,
page 490.'
_Country Characters. No. 2, A Justice._ Woodward del. Etched by
Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.
_Country Characters. No. 3, A Barber._ Woodward del., Rowlandson
sculp. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.--A stout gentleman,
divested of his wig, has sat down for the tonsorial process, holding
in his lap the _London Gazette Newspaper_; the village Figaro, a
highly-dried and austere personage, of marked political proclivities,
has fixed his melancholy eyes on the latest intelligence, while, not
to waste time, he is pursuing the operation of shaving his unhappy
victim; simultaneously the edge of his razor-blade is taking an upward
tendency, and his right hand is sawing away at the sitter's olfactory
organ, while his left holds that important member immoveable. 'They
write from Amsterdam,' reads the preoccupied barber; while the
gentleman in the seat of torture, writhing with pain and apprehension,
vehemently shouts: 'Halloh! you sir,--what, are you going to cut my
nose off?'
The remainder of the series does not require a more particular
description.
1800 (?). _Country Characters. No. 4, Footman._ Woodward del. Etched by
Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.
1800 (?). _Country Characters. No. 5, Tax-gatherer._ Woodward del.
Etched by Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.
1800 (?). _Country Characters. No. 6, Squire._ Woodward del. Etched by
Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.
1800 (?). _Country Characters. No. 7, Vicar._ Woodward del. Etched by
Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.
1800 (?). _Country Characters. No. 8, Doctor._ Woodward del. Etched by
Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.
1800 (?). _Country Characters. No. 9, Exciseman._ Woodward del. Etched
by Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.
1800 (?). _Country Characters. No. 10, Steward._ Woodward del. Etched
by Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.
1800 (?). _Country Characters. No. 11, Attorney._ Woodward del. Etched
by Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.
1800 (?). _Country Characters. No. 12, London Outrider, or Brother
Saddle-bag._ Woodward del. Etched by Rowlandson. Published by R.
Ackermann, 101 Strand.