> DRY DRUNK

POLITICS AND SMOKE

Great Britain has long delighted in spirited political debate, and in the course of the 18th century, caricaturists in Britain –portrayed as “a sort of public and private spy”–developed an extraordinary sense for playing up the uses and abuses of tobacco among political friends and foes. The period saw a phenomenal flourishing of political and social satire and the development of the fertile sprouts of modern caricature. While William Hogarth’s elegant satire formed the basis of biting social and political commentary during the first half of the century, James Gillray’s genius for depicting the absurd qualities existing in everyone’s character brought the old art of caricaturas to new heights. Awareness of the political situation may be necessary for a full understanding of the images, but even without it, they can be savored for their intense visual complexity and humor.

The prints exhibited here play on many of the topics and stereotypes encountered in the other sections of this exhibition. Nationalistic stereotypes, for instance the generic Dutchman and the English common man John Bull, both of whom were frequently portrayed with pipe in mouth, are one example. The notion of the miserly royal steward smoking a pipe in his near-empty kitchen brings back memories of every 16th-century explorer’s mention of the Amerindians using tobacco to stave off hunger. The caricatures also play on an expanding vocabulary –“funk,”for instance, meaning to stifle with smoke. Current events, from the ongoing war with France to fluctuations in the price of beer, provided plentiful material for a continual supply of prints that appeared on the London market on a nearly daily basis.

80
Unidentified (Dutch, last quarter 17th century)
Nieuw Liedt, van de drie-dubbelde Kruysvaert van de Ridders en Grooten uyt uythangborden gesprooten [New song, of the three-doubled crusade of the knights and greats sprouted from signboards]
Broadside, etching and letterpress, February 1690
Print Collection, Gift of Mr. R. E. Shikes

The regents of Amsterdam, seen here marching out from Amsterdam (the city in the background) to do battle, are satirized for complaining about the Prince of Orange’s intervention in the choosing of their town council. The central figure, with backgammon board and playing cards as armor, is mounted upon a French wine vat, wears a string of sausages around his neck, has his “freedom hat”drawn over his eyes, and carries an enema syringe. Meanwhile, he smokes heartily on a pipe, an extra roll of tobacco hanging from the back side of his “saddle.”Beside him, a fur-capped man carries a ragged flag bearing the three crosses of Amsterdam’s coat of arms. The other mounted figure strides a beer barrel, watering can in his left hand, holding an Almanack close to his bespectacled face. Behind them, a handful of rather French-looking soldiers also prepare for the march, while the frog-band plays for the crowd at water’s edge.

The text portrays the unnamed characters as irresponsible, gluttonous, and myopic, suggesting that in their desire to be independent, they should solidify behind the Prince of Orange, who has done so much for them, rather than give in to the imperialistic efforts of the French.

81
James Gillray (British, 1757–1815)
What a Cur 'tis!
Hand-colored etching, published by Hannah Humphrey, June 9, 1795
Print Collection, Bequest of Samuel J. Tilden

Admiral Lord Howe (a.k.a. Black Dick), admiral of the English Channel Fleet, enjoys a long, cool draught from his pipe, a time-honored sailor’s activity. On the table lies a map of Torbay inlet on the coast of Devonshire, where weather sometimes legitimately forced him to take refuge, but which some writers interpreted as dodging. At his feet, his flag-captain, Admiral Sir Roger Curtis (“Black Dick’s Dog”), grovels, a reference to criticism levelled at him for his fawning behavior toward Howe.

82
James Gillray (British, 1757–1815)
AUSTRIAN BUGABOO, Funking the French Army
Hand-colored etching, published by Hannah Humphrey, May 12, 1792
Print Collection, Bequest of Samuel J. Tilden

The scarcely human bugaboo at right is identifiable as Austrian by his crooked, Germanic pipe and by the double-headed Hapsburg eagle that defines the features of his face. Out of his nostrils and “mouth”stream clouds of smoke, with which he “funks”the frightened, fleeing French. General Dillon’s French troops began to flee in a tremendous panic after he ordered a retreat from Tournay. The general was subsequently murdered by his own troops. The willful conduct of the fleeing mass is caricatured in the words of one French soldier: “Liberty, Liberty to flee.”

83
James Gillray (British, 1757–1815)
Blindmans Buff –or –Too Many for John Bull
Hand-colored etching, published by Hannah Humphrey, June 12, 1795
Print Collection, Bequest of Samuel J. Tilden

Attacking English loans to the Emperor of Austria in May and June of 1795, John Bull is being assaulted and robbed from all sides: he is kicked by a ragged sans-culotte, funked by the roly-poly pipe-smoking Dutchman, pickpocketed by the Emperor, and derided by the Prussian hussar who already has his bag of cash. Even the British Prime Minister, Pitt, encourages the continental attackers from the sidelines, while he picks the pocket of Bull’s jacket.

84
Unidentified (British, mid-18th century)
The [King's] Kitchen Metamorphoz'd
Etching, 1762
Print Collection, Horace Walpole Collection

Talbot was appointed Lord Steward of his Majesty's household in March 1761, and his management soon prompted this curious caricature. The newly appointed steward and earl was considered to have risen out of his league, and Horace Walpole (from whose album this particular impression is culled) made the following observation about him in his Memoirs:

As neither gravity, rank, interest, abilities, nor morals, could be adduced to countenance this strange exaltation, no wonder it caused very unfavourable comments. . . . As the Court knew that the measures it had in contemplation could only be carried by money, every stratagem was invented to curtail the common expenses of the palace. As these fell under the province of the Lord Steward, nothing was heard of but cooks cashiered, and kitchens shut up.

Talbot, whose household frugalities were prompted by orders from the King, addresses a pipe-smoking cook, who weighs a herring and a half on a steelyard. He smokes, according to the verses, “to Close up the orifice, Sir in my Belly.”

85
James Gillray (British, 1757–1815)
Effusion of a Pot of Porter, –or –Ministerial Conjurations for Supporting the War, as lately discovered by Dr. P--r, in the Froth & Fumes of his favorite Beverage
Etching and aquatint, published by Hannah Humphrey, November 29, 1799
Arents Tobacco Collection

William Pitt rises out of the foam of a mug of beer, yelling out orders in all directions, calling for the exceptionally bad weather and pestilence that had ruined the crops of 1799. The smoking pipe on the barrel is a reference to Dr. Samuel Parr, an inveterate smoker, whose pamphlet “Bellendenus,”among other things, blamed Pitt’s war policies for the high price of porter following the disastrous annual crop.