Rowlandson the Caricaturist; a Selection from His Works. Vol. 2 by Joseph Grego

1812. _A Cornish View._

2114 words | Chapter 140

[Illustration: 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. Liberius si Dixero quid, si forte jocosius; hoc mihi juris, Cum veniâ dabis.--HOR. _S._ lib. i. v. 103. '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.

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