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Louis XVIII Climbing the Mat de Cocagne
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| Title | Louis XVIII Climbing the Mat de Cocagne |
| Creator | Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878 |
| Publisher | Hone, William, 1780-1842 |
| Place of Publication | England -- London -- Fleet Street |
| Date | 1815 |
| Caption Text | Caption on Image:
[Above image] New French Caricature selling privately at Paris
[Below image on left]Etched by G. Cruikshank
[Title]LOUIS XVIII climbing the Mât de Cocagne
[Below title] "The Mât de Cocagne is a long pole, well soaped, on the top of which are hung upon Publick occasions various Prizes which he who climbs to the top gets. A poor Creature of total incapacity affords infinite piety & merriment, & tumbles down faster than he ascends. He who fails once and tries again affords the most sport." Travels in France
London Pub'd by W. Hone 55 Fleet Street October 6th, 1815
Dialogue and Signage:
[Louis XVIII at top of pole] Support me or I shall fall
[carried in Louis' pockets & bag] claims of the Emigrants, Holy water, Absolution
[Frederick William, King of Prussia] I'll take what suits me
[Alexander, Tsar of Russia] Behold my works
[Francis, Emperor of Austria] If I leave them they will fall upon me
[King of Rome] Do Mama make Grandpapa leave all these folks to themselves
[Marie Louise, Napoleon's wife] Oh where & oh where has my dear Napoleon gone, He is gone to St. Helena & my son has lost his throne.
[Chateaubriand] Call me Chateaubriand or Shatterbrain or what you will charge any thing upon me but Truth and Soberness. I who am the greatest & most eloquent humbug in Europe & the first poetical & church militant statesman in France.
[Napoleon, on St. Helena] I climbed up twice without any help
[Talleyrand, in pink] My dear Fouche that charlatan Chateaubriand has jockied us both
[Bags] Decrees of Napoleon, Scenes of Louis XVIII
[Pope, on 2nd pole] Son of St. Louis ascend to Heaven you can do no good upon earth
[Castlereagh, tipping hat on right] My dear Richelieu divide & conquer & you'll rule France at your pleasure
[Richelieu] I'll take your Lordship's advice, I'll follow your example in Ireland & I cannot fail of success
[John Bull, with moneybags] Come take my money, that's what all this Fun means, well that mounseer Shatterbrain pleases me mostd; He seems maddest of em all & well He may for he Keeps Louis's conscience
[Duchess d'Angouleme] Aye, you'll never get the crown or a Heir to it
[Bags at foot of pole] English Subsidies
[Scroll] Plan for Maritime ascendancy
[Signs on houses in right background] Vive le roi (Long live the king) and Down with the Protestants
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| Historical Notes | Following Napoleon's exile to St. Helena, Louis XVIII was restored to the throne as King of France but with limited power, thanks to shrewd negotiations by Talleyrand, who became prime minister. Louis was generally believed to be incapable of holding onto the throne without continued support from outside France. In August of 1815, an ultraroyalist parliament was elected, and Talleyrand was forced to resign as prime minister. The Duke of Richelieu took over and eventually disbanded parliament until he could engineer election of a more controllable group. The drawing expresses widespread criticism of the Restoration, taking a shot at all the key players. It appeared in the midst of a series of articles in the Examiner that expressed dislike of the Bourbons, chagrin at Napoleon's defeat and exile, horror at the excesses of the ultraroyalists, and resentment that England was still paying to keep Louis XVIII in power.
A rotund Louis XVIII is at the top of the greased pole, supported by (from top to bottom) the Duke of Wellington, King Frederick of Prussia, Tsar Alexander of Russia, and Francis, Emperor of Austria. Francis kneels on money bags labeled "English subsidies." Each ruler carries plans for their own interests, and makes self-serving comments. The King of Rome, depicted as a miniature Napoleon, implores his mother Marie Louise of Austria to make her father leave everyone alone. Marie Louise is beyond political action, however, and merely wails at the absence of Napoleon. Chateaubriand, aligned with the ultraroyalists, is shown in the left foreground, standing on a stack of books and dressed half in military attire and half in cleric's costume. He has the look of a madman, and spouts nonsensical support for the Bourbons and the Church. To the right of Chateaubriend, Talleyrand and Fouché lament their downfall, blaming it on Chateabriand. The Duc d'Angoulême stands loyally to the right of the pole, ready to assist his uncle the king, while his wife tells him he won't get onto the throne himself in that way. (In fact, he did become King of France in 1824.) To his right, Viscount Castlereagh (English negotiator at the Congress of Vienna) advises the duc de Richelieu, newly named prime minister, to "divide and conquer." Behind them, a diminished John Bull holds out a money bag and implores the others to take it. In the left background, Napoleon dwarfs the island of St. Helena and watches in disgust, noting that he came to power twice with no help from anyone else. In the right background, a massacre of Protestants is taking place at Nîmes and the Pope has climbed a second pole. He calls out to Louis XVIII that he should keep going to Heaven, that he'll accomplish little on earth. At the base of the Pope's pole, a man is being burned at the stake while another man watches, waving his hat and shouting "Long live the King." A nearby monk holds up a cross, looking towards another murder scene and says "Down with the Protestants." These scenes are representative of the White Terror, an anti-Protestant and anti-Jacobin movement in the early years of the Restoration.
Reference source: George #12614
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| Publishing Notes | Adapted from a French print (De Vinck #9205), which shows a fat abbé trying to gras the prize, which is jobs and decorations for 1815.
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| Subjects (LCSH) | Political cartoons
History--Caricatures & cartoons
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815
Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, 1777-1825
Frederick William III, King of Prussia, 1770-1840
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852
Louis XVIII, King of France, 1755-1824
Francis I, Emperor of Austria, 1768-1835
Bonaparte, François-Charles-Joseph, Herzog von Reichstadt, 1811-1832
Marie Louise, Empress, consort of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1791-1847
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de, 1768-1848
Talleyrand-Périgord, Augustin Louis, comte de, 1770-1832
Pius VII, Pope, 1742-1823
Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 1769-1822
Richelieu, Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, duc de, 1766-1822
Angoulême, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, duchesse d', 1778-1851
Angoulême, Louis-Antoine d'Artois, duc d', 1775-1844
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| Geographic Coverage | France |
| Digital Collection | Napoleonic Period Collection
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| Digital ID Number | NAP039 |
| Repository | University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division. |
| Repository Collection | Napoleon Collection |
| UW Reference Number | E31 |
| Object Type | Print |
| Physical Description | Etching, hand colored ; plate mark 35 x 24 cm. on sheet 40 x 27 cm. |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from original drawing in RGB at 200-400 dpi, saved in TIFF format, changed to indexed color, enhanced and resized using Adobe Photoshop, and imported as JPEG2000 using Contentdm software's JPEG2000 Extension. 2006. |
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