- Museum number
- 1868,0808.12278
- Title
-
Object: Cossack jockeyism
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Object: Rival preachers.
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Object: Vacuum Tube Coy.
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Object: Circuit court.
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Object: Edinburgh | city politics.
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Object: Theatre Royal. | Miss Foot.
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Object: Aberdeen races
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Object: Voyage to Pittenweem.
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Object: Pittenweem election.
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Object: Glasgow sweepstakes.
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Series: Vol. 1. - No. IX. Northern Looking Glass.
- Description
-
Caricature magazine of four folio pages, the last covered in letterpress text, in the form of a (fortnightly) newspaper. [October 1825]
Etchings as follows:
Page 1.
COSSACK JOCKEYISM (15073)
An English jockey, Thomas Arthur, on an English horse (Sharper) wins a race (of 47 and a third miles) from a Cossack whose horse is being dragged and pushed forward by other Cossacks. There is a background of mounted Cossacks. The race took place on 4 Aug.
RIVAL PREACHERS. (15074)
Two designs side by side. [1] John Aitken, the blind beggar of No. 15035, sits over his (full) collecting-plate; well-dressed people crowd round to contribute. [2] Fletcher, standing on a chair, rants to a scanty and contemptuous audience of artisans. The lady in the riding-habit (see No. 15068) holds out a tray, empty except for a book (cf. No. 15067), to a man who leers rudely at her. An obelisk in both designs shows that the scene is Glasgow Green. Text: '. . . His auditors were not numerous and his pence still less. . . . [His and Aitken's] modes no doubt, were different; their motives the same.'
VACUUM TUBE COY. (15075)
A gigantic tube, supported on a central post, slants downwards across a landscape from 'Edinbro' on a rocky hill (1.) to 'London'. Travellers carrying baggage walk into the upper mouth of the tube, to be disgorged at the other end down a sloping gangway in front of St. Paul's and the Monument. In the middle of the tube a section is removed to show the interior: an open eight-wheeled car filled with passengers runs swiftly downwards. Bulky baggage is tied behind. In the landscape is an estuary where a steam packet lies, placarded 'To Be Sold', and with a broom at the mast-head. A sailing vessel is 'Sold'. Mail-coaches are placarded 'To be Sold', and grazing horses are 'Horse's To be had Cheap'. A turnpike building is shuttered and placarded, 'This Gate to be Sold'.
Page 2.
CIRCUIT COURT. (15076)
Two designs showing adjacent rooms. In a bedroom (r.), a disturbed sleeper (Lord Meadowbank) looks angrily towards the door. In the other (1.) servants in livery drink and shout at a round table, on which sits in an armchair one of their number, acting the part of a judge (his master) and scowling through a pair of snuffers which serve as lorgnette. They are burlesquing a trial.
EDINBURGH | CITY POLITICS. (14801)
A meeting of the Edinburgh Town Council. Bailies in their gowns sit or stand at a round table; one points derisively to men without gowns who leave the room discomfited, saying, 'The bare backs retreating'. A man applauds, saying, 'auld Reekie as she is'. Another says: 'No Gowns'. The Lord Provost leans back in his chair of state, registering distress; a bailie shouts at him: 'a Pledge'. Behind the Provost's chair stands a man displaying a long scroll inscribed: 'Thrown out Ist Dock Bill City Improvements Minority with Deacons Leets—a Trades Counselor & Orator Lost'. He is 'Provost's Man or Master of the Rolls'. Nos. 14802-4 are from this issue.
THEATRE ROYAL. | MISS FOOT. (15077)
A corner of the stage, showing a part of the pit and orchestra with one box. Maria Foote curtseys demurely to an enthusiastic audience of men only. A large playbill is posted near the footlights: 'Inconstan[t]—Two Strings to your Bow—The Wedding Day—In which Miss F------will sing Nobody comeing to Marry me!!! a new Farce call'd Innocenc[e] & Impudence in which Miss F------ will appear.'
ABERDEEN RACES (15078)
Men rush dangerously down a steep hill (the Broadhill, Aberdeen), in pursuit of big cheeses like millstones. They are watched by a group seated before a tent at the top of the hill.
Text: Mr. Farquharson of Finzean, M.P. (Elgin boroughs 1820-6) amused himself at the close of the Aberdeen races by throwing the cheeses.
Page 3.
VOYAGE TO PITTENWEEM. (14802)
A small paddle-steamer, 'Brilliant' (from Leith), tossed by waves, approaches the shore (1.) where tiny spectators stand on a jetty. A frightened passenger is about to descend into an open boat, where are three men, who have already been taken off, one of whom is the Lord Advocate (Rae) on his way to vote at the election, see No. 14803.
PITTENWEEM ELECTION. (14803)
A sequel to No. 14802 in two designs. [1] (r.) Bailie James Tod, a large minute-book under his arm, locks the door of the council chamber, while ejected voters look on, some disgusted, others pleased. [2] (1.) directed by Bailie John Tod, two artisans smash the panels of the door, watched by a group of delighted electors.
GLASGOW SWEEPSTAKES. (14804)
Six men race on a cobbled street or square towards the railings round an equestrian statue on which pieces of plate are displayed. These include two ornate trays: 'Mechanics Plate', and 'Colliers Plate'. The foremost runner is 'Hume', making for the former. The next two race arm-in-arm. The fourth is (?) Mr. Hardie, see No. 15028, with a rival dragging at his coat-tails, and a street urchin hooking his ankle with a stick in order to overthrow him. A crowd watches from the pavement. Text: 'A Sweepstake . . . will take place in Glasgow . . . this . .. month, to be run for by all ages, classes, parties, ins and outs. For particulars apply at the Police Office, the Council Chamber, the Trades Hall, [&c.].
For Hume's piece of plate see No. 14808.
- Production date
- 1825
- Dimensions
-
Height: 404 millimetres (approx. page size)
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Width: 277 millimetres (approx. page size)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', X, 1952)
The issue is undated, and George notes the following from p. 4: 'Arrangements will, if possible, be made, to insure a regular publication of the Looking Glass in future; but the public must be aware of the difficulties attending this. . . .'
Notes to 'Vaccuum tube coy.' (15075)
Text: 'A Vacuum Tube Company is about to be formed to convey passengers from Edinburgh to London ... in about five hours. . . .' The tube reappears in a pl. by W. H. of 1829, see vol. xi.
'Circuit court' (15076):
Text (p. 4): Having been thus disturbed in an inn at Inverary by his own servants, Meadowbank entered on the record the disturbance he had suffered, stating that in such circumstances judges could not be expected to show their usual acuteness.
'Theatre Royal' (15077):
Text: Maria Foote made her first appearance in Edinburgh on 3 Oct. as Letitia Hardy {Belle's Stratagem, by Mrs. Cowley, 1780), with much applause from young men in the pit. Unsuccessful attempts were made from the gallery to hiss ladies who appeared in the boxes. See No. 14711, &c, and for the Edinburgh visit No. 14871.
'Pittenweem election' (14803):
The object was to exclude the Lord Advocate; the 22 electors were equally divided. The importance of this election of local magistrates seems to be that they were the parliamentary electors for the borough, cf. No. 8820. Sir W. Rae (1769-1842) was M.P. for the Anstruther boroughs, 1819-26. He petitioned in July 1826 against the return of his opponent on the ground (inter alia) that the delegate for Pittenweem was chosen by those who claimed falsely to be magistrates. Commons Journals, lxxxii. 49, 320.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.12278
