Punch (7.1844)

132

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

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PORTRAIT OF "PERFIDIOUS ALBION.

MissiEoas,

You have long raved about "Perfidious Albion,"—you
have execrated the monster — loathed — abhorred him. Your
hatred of the wretch has been, and is, a very cordial to your hearts.
You have nourished yourselves upon such national rancour, as
the king of old is said to have grown plump and sleek on poison.
The frog haa strangely enough really taken the fabled nature of the
toad, and has swelled almost to bursting with venom !

And alas! what now avails this magnanimous, this truly heroic
disgust f Jeune France had his sword glittering half from the scab-
bard—his moustache quivered with martial energy—his fingers were
already near the throat of Albion the Perfidious, that in another
Second would have felt the civilising weapon in his vitals, when lo !
Gui«OT—yes, the Man of Ghent—traitorously saved him. Young
France has been ordered to sheathe his sword, and Perfidious Albion
—like an escaped tiger—may lick his lips in his jungle.

Sympathising, dear Young France, with the cruelty of your disap-
pointment, I here present to you a finished portrait—a «ni ejfyuu—
of Perfidious Albion for the Louvre. It will serve to keep alive your
national enmity ; it will enable you to burn the brutal, unrelenting
features of the monster into the minds of your babes and sucklings.
You may take your children, and they in turn may take your grand-
children, and make them swear, beneath the very eyes of the wretch,
a hatred deep and inexhaustible as the hatred of young Hannibal.

Be assured, that the portrait is a true likeness. But this speak*
for itself. The whole expression is that of a beast, a monster, a
man-oater, an ogre—in fact, Perfidious Albion !
Dear Jeune France,

Allow me to subscribe myself,

With sympathy and admiration,
Yours never,