The Man in the Moon

The Man in the Moon, HTML transcription

[N.B.: Clicking the images will show larger, somewhat higher quality scans of the Cruikshank engravings.]

[pg1 - notes]

THE

MAN IN THE MOON,

A SPEECH FROM THE THRONE,

TO THE SENATE OF LUNATARIA

In the Moon.

INTRODUCTION.

I LATELY dream'd that, in a huge balloon,

All silk and gold, I journey'd to the Moon,

Where the same objects seem'd to meet my eyes

That I had lately left below the skies;

[pg2]

And judge of my astonishment, on seeing

All things exactly, to a hair, agreeing:

The mountains, rivers, cities, trees, and towers,

On Cynthia's silver surface, seem'd like ours;

Men, women, children, language, dress, and faces,

Lords, Commons, Lackies, Pensioners, and Places,

Whigs, Tories, Lawyers, Priests, and men of blood,

And even Radicals—by all that's good!

In a long street, just such as London's Strand is,

'Midst Belles and Beggars, Pickpockets and Dandies,

Onward I went, between a brazen horse,

And a large Inn which bore a Golden Cross,

Then through a passage, narrow, long and dark,

That brought my footsteps to a spacious park.

It chanc'd that morning that the Sovereign Dey,

The Prince of Lunataria pass'd that way—

Gods! what a sight! what countless crouds were there,

What yells, and groans, and hootings, rent the air!

By which, I learn'd, the Lunatarian nation

Are wont to testify their admiration;

We don't do so on earth—but that's no matter—

The Dey went onward, midst a hideous clatter

To meet the Senators: for 'twas appointed,

That, on that morning, He—the Lord's anointed—

Should make a grand Oration from the throne,

That his most royal pleasure might be known

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Respecting certain great affairs of State:—

I heard the speech: Oh! could the muse relate

The "elegance," the sweet "distinctiveness,"

With which his Royal Deyship did address

That reverend body of Moonarian sages,

I'd write a book that should endure for ages.

Alas! such heights are not for me to reach;

I'll therefore, from my note-book, take the Speech,

And you must say, as 'tis by Pope exprest,

"Give all thou canst, and we will dream the rest!"

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THE SPEECH.

MY L—rds and G—tl—n,

I grieve to say,

That poor old Dad,

Is just as—bad,

As when I met you here

the other day.

[pg5]

'Tis pity that these cursed State Affairs

Should take you from your pheasants and your hares

Just now:

But lo!

CONSPIRACY and TREASON are abroad!

Those imps of darkness, gender'd in the wombs

Of spinning-jennies, winding-wheels, and looms,

In Lunashire—

Oh, Lord!

My L—ds and G—tl—n, we've much to fear!

Reform, Reform, the swinish rabble cry—

Meaning, of course, rebellion, blood, and riot—

Audacious rascals! you, my Lords, and I,

Know 'tis their duty to be starved in quiet:

But they have grumbling habits, incompatible

With the repose of our august community—

They see that good things are with us come-at-ible,

And therefore slyly watch their opportunity

To get a share:

Yes, they declare

That we are not God's favorites alone—

That they have rights to food, and clothes, and air,

As well as you, the Brilliants of a throne!

Oh! indications foul of revolution—

The villains would destroy the Constitution!

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I've given orders for a lot of Letters,

From these seditious, scribbling, scoundrels' betters,

N—d—n and N—rr—s, F—ch—r, W—t and H—y,

'To lie, for your instruction,'

Upon the table;

From which said premises you'll soon be able

To make a fair deduction,

That some decisive measures must be taken,

Without delay,

To quell the Radicals,

and save our bacon.

And now, my faithful C—m— ns,

You must find

The means to raise the wind:

For Derry Down, and Sid, have thought it wise,

To have—besides the Spies—

A few more Cut-throats, to protect the rhino

Of loyal people,—such as you and I know.

Van's estimates will come before you straight;

And, I foresee

That your opinions will with mine agree,

No lighter weight

Can well be placed on

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JOHNNY MOON CALF'S back,

Who is, you know,

a very willing hack.

The revenue has fluctuated

slightly—

See the Courier—

But it's been found to be

improving nightly—

For two weeks past,—

therefore we've nought to fear.

Some branches of our trade

are still deprest,

And those dependant on them

wanting food,

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But that's a sort of

temporary evil—

'Twill wear away:

perhaps 'tis for the best:—

At all events, 'twill do

no good

To let the starving wretches

be uncivil.

Five years ago, you know,

our sad condition

Was partly owing to

'the quick transition

From war to peace'—then,

we had 'scanty crops'—

Then, something else—and now—

our weavers' shops

Are full of Radicals,

and Flags, and Caps;

But 'temporary' still

are these mishaps—

The 'quick transition's' gone,

the 'crops' are good,

And though the Radicals

may still want food,

A few

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STEEL LOZENGES

will stop their pain,

And set the Constitution

right again.

My L—ds and G—tl—n,

The foreign powers

Write me word frequently

that they are ours,

Most truly and sincerely,

in compliance

With our most

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HOLY COMPACT AND ALLIANCE,

The purposes of which

I need not mention—

You that have brains can guess

at the intention.

'Tis my most anxious wish,

now we're at peace,

That all internal discontents

should cease—

T' accomplish which

I see no better way

Than putting one-eyed pensioners

on full pay.

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' The body of the people, I do think,

are loyal still,'

But pray, My L—ds and G—tl—n,

don't shrink

From exercising all your care

and skill,

Here, and at home,

TO CHECK THE CIRCULATION

OF LITTLE BOOKS,

Whose very looks—

Vile 'two-p'nny trash,'

bespeak abomination.

Oh! they are full of blasphemies

and libels,

And people read them

oftener than their bibles.

[pg12 - notes]

Go H—df—t, Y—rm—th, C—le—gh, and C—nn—g

Go, and be planning,

Within your virtuous minds, what best will answer

To save our morals from this public cancer;

Go and impress, my friends, upon all classes,

From sleek-fac'd Swindlers down to half-starv'd Asses,

'That, from religious principles alone,'

(Don't be such d—d fools as to blab your own)

Temperance, chasteness, conjugal attention—

With other virtues that I need not mention—

And from subordination, and respect,

To every knave in robes of office deck'd—

'Can they expect to gain divine protection'

And save their sinful bodies from dissection!

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His Highness ceased—

The dissonance of Babel

Rose from the motley

Moonitarian rabble:

The yell of loyalty—

the dungeon groan—

The shriek of woe—

the starving infant's moan—

The brazen trumpets' note—

the din of war—

The shouts of freemen

rising from afar—

Darted in horrid discord

through my brain:—

I woke, and found myself

on Earth again.

Notes:

Introduction, pages 1-3: Hone's narrative adopts a conventional technique for displacement by imagining that the whole story involves a kind of parallel civilization on the Moon. Of course, the displacement is utterly and intentionally transparent, as the references to contemporary London geography are entirely accurate--the references to the "brazen horse" and the Golden Cross place the spectator at the eastern corner of St. James's Park, near the King's Mews and the Golden Cross Inn. Likewise, the description of "his Royal Deyship" (the Prince Regent) is spiked with joking references to the Regent's preoccupation with "elegance" and "distinctiveness"--qualities that even Dickens would satirize in Bleak House in the character of Mr. Turveydrop.

The engraving on page one shows all the pomp and commotion of the royal procession. Presumably this is the Prince on his way to address the special session of the Senate of Lunataria. The engraving on page three offers a contrasting view: here two cabinet ministers (Sidmouth in front, Castlereagh in back) are holding up a precariously perched and bloated Prince who tries to look dignified atop two spindly rails. The passage quoted just before the engraving on page 3 comes from Alexander Pope's Eloisa and Abelard, line 124. [return]

Page 4, The Prince's Speech: The opening lines of the Regent's speech refer, of course, to the health of George III, the Prince Regent's father who had been declared insane in 1811, thus initiating the Regency period. The opening sentence from the Prince Regent's speech is "It is with great concern that I am again obliged to announce to you the continuance of his Majesty's lamented indisposition." [return]

Page 6: The page is largely self-explanatory. The Prince refers to the various government efforts to control radical activity--most prominently the practice of infiltrating radical groups with government agents or spies (indicated by the dashed names in the third line). This, of course, was a practice that the radical community detested, not only for the obvious invasion of privacy and implicit breach of trust, but also because the spies' reports were so often inaccurate. (Hence the pun on "To lie for your instruction....") Some other figures mentioned here may need identification: "Derry Down" is Lord Castlereagh, "Sid" is Lord Sidmouth, the Home Secretary, and "Van" is Lord Bexley (Nicholas Vansittart), the Chancellor of the Exchequer. [return]

Page 7, Johnny Moon Calf: Both the image and the text continue the argument from the previous page. The engraving shows two government officials—probably Castlereagh and Vansittart—piling an additional burden on "Johnny Moon Calf," the lunar equivalent of John Bull, the English common man. The Johnny Moon Calf figure is already leaning heavily on two rickety-looking crutches labeled "Credit" and "Bank Note." The point is clear enough: the fiscal policies and luxurious lives of the wealthy and powerful are putting an undue burden on the backs of ordinary English citizens. What is more, the Prince's cavalier attitude toward those who are wanting such bare necessities as food shows the pamphlet's view of an unfeeling, self-interested government in desperate need of reform. [return]

Pages 8-9, Steel Lozenges: The Prince of Lunataria sees hardships such as the want of food as a "temporary evil" that must be suffered by the lower orders, those "starving wretches." Not surprisingly the claim echoes the arguments of the English Prince Regent who contends that

Some depression still continues to exist in certain branches of our manufactures, and I deeply lament the distress which is in consequence felt by those who more immediately depend upon them; but this depression is in a great measure to be ascribed to the embarrassed situation of other countries, and I earnestly hope that it will be found to be of a temporary nature.

The Prince of Lunataria then describes (accurately enough) two important contexts. By "the quick transition / From war to peace" he alludes to the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 and the end of a prolonged and expensive war with France. While that war was ongoing, it was common for the government to refuse to hear petitions about domestic economic distress on the grounds that the national resources were engaged in a foreign war. Then, in 1816, Europe endured the so-called "year without a summer" during which widespread crop failures (the Prince's "scanty crops") caused additional hardship. "Then, something else" ... which the Prince is unable to name. The point, of course, is that there is always some external cause for the economic straits of the "lower orders." In the Prince's view, this absolves the present government from any responsibility for the economic circumstances, and it justifies the violent suppression of the Radicals who actively protest against such conditions. Such is the basis of Cruikshank's disturbing portrayal of the "STEEL LOZENGES." This vision of the Manchester Massacre has the hungry protestors' mouths filled by the swords and bayonets of military force—an act which, in a macabre parody, both gives the radicals something to eat and simultaneously cuts out their tongues/voices. [return]

Pages 9-12, The Holy Compact and Alliance: The reference here is to the so-called Holy Alliance that loosely united the rejuvenated European monarchies in the years immediately following the fall of Napoleon. (See Right Divine, Introduction, par. 3.) The text and images in this section are remarkable for suggesting a direct link between the Holy Alliance and the suppression of the press. In Hone's view, as is particularly evident in the closing lines of the Prince's speech (p. 12), the Holy Alliance was a sham of pure hypocrisy whose real intent was to silence the voices of rebellion and reform--—symbolized here by the image of the printing press accompanied with the female figure of liberty and a liberty cap--—while protecting "our morals" (i.e. the privileges of the ruling classes) from public critique. Cruikshank's second image links this effort at the suppression of the printing press--—a key provision of the "Six Acts"--—with the figures of Castlereagh (holding the axe and noose), Canning (holding the dagger), and Sidmouth (preparing the chains and padlock). [return]

Page 12: The closing image of this section of the poem refers back to the Prince's opening lines:

'Tis pity that these cursed State Affairs
Should take you from your pheasants and your hares[.]

Here the Prince, riding on the back of Sidmouth and with the support of Castlereagh, is shooting at a cap of liberty. The killing of liberty has apparently become a mere sport for the Prince. [return]

Page 13: The brief coda brings the lunar vision to a close as the narrator is jostled back to earth once again by the conflicting and chaotic shouts of loyalty, shrieks of woe, and the din of "horrid discord." The concluding image shows emblems of several royalist newspapers, the Courier (edited by T. G. Street), the Morning Post (represented by a hitching post), and The New Times—the latter labeled "slop" after Hone's appellation of John Stoddart, the chief editor of that newspaper (see Buonapartephobia) whose caricature is on the right. At the bottom, a dog is lifting a leg on an emblem of The Sun newspaper. All of these figures support the three plumes representing the Prince Regent. The plumes of this closing image thus echo against the plumes on the title page and on the Prince's carriage in the image on the first page. [return]

The Man in the Moon

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The Man in the Moon, HTML transcription