File:Mr. Bull asleep. (BM 1868,0808.12303).jpg

English: Lithographic caricature magazine of four pages on two leaves, in the form of a (monthly) newspaper; illustrations as follows. 1 April 1831

Page 1.
MR. BULL ASLEEP. (16620)
J. B. sleeps in an upright chair, holding his pipe, his tankard on the floor beside him; his dog (muzzled) also sleeps. A hand extends from each margin to steal his handkerchief and his purse; the invisible thieves chant: '(Soft Chorus of Boroughmongers and Sinecurists) Lullaby, Lullaby, Lullaby, Lullaby, sooth him with a Lullaby'. See No. 16621, cf. No. 16629.
LORD JOHN RUSSELL. (16619)
A flattering bust portrait directed to the left of the exponent of the Reform Bill, enclosed in an irradiated garland of oak-leaves. It is flanked by Nos. 16620-1.
MR. BULL WIDE AWAKE. (16621)
J. B. (see No. 16620) has started up, angry and alarmed, overturning his chair, his wig awry; he brandishes a cudgel, shouting, 'What's this? A set of Impostors acting in my name without my authority—zounds I'll set things to rights Reform!!! Reform!!!' His dog barks fiercely.
OLD GRILL AND THE TRUCK SYSTEM. (16622)
Hunt drags Cobbett forward by his gridiron (see No. 16123) which he has broken on its owner's head, so that it encircles his neck. He points to a ration of bread and meat on the floor (which a dog is befouling) and says: 'Here's a fellow that calls himself the poor Man's friend and makes his Labourers take a shillingsworth of bad Articles for a day's work'. Cobbett (left) protests violently, stamping his gaitered legs and crisping his fingers: 'Oh if I dont Register you for this'.
A TALE OF PEDIGREES. (16623)
Hunt (left) holds out to William Yates Peel a placard on which a wheel rests on a motto, 'Spinning Jennies', and is surmounted by a cow's head with the inscription 'Milk Below'. W. Peel (right), who covers his face, hides behind his back a shield on which is depicted a jar of Hunt's 'Matchless' (see No. 16575). Hunt: 'As you blazon my Blacking here's a coat of arms for you and recollect your Father was the first Gentleman in your Family whilst my Father was the first Tradesman in our Family'.
A KEY WHOSE HOSPITALITY OPENS ALL HEARTS (16624)
The Lord Mayor, Key (see No. 16303, &c), holds out a turtle to two bloated Aldermen, all three wearing their gowns. They exclaim delightedly: 'Oh what Callipash!!!' and 'What Callipree!!!!!' Key reflects (the words floating behind his back): 'Aye Aye I know the Wards'.
AN EXAMINATION. (16870)
A magistrate sits pompously at a table, with his clerk beside him. He faces a distressed yokel who scratches his head, and asks: 'Have you more than One Child born in Wedloch' [sic]. Rustic: 'I have more than One Child your worship but they waur born in Brighton'. A parish beadle standing behind him hides a smile with his hat.
Page 2.
PRECOCITY. (16625)
Prince George of Cumberland stands bestriding a hobby-horse, holding a stick of barley-sugar, and smiling delightedly. He stands with his back to a long settee where William IV and Queen Adelaide sit at opposite ends. The King holds up a sealed document saying, 'Georgy my boy here's a Lieutenant Generals Commission for you'. The Queen, flatteringly portrayed, holds an open bag of sweets, and says: 'Nay now do let the child eat his barley sugar. I am sure it will suit him best'. A child's profil perdu looks from behind a curtain (left) to say 'I want a bit of barley sugar too'. (An allusion to the seclusion in which Princess Victoria was kept by the Duchess of Kent, cf. No. 16779, and an attack on sinecures (the Commission seems to be an invention).)
DESPAIR OF THE BOROUGHMONGERS. (16626)
They sit on the ground, closely grouped, some heads concealed by attitudes of despair. Only Twiss shows spirit, striding to the left and saying, 'Nil desperandum, let's try what we can do'. Wetherell, with his wig over his face, and the Duke of Newcastle lean against each other, the latter says with raised hands: 'Oh horrible its no use, think of the terrors of a dissolution'. Sidmouth and Wellington sit silently in profile to the right, the former with a handkerchief to his eye. For the dissolution see No. 16641, &c. Cf. No. 16675.
Page 3.
GULLIVER DRIVING THROUGH THE LILLIPUTIANS. (16627)
Brougham, in wig and gown, as Gulliver, takes a rapid stride to the left across Horse Guards Parade, indicated by a tiny 'Regent's Bomb' (see No. 12799, &c.) in the background. Under his arm are four rolled documents all inscribed 'Reform'. Tiny Life Guards try to stop him, a mounted man says: 'Oh my lord think of the Etiquette'. Brougham: 'Pho, Pho, think of the utility'. (See No. 16616, &c; cf. No. 16398, &c. An allusion to Brougham as a Benthamite may be intended.)
O-MANS RETREAT!!! (16628)
The House of Commons with the Speaker in the Chair (left) and crowded Opposition benches in the background. In the foreground a tall dandified Member, holding his hat, walks off to the right, looking back at the Speaker, who says 'Hem'. The Clerk reads: 'Bribery and Corruption!!' The retreating Member, O'Gorman Mahon, says: 'Ock [sic] botheration jest as I wass going to spake so about purity and independance to [sic]'. (O'Gorman Mahon was returned for Clare in Aug. 1830, but was unseated on petition on a bribery charge.)
NAUTICAL READINGS. (16871)
Below the title: 'The navy biscuit are mostly made by machinery and have that word stampt on them'. A sailor with a long pigtail kneels on deck putting a big biscuit to his mouth and reading the word impressed on it: 'Let see m-a-c-neac [sic] h-i-n-e-r-y henery Oh it's only the swab of a baker's name'. A man puts his head through a hatchway beside him, saying, 'Aye Aye Mac Henry that's it'.
ASTONISHMENT!!!!! (16629)
In the background is a section of the House of Commons, the Speaker in the Chair on the extreme left, a member (? Croker) making a speech in front of the Opposition benches: 'Mr Bull cares very little about Reform I'm sure'. In the foreground (right) are the head and shoulders of a close-up of John Bull, his shoulders piled high with rolled documents inscribed 'Petition for Reform'. He lifts his hands in amazement, saying, 'Oh what a Bouncer!!!'
NAUTICAL PHYSIOGNOMY (16872)
A sailor sits at an eating-house table with a big bowl of punch before him; he offers a glass to a paunchy fellow leaning against the partition behind him, who puts up a rejecting hand, saying, 'I never drink but water'. Sailor: 'shiver my timbers what with such a grog blossom face well that's sailing under false colors'.
REASONS, REMONSTRANCES AND PITIFUL MOANS OF THE ROTTEN ONES. (16630)
Three designs, side by side, each of an egg with a face (not a portrait) and projecting hands.
[1] Running on top-booted legs the first says: 'Here am I thrown over board as if they could no longer stomach me Oh it's most Revolutionary'.
[2] In an egg-cup, both hands extended, the egg says: 'You always have eat Rotten Eggs; do eat them: and always ought to eat them'.
[3] Reclining on a chair, draped in a cloth, a bottle of medicine beside him, the egg (Wetherell) says: 'I feel the coldness of death upon me do taste a bit more of your friend for Boroughbridge'. See No. 16602.
Page 4.
SOLID PUDDING VERSUS IMAGINARY OR THE HEAD COOK AND THE DOCTORS. (16631)
Grey (right), as a cook, holding on a dish a big plum-pudding inscribed 'Reform' approaches three 'doctors', Eldon, Wellington, and a third identified as Sir R. Vyvyan. The patient, John Bull, is in an adjacent room (left), sitting at table, knife in hand. He rings a bell, saying, 'D—n those Doctors if they don't get out of the way I'll kick them out'. Vyvyan: 'Oh he must not have that Pudding; it's not good for his constitution I'll prepare him one as light as Air scarcely more than words'. Wellington puts up protesting hands; Eldon (left) says: 'I think he might have it if he would but wait while we picked out the Plumbs and Sweetmeats'. Grey: 'Gentlemen I have staked my professional Character on this Pudding and cannot allow any alteration'. He wears a cap, short jacket, and apron over his own strapped trousers.
A MODEST PROPOSITION. (16632)

William IV sits with his elbow on a book, looking towards the Duke of Cumberland who leans on the opposite side of the table (left), saying, 'You would not think the command of the Horse Guards too great a price for my support to the Bill'. The King: 'Ha, ha ha Brother how you do love a joke'. Two courtiers behind his chair (right) are duly amused. Cf. No. 16379.