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My Uncle Toby on his hobby-horse
George Cruikshank
1832
steel-engraving
9.2 cm high x 7.7 cm wide, vignetted
Fifth of eight illustrations by George Cruikshank for Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy (1766), Book II, Chapter V.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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My uncle Toby's wound was near well, and as soon as the surgeon recovered his surprize, and could get leave to say as much — he told him, 'twas just beginning to incarnate; and that if no fresh exfoliation happen'd, which there was no signs of, — it would be dried up in five or six weeks. The sound of as many olympiads twelve hours before, would have convey'd an idea of shorter duration to my uncle Toby's mind. — The succession of his ideas was now rapid, — he broil'd with impatience to put his design in execution; — and so, without consulting further with any soul living, — which, by the bye, I think is right, when you are predetermined to take no one soul's advice, — he privately ordered Trim, his man, to pack up a bundle of lint and dressings, and hire a chariot and four to be at the door exactly by twelve o'clock that day, when he knew my father would be upon 'Change. — So leaving a bank-note upon the table for the surgeon's care of him, and a letter of tender thanks for his brother's, — he pack'd up his maps, his books of fortification, his instruments, &c. — and, by the help of acrutch on one side, and Trim on the other, — my uncle Toby embark'd for Shandy-Hall. [Book II, Chapter V, pp. 29-31]
When a man gives himself up to the government of a ruling passion, &mdaash; or, in other words, when his Hobby-Horse grows head-strong, — farewell cool reason and fair discretion!
Cruikshank realizes the scene by placing a bottle of brandy in the centre, and gives the aged Uncle Toby a crutch with which to defend himself on the imagined field of battle against young Tristram Shandy in the parlour. Uncle Toby's particular obsession or "Hobby-horse" is military strategy, reenacting scenes from his youth. In this case, Toby and Trim get so caught up discussing the issue that they actually re-enact battles and engagements with make-believe weapons.
Uncle Toby (right) is Captain Toby Shandy, Tristram's uncle and Walter Shandy's brother. Having sustained a groin-wound in battle years before, kindly Uncle Toby had retired to his brother's neighbourhood, but had continued his life-long obsession with the science of military fortifications an strategies.
Cruikshank executed seventy-four such etchings for the works of eighteenth-century novelists, covering seventeen of the nineteen volumes in Roscoe's Novelist's Library (London: James Cochrane, 1831-33). Of particular relevance here are his companion illustrations for Smollett, Fielding, Goldsmith, Sterne, and Cervantes. Working in the tradition of the earlier illustrators of many of these same works, Thomas Stothard and Thomas Rowlandson.
Here we have Cruikshank's interpretations of some of the standard reading fare of the English public of his day. For works by Smollett, he did four etchings for Humphrey Clinker, five for Roderick Random, and eight for Peregrine Pickle. . . . . The general rule seemed to be four etchings for every volume in the series. [Vogler, p. 145]
Burton, Anthony. "Cruikshank as an Illustrator of Fiction." George Cruikshank: A Revaluation. Ed. Robert L. Patten. Princeton: Princeton U. P., 1974, rev., 1992. Pp. 92-128.
Cohen, Jane Rabb. Part One, "Dickens and His Early Illustrators: 1. George Cruikshank. Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus: Ohio University Press, 1980. Pp. 15-38.
Patten, Robert L. Chapter 21, "An 'Average-European' Style." George Cruikshank's Life, Times, and Art, vol. 1: 1792-1835. Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers U. P., 1992; London: The Lutterworth Press, 1992. Pp. 341-354.
Sterne, Laurence. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759). Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: James Cochrane, 1832.
Kitton, Frederic G. "George Cruikshank." Dickens and His Illustrators. London: Chapman & Hall, 1899. Pp. 1-28.
McLean, Ruari. George Cruikshank: His Life and Work as a Book Illustrator. English Masters of Black-and-White. London: Art and Technics, 1948.
Vogler, Richard A. Graphic Works of George Cruikshank. New York: Dover, 1979.
Last modified 7 January 2018