"After meditating desperate deeds of Duelling, Prussic Acid, Pistols, and Plunges in the River" — Cruikshank's sixth illustration for <span class="book">Mr. Lambkin (Gent.) in the Pursuit of Pleasure and Amusement</span> (1844)

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After meditating desperate deeds of Duelling, Prussic Acid, Pistols, and Plunges in the River

George Cruikshank

1844

Steel-engraving

11.5 cm high by 8.9 cm wide, framed

Illustration for George Cruikshank's The Bachelor’s Own Book; Or, The Progress Of Mr. Lambkin (Gent.), in the Pursuit Of Pleasure And Amusement, p. 15.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated

After meditating desperate deeds of Duelling, Prussic Acid, Pistols, and Plunges in the River, Mr. Lambkin cools down to a quiet supper, a melancholy reverie, and a warm bath at The Hummums. — The morning sun shines upon him at Epsom, where, with the assistance of his friends and Champagne, he arrives at such a pitch of excitement, that he determines to live and die a Bachelor. [page 15]

Commentary: A Day at the Races

Since it makes a much better picture than Lambkin's fulminations on the virtues of committing suicide with "Duelling, Prussic Acid, Pistols, and Plunges in the River," Cruikshank takes his shallow hero to the Epsom Races. Although this event only became a day's family outing in the 1850s, evidently it was a favourite with middle-class bachelors cutting loose with al fresco drinking and wagering. Facing the same page as Mr. Lambkin, overwhelmed with shame and vexation this "race-day" illustration complements Lambkins' failure to fascinate the ladies at Kensington Gardens as he drowns his sorrows and makes a fool of himself while seated in an open carriage of the type seen in William Frith's large-scale painting Derby Day (1858, now in the Tate Gallery, London). The sequence continues with, undoubtedly feeling hung-over and abused by his so-called "friends," he cuts such bachelor parties and makes himself look ridiculous in the company of ladies. In the race scene, since only one woman (extreme right) is apparent, we should assume that attending the races at Epsom was then very much a masculine pursuit, accompanied by smoking and drinking in the landau carriages. The headgear worn by Lamkin and his fellows, the respectable tophat, implies that most of the observers are members of the middle class, although the man raising a champagne glass in the foreground wears a cap and vestige of some sort of coachman's uniform. The Union Jack flying in the background implies that the event is solidly British, and that the race-goers may regard their attending the annual event is tantamount to their doing their patriotic duty.

Reference

Cruikshank, George. The Bachelor’s Own Book; Or, The Progress Of Mr. Lambkin, In The Pursuit Of Pleasure And Amusement. Glasgow: David Bryce, 1844, rpt. 1880.

Last modified 16 May 2018