"The Captain of the Guard, Count Kutasoff Hedzoff," fourteenth illustration by W. M. Thackeray for "The Rose and The Ring" (1855)

The Captain of the Guard, Count Kutasoff Hedzoff

W. M. Thackeray

1855

Wood engraving, probably by William Linton

8.1 cm high by 3.4 cm wide (3 ¼ by 1 ⅜ inches), vignetted

Fourteenth illustration for Thackeray’s The Rose and The Ring, p. 318.

Thackeray in introducing the romance between Princess Angelica and her cousin, Prince Giglio, feels compelled to show that the Prince was ill-equipped to be a ruler. Thackeray has used the distinctive bearskin hat and regimental insignia of the British Grenadiers. Descriptive headlines: "Shows How Giglio Evinces Idle Tastes Like Other Princes" (316-17).

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: A Minor Figure from the Education of Prince Giglio

. . . but, on the other hand, the King’s gamekeepers and huntsmen found the Prince an apt pupil; the dancing-master pronounced that he was a most elegant and assiduous scholar; the First Lord of the Billiard Table gave the most flattering reports of the Prince’s skill; so did the Groom of the Tennis Court; and as for the Captain of the Guard and Fencing Master, the VALIANT and VETERAN Count KUTASOFF HEDZOFF, he avowed that since he ran the General of Crim Tartary, the dreadful Grumbuskin, through the body, he never had encountered so expert a swordsman as Prince Giglio. ["VI. How Prince Giglio Behaved Himself," 316]

Bibliography

Furniss, Harry. The Rose and The Ring; or, The History of Prince Giglio and the Prince Bulbo. William Makepeace Thackeray's Christmas Books. With illustrations by the author and Harry Furniss. The Harry Furniss Centenary Edition. London: Macmillan and Co., 1911. Pp. 287-428.

Titmarsh, M. A. [W. M. Thackeray].The Rose and The Ring. London: Smith, Elder, 1855.

Created 19 July 2022