"The Lord Chancellor of Paflagonia, SQARETOSO," thirteenth illustration by W. M. Thackeray for "The Rose and The Ring" (1855)

The Lord Chancellor of Paflagonia, SQARETOSO

W. M. Thackeray

1855

Wood engraving, probably by William Linton

7.4 cm high by 4.3 cm wide (2 ⅞ by 1 ¾ inches), vignetted

thirteenth illustration for Thackeray’s The Rose and The Ring, p. 317.

Thackeray now switches to the education of Prince Giglio, who does not behave like a future responsible Constitutional Monarch at all. Descriptive headlines: "Shows How Giglio Evinces Idle Tastes Like Other Princes" (316-17). [Commentary continues below.]

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: The Education of Prince Giglio

And now let us speak about Prince Giglio, the nephew of the reigning monarch of Paflagonia. It has already been stated, in page seven, that as long as he had a smart coat to wear, a good horse to ride, and money in his pocket, or rather to take out of his pocket, for he was very good-natured, my young Prince did not care for the loss of his crown and sceptre, being a thoughtless youth, not much inclined to politics or any kind of learning. So his tutor had a sinecure. Giglio would not learn classics or mathematics, and the Lord Chancellor of Paflagonia, SQUARETOSO, pulled a very long face because the Prince could not be got to study the Paflagonian laws and constitution . . . . ["VI. How Prince Giglio Behaved Himself," 316]

Commentary

In 1855, when Thackeray wrote the pantomime Christmas Book, Queen Victoria's eldest son and heir, "Bertie," the Prince of Wales (and future Edward VII) was already fourteen years old. Although he was not excelling as a student, despite the rigorous educational scheme to which he was subjected, he attended both Oxford and Cambridge. Something of a royal wastrel and womanizer, Bertie was excluded from affairs of state until he was past fifty years of age.

The portrait of Squaretso, on the other hand, looks nothing like that of of Lord Aberdeen, the Prime Minister of Great Britain (1852 through 1855) who had to resign over his incompetence in managing the Crimean War.

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 18 July 2022