"King Valoroso and the Captain of the Guards," twenty-ninth illustration by W. M. Thackeray for "The Rose and The Ring" (1855)

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King Valoroso and the Captain of the Guards

W. M. Thackeray

1855

Wood engraving, probably by William Linton

6.7 cm high by 6.1 cm wide (2 ⅝ by 2 ½ inches), vignetted

Twenty-fourth illustration for The Rose and The Ring, p. 348.

Descriptive headline: "See the Monarch in a Huff" (348).

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 Death-Warrant even bears the Royal Seal

As soon as the coals began to burn him, the King came to himself and stood up. ‘Ho! my captain of the guards!’ His Majesty exclaimed, stamping his royal feet with rage. O piteous spectacle! the King’s nose was bent quite crooked by the blow of Prince Giglio! His Majesty ground his teeth with rage. ‘Hedzoff,’ he said, taking a death-warrant out of his dressing-gown pocket, ‘Hedzoff, good Hedzoff, seize upon the Prince. Thou’lt find him in his chamber two pair up. But now he dared, with sacrilegious hand, to strike the sacred night-cap of a king — Hedzoff, and floor me with a warming-pan! Away, no more demur, the villain dies! See it be done, or else, — h’m — ha! — h’m! mind shine own eyes!’ and followed by the ladies, and lifting up the tails of his dressing-gown, the King entered his own apartment. [Chapter X, "How King Valoroso Was in a Dreadful Passion," pp. 348-349]

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 29 July 2022