"The Tragedy Whereof Rosalba was to be the Heroine" — Forty-seventh illustration by W. M. Thackeray for "The Rose and The Ring" (1855)

The Tragedy Whereof Rosalba was to be the Heroine

W. M. Thackeray

1855

Wood engraving, probably by William Linton

9.9 cm high by 6 cm wide (3 ⅞ by 2 ¼ inches), vignetted

Descriptive headline: "Little Suffering Victim Tender!" (392).

Forty-seventh illustration for The Rose and The Ring, p. 392.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Rosalba thrown to the Lions in the Colisseum

All night long the King spent in advising how he should get rid of this obdurate young creature. Cutting off her head was much too easy a death for her; hanging was so common in His Majesty’s dominions that it no longer afforded him any sport; finally, he bethought himself of a pair of fierce lions which had lately been sent to him as presents, and he determined, with these ferocious brutes, to hunt poor Rosalba down. Adjoining his castle was an amphitheatre where the Prince indulged in bull-baiting, rat-hunting, and other ferocious sports. The two lions were kept in a cage under this place; their roaring might be heard over the whole city, the inhabitants of which, I am sorry to say, thronged in numbers to see a poor young lady gobbled up by two wild beasts.

The King took his place in the royal box, having the officers of his Court around and the Count Hogginarmo by his side, upon whom His Majesty was observed to look very fiercely; the fact is, royal spies had told the monarch of Hogginarmo’s behaviour, his proposals to Rosalba, and his offer to fight for the crown. Black as thunder looked King Padella at this proud noble, as they sat in the front seats of the theatre waiting to see the tragedy whereof poor Rosalba was to be the heroine.

At length that Princess was brought out in her nightgown, with all her beautiful hair falling down her back, and looking so pretty that even the beef-eaters and keepers of the wild animals wept plentifully at seeing her. And she walked with her poor little feet (only luckily the arena was covered with sawdust), and went and leaned up against a great stone in the centre of the amphitheatre, round which the Court and the people were seated in boxes, with bars before them, for fear of the great, fierce, red-maned, black-throated, long-tailed, roaring, bellowing, rushing lions. [Chapter XV, "We Return to Rosalba," pp. 392-393]

Commentary: Bring on the Lions!

Thinking, perhaps, that the heroine should appear in the same frame as the blood-thirsty beasts that King Padella has ordered unleashed against Rosalba, Harry Furniss in the 1911 anniversary edition of The Christmas Books has shown the Princess not merely stoically resisting the lions, but almost oblivious to their prancing and roaring. Like Thackeray's heroine in the 1855 illustration, in the elegant 1911 engraving Rosalba stands beside the rock in the amphitheatre. But Furniss's treatment has far more visual appeal because of his wonderfully animated cartoon beasts in Dashed straight up to the stone where poor Rosalba was waiting (facing p. 393).

Sketched in very lightly in the background are the galleries in the amphitheatre, crowded with onlookers whose expressions we cannot judge. Among the principals apparently are Hogginarmo (seen earlier, proposing to Rosalba and then dismissing her servants) and King Padella himself, but Thackeray focuses solely on the innocent, unknowing heroine. We may expect another significant deus-ex-machina shortly.

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.

Titmarsh, M. A. [W. M. Thackeray].The Rose and The Ring. The Christmas Books of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh, etc. With illustrations by the Author and Richard Doyle. London: Smith, Elder, 1898. Pp. 213-340.

Created 10 August 2022