The great, fierce, red-maned, black-throated, long-tailed lions, uncaptioned illustration by M. A. Titmarsh [W. M. Thackeray], 1855. Wood-engraving, probably by William Linton. 5.2 cm high by 7.5 cm wide (2 ⅛ by 3 inches), vignetted, forty-eighth illustration for The Rose and The Ring, p. 393. Descriptive headline: "From These Lions Heaven Defend Her!" (393). [Click on the image to enlarge it; mouse over links.]
Passage Illustrated: Rosalba attacked by Cartoon Lions
Harry Furniss's full-page study of Rosalba and the lions in the 1911
Centenary Edition:
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. And now the gates were opened, and with a wurrawarrurawarar two great lean, hungry, roaring lions rushed out of their den, where they had been kept for three weeks on nothing but a little toast-and-water, and dashed straight up to the stone where poor Rosalba was waiting. Commend her to your patron saints, all you kind people, for she is in a dreadful state!
There was a hum and a buzz all through the circus, and the fierce King Padella even felt a little compassion. But Count Hogginarmo, seated by His Majesty, roared out "Hurray! Now for it! Soo-soo-soo!" that nobleman being uncommonly angry still at Rosalba’s refusal of him.
But O strange event! O remarkable circumstance! O extraordinary coincidence, which I am sure none of you could by any possibility have divined! When the lions came to Rosalba, instead of devouring her with their great teeth, it was with kisses they gobbled her up! They licked her pretty feet, they nuzzled their noses in her lap, they moo’d, they seemed to say, "Dear, dear sister don’t you recollect your brothers in the forest?" And she put her pretty white arms round their tawny necks, and kissed them.
King Padella was immensely astonished. [Chapter XV, "We Return to Rosalba," 393]
Commentary
Readers must find it difficult to take Thackeray's cartoon-like lions as a serious threat to the heroine, despite their lean bodies with their ribs showing through. He depicts them rushing into the arena from the gate (left). As fierce beasts they are not nearly as impressive as the animated pair of African lions which Harry Furniss depicts in his complementary full-page drawing.
Image scan 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. ]
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.
Thackeray, W. M. The Christmas Books of M. A. Titmarsh. With illustrations by Richard Doyle and Thackeray. London: Smith. Elder, 1898.
Titmarsh, M. A. [W. M. Thackeray]. The Rose and The Ring London: Smith, Elder, 1855.
Created 11 August 2022