f Grenville had led to the alienation of the
great American colonies, and the passing of the Stamp Act in 1765
brought a complete rupture. But this phase of politics enters but little
into our present subject. It is of more interest to inquire, apart from
this complex turbulent world of home or foreign politics, what were the
people themselves in their home life, their outdoor life, their tastes,
aspirations, sympathies, social surroundings? I think we shall get an
answer to some of these questions--an answer none the less valuable
because it comes to us indirectly--from the study of Henry William
Bunbury's social caricatures. These appear to commence with (or are in
some special cases even earlier than) his Grand Tour. The delightful
"Courier Francois"--published by Bretherton at 134 New Bond St.--belongs
surely to this period; and Thomas Wright, in his valuable "History of
Caricature,"[5] seems to bear this out when he says of Bunbury that his
earlier prints were etched and sold by James Bretherton, who published
also the works of James Sayer--an artist whom we shall meet in our next
chapter. In this print the "Courier" cracks a long whip as he covers the
ground, mounted upon a steed almost as long, as tough and wiry-looking
as himself. A short sword is at his side, and he wears enormous
jack-boots. In the distance rise peaked mountains, perhaps those of
Southern France or Savoy; and the inn to which he seems bound bears the
legend, _Poste Royale_, with the three _fleur-de-lys_. Our Courier
belongs evidently to the _ancien regime_, and might indeed have
stepped--or galloped--to us out of Sterne's "Sentimental Journey." The
drawing of these prints is clumsy and coarse in technique, though full
of character; and, in fact, Bunbury, who seems to have begun to publish
as early as 1771,[6] when he was only twenty-one years of age, had
little knowledge or skill in engraving, and seems, after some preliminary
efforts which were not very successful, to have entrusted
the most of his work to be engraved by other hands. Thus James
Bretherton, who was an engraver as well as a publisher, was engaged on
Bunbury's prints from 1772 onwards; though later we shall find
Rowlandson working as an engraver on Bunbury's humorous sketches, and
necessarily, from his strong individuality, imparting to them much of
his own character.

The pendant to the print just described is the "Courrier Anglois," and
this was in fact both engraved and publi