f the reach of
the critics, and, in delineating a Frenchman, at liberty to depart from
nature, and sport in the fairy regions of caricature. Were these Gallic
soldiers naked, each of them would appear like a forked radish, with a
head fantastically carved upon it with a knife: so forlorn! that to any
thick sight he would be invisible. To see this miserable woe-begone
refuse of the army, who look like a group detached from the main body
and put on the sick list, embarking to conquer a neighbouring kingdom,
is ridiculous enough, and at the time of publication must have had great
effect. The artist seemed sensible that it was necessary to account for
the unsubstantial appearance of these shadows of men, and has hinted at
their want of solid food, in the bare bones of beef hung up in the
window, the inscription on the alehouse sign, "_Soup maigre au Sabot
Royal_," and the spider-like officer roasting four frogs which he has
impaled upon his sword. Such light and airy diet is whimsically opposed
by the motto on the standard, which two of the most valorous of this
ghastly troop are hailing with grim delight and loud exultation. It is,
indeed, an attractive motto, and well calculated to inspire this
famishing company with courage:--"_Vengeance, avec la bonne Biere, et
bon boeuf d'Angleterre._" However meagre the military, the church
militant is in no danger of starving. The portly friar is neither
emaciated by fasting nor weakened by penance. Anticipating the glory of
extirpating heresy, he is feeling the sharp edge of an axe, to be
employed in the decollation of the enemies to the true faith. A sledge
is laden with whips, wheels, ropes, chains, gibbets, and other
inquisitorial engines of torture, which are admirably calculated for the
propagation of a religion that was established in meekness and mercy,
and inculcates universal charity and forbearance. On the same sledge is
an image of St. Anthony, accompanied by his pig, and the plan of a
monastery to be built at Black Friars.

In the back-ground are a troop of soldiers so averse to this English
expedition, that their serjeant is obliged to goad them forward with his
halberd. To intimate that agriculture suffers by the invasion having
engaged the masculine inhabitants, two women, ploughing a sterile
promontory in the distance, complete this catalogue of wretchedness,
misery, and famine.

[Illustration: FRANCE.]

THE INVASION.

PLATE II.

ENGLAND.

See Jo