“The Lay of the Last Minstrel. A Song of Dissolution.” from “Fun” (1887)

The Lay of the Last Minstrel. A Song of Dissolution

John Gordon Thomson (1841-1911)

Dalziel Brothers, engravers

Fun (18 November 1885): 155

Randolph Churchill, who wears a placard on which “Homeless” is written, says, “Hurry up Daddy” to Salisbury, who has a flask labeled “Irish Whiskey’ on his hip.

Courtesy of the Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection in the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida.

Click on image to enlarge it

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the University of Florida library and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. — George P. Landow

Using Sir Walter Scott’s “The Lay of the Last Minstrel” to satirize Churchill and Salisbury, who have led to the dissolution of government (and the cartoonist also makes a play upon dissolution, referring both to the ending the previous government and debauchery). The following verses appeared beneath the cartoon and its title:

The way was long, the voters cold,
The minister was weak — not old;
His wither’d hopes and messes gay

Seem’d to have known a better dya;
The lyre, his sole remaining joy,
Was carried by the office boy.

Related material

Last modified 10 May 2018