The Coward Comforted. . .

This is the third of three crudely satiric prints—all published by James Aitken and all related to a somewhat confusing but very public dispute between the Prince of Wales's brother, Prince Frederick Duke of York, and Lt. Colonel Charles Lennox, the nephew of the Duke of Richmond and a member of the Prince's regiment of the Cold Stream Guards. (The other two prints are Brunswick Triumphant, or The Battle of the Bloods and A Prince and a Poltron.

The Coward Comforted

The Coward Comforted [May 29, 1789]
© Lewsis Walpole Library, Yale University

In this print we see Lennox after the duel in which he had fired upon York (grazing only a curl of his wig), and in which the Prince had rather histrionically refused to return fire. Lennox is being revived and consoled by his wife, the former Lady Charlotte Gordon, and his uncle, the 3rd Duke of Richmond. Meanwhile Prime Minister William Pitt appears in the background.

Like Brunswick Triumphant, the scene presented is a satiric fiction, designed to make Lennox and his relations appear as bad as possible. Lennox had no doubt hoped that a duel challenging the Prince's imputation of Lennox's cowardice would go some way towards re-establishing his public reputation as a soldier and " a man of honour and courage." But according to the account of the attending Seconds, the Prince explicitly refused to do so. (The full account of the Seconds is included in my commentary on A Prince and a Poltron).

So using words derived from Shakespeare's Othello Act III Scene 3, 351ff, when Othello is told that Desdemona has been unfaithful, Gillray portrays a defeated and disconsolate Lennox with the gun from the duel still in his hand lamenting the loss of his reputation, his claim, as a Colonel in the army, to being a military hero.

Othello Coward Comforted
I had been happy if the general camp, Pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet body, So I had nothing known. Oh, now forever Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content! Farewell the plumed troops and the big wars That makes ambition virtue! Oh, farewell! Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, th' ear-piercing fife The royal banner, and all quality, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
Act III Scene 3, 351ff		 I had been happy, if the Gen'ral Camp Foot-soldiers, all, had pull'd my Nose in private, So it had not been told; O, now for ever Farewell the Plumed Troops & the big War, The spirit-stirring Drum & the ear piercing fife, The Royal Banner & all quality, Pride, Pomp, & Circumstance of glorious War. Farewell! Your Hero's reputations gone!

Lady Charlotte is using a smelling bottle to revive her "shiv'ring" husband.

Ah! that hot-blooded-fellow (i.e.the Prince) has fright'ned him into an Ague – come do take a sniff at your Charlotte's smelling-bottle, the Bonny Duchess [of Richmond] says that my smelling Bottle is a nice Thing to raise a Man's courage, I long for you to take hold of it, my dear L ... x.

Smelling salts were a common accessory for 18th century women who were thought to be particularly liable to fainting fits because of their delicate nature, sometimes even wearing decorative containers, with the mixture inside, around their necks. This strong association with smelling bottles and frail women, however, further confirms the image of Lennox as weak and cowardly. And I can't help feeling that there is a further unmanliness hinted at by the Duchess's remark that her smelling bottle can be used to "raise a man's courage" and that she longs for Lennox to "take hold of it."

But it is the Duke of Richmond who is Lennox's chief consoler, putting a point-for-point positive (but from our perspective thoroughly ironic) spin on Lennox's actions.

. . .your putting up with a public Insult when you could have resented it, shews your magnanimity! your pretending not to remember the words of the insult, shews your harmless disposition! – your Letters to the Club, your good-sense! – their being sent a week before the Duel, your want of malice! as it gave his Highness's friends an opportunity to secure him from your resentment, by putting you under arrest! – your firing first, proves your spirit! – your not waiting to be shot at, your discretion! – & your being satisfied with only attempting the life of the son of your **** proves your Loyalty, & generosity!

His consolations are offered, bending over towards Lennox, in a pose similar to the one in Prince Pitt where Pitt is supported by Richmond as he reaches for the Crown. In that print, the Duke of Richmond is not only supporting Pitt, but also preventing the Prince of Wales from rising to claim his right, as Heir Apparent, to the Crown.

Prince Frederick had been one of the staunchest supporters of his brother, the Prince of Wales, in the Regency crisis, so it is no surprise that Pitt appears in the background, wondering if Lennox has been successful in killing York and thereby "lessening the number of my Plagues."

Sources and Reading

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