A day in the life of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, in London, 1814. Coloured etching by C. Williams, 1814.

[London] (111 Cheapside) : Thomas Tegg, July 1814.

1 print : etching, with watercolour ; platemark 24.6 x 34.7 cm

The two journals. Jou.l I ; "Look here upon this picture, and on this, / "The counterfiet presentment of two brothers" Hamlet The verses are from the Champion, 19 June 1814 (Spirit of the Public Journals, 1814-, pp. 172-174)--British Museum catalogue, loc. cit. Bears number: 335

[Scene 1]: Alexander stands by a combined wash-stand and dressing-table (l.) in a simply furnished bedroom. A valet helps him to put on his coat. Lettering: With gratefull recollections blest / I thank'd my God and sunk to rest. / Slept like a top, at six arose / Shaved in a trice, slipt on my clothes,-- [Scene 2]: The Tsar walks rapidly (l. to r.) with his sister (Grand Duchess of Oldenburg) who takes his r. arm, and with her son, as they enter Hyde Park. Her head is concealed by her bonnet. He holds the right hand of her son. The Tsar wears plain riding dress with cocked hat. Behind are trees and grass, with a low circular railing. Lettering: Call'd up my sister and her son / And walk'd with them to Kensington, / Walking betimes the system hardens / So trudg'd quite round the ring and gardens.-- [Scene 3] He stands under a tree writing in a notebook beside his sister who is talking to her son. In the middle distance soldiers are being drilled. Lettering: Saw Soldiers drilling in the Parks, / And stopp'd to make my own remarks / Wether the tactics of this nation / Where worthy Russian imitation.-- [Scene 4] The Tsar and his sister stand together in a plainly furnished breakfast parlour. She unties her bonnet-strings, he takes off a glove. On a round table is a tray with coffee-pot, &c. Lettering: Return'd as hungry as a fox. / Off after breakfast to the docks, / Will introduce at home whatever / Seems in their conduct new and clever.-- [Scene 5] The pair, dressed as before, except that she holds a (closed) parasol, walk arm-in-arm (r. to l.) with the stem of a large ship in the dock immediately behind them. The bows of another ship are on the extreme left. They are accompanied or followed by a naval officer and two other men; a third addresses them, hat in hand. Lettering: Surprised and pleas'd, the docks survey'd / Those mighty monuments of trade, / Where the proud God of commerce is / Throned in his hundred palaces,-- [Scene 6] Well-dressed spectators in the foreground cheer a departing carriage in which is the tiny figure of the Tsar, bowing hat in hand to a cheering crowd. Next him his sister's bonnet appears over the lowered roof of the carriage. Two officers sit on the back seat. There are no footmen. Lettering: Took notes, set off, and thought to jog / Home to my own abode incog / But was discover'd on my rout / And follow' d with a general shout.-- [Scene 7] The Tsar sits at a plain round table, writing. An open door shows an adjacent room where the Grand Duchess, reading some letter or document, sits beside a round table, laid for a meal. Lettering: Wrote to my wife, sate down to dine / At two, and drank one glass of wine, / (Engaged to dine again at eight / Which I call supping out in state.).-- [Scene 8] The Tsar sits in a plain arm-chair beside a simple curtained bed (left); an attendant wearing a ribbon and holding a lighted candle is about to leave the small room. He wears a uniform with ribbon and stars. Lettering: Transacted business till seven, / Dress'd, supp'd, got home about eleven. / On a straw mattrass laid me down, / And slept till morn like any clown.

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. IX, London 1949, no. 12290 (from which the descriptions of the scenes given here are taken)

Wellcome Collection 652537i