“That Fearful Mephistopheles” by Edward Linley Sambourne (1844-1910)</span>

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That Fearful Mephistopheles

Edward Linley Sambourne (1844-1910)

Wood engraving

Punch (18 May 1878): 238

Dr Faustus and Mephistopheles were popular stage figures in these years: just recently, on 22 April 1878, the programme for entertainment at Alexandra Palace had included a "Gaiety Burlesque" with Edward Terry playing the devilish Mephistopheles. Commentary continues below.

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Image capture by Mary Millar, and commentary by Shirley Nicholson.

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Here, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, is shown in the guise of Mephistopheles, about to hurl a hand grenade. The reference is to foreign policy: the war of 1877 between Russia and Turkey had concluded with the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878 which ceded Bulgaria to the Russians. Disraeli considered this a threat to British interests in the Mediterranean and was anxious about keeping the route to Imperial India open via the newly acquired Suez canal. In January 1878 he had sent a fleet to the Dardanelles in a show of strength, but The Quarterly Review, shown lying below, condemned this warmongering policy. In early May Disraeli extended his defence plan with a proposal to send Indian troops to Malta, hence the man in a turban and the set of knives with an Empress label.

The second figure is Gladstone, the former Prime Minister. He was bitterly opposed to Disraeli’s foreign policy, describing him to friends as a ‘fiend’. His speech bubble ‘Holler boys’ is from the chorus to the popular Guy Fawkes rhyme, ‘Remember remember the fifth of November’, thereby reminding the audience of a previous act of violence and its outcome. The box of matches reinforces the inflammatory theme.

Link to related material

"'You Dirty Boy': A Rare Victorian Political Cartoon"

Bibliography

'Ally Pally.' 'Conjuring Evil Spirits.' Alexandra Palace. Web. 23 July 2022.

Created 13 August 2020

Last modified 23 July 2023.