Dr Syntax In London
Tickets are available for my walking tour throughout July.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
Dr Syntax & his Spouse plan their trip to London
Written anonymously and published in 1820, The Tour of Dr Syntax Through the Pleasures & Miseries of London was one of a popular series of comedies featuring the idiosyncratic Dr Syntax, a character originated by William Coombe and drawn by Thomas Rowlandson. These plates are believed to be the work of Robert Cruikshank, father of George Cruikshank.
Setting out for London
Arriving in London
Robbed in St Giles High St
A Promenade in Hyde Park
A Flutter at a Gaming House
At an Exhibition at the Royal Academy
At a Masquerade
In St Paul’s Churchyard on a Wet & Windy Day
Inspecting the Bank of England
Presented to the King at Court
A Night at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
A Visit to the House of Commons
A Trip behind the Scenes at the Opera
A Lecture at the London Institution
Going to Richmond on a Steam Boat
Reading his Play in the Green Room
Overshoots London Bridge & pops overboard into the Thames
Images courtesy of Bishopsgate Institute
You may also like to take a look at
More of Tom & Jerry’s Life in London
Beyond delightful! Loved his hair until I got to Windy Day and realized that it was a wig. Great hat. Just fabulous.
Excellent article. Great piccies. Thanks.
I like to think Dr. Syntax survived his dunking. All so fun, even the mugging in St. Giles High Street (whatta buncha punks!)
Hmm, being presented to the King!
There was a lovely story about a young woman telling Geo. II how she looked forward to seeing a coronation! Seems old George was too amused to be offended. Good old George.
Aw, this site is so much fun!
The colors are so brilliant! How did the printer achieve that?
Very amusing. Thanks. Love the way the wife adopts the hat with the hugest feathers.
Dr Syntax – the English classic that never came to be. Thankfully, in a culture absorbed by one Austen rehash after another, Thomas Rowlandson and ‘Old Combe’s’ creation has slipped through the cracks and remains a forgotten treasure for those who stumble across it. This makes the price of original editions and ceramic merchandise wonderfully inexpensive!
Dr Syntax was ahead of its time: the first popular serialized English character, the forerunner of the comic, the first fictional character with mass merchandising, and the first series to do a spin-off (Johnny Quae Genus after the Dr’s death). The visual representation (in aquatint) of a hapless individual plagued by bathetic and farcical situations was arguably the forerunner of late 20th century English humour (in film).
As entertaining as the Dr’s adventures are, Rowlandson and Combe were at their best “The English Dance of Death”, a classic and irreverent English take on an otherwise glum topic!