1-150-219 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'The French Porcupine', 1859. 'He may be an Inoffensive Animal, but he Don't Look like it.' Relations between France and England had begun to cool recently. Napoleon was suspected of harbouring designs on Austria. Mr Punch's explanation of this cartoon says, 'This extraordinary creature is an animal of what the zoologists call the Napoleonic species. The remarkable specimen of natural history afore you is covered with quills, which may appear inconsistent when you consider the singular animosity he is said to display against the liberty of the Press. The quills exhibit a striking similarity to swords and bayonets, together with artillery, rifles, carbines, and other firearms, by means of which, possessing the astonishing property of shooting missiles out of his self, the creature is enabled to annoy his hadversaries (sic) at a considerable distance'. From Punch, or the London Charivari, February 19, 1859.