Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Proceedings, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L, pseud.  [John Leech] *

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Time, Hunting, Class, Politics, Government, Environmentalism

    The illustration shows a terrified equestrian fox-hunter being chased along a railway track by a steam locomotive displaying some of the attributes of 'Father Time'. The front of the machine sports long, grey whiskers, while the body of the locomotive is labelled 'Time' and sprouts wings. The spoof proceedings describe a meeting of 'country gentlemen' in a 'well-known hunting district', who discuss the likely effects fox-hunting of 'the lines of railway about to intersect the kingdom'. The chairman laments the 'railway map' of England appearing in 'the last number of the "Railway Guide"' and the possibility that he and his fellow hunters will soon have nowhere to run. Sir Nimrod Snaffles attacks Parliament for the possibility that railways will destroy fox-hunting, and describes the difficulty of following the scent of a fox along a railway line on which a steam locomotive is running, and of the likely death of such a fox in a railway tunnel. Snaffles urges Parliament to stop 'further railway extension', a motion seconded by Whyte Corduroys, a statesman who dismisses the possibility of hunting 'by steam' and advises his friends to still enjoy their sport and to 'commence instantly hunting the railway Stag'.