‘English Manners and French Prudence or French Dragoons brought to a check by Belvoir leap...

‘English Manners and French Prudence or French Dragoons brought to a check by Belvoir leap or A scene after Nature wear Cindad Rodrigo September 1811’. Coloured engraving after Thomas Rowlandson, 1811. Published by H Humphrey, 25 November 1811. This Rowlandson cartoon commemorates the occasion when Brevet- Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Robert Manners of the 10th Dragoons was surprised by a party of French Dragoons whilst reconnoitering the French lines outside Ciudad Rodrigo. Chased to the banks of the River Agueda, Manners spurred on his horse clearing the river and escaping leaving the French on the far bank. Manners is shown nonchalantly addressing the French ‘Bon jour Messieurs’, whilst they exclaim, ‘Sacrebleu!’, ‘Mais Comment?’ and ‘Quel Diable d'anglois’.