The Railway Dragon: 1841-1850

The Railway Dragon. Etching. A steam engine belching steam and smoke has invaded a dining room where a family had gathered to eat a Christmas meal. Its human arms hold forks with which to seize a roast of beef and a plum pudding. Chairs are overturned by fleeing terrified children, a baby lies in an upset highchair and his mother screams 'Oh! the Monster!'. The father clutches his forehead crying 'Oh! my beef! and oh! my babbies!!!' The engine intones 'I come to dine, I come to sup/I come, I come..to eat you up. From 'The Table Book', a part work by G. Cruikshank. This etching alludes to the crash in value of railway stock in 1845/6.