Verse for a Political Print on Napoleon

This Dutch broadside pairs satirical verse with imagery mocking Napoleon during the final months of his power. The poem, set in italic type and signed M.G.E., celebrates the Allied advances threatening French dominion—invoking the Rhine, the Lek, and Dutch waterways as sites of liberation. Published in Amsterdam by E. Maaskamp, the print belongs to the tradition of text-and-image satire that flourished across Europe from Hogarth onward. Such political verses, distributed as cheap prints, reached a broad public during moments of national crisis, combining vernacular language with woodcut or engraving to shape opinion. The form—accessible rhyme paired with caricature—serves patriotic ends, turning folk imagery and mythic waters into weapons against imperial ambition.