Georgian Era Party Crashing at the Butterfly’s Ball
by Rachel Fagan
The end of England’s eighteenth century brought a shift in genre and tone for children’s
literature. Previously, eighteenth-century children’s books were primarily focused on the
conveyance of moral and religious didacticism. By the late 1700s children’s literature was
evolving towards entertaining prose and verse for children, a revival of fairy tales, poetry, and
much more. Moral tales were still published but in tandem with this new literary model. This
change was propelled by the enormous popularity of a handful of books published at the end of
the long eighteenth century. Pivotal works include: The Comic Adventures of Old Mother
Hubbard and Her Dog, 1805 by Sarah Martin and The Adventures of a Pincushion, 1780 – both
available at the Osborne Collection. William Roscoe’s The Butterfly’s Ball, and the
Grasshopper’s Feast soon followed. Initially published in a magazine; in 1807, The Butterfly’s
Ball, and the Grasshopper’s Feast was printed in book form, accompanied by William
Mulready’s copperplate engravings. The book was such a huge success that it inspired
approximately a dozen other books - The Peacock at Home is held up as the best of the lot.
Roscoe’s short book is set in verse and depicts the amalgamation of a group of children at
play with an array of insect, a festive interaction between man and nature. The Butterfly’s Ball
and the Grasshopper’s Feast illustrates human supremacy over the natural world and all its
creatures. Roscoe supports this theme with child characters, a parallel to children’s new
possession of a developing literary genre. The rhythmic verse set to pictures, fluidly guides the
reader on a journey through the text as a voyeur of the festivities while maintaining a distance
between self and other – children and insects.
The book begins with an invitation from a child to his friends and readers: “Come, take
up your Hats, and away let us haste/ To the Butterfly’s Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast (Roscoe
1)1.” The text offers a voyeuristic journey to the butterfly’s ball. In the illustration, the children
are inside a home, looking out the doorway to the natural world. The child gestures towards the
doorway with a sweep of his hand, illustrating the children’s ownership of the natural world and
seamlessly connecting the introduction to the rest of the text. On the following page the
Trumpeter Gad-Fly has already begun summoning the other partygoers and a troop of gaudy
insects emerge from the wood work: “And there came the Gnat, and the Dragon-Fly too/ And all
their relations, Green, Orange, and Blue (Roscoe 10).” The rest of the text is set outdoors, in the
realm of the insects.
The children are never shown in the same space as the other partygoers, only as an
isolated group, emphasizing their position as voyeurs rather than participants. To enforce the
idea of one-sided dominance, the polarity of self and other is implicit throughout the poem by
this division. This accentuates the children’s supremacy over nature by their aloof position,
always separated from the insects by the physical space of the book.
Instead of illustrating literal insects, as later versions of The Butterfly’s Ball and the
Grasshopper’s Feast did, most of Mulready’s insects are people dressed as insects. The body and
form of the insect is appropriated by the human form. The revelers are literally
anthropomorphized into people. The few “real” insects are shown being ridden on by the humaninsects. In the above illustration, the trumpeter is standing on top of the gadfly, each foot firmly
planted on its wings. This is a physical manifestation of the thematic implications of the
children’s ascendency of nature.
The earth and the natural world as a possession to be owned by the children in this book
is most prevalent in the fourth couplet:
See the Children of Earth, and the tenants of Air,
For an Evening’s Amusement together repair (Roscoe 6).
In these lines, the children are “of the earth” while the insects are “tenants.” This literally locates
the children and insects on different social and hierarchical plains, inextricably correlating
children to ownership and dominance. This delineation mirrors eighteenth-century class
hierarchies and the division between the upper and lower classes – owners and renters,
respectively.
As one of the first British books written for children in verse as well as for their
enjoyment, the sense of possession by the children in the text is paralleled to the children’s
ownership in the book itself. The Butterfly’s Ball was initially written for Robert, one of
Roscoe’s 10 children, on his birthday. The inscription on the cover reads, “Said to be written for
the use of his children by Mr. Roscoe (Roscoe).” This book is the property of a child. After
publication, The Butterfly’s Ball became the possession of an expansive audience of children.
The size of the book itself is indicative of the audience; four inches by six inches - a small book
for a small reader full of very small partygoers.
Soon the butterfly’s ball is underway. A mushroom stands in for a table, covered in a leaf
to serve as tablecloth, and quickly laden with a variety of meat. Though a sociable bee brings
honey to add to the bounty his not so friendly relatives the hornet and the wasp arrive at the ball
as well: “But they promised that Evening to lay by their sting (Roscoe 14).” The threat of these
two companions is extinguished for the evening, but the mention of their sting is a reminder that
it exists and will be rekindled after the festivities are over. This creates the necessity for a barrier
between the children and the insects. Despite the merry festivities and oncoming feast elements
of discord loom in the background, an ever present reminder to the characters and readers of the
essential division between self and other.
As the party draws to a close the division between self and other is written into the text
with the use of words like us:
So home let us hasten, while yet we can see.
For no Watchman is waiting for you or for me. (Roscoe 29)
The use of the words us, we, and “for you or for
me” (Roscoe 29) distances the children from the
insects by implying the insects are not part of
this collective while including Roscoe’s reader .
The insects are the other, excluded from the
definitive umbrella of pronouns.
The Butterfly’s Ball and the Grasshoppers
Feast was such a beloved and cherished work
that it was set to music at the behest of King
George III and Queen Charlotte for their son.
The new genre of children’s literature came to
dominate the previous tradition of moral and
religious didactic works. Prophetically, The
Butterfly’s Ball, and the Grasshopper’s Feast
gives the subject of dominance finality; insects are physically and analytically dominated by the
human form. Finally, social hierarchies aside, the picture book eloquently and fluidly recreates
the magical revels of the butterfly’s ball, beckoning the reader to join in: “And the Revels are
now only waiting for you.” (Roscoe 6)
Endnotes
1. This edition doesn’t have page numbers. For the purpose of this article, I’ll refer to the
page numbers according to the title page as the second page and include the blank pages
as numbered pages. The images are reproduced from the Holp Shuppan facsimile edition
of The Butterfly’s Ball by Mr. Roscoe, London, John Harris, 1807, Osborne Collection of
Early Children’s Books, Toronto Public Library.
Works Cited
Roscoe, William. The Butterfly’s Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast. The Corner of St. Paul’s
Church-yard: Juvenile Library, 1807. Print.
Bibliography
Carpenter, Humphrey and Mari Prichard. Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1984. Print.
Thwaite, Mary F. From Primer to Pleasure in Reading. Boston: The Horn Book, 1972. Print.
Rachel Fagan is currently a student at the University of Toronto