The Comic History of Rome

Largely, however, to modern eyes the humour lies not in à Beckett's somewhat dated text but rather in Leech's illustrations, which, with their top-hat and toga wearing patricians directly lampoon Victorian society.

[2] Gilbert à Beckett and John Leech first worked together while serving on the staff of the humorous magazine Punch, first published in 1841 under the editorship of Mark Lemon.

Senators pair their togas with top hats, generals wear muttonchops under their helmets, and priests styled as snake charmers draw gullible crowds with the help of coal-powered rotating billboards.

The top hat worn by Gracchus is a deliberate anachronism intended to compare him to 19th-century British politicians.|368x368px]] Leech's illustrations sometimes closely follow à Beckett's words; for example as in his full-colour plate depicting the legend of Romulus and Remus with the She-wolf of the tale coming straight out of Red Riding Hood.

In addition, many in England at the time saw what Caroline Wazer described as "the development of ... overtly demagogical politics" — in other words, all the things Leech had been lampooning in his cartoons in Punch for years.