Exhibition extraordinary in the horticultural room [graphic]

"An exhibition in the 'Great Room' of the Horticultural Society, containing portraits of officials and caricatures of spectators; the exhibits embody political and other allusions. The three officials command the room from seats at a raised table, each with a sloping desk. The chairman, hammer in hand, sits between the Secretary and Assistant Secretary. His desk is inscribed: A most respectable Cauliflower always in order -. He is John Elliot, F.R.S. (1764-1829, Treasurer, and one of four Vice-Presidents; he often presided). On his right Joseph Sabine (1770-1837, Hon. Sec. of the Society 1816-30); on his desk: The friend of Maecenas--"arvum cælumq Sabinum non cessat laudare"--Hor. Epist. On Elliot's left, John Turner, Assistant Secretary, wearing spectacles: on his desk: An highly cultivated specimen requires Glass. The exhibits are on an oblong counter against and below that of the officials, and also on a slightly lower annexe to it, having a curved front which corresponds to the horse-shoe benches facing it. Immediately below the officials are four exhibits: [1] a miniature rocky mountain or crag on a dish, with mining apparatus projecting from its summit and having berried sprigs attached to it, labelled Vapor Vincit Omnia et Omnium. Round the rock is a scroll: Comparative Declension -- Mine -- Miner -- Minus -- New Lat Gr. The berries are placarded: The New Golden Drop or Marvel of Peru--a native of No-Mans land To be bought in the City -- only -- £500 pr leaf! Cheap as dirt & production beyond beleif. [2] A few ears of corn labelled Matchless Specimen stand in a blacking-bottle inscribed Rye Coffee By Act of Parliament -- Almighty Roasters!! - H H [Henry Hunt] Radical Corn Doctor--& General Polisher of Mankind. [3] A cannon-like brass cylinder projects horizontally from the back of a kettle, its muzzle being filled with a bunch of grapes; it is fixed to a stand inscribed Perkins's New Grape House Forced by Steam NB -- Warrented [sic] not to end in Smoke. Beside it is a second bunch of grapes; a poker leans against the kettle. [4] Two small squared pieces of wood ticketed: Specimens of American Acasia NB these Trees must not be too much exposed they require warmth & thrive best in a Register. The exhibits on the projecting table are of naturalistic fruit, with one exception: a basket inscribed Keen's Seedling A Hot Bed Plant contains a plump manikin (Kean), naked except for buskins and a head-dress like a strawberry, with a spray of leaves attached to it. He holds up a grinning mask decorated with antlers. This is ticketed NB Does not thrive in America. A bunch of grapes has the inscription: a bunch of Grapes from Lady Bacchus which upon Dissection will on a Moderate Computation afford 1/2 a grape & one stone to each man of taste -- NB Beware of Drunkenness & appoplexey. Two huge pears, placed like the Green Bags of BM Satires 13735, are in a dish inscribed Sure such a Pear -- was never seen. A giant apple: "A most Prodigious Pippin" -- Byron. Two plates of apples: Sundry Specimens of forbidden Fruit NB le Meilleur de son Espéce [sic]. The spectators [Footnote: Identifications by Reid are doubtful, and it is not always clear to whom they refer: they are here given in quotation marks.] are in the foreground, some standing over the exhibits, others on or beside the green-covered benches. Each has a punning caption in the lower margin. A dandy, 'Mr. West', stands on the extreme left, holding the head of a slim cane to his mouth; he is The Pink of Fashion or Dandy-Lion [cf. BM Satires 13029]. Next him sits Alderman Cox with antlers sprouting from his bald head; he clutches an umbrella and stares through an opera-glass at 'Keen's Seedling'. He is A variety of Horn-beam -- a double bearer (an allusion to his wife's two lovers). A gouty old man, frenzied with pain and rage, shouts at a dandified supercilious-looking fellow who plants the heel of his Hessian boot on his swollen toe; they are 'Mr Rogers' and 'Mr Wilbraham': A Passionflower in full bloom and A Species of Misletoe. Seated on the front bench in back view is a vast, shapeless, and plainly dressed woman, with a child, a small replica of herself, seated beside her; each has placed next her on the seat a flat broad-brimmed straw hat. They are A Bulb from Holland with Offset. A stout man fingers fruit, furtively stuffing a capacious pocket; he is A Monstrous Medler in full bearing ('Mr Richard Salisbury'). A dandy, out at elbows and with patched trousers, stands aggressively in back view: A Sprig of Nobility running to seed -mem-while in this state not to be trusted out of doors-if kept under lock & key it will receive the benefit of the Act [for the relief of debtors] ('Mr. Motheaux', i.e. John Motteux, d. 1843, a Vice-President of the Society, and very rich). On the seat behind him are two open books: Hortl Transtns Letters from Corresponding Mr-Mustard & Cress how to choose the seed-Essay on a Radish with highly finished Engravings. Another volume of the same: . . . On the Best mode of planting a-Pip &c. A grotesquely tall cavalry officer stands in profile to the left: A Scarlet Runner ('Captain Maxwell'), (? identification intended for the naval officer), more convincingly identified by E. Hawkins as Captain Scarlett (1799-1871). An ugly scowling fellow stands in profile to the left, with folded arms, grasping a stick with a knob carved in a portrait-head of himself: An English Crab-a Native of this Country. He is 'Dr Henderson', i.e. Alexander Henderson, M.D., 1780-1863, a Vice-President of the Society. Behind him stands a naval officer with an empty right sleeve, a patch of sticking-plaster on his forehead, and a fixed smile: Heart of Oak-with its timber lopp'd-little cultivated at present the old plants vegetate in the background. Identified by E. Hawkins as Murray Maxwell (see BM Satires 12999) whom he resembles apart from the sleeve; by Reid (improbably) as 'Lord Verulam'. He may stand for the brave but neglected naval officer, with attributes both of Nelson and Maxwell. On the extreme right a brandy-faced undergraduate with a gold-tasselled cap bestrides a bench as if on a horse, hands placed as if holding whip and reins: Hortus Cantab- propagated at Newmarket ('Mr Labouchere'; ? Henry Labouchere, 1798-1869, an Oxonian). On the pilastered wall are three pictures and a portrait bust: [1] A large picture of a burly man wearing a loin-cloth only, linked to three naked children by a root which they all gnaw. This is An Irish Potatoe Plant with young ones dressed in their Jackets after the fashion of the Country. [2] The portrait of Sir Joseph Banks, still belonging to the Society, realistically copied, with the title Hortus Siccus-The Flower of the Flock. [3] A bust of George IV as a Roman Emperor, resembling the Coriolanus of BM Satires 13677: Penny Royal- used for various purposes raised by slips-offsets &c-vide Dictiony. (This bust of the then Regent (as patron of the Society) was commissioned from Goblet for £12). [4] A portrait of a pregnant woman (Lady Ann Monson) standing in a garden, inscribed, Arethusa Bulbosa-a Species of Egg Plant-hatches once a Year & bears fruit in all Climates--Introduced by Dr Fothergill A. 1778, as appears from Miss Lee -- daughter of a nursery-man -- it grows wild occasionally -- reports speak of a specimen presented to Society Anno 1 & cultivated for amusement, by one Adam. Perhaps a portrait belonging to the Society is burlesqued."--British Museum online catalogue