"The irradiated head of George IV in profile to the left, is almost covered by the darkly shaded head of Wellington, which is almost full-face, but glaring to the right with fierce yet apprehensive melancholy. From this darkened mask slants down and to the right a broadening shadow which passes across a terrestrial globe at the base of the design, covering an island inscribed 'England', but leaving 'Ireland' (right) unobscured. The rays from the King's head, only a few of which are covered by the shadow, extend to the margins and illuminate the edge of a border of dark cloud."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Eclipse lately discovered in the Georgium Sidus, and quite unexpected by any of the astronomers
Description:
Title etched below image., "A. Sharpshooter" is the pseudonym of John Phillips; see British Museum catalogue., and Approximate month of publication from the British Museum catalogue: June 1829.
Publisher:
Pub. by S.W. Fores, 41 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
Ireland.
Subject (Name):
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852 and George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830
A satire of the 1832 Reform Bill, with a see-saw with the Crown as the fulcrum. At the center is William IV, waving the Union flag; to the right is Lord Grey, seated on the lever, helping William balance with a scroll marked 'Union', with John Bull standing underneath, wedging the lever up with the 'Reform Bill'; and to the right the Duke of Wellington tumbles backwards as the lever breaks under the weight of him and two huge scrolls marked 'Anti Reform'.
Description:
Title from text below image., Date from dealer's description., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., and Laid on canvas backing.
Publisher:
Pubd. by O. Hodgson, 10 Cloth Fair
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
William IV, King of Great Britain, 1765-1837, Grey, Charles Grey, Earl, 1764-1845, Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852, and Great Britain. Parliament
Subject (Topic):
Reform, Politics and government, John Bull (Symbolic character), Seesaws, Crowns, Flags, and British
"Two adjacent designs: on the left Sheridan drink-sodden and blear-eyed, stoops obsequiously, right hand on heart, hat held low, directed to the right. He says, slyly, "Gentlemen, it is with the most unfeigned submission I present myself to Your Notice, most Humbly requesting your kind suffrages to return me (although unworthy) one of Your representatives for the great City of Westminster, and when I consider whom I succeed, I cannot but sincerly [sic] deplore his loss, but much more so my inadequacy to fill his place, and can only most solemnly promise to exert the utmost of my poor abilities to keep my place." On the right Sheridan with legs astride, hands thrust in his breeches pocket, hat on his head, still drink-sodden and sly, but more alert, says, looking to the left: "Electors, I feel a satisfaction in my own bosom (which I cannot refrain from expressing,) that my transcendant Merit fully entitle me to be chosen your representative, and that you have barely done yourselves justice in returnig [sic] me, why you must have been cursed fools if you had not, & as to that Mr Paul & Mr Cobbett, their speeches are so ungentlemanlike that I do not think it worth my while to answer them, why the fellows say I get drunk one half the day, & lie in bed the other, I dont chuse to answer that, they say I don't pay my Debts Fools! what did I want to get into Parliament for, they say I have never signed those measures since I have been in administration which I so strongly declared necessary while out of Office, this shews their Ignorance! why should I propose reform now when all my Friends have got to be served.""--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Canvassing candidate
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Charles Williams in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed to plate mark on top edge., Window mounted to 36 x 51 cm., and Mounted opposite page 621 (leaf numbered '58' in pencil) in volume 4 of an extra-illustrated copy of: Moore, T. Memoirs of the life of the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Publisher:
Pubd. Decr. 1806 by S.W. Fores, No. 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Cobbett, William, 1763-1835., Paull, James, 1770-1808., and Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816.
"John Bull, as a burly and ugly sailor, sits enthroned (right), listening to Melville's plea of innocence. Melville, in Highland dress, and wearing a feathered bonnet, stands in profile to the right. with clasped hands and flexed knees; he says: "Indeed Mr Bull - I knaw nae more aboot it - than Johnny Groat o'the Highlands." Trotter lurks behind him (left) furtively twitching his superior's kilt, and jerking his thumb to the left.; he says: "Take my advice - and let us Trot off while we are well, he looks confounded inquisitive." John scowls and glares pugnaciously, saying, "Why Look ye - de ye see - I dont come for to go for to say - exactly, that you sack'd the cole - all I say is the Shiners set sail - and as you had the care of the Hatches - it is, likely, you should know what Port they steer'd into! I say let's look at your log book Old one." He wears striped trousers and a knotted scarf; in his hat is a tobacco-pipe. His chair stands on a dais and is decorated with a crowned anchor and dolphins."--British Museum online catalogue and A satire on Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, who was accused of appropriating funds for non-naval purposes during his tenure as Lord of the Admiralty. Dundas was the most prominent Scottish politician of his era and instrumental in the progress of the Scottish Enlightenment. He is controversial today through his delaying the abolition of slavery for several years
Alternative Title:
Iohn Bull makeing a naval enqury and John Bull making a naval enquiry
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Charles Williams in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Publisher's advertisement in lower right: Folios of caracatures lent out for the evening.
Publisher:
Pubd. April 1st, 1805, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Dundas, Henry, 1742-1811, Dundas, Henry, 1742-1811., and Trotter, Alexander, 1750-1830
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character), Sailors, British, Thrones, Ethnic stereotypes, and Pleading (Begging)
"A half length portrait of Lord Sefton (1772-1838) seated on a high box-seat, driving; he leans slightly forward, his head in profile to the left, a bunch of reins in the left hand, a long whip in the right."--British Museum catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Leaf 18 in an album with the spine title: Characatures by Dighton., and Figure identified as "Ld. Sefton" in pencil below plate mark.
Publisher:
Pubd. Novr. 1801 by Dighton, Charg. Cross
Subject (Name):
Sefton, William Philip Molyneux, Earl of, 1772-1838
A copy of the fourth print in William Hogarth's series "Four Times of the Day", set at the intersection of Rummer Court and Charing Cross. Le Sueur's equestrian statue of Charles I can be seen in the background. It is the anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II (29 May, known as "Oak Apple Day"). In the foreground a drunken freemason (probably the corrupt magistrate Sir Thomas De Veil) is supported by a serving man. Behind them a man pours gin into a keg. To the left a barber is seen at work through a window; each pane of the shop window contains a lit candle. From a window above the barber shop, a chamber pot is being emptied onto the top of a wooden shelter under which a man and woman sleep. Beside them, a link boy crouches as he blows on the flame of his torch. Behind and to the right of the freemason, the Salisbury Flying Coach has crashed and overturned while trying to avoid a bonfire in the middle of the street; the passengers reach out the window of the coach, alarmed looks on their faces.Two men look on, one of whom appears to be a butcher. Shop and tavern signs include the barber's which is decorated with oak leaves and advertises "Shaving Bleeding & Teeth Drawn wth. a Touch Ecce Signum"; the Rummer Tavern; the Earl of Cardigan; and, the Bagnio and the New Bagnio
Description:
Title engraved below image., Signed bottom left hand corner: Designed by Wm. Hogarth. Signed bottom right hand corner: Engraved by T. Cook., After Hogarth. Cf. Paulson, R. Hogarth's graphic works (3rd ed.), no. 149., Plate also issued in a collection entitled Hogarth restored, first published by G.G. & J. Robinson in 1802., and Watermark: 1794 J. Whatman.
Publisher:
Published February the 1.st 1798 by G.G. & J. Robinson Pater-noster Row London
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain. and England.
Subject (Name):
De Veil, Thomas, Sir, 1684-1746
Subject (Topic):
Liquor laws, Freemasons, Jacobites, Accidents, Barbering, Butchers, Carriages & coaches, City & town life, Children, Fires, Intoxication, Liquor, Prostitution, Sleeping, Signs (Notices), and Taverns (Inns)
"Lady Conyngham chases Eldon from the royal precincts; she threatens him with the sceptre and a clenched fist, saying, Je le veut [sic]. She is décolletée, much bejewelled, and displays an elephantine leg and tiny foot. Close behind her stands Knighton, a pen behind his ear, his arm raised; he has just flung a massive gold inkpot decorated with the Royal Arms; ink falls on Eldon's head. He says: take that, & that, & that, le Roy le veut. 'Roy' is scored through. Canning stands behind impassively, hand on hip, holding up a cross, and saying In hoc Signo vinces [Constantine's miraculous vision: cf. British Museum Satires No. 15385]. The building behind is ornate and Gothic, more elaborate than the actual Cottage. The King's head (out of scale with the building) is framed in a small casement window; with an equivocal expression he looks towards Eldon, saying, Necessitas non habet leges. Eldon has dropped the Mace and the Purse of the Great Seal; he says: Had I served my God with half the Zeal I have served my King, he would not have suffered me to be turned out for supporting his Cause."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Small hole in Knighton's arm.
Publisher:
Pubd. April 21, 1827, by S.W. Fores, 41 Piccadilly, London
Subject (Name):
Conyngham, Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness, -1861, Eldon, John Scott, Earl of, 1751-1838, Knighton, William, Sir, 1776-1836, Canning, George, 1770-1827, and George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830
"Pitt (caricatured), dressed as Rolla, addresses a group of chieftains (left); the ranks of the Peruvian army with erect spears watch from the background. Below the (printed) title is printed Rolla's patriotic speech from 'Pizarro', II. ii, beginning 'My brave Associates', 'and ... we serve a Monarch whom we love . . .' (see British Museum Satires No. 9436). He stands with both arms outstretched, head turned in profile to the left, pointing rhetorically across the sea to the Spaniards, whom Sheridan (in this speech) equates with French republicans, and who are here represented by the Foxites. The Peruvians wear feathered head-dresses and feather kilts in the manner of Red Indians, except Dundas, who wears tartan and feathered head-dress. Dundas (caricatured) sits on the ground holding bow and shield, and looking with cunning scepticism at Pitt; he is the only one of the ministerial group of five who can be identified, though others may be presumed to be Grenville, Portland, and Windham."--British Museum online catalogue and From the printed British Museum catalogue: "(Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942) The Foxites, who 'fight for power, for plunder and extended rule', and follow 'an Adventurer whom they fear', all wear or carry bonnets-rouges and have tricolour flags, one inscribed 'Libertas'. They are small comic figures headed by Fox, who urges them towards the water. The others (left to right) are Lauderdale with a flag, Derby with a shield, Bedford wearing a jockey cap, Erskine in wig and gown, Norfolk holding his Earl Marshal's staff, Tierney holding pistols (see BMSat 9218, &c), Burdett, and two unidentified figures. For Pizarro see BMSat 9396, &c. The scene is burlesqued and altered from the play, where it takes place in the Temple of the Sun. The patriotic speech of Rolla (cf. BMSat 9436) made the fortune of the play and was reprinted as a broadside or placard in 1803, see BMSat 9397."
Description:
Title from letterpress text above image., Watermark: 1794., and Matted to 51 x 61 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. by W. Holland, No. 50 Oxford Street
Subject (Name):
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816., Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Portland, William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, Duke of, 1738-1809., Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville, Baron, 1759-1834., Windham, William, 1750-1810., Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806., Bedford, Francis Russell, Duke of, 1765-1802, Burdett, Francis, 1770-1844, and Smith-Stanley, Edward, 1752-1834
Subject (Topic):
Public speaking, Armies, Peruvian, Headdresses, Shields, and Spears
"Thomas Coke of Norfolk leads his bride through a pastoral landscape; he prances gaily along hat in hand, turning to look at her, and singing, Oh the Days when I was Young; in his left hand is a book: Coke upon Littleton [see British Museum Satires No. 14423]. She takes his left arm, holding back the gauze veil that floats from a bonnet trimmed with flowers and towering feathers. Her tight-waisted pelisse has a deep crimson border. She is gravely demure, but sings: Of all the Gay Lads that Dance on the Green, Old Tommys the Lad for Me. He looks younger than 67, she older than 18. Behind them (right) is a country church, before them a signpost pointing To the Breeding Park and To the Nursery. An old ram branded C approaches a sheep; a French greyhound prances towards a decrepit and shaggy dog."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Questionably attributed to William Heath in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Collector's stamp in red on verso: half-length raised figure of fox with initials MW below., and Watermark: A. Stace 1801.
Publisher:
Pub. March 26th, 1822, by S.W. Fores, 41 Picadilly [sic]
Subject (Name):
Coke, Thomas William, Earl of Leicester, 1752-1842 and Keppel, Anna Amelia, Countess of Leicester, 1803-1844
Subject (Topic):
Spouses, Walking, Dogs, Sheep, and Traffic signs & signals