Copy of William Hogarth's satire on the "bad taste of the town", with different verses engraved below. The image is of a composite street scene with a theatre on either side and an "Academy of Arts" (Lord Burlington's recently remodelled house in Piccadilly) beyond; on the left, a fool and a devil are leading a crowd of masqueraders into the Opera House in the Haymarket from which hang a banner advertising an opera (based on British Museum satire no. 1768 with the singers Cuzzoni, Senesino and Berenstadt) and a sign for "Dr. Faux's [Isaac Fawkes] Dexterity of Hand", the impressario John James Heidegger leans from an upper window; on the right, a crowd is flocking to see the pantomime "Dr Faustus"; in the centre, a woman pushes a wheelbarrow of waste paper including volumes of Congreve, Dryden, Ottway, Shakespeare, Addison, and Ben John[son]; the gate of the Academy beyond is topped with statues of Michelangelo, Raphael and William Kent, admired by three gentlemen."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Bad taste of the town
Description:
Titles, state, publisher, and date from Paulson., Text and image on one plate., Two columns of four lines of verse engraved below image: Long has the stage productive been, Of offsprings it could brag on, But never 'till this age was seen, A wind-mill and a dragon. O Congreve, lay they pen aside, Shakespear, thy works disown, Since monsters grim, * nought beside. Can please this senseless town., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., Cf. No. 1742 in Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 2., Copy of Hogarth print. See Paulson, R. Hogarth's graphic works (3rd ed.), no. 44., On page 26 in volume 1., Ms. note in Steevens's hand above print: Copy., and Lengthy ms. note in Steevens's hand to the right of print describing how the print was pirated very soon after its publication.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Heidegger, John James, 1659?-1748, Senesino, -1759?, Kent, William, 1685-1748, Cuzzoni, Francesco, approximately 1680-1759, Fawkes, Isaac, -1731, Burlington, Richard Boyle, Earl of, 1694-1753, and Hercules (Roman mythological character),
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character), City & town life, Clergy, Costumes, Dogs, and Masquerades
Leaf 30. Caricatures drawn & etched by those celebrated artists Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshanks
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"Perceval, in back view, and in barrister's wig and gown, holds a magic lantern by which he displays the Pope in the guise of a ragged beggar, for the benefit of John Bull and the King. George III is seated on the throne and looks at the screen through a telescope held by Eldon, inscribed 'Ill-done's Patent Magnifying Papascope'. The King, much alarmed at what he sees, clutches the mace which Eldon holds, with the Purse of the Great Seal attached to it. Beside the King (right) stand a bishop in back view, and a man wearing academic cap and gown. Perceval' s lantern is inscribed 'Percev[al] Humbu[g]'. Canning stands in front of it; Castlereagh beside it, both pointing at John Bull, a yokel in a smock, who has fallen to the ground in terror at the lantern-display, guineas falling from his pocket. The figure on the screen is an old man with patched robes, two keys hanging from a girdle, a sack of 'Bulls' on his back. In place of his triple crown he wears three hats like a Jewish old clothes' man, and for a crosier he has a branching stick. Close to the screen and with his back to it, Portland sits on a block of stone (cf. British Museum Satires No. 10718), talking to Hawkesbury. On the stone is drawn a wig on a block with the inscription 'Retrospective View of Portland' [i.e. as a former Whig]. In the shadow, between and behind Canning and Castlereagh, stands Melville in Highland dress; on his sporran: 'Ex Privy' [Counsellor]. Three other figures are not characterized. In the foreground a dog, its collar inscribed 'John Bull', is biting the 'Union Bill 1800', where it is headed by an Irish harp; a fragment, with the Royal Arms, has been torn off. The dog befouls a 'Catholic Petition'. On the wall is a large playbill: 'Theatre Royal St Stephens By his Majesty's Servants Feby 1807 Horrid Tragedy of Raw Head and Bloody Bones in a Red Cloak Mesrs Percivall, Canning, H-b-y [Harrowby], Portland Castlereagh Wonderful Deceptions, Messrs Proteus & Ill-done.'"--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
What is this spectre of affright, with which they would delude our sight? ...
Description:
Title from British Museum catalogue., Four lines of verse in two columns below image: What is this spectre of affright, with which they would delude our sight? A shadow thrown upon the wall, a magic-lanthorn-shew! that's all! Page 15., Artist identified as Samuel de Wilde in the British Museum catalogue., Plate from: Caricatures drawn & etched by those celebrated artists Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshanks, &c. [London] : [Field & Tuer], [approximately 1868?], and On leaf 30 of: Caricatures drawn & etched by those celebrated artists Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshanks, &c.
Publisher:
Published by S. & H. Oddy, Oxford-Street, London and Field & Tuer
Subject (Name):
Restrike. For original issue of the plate, see no. 10962 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 8., Perceval, Spencer, 1762-1812, Pius VII, Pope, 1742-1823, George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820, Eldon, John Scott, Earl of, 1751-1838, Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 1769-1822, Canning, George, 1770-1827, Portland, William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, Duke of, 1738-1809, Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of, 1770-1828, Dundas, Henry, 1742-1811, and Harrowby, Dudley Ryder, Earl of, 1762-1847.
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character), Projectors, Thrones, Telescopes, Ceremonial maces, Clergy, and Dogs
Title supplied by cataloger., Place and date of imprint conjectured from that of book., Probably from: A series of original portraits and caricature etchings by the late John Kay (1877)., Numbered '215' in lower right corner of plate., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
Title supplied by cataloger., Place and date of imprint conjectured from that of book., Probably from: A series of original portraits and caricature etchings by the late John Kay (1842)., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
Title supplied by cataloger., Place and date of imprint conjectured from that of book., Probably from: A series of original portraits and caricature etchings by the late John Kay. Edinburgh : Adam and Charles Black, 1877, v. i., Numbered in lower right of plate: 127., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
Title supplied by cataloger., Place and date of imprint conjectured from that of book., Probably from: A series of original portraits and caricature etchings by the late John Kay. Edinburgh : Adam and Charles Black, 1877, v. ii., and Numbered in lower right: 260.
Title supplied by cataloger., Place and date of imprint conjectured from that of book., Probably from: A series of original portraits and caricature etchings by the late John Kay. Edinburgh : Adam and Charles Black, 1877, v. i., Numbered in lower right of plate: 73., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
Title supplied by cataloger., Place and date of imprint conjectured from that of book., Probably from: A series of original portraits and caricature etchings by the late John Kay. Edinburgh : Adam and Charles Black, 1877, v. i., Numbered in lower right of plate: 74., and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires.
"Powys, M.P. for Northamptonshire, stands in profile to the left bending forward, both hands extended. The very melancholoy expression in this and other prints is consistent with this practice of prefacing his speeches 'on occasions of great interest, by a copious dicharge of tears which he seemed to command at will', Wraxall, Memoirs, 1884, iii. 280."--British Museum catalogue
Description:
Title from British Museum catalogue., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., and Mounted on page 7 with three other prints.