A satire of a Gretna Green marriage, taking place in front of smithy's shop. Erskine, disguised in woman's dress with a huge feathered bonnet over a barrister's wig, holds the right hand of a demure-looking woman, modishly dressed and apparently pregnant. He holds a paper: 'Breach of Promise'. With them are three young children. The smith wears Highland dress; he holds a red-hot bar on the anvil and raises his hammer, saying, "I shall make a good thing of this Piece at last." Erskine says: "I have bother'd the Courts in London many times, I'll now try my hand at the Scotch Bar--as to Miss C-- she may do her worst since I have got my Letters back." The woman says: "Now who dare say, Blacks the White of my Eye." In the background (right) a young woman rushes down a slope towards the smithy, shouting, "Oh Stop Stop Stop, false Man, I will yet seek redress tho you have got back your letters--" Beside her is a sign-post pointing 'To Gretna Green'. A little boy with Erskine's features, wearing tartan trousers, stands on tip-toe to watch the smith; on the ground beside him is a toy (or emblem), a cock on a pair of breeches. A little girl stands by her mother nursing a doll fashionably dressed as a woman, but with Erskine's profile. Another boy with a toy horse on a string stands in back view watching 'Miss C'. Behind the smith is the furnace; on the wall hang many rings: 'Rings to fit all Hands.'
Alternative Title:
More legitimates
Description:
Title etched below image. and Printed on paper watermarked "1818".
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby. 4th, 1819, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly & 312 Oxford Street
Subject (Geographic):
Scotland, Gretna Green, Gretna Green (Scotland), and Gretna Green.
Subject (Name):
Erskine, Thomas Erskine, Baron, 1750-1823, Erskine, Sarah Buck, Baroness, -1825, and Erskine, Thomas Erskine, Baron, 1750-1823.
Subject (Topic):
Elopement, Breach of promise, Elopements, Ethnic stereotypes, Forge shops, Metalworking, Furnaces, Anvils, and Hammers
"Heading to a broadside printed in two columns. The King, a bloated and whiskered infant, sleeps in a cradle, rocked by Sidmouth (right), a lean old woman wearing a cap and bag-wig, who sits in a rocking-chair, his clyster-pipe (cf. British Museum Satires No. 9849) on the ground. The cradle is surmounted by a pagoda with bells, and ornamented by two large crocodiles, representing the Chinese dragons of the Pavilion, cf. British Museum Satires No. 12749. On it are also a sun, with a fool's cap in its disk, between crescent moons. Round the cradle lie toys: soldiers, mounted lancers, &c., on wheels, a cannon, a sceptre, a crown with a toy windmill stuck in it. With these are papers: 'Divorce'; 'Protocal' [sic]; 'Send her to Hell'. The infant holds a coral and bells and a corkscrew. Castlereagh sits over the fire warming a napkin. Canning (see British Museum Satires No. 13737) walks off to the left, disgustedly carrying the pan of a commode decorated with a crown and 'G.R.' On the chimneypiece are pap-boat, bottle of 'Dolby's Carminative, &c'. (Dolby was a radical bookseller, 'Dalby's carminative' a well-known remedy for infants). A large 'Green Bag' hangs on the wall. In a doorway behind Sidmouth, inscribed 'French Dolls', stand two young women, in evening dress, stiff and impassive."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title printed in letterpress below image., First edition? For the eighth edition, see no. 13764 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 10., Date of publication from description of later edition in the British Museum catalogue., Twelve stanzas of verse in two columns below title, printed in letterpress: Hush! GREAT BABE! lie still and slumber, Troops of lancers guard thy bed, Chinese gimcracks, without number, Nicely dangle o'er thy head. ..., "Price, with the engraving, coloured, 1s."--Below verses., Publisher's advertisement above imprint statement: "The Devil's ball; or, There never were such times." Words only, 2d. - with coloured engraving, 1s. 6d.", and "(Entered at Stationers' Hall.)"--Below imprint.
Publisher:
Published by T. Dolby, 299, Strand, and 34, Wardour Street, Soho
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821., Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844, Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 1769-1822, and Canning, George, 1770-1827
Subject (Topic):
Politics and government, Political satire, English, Cradles, Rocking chairs, Toys, and Fireplaces