"Heading to a printed broadside. Four Ministers, summoned by the King, sit at a table bending over a crown broken into two pieces. Sidmouth (right), tilting forward his seat, which is a commode, holds his clyster-pipe; in his pocket is a bottle labelled 'Strong Mixture'. He says: "There seems to have been a flaw in it for some years it only required a slight tap to do all the mischief." Liverpool, next him, says: "Some Foreign Cement or a decoction of steel lozenges [see British Museum Satires No. 13513] properly applied may stick them together for the present, but I'm afraid it won't last long, the parts seem of opposite compositions." Castlereagh says, with a sinister smile: "By the Ghost of my Father I will hold it together by a Tringular [sic] Proceeding. & whip it all round" [see British Museum Satires No. 14135]. Wellington, dressed as a field-marshal, and wearing cavalry boots with huge spurs, sits in a chair decorated with military emblems; he says: "Steel filings and leaded paste is the only Composition to be depended on." At his feet are bayonets and cannon-balls, with (left) a cannon, and a huge ball inscribed 'Bolus'. Behind Sidmouth stands George IV (right) in consultation with Eldon; he weeps, holding his handkerchief to his eye, and says, pointing to his Ministers: "Cant Sid my Tool and L--r--pl, Some how contrive to mend it." Eldon, in Chancellor's wig and gown, holds the lower end of the mace against his chin with a puzzled scowl. He answers: "Dash my Wig if I know what to do! my head's in Chancery." Beside him are two 'Old Green Bags done with' [see British Museum Satires Nos. 13735, 13986]. At the King's feet is a paper: 'Straight Jacket'. By Sidmouth's chair are papers: 'A Blister for the Radicals if they Kick up a Row'; 'A Gagging Bandage', with a pot of 'Poison for the Q . . .' [cf. British Museum Satires No. 13868]. Also the words 'Filth', 'Dirt'. On the extreme left, John Bull, a stout and formidable 'cit', is seated on a bale inscribed 'Knowledge is Power' [see British Museum Satires No. 14005]. One hand is on his hip, the other on a bludgeon of 'English Oak'. He says, frowning at the Ministers: "I think the following prescription would be the best Cement, a handful of reformation; a large portion of the abolition of Sinicures [sic], a ladle full of the reduction of Taxes, with a plentiful solution of the Oil of Just Claims, and attention to the wants of an industrious part of the Community, would more safely ensure a permanent union with the separate pieces than all the cement or steel lozengers [sic] in the world." The Queen looks in through a small window, Wood looking over her shoulder; they watch the proceedings, tense and indignant. Above the King's head is a shelf of 'Chinese Toys from Hot Creek': a little pagoda flanked by figures of (left) a fat lady and a thin man (the Conynghams) and (right) a squatting obese man (the King). The last two of seven verses (of a 'New Version'): "She claims a share "To all (I swear!) "That I possess;--but mind her "Good C--tl--gh, "Look sharp--d'y' see "There's Radicals behind her. "A stronger pill "'S required still "Than G--ff--d's famous lotion; "Your brains well shake, "The corners rake, To give the jade a motion."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Disasters of a green-bag chief!!!
Description:
Title from letterpress text below image., Printmaker and date of publication from the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on three sides., and Mounted on page 38 of: George Humphrey shop album.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821, Eldon, John Scott, Earl of, 1751-1838, Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852, Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of, 1770-1828, Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844, Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 1769-1822, Wood, Matthew, Sir, 1768-1843, Conyngham, Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness, -1861., and Conyngham, Henry, Marquess, 1766-1832.
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character), Politicians, Tables, Crowns, Medical equipment & supplies, Bayonets, Cannons, Cannon balls, Crying, Ceremonial maces, Bags, and Windows