"Fox as Dr. Busby birches Pitt and his supporters in a lofty hall with stone walls. Fox (left) sits under a statue of Justice which is in an alcove above his head, a birch-rod in her right hand, in the left, her scales evenly balanced. Pitt lies across Fox's knee, his posteriors scarred; he says, "O pardon me & I'll promise you on my honor that I will Honestly & boldly endeavour a reform!" Fox, his birch-rod raised to smite, says, "That's all Twaddle! - so here's for your India Task! there! there! there! & there's for blocking up the old Womens Windows & making them drink Tea in the dark! - there! there! & there's for------O I've a a a hundred accounts to settle - there! there! there! there! there! there." Those who have been already chastised are borne off (right), a sea of heads, on the backs of the Foxite party ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Dr. Busby settling accounts with Master Billy and his playmates
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Two lines of quoted verse below title: "Illustrious burns, might merit more regard ...", Sheet trimmed to plate mark., Mounted to 41 x 29 cm., and Watermark in center of sheet.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby. 4th, 1785, by J. Ridgeway, Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Robinson, John, 1727-1802, Hill, Richard, Sir, 1733-1808, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792, and Pitt, William, 1759-1806
Subject (Topic):
Sculpture, Justice, Scales, Buttocks, Chamber pots, and Spanking
"Pitt sits astride a huge pile of bundles strapped to the back of a bull (John Bull); he is about to enter a high archway inscribed 'Trea[sury]'. His pose and expression combine jauntiness with dignity. His head is in profile to the right, his right hand on his hip, he wears a large bag to his wig, and while pressing his hat under his left arm holds the (slack) reins of the bull; his long thin leg hangs considerably above the bull's back, owing to the height of the bundles. The sturdy bull, though with downcast head and closed eyes, is not weighed down with his burden. Dundas (right), in Highland dress, marches grinning in front of the bull, playing the bagpipes which are inscribed 'Union Pipes' and have a transparent bag filled with coins. The bull's burden consists of ten superimposed bundles, inscribed with figures relating to the Loyalty Loan. Some of these are '50 000!, 30 000!, East India Company 2 000 000!!!, Duke of Queensbury 100-000!, 100 000!, Pit[t] D. dass 10000 [partly obscured by Pitt's foot], 50000, Duke of Bridgewater 100 000!, Corporation of London 100 000!' Behind the bull and on the extreme left are crowded together four British Jacobins, much caricatured, wearing bonnets-rouges and looking up at Pitt with anger and dismay. Their heads rise vertically one behind the other; the foremost and lowest is Fox, clenching his fist, next Sheridan in profile; then Stanhope, the fourth a mere scrawl."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Watermark: Strasburg bend with date 1798?, and Mounted to 42 x 29 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. by W. Holland, Oxford St.
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain. and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816, Bridgewater, Francis Egerton, Duke of, 1736-1803., and East India Company.
Subject (Topic):
Finance, Public, Economic conditions, John Bull (Symbolic character), Debts, Public, Loyalty Loan, and Musical instruments