"The Prince and Britannia stand on each side of the Coronation Chair as in BMSat 7386. Its Gothic carvings are altered to satyrs' heads. On the back of the Chair is a small money-bag inscribed Virtue. The Prince and Britannia stand as before, but the foot which she places on the step inscribed 'The Voice of the People' is a cloven hoof. The next step, 'Publick Safety', is badly cracked; the other steps are blank. No words come from Britannia's mouth; the Prince says, "I woud do the best to please my People". Liberty and Justice are transformed into Sheridan and Fox. Sheridan, wearing ragged clothes, holds the cap of 'Liberty' on a broom; he puts one hand on the Prince's shoulder while he steals a handkerchief from his coat-pocket. Fox, in place of Justice's sword, holds a bludgeon in the head of which is an eye which drips blood (in the coloured version); he holds up an evenly-balanced pair of scales, formed of two dice-boxes. His eye-bandage is pushed up on his forehead and he says, "I have the Voice of the People in my Eye". 'Commerce' is transformed from a comely young woman into a drunken hag who holds up a glass of gin. The Mayor says, "We have not been taxed this twelvemonth". Pitt, instead of being the colleague of the Furies, attacks them: in his left hand he holds up a large conical extinguisher with which he is about to put out the torch of 'Rebellion'. He says, "I could soon extinguish these Puppet Shew Vapours if properly supported". The Fury holds up two torches, one of 'Rebellion', the other 'Puppet Shew'. He puts his left foot on the prostrate head of 'Envy', who is holding up a fire-brand. The third fury (Falsehood) has disappeared. The British Lion looks from behind Britannia's shield snarling ferociously in defence of Pitt."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Attributed to Rowlandson by Grego., Temporary local subject terms: Lord William Gill, 1720-1798: Mayor of London -- Lord Mayors -- Chairs: Satyrs' heads on coronation chair -- Broom as staff of liberty -- Emblems: drunken hag / commerce -- Scales: dice boxes -- Huge candle snuffers -- British lion -- Furies -- Regency crisis., and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
S. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fores, S. W., publisher., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., George--IV,--King of Great Britain,--1762-1830--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., and Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Pitt steers a small boat, 'The Constitution', with a single sail, a Union pennant flying from the mast, through huge waves between a high rock (left) and a whirlpool whose circumference is an inverted crown which merges in the swirling water. He is in profile to the right, gazing fixedly at a castle on a promontory (right) among still waters, which flies a flag inscribed 'Haven of Public Happiness'. Britannia, a buxom young woman, sits in the boat, her hands raised in alarm, her head turned towards the rock, on the summit of which is a large bonnet-rouge with a tricolour cockade on a post within a ramshackle fence. Spray dashes against Scylla; beside the rock and in the foreground (left) three sharks with human heads closely pursue Pitt's boat: Sheridan, Fox, and Priestley (good profile portraits), their eyes fixed menacingly on the boat. They are: 'Sharks'; 'Dogs of Scylla'."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Vessel of the Constitution steered clear of the Rock of Democracy and the Whirlpool of Arbitrary Power
Description:
Caption below image, under the heads of Priestley, Fox and Sheridan: Sharks, dogs of Scylla. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Priestley, Joseph,--1733-1804--Caricatures and cartoons., and Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Britannia (left) grovels before a monster (right) representing the French Republic. Behind her stand Fox, Sheridan, and Stanhope, as sansculottes, joyfully hailing the apparition. Britannia on her knees, and bending forward, holds out her arms in a gesture of abject submission, pointing to her shield and spear, the crown and sceptre, and 'Magna Charta' which lie on the ground before her. She is on the edge of a cliff. The monster is supported on dark clouds; he is a man seated with arms and legs akimbo, one jack-boot is planted on the sun, a face in its disk looking from the corners of the eyes at Britannia with a dismayed expression; the other is on a crescent enclosing the old moon. His seat is the point of a huge bomb-shaped cap of 'Li-ber-tas'. His head is a black cloud on which grotesquely fierce features are indicated. Above his head rises a guillotine emitting rays of light. His dress is that of a ragged sansculotte with a dagger thrust in his belt. The British sansculottes are also bare-legged and wear belts in which a dagger is thrust; but they have nothing of the fierce arrogance of France. Fox, his stockings ungartered, and Sheridan, shambling forward with propitiatory gestures, remove their bonnets-rouges. Fox holds out two large keys labelled 'Keys of the Bank of England'; Sheridan proffers a document: 'We Promise the Surrender of the Navy of Great Brita[in] - of Corsica [see BMSat 8516] - of the East & West Indias [see BMSat 8599] - & to abolish the Worship of a God' [cf. BMSat 8350]. Stanhope, less deprecating, stands behind the others, waving his bonnet-rouge and a rolled document inscribed 'Destruction of Parliament'."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Britannia petitioning for peace
Description:
Dedication etched below title: To the patriotic advocates for peace, this seemly sight is dedicated. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., and Stanhope, Charles Stanhope,--Earl,--1753-1816--Caricatures and cartoons.