"A design in two compartments. [1] 'Billy, in the Devil's claws'. Fox as the Devil (left) grasps the thin and terrified Pitt round the waist, pointing with his left arm to a serried rank of French soldiers, landed from the boats of French men-of-war and marching up the steep coast. He is a grotesque hairy creature, short and heavy, with webbed wings attached to his ragged coat, a barbed tail and talons, and wearing a bonnet-rouge. He says, turning a glaring eye-ball on Pitt: "Ha! Traitor! - there's the French landed in Wales! what d'ye think of that, Traitor?" [2] 'Billy, sending the Devil packing'. Pitt kneels on one knee in profile to the right, holding up a paper: 'Gazette Defeat of the Spanish Fleet; by Sir John Jarvis.' He looks up at Fox with a contemptuous gesture and a subtly triumphant smile, saying: "Ha! Mr Devil! - we've Beat the Spanish Fleet what d'ye think of that Mr Devil?" Fox springs upwards with a terrified expression, his hands held up as if asking for mercy, his cap falls off and his tail is between his legs. On the right is the sea, with a naval battle in progress."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Billy in the Devil's claws, Billy sending the Devil packing, and Table's turned
Description:
Title etched below image and enclosed within curly brackets.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., and Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.
"A very fat John Bull (right), in profile to the left, tugs hard at a rope which is round the fork of a tree, trying hard to pull it down, his left foot planted on the trunk. In the branches are the heads of Dundas (left) and Pitt (centre) in profile to the right, and of (?) Loughborough looking towards Pitt and wearing a collar inscribed 'To be Killed off'. Dundas, wearing a tartan neckcloth, is plethoric, Pitt drink-blotched and smiling. Near the heads are three money-bags: 'Sinecures', 'Treasury Pickings', 'Secret Service Money', and a scroll, 'Pensions'. Against the trunk (left) lies a headsman's axe. Beneath the title: "Yes, honest John! by your Pulling, you have Shaken it! - pull again & it will Totter, pull once more, & it will fall" - Vide Horne Tooke Speech Answer to Horne Tooke " You may pluck up a Hazel & pull up a Pea, But there ne'er was a Man, that could pull down a Tree And so Honest John if you'd pluck off the Fruit, Leave pulling alone, lay the Ax to the Root!'."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Printmaker identified as Gillray in the British Museum catalogue. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Melville, Henry Dundas,--Viscount,--1742-1811--Caricatures and cartoons., and Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.
"A vulture with the head of Pitt (in profile to the left) grasps in the left claw the Crown and sceptre, in the other (outstretched) the coronet of the Prince of Wales; the latter he crushes under the weight of his powerful talons, while he bites at the Prince's feathers, one of which he has already plucked out. The gorged bird's bulging breast is inscribed 'Treasury'; under the crown lies 'Magna Charta', torn. The spread of the creature's Avmgs and the stretch of its long heck towards the feathers give an impression of savage rapacity."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Printmaker from British Museum catalogue. and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., and Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.
"A tun of 'Wine' lies on solid trestles inscribed 'Treasury Bench'. From its huge bung-hole emerges the naked body of Pitt, as Bacchus, crowned with vine branches. He leans back tipsily, a brimming glass in each hand. Behind him stands Dundas as Silenus, fat, and partly draped in tartan; his right hand grasps Pitt's shoulder, in his left he holds up a brimming glass. He also is crowned with vine branches. Bunches of grapes hang down from a vine above their heads and are indicated as a background to the cask whose trestles are on a dais covered with a fringed carpet. Opposite the tun stands John Bull in profile to the left, looking up at Pitt, hat in hand; in his left hand is a lank purse, under his arm three empty bottles. He is a yokel, with lank hair and hydrocephalic head, wearing a smock and wrinkled gaiters. He says: "Pray Mr Bacchus have a bit of consideration for old John; - you know as how I've emptied my Purse already for you - & its waundedly hard to raise the price of a drop of Comfort, now that one's got no Money left for to pay for it!!!" Pitt says: "Twenty Pounds a T-Tun, ad-additional Duty i-i-if you d-d-don't like it at that, why t-t-t-then Dad & I will keep it all for o-o-our own Drinking, so here g-g-goes old Bu-Bu-Bull & Mouth!!! - "."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Triumph of Bacchus & Silenus and Triumph of Bacchus and Silenus
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Melville, Henry Dundas,--Viscount,--1742-1811--Caricatures and cartoons., and Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character)--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Pitt stands in the House of Commons, facing the Opposition benches; he causes a tremendous explosion by uncorking a bottle containing the bloated and scowling face of Sheridan, whose hair swirls up into the neck of the bottle. He stands like a waiter with a napkin, marked with a crown and 'GR', under his left. arm; the bottle is between his bent knees, and in his right. hand is a corkscrew, held directly over the bottle. Similar bottles, corked and labelled, stand on the Opposition benches. In the foreground, facing Pitt, are bottles containing the heads of (l. to r.) Tierney, labelled 'a Glass of All-Sorts', Fox, labelled 'True French Wine' [see BMSat 9735, &c], Windham, labelled 'Brandy and Water', and in profile to the left., Grey, labelled 'Goosberry Wine'. All look up at Pitt with anxious melancholy. Rows of bottles recede in perspective on the back benches; only three contain heads: a melancholy profile (see BMSat 10372) of Burdett, labelled 'Brentford Ale' [the polling place for Middlesex], Erskine, labelled 'Spruce Beer' [frothy explosive stuff], and behind these two a partly concealed profile labelled 'Elder Wine'. Next Burdett is a bottle of 'Whitbreads Small-Beer'. Another bottle is labelled 'Mum'. On the ground behind Pitt lies an open bottle of 'Medicinal Wine' spilling its contents, and containing the head of Sidmouth (Addington, see BMSat 9849), with closed eyes suggesting death rather than sleep. Behind, on the extreme left., is part of the Speaker's chair, only a portion of wig being visible. The violent explosion spreads across the upper part of the design; it contains the words 'Bouncings', 'Growlings', 'Fibs! Fibs! Fibs', 'Abuse', 'Abuse', 'Damn'd Fibs', 'Invectives', 'Old Puns', 'Groans of Disappointment', 'Stolen Jests', 'Invectives', 'lame Puns', 'Invectives', 'Loyal Boastings', 'Dramatic Ravings', 'Low Scurrilities', 'Stale Jokes', 'Fibs, Fibs, Fibs! Egotism'. [Commas have been added.] Below the design: " - the honble Gentm tho' he does not very often address the House, yet when he does, he always thinks proper to pay off all arrears, & like \ "a Bottle just uncork'd bursts all at once, into an explosion of Froth & Air; - then, whatever might for a length of time lie \ "lurking & corked up in his mind, whatever he thinks of himself or hears in conversation, - whatever he takes many \ "days or weeks to sleep upon, the whole common-place book of the interval is sure to burst out at once, stored with \ "Studied-Jokes, Sarcasms, arguments, invectives, & every thing else, which his mind or memory are capable of embracing \ "whether they have any relation or not to the Subject under discussion - See Mr P-tts speech on ye Genl Defence Bill."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Title etched in bottom part of image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Burdett, Francis,--1770-1844--Caricatures and cartoons., Erskine, Thomas Erskine,--Baron,--1750-1823--Caricatures and cartoons., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Grey, Charles Grey,--Earl,--1764-1845--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., Sidmouth, Henry Addington,--Viscount,--1757-1844--Caricatures and cartoons., Tierney, George,--1761-1830--Caricatures and cartoons., and Windham, William,--1750-1810--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Dundas in Highland dress, wearing a Scots cap over a legal wig, crouches with his head turned in profile to the right. With his voluminous tartan plaid he covers Pitt, who sits close against him in profile to the left on the pan of a close-stool inscribed 'Extracts from the Treasury', his profile, feet, and ankles alone being visible."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Printmaker from British Museum catalogue. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Melville, Henry Dundas,--Viscount,--1742-1811--Caricatures and cartoons., and Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.