"Courtenay (right), as the chairman of a tavern club, sits at the head of an oblong table, in profile to the left, smoking. He says to George Hanger, who faces him at the foot of the table: "I say, Georgey how do Things look now?" The words issue from his mouth in a cloud of smoke. Hanger answers: "Ax my Grandmother's Muff, pray do!" He holds a pipe, his wine-glass is overturned. His bludgeon is thrust in his top-boot. On Hanger's right sits Fox, leaning back in his chair, registering extravagant amusement and saying "O charming! - charming!" Opposite Fox sits Sheridan, clasping a decanter of 'Brandy' in one hand, a glass in the other. He says, with a sly smile, "Excellent! - damme Georgey, Excellent." Next him, and on Courtenay's right, sits M. A. Taylor, flourishing his pipe and saying, "Bravo! the best Thing I ever heard said, damme." On the table are decanters of 'Mum' and of 'Champaig[n]'. Above Courtenay's head is a picture of a simian creature in a cap of Liberty, squatting on the ground and smoking a pipe. The frame is inscribed 'Juvenal'. The floor is carpeted, the chairs are ornate."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Feast of reason and the flow of soul and Wits of the age setting the table in a roar
Pubd. Feby 4th, 1797, by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Hanger, George, 1751?-1824, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Taylor, Michael Angelo, 1757-1834, and Courtenay, John, 1738-1816
"The Tree of Liberty (cf. BMSat 9214), often (in fact) a pole surmounted by a bonnet-rouge, is here a pike on which is the bleeding head of Fox, the eyes covered by a cap inscribed 'Libertas'. Round the base of the pike and on a grassy mound are heaped the heads of the Foxites. The six heads at the base of the pile are (left to right): Thelwall, a little apart from the others; beside him is a paper: 'Lectures upon the Fall of the Republic by J. Thelwall' (see BMSat 8685); against his head lies the blade of a headsman's axe; Derby (in 'profil perdu'), Lauderdale, Stanhope, M. A. Taylor, and Hanger. The two central heads are Erskine and Sheridan; next the latter is Horne Tooke. Behind, and forming the apex of the pile, are the head of (?) Grey [Incorrectly identified in Wright and Evans as Wilkes. It is possible that the head here identified as Grey is Byng, and that identified as Bedford is Grey.] in profile to the left and the handsome head of (?) Bedford. In the background are clouds, and below (right) the top of a hill."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Temporary local subject terms: Tree of Liberty -- Foxites -- Clubs: Whig Club -- Weapons: spears -- Executioner's axe -- Allusion to Thelwall's Political Lectures.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby. 16th, 1797, by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Hanger, George, 1751?-1824, Taylor, Michael Angelo, 1757-1834, Smith-Stanley, Edward, 1752-1834, Lauderdale, James Maitland, Earl of, 1759-1839, Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816, Erskine, Thomas Erskine, Baron, 1750-1823, Bedford, Francis Russell, Duke of, 1765-1802, Grey, Charles Grey, Earl, 1764-1845, Tooke, John Horne, 1736-1812, and Thelwall, John, 1764-1834
"The fat and florid Lady Buckinghamshire, seated at the head of her faro-table, throws up her arms in dismay, turning towards her husband, who enters through a door (left), saying, "The Bank's stole! - we're ruin'd my Lady! - but I'll run to Bow Street & fix the Saddle upon the right horse, my Lady!" She exclaims: "The Bank stole, my Lord? - why I secur'd it in the Housekeepers-room myself! - this comes of admitting Jacobins into the house! - Ah! the Cheats! Seven Hundred gone smack; - without a single Cock of the Cards!" She fills the centre of the design, and is much larger than her husband. Her guests are crowded together on the right. A pretty young woman, Mrs. Concannon, seated on her left, clasps her hands, exclaiming, "Bank stole! - why I had a Gold snuffbox stole last night from my Table in Grafton Street." Lady Archer, on the extreme right, on the nearer side of the table, turns a corvine and angry profile towards Lord Buckinghamshire, saying, "Stole! - bless me why a Lady had her Pocket pick'd at my House last Monday." Opposite her sits Fox, wearing a hat and putting his hand over his mouth, saying, "Zounds! I hope they dont Smoke me." Sheridan looks over his shoulder, saying, "nor me". Behind Fox, Hanger stands in profile to the left, wearing a hat and holding his bludgeon; he says: "O! if they come to the Mount, if I don't tip them Shelalee" (see BMSat 8889). ... The door (left) resembles that of a strongroom, with two heavy locks and three bolts."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Rook's pigeon'd and Rook's pigeoned
Description:
Title etched below image., One line of quoted text following title: "When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war!", Sheet trimmed within plate mark on bottom edge., and Literature: Quotation from Nathaniel Lee's The Rival Queens, iv. ii.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby 2d, 1797, by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Archer, Sarah West, Lady, 1741-1801, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Hobart, Robert, Earl of Buckinghamshire, 1760-1816, Buckinghamshire, Albinia Hobart, Countess of, 1738-1816, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, and Hanger, George, 1751?-1824
Subject (Topic):
Jacobins, Card games, Floor coverings, Gambling, Robberies, and Tables