"Fox, as the Devil, has sprung into the air, supported by small feathered wings inscribed 'Honesty' and 'Humility' and by two stout crutches, which rest upon dark clouds. He has a heavy hairy body with cloven hoofs, and wears a bonnet rouge with tricolour cockade and the triple plume of the Prince of Wales. The two crutches have the heads, respectively, of Sidmouth (left) and Grenville. He wears a long narrow cloak with a tricolour collar; it is inscribed 'Loyalty, Independence & Public-Good'. The end of this is clutched by John Bull, a fat 'cit' (resembling John Gilpin, see BMSat 6886, &c), who is drawn up into the air, losing hat and wig. Fox says, looking over his right shoulder with a sinister grin: "Come along Johnny! - take fast hold of my Cloak, & I'll bring you to the land of Milk & Honey!!!" The terrified John answers: " - O yes, I will try to holdfast! - but I'm damnably afraid that your Cloak may slip off before we get there, & I may chance to break my Neck!" Below John's feet and at the base of the design (left), are the roofs of London, including the top of the gateway of St. James's Palace and the dome of St. Paul's. Fox is flying towards the façade of Carlton House, which emerges from clouds; over its roof rises a sun emitting rays, the disk inscribed 'New Constitution'. Above the colonnade is the inscription 'Carolus. II. Redimmus'. Resting on the clouds below Carlton House are three tiny scenes: 'Liberty': two gamblers throwing dice, one Sheridan the other the Prince; men watch them. 'Chastity', the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert, indicated by feathers in her hair, embrace on a sofa. 'Temperance', men carouse at a round table; one sprawls on the floor. Fox, as the Devil (cf. BMSat 6383, &c), under the cloak of patriotism, is carried to power by two props, Sidmouth and Grenville, on whose coalition with the Foxites the new Ministry, see BMSat 10531, &c, is. based. This relies not on St. James's but on Carlton House, the secrets of which, as in Le Sage's story, are revealed in three scenes satirizing the life of the Prince. The allegation that the new Ministry was subservient to Carlton House was natural, see BMSat 10252, &c, and recurs, see (e.g.) BMSats 10530, &c, 10543, 10697, but proved unfounded, see G. M. Trevelyan, 'Lord Grey of the Reform Bill', p. 153 f., and cf. BMSat 10526, &c."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Devil upon two sticks conveying John Bull to the land of promise
Description:
Attribution following title: Vide le Sage. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Gillray, James, 1756-1815, artist., Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville,--Baron,--1759-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., and Sidmouth, Henry Addington,--Viscount,--1757-1844--Caricatures and cartoons.
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character)--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Fox (right), a hairy French ruffian, lunges fiercely forward, to aim a pistol inscribed 'La Mort' point-blank at a target symbolizing the British constitution (see BMSat 8287, &c). In his left hand he holds behind him a dagger, its blade inscribed 'Fraternite'. He is coatless and wears a French cocked hat inscribed 'Liberte', with a tricolour cockade. A miniature bonnet-rouge inscribed 'Egalite' hangs from the lapel of his waistcoat. From one pocket hangs a paper: '2 7bre Certificat de Civisme'; from another: 'Delenda . . . Carth[ago]'. His shirt-sleeves are rolled, the right sleeve in tatters, his breeches torn and unbuttoned at the knee, his stockings hang in festoons round his ankles. The target hangs by a ribbon from the gnarled branch of an old oak (left), the bull's-eye is the crown, the inner ring is inscribed 'Lords', the outer 'Commons'. There is a landscape background."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
One line of text following title: This print, copied from the French original, is dedicated to the London Corresponding Society. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., and Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
"Fox stands full-face, hands on hips, legs astride, looking arrogantly to the right. He wears a looped hat with large ostrich feathers, long loose coat with a lace collar and long revers over a tunic with a sash which defines his vast paunch. Tunic and coat have embroidered borders. The hat and coat are black, the tunic, stockings, lining and revers of the coat are red, which is the predominating colour. On the carpet is a design of the royal arms; he straddles across them, his feet planted on lion and unicorn."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Habits of new French legislators and other public functionaries ; no. 1
Description:
First plate in the series of "Habits of new French legislators and other public functionaries." Other plates in the series have series title "French habits." and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., and Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
"Pitt as, a Roman charioteer, wearing a laurel wreath, is seated in an ornate chariot drawn (left to right) by the British Lion and the White Horse of Hanover (cf. BMSat 8691). He holds the reins, but scarcely controls the galloping pair. One foot rests on a shield bearing a fanged serpent, and wreathed with serpents, inscribed: 'Exit Python Republicanus'. Behind him is a book decorated with a lyre inscribed 'Magna Charta'. Ornate projections from the back of the chariot support the disk of the 'Sun of the Constitution': the Hebrew letters for Jehovah are surrounded by the words COMMONS . KING . LORDS; this is irradiated, the royal arms being etched partly on the sun, partly on its rays, and immediately behind Pitt. Two cherubs fly behind the chariot and on the extreme left; one holds up a 'Bible', the other a family tree of the 'Brunswick Succession': from the base, inscribed 'Ge III', rises 'G IV', from whose circle sprout five stems; beneath is inscribed: 'And future Kings, and Monarchs yet unborn'. A fringed cloth on the back of the horse is covered by the royal arms; one on the lion has Britannia, seated as on coins, but holding up a dagger in one hand, a birch-rod in the other. Both animals dash furiously forward in pursuit of the Opposition. The horse snorts fire; from his forehead thunderbolts dart towards the fugitives. The chariot is on an ascending slope of smooth cloud, lit by the 'Sun of the Constitution' (cf. BMSat 8287, &c.) and strewn with roses which fall from the draperies of Justice, who floats before the chariot, leading it on, her head surrounded by a scroll inscribed 'Honorable Peace, or Everlasting War'. In her left hand she holds up her balanced scales, in her right she grasps a flag-staff on which the British flag floats above a tattered tricolour pennant, inscribed 'Republic'. From under the dark and turbulent edges of the cloud-path the Opposition flee into the void. On the extreme left is the half length figure of a monstrous hag, her hair composed of serpents spitting fire, with a fillet inscribed 'The Whig Club'. In her right hand she holds one of the serpents which issue from her pendent breasts, in the left is an almost extinguished firebrand. She glares up in impotent rage. Beneath the horse and lion (right) are the heads and shoulders of (left to right) Sheridan, Fox, and Stanhope, their hair streaming behind them; each drops a dagger from his raised right hand. Sheridan and Fox have expressions of gloomy terror, Stanhope is melancholy but composed. In the abyss beneath the clouds are three small winged creatures: an owl (left) with the head of Lansdowne, two bats, one with the head of M. A. Taylor, the other (right) with that of Erskine. In their flight they have left behind them on the path of cloud three papers: 'Plan for inflaming the Dissenters in Scotland'; 'A scheme for raising the Catholicks in Ireland' (cf. BMSat 8632); 'Jacobin Prophecies for breeding Sedition in England' (an allusion to Brothers, see BMSat 8627, &c). A second group flees upwards away from the thunderbolts of the Hanoverian horse; from the head of each falls a bonnet-rouge whose peak terminates in a (fool's) bell (cf. BMSat 9374). They are Lauderdale, with clasped hands, the Duke of Norfolk looking round apprehensively, above him the Duke of Grafton, and above again Lord Derby. [Lord Holland gives alternative identifications: Stanhope is Francis, and Grafton is Stanhope. These two, however, closely resemble other heads by Gillray of Stanhope and Grafton.] Above their heads and among the clouds are fleeing serpents, a bonnet-rouge, a book: 'Irruption of the Goths and Vandals. 2d Edition', and a scroll whose ragged edges merge in cloud: 'Patriotick Propositions. Peace, Peace on any Terms. Fraternisation Unconditional Submission No Law, no King, No God.' Another branch of cloud diverges to the left behind Justice. Its upper part is covered with wrecked ships and tiny fleeing figures. These are little sansculottes, all with large bonnets-rouges, one naked, others barelegged except for boots or sabots. They drop their swords."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Sun of the Constitution rising superior to the clouds of Opposition
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Derby, Edward Smith Stanley,--Earl of,--1752-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy,--Duke of,--1735-1811--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Lansdowne, William Petty,--Marquis of,--1737-1805--Caricatures and cartoons., Lauderdale, James Maitland,--Earl of,--1759-1839--Caricatures and cartoons., Norfolk, Charles Howard,--Duke of,--1746-1815--Caricatures and cartoons., Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., Stanhope, Charles Stanhope,--Earl,--1753-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., and Taylor, Michael Angelo,--1757-1834--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Members of the new Ministry in a handsome room prepare themselves for office, each intent on his toilet. Both Fox and Grey look into a large pier-glass on the extreme left., whose frame is surmounted by the Royal Arms and Prince's feathers, indicating Carlton House and the Prince's 'ostentatious patronage' of the new Ministry. [W. Fitzpatrick, 'H.M.C., Dropmore MSS.' viii, p. viii.] Fox (Foreign Secretary), wearing a tattered shirt, shaves, holding a small bowl filled with lather. On a chair are the coat (blue with red facings, the Windsor uniform) and feathered cocked hat which he is about to put on; against it leans a sword with a jewelled hilt, while his discarded coat and bonnet rouge with tricolour cockade lie beneath it. Beside him stands the taller Grey, brushing his teeth. He wears naval uniform (as First Lord) Behind him, also in profile to the left., stands Sidmouth (Lord Privy Seal), his head and shoulders the centre of clouds of powder, which Vansittart is puffing at him from a powdering-bag. His Windsor uniform is protected by a long towel; in his coat pocket is a clyster-pipe (see BMSat 9849). In the foreground little Lord Henry Petty struts with pointed toe, delighted at the effect of his Chancellor of the Exchequer's gown, which trails on the ground behind him, far too long. Windham (Secretary for War and Colonies), behind him, sits full face over a tub, washing his feet; he wears waistcoat and rolled-up shirt-sleeves; his hat and stockings are on the ground. Next is the centre figure, Lord Grenville (First Lord of the Treasury), in shirt and bag-wig, hitching up his breeches, and thus accentuating his heavy posteriors, which gave a second meaning to the term Broad-bottom Ministry (see BMSat 10530). Moira (Master of the Ordnance) stands stiffly with his back to the wall, tying his high black stock. He wears regimentals with boots and cocked hat. The Duke of Bedford, very neat in shirt and breeches, sits on a stool pulling on a top-boot, resting his leg on the left shoulder of Tierney, who sits at his feet, drawing on a Hessian boot. Both are in profile to the right., and are preparing for a journey to Ireland. Beside Bedford are two papers: 'New way of Improving the Irish-Breed of Black Cattle' and 'Road from Wooburn Farm to Ireland' [on this Tierney is sitting]. Behind Bedford, Sheridan struggles into a shirt; on the wall hangs his discarded Harlequin dress with mask and wooden sword (see BMSat 9916). Lord Spencer (Home Secretary), behind and on the r. of Sheridan, in waistcoat and shirt-sleeves, washes his hands in a basin on a table. On the extreme right. is the corner of a dressing-table, in the mirror of which Erskine delightedly adjusts his hat over his Chancellor's wig. He wears an enormously long Chancellor's gown with the Purse of the Great Seal hanging from his arm. Behind him on the wall hangs his discarded barrister's wig. The mace, reversed, leans against the table."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Bedford, John Russell,--Duke of,--1766-1839--Caricatures and cartoons., Erskine, Thomas Erskine,--Baron,--1750-1823--Caricatures and cartoons., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville,--Baron,--1759-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., Grey, Charles Grey,--Earl,--1764-1845--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Hastings, Francis Rawdon-Hastings,--Marquess of,--1754-1826--Caricatures and cartoons., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Lansdowne, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice,--Marquess of,--1780-1863--Caricatures and cartoons., Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., Sidmouth, Henry Addington,--Viscount,--1757-1844--Caricatures and cartoons., Spencer, George John Spencer,--Earl,--1758-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., Tierney, George,--1761-1830--Caricatures and cartoons., Vansittart, Nicholas,--1766-1851--Caricatures and cartoons., and Windham, William,--1750-1810--Caricatures and cartoons.
"A carriage (right) drives at a gallop towards the gateway of St. James's Palace; Lord Lansdowne, in peer's robes, puts his head out of the window to call to the coachman, who is lashing the pair of horses: "Drive you dog! drive! - now, or never! - aha the Coast is clearing!------drive! drive! you dog!" He has a sly smile. The carriage is decorated with coronets, and on the door is the beehive crest of Lord Lansdowne and the motto 'Ut Ap[es] Geometriam'. The coachman and three footmen who stand behind have enormous feather-trimmed cocked hats in the French fashion, with bag-wigs. Running behind the carriage with outstretched arms are: Fox, saying, "Stop! stop! - & take me in, - Stop!"; Sheridan saying, "And me too! stop", and (very small) M. A. Taylor, saying, "And me". In the background a similar carriage is driving yet more rapidly out of the Palace gateway; the tiny figures are recognizable: Dundas, the coachman, has dropped the reins, the horses are running away; Pitt, terror-stricken, puts his arms through the windows. Both look up at a dove with an olive-branch which flies over their heads towards the gateway. In the background are part of the Palace and the houses at the SW. corner of St. James's Street."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Title from item. and Year of publication from British Museum catalogue.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Lansdowne, William Petty,--Marquis of,--1737-1805--Caricatures and cartoons., Melville, Henry Dundas,--Viscount,--1742-1811--Caricatures and cartoons., Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., and Taylor, Michael Angelo,--1757-1834--Caricatures and cartoons.
Subject (Topic):
Great Britain--Politics and government--1789-1820--Humor.
"A scene representing the hustings at the Westminster election. Fox (right) stealthily enters a door leading to the side of the hustings, carrying on his shoulder a sack from holes in which guineas and a Garter jewel are issuing. On the left, on the hustings, Townshend stands between two supporters, resting an elbow on the shoulder of each: one (left) is a chimney-sweep, waving his brush, his shovel is inscribed 'Townsend'; the other is a butcher, waving his hat. Behind, the profile heads of Burke (left) and Hanger (right) face each other. A crowd is indicated at the back of the hustings, and a large banner inscribed 'Noble Townsend' is conspicuous. In front of Townshend is a poll-clerk who offers a Testament to a Jew who stands outside the hustings about to take the 'bribery oath'. Over his shoulders hangs a pair of breeches, under his arm is a hat inscribed 'Townsend'. On the door through which Fox enters is a placard: 'Liberty & Property Secured'. Fox looks with a sly smile at Townshend and his supporters; from his pocket protrudes a document inscribed 'Ways & Means'."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Attributed to Gillray in the British Museum catalogue., Following imprint: Price 1 s., Reissue with altered price, from 5 s. to 1 s., and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Burke, Edmund,--1729-1797--Caricatures and cartoons., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Hanger, George,--1751?-1824--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., and Townsend, John,--1757-1826--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Fox stands, declaiming violently to his supporters, who surround him. He holds out a paper: 'Ruination - New Tax one Tenth of Income & Property, to Support the accursed War, of the Infamous Minister'. His clenched right fist is raised, and he says: "Gentlemen; - we are all ruin'd we sha'n't have Five Guineas left to make a Bett with! - one Tenth dead, without a single throw of the Dice! - why its worse than the French Game of Requisition; - for in that there would be some chance of coming in for Snacks!" He is dishevelled and ragged, with a padlocked 'Begging Box' slung round his shoulder (see BMSat 8331, &c). Erskine stands beside him in profile to the left as in BMSat 9246, holding a brief-bag: 'Republican Causes'. He says: "I wish it was to come on in the Kings-Bench for I would take up a Brief against him there, gratis; - but I dont like to say any thing to him in t'other place" [see BMSat 8502]. M. A. Taylor, like a small fat boy, wearing a tricolour suit and a bonnet-rouge in the form of a fool's cap, says, looking up at Fox: "One Tenth? - why he takes us for Boys or Chicks! [see BMSat 6777] zounds what a funk I am in." Tierney, wearing a ragged coat, stands in profile to the right, saying, "10 per Cent? - why it will make Bankrupts of all my Friends in in [sic] the Borough [see BMSat 9045]; ah the Villainous Cutthroat he wants to bring us to St Georges's Fields at last." Next Tierney stands Horne Tooke, saying, "One Tenth? - mum! - get it of me if you can tell how to get blood from a Post - or from one of the Gibbets at Wimbleton! - why its a better Subject to Halloo about than the Brentford Election." (He lived largely on the bounty of his friends.) On the right, behind Erskine, are the Duke of Bedford, dressed as a jockey (cf. BMSat 9380), saying, "Damn their 10 per Cents, I'll warrant I'll Jockey 'em as I did with the Servants Tax" [see BMSat 9167], and Norfolk, a bottle of Port in each waistcoat pocket, saying: "Why it will ruin us all! - One whole Tenth taken away from the Majesty of the People? - good heavens! - I must give up my Constitutional Toasts, & be contented with 4 Bottles a day" [see BMSat 9168, &c.]. Derby, in hunting-dress, says: "I must sell my Hounds, & hang up my Hunting Cap, upon my Horns!" [cf. BMSat 6668]. Nicholls peers through a glass, saying, "I see clearly he wants to keep us out of place, & fill his own pockets". On the extreme right stands Burdett, saying, "Dam'me! if my Lady Ox------d [see BMSat 9240] must not leave off wearing Trousers & take care of her little 10 pr Cent." On the left, outside the Foxite circle, stand four others: Sinclair, barefooted and wearing a kilt and plaid, scratches his arm (cf. BMSat 5940), saying "De'el tak me, but it gees me the Itch all o'er, to be prime Minister mysell; - out o' the 10 pr Cents I could mak up for ye loss of my place at the Board" (see BMSat 9271). George Walpole [Identified by Wright and Evans as Tarleton.] (see BMSat 9376), very thin, and wearing his enormous cocked hat, says with clenched fists: "Pistols! - I say, - Pistols! for the Villain! - zounds, I wish I had my Long-Sword here, & a few Moroons, I'd teach him how to humbug us out of our Property." (He had been Tierney's second, see BMSat 9218, and had taken a leading part in suppressing an insurrection of maroons in Jamaica in 1795.) Moira stands stiffly erect, saying: "An upright Man can see things at a distance; - yes! [See BMSat 9184.] I can plainly perceive, he would cut us down One Tenth, that he may be above us all." Pulteney, on the extreme left, peers through an eye-glass, saying, "10 per Cent? mercy upon me! where am I to get 10 per Cent? - ay I see I shall die a Beggar at last" [see BMSat 9212]. Behind Fox are two silent supporters: (left) Stanhope (or perhaps Grafton) saying "Mum", and (right) Sir George Shuckburgh, full-face."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Bedford, Francis Russell,--Duke of,--1765-1802--Caricatures and cartoons., Burdett, Francis,--1770-1844--Caricatures and cartoons., Derby, Edward Smith Stanley,--Earl of,--1752-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., Erskine, Thomas Erskine,--Baron,--1750-1823--Caricatures and cartoons., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Hastings, Francis Rawdon-Hastings,--Marquess of,--1754-1826--Caricatures and cartoons., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Nicholls, John,--1745?-1832--Caricatures and cartoons., Norfolk, Charles Howard,--Duke of,--1746-1815--Caricatures and cartoons., Shuckburgh-Evelyn, George Augustus William,--Sir,--1751-1804--Caricatures and cartoons., Sinclair, John,--Sir,--1754-1835--Caricatures and cartoons., Taylor, Michael Angelo,--1757-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., Tierney, George,--1761-1830--Caricatures and cartoons., Tooke, John Horne,--1736-1812--Caricatures and cartoons., and Walpole, George,--1761-1830--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Fox and Norfolk meet on the pavement outside Brookes's. Fox (left), much caricatured, with his shaggy hair standing on end and stockings slipping down, says, with an expression of angry despair: "Scratch'd off! - dishd! - kick'dout! - dam'me!!!" Norfolk (right), with fingers outspread in dismay, answers: "How? what! - Kick'd out? - ah! morbleu! - chacun a son tour! morbleu! morbleu!" Fox holds in his right hand a paper: 'List of Privy Council C. J. Fox', the name scored through. From the pocket of his bulging waistcoat hangs a paper: 'Whig Toasts & Sentiment[s] Sovereignty of People - Jacobins of Ireland - French'. Under Norfolk's left arm is his baton of hereditary Earl Marshal; from his coat-pocket hangs a paper: 'Honours List Ld Lieutenant of Yorkshire] Colonelship of Militia'. Both wear small bonnets-rouges. Behind, Brooks's is indicated with the balcony; only one house separates it from the gateway of St. James's Palace, at which Pitt (right) and Dundas (left) stand as sentinels, in Grenadier uniform (with the addition in Dundas's case of a tartan plaid), each before his sentry box, and facing each other in profile. On the gateway (right) is a placard: 'Proclamation against Sedition & Treasonable Meetings'; on each sentry box is a proclamation headed 'GR'. On Pitt's box: 'Whereas . . . for carrying secret correspondence with ye French - God sa . . .'; on Dundas's box: 'Whereas . . . apprehension of Traitors . . . God save ye King'."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
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., Melville, Henry Dundas,--Viscount,--1742-1811--Caricatures and cartoons., Norfolk, Charles Howard,--Duke of,--1746-1815--Caricatures and cartoons., and Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Pitt, a colossal figure (cf. BMSat 8980), bestrides the Rotunda of the 'Bank of England'. His arms and legs are very thin, but his body is formed of a (transparent) sack distended with gold coins and inscribed '£'. His elbows are akimbo, his hands grasp the sides of the sack; from the little finger of his left hand hangs a key, 'Key of Public Property'. Round the mouth of the sack is a heavy chain clasped by a padlock inscribed 'Power of securing Public Credit'. From the sack emerges the pipe-like neck down which coins are passing. Pitt looks arrogantly to the right, a blast issues from his closed lips of many paper notes inscribed 'one'. Near his mouth are a few gold coins which he is presumably inhaling. He wears a crown formed of 'one' pound notes; through it project his ass's ears. The near side of the Rotunda is removed, showing a descending shower of paper and an ascending cluster of coins which are being drawn upwards to join those in the sack. Little figures in and around the rotunda, under Pitt's legs, hold up their hands in dismay at the shower of £1 notes. Among them is a John Bull wearing a smock. Two men hold papers inscribed 'Dividend'; a Jew walks off (left) with 'Scrip'. On the left, behind Pitt's right foot, is the sea-shore; large reeds at its edge blow towards him; among these are five heads wearing bonnets-rouges, each with a label issuing from his mouth: 'Midas has Ears'. They are Fox, Sheridan, Erskine, M. A. Taylor, and (?) Grey. They diminish in size from Fox to Taylor. Across the sea is 'Brest', from which a fleet is setting out. Behind it are black clouds, and an explosion rises from them in which are swarms of tiny figures holding daggers and wearing bonnets-rouges. This spreads behind Pitt's head who appears unconscious of it. He looks down towards three almost naked winged figures: Grenville (left) and Dundas (right) hold up between them a scroll: 'Prosperous state of British Finances. & the new Plan for diminishing the National Debt - with Hints on the increase of Commerce'. Between and above them is Windham, Secretary-at-War, a pen behind his ear. He waves his cocked hat, Grenville his coronet, and Dundas his Scots cap. Beneath the title: 'History of Midas, - The great Midas having dedicated himself to Bacchus [cf. BMSat 8651], obtained from that Deity, the Power of changing all he Touched - Apollo fixed Asses-Ears upon his head, for his Ignorance - & although he tried to hide his disgrace with a Regal Cap, yet the very Sedges which grew from the Mud of the Pactolus, whisper'd out his Infamy, whenever they were agitated by the Wind from the opposite Shore - Vide Ovid's Metamorposes.'"--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Midas transmuting all into paper
Description:
Title etched below image. 'Gold' in title scored through.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Bank of England., Erskine, Thomas Erskine,--Baron,--1750-1823--Caricatures and cartoons., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville,--Baron,--1759-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., Grey, Charles Grey,--Earl,--1764-1845--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Melville, Henry Dundas,--Viscount,--1742-1811--Caricatures and cartoons., Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., Taylor, Michael Angelo,--1757-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., and Windham, William,--1750-1810--Caricatures and cartoons.