On the right a grotesque figure representing the French Republic sits on a pile of gin barrels, serpents writhing in her hair as flames -- labelled Rapine, Murder, Famine, Atheism -- spit from their mouths. At her feet lies the decapitated figure of Justice. Approaching her from the left are Stanhope carrying a model of the House of Lords, a crown, sceptre and the Holy Bible. Following him is Sheridan carrying a model of the Bank of England and Fox who carries a model of India House and the royal arms. The British lion walks in the opposite direction away from the arms. Next, Whitbread hauls three barrels labelled "Whitbreads intire", the Duke of Bedford a promisary note, and finally Erskine carries a pile of books labelled "Treason / Law of / Libel / Misprisons of ..."
Description:
Title from item., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., "Publ" in imprint partially burnished from plate., and Mounted to 30 x 47 cm.; caricatures partially identified on mount.
Publisher:
Publ. Feby 10, 1794, by S.W. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
France and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Whitbread, Samuel, 1764-1815, Bedford, Francis Russell, Duke of, 1765-1802, and Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816
Subject (Topic):
Justice (Virtue), Sansculottes, History, Foreign public opinion, British, and Foreign relations
"A corner of the opera house. A dancer is poised on her right toe, while she leans forward, both arms extended, her left leg extended horizontally towards the audience. Her head is turned full-face. Those in the pit are peering under her skirt, which, falling limply almost to her ankles, defines her figure. In the front row of the pit sit (left to right) the Duke of Queensberry peering through an opera-glass; Sheridan, biting his thumb apprehensively (probably fearing competition with Drury Lane); Fox, leaning back laughing, while Pitt stands behind him, holding his shoulders, and staring intently at the dancer. Among the heads behind are Burke on the extreme right, Bedford next him, then Loughborough and Erskine (?) in their legal wigs. In a box on the first tier sit two ladies and a man, looking down upon the dancer, except that one of the ladies stares at the man she sits next through a glass. A door giving on to the stage is open, through which two men are staring up at the dancer. Behind stands a prim-looking man wearing spectacles. A scene of trees and foliage forms a background to the stage."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from item., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., The dancer is possibly Madame Rose Parisot?, and Matted to 47 x 62 cm.; printmaker's name and a key identifying subjects printed on mat below image.
Publisher:
Pub. May 7, 1796 by S.W. Fores, No. 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Queensberry, William Douglas, Duke of, 1725-1810, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Bedford, Francis Russell, Duke of, 1765-1802, Rosslyn, Alexander Wedderburn, Earl of, 1733-1805, and Erskine, Thomas Erskine, Baron, 1750-1823
Subject (Topic):
Audiences, Dancers, French, Performances, Opera houses, and Theatrical productions
"Sheridan (left) speaks through a small aperture in the curtain which he holds open, addressing the musicians, some of whom are seen on the right, saying, with a conspiratorial scowl, "D-n em dont play God Save the King". Behind the musicians are the heads of some of the audience in the pit, shouting; a label extending across part of the print (right), inscribed 'Play God save the King', shows their words. In a box are a lady and two men. The print shows the arrangement of footlights, orchestra, pit, and a box on the first tier."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., and Mounted on page 68.
Publisher:
Publd. by Thos. Cornell
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816 and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (London, England),
Subject (Topic):
Regency, Musicians, Musical instruments, National songs, and Theaters
"Sheridan (left) speaks through a small aperture in the curtain which he holds open, addressing the musicians, some of whom are seen on the right, saying, with a conspiratorial scowl, "D-n em dont play God Save the King". Behind the musicians are the heads of some of the audience in the pit, shouting; a label extending across part of the print (right), inscribed 'Play God save the King', shows their words. In a box are a lady and two men. The print shows the arrangement of footlights, orchestra, pit, and a box on the first tier."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., 1 print : etching and aquatint on wove paper ; plate mark 19.3 x 17 cm, on sheet 21.1 x 18.4 cm., and Mounted on verso of leaf 54 of James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures.
Publisher:
Publd. by Thos. Cornell
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816 and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (London, England),
Subject (Topic):
Regency, Musicians, Musical instruments, National songs, and Theaters
"Sheridan (left) speaks through a small aperture in the curtain which he holds open, addressing the musicians, some of whom are seen on the right, saying, with a conspiratorial scowl, "D-n em dont play God Save the King". Behind the musicians are the heads of some of the audience in the pit, shouting; a label extending across part of the print (right), inscribed 'Play God save the King', shows their words. In a box are a lady and two men. The print shows the arrangement of footlights, orchestra, pit, and a box on the first tier."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., and Note on verso in contemporary hand: Sheridan accus'd of having stopped the performance of God Save the King, in the King's illness - 1788.
Publisher:
Publd. by Thos. Cornell
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816 and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (London, England),
Subject (Topic):
Regency, Musicians, Musical instruments, National songs, and Theaters
Title from caption below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Temporary local subject terms: Hell -- Demons -- Pitchforks -- Horses -- Gallows -- Bellows -- Allusion to Samuel Foote's Minor -- Allusion to Fox-North Coalition -- Gambling: Dice-box -- Music sheets: Catches, cannons and glees., Watermark in center of sheet: J. Whatman., and Mounted to 34 x 42 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. by J. Wallis, No. 16 Ludgate Street
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792, Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Gordon, George, Lord, 1751-1793, Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792, Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, 1705-1793, and Savile, Christopher, ca. 1739-1819
Title from caption below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on sides., Temporary local subject terms: Allusion to Dorothy Jordan, 1762-1816 -- Allusion to Marie Antoinette, queen of France, 1755-1793 -- Allusion to Daniel Mendoza, 1764-1836 -- Marriages: Duke of York's marriage, 1791 -- Levees., and Mounted to 37 x 56 cm.
Publisher:
Pub Novr 24, 1791, by S.W. Fores, N 3 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Frederick Augustus, Prince, Duke of York and Albany, 1763-1827, Frederica Charlotte Ulrica Catherina, Princess, Duchess of York, 1767-1820, George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, William IV, King of Great Britain, 1765-1837, Barry, Augustus, 1773-1818, Barrymore, Richard Barry, Earl of, 1769-1793, Bedford, Frances Russell, Duke of, 1765-1802, Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Hanger, George, 1751?-1824, Dunstan, Jeffery, 1759?-1797, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Queensberry, William Douglas, Duke of, 1725-1810, Thurlow, Edward Thurlow, Baron, 1731-1806, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, and Weltje, Louis, 1745-1810
"Fox and Sheridan (left) sit together at the head of a rectangular table on which is a punch-bowl, &c, looking with dismay at whigs (right), who advance to hurl their wigs at a large pile of wigs on the left (inscribed 'The Heads having Scratched out of the Club'), or retire, having already done so. Fox and Sheridan wear enormous wigs, the former says, "Brother: Brother: we are all in the wrong" ... Before Fox is a list with names scored through. Sheridan grasps a bottle of 'Sherry'. A couple advance together, in the act of hurling their large wigs at the pile; one says, "I will Scratch out my Name in hopes of getting in for the City" (probably Nathaniel Newnham, returned for the City 1784, but defeated in 1790, cf. British Museum satires no. 7162). The other is perhaps Windham. The only one of the retiring wigless Whigs who is characterized is Burke. All say: "We have erased our Names for ever from the Club, when the Artful & Ambitious designs of a Faction are carried on under a Mask of Prudential Reform & when the leading Members are Notoriously known to Carry on a secret Correspondence with the Avowed Enemies of the Constitution they Affect to Support & Defend it is high time for all prudent & real friends to that Constitution to leave them to their Just Punishment, the Contemp of all true Friends to their King and Constitution."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Crack in the Wig Club
Description:
Title etched below image., Artist and printmaker unidentified; attributed to Isaac Cruickshank in the British Museum catalogue., Imprint continues: ... where may be had complete setts of Caricatures on th [sic] French Revolution & on every popular subject. An exhibition admt 1s. in which is a correct model of the guillotine 6 feet high., With publisher's hand-coloring., From a Humphrey's blue paper 'shop' album; price and identities written in ink in the margins, probably in the hand of James Gillray on front. See Andrew Edmunds' description., and On the back, a red stamp with a florish above 'SMP'. Also in black in, in upper left corner "Benier' and in the right corner 'AR'.
Publisher:
Pub. March 17, 1793, by S.W. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly ...
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Windham, William, 1750-1810, Newnham, Nathaniel, approximately 1741-1809, and Whig Club (London, England)
Subject (Topic):
Eating & drinking, Quarreling, Taverns (Inns), Wigs, Whig Party (Great Britain), and Politics and government
"Pitt and Dundas, Fox and Sheridan face each other across a long narrow table, smoking long pipes and puffing clouds of smoke in each other's faces. The gallery of the House of Commons is indicated in the background. At the head of the table (left) in a raised arm-chair (in the manner of the chairman at a tavern-club) sits a man in the hat, wig, and gown of the Speaker (Addington) [Identified by Wright and Evans as Loughborough, 'cogitating' between the parties; this is inconsistent with the House of Commons setting and with Loughborough's appointment (26 Jan. 1793) as Chancellor.] holding the mace, which has been transformed into a crutch-like stick. He puffs smoke at both Treasury and Opposition benches. Pitt, on the Speaker's right, holds a frothing tankard inscribed 'G.R' and directs a cloud of smoke at Fox, who puffs back. Before Fox is a tray of pipes and a paper of tobacco, implying that he excels in abuse. On the extreme right Dundas, a plaid across his coat, puffs at the scowling Sheridan seated close to Fox; he has a punch-bowl inscribed 'G.R' in which he dips a ladle. Small puffs of smoke issue from the pipes, great clouds from the smokers' mouths, as in BMSat 8220. The House of Commons is burlesqued as a smoking-club, a plebeian gathering in which quarrelsome members were wont to puff smoke at each other, see BMSat 8220."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from item., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Originally issued with the imprint: Pubd. Feby. 13th, 1793, by J. Aitken, Castle Street, Leicester Fields., Publication date based on publisher's street address. See British Museum catalogue., and Temporary local subject terms: Reference to the House of Commons -- Pipes -- Emblems: mace -- Tankards -- Tobacco -- Dishes: punch bowl -- Emblems: crown and initials GR on tankard and punch bowl.
Publisher:
Pubd. by H. Humphrey, St. James's St.
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, and Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844