"Round a bare and decayed oak-tree is twined a serpent with the head of Fox; he has scaly arms with human hands and holds out a damaged apple inscribed 'Reform', saying, "nice Apple, Johnny! - nice Apple". John Bull (left) is a fat and squat yokel, wearing the Windsor uniform of blue coat with red collar and cuffs. The pockets of his coat and waistcoat bulge with round golden apples. His back is to Fox, towards whom he looks out of the corners of his eyes, saying: "Very nice N'apple indeed! - but my Pokes are all full of Pippins from off t'other Tree: & besides, I hates Medlars, they're so domn'd rotten! that I'se afraid they'll gie me the Guts-ach for all their vine looks!" Fox's scaly tail is coiled round the upper branches; its tip issues from a large cap of 'Liberté', decorated with tricolour cockade and ribbons, which is poised on a branch. The trunk of the tree is 'Opposition'; its roots are: 'Envy', 'Ambition', 'Disappointment'. The main branches are 'Rights of Man' (see BMSat 7867, &c.) and 'Profligacy'. Each rotten apple or medlar has an inscription: 'Democracy.', 'Treason.', 'Slavery.', 'Atheism.', 'Blasphemy.', 'Plunder.', 'Murder.', 'Whig Club', 'Impiety', 'Revolution', 'Conspiracy', 'Corresponding Society', 'Deism', 'Age of Reason' (Paine's deistic book). In the background (right) is an oak in full leaf: its trunk is 'Justice', the roots 'Commons', 'King', 'Lords', the branches 'Laws' and 'Religion'. From it hangs a crown surrounded by 'pippins', some inscribed 'Freedom', 'Happiness', 'Security'. (Cf. BMSat 8287, &c.)."--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., and Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character)--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Outside a country ale-house ruffians are practising their weapons at close range on the effigy of a British soldier which is spiked on a spear (left): helmet, coat stuffed with straw, top-boots. One man levels a spear, another fires a misshapen pistol, a third, who is bare-legged, with a headsman's axe in his belt, fires a blunderbuss whose large bullets fall to the ground. In the foreground (right) a woman turns the handle of a grindstone on which a man sharpens a sword; on the ground is a pile of weapons: swords, daggers, spears, muskets, and a pistol. Behind (right) men with pikes and spears gather round the inn-door, which is inscribed 'True French Spirits'. They drink; the landlord fills a glass from a small keg. All wear tricolour cockades. The (pictorial) sign over the door is 'Tree of Liberty' (see BMSat 9214, &c). In the background are a broken paling, trees, and a mountainous sky-line."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Companion print to: "United Irishmen upon duty." and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., and Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
"A night scene with a waning moon. United Irishmen burn and plunder. On the left is the corner of a farm house with flames pouring from a casement window. A ruffian wearing a military coat, tricolour cockade and green branch in his hat, seizes the burly farmer by the neck-cloth and raises a sword to strike; the dripping blade is inscribed 'Liberty', and a mastiff lies dead beside him. Immediately behind, in a doorway, another ruffian seizes a woman round the waist; an infant lies on the ground. A man holding a dagger is disappearing into the house, another comes out with a bundle on his head. Behind are the flames of the burning house. Over the thatched lintel is a dove-cote from which birds are escaping. Three other men hurry off laden with plunder towards a road which leads to a camp flying a tricolour flag inscribed 'Equality'. The nearest (right) holds a sow on his back by the hind legs; her little pigs run after her; a goose hangs from his belt. A bare-legged man with a dagger in his belt pushes a wheelbarrow laden with trunks. In the background other plunderers proceed along the road; a man prods a cow with his spear. The road is crowded with sheep. In the distance is a burning town."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Companion print to: "United Irishmen in training." and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., and Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.