"George IV, dressed as Henry VIII and with cavalry boots decorated with rosettes, sits on the throne (right), shrinking angrily from oxen wearing civic gowns who bow, presenting petitions. All the horns of the oxen are tipped with tiny caps resembling caps of Liberty; a slightly larger pair protects the prongs of a fork held up on the extreme left above the massed heads of the beasts. On this a placard is speared: 'Petitions from every Part of the World--(Hole's and Corner's excepted) to Dismiss the Ministers-- signed by upwards of 999,999--Millions of the Brute Creation.' The petitions of the four beasts in the front row are headed: 'Petition of Lord Mayor & Citizens of London to Dismiss Ministers'; 'Petitions from every part of England & Wales to Dismiss Ministers &c &c &c'; '. . . ions from every Part of Scotland to Dismiss Ministers &c &c &c'; 'Petitions from every part of Ireland . . . [ut supra]'. Hooves rise from cattle behind holding more petitions: 'from Europe'; 'From Asia'; 'from Africa'; 'from America'; 'from every Honest Man'. The canopied throne is raised on a dais of three steps, the footstool is a cushion supported on a (carved) elephant; but the King's feet are drawn back. His right hand is on his hip; he holds an oddly shaped sceptre in the left hand. The back of the throne is framed by carved mannikins with shackled hands and feet; a large crown rests on the heads of the two uppermost. The back of the canopy has a pattern of writhing serpents. Ministers, much caricatured, stand on the right and left of the dais. In the foreground (right) and on the King's left, Wellington, with the apron and steel of a butcher (as in British Museum Satires No. 13288), with gauntlet gloves and with a star on his tunic, holds a blood-stained battle-axe. Sidmouth, as Court-fool, sits in profile to the left on an apothecary's mortar, wearing a double-peaked fool's cap and a star, and holding a bladder which is his clyster-pipe. Behind is Eldon, scowling savagely and holding the mace and the Purse of the Great Seal. A bishop holding a crosier stands on either side of the throne, behind the Ministers. A staff supports an emblematical cask which a naked Bacchus bestrides. On the King's right is Liverpool, holding a tall staff to which a green bag is tied (see British Museum Satires No. 13735). Next him is Castlereagh, blandly sinister, holding a scourge, and with a bunch of keys hanging from his belt; he stares at the petitioners. A tiny Vansittart is beside him, in his Chancellor of the Exchequer's gown, with an 'X' on his breast above a chequered pattern, hung diamond-wise. Immensely fat and absurd beefeaters stand along the back of the room under quasi-Gothic windows of stained glass. All hold tridents and turn their eyes towards the petitioners, grinning grotesquely. Each window is centred by an escutcheon on which a decanter is the chief object. The upper part of each is filled by a design of three large peacock's feathers (see British Museum Satires No. 13299). The Gothic roof, caricaturing that at Carlton House (cf. British Museum Satires No. 11727), is filled with tracery in the form of antlers."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched above image., Text below image: Historical fact, King Henry VIII, being petitioned to dismiss his ministers & council, by the citizens of London & many boroughs, to releive [sic] his oppressed subjects, made the citizens this sagacious reply: "We, with all our cabinet, think it strange that ye, who be but brutes, & inexpert folk, shd. tell us who be & who be not fit for our council." Vide La Belle Assemblée for October 1820, p. 151., and Mounted on page 33 of: George Humphrey shop album.
Publisher:
Pubd. by G. Humphrey, Feby. 14, 1821, 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Eldon, John Scott, Earl of, 1751-1838, Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852, Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of, 1770-1828, Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844, Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 1769-1822, Vansittart, Nicholas, 1766-1851, Henry VIII, King of England, 1491-1547., and Dionysus (Greek deity)
Subject (Topic):
Politicians, Boots, Thrones, Oxen, Bowing, Petitions, Liberty cap, Pitchforks, Podiums, Crowns, Scepters, Butchers, Fools & jesters, Mortars & pestles, Medical equipment & supplies, Ceremonial maces, Bishops, Bags, Whips, Honor guards, and Windows
"Heading to a printed broadside. Four Ministers, summoned by the King, sit at a table bending over a crown broken into two pieces. Sidmouth (right), tilting forward his seat, which is a commode, holds his clyster-pipe; in his pocket is a bottle labelled 'Strong Mixture'. He says: "There seems to have been a flaw in it for some years it only required a slight tap to do all the mischief." Liverpool, next him, says: "Some Foreign Cement or a decoction of steel lozenges [see British Museum Satires No. 13513] properly applied may stick them together for the present, but I'm afraid it won't last long, the parts seem of opposite compositions." Castlereagh says, with a sinister smile: "By the Ghost of my Father I will hold it together by a Tringular [sic] Proceeding. & whip it all round" [see British Museum Satires No. 14135]. Wellington, dressed as a field-marshal, and wearing cavalry boots with huge spurs, sits in a chair decorated with military emblems; he says: "Steel filings and leaded paste is the only Composition to be depended on." At his feet are bayonets and cannon-balls, with (left) a cannon, and a huge ball inscribed 'Bolus'. Behind Sidmouth stands George IV (right) in consultation with Eldon; he weeps, holding his handkerchief to his eye, and says, pointing to his Ministers: "Cant Sid my Tool and L--r--pl, Some how contrive to mend it." Eldon, in Chancellor's wig and gown, holds the lower end of the mace against his chin with a puzzled scowl. He answers: "Dash my Wig if I know what to do! my head's in Chancery." Beside him are two 'Old Green Bags done with' [see British Museum Satires Nos. 13735, 13986]. At the King's feet is a paper: 'Straight Jacket'. By Sidmouth's chair are papers: 'A Blister for the Radicals if they Kick up a Row'; 'A Gagging Bandage', with a pot of 'Poison for the Q . . .' [cf. British Museum Satires No. 13868]. Also the words 'Filth', 'Dirt'. On the extreme left, John Bull, a stout and formidable 'cit', is seated on a bale inscribed 'Knowledge is Power' [see British Museum Satires No. 14005]. One hand is on his hip, the other on a bludgeon of 'English Oak'. He says, frowning at the Ministers: "I think the following prescription would be the best Cement, a handful of reformation; a large portion of the abolition of Sinicures [sic], a ladle full of the reduction of Taxes, with a plentiful solution of the Oil of Just Claims, and attention to the wants of an industrious part of the Community, would more safely ensure a permanent union with the separate pieces than all the cement or steel lozengers [sic] in the world." The Queen looks in through a small window, Wood looking over her shoulder; they watch the proceedings, tense and indignant. Above the King's head is a shelf of 'Chinese Toys from Hot Creek': a little pagoda flanked by figures of (left) a fat lady and a thin man (the Conynghams) and (right) a squatting obese man (the King). The last two of seven verses (of a 'New Version'): "She claims a share "To all (I swear!) "That I possess;--but mind her "Good C--tl--gh, "Look sharp--d'y' see "There's Radicals behind her. "A stronger pill "'S required still "Than G--ff--d's famous lotion; "Your brains well shake, "The corners rake, To give the jade a motion."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Disasters of a green-bag chief!!!
Description:
Title from letterpress text below image., Printmaker and date of publication from the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on three sides., "Price one shilling"--Below imprint., 1 print : etching ; sheet 38 x 26 cm., Printed on wove paper; hand-colored., Imperfect; sheet trimmed resulting in loss of imprint statement and price statement from bottom edge., and Mounted on page 38 of: George Humphrey shop album.
Publisher:
Printed for O. Hodgson, 43, King Street, Snow Hill
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821, Eldon, John Scott, Earl of, 1751-1838, Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852, Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of, 1770-1828, Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844, Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 1769-1822, Wood, Matthew, Sir, 1768-1843, Conyngham, Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness, -1861., and Conyngham, Henry, Marquess, 1766-1832.
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character), Politicians, Tables, Crowns, Medical equipment & supplies, Bayonets, Cannons, Cannon balls, Crying, Ceremonial maces, Bags, and Windows
Leaf 30. Caricatures drawn & etched by those celebrated artists Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshanks
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"Perceval, in back view, and in barrister's wig and gown, holds a magic lantern by which he displays the Pope in the guise of a ragged beggar, for the benefit of John Bull and the King. George III is seated on the throne and looks at the screen through a telescope held by Eldon, inscribed 'Ill-done's Patent Magnifying Papascope'. The King, much alarmed at what he sees, clutches the mace which Eldon holds, with the Purse of the Great Seal attached to it. Beside the King (right) stand a bishop in back view, and a man wearing academic cap and gown. Perceval' s lantern is inscribed 'Percev[al] Humbu[g]'. Canning stands in front of it; Castlereagh beside it, both pointing at John Bull, a yokel in a smock, who has fallen to the ground in terror at the lantern-display, guineas falling from his pocket. The figure on the screen is an old man with patched robes, two keys hanging from a girdle, a sack of 'Bulls' on his back. In place of his triple crown he wears three hats like a Jewish old clothes' man, and for a crosier he has a branching stick. Close to the screen and with his back to it, Portland sits on a block of stone (cf. British Museum Satires No. 10718), talking to Hawkesbury. On the stone is drawn a wig on a block with the inscription 'Retrospective View of Portland' [i.e. as a former Whig]. In the shadow, between and behind Canning and Castlereagh, stands Melville in Highland dress; on his sporran: 'Ex Privy' [Counsellor]. Three other figures are not characterized. In the foreground a dog, its collar inscribed 'John Bull', is biting the 'Union Bill 1800', where it is headed by an Irish harp; a fragment, with the Royal Arms, has been torn off. The dog befouls a 'Catholic Petition'. On the wall is a large playbill: 'Theatre Royal St Stephens By his Majesty's Servants Feby 1807 Horrid Tragedy of Raw Head and Bloody Bones in a Red Cloak Mesrs Percivall, Canning, H-b-y [Harrowby], Portland Castlereagh Wonderful Deceptions, Messrs Proteus & Ill-done.'"--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
What is this spectre of affright, with which they would delude our sight? ...
Description:
Title from British Museum catalogue., Four lines of verse in two columns below image: What is this spectre of affright, with which they would delude our sight? A shadow thrown upon the wall, a magic-lanthorn-shew! that's all! Page 15., Artist identified as Samuel de Wilde in the British Museum catalogue., Plate from: Caricatures drawn & etched by those celebrated artists Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshanks, &c. [London] : [Field & Tuer], [approximately 1868?], and On leaf 30 of: Caricatures drawn & etched by those celebrated artists Gillray, Rowlandson, Cruikshanks, &c.
Publisher:
Published by S. & H. Oddy, Oxford-Street, London and Field & Tuer
Subject (Name):
Restrike. For original issue of the plate, see no. 10962 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 8., Perceval, Spencer, 1762-1812, Pius VII, Pope, 1742-1823, George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820, Eldon, John Scott, Earl of, 1751-1838, Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 1769-1822, Canning, George, 1770-1827, Portland, William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, Duke of, 1738-1809, Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of, 1770-1828, Dundas, Henry, 1742-1811, and Harrowby, Dudley Ryder, Earl of, 1762-1847.
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character), Projectors, Thrones, Telescopes, Ceremonial maces, Clergy, and Dogs
