"Sheridan leads the forces of the professionals against the amateurs of the Pic Nic Society, who are performing on a small, elegant stage, rising (without orchestra) from the boards in the foreground where these enemies advance. He is dressed as Harlequin; the tight chequered dress (slightly torn) accentuates his obesity; an empty purse hangs from his belt; in his left hand is a hat with a tricolour cockade (emblem of Jacobinism). In his right hand he flourishes a large pen whose feather makes wide swirling curves, terminating in firework-stars, and inscribed with the names of newspapers: 'Courier', 'Morning Post', 'Morning Herald', 'Morning Chronicle'. He is masked, to indicate that he has been writing anonymous squibs against the Pic Nics. The swirls of his pen partly obscure a figure of Comedy, meretricious, and half-naked, holding up a mask which decorates the left pilaster of the proscenium. The actors follow in characteristic attitudes. Kemble (as Hamlet) wearing a ribbon, ranting in tragedy, directly behind Sheridan, staggers back with legs astride, both arms raised. On the left is Mrs. Billington, singing as in BMSat 9765, left hand on her breast. Mrs. Siddons (? as Lady Macbeth) clutches a dagger. Behind is the head of Lewis (see BMSat 9915), with a comedian's smile, wearing a cocked hat. Crowds of actors pressing on from behind (left) and in deep shadow, are indicated by arms holding up banners; the chief one with the head of 'Shakespeare', badly torn. Others are 'Otway Rowe'; 'Kotzbue', and 'Schiller', both tricolour (indicating the supposedly revolutionary tendencies of modern German drama, cf. 'The Rovers' in the 'Anti-Jacobin', and BMSat 7054); 'Jonson', 'Congreve', 'Addison'. In the foreground, through splintering boards, the ghost of Garrick rises, a mask in his hand. ..."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Harlequin Quixotte attacking the puppets
Description:
Text following title: Vide Tottenham Street pantomime. and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humprey, No. 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Billington, Elizabeth,--1765-1818--Caricatures and cartoons., Buckinghamshire, Albinia Hobart,--Countess of,--1738-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., Cecil, Mary Amelia,--Marchioness of Salisbury,--1750-1835--Caricatures and cartoons., Cholmondeley, George James Cholmondeley,--Marquess of,--1749-1827--Caricatures and cartoons., Garrick, David,--1717-1779--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Kemble, John Philip,--1757-1823--Caricatures and cartoons., Lewis, William Thomas,--1746?-1812--Caricatures and cartoons., Mount Edgcumbe, Richard Edgcumbe,--Earl of,--1764-1839--Caricatures and cartoons., Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., and Siddons, Sarah,--1755-1831--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Lady Salisbury stands on a mound holding up a fox's brush. She has outstripped the hounds who rush towards her, the foremost just about to reach her. She turns her head in profile to the left; her long dark hair streams down her back; she wears a hunting-cap resembling the helmet of a light horseman, the skirt of her habit and an under-petticoat are in tatters, the lower part torn away, showing laced half-boots and torn stockings. A masculine collar is thickly swathed with a coloured scarf, as in BMSat 10169. She wears an eyeglass on a ribbon. The background is a landscape with distant mountains; horses and hounds in the middle distance. Below the title: '"Out-stript the Winds in Speed upon the Plain, "Flies o'er the Fields, nor hurts the bearded Grain; "Men, Boys & Women, stupid with surprize, " Where e'er she passes, fix their wondering eyes. Drydens Virgil - '."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Diana returned from the chace
Description:
Printmaker from British Museum catalogue. and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humprey, No. 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Cecil, Mary Amelia,--Marchioness of Salisbury,--1750-1835--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., and Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
"Musicians are grouped round the almost spherical Lady Buckinghamshire, who sits at the piano in profile to the right, playing and singing. In back view and on the extreme right sits Colonel Greville, playing a fiddle; from his coat pocket hangs a paper: 'Pic Nic Concert - Imitations - Nightingale by Lord C. - Tom Tit Lord ME. - Jack daw Genl G. Screech Owl Lady B. - Poll Parrot...' On the left is Lord Mount Edgcumbe, very small, playing a 'cello, in profile. Behind him, full face, towers Lord Cholmondeley putting a flute below tightly closed lips. Seated on the pianist's left is Lady Salisbury, blowing a French horn. On the extreme right opposite Greville is a lady's arm holding out a trumpet. See BMSat 9916, &c, and, for the 'musical mania' of the period, BMSat 9938, &c."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humprey, No. 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Buckinghamshire, Albinia Hobart,--Countess of,--1738-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., Cecil, Mary Amelia,--Marchioness of Salisbury,--1750-1835--Caricatures and cartoons., Cholmondeley, George James Cholmondeley,--Marquess of,--1749-1827--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., and Mount Edgcumbe, Richard Edgcumbe,--Earl of,--1764-1839--Caricatures and cartoons.