"Heading to a broadside printed in two columns. In a coop (right) are cocks and hens with human heads, the foreign witnesses against Queen Caroline. Sidmouth empties coins from a large green bag into their feeding trough, resting one foot on an apothecary's pestle and mortar. On the extreme left is a countryman in a smock who hands a letter to Castlereagh, saying: "Your Servent Sirs, I be com'd from a great fat Gentleman at W--d--r who wishes to know whether your Foreign Brood feeds well and if they are likely to pay for their keeping and he hopes, you'll keep a strict Eye over 'em and not let 'em take Flight as he understands they are very shy--and he says you shou'd look to their Plumage as he dont know but they may soon be made a Show of." Castlereagh, who holds a scourge, answers: "They thrive so fast they'll soon be fit for use--The Napoleons are more fattening than Caroline Rice but I'm rather afraid of that Rastellian Capon he seems to wish to peck his way out and be off--I'm afraid he's drank too much from the Po-Well as the water at present is rather Stagnated and now he's in good condition the Milan Springs [see British Museum Satires No. 13755, &c.] must be more palatable." Liverpool stands with a hand on Castlereagh's shoulder, silently holding a large purse inscribed 'Treasury Grain'. His back is to Sidmouth, who says: "True good C--r--gh I do declare they have Molted well already what a wonderful change--& if Brougham dont clip their Wings they'll amply repay us for our trouble for they can (according to the Old Proverb) Lie as fast as a Cock pecks Barley." Majocchi looks out through the bars, saying: "I am Cock of the Walk. If you wish more to know I'm the Infamous Segnior Non mi Ri cor do" [see British Museum Satires No. 13827]. Louise Demont looks up pertly: "Once Femme De Chambre To the Queen Now I support Sids Bag of Green [see British Museum Satires No. 13735] Doodle doo." Rastelli: "I think I've had too much good living--and as I've a great weight in my Chest a Complain [sic] incidental to Cotton Yard I'll take the earliest opportunity of leaving the Coop-- besides who knows but that Phisicians Brougham and Co. might prescribe Rue and other obnoxious drugs as a remedy for the Complain." ...."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Peep into Cotton Yard Aviary, with the peculiar method of feeding to suit a Royal palate
Description:
Title from letterpress text below image., Questionable attribution to Robert Cruikshank from the British Museum catalogue., Date of publication from the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed to plate mark at top edge., Eight stanzas of verse in two columns beneath title, printed in letterpress: Most Noble Lords, cried G-e the Great, I have a cause of wond'rous weight ..., "Price one shilling. Entered at Stationers' Hall"--Below imprint., Publisher's advertisement at bottom of sheet: N.B. Just published, price sixpence, The cock of Cotton Walk, and the maid of all work., Watermark: J. Budgen 1819., Mounted to 58 x 39 cm., Mounted on leaf 67 in volume 1 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair.", and Figures of "Londondery [sic]," "Liverpool," and "Sidmouth" identified in ink below image; date "Aug. 1820" written beneath lower right corner of image. Typed extract of nine lines from the British Museum catalogue description is pasted beneath print.
Publisher:
Published by C.E. Pritchard, Islington Green
Subject (Name):
Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821, Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of, 1770-1828, Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844, Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 1769-1822, Majocchi, Theodore, active 1820, Demont, Louisa, active 1814-1820, Rastelli, Giuseppe, active 1820, and Brougham and Vaux, Henry Brougham, Baron, 1778-1868.
"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
