"Pitt steers a small boat, 'The Constitution', with a single sail, a Union pennant flying from the mast, through huge waves between a high rock (left) and a whirlpool whose circumference is an inverted crown which merges in the swirling water. He is in profile to the right, gazing fixedly at a castle on a promontory (right) among still waters, which flies a flag inscribed 'Haven of Public Happiness'. Britannia, a buxom young woman, sits in the boat, her hands raised in alarm, her head turned towards the rock, on the summit of which is a large bonnet-rouge with a tricolour cockade on a post within a ramshackle fence. Spray dashes against Scylla; beside the rock and in the foreground (left) three sharks with human heads closely pursue Pitt's boat: Sheridan, Fox, and Priestley (good profile portraits), their eyes fixed menacingly on the boat. They are: 'Sharks'; 'Dogs of Scylla'."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Vessel of the Constitution steered clear of the Rock of Democracy and the Whirlpool of Arbitrary Power
Description:
Caption below image, under the heads of Priestley, Fox and Sheridan: Sharks, dogs of Scylla. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Priestley, Joseph,--1733-1804--Caricatures and cartoons., and Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons.