The flight from Dover The arrival at Calais / [graphic]

"A pair of scenes on one plate, each with its own title, from The Political Register, September 1768, facing page 129. The scenes satirise the unpopularity and the alleged corruption and disloyalty of Lord Bute as he embarked on a trip to France. In the upper scene Bute is shown with a witch on a broomstick, laden with large bags of money, flying across the Channel, “over the Water to Charly” (an allusion to the Young Pretender in exile). Dover Castle is shown on top of a cliff on the left and Calais in the distance on the right. On the shore below Princess Augusta faints lamenting “Ah me what Shall I do Sawny is flown & with him all my Joy”. She is comforted by an attendant who hopes he will come again, a man beside her calls out to Bute ”Won’t you take Madam with you”. Others on the shore remark on his departure, one sailor says “Now he has got all our Dollars let him go.”, another would like to throw him to the shark, a boy throws stones and a man shoots at him, a satyr aims a bow saying “I’ll reach you my L(or)d where ever you go” Britannia sitting on the right advises her children to let him go so that she may recover. In the lower design Bute is shown being greeted outside the well guarded fort at Calais by the Young Pretender who calls him cousin and thanks him for his services. Bute, bonnet in hand and bowing , responds “I have sett the 3 Kingdoms at variance for your Sake my Prince now is your time or never”. The Mayor of Calais comes forward to welcome Bute effusively telling him of “the grand Monarqe’s” love; three monks on the left assure each other that Bute is not a heretic (Protestant) as he has demonstrated this by giving France such an advantageous peace. On the right an old woman in raptures is sure all the English ladies love him, while a Scot with a wooden leg plays on his fiddle singing “And the King shall enjoy his own again”. A British sailor deplores the respect Bute is shown while another tells him that “why Should they do otherwise he was allway their Friend”."--British Museum online catalogue