Citizens visiting the Bastille vide democratic charities / [graphic]Gillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker[16 January 1799]eng"Sir Francis Burdett, one hand on the knocker of the large iron-studded door, addresses the gaoler, a burly ruffian with large keys, who stands just inside, holding open one leaf of the door. He says, one finger raised: "Hush! - Harkee! - open the door! - I want only to see if my Brother Citizens have Candles & Fires, & good Beds, & clean Girls, for their accommodation, - that all!!! Hush! open the Door! quick!!" The gaoler answers: "Hay? - what? - let You in, hay? - no! no! - we're bad enough here, already! - let you in! no! - no! - that would be too bad; - You're enough to corrupt the whole College." From Burdett's pocket hangs a paper: 'Secret Correspondence with O'Conner Evans Quigley Despard' (see BMSat 9189). In the background a hackney coach is driving under the high prison wall towards the gate. The profile of Courtenay (on the extreme left) looks from the window to say: "Drive me to the Bastille you dog". The driver answers: "To Cold Bath College, you mean I suppose! - to take up your Degrees Master." Above the massive gateway is inscribed: 'The House of \ Correction for the \ County of Middlesex. \ 1794 \ .'"--British Museum online catalogueTitle etched below image.Sheet trimmed within plate mark.Temporary local subject terms: Prisons: House of Corrections, Cold Bath Fields -- Architectural details: prison gates -- Gaolers -- Slang: 'college,' i.e., prison -- Vehicles: hackney coach -- Reference to Bastille -- Emblems: shackles -- Acts: Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, Dec. 21, 1798.1 print : etching on wove paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 35.3 x 26.5 cm, on sheet 40.6 x 29.8 cm.Mounted on leaf 1 of volume 5 of 12.