The birth day hoax, or, The gout at court April 23d, 1823. [graphic]Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker[28 April 1823]eng"Carriages approach the east front of Buckingham House (left), watched by spectators. The first coach is stopped by a monster who stands on the shoulders of two beefeaters, wearing a cap inscribed Gout; flames issue from broad nostrils, barbed darts from his mouth; he has talons for hands and feet. He says: You may all return from whence ye came, and lay up your court dresses in Lavender; for, by the King's Great Toe I swear, you shall not enter here. High up under the pediment of the façade, stands a demon or blue devil, legs astride, who shouts: You have not got him all to yourself Signor Pinchtoe!! A beefeater holds up a placard on a pole: Bulletin. Notice Drawing Room postponed. Precisely at twenty two minutes five seconds past four this morning it was discovered (by a Lord of the Bed-Chamber) that the left side of his Majesty's Great Toe, on the right foot had suffered a slight accession of Inflammation--it is not yet accurately known to the faculty wether it is a bite from a Blue Devil [cf. British Museum Satires No. 14598] a Whitlow, or the Gout. Signed Tierney Halford. The foremost coachman, wearing cocked hat, powdered wig, and nosegay, reins in a pair of heavy horses and gapes at the monster; ladies put feathered heads from the coach windows; one addresses a fat elderly man who stands by the coach: It's not pretty behaviour however to disapoint so many merely on account of a trifling Pinch of the Great Toe. He answers: My dear Lady! it would be quite contrary to Etiquette for a King to be seen limping into a Drawing Room upon crutches with a swelled Foot and a big Shoe. The two footmen behind are run into by the horses of the next carriage, which has men in plain livery; one turns to strike at the horses. The lady looks out to say: Its very provoking to be hoax'd in this manner after being put to all the Trouble and Expence! Two Irishmen stand together in the foreground, one says: By Jasus i'll be after bringing a Bill into the House to enable his Majesty to see company in his slippers, does'nt ould King Louis hold a Drawing Room with both his legs bound up in flannel? The other answers: Poh! Sir Pheligm! it comes with keeping bad company, has'nt he caught the complaint of the Ould City Baronet [Curtis] think you? Two liveried chairmen (right) have grounded their sedan-chair; one raises the roof, the other addresses the lady within; he points over his shoulder with his thumb, saying, They say as how there is a Bul-let-in and he has trod upon his Majestys Great Toe, and that makes all the botheration my Lady! She says: It's an Irish Bull then I am certain!! Behind the Park railing (right) are tiny spectators."--British Museum online catalogueTitle etched below image.Attributed to Charles Williams in the British Museum catalogue.Additional attribution to Robert Cruikshank from ink annotation "I.R. Cruikshank fecit" on Yale Medical Library impression.Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Devils & demons.