The secret insult!, or, Bribery & corruption rejected!!! [graphic]

Description

Title: The secret insult!, or, Bribery & corruption rejected!!! [graphic]
Alternative Title: Bribery & corruption rejected!!!
Bribery and corruption rejected!!!
Creator: Cruikshank, Robert, 1789-1856, printmaker
Contributor: Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878, attributed name.
Benbow, William, 1787-1864, publisher.
Published / Created: June 11th, 1820.
Publication Place: London
Publisher: Pubd. by Benbow, St. Clements Church Yard, Strand
Abstract: "Queen Caroline, dignified and regal, stands with extended right arm facing Lord Hutchinson (identified by Reid as Liverpool), a thin man in court dress who bows low, holding out a large purse inscribed '£50,000'. He looks up at her with a servile and apprehensive grimace, saying: "Abandon your claim to the Throne, Change your Name & the Livery & retire to some distant part of the earth were you may never be seen or heard of any more; & if 50,000£ pr Annm will not satisfy you, what will?" She answers: "Nothing but a Crown!" In her left hand is a paper: 'Lawful Claims'. At her side (right) stands Alderman Wood, noble and stalwart in Roman armour; he holds a sword, whose wavy blade (representing flame) is inscribed 'A Swoard for the Guilty', and a shield: 'A Shield for the Innocent--'. Behind Hutchinson and in back-view stands Brougham in barrister's wig and gown; he holds a broom, and says: "I turn my back on such dirty work as this." The Devil, on the extreme left, clutches his arm, saying: "Well done Broom! you have done your business well." Behind Wood is a ship at anchor, her poop inscribed 'The Wooden walls of Old England'; she flies a Union flag inscribed 'Caroline'."--British Museum online catalogue
Description: Title etched below image.
Signed only with Robert Cruikshank's name, but a collaboration with George Cruikshank is suggested in the British Museum catalogue.
"No. 1"--Upper left corner.
1 print : etching ; sheet 26.4 x 36.4 cm.
Printed on wove paper; hand-colored.
Sheet trimmed within plate mark on left side.
Mounted to 58 x 39 cm.
Mounted (with one other print) on leaf 18 in volume 1 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair."
Figures of "Brougham," "Q. Caroline," and "Ald. Wood" identified in black ink at bottom of sheet; date "11 June 1820" written in lower right corner. Pencil annotation "+ GC" added beneath Robert Cruikshank's signature, noting George Cruikshank's contribution to the production of the print. Typed extract of twenty-four lines from the British Museum catalogue description is pasted opposite (on verso of preceding leaf).
Provenance: Sold by London's Dulau and Company to the New York City bookseller Ernest R. Gee in 1928. Earlier ownership by W.E. Gladstone is suggested by a manuscript note from Dulau formerly laid into the front the first volume (now in the object file), which states that "These came from the Gladstone Library at Court Hey, Broad Green. The manuscript notes written below the caricatures are in the handwriting of W.E. Gladstone." William Reese Company; February 2024.
Extent: 1 print : plate mark 26 x 37 cm, on sheet 26.7 x 38 cm
Extent of Digitization: This object has been completely digitized.
Language: English