The broken crown, or, The disasters of a green-bag chief!!! new version. [graphic]

"Heading to a printed broadside. Four Ministers, summoned by the King, sit at a table bending over a crown broken into two pieces. Sidmouth (right), tilting forward his seat, which is a commode, holds his clyster-pipe; in his pocket is a bottle labelled 'Strong Mixture'. He says: "There seems to have been a flaw in it for some years it only required a slight tap to do all the mischief." Liverpool, next him, says: "Some Foreign Cement or a decoction of steel lozenges [see British Museum Satires No. 13513] properly applied may stick them together for the present, but I'm afraid it won't last long, the parts seem of opposite compositions." Castlereagh says, with a sinister smile: "By the Ghost of my Father I will hold it together by a Tringular [sic] Proceeding. & whip it all round" [see British Museum Satires No. 14135]. Wellington, dressed as a field-marshal, and wearing cavalry boots with huge spurs, sits in a chair decorated with military emblems; he says: "Steel filings and leaded paste is the only Composition to be depended on." At his feet are bayonets and cannon-balls, with (left) a cannon, and a huge ball inscribed 'Bolus'. Behind Sidmouth stands George IV (right) in consultation with Eldon; he weeps, holding his handkerchief to his eye, and says, pointing to his Ministers: "Cant Sid my Tool and L--r--pl, Some how contrive to mend it." Eldon, in Chancellor's wig and gown, holds the lower end of the mace against his chin with a puzzled scowl. He answers: "Dash my Wig if I know what to do! my head's in Chancery." Beside him are two 'Old Green Bags done with' [see British Museum Satires Nos. 13735, 13986]. At the King's feet is a paper: 'Straight Jacket'. By Sidmouth's chair are papers: 'A Blister for the Radicals if they Kick up a Row'; 'A Gagging Bandage', with a pot of 'Poison for the Q . . .' [cf. British Museum Satires No. 13868]. Also the words 'Filth', 'Dirt'. On the extreme left, John Bull, a stout and formidable 'cit', is seated on a bale inscribed 'Knowledge is Power' [see British Museum Satires No. 14005]. One hand is on his hip, the other on a bludgeon of 'English Oak'. He says, frowning at the Ministers: "I think the following prescription would be the best Cement, a handful of reformation; a large portion of the abolition of Sinicures [sic], a ladle full of the reduction of Taxes, with a plentiful solution of the Oil of Just Claims, and attention to the wants of an industrious part of the Community, would more safely ensure a permanent union with the separate pieces than all the cement or steel lozengers [sic] in the world." The Queen looks in through a small window, Wood looking over her shoulder; they watch the proceedings, tense and indignant. Above the King's head is a shelf of 'Chinese Toys from Hot Creek': a little pagoda flanked by figures of (left) a fat lady and a thin man (the Conynghams) and (right) a squatting obese man (the King). The last two of seven verses (of a 'New Version'): "She claims a share "To all (I swear!) "That I possess;--but mind her "Good C--tl--gh, "Look sharp--d'y' see "There's Radicals behind her. "A stronger pill "'S required still "Than G--ff--d's famous lotion; "Your brains well shake, "The corners rake, To give the jade a motion."--British Museum online catalogue