The bill thrown out but the pains and penalties inflicted. [graphic]

Description

Creator

Heath, William, 1795-1840, attributed name

Contributor

Fores, S. W., publisher.

Published / Created

[15 November 1820]

Publication Place

London

Publisher

Pub. Nov. 15, 1820, by S.W. Fores, 41 Picadilly [sic]

Abstract

"The King, dressed as a mandarin, falls back fainting on a settee, attended by three stout ladies and General Bloomfield, all in Chinese dress. Behind is a slanting cloud of smoke, inscribed: 'The Bill is lost through your favorite Clause.' He murmurs: "Curse the Bishops, Oh I faint, I faint, I shall never survive this." Bloomfield, identified by a paper in his pocket: 'The Farmers Boy' [cf. British Museum Satires No. 13237], bends towards him, saying, "aye that Cursed Adultery Clause has done the Business--"; he proffers a glass of 'Coniac'. A lady supports each arm, holding a bottle of 'Eau de Col[ogne]' to his nose; one, in back view, is (?) Lady Hertford; the other, Lady Conyngham, says: "Rouse my Love, & we will go, where the Rocks of Coral grow,! let us quit this Religious Country & go to Hanover." The third (? Mrs. Quentin) throws up her arms in despair. A huge Chinese jar (left) is decorated with a dragon; carved dragons or monsters support the sofa, and a table (right) on which is a decanter of 'Curacoa'."--British Museum online catalogue

A Chinese man falls back fainting onto a settee, attended by three ladies and a man all in Chinese dress; representing the King's anguish at the bill (which condemned the Queen's adultery and reduced her rights) being thrown out

Description

Title etched below image.
Attributed to William Heath in the British Museum online catalogue, registration no: 1935,0522.12.138.
Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Watermark: J. Whatman 1819.
Mounted to 58 x 39 cm.
Mounted (with one other print) on leaf 21 in volume 2 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair."
Figure of "George IV" identified in pencil at bottom of sheet. 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