A nation & her m-n-t-r's [graphic].

Description

Title: A nation & her m-n-t-r's [graphic].
Alternative Title: Nation and her m-n-t-r's
Nation and her ministers
Contributor: Milleville, John, active 1820, publisher.
Published / Created: [1820?]
Publication Place: London
Publisher: John Milleville?
Abstract: "An allegorical design. Britannia, holding her shield and a cap of Liberty on a staff, rushes (right to left) with a calm expression to the edge of a cliff, urged on by Wellington and five other Ministers (scarcely characterized). On her right a man snatches the drapery from a small cloud-borne figure of Fortune with her wheel, who is directed towards an oval portrait of Queen Caroline supported by an angel. Fame holds a laurel wreath above the portrait. Below the cliff or rock from which Britannia steps so heedlessly is a patch of ground surrounded by sea. On this stands Burdett, holding out a scroll inscribed 'Magna Char[ta] Liberty of Napoleon' and holding out his left arm to prevent Britannia from falling. Justice stands behind him, holding evenly balanced scales. Four other men stand close behind him, one holding out a scroll inscribed 'Reform', and supporting the arm which holds the scales. A man in shirt-sleeves kneels at Burdett's feet, making a gesture of urgent entreaty. On a rock (right), symbolizing St. Helena but merging with Britannia's cliff, sits a spotted, sub-human Caliban-like creature, who holds a small image of Napoleon, which he is about to cover with an extinguisher. At the base of the rock, but in the background, are two tiny officers in military uniform, seated together at the edge of the sea, directed to the right. In the foreground (left) sits a woman (? France) in classical draperies, holding a sceptre, with a (? Bourbon) crown falling from her head, and with a second (? imperial) crown in her lap. She gazes towards St. Helena. Inset in the title and enclosed within a border inscribed 'Honi soit qui mal y pense': 'Wilson sçut délivrer une Noble victime Burdett, Hobhouse, Holland, sauvez Napoléon, Arrachez-le aux tourmens de l'exécrable Hudson, Vengez l'honneur Anglais flétri par un grand Crime Et sauvez Albion sur le Bord de l'Abême [sic]!!!'."--British Museum online catalogue, description of a later state
Description: Title etched below image.
Early state, before border and imprint statement added. For a later state with border present and the imprint "Pubd. by Milleville, Hampstead" etched in lower left, see no. 14050 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 10.
Mounted to 58 x 39 cm.
Mounted (with one other print) on leaf 90 in volume 2 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair."
Typed extract of twenty-nine 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 of 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 12.8 x 19.4 cm, on sheet 13.3 x 19.9 cm
Extent of Digitization: This object has been completely digitized.
Language: English