"Satire on Wilkes's release from custody in April 1763 and the successful actions for damages by printers of the North Briton, No. 45. A scene in Guildhall with the legs of Gog and Magog visible at top left and the lower parts of two portraits at right: on the left, a prancing devil grasps the collar of Nathan Carrington, King's Messenger (his position identified by his greyhound badge) who complains that he had acted on "Orders from Above" in arresting the printers; two angry men reproach Carrington for having seized their papers, one demanding the return of "my Memoirs", the other, Arthur Beardmore, asking for his journal, the Monitor. In the foreground, two devils attack three other Messengers (Money, Watson and Blackmore) lying on the ground; a devil with type arrayed on his head belabours them with a printer's mallet. Behind this group are Sir Fletcher Norton, by then Attorney-General, and Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, covering their faces with their hands and lamenting their failure; they are sent on their way by a man who alludes to the General Warrant and damns them to make "good Fuel" in Hell. Wilkes takes the hand of Pratt, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who had released him from the Tower; Wilkes's advocate John Glynn stands behind and all three are celebrating the triumph of Liberty and English justice; William Beckford (shown with a black face in allusion to his Caribbean wealth) rushes towards them enthusiastically. To the right, a group of printers delight in their good fortune in the substantial sums they have been awarded, one man holding out both hands full of coins."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Messengers in the suds
Description:
Title from item., Publication date from British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Three columns of verse below image: [The] sons of the type view this scene in Guildhall, the devils triumphant and messengers fall ..., Temporary local subject terms: Interiors: Arms: City of London -- Slang: 'coney catchers' -- Trials: John Wilkes's trial, 1763 -- Nathan Carrington, d. 1777 -- John Money, fl. 1763 -- Arthur Beardmore, d. 1765., and Mounted.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Wilkes, John, 1725-1797, Camden, Charles Pratt, Earl, 1714-1794, Glynn, John, 1722-1779, Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, 1705-1793, Norton, Fletcher, 1716-1789, Beckford, William, 1709-1770, and Guildhall (London, England),
