"At each side of a table are seated figures with the heads and forms of grotesque monsters or animals. The bull-faced Sir Fletcher Norton (the Speaker) presides; in one hand is a scourge, in the other a staff to which are attached bags of money and a coronet. He says: "He that dares be Virtuous shall be punish'd, but Ye my Friends shall be rewarded". Bute and Grafton are hovering above as imps. The table is emerging from flames and is decorated with 'The Coffin of Liberty'. Two demons act as clerks at the head of the table in front of the Speaker."--British Museum online catalogue and "From the 'Oxford Magazine', vi. 219. As usual in the series the explanatory text is in the form of a letter to the Editor, showing that the design represents "the extraordinary appearance the present ministerial wretches will make in the next world ... I have erred on the favourable side; for it is impossible for many of them to assume any shape or character that is not less horrible than their own." The only two who can be identified are North, on the Speaker's right, as a dog wearing a ribbon and star, and Lord Holland as a fox clasping a number of money-bags. For the unpopularity of the House of Commons cf. also British Museum Satires Nos. 4850, 4889, 4893, 4944, 4970."--British Museum online catalogue, Curator's comments
Alternative Title:
True portraits of the majority of the Parliament of Pandemonium
Description:
Title etched below image., Date inferred from that of the periodical in which the plate was published., Plate from: The Oxford magazine; or, Universal museum ..., v. 6, page 219 (June 1771)., "Engrav'd for the Oxford magazine"--Above image., and Temporary local subject terms: Unpopularity of House of Commons -- Secret influence -- Ministers in pandemonium -- Imps.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Norton, Fletcher, 1716-1789, Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792, Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of, 1735-1811, Holland, Henry Fox, Baron, 1705-1774, and North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792
