"Fox (left) and Burke (right) sit side by side in the stocks as Hudibras and his 'squire Ralpho. One foot of each is imprisoned; their hands are clasped. Burke looks at Fox, who sits with closed eyes and a dejected expression. Pitt stands (right) holding a halberd and a bunch of three keys labelled 'Treasury'. All are in pseudo-seventeenth-century costume. On the wall behind Fox hangs a scourge with two lashes, one inscribed 'Prerogative', the other 'Vox Populi', indicating the two causes of the fall of the Coalition. Behind Burke's head is a placard: 'This day is pubd------An Essay on ye Tumblime and Beautifull by Ralph B.' (an allusion to Burke's essay on 'The Sublime and the Beautiful'). In front of the stocks lie two papers inscribed 'India Bill' and 'Warrant of... Temple', since Temple had conveyed to the Lords the king's desire for the defeat of the India Bill. A whipping-post attached to the stocks is inscribed 'Otium cum Dignitate'. Beneath the design is etched: 'Sure none that see how here we sit, Will judge us overgrown with wit; For who without a cap & bauble Having subdu'd, a bear & rabble, And might with honor have come off, Would put it to a second proof: A Politic exploit right fit, For Coalition zeal & wit! Hudibrass.'"--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Hudibras and his 'squire
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed variously to Collings and to Gillray., Publisher dates from British Museum catalogue., and Mounted to 33 x 27 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. by W. Wells No 132 Fleet Street
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, and Pitt, William, 1759-1806
