"Stanhope stands in his library, declaiming; he has just risen from his chair and holds his pen in his raised right hand, his left rests on a small table (right) covered with documents. He wears a cocked hat; his leanness is caricatured, his legs being of exaggerated thinness. His right foot rests on a large volume, 'Cocker's Arithmetic'. Under his left hand are 'Observations upon Mr Pitts Plan' and 'M . . of Mr Sheridan's Speech - I prefer the Noble Lord['s] Plan to th[at] of the Minister less visionary'. Behind the table is a bookcase against which are pinned two placards, the smaller superimposed on the other. The larger is a 'Table of the Average Price of Stocks for April 1786', the prices being partly hidden by the smaller print: a man rides a horse in the air, above a line of buildings; a flying figure blows a trumpet. It is inscribed 'Ready for Ascension in a few Days Aerial Figures' and 'Thin glittering Textures of the filmy Dew'. On the right is a small cupboard on legs, its open door showing a chamber-pot whose overflowing contents drip on to a document inscribed 'To Prevent Bribery at Elections'. On the pot are papers inscribed 'Sinking Fund' and 'Surplus'; these fragments appear to have been torn from a document inscribed 'Report of the select Committee upon the Ministers Plan for the Reduction of the National Debt. Amount of Taxes Red[ucti]on of Salar[ies]'. Above this is an oval picture of the three Graces, to ridicule Stanhope's lanky figure and awkward gestures ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Frontispiece to the 2d edition of Lord Stanhope's Observations on Mr. Pitt's plan of finance and Frontispiece to the second edition of Lord Stanhope's Observations on Mr. Pitt's plan of finance
Description:
Title etched below image., Eight lines of verse in two columns below title: "One St.... pe pester'd his Relations With sage Advice about the Graces But left Finance and Calculations To plodding Pates, and graver Faces.Another St.... pe now appears Ye Pitts and Neckars give him place In Figures first of Financiers The first of Figures too in Grace.", Variant state, with '29' burnished from date in imprint. Cf. Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires / Mary Dorothy George, v. 6, no. 6960., and Lewis Walpole Library: Horace Walpole makes reference to this print.
