"Dissenters are engaged in burning churches and attacking the clergy. In the foreground a stout bishop on his knees is being kicked and assailed by men with bludgeons; beside him is a book: 'Refutation of Dr Price'. He exclaims, raising his hands, "Murder, fire, thieves". One of his assailants says, "Make room for the Apostle of Liberty"; the other, "God assisting us nothing is to be feared". Under this group is inscribed: 'And when they had smote the Shepherd, the Sheep were scattered'. Behind (right) a Gothic building, from which extends a sign of the Mitre and Crown, is being demolished. Price sits astride on the beam supporting the sign; in one hand is an open book, 'Love of our Country', in the other is a firebrand inscribed 'The Flame of Liberty'. Beneath, two men in steeple-crowned hats are feeding a fire with faggots, whose flame and smoke, inscribed '39 Articles', ascends in a thick cloud. Next the burning building, and on the extreme right, is a porch (over a doorway) in which stands Fox, blowing a horn and pointing down to a placard over the doorway: 'Places under Government to be disposed of. NB, Several Faro and E.O. Tables in good Condition'. An adjacent placard is: 'day next charity sermon by Revd chas Fox'. A group of eager fanatics with lank hair rushes towards the doorway, holding up to Fox money-bags inscribed '30.000', '10.000' and '20.000.' In the foreground (right) are two fanatics struggling for the bag of the Great Seal; one raises a mace inscribed 'Brotherly Love' to strike his opponent; under his foot is a paper: 'Repeal of the Test Act'. In the background (left) is a group of figures engaged in demolishing a church with pickaxes; a rope pulls over the cross on the steeple. Two of this group look towards Price: a parson inscribed 'P------ly' (Priestley) waves his hat, saying, "Make haste to pull down that old Whore and we'll build a new one in its place"; a lean man, fashionably dressed (evidently Stanhope), extends his arms, saying, "Address to Assemblee national"."--British Museum online catalogue, description of an earlier state with similar composition
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Rowlandson by Grego., Later state, with the original title "The test" burnished out and replaced with new title. Cf. No. 7629 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 6., Publisher's advertisement above design: In Fores's Caricature Museum is the compleatest collection in the kingdom. Also the head and hand of Count Struenzee. Admittance 1s., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., Three lines of verse on either side of title: Bell and the dragon's chaplains were ..., and Temporary local subject terms: Literature: sermon On the Love of Our Country, by Richard Price -- Sermons: Richard Price, November 4, 1789 -- Repeal of Test and Corporation Acts, March 2, 1790 -- Maces -- Bags of money -- Clergy: bishops -- Signs: mitre and crown -- Emblems: mitre -- Crown -- Great Seal -- Burning of 39 articles -- Clubs: cudgels -- Steeple hats -- Pick-axes -- Buildings: churches -- Firebrand torches -- Literature: quotation from Bible, I Kings 22.17, II Ch. 18.16 -- Addresses: Price's address to the National Assembly of France, July 21, 1790 -- Horns.
Publisher:
Pub. Feb. 20, 1790, by S.W. Fores, N. 3 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain and Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Price, Richard, 1723-1791, Priestley, Joseph, 1733-1804, Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816, and England and Wales.
Subject (Topic):
Dissenters, Religious, Limitation of actions, Axes, Bishops, Churches, and Musical instruments
