"The King (left), plainly dressed, sits on a chair on a dais, a pillar and curtain indicating the throne. He angrily addresses a band of Ministers (and others) who are encircled by a ribbon inscribed The Bond of Union; the end of this is held by the Pope (right). Raising a document inscribed Coronation Oath he exclaims: Is that your only Bond of Union? Is that the flimsey Thread that Ties this hetrogenous [sic] Mass. What? have ye hid your base designs beneath the Cloak of Secrecy? Think ye to Catch your Sovereign off his guard? to tempt him to forget his Solemn Oath? and by one desperate Stroke, destroy the Church & Constitution too?!! begone, and instantly give place to honest Men. Lady Conyngham peeps from behind his chair, saying, I do exceedingly Fear & Tremble. The nine Ministers, closely tied together, advance menacingly, each raising a cross in the right hand. The Pope, triumphant and sinister, also holding a cross, says: Strike My Son's Now or never!! The four nearest the picture plane are (left to right) Canning, Brougham, Burdett, and Lansdowne with Scarlett just behind him; the other four are partly hidden and poorly characterized. Lansdowne is copied from satires of 1806-7, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer: he is dwarfish, and held up by the 'Bond', his legs dangling. Three say respectively: No bolting when you come to the Scratch; Nine to one will certainly be more--than a Match for him; Stick together. Above them flies a demon holding the firebrand of Discord, while Harmony, a winged child (right) holding a lyre, flies off discomfited."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Symptoms of dictating, cabaling, conspiring, overawing &c. &c.
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Matted to: 32 x 46 cm.
Publisher:
Pub. May 16, 1827, by S.W. Fores, Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Conyngham, Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness, -1861, Canning, George, 1770-1827, Broughton, John Cam Hobhouse, Baron, 1786-1869, Burdett, Francis, 1770-1844, Scarlett, James, Sir, 1769-1844, Lansdowne, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marquess of, 1780-1863, and Leo XII, Pope, 1760-1829
Subject (Topic):
Thrones, Columns, Draperies, Ribbons, Crosses, and Demons
