Blackmantle stands with a trunk marked 'B.B.' at his feet as he gazes at the inscription scrawled on the ceiling of a bare and dilapidated room. An old college scout bows obsequiously, holding out a long paper headed 'A list of necessaries'. A hideous old bed-maker raises a cloud of dust with her broom. Two dandified men, one in cap and gown, stare in quizzically from outside the door (right). On the left is a pile of broken furniture, books, &c., with a box inscribed 'C. Rattle Esqr.'; a college cap is spiked on the leg of a broken chair with bellows (inscribed RC), Latin grammer, lexicon. A torn map of Oxford sags from the wall, with a print of a pugilist (Tom Cribb). A cupboard door is broken from its hinges; on it a target is painted, spattered with bullet marks. In the grate is a bust of Cicero, upside down
Description:
Title, printmaker, and imprint from published state., Plate etched for: Westmacott, C.M. English spy. London : Sherwood, Jones, and Co., 1825-1826., For published state see: No. 14929 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 10., and Ms. note in pencil on front: Page 169, vol. 1.