"Catherine II places in its niche the bust of Fox which is being hauled into position by a rope over a pulley held by a Russian bear, who crouches (right) beside the steps on which the Empress stands. She is in back view, very stout, wearing ermine-trimmed robes with a laurel wreath in place of the usual crown. On each side of the bust is a larger alcove for whole length statues of 'ΔΕΜΟΣΘΕΝΗΣ' and 'M.T. CICERO'. These statues are stepping down from their niches, looking apprehensively at Fox. Their eyes have the blankness of sculpture, but their faces express indignant alarm. Cicero holds a scroll: 'In Cata[linam]'. Fox's head is that of life rather than of sculpture. Above it is an oval picture or bas-relief inscribed 'Regulus'; a number of men are imprisoning a victim in a large cask lined with spikes. Demosthenes (left) steps down from his niche on to one of two large packing-cases inscribed 'Houghton Collection For The Emp[ress of] Russia' and 'Hough . . .' (Catherine having bought pictures from the collection of Sir Robert Walpole). Beside them stands a bust of Paul Jones, wearing a cocked hat and looking up at Fox with a sinister glare. Cicero steps down on to the arm of the Imperial throne, which is formed by the neck of a vulture; the legs of the throne are those of a bird of prey. On its seat lies a scroll inscribed: 'Memorial Ambassador extraordinary Sheweth That your Memorialists are attached to your Majesty and have opposed the Armament, divided against the Minister [ ? leaving him in a] small Majority, rai[led] against the Balance [of] Power, chalked up [on] the Walls in capital [letters] No Russian War.' (The right edge of the document is cut off by the margin of the design, leaving some of the words to be supplied by the reader.) Under the chair lies a dog. The vulture's claw which forms a leg of the throne is planted on a large map across the word 'Oczak[ow]'; 'The Bog', 'The Neister', and 'Black Sea' are also shown. The Russian bear is crouching on this map."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., Temporary local subject terms: Symbols: Russian bear -- Birds -- Furnishings: Throne with vulture's heads and legs -- Statues -- Busts -- Maps: Russia's expansions westward -- Pictures amplifying subject: Regulus tortured by Carthaginians -- Art collections: allusion to Catherine II's purchase of Sir Robert Walpole's collection., 1 print : etching and aquatint on wove paper ; plate mark 38.9 x 27.7 cm, on sheet 40.2 x 28.8 cm., and Mounted on leaf 53 of James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures.
Publisher:
Published 15th March 1792 by Thos. Cornell, Bruton Street
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Catherine II, Empress of Russia, 1729-1796, Jones, John Paul, 1747-1792, Cicero, Marcus Tullius., Regulus, Marcus Atilius, -250 B.C.?, and Demosthenes.
Subject (Topic):
Bears, Vultures, Thrones, Sculpture, Pulleys, and Maps
"An elderly Indian princess, seated on a stool in profile to the left, her hands deprecatingly extended, receives the obeisance of Burke, Fox, and Sheridan. She says, "dear Gentlemen this is too much now you really distress me exceedingly" ... Burke kneels at her feet, head bent down, supporting himself on his left hand; his right hand is on his breast; he frowns, his spectacles are on his forehead. He is between Sheridan and Fox. Fox stands full-face, holding his hat to his breast; his bow is less low. On the right seven bag-wigs are in positions corresponding to those that they would take if on the heads of persons making low bows to the Begum. Below them are three swords whose hilts are decorated with large ribbon bows or favours, also as if worn by invisible persons doing homage to the Begum. Sheridan wears a similar sword. Both wigs and swords are inscribed 'et cætera.' Under the Begum's seat appear the head and arms of Francis as if emerging from the ground; he fixes Burke and the others with a conspiratorial stare, his finger across his lips, saying, "I am at the Bottom of it." Behind and above the Begum's head is a picture of a row of conical mountains ; a mouse issues from a hole in the nearest mountain. The frame is inscribed 'Parturiunt Montes nascetur ridiculus mus'."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., "Bow wow wow, fal lal &c. &ca."--Etched below the title., Imperfect; the word "exceedingly" in the Begum's quote has been mostly erased from sheet. Missing text supplied from impression in the British Museum., Temporary local subject terms: Begum of Oude -- Literary quotations: Horace's Ars poetica -- Pictures that amplify subject., 1 print : etching on laid paper ; plate mark 22.8 x 28.8 cm, on sheet 24.3 x 30 cm., Mounted on leaf 45 of James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures., and Imperfect; the word "exceedingly" in the Begum's quote has been erased from sheet.
Publisher:
Publd. 1st May 1788 by Thos. Cornell, Bruton Street
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Hastings, Warren, 1732-1818, Francis, Philip, 1740-1818, Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, and Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816
Subject (Topic):
Impeachment, Politicians, Bowing, Wigs, and Daggers & swords
"A complicated design: advocates for religious toleration in a church, the pulpit occupied by Priestley, Price, and Lindsey. The central figure is Price, to whom the clerk standing below has passed up in a cleft stick a paper inscribed: 'The Prayers of this Congregation are desired for the Success of the patriot Members of the national Assembly now sitting in France'. Price takes the paper, and, raising his left hand sanctimoniously, says: "And now Let us fervently pray for the Abolition of all unlimited and limit[ed] Monarchy, for the Annihilation of all ecclesiastical Revenues and Endowments, for the Extinction of all Orders of Nobility and all rank and Subordination in civil Society and that Anarchy and Disorder may by our pious Endeavours prevail throughout the Universe - See my Sermon on the Anniversary of the Revolution" (see BMSat 7629, &c). Priestley leans over the left edge of the pulpit, his right arm raised; flames issuing from his mouth expand into four columns of smoke inscribed respectively 'Atheism' (smaller than the others), 'Deism', 'Socinianism', 'Arianism'. This blast strikes an angel carrying a cross; he flies out of a window (left), looking over his shoulder at Priestley with an expression of horror. Through the window is also seen a church steeple, being pulled down by a rope. Seated in a pew below is Fox (left) who looks up at the preacher, smiling; a similar column of smoke issues from his mouth and rises towards Priestley, inscribed 'Hear hear hear'. Lindsey leans over the right side of the pulpit, holding out 'A Table of the Thirty nine Articles' in a frame, this he tears to pieces. The back of the pulpit, above Price's head, is ornamented with an inverted and irradiated triangle containing the letters 'PPL', the initials of the three preachers. Above it is suspended a marquess's coronet with Lord Lansdowne's beehive crest. On the sounding-board are (left) two books: 'Priestley on civil Government' and 'Price on civil Liberty'. Beside them hangs from the roof a striped flag inscribed 'America' (Price's 'Observations on civil liberty . . .' (1776) had encouraged the Declaration of Independence, see BMSat 5644). On the books stands a small demon. Another demon, wearing the steeple-crowned hat of the puritans of the Commonwealth, sits on an open book (right) inscribed 'a Sermon on the Anniversary of the glorious Revolution'. Beneath the pulpit is a pew running across the church from left to right and containing the clerk's desk. In this sits Fox (left); facing him in profile to the left is Dr. Abraham Rees looking through a large magnifying-glass at a large open volume inscribed 'Bacons liber Regis' and 'Cantuar'. On the clerk's desk is a paper: 'Ye are desired to take Notice That a Vestry will be held on Tuesday to take into Consideration some necessary Reforms both in the Church and State'. Behind and between these two is a shadowy head, partly obliterated by the smoke issuing from Fox, identified as Sir Henry Hoghton. Next him is a woman with the closed eyes and upturned face of an enthusiast; she holds out an open book: 'Margt Nicholson her Book' (see BMSat 6973, &c). Seated in profile to the right is Dr. Kippis. Standing beside him is Lord Stanhope, smiling, his head turned in profile to the left. He tears in half a paper inscribed: 'Acts of Parliamt for the Uniformity of Common Prayer, and Service in ye Church and Administration of the Sacraments'. Beneath his elbow is a paper: 'Heads of a Bill for the Abolition of Tithes and other ecclesiastical Endowm[ents]'. In front of the pulpit the central figure is an exciseman standing with his back to the pulpit and looking over his shoulder at Stanhope with a smile. An ink-bottle is attached to his coat, under his arm is a book inscribed 'Excise'. His folded hands rest on the head of a cane, the tip of which is in a chalice which stands at his feet. Under his foot is a paper: 'Order for the Ministration of the holy Communion'. He is gauging a Communion cup, and is evidently Thomas Paine. Next him (right) in back view, kneeling, is a bishop, with enormous lawn sleeves; he is identified by Miss Banks as Edward Law, Bishop of Carlisle, but an open book in front of him is inscribed 'Watson Tracts', suggesting that he is Watson of Llandaff, cf. BMSat 7419. In the foreground on the left a kneeling man is flinging out the contents of an open chest on which are a bishop's escutcheon, and a female figure with a cross and chalice, probably representing religion. He throws out a large book: 'The Book of Common Prayer' to join a book of 'Homilies'. Beside this lie a mitre, a crozier, a chalice, a communion plate with bread at which rats are nibbling, a paper: 'The Communion of Saints, &c.' Looking over the shoulder of this despoiler of the Church is a bearded Jew, his hands raised in admiration, saying, "O vat fine plaat I vil give you de Monies for it Sar." On the right and in profile to the left sits a soldier, with the lank hair and upward gaze of the enthusiast; he holds his sabre by the scabbard. In his right hand is a steeple-crowned hat. Behind him sits a shadowy worshipper, full face, with upturned head and clasped hands. In the foreground on the extreme right a beadle is seated on the floor asleep. His hat is inscribed 'Oliver Condable St James'. Beside him are a dog and an open book: 'Killing no Murder a Sermon for the 30th of January'. Above the back of a pew on the extreme right is part of the back of a wig, identified as that of the Lord Mayor. A large mace is beside it, and a pillar surmounted by the Royal Arms: the lion is headless and in place of the crown is a puritan's steeple-crowned hat. Through a doorway inscribed 'Sanctum Sanctor[um]' is a three quarter length portrait in an oval frame of Oliver Cromwell. From a gallery in the upper right corner of the design, a ruffianly looking man leans over with a clenched fist, saying, "No Test no Bishops". In his left hand is a paper: 'The Rights of the Protestant Dissenters vindicated a Sermon by Jos Priestley.'"--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Initial letters of printmaker's name in signature form a monogram., Later state, with end of imprint statement re-etched to include publisher's street address. Cf. No. 7628 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 6., Eleven lines of verse below image in two columns, one on either side of title: From such implacable tormentors, fanatics, hypocrites, dissenters ..., Temporary local subject terms: Religious dissenters -- Reference to America -- Allusion to French Revolution -- Magnifying glasses -- Religious reforms -- Excisemen -- Jews -- American flag -- Reference to Cromwell, Oliver, 1599-1658 -- Acts: Repeal of the Test and Corporation Act, March 2, 1790., and Mounted on leaf 52 of James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures.
Publisher:
Published by Thos. Cornell, Bruton Street
Subject (Name):
Priestley, Joseph, 1733-1804, Price, Richard, 1723-1791, Lindsey, Theophilus, 1723-1808, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Lansdowne, William Petty, Marquis of, 1737-1805, Rees, Abraham, 1743-1825, Hoghton, Henry, Sir, 1728-1795, Kippis, Andrew, 1725-1795, Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816, Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809, Ellenborough, Edward Law, Baron, 1750-1818, Watson, Richard, 1737-1816, and Nicholson, Margaret, approximately 1750-1828
Subject (Topic):
Clergy, Architecture, Military uniforms, and British
"A bearded Jew (left) points out to Fox and North the high price of stocks; he holds out to North (right) a paper inscribed '3 Per Cents Consol done at 75 for ye next opening'. North holds out his hands in dismay. Fox stands between and behind them, looking gloomily at North. The Jew stands behind a counter on which hangs a paper, 'India Stock 162 Bank Stock 241 India Bonds 50 [ ? or 59] Prem. Navy & Victualg Bills Per Cent Discount Exchequer Bills Prem Per Cent Scrip'. At North's feet lies a paper headed 'Mr Sheridans Speech upon Mr Pitts Plan of Finance'. The background is the wall of a room with arched recesses or alcoves."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., The Lewis Walpole Library: Horace Walpole refers to subject., 1 print : etching and aquatint with stipple on wove paper ; plate mark 28.8 x 20.5 cm, on sheet 30.3 x 21.7 cm., and Mounted on verso of leaf 34 of James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures.
Publisher:
Published 29th May 1786 by Thos. Cornell, Bruton Street
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816., and East India Company.
Drawing of a tall sign, with a post similar to that of a street lamp, displaying a rectangular portrait of a man surrounded by ornamentation. The man, possibly a politician, is shown bust-length in profile to the left; he has a long nose that curls upward and wears a wig that likewise curls upwards in the back. The words "The saviour of his grateful country" are written on the sign directly beneath the portrait, indicating that the sign might in fact be a monument. To the right of the sign is a low milestone on which is written "To Kingston I mile, to London X miles".
Description:
Title written in image., Possibly drawn by James Sayers; the drawing is laid in a volume of prints that Sayers assembled., Approximate date of production from watermark: G. Pike 1817., and Attached to a lithograph with a metal pin that pierces the lower left corners of both sheets; laid in James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures.
Subject (Topic):
Monuments & memorials, Traffic signs & signals, Milestones, and Portraits
"A design divided into two portions by a vertical line and a slanting line which diverges to the right from the vertical line forming with it an obtuse angle. On the left of this division are the Speaker and three members of the House of Commons; on the right the Chancellor and three peers. Only a small part of the Speaker and his chair are visible on the extreme left. Fox stands facing him, his right hand extended, his left on his hip, a scroll inscribed 'Consuetudo et Lex Parliamenti' issues from his mouth. Burke stands with his back to Fox, scowling with folded arms; his scroll is inscribed 'Tropes Figures and a long Speech'. Sheridan stands in back view, facing Burke and bending forward, his scroll is 'Speech all Point'. The figures on the right have similar attitudes to those on the left, only the extreme left of the Chancellor and Woolsack being visible. Loughborough, in back view, wearing a judge's wig and gown, says "Lex Parliamenti"; Stormont says "Long Speech". Lord Derby, turning to the right in a mincing attitude, says, "Point de tout"."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., Four lines of verse in two columns below title: Each patriots speech another speech affords, the C----ns have their echo in the L---ds; thus Opposition proves the assertion true, that even shadows have their shadows too., 1 print : etching and aquatint on laid paper ; plate mark 19.8 x 16.2 cm, on sheet 21.9 x 17.9 cm., and Mounted on verso of leaf 44 of James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures.
Publisher:
Publd. 31st March 1788 by Thos. Cornell
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Smith-Stanley, Edward, 1752-1834, Rosslyn, Alexander Wedderburn, Earl of, 1733-1805, Mansfield, David Murray, Earl of, 1727-1796, Thurlow, Edward Thurlow, Baron, 1731-1806, Cornwallis, Charles Cornwallis, Marquis, 1738-1805, Hastings, Warren, 1732-1818, and East India Company.
"A street-lamp containing three gas-jets stands like a light-house on a rough stone mound between the sea (right) and a hill; these are lit by rays from the lamp which irradiate a dark sky and impinge upon a waning moon with a profile inset in a dark circle, and a dusky sun whose irradiated face looks out from clouds."--British Museum online catalogue, description of a variant state
Description:
Title from text in image., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., Text below title: Extract from Moore's Almanack for the year 1811., Six lines of quoted verse at bottom of plate: "And it shall come to pass, that Mr. Winsor's Patent Gas, will very soon eclipse the Moon, and when that's done put out the Sun.", For a variant state with publisher's street address and day of publication present in imprint statement, see no. 11606 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 8., Mounted on leaf 89 of James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures., and Watermark: 1803.
"Wilberforce, as a weathercock, stands with his right foot poised on a pinnacle at the point of intersection of the four points of the compass. He leans forward in profile to the right, both arms stretched out towards a bird which grasps a scroll resting on clouds: 'Peace and Fraternity with France'. The bird is half-dove, and holds an olive branch in its mouth, but the left leg is that of a bird of prey, and in its talons a dagger is clasped, while the left wing is fantastically webbed. Two papers issue from Wilberforce's coat-pocket: 'Charge agt Kimber' and 'Abolition of the Slave Trade'. From his back rises a vertical spike supporting the hat of a Roundhead, its brim inscribed 'Fanaticism, Puritanism'. On its crown sits a raven, shrieking at Wilberforce the word 'Kimber'. Below (right) is the dome of a minaret terminating in the head of Fox, directing a blast of 'Republicanism' against Wilberforce which has blown him into his present position."--British Museum online catalogue, description of a variant state
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., Second of a set of seven prints "Outlines of the Opposition in 1795 ..."; see British Museum catalogue., For a variant state with plate number "2" etched in upper left corner, see no. 8637 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 7., Temporary local subject terms: Opposition -- House of Commons: Motion for peace with France, 27 May 1795 -- Bills: Abolition of slave trade -- Allusion to Puritans -- Daggers -- Symbols: Dove as a symbol of peace -- Kimber, John, fl. 1795., 1 print : etching on wove paper ; plate mark 30.5 x 23.9 cm, on sheet 33.6 x 25.9 cm., and Mounted on leaf 66 of James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures.
Publisher:
Publd. 14th April 1795 by H. Humphry [sic], New Bond Street
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Wilberforce, William, 1759-1833 and Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806
Subject (Topic):
Weather vanes, Doves, Crows, Domes, and Politics and government
"Burke lies back asleep, but scowling, in profile to the left, his arms folded in an arm-chair whose seat is inscribed 'Otium cum Dignit[ate]'. The top of his head is on fire, and the smoke rising from it forms the base of the upper and larger part of the design. Immediately above his head: 'This royal Throne of Kings, this sceptred Isle This Earth of Majesty, this seat of Mars This fortress built by Nature for herself Against Infection and the hand of War This Nurse, this teeming Womb of royal Kings This England that was wont to conquer others Will make a shameful Conquest of itself Shakespeare'. The British lion stands as if supported on these lines; from his angry mouth issue the words: "I protest against Peace with a Regicide Directory Went: Fitzw." Their background is a rectangular altar, wreathed with oak leaves which forms a centre to the upper part of the design. It supports a scroll: 'Naval \ Victories \ East India \ Conquests \ &ca &ca.' Against its base is a scroll headed 'Basle' and signed 'Wyckham', the intermediate (illegible) text being scored through. Above the altar flies a dove, an olive-branch in its mouth, clutching a sealed 'Passport'. Behind and above the lion Britannia stands in back view, her discarded spear and shield beside her; she plays a fiddle, intent on a large music score: 'A new Opera \ Il Trattato \ di Pace \ Overture \ Rule Britan[nia scored through and replaced by] \ Ca Ira \ God save ye King [scored through and replaced by] The Marsellois Hymn.' The apex of the design is an Austrian grenadier, his cap decorated with the Habsburg eagle, playing a flute with melancholy fervour: 'To Arms to Arms my valiant Grenadiers.' On the left of the altar and facing Britannia and the lion stands a sansculotte, standing on a large map, one foot planted on 'Britain', the other on '[I]reland'. In his right hand is a pike bearing the head of Louis XVI (see British Museum Satires No. 8297, &c), in his left a large key labelled 'Belgium' and attached by a chain to his belt, in which is a dagger; his coat-pocket is inscribed 'Forced Loan'. He says: "I will retain what I have got and treat with you on fair Terms for what you have got". Behind him and on the extreme left stands a creature symbolizing the Dutch Republic, linked to the sansculotte by a chain round its spinal cord. It has the head of a frog wearing a bonnet-rouge, thin, spidery arms akimbo, the ribs, &c. of a skeleton (cf. British Museum Satires No. 8848), baggy breeches, and shrunken legs. It smokes a pipe with an expression of resigned despair."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., Two lines of text following title: Frontispiece to a pamphlet which will never be [four words scored through but conspicuously legible] published. "He shall never accuse me of being the author of a peace with regicide." Vide Mr. Burke's letter to a noble lord., Temporary local subject terms: Regicide peace -- Reference to Malmesbury's peace mission, 1796 -- Military: Austrian grenadier -- Dutchmen -- Reference to the French occupation of the Dutch Republic -- British Lion -- Furniture: Armchairs -- Dreams -- Music: c̦a ira -- La marseillaise -- Literature: Quote from W. Shakespeare's King Richard II, ii.1., 1 print : etching on wove paper ; plate mark 37.7 x 26.1 cm, on sheet 39.9 x 28.2 cm., and Mounted on leaf 78 of James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures.
Publisher:
Publd. by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Louis XVI, King of France, 1754-1793, Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, and Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797.
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character), Sansculottes, Dreaming, Musical instruments, Lions, Doves, Altars, and Pipes (Smoking)
