"Satire on Bute's alleged sale of public positions paralleled with Earl Talbot's introduction of economies into the royal household. An auction is taking place in a large kitchen where, in the centre, Talbot, Lord Steward of the Household, instructs the auctioneer's clerk at a table beneath the podium. On the left, three cooks, one a Frenchman planning to leave for Calais to work for "Monsr. Grandsire", are mocked by a Scot for not being able to make haggis; another cook brandishing a gridiron and two ladles stands in front of the fireplace in which stands only a cracked pot filled with thistles. On the right, a poor man plans to bid for "old rags or broken glass", and a stout middle-class woman plans to purchase a ladle to beat her husband, while Princess Augusta and Lord Bute converse intimately; the Princess points suggestively to a large pot resting with other utensils on the floor. In the background, a chaplain laments the lack both "of victuals and of grace"."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Catalogue of the kitchen furniture of John Bull Esqr. leaving of house-keeping now selling by auction
Description:
Title etched above image., Questionable artist attribution to Jefferyes Hamett O'Neale from the British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: J,1.48., Date of publication from British Museum catalogue., Eighteen lines of verse in three columns below image: When Housekeeping fails which at present is true ..., "Price 6d"--Following imprint., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., and Formerly mounted on blue paper with residue on back.
Publisher:
Publish'd according to act of Parliament by J. Williams, next the Mitre Tavern, Fleet Street
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Talbot, William Talbot, Earl, 1710-1782, Augusta, Princess of Wales, 1719-1772, and Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792
Subject (Topic):
Royal households, Accounting, Auctions, Cooks, and Kitchens
With contemporaneous engraving "The Good Samaritan" (R.T. Bone del. ; W. Bond sculp.) pasted in as a frontispiece. Bound in contemporary green morocco, boards ruled in gilt with blind-stamped Greek key roll, flat spine titled and tooled in gilt with flower tool, gilt dentelles, green silk bookmark. For further information, consult library staff.
Publisher:
Printed for the Society by W. Marchant, Ingram-Court, Fenchurch-Street
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain and Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Society of Friends of Foreigners in Distress
Subject (Topic):
Officials and employees, Accounting, Noncitizens, Immigrants, and Charities
