"A sitting of the Board of Control (established by Pitt's India Act 1784): Dundas, Pitt, and Sydney are seated behind a narrow cloth-covered table, but Dundas (left) monopolizes the business, while Pitt, his back to Dundas, plays push-pin with Sydney who is on the extreme right. Pitt complacently defeats Sydney who starts back in dismay at the position of the pins. Dundas turns his head in profile towards four ragamuffins in Highland dress who enter from the left. These, but not the members of the Board, are caricatured. The foremost, with shaggy hair, torn garments, and bare feet, scratches himself (cf. BMSat 5940) as he presents a petition with an eager grimace. ... A second petitioner carries a spade, a third scratches his head with an anxious expression. Dundas receives them with favour, holding out his hand for the petition. ... The only actual director named is the Hon. William Elphinstone, formerly commander of an Indiaman, member of a family which (later) had many honourable associations with India. ... The papers in front of Pitt and Sydney, with their pens and ink-stands, have been thrown to the floor to make room for their game, and are in shadow. Three are inscribed: 'Sir Elijah Impey', 'Major Scot &c &c &c', and 'War[ren] Hastings Esq.' On the wall, on each side of a candelabra, are two pictures: one (left) is 'Robbing'; Fox puts a pistol to the head of a stout Englishman who holds a document inscribed 'India Patronage'. The other (right) is 'Stealing'; Pitt picks the pocket of a sleeping oriental, taking from it a roll: 'India Patronage'. ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Board of Control and Blessings of a Scotch dictator
Description:
Title etched below image., Counterfeit signature; print by Gillray. See British Museum catalogue., Temporary local subject terms: East India Company, Board of Control -- East India Company, Proprietors of stock -- Pictures amplyfing subject -- Livery companies -- Games: push pin -- Scotland -- Scotchmen -- Allusion to Sir Elijah Impey, 1732-1809 -- Allusion to John Scott-Waring -- Allusion to William Fullerton Elphistone, 1744-1835., and Mounted to 33 x 44 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. March 20th, 1787, by R. Phillips, Southwarke
Subject (Name):
Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Sydney, Thomas Townshend, Viscount, 1733-1800, and Hastings, Warren, 1732-1818
Title etched below image., Wicksteed as engraver from unverified data in local card catalog record., Sheet trimmed to plate mark; loss of text from imprint statement?, Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., Temporary local subject terms: Female costume -- Puffs -- Men milliners -- Altered Biblical quotation: "They are altogether lighter than vanity" from Psalm 62:9., and Mounted to 42 x 31 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. Feby 16, 1787 by J. Wicksteed, No. 30 Henrietta Strt. Covt. Gard
"Pitt (left) holds up the dome of St. Paul's which he is about to place over the central tower of Lincoln Cathedral (right). He stands in a graveyard at some distance, and leans forward, on tip-toe, his right foot resting on a rectangular tombstone inscribed 'Hic jacet' and decorated with a bishop's mitre, a winged skull, and cross-bones"--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Minister endeavouring to eke out Dr. Pretyman's bishopric
Description:
Title etched below image., Counterfeit signature; print by Gillray. See British Museum catalogue., and Temporary local subject terms: St. Paul's Cathedral -- Lincoln Cathedral.
Publisher:
Pubd. March 1787 by R. Phillips, Southwark
Subject (Geographic):
England.
Subject (Name):
Pitt, William, 1759-1806 and Pretyman, George, 1750-1827
Subject (Topic):
Cathedrals, Cemeteries, and Tombs & sepulchral monuments
