"The head and shoulders of Fox (like Christian in 'The Pilgrim's Progress') emerge from a pool of liquid mire; he looks despairingly up and to the right, his (half-submerged) hands raised in supplication. On his back is a bundle inscribed 'Contents French Gold, French Loyalty, French Daggers [cf. BMSat 8285, &c.], And Crimes, more num'rous than the sands, upon the Ocean's shore.' His hat has fallen off, the tricolour cockade and motto 'Ca ira' are half submerged. His large club rises from the slough: 'Patriots Staff - i.e. Whig Club' [cf. BMSat 8987, &c.]. Before him floats an open book: 'Gospel of Liberty by the four Evangelists St Paine St Price St Priestly St Petion [see BMSat 8122] \ Fly to the Wrath to come." Fox says: "Help! Help! - will no kind Power lend a hand to deliver me ? - Oh! what will become of me ? - all my former Friends have forsaken me! - if I try to go on, I sink deeper in the Filth; & my feet are stuck so fast in the Mire, that I can not get back, 'tho I try; - Ah me! - this Burden upon my Back overwhelm's me, & presses me down! - I shall Rise no more! - I am lost for ever, & shall never see the Promis'd Land!!" From the slough a hill ascends up which a straight path leads to a fortified gateway in a castellated wall inscribed: 'Knock, & it shall be opened. The Straight Gate: or the way to the Patriots Paradise.' From it flies a flag of 'Libertas', surmounted with the cap of Liberty. Within the wall is a ladder slanting towards a waning moon. ..."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Three lines of text from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress quoted to the right of title: "This miry slough is such a place as can not be mended ..." and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., and Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
A ragged sansculotte sits astride a lamp brackets high above a square where a crowd, all wearing bonnets-rouges and all watching the beheading of Louis XVI. He fiddles as he smiles down at the scene. Hanging below him from the same lamp post are two monks and a bishop, their hands bound. Further in the distance are more hung bodies and a cathedral in flames.
Alternative Title:
Pinnacle of liberty
Description:
One line of text below title: Religion, justice, loyalty, & all the bugbears of unenlighten'd minds, farewell! and Title etched below image, left.
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., and Louis--XVI,--King of France,--1754-1793--Death and burial.
Subject (Topic):
Clergy--France., Crowds--France., Fires., Guillotines (Punishment), Hangings (Executions), Liberty cap. , Revolutions--France., Sansculottes--Caricatures and cartoons., and Scales.
