"Portrait of George Graham, seated at a table, his hat on his lap."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from text below image., Date of publication from the British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: 1958,1006.2729., and Text below title: Done from the original picture in the possession of the Right Honble. George Earl of Macclesfield, &c.
"The cattle-pens (right) of Smithfield Market are filled with cattle with the faces of peers and draped with ermine-trimmed robes. [The ermine is apparent only in the coloured impression] Thurlow, dressed as a farmer, the owner of the cattle, stands on guard with his back to the pens; he wears his Chancellor's wig and uses the mace as a walking-stick. He clutches a full purse in his right hand and looks fiercely at a smaller number of cattle who are being driven from the left towards the pens. One of these, with the head of Lord Derby, stands on his hind legs, saying, "I move an adjournment till after the next Newmarket Meeting". The cattle in the pens (right) have the heads of peers who were believed favourable to Hastings. In the front row are (left to right) Lord Sydney, the Duke of Grafton, and (between two unidentified peers) Lord Bathurst. An ox with the head of Lord Lansdowne, his horns tipped to prevent mischief, stands (right) outside the pen which he tries to enter, his eyes slyly fixed on Thurlow (cf. BMSat 7311). Others cannot be identified. The Opposition peers include the Duke of Portland (who glares fiercely at Sydney), the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Carlisle, and Lord Stormont. They are being driven by a fierce-looking drover (left); a dog wearing a peer's robe, his collar inscribed 'Mountford', barks at them. On the extreme left Hastings, dressed as a butcher but wearing a turban, riding (right to left) a miserable horse fit only for the knacker (the horse of Hanover), carries off a calf with the profile of George III, its forelegs tied together. He whips his horse ferociously. Behind him is a pawnbroker's shop-window, with three balls and the sign 'Money Lent'. In the middle of the cattle-pens (right) is a bell (that of the Market) on a post, a man (? George Rose) wearing a bag-wig pulls the bell-rope, looking round with a cynical smile. Undifferentiated ministerial cattle at the back of the pens push with their horns at a watchman's box which they are overturning. Three men dressed as watchmen, seated on the roof (which they have climbed to escape the cattle), drop staff, lantern, and rattle and are about to fall off; they are Fox, Burke, and Sheridan. The background is formed by buildings; the pawnshop (left) adjoins a large inn behind the cattle, a house at the corner of 'Smithfield' and 'Cow Lane', which diverges on the right. It is the sign of the Crown; in a balcony over the large gateway which leads to the courtyard sit Dundas (left) and Pitt (right), much at their ease, facing each other in profile, regardless of the turmoil below. They are smoking and have foaming tankards marked with a crown; Dundas is in Highland dress, Pitt is dressed as an English farmer or drover. On the balcony is: 'Good Entertainment for Man and Beast'. Beneath the design is etched: '"Every Man has his Price", Sir Rt Walpole', and '"Sic itur ad astra"'."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Gillray in the British Museum catalogue., Two lines of quotation inscribed on either side of title. On the left: "Every man has his price," Sir Robert Walpole. On the right: "Sic itur ad astra.", and Mounted to 37 x 56 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. May 2d, 1788, by S.W. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
India. and England
Subject (Name):
Smithfield Market., Thurlow, Edward Thurlow, Baron, 1731-1806, Smith-Stanley, Edward, 1752-1834, Hastings, Warren, 1732-1818, Sydney, Thomas Townshend, Viscount, 1733-1800, Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of, 1735-1811, Bathurst, Henry Bathurst, Earl, 1714-1794, Lansdowne, William Petty, Marquis of, 1737-1805, Portland, William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, Duke of, 1738-1809, Norfolk, Charles Howard, Duke of, 1746-1815, Carlisle, Frederick Howard, Earl of, 1748-1825, Rose, George, 1744-1818, Montfort, Thomas Bromley, Baron, 1733-1799, Mansfield, David Murray, Earl of, 1727-1796, George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Pitt, William, 1759-1806, and Walpole, Robert, Earl of Orford, 1676-1745
Subject (Topic):
Impeachment, Influence, Bribery, Cattle, Ceremonial objects, City & town life, Clock & watch making, Equipment, Taverns (Inns), Usury, Signs (Notices), Stockyards, and Stores & shops
