"Ritson stands at a desk in profile to the Ieft, writing in a large book, both pages headed 'Common Place'. His finger- and toe-nails are talons; he dips his pen in an ink-stand inscribed 'Gall', and has written: 'Moses an Impostor the prophets old Cloaths Men of Judæa Warburton a fool Dr Percy a Liar Warton an infamous Liar a pipeer [Ritson adopted a system of spelling chiefly characterized by a duplication of the letter e. 'D.N.B.'] better than a parson'. He wears a tightly buttoned overcoat and a top-hat; his toes project through broken shoes. From his pocket projects a pamphlet: 'The Atheist's pocket Companion.' He stands on a slab of (damaged) papers headed 'Dr Percy's Antient Balla[ds]'. his feet is a large open book; on one page is a half length portrait of Thomas Warton stabbed through with a knife and fork; on the other, 'History of English Poetry'. The room is filled with heavy folio volumes and vegetable products; there is a small window with cracked panes. A cow (head only visible) munches at a basket of large leaves beside a paper: 'Bill of Fare \ Nettle Soup \ Sour Crout \ Horse Beans \ Onions Leeks'. On a top shelf an emaciated cat, heavily chained, strains in vain towards two rats who nibble a bunch of candles; beside it is an open book: 'Abstinence from animal Food a moral duty'. Below, 'The Bible' slants across a gap in the book-shelf labelled 'Old Romances'. On Ritson's desk (left) is a pile of books on which squats a frog; on it vegetables are heaped."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Impiger iracundus, inexorabilis acer
Description:
Title from British Museum catalogue., Signed with the initials of James Sayers., One line of Latin verse below image: Impiger iracundus, inexorabilis acer [Horace, Ars Poetica]., One line of Greek text below Latin verse., Four lines of English text above imprint: Fierce meagre pale no commentator's friend. Purs. Lit. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the Earth ..., Temporary local subject terms: Ink well -- 'Common Place' -- Iron gall ink., and Mounted on page 100.
Publisher:
Published by H. Humphrey
Subject (Name):
Ritson, Joseph, 1752-1803
Subject (Topic):
Desks, Writing materials, Books, Vegetables, Cows, Cats, Rats, Frogs, Vegetarians, and British
"Ritson stands at a desk in profile to the Ieft, writing in a large book, both pages headed 'Common Place'. His finger- and toe-nails are talons; he dips his pen in an ink-stand inscribed 'Gall', and has written: 'Moses an Impostor the prophets old Cloaths Men of Judæa Warburton a fool Dr Percy a Liar Warton an infamous Liar a pipeer [Ritson adopted a system of spelling chiefly characterized by a duplication of the letter e. 'D.N.B.'] better than a parson'. He wears a tightly buttoned overcoat and a top-hat; his toes project through broken shoes. From his pocket projects a pamphlet: 'The Atheist's pocket Companion.' He stands on a slab of (damaged) papers headed 'Dr Percy's Antient Balla[ds]'. his feet is a large open book; on one page is a half length portrait of Thomas Warton stabbed through with a knife and fork; on the other, 'History of English Poetry'. The room is filled with heavy folio volumes and vegetable products; there is a small window with cracked panes. A cow (head only visible) munches at a basket of large leaves beside a paper: 'Bill of Fare \ Nettle Soup \ Sour Crout \ Horse Beans \ Onions Leeks'. On a top shelf an emaciated cat, heavily chained, strains in vain towards two rats who nibble a bunch of candles; beside it is an open book: 'Abstinence from animal Food a moral duty'. Below, 'The Bible' slants across a gap in the book-shelf labelled 'Old Romances'. On Ritson's desk (left) is a pile of books on which squats a frog; on it vegetables are heaped."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Impiger iracundus, inexorabilis acer
Description:
Title from British Museum catalogue., Signed with the initials of James Sayers., One line of Latin verse below image: Impiger iracundus, inexorabilis acer [Horace, Ars Poetica]., One line of Greek text below Latin verse., Four lines of English text above imprint: Fierce meagre pale no commentator's friend. Purs. Lit. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the Earth ..., Temporary local subject terms: Ink well -- 'Common Place' -- Iron gall ink., and Mounted to 42 x 32 cm.
Publisher:
Published by H. Humphrey
Subject (Name):
Ritson, Joseph, 1752-1803
Subject (Topic):
Desks, Writing materials, Books, Vegetables, Cows, Cats, Rats, Frogs, Vegetarians, and British
"Five ugly and elderly members of the Royal Society are seated in arm-chairs at a rectangular dinner-table. A footman (right) is about to place on the table a dish containing an alligator. The head of a strange horned beast is the chief dish on the table; there is also a frog on a plate. Banks (left) gnaws a serpent which he holds in both hands. The two walls of the room are closely covered with stuffed specimens and butterflies, insects, &c, in cases. The former include a sow, a goose, three owls, a deformed human skeleton. Two dogs gnaw bones."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from British Museum catalogue., Attributed to Rowlandson by Grego., Date of publication based on that of the volume in which the print appears., Frontispiece to: Pindar, P. Peter's prophecy, or, The president and poet ... London : Printed by G. Kearsley ..., [1788], Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Mounted on leaf 72 of volume 2 of 14 volumes.
