An oversized John Bull with a carbuncled-faced sits at a round table across from a very young looking William Betty and his father, both handsome and not caricatured. John Bull toasts the two, full wine glass in hand: "Youngster, heres to you I'm glad to see you in town. Old Master Roscius your health, and may you get such another boy every New Year's Day for the benifit [sic] of the English stage." Behind them pinned to the wall are two prints: the one a profile portrait of Mrs. Siddons, hangs from one corner only, and the other a portrait of J.P. Kemble. The three ostrich feathers on the back of Master Betty's chair may indicate the patronage of the Prince of Wales
Description:
Title etched below image., Printseller's stamp in lower right corner: S.W.F., and Description from British Museum catalogue of "Young Roscius and Don John" mounted on verso.
Publisher:
Pubd January 4, 1805, by S.W. Fores, No. 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Betty, William Hen. West 1791-1874. (William Henry West),, Siddons, Sarah, 1755-1831, and Kemble, John Philip, 1757-1823
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character), Theater, Actors, British, and Child actors
Volume 1, opposite page 102. Memoirs of the life of the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Description:
Collective title devised by cataloger., Each drawing has the title of Sheridan's play "The Rivals" written in ink above, as well as the depicted actor's name, the name of the character portrayed, the theater name, and the performance date written in ink below., Statement of responsibility "by W. Loftie" added in pencil for each drawing, in lower right corner of sheet., Date from partially trimmed watermark on sheet of upper right drawing: 1794 [J. W]hatman., and Mounted together opposite page 102 (leaf numbered '154' in pencil) in volume 1 of an extra-illustrated copy of Thomas Moore's Memoirs of the life of the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Subject (Name):
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816., Dodd, James William, 1740?-1796, Farren, Elizabeth, 1762-1829, Kemble, John Philip, 1757-1823, and Johnstone, John Henry, 1749-1828
