"The ugly and ungainly Nicholls, naked except for floating drapery, and with heavy, feathered wings, stands directed to the right, drawing the string of his bow. He stands on clouds which form a background."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., No. 4 in a series of six prints with a frontispiece entitled: New pantheon of democratic mythology., Sheet partially trimmed within plate mark., and Temporary local subject terms: Mythology: Cupid.
Publisher:
Pubd. May 7th, 1799, by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street
"The members of the Secret Committee of the Commons are seated round a table examining the documents relating to the United Irishmen and other revolutionary societies. A lamp on the table illuminates a large framed transparency [The transparency, a large pictorial design lit from behind, was a popular form of street illumination. On 5 Nov. 1813 (for the battle of Leipzig) Ackermann displayed on the façade of his 'Repository' Rowlandson's 'The Two Kings of terror, afterwards published as a print. Broadley, i. 338.] divided into four equal sections which hangs from the ceiling and conceals the heads of the Committee ; the four scenes depict the supposed intentions of the revolutionaries. The transparency is irradiated, throwing into deep shadow members of the Opposition in the foreground (right), who flee from the room in a body, terror-struck. The nearest (three-quarter length) are Erskine, clutching a brief-bag, Fox, M. A. Taylor, and Norfolk. Behind these are Tierney, Sheridan, and Nicholls; in the last row are Sir J. Sinclair, Burdett, Moira, Bedford. The two most prominent members, though in back view with heads obscured, suggest Pitt (left) and Dundas (right); they read papers inscribed 'Scheme to Overthrow the British Constitution, & to seize on all public Property and Invitation to the French Republic'. Over the edge of the table hang the bulky 'Reports of the Secret Committee of the House of Commons.' On the floor are four papers: 'Names of Traitors now sufferd to remain at large'; 'Oath of the Members of the Society of the United Irishmen in London'; 'Account of ye Lodge of United Englishmen, & of the Monks of St Ann's Shrine' [see BMSat 9217]; 'Proceedings of the London Corresponding Society with a list of all the Members.' [See BMSat 9189, &c] The transparency is suspended on tricolour ribbons. Titles are engraved on the frame: [1] 'Plundering the Bank'. A scene in the Rotunda; tiny figures hasten off with sacks of gold, the most prominent being Tierney with '£10000'. Sir William Pulteney (identified from his resemblance to BMSat 9212) staggers off to the left with two sacks; the poker-like Moira has a sack on his head; two men dispute over a sack, one being Walpole with his huge cocked hat, the other resembling Jekyll; Sheridan (right) slouches off with two sacks. Proletarians exult over small money-bags. [2] 'Assassinating the Parliament'. The interior of the House of Commons is realistically depicted; the Opposition violently attack the occupants of the Government benches, daggers being the chief weapon. Erskine (left) is about to murder Dundas; Fox strikes at Pitt, holding him by the throat, while Sheridan is about to stab Pitt in the back. The puny Walpole tries to drag the Speaker from his chair, while Burdett raises the mace to smite him. Sir John Sinclair raises a broadsword to smite a man held down by little M. A. Taylor. Volumes of 'Acts and Statutes' fall to the floor. [3] 'Seizing the Crown. \ Scene the Tower'. Exulting plunderers emerge from the gate of the Tower on to the drawbridge. Bedford, dressed as a jockey (cf. BMSat 9380), walks ahead with two sacks: 'New Coinage' and 'New Guineas'; Fox, [Identified by Grego as Lansdowne.] smiling, holds the crown; Lauderdale, wearing a kilt, carries the sceptre. Just behind is Sir George Shuckburgh. Stanhope (or Grattan) carries a sack, 'Regalia of E[ngland]'. On the right a chimney-sweep and others dance round a bonfire in which 'Records' are burning. Cf. BMSat 7354, where Fox carries off the crown from the Tower. [4] 'Establishing the French Government. \ St James s Palace'. French troops march with arrogant goose-step and fixed bayonets into the gateway of the palace; their large tricolour flag is inscribed 'Vive la Republique Français'. In the foreground is planted a tall spear surmounted by a bonnet-rouge (a tree of Liberty, cf. BMSat 9214, &c.); at its base are decollated heads wearing coronets and a mitre. They are cheered by spectators (right): Grattan holding 'Grattans Address', Norfolk holding his staff, Lord Derby in hunting-dress standing on an overturned sentry-box, Moira standing like a ramrod. ...."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Two lines of text below title: Representing the Secret-Committee throwing a light upon the dark sketches of a revolution found among the papers of the Jacobin societies lately apprehended ..., and Sheet trimmed to plate mark.
Publisher:
Pubd. April 15th, 1799, by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James Street, London
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Erskine, Thomas Erskine, Baron, 1750-1823, Taylor, Michael Angelo, 1757-1834, Norfolk, Charles Howard, Duke of, 1746-1815, Tierney, George, 1761-1830, Nicholls, John, 1745?-1832, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Burdett, Francis, 1770-1844, Sinclair, John, Sir, 1754-1835, Bedford, Francis Russell, Duke of, 1765-1802, Hastings, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Marquess of, 1754-1826, Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Dundas, Henry, 1742-1811, Jekyll, Joseph, 1754-1837, Walpole, George, 1761-1830, Pulteney, William, Lauderdale, James Maitland, Earl of, 1759-1839, Shuckburgh-Evelyn, George Augustus William, Sir, 1751-1804, Smith-Stanley, Edward, 1752-1834, Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816, and Grattan, Henry, 1746-1820
"Nicholls stands directed to the left, almost in profile; his left eye is closed, but he gazes through a pair of double glasses held in his right hand, his face wrinkled in a sour grimace. Rays of light stream outward from the glasses. He wears a round hat with up-curved brim, half-boots, and holds a long cane in his left hand. Beneath the design: '"get thee glass Eyes And like a scurvy Politician, seem To see the things thou dost not" - Shakespeare'."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Frontispiece to citizen John Nicholls's parliamentary and unparliamentary letters, speeches and visions
Description:
Title etched at bottom of plate., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., Temporary local subject terms: Members of Parliament -- Looking glasses -- Male dress, 1797 -- Literature: Quote from Shakespeare's King Lear, IV.5., 1 print : etching with stipple on wove paper ; sheet 30 x 19.5 cm., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on top edge., and Mounted on verso of leaf 76 of James Sayers's Folio album of 144 caricatures.
"Nicholls stands directed to the left, almost in profile; his left eye is closed, but he gazes through a pair of double glasses held in his right hand, his face wrinkled in a sour grimace. Rays of light stream outward from the glasses. He wears a round hat with up-curved brim, half-boots, and holds a long cane in his left hand. Beneath the design: '"get thee glass Eyes And like a scurvy Politician, seem To see the things thou dost not" - Shakespeare'."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Frontispiece to citizen John Nicholls's parliamentary and unparliamentary letters, speeches and visions
Description:
Title etched at bottom of plate., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., Temporary local subject terms: Members of Parliament -- Looking glasses -- Male dress, 1797 -- Literature: Quote from Shakespeare's King Lear, IV.5., and Mounted on page 96.
"Nicholls stands directed to the left, almost in profile; his left eye is closed, but he gazes through a pair of double glasses held in his right hand, his face wrinkled in a sour grimace. Rays of light stream outward from the glasses. He wears a round hat with up-curved brim, half-boots, and holds a long cane in his left hand. Beneath the design: '"get thee glass Eyes And like a scurvy Politician, seem To see the things thou dost not" - Shakespeare'."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Frontispiece to citizen John Nicholls's parliamentary and unparliamentary letters, speeches and visions
Description:
Title etched at bottom of plate., Signed with the monogram of James Sayers., Temporary local subject terms: Members of Parliament -- Looking glasses -- Male dress, 1797 -- Literature: Quote from Shakespeare's King Lear, IV.5., and Mounted to 47 x 31 cm.
"Nicholls, M.P. for Tregony, sits in an arm-chair directed to the left; in his right hand is a tall staff in whose head is an eye; his left hand is thrust under his coat, which is buttoned. From a tricolour ribbon round his neck is suspended a small metal olive-branch. He wears his ordinary dress, his shrunken legs in wide half-boots. The portrait shows the notoriously ugly Nicholls, with his left eye closed, a projecting lower jaw, his upper lip drawn up in a permanent snarl. He sits on a square dais covered with a flowered carpet. Behind is a wall of heavy blocks of stone, in which (above his head) is a niche. In this stands a statue of Justice, her eyes covered by a bonnet-rouge, her scales and sword held up aggressively."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Tenth plate in the series "French habits." First plate in the series has series title "Habits of new French legislators and other public functionaries.", Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Temporary local subject terms: French costume: Directory judge -- Emblems: judge's staff and olive branch -- Figure of Justice -- Bonnet rouge.
Publisher:
Pubd. May 15th, 1798, by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street
"Fox stands, declaiming violently to his supporters, who surround him. He holds out a paper: 'Ruination - New Tax one Tenth of Income & Property, to Support the accursed War, of the Infamous Minister'. His clenched right fist is raised, and he says: "Gentlemen; - we are all ruin'd we sha'n't have Five Guineas left to make a Bett with! - one Tenth dead, without a single throw of the Dice! - why its worse than the French Game of Requisition; - for in that there would be some chance of coming in for Snacks!" He is dishevelled and ragged, with a padlocked 'Begging Box' slung round his shoulder (see BMSat 8331, &c). Erskine stands beside him in profile to the left as in BMSat 9246, holding a brief-bag: 'Republican Causes'. He says: "I wish it was to come on in the Kings-Bench for I would take up a Brief against him there, gratis; - but I dont like to say any thing to him in t'other place" [see BMSat 8502]. M. A. Taylor, like a small fat boy, wearing a tricolour suit and a bonnet-rouge in the form of a fool's cap, says, looking up at Fox: "One Tenth? - why he takes us for Boys or Chicks! [see BMSat 6777] zounds what a funk I am in." Tierney, wearing a ragged coat, stands in profile to the right, saying, "10 per Cent? - why it will make Bankrupts of all my Friends in in [sic] the Borough [see BMSat 9045]; ah the Villainous Cutthroat he wants to bring us to St Georges's Fields at last." Next Tierney stands Horne Tooke, saying, "One Tenth? - mum! - get it of me if you can tell how to get blood from a Post - or from one of the Gibbets at Wimbleton! - why its a better Subject to Halloo about than the Brentford Election." (He lived largely on the bounty of his friends.) On the right, behind Erskine, are the Duke of Bedford, dressed as a jockey (cf. BMSat 9380), saying, "Damn their 10 per Cents, I'll warrant I'll Jockey 'em as I did with the Servants Tax" [see BMSat 9167], and Norfolk, a bottle of Port in each waistcoat pocket, saying: "Why it will ruin us all! - One whole Tenth taken away from the Majesty of the People? - good heavens! - I must give up my Constitutional Toasts, & be contented with 4 Bottles a day" [see BMSat 9168, &c.]. Derby, in hunting-dress, says: "I must sell my Hounds, & hang up my Hunting Cap, upon my Horns!" [cf. BMSat 6668]. Nicholls peers through a glass, saying, "I see clearly he wants to keep us out of place, & fill his own pockets". On the extreme right stands Burdett, saying, "Dam'me! if my Lady Ox------d [see BMSat 9240] must not leave off wearing Trousers & take care of her little 10 pr Cent." On the left, outside the Foxite circle, stand four others: Sinclair, barefooted and wearing a kilt and plaid, scratches his arm (cf. BMSat 5940), saying "De'el tak me, but it gees me the Itch all o'er, to be prime Minister mysell; - out o' the 10 pr Cents I could mak up for ye loss of my place at the Board" (see BMSat 9271). George Walpole [Identified by Wright and Evans as Tarleton.] (see BMSat 9376), very thin, and wearing his enormous cocked hat, says with clenched fists: "Pistols! - I say, - Pistols! for the Villain! - zounds, I wish I had my Long-Sword here, & a few Moroons, I'd teach him how to humbug us out of our Property." (He had been Tierney's second, see BMSat 9218, and had taken a leading part in suppressing an insurrection of maroons in Jamaica in 1795.) Moira stands stiffly erect, saying: "An upright Man can see things at a distance; - yes! [See BMSat 9184.] I can plainly perceive, he would cut us down One Tenth, that he may be above us all." Pulteney, on the extreme left, peers through an eye-glass, saying, "10 per Cent? mercy upon me! where am I to get 10 per Cent? - ay I see I shall die a Beggar at last" [see BMSat 9212]. Behind Fox are two silent supporters: (left) Stanhope (or perhaps Grafton) saying "Mum", and (right) Sir George Shuckburgh, full-face."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Temporary local subject terms: Taxation: Income Tax -- Sir William Pulteney, 1729-1805 -- Quizzing glasses., and Mounted to 33 x 48 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. Decr. 13th, 1798, by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Erskine, Thomas Erskine, Baron, 1750-1823, Tierney, George, 1761-1830, Tooke, John Horne, 1736-1812, Taylor, Michael Angelo, 1757-1834, Shuckburgh-Evelyn, George Augustus William, Sir, 1751-1804, Bedford, Francis Russell, Duke of, 1765-1802, Norfolk, Charles Howard, Duke of, 1746-1815, Smith-Stanley, Edward, 1752-1834, Burdett, Francis, 1770-1844, Nicholls, John, 1745?-1832, Sinclair, John, Sir, 1754-1835, Walpole, George, 1761-1830, and Hastings, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Marquess of, 1754-1826
"Pitt and Dundas (in tartan), back to back, vigorously ply long whips against a herd of swine with human faces whom they drive through broken palings from the enclosure in which they stand (right). On the extreme left is the corner of a pound through which poke the heads of two (normal) swine, ringed and shedding tears. The swine who are being flogged have, beside their human heads, ringed snouts, both heads being enclosed in a wooden triangle. The leaders are Fox, with Norfolk (cf. BMSat 9205) on his right and Bedford (cf. BMSat 8684) on his left, the others are less prominent: Erskine, Tierney, looking over Fox's back, Burdett, Derby, and Nicholls (left), while M. A. Taylor (right), smaller than the others, scampers to right instead of left. Beside the pound (left) stands a grinning yokel (John Bull); on its post is a placard: 'London Corresponding Society - or the Cries of the Pigs in the Pound'. The background is a row of conical haystacks behind which is a thatched and gabled farm-house. ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Swine flogg'd out of the farm yard and Swine flogged out of the farm yard
Description:
Title etched below image., Three columns of verse etched below title: Once a society of swine, liv'd in a paradice [sic] of straw, a herd more beautiful & fine, I'm sure Sir Joseph never saw ..., and Temporary local subject terms: Allusion to George III as Farmer George -- Allusion to the London Corresponding Society.
Publisher:
Pubd. June 22d, 1798, by H. Humphrey, 27 St. James Street
Subject (Name):
Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Bedford, Francis Russell, Duke of, 1765-1802, Norfolk, Charles Howard, Duke of, 1746-1815, Tierney, George, 1761-1830, Burdett, Francis, 1770-1844, Smith-Stanley, Edward, 1752-1834, Nicholls, John, 1745?-1832, Erskine, Thomas Erskine, Baron, 1750-1823, and Taylor, Michael Angelo, 1757-1834
Subject (Topic):
John Bull (Symbolic character), Farms, Haystacks, and Swine
"The interior of a bare, poverty-stricken room with a raftered roof. Pitt and Dundas, as watchmen, batter down the upper timbers of a door (right) which has been strongly bolted, locked, and barricaded. Both have long staves, Pitt holds up a lantern. The occupants hide or flee, except Lord Moira, who stands stiffly in profile to the right on the extreme left, his crisped fingers outspread deprecatingly, disassociating himself from his companions (cf. BMSat 9184); he wears regimentals with a cocked hat. A heavy but ragged cloth covers a rectangular table in the middle of the room, on which are ink-pot and papers: a 'Plan of Invasion' with a map of 'France' and 'Ireland'. This lies across a paper signed 'yours O'Conner'. A dark-lantern stands on the open pages of the 'Proceedings of the London Corresponding Society'. An office stool has been overturned. Prone under the table, their heads and shoulders draped by the cloth, are (left to right): Horne Tooke, Nicoll, and Tierney. Fox and Sheridan escape up a ladder to a trap-door in the roof; the latter still has one foot on the floor. Between ladder and wall (left) is an iron-bound chest filled with daggers; more daggers are heaped on the floor: beneath them are two papers: 'The Press' (the organ of the United Irishmen, started by O'Connor, see BMSat 9186) and 'Bloody News from Ireland Bloody News Bloody News'; this lies across a paper signed 'Munchausen' (cf. BMSat 9184). The Duke of Norfolk is timorously waiting his turn to escape by the wide chimney, up which Bedford is disappearing; the latter is identified by a paper hanging from his pocket: 'Bedford Dog Kennel'. A large fire burns in the grate, on the bar of which Bedford puts his foot. Across the chimney is scrawled 'Vive l'Egalite', on either side of a bonnet-rouge. Above it are prints, bust-portraits of 'Buonapart' and 'Robertspier'. On the right is a casement window showing a night sky and the turrets of the White Tower. Below it is hung a broadside headed by a guillotine and the words 'Vive la Guillotin'. In the corner of the room (right) is a pile of bonnets-rouges. In the foreground rats scamper towards a large hole in the ramshackle floor. Beside them are papers: 'Assignats' and 'Plan for raising United Irishmen'."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
State-watchmen mistaking honest-men for conspirators
Description:
Title etched below image., Temporary local subject terms: Interiors: cottage -- Fireplaces -- Daggers -- Vermin: rats -- Bonnet rouge: supply of bonnets rouges -- Lighting: lantern -- Emblems: dark lantern of conspiracy -- ladders -- Allusion to the London Corresponding Society -- Allusion to the planned French invasion of Ireland -- Allusion to the French Revolution -- Newspapers: The Press., Watermark: 1794., and Some of the subjects identified below image in contemporary hand.
Publisher:
Pubd. March 20th, 1798, by H. Humphrey, No. 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Norfolk, Charles Howard, Duke of, 1746-1815, Bedford, Francis Russell, Duke of, 1765-1802, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Hastings, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Marquess of, 1754-1826, Nicholls, John, 1745?-1832, Tooke, John Horne, 1736-1812, and Tierney, George, 1761-1830
"Fox kneels in profile to the right with bent back before an altar, his hands together. His unpowdered hair is cropped. From his pocket projects a book: 'New Constitut[ion]'. The altar, draped with a cloth on which crossed daggers are embroidered, is raised on a stone step. On it is a guillotine, dripping blood. To this is tied with a tricolour sash two tables, resembling those of the Ten Commandments, but of the 'DROIT DE L'HOMME: I. Right to Worship whom we please. II. Right to create & bow down to any thing we chuse to set up. III. Right to use in vain any Name we like. IV. Right to work Nine Days in the Week, & do what we please on the Tenth: V. Right to honor both Father & Mother, when we find it necessary. VI. Right to Kill. VII. Right to commit Adultery. VIII. Right to Plunder. IX. Right to bear what Witness we please. X. Right to covet our Neighbour[s] House & all that is his.' On the altar in front of the guillotine stand three roughly made posts on rectangular pedestals. The centre one (in place of a crucifix), inscribed 'Exit Homo', is surmounted by a large cap of 'Egalité' with a tricolour cockade; at its base is a skull and cross-bones. On the other posts are busts: (left) 'Robert- \ speire'; to the post are nailed two bleeding hands; (right) 'Buona \ -parte'. The altar and guillotine are backed by draped and fringed curtains. From the upper left corner of the design a shaft of light surrounded by clouds descends towards Fox. In this are the winged heads of six members of the Opposition, all wearing bonnets-rouges and looking towards the 'Droit de l'Homme'. In front is Norfolk, next and on the left is Lansdowne with an inscrutable smile. They are followed by Bedford; above him are Tierney and Lauderdale. Last, and on a smaller scale, is the malevolent head of Nicholls."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image. and Temporary local subject terms: Members of the Opposition -- St. Ann's Hill -- Shrines -- Guillotine -- Cap of Liberty as bonnet rouge -- Literature: Thomas Paine's Rights of Man -- Allusion to the Ten Commandments.
Publisher:
Pubd. May 26th, 1798, by H. Humphrey, St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Norfolk, Charles Howard, Duke of, 1746-1815, Bedford, Francis Russell, Duke of, 1765-1802, Lansdowne, William Petty, Marquis of, 1737-1805, Lauderdale, James Maitland, Earl of, 1759-1839, Tierney, George, 1761-1830, Nicholls, John, 1745?-1832, Robespierre, Maximilien, 1758-1794, and Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
