"George IV as Midas in O'Hara's burletta dances a pas seul, holding up his hands. He wears old-fashioned dress, with long flowered waistcoat and a large wig which falls back, revealing his own curled toupet. He sings, the words adapted from Midas's song (II. i), as in British Museum Satires No. 14241: 'Oh! what pleasures will abound, Now my Wife is laid in ground, Strange Earth does cover her. I can't dance over her. Never mind, she's laid in Ground! Oh! how happy I shall be When a young Nisy pigs with me, How I'll mumble her; Touze and tumble her; Sixty is not sixty three!!' In the middle distance (right) Eldon, in wig and gown, and Sidmouth as Pan dance together, the latter holding up a frothing tankard. Sidmouth has a bare torso, goat-skin breeches, and cloven-hoof shoes, but not the wreath of vine-leaves and grapes of Pan in the play. Eldon has dropped the mace and the purse of the Great Seal; he sings: 'Oh! how happy I should be Was but this the case with me Oh what prancery! I'd cut Chancery! What comfort then at home for me. How gloriously you then shall dine, Fish, Flesh, Fowl, wash'd down with Wine No more thinking, But keep drinking, Peace to her Soul with 9 times 9.' In the background (left) Castlereagh (Londonderry) and Sidmouth sit at a table outside a rustic Irish inn, with the sign of the Crown and the word Whisky on the lintel. The hostess brings a bowl of punch, saying to Liverpool: You have got the Old Gentleman in good humour at last. He answers: Yes and now we must get him a young wife to keep him so. Castlereagh holds a scourge, cf. British Museum Satires No. 14135."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Attribution to Charles Williams and approximate date of publication from the British Museum catalogue., Mounted to 58 x 39 cm., Mounted on leaf 103 in volume 2 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair.", and Figures of "George IV" and "Sidmouth" identified in pencil below image; date "21 Aug. 1821" written in ink in lower right corner. Typed extract of eleven lines from the British Museum catalogue description is pasted beneath print.
Publisher:
Pubd. by J. Johnston, 98 Cheapside, London
Subject (Name):
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830, Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821, Eldon, John Scott, Earl of, 1751-1838, Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of, 1770-1828, Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844, Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 1769-1822, O'Hara, Kane, 1714?-1782., and Pan (Greek deity)
Subject (Topic):
Death and burial, Dance, Wigs, Drinking vessels, Ceremonial maces, Taverns (Inns), and Whips
