"John Bull stands full-face on the pavement outside a shop window, holding on his head a red cap (i.e., bonnet rouge) trimmed with fur of quasi-military, quasi-libertarian shape. He is the yokel with wrinkled gaiters ... with a tattered great-coat held together by a military belt. In his left hand is a ragged hat. He says, with a broad grin: "Wounds, when Master Billy sees I in a Red-Cap, how he will stare! - egad; I thinks I shall cook em at last. - well if I could but once get a Cockade to my Red Cap, & a bit of a Gun - why, I thinks I should make a good stockey Soldier!" The shop is that of 'Billy-Black-Soul [Pitt], Hatter, & Sword-cutler \ Licenced to deal in Hats and Swords.' Above the door (right) are the royal arms and 'Stamp-Office' (the tax on hats being levied by a stamp). Within the window are crossed swords and military cocked hats with a number of stamps bearing the royal arms. In the foreground (left) is a pile of dead cats with a paper: 'List of Cats Killed for making skin caps 20000 Red 5000 Tabb ...'"--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
John Bull evading the hat tax
Description:
Title etched below image. and Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Publisher:
Pub. April 5th, 1797, by H. Humphrey, New Bond & St. James's Street
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain and Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Pitt, William, 1759-1806.
Subject (Topic):
Taxation, Taxation of articles of consumption, Law and legislation, John Bull (Symbolic character), Cats, Hats, Millinery, Slaughtering, Swords, Taxes, Show displays, and Window displays
"John Bull (right) stands in profile to the left, gaping in terror at four little demons, grotesque, naked, and senile, who approach him with calculating and complacent grins. His knees bend, his hands are thrust in his coat pockets; he says: "What do you want you little Devils - an't I plagued with enough of you already more pick poket Work, I suppose!!" Their leader stands forward with a mock deprecatory gesture; the next demon holds a large book. They say: "Please your Honor we are the assess'd Taxes.""--British Museum online catalogue and A satire on the tripling of the assessed taxes proposed by Pitt in his famous budget speech, 24 Nov. 1797. These were taxes on persons according to their expenditure (inhabited houses, male servants, carriages, &c.); it was an attempt at direct taxation, heavily graduated to tax the rich at a higher (five-fold) rate and with exemptions and abatements for small incomes. This was Pitt's 'plan of finance' to support the war without recourse to loans, intended to demonstrate to Europe England's determination and unity: 'to check a little the presumptions of Jacobins at home and abroad.' ... See British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Assess'd taxes and Assessed taxes
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Richard Newton in the British Museum catalogue., and If etched by Newton, it must be after the design of someone else, possibly Woodward. See Alexander, D. Richard Newton and English caricature in the 1790s,
No. Excise-Office, at in Distt. Colln. 1748 and Receipt for payment of carriage tax
Description:
Title transcribed from item., Body of text: Received of [blank] of [blank] in the County of [blank] the sum of [blank] Pounds for [blank] four-wheel carriage, and [blank] two-wheel carriage, of which [blank] has this day given notice, according to the Statute of the Twentieth Year of His present Majesty. In full for one year., Printed in red ink., Form completed in ink by the Excise Office at Methwould in Lynn, Swaffham District, 30 May 1748. The completed receipt reads: Received of Cyril Wycke Esqr. of Hockhold [Hockwold] in the County of Norfolk the sum of four Pounds for one four-wheel carriage ... Also annotated on the verso., and For further information, consult library staff.
