"The interior of a panelled room: ten men holding hands dance in a circle to the tune of a bag-pipe played by Bute (l.) wearing a kilt and appearing from behind a curtain. The king watches with pleased amusement from behind a door (r.). The dancers are trampling on papers and state documents. Lord North, trampling on papers inscribed "National Debt" and "Grievances", is between Lord Bathurst in his Chancellor's robes but wearing a hat, and Lord Barrington in a military coat under whose feet are "Dispatches from War Office"; under Bathurst's foot is a paper, "Appeals, Decrees". Next him (r.) is a youthful-looking minister stepping on a paper inscribed "French Grammar" to show that he is Suffolk, Secretary of State, pilloried for his ignorance of French, see BMSat 4875, 4876. His neighbour is only partly visible. Next comes a military officer trampling on a paper inscribed "Middlesex Election" to show that he is Colonel Luttrell. On Luttrell's r., and the central figure of the design, is Lord Mansfield wearing tartan stockings to show that he is a Scot and dancing upon "Magna Charta". On his right. is an unidentified figure, then a minister treading on papers inscribed "Whitfield Hymns" to show (not very consistently) that he is Lord Dartmouth, whose strong attachment to the Methodists earned the nickname of the Psalm-singer. He had succeeded Hillsborough as Secretary of State for the Colonies on 14 Aug. 1772. Between him and Barrington stands Sandwich, wearing a sailor's trousers and standing on "The Petition of the Navy Captains". Bute stands on a paper "To Miss Vansittar[t]". Other papers on the ground are "The Remonstr[ance of the City]" and "Petition of the East India Comp"."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
State cotillion 1773
Description:
Title from item., Sheet partially trimmed within plate mark., and Plate from: Westminster Magazine. London : Printed for W. Goldsmith, v.1(1772-3), p. 149.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Barrington, William Wildman Barrington, Viscount, 1717-1793, Bathurst, Henry Bathurst, Earl, 1714-1794, Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792, Dartmouth, William Legge, Earl of, 1731-1801, Dyson, Jeremiah, 1722-1776, Carhampton, Henry Lawes Luttrell, Earl of, 1743-1821, Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, 1705-1793, North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792, Sandwich, John Montagu, Earl of, 1718-1792, Suffolk and Berkshire, Henry Howard, Earl of, 1739-1779, and Townshend, George Townshend, Marquis, 1724-1807
