"Several scenes combined in one design. The Associations of various counties to present petitions and form committees to demand reforms are represented in the upper right portion of the plate: A procession of men walks (right to left), their leader holding a standard with the arms of the county inscribed "County of York 30 Decr 1779" (the date of the meeting at which it was agreed to present a petition and prepare a plan for an Association to secure reform). He holds a paper inscribed "Petition" and says, "Virtue & Fortitude shall Guide us". Representatives of the other petitioning and associating counties follow, with the appropriate dates on labels issuing from their mouths: ...". The last man carries an ensign flag on which is inscribed "London Newcastle upon Tyne Bristol Westminster &c. &c. &c." Beneath the procession is engraved "Immortal Gods! What Honor waits the men who save their Country from impending Ruin." The leader is probably intended for Sir George Savile. On the left George III is seated in his closet; a young man stands before him addressing, not the king, but an imaginary audience, saying, "The only Patriot His Power is too Confined". This is perhaps intended for Lord George Gordon's private interview with the King on 27 Jan. 1780; ... . Outside the door of the royal closet and facing the petitioners is a monster with wings and three heads, breathing fire. In the lower right, ... Britannia sits on a ruinous stone pedestal which is being further undermined by a female figure with a forked tail and the legs of a satyr; she is applying a lever to its base saying, "And shall not I, Corruption is my name, Undermine the British Constitution". Lord North attacks the pedestal with a pickaxe, saying, "I will assist you Sister in the same Design". Bute, in Highland dress with the Garter ribbon and star, flourishes a broadsword, while he takes from Britannia the staff and cap of Liberty; he says, "Away wi ye to the Deel Where is your Liberty now". Britannia, holding her shield and 'Magna Carta', says to the marching petitioners above her head, "Tis you alone my Friends who can revive my Drooping Hopes & save me from Distraction". Behind Britannia (left) and in a glory of rays stands a man inscribed "Chatham" with outstretched arms, saying "O Cleanse Yon Augean Stable". He points towards the design beneath the king's closet. This represents the House of Commons (left); the Speaker in his chair, members seated on each side of a table. It is seen through two pillars, up one (right) climbs an alligator, round the other is a serpent with a branch of apples in its mouth. Above is inscribed "Ruled by Powerful Influence". A procession of members walks (left to right) from the House up a path leading to the door of the king's closet above. They carry scrolls inscribed "25 000"; "5000"; "£40,000"; "15,000 £10,000, £50 000". One says, "Secure in the Enjoyment of Places Pensions & Emoluments of Office we fear not the Clamour of Yorkshire Clodpoles"; another says, "God help the Rich the Poor can beg". Their leader carries an "Address of Thanks". Beneath this gang of ministerialists a mythological figure leaning against an anchor and a gushing water-conduit (? Neptune) says,"Is there not some Chosen Curses, ... Public Treasure Wasted in Corrupting the Morals of the People". He is saying, "No New Taxes but a Retrenchment of Public Expences.""--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Public virtue displayed in a contrasted view
Description:
Title from item.
Publisher:
Printed for Danl. Wilson at No. 20 Portugal Street Lincolns Inn
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820., Savile, George, Sir, 1726-1784., North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792., Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792., Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 1708-1778., Gordon, George, Lord, 1751-1793., and Neptune (Roman deity),
Subject (Topic):
Taxation, Politics and government, Britannia (Symbolic character), Petitions, and Dragons
Charles Fox, lying on the ground with his head next to a cask of wine, drinks the wine pouring from the hole in it. He looks up at the naked figure of Lord North covered only with garlands of grapes and grape leaves and sitting astride the cask. North holds a bunch of grapes in one hand and in the other an open bottle of wine that he pours over Fox
Alternative Title:
Friendly drop
Description:
Title from item., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., and Mounted to 26 x 33 cm.
Publisher:
Publish'd by E. Hedges, N 92 Cornhill
Subject (Geographic):
England
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806., North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792., and Dionysus (Greek deity)
Subject (Topic):
Great Britain, Politics and government, Barrels, Wine, Eating & drinking, and Clothing & dress
Title etched below image., Date from item., Place of publication derived from copyright statement., Trimmed sheet., Document depicted in image titled: Gewapende neutralitiet., and This electronic record is derived from historic data and may not reflect our current information. Review and updating of records is ongoing.
Publisher:
Publish'd according to Act of Parliament 5 January 1781, price 4 Schilling
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain and Netherlands
Subject (Name):
George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820., North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792., and First League of Armed Neutrality.
Subject (Topic):
Neutrality, Armed, Art and mental illness, Anger, Sleeping, Writing materials, Treaties, Candlesticks, Politicians, Kings, Crowns, and Politics and government
William Pitt, leaning on a large anchor, holds his left hand over the diminutive figures of Charles Fox and Lord North who are shown as 'nobodies,' with their heads resting on top of their breeches. From a cloud over Pitt's irradiated head extends a hand holding a star on a ribbon signifying a "reward of virtue." Above Fox's and North's heads, a grouping of oriental-looking "air castles on an improved plan" floats on another cloud, as a reminder of the defeat of Fox's East India bill
Alternative Title:
Political nobodies
Description:
Title from item. and Sheet partially trimmed within plate mark.
Publisher:
Published 20th March 1784, by G. Humphrey, No. 48 Long Acre, London
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain and England
Subject (Name):
Pitt, William, 1759-1806., Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806., and North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792.
Subject (Topic):
Politics and government, Anchors, and Clothing & dress
Depicts Earls of Mansfield and Bute with Lord North, seated on a cloud with a demon, observing below them the female combatants Britannia and America with spear and tomahawk, flanked by male figures representating France and Spain
Alternative Title:
Blessed effects of family quarrels
Description:
Title from item.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain and America.
Subject (Name):
Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, 1705-1793., North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792., and Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792.
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character), Indians of North America, Bunker Hill, Battle of, Boston, Mass., 1775, and Colonies
On the left, Charles Fox, dressed as an Oriental prince, lies on the ground having fallen off an elephant who has the face of Lord North; Fox's dice and dice box are scattered on the pavement. In the speech bubble above his head: "Perdition, take thee for the chanse is thing." To his right, William Pitt sits astride the elephant who stands facing the entrance to the East India House; Pitt holds offers in his left hand a "New India Bill" and holds three others under his arm and in his pocket: "Stamp [...] act", "Sup ... lies", and "Military Act ...". In the background there is a gap between the two buildings
Alternative Title:
Billy's triumph and Carlo Khan dethroned
Description:
Title etched below image.
Publisher:
Publish'd as the act directs March 24th 1784 by S. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806., North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792., and Pitt, William, 1759-1806.
Subject (Topic):
East India Company, Politics and government, Costumes, Indian, and Elephants
Charles Fox, with a blindfold signed, "East India Bill," is lead by a small dog with Lord North's face toward a building that may be a debtor's prison. In his left hand, he holds a long spiked staff topped with crown
Alternative Title:
King of the beggars
Description:
Title etched below image. and Mounted to 37 x 25 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. 22d March 1784 by Wm. Humphrey, No. 227 Strand
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806. and North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792.
Subject (Topic):
East India Company, Politics and government, Beggars, and Dogs
"George III (left), seated in a chair, is being shown by the ghost of Chatham a procession of figures walking towards a pit (right) inscribed "Chaos". Chatham wears pseudo-classical draperies, a tie-wig crowned with a laurel wreath, and is surrounded by a glory of rays. He holds up a circular glass to the king, who looks through it with an expression of alarm. On the back of the king's chair is a crown surmounted by a weathercock which points to the South, probably to indicate that North's power is over, cf. BMSat 5659. Under his feet are torn county petitions, and an open book, "Lock on Government". The petitions are those of York, Westminster, Middlesex, Hampshire, Surrey. There is also the design of the façade of a building inscribed, "The Elevation of [a] Baby House". The leaders of the procession, who are on the brink of the pit, are the kings of France and Spain. A devil (right) with wings, horns, and a long barbed tail, points into the pit. Behind the two kings come North and Sandwich. North holds a rolled document inscribed "Taxes". Under his arm is a large money-bag with a gaping hole in it, by which is an open book or paper inscribed "New Way to pay old Debts, A Farce by Boreas" (Massinger's comedy had recently been revived at Drury Lane). On his right Sandwich walks with his arms folded, a paper under his arm is inscribed "Catches & Glees Mr Arne" (Arne (1710-78), the musical composer, is generally styled Dr; Sandwich was "the soul of the Catch Club", see BMSat 5342). From his pocket protrude papers, one inscribed "Greenwich Hospital", in allusion to the scandal caused by Captain Baillie's exposure of abuses there, see BMSat 5548. The other is inscribed "Love & Madness"; this is the title of a series of fictitious letters recently published purporting to be the correspondence of Hackman and Martha Ray, Sandwich's mistress, see BMSat 5540, &c, but really by Herbert Croft. See Walpole, 'Letters', xi. 139-40,13 Mar. 1780. Behind come Mansfield, in judge's wig and robes, and Bute in Highland dress, both with expressions of despair; they are being hurried along by a man with the face of a fiend who has seized Mansfield by the arm and Bute by the shoulders. Beside them walks a Dutchman, his hands in his breeches pockets, being propelled from behind by a devil, significant of the unpopularity of the Dutch Republic,"--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Peep into futurity
Description:
Title from item. and Trimmed within plate line.
Publisher:
Published as the act directs May 16, 1780, by W. Wells, No. 132 opposite Salisbury Court Fleet Street London
Subject (Geographic):
Netherlands.
Subject (Name):
George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820., Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 1708-1778., Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792., Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, 1705-1793., Sandwich, John Montagu, Earl of, 1718-1792., North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792., Charles III, King of Spain, 1716-1788., and Louis XVI, King of France, 1754-1793.
"North and Fox as supporters of the Coalition Arms (cf. BMSat 6369 (5)), which rest on the prostrate body of the king, on whom North rests his left foot and Fox his right. North stands (left) dexter, holding in his right hand a flag on which are two demons and the word 'Coalition'; the staff is surmounted with a skull; in his left is a small flag with thirteen oblique stripes, an allusion to the loss of the Colonies, which forms part of the first quarter of the arms. Fox holds a ragged cap of Liberty on its staff; his right hand, resting on the escutcheon, holds a small axe which forms part of the second quarter of the arms. The crest is formed of the heads of North and Fox back to back, in profile, right; from their mouths comes a ribbon with the word 'Faction'. The motto which supports the figures of Fox, North, and I the king, is 'Neck or Nothing'. Beneath the plate is a printed explanation of the Coalition Arms: 'Lately granted by a new College of Arms to two Illustrious Persons for their numerous and distinguished Virtus "Go and do thou likewise". They are thus emblazoned: First Quarter. A Standard with the Thirteen Stripes of the American States; Base, Edmund St Omer's [Burke], like a skilful Dentist, drawing the Teeth of a Lion. Second. Quarterly, First and Fourth, Implements of Gambling; Sinister Chief, a declining Axe; Dexter base, the head of Charles, Martyr; Fesse Point Arms of H--ll--d [Holland, the arms of Fox, cf. BMSat 6423]. Third. A Gallows, Two Halters charged Proper. Fourth. Britannia Renversed. Crest. Janus, with the motto Faction. Supporters. Dexter, the Promoter of Independence with the Flag of Coalition. Sinister; the Man of the People, with a Liberty Cap worn Threadbare; both Supporters trampling on an injured------[King] who is extricating Himself from their Oppression.' The arms are as described: Burke (half length) applies a pair of forceps to the teeth of a lion, seated passively. Above them is a paper inscribed 'Reform Bill' (cf. BMSat 5645, &c). The implements of gambling are dice-box, dice, and cards. From the gallows hang a fox (left) and North (right). Britannia, seated head downwards, holds out an olive-branch, emblematical of the peace and the loss of America."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from item., Original issue of no. 6441 in Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires; with the printmaker's initials and date intact., The printed explanation of the arms below the plate begins: "Key to the coalition arms," and ends with: "These arms were given from the Herald's Office to the two men, for their many and distinguished virtues. 'Go and do thou likewise.'", and Mounted to 38 x 27 cm.
Publisher:
Published by M. Smith, March 8, 1784, and sold at No. 46 in Fleet Street
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain and England
Subject (Name):
George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820., Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806., and North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792.
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character), Politics and government, Coats of arms, Liberty cap, Foxes, Lions, Gambling, Gallows, and Clothing & dress
