"The stage, flanked by the stage-boxes, extends across the design, the base of which is the orchestra, where the new Ministry perform. George III has stepped on to the stage from the royal box (l.) and confronts Napoleon, who stands arrogantly upon clouds and points to an enormous scroll held up by Talleyrand. This stretches across the cloud to rest on the stage. The Emperor, in uniform, with spurred jackboots and wearing a large, feathered bicorne, holds a sword in his right. hand and says fiercely: "There's my Term's." The King, who wears uniform with a small cocked hat and buckled shoes, holds his sword against his shoulder. He inspects the scroll through his glass, saying: " - Very amusing Terms indeed! - and might do vastly well with some of the new-made little Gingerbread kings [see BMSat 10518] - but WE are not in the habits of giving up either "Ships, or Commerce, or Colonies", merely because little Boney is in a pet to have them!!!" The scroll is inscribed: 'TERMS OF PEACE - Acknowledge me as Emperor - "mantle your Fleet, - Reduce your Army - Abandon Malta & Gibraltar, - Renounce all Continental Connection - Your Colonies I will take at a Valuation, - Engage to pay to the Great-Nation for 7 Years annually £1.000.000. and Pace in my Hands as Hostages the Princess Charlotte of Wales, with Ten of ye late Administration whom I shall name.' Talleyrand kneels on one knee, displaying a deformed l. leg, on a cornupia which rests on the clouds that support Napoleon. He wears a long gown with a rosary (denoting the ex-Bishop of Autun); a pen is behind his ear. From the cornucopia papers, money-bags, and coin pour down on to the stage. The papers are: 'Address to the Papists'; 'Loan to the - ['Prince' implied, cf. BMSat 6945]; 'To the United Irishmen'; 'To the London Corresponding Society'; 'The Press'; 'The Argus'; 'For the Whig Club'; 'To the Army; 'To the Navy', 'To [the] Volunteers'. Money-bags are labelled: 'Maynooth [word illegible]', 'Horne Tooke', 'Morning Chronicle', '[Cobbett's] Weekly Register', 'Thelwall.' Immediately behind Talleyrand, and also on the Napoleonic clouds crouch Arthur O'Connor, looking down conspiratorially at Fox in the orchestra below. His words extend in a long label towards Fox: "Remember m Friend your Oath, - " Our Politicks are the same!"" He holds a paper: 'at Maidstone Not Guilty - N.B - my Confederate Quigley only, was Hanged there.' Behind Talleyrand and O'Connor three desiccated corpses wearing French Grenadier's uniform hold up three eagles to each of which a banner is attached: 'Army of England', 'Army of Ireland', 'Army of Scotland'. Their caps are decorated with an 'N' surmounted by a crown. Behind them bayonets recede in perspective, their holders hidden by the peace scroll. ..."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Flight from St. Cloud's "over the water to Charley"
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Bedford, John Russell,--Duke of,--1766-1839--Caricatures and cartoons., Burdett, Francis,--1770-1844--Caricatures and cartoons., Ellenborough, Edward Law,--Baron,--1750-1818--Caricatures and cartoons., Erskine, Thomas Erskine,--Baron,--1750-1823--Caricatures and cartoons., Fitzherbert, Maria Anne,--1756-1837--Caricatures and cartoons., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., George--III,--King of Great Britain,--1738-1820--Caricatures and cartoons., George--IV,--King of Great Britain,--1762-1830--Caricatures and cartoons., Grattan, Henry,--1746-1820--Caricatures and cartoons., Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville,--Baron,--1759-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., Grey, Charles Grey,--Earl,--1764-1845--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Hastings, Francis Rawdon-Hastings,--Marquess of,--1754-1826--Caricatures and cartoons., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Jordan, Dorothy,--1761-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., Lansdowne, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice,--Marquess of,--1780-1863--Caricatures and cartoons., Lauderdale, James Maitland,--Earl of,--1759-1839--Caricatures and cartoons., Napoleon--I,--Emperor of the French,--1769-1821--Caricatures and cartoons., O'Connor, Arthur,--1763-1852--Caricatures and cartoons., Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., Sidmouth, Henry Addington,--Viscount,--1757-1844--Caricatures and cartoons., Spencer, George John Spencer,--Earl,--1758-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles Maurice de,--prince de Bénévent,--1754-1838--Caricatures and cartoons., Tierney, George,--1761-1830--Caricatures and cartoons., Tooke, John Horne,--1736-1812--Caricatures and cartoons., William--IV,--King of Great Britain,--1765-1837--Caricatures and cartoons., and Windham, William,--1750-1810--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Napoleon presides at a feast with Josephine seated on his left. A sumptuous dessert is on the table, with dishes moulded to represent English buildings, &c. Napoleon has begun to devour 'St James's', but has dropped his fork, and looks round in horror at the words 'Mene Mene, Tekel, Upharsin' (l.) at which the arm of Jehovah points. This emerges from clouds, the other arm holds over the head of Napoleon a pair of scales; one, inscribed 'Vive le Roi', contains a crown and outweighs the other, 'Despotism', which flies in the air, spilling the contents, shackles and a bonnet rouge. The room is lined with grenadiers at attention, with drawn sabres and pistols in their belts; they are partly obscured by clouds, but their eyes are turned to the writing on the wall. This is also seen by three grenadiers who stand rigidly behind Napoleon's chair, their sabres dripping blood, their eyes turned to the left. Of those at the feast only Napoleon has seen the message, but the general on his right. looks with alarm at his master who has overturned three bottles of wine. The others are absorbed in food or women. Josephine, grossly fat, drinks avidly, spilling her wine. Behind her chair stand three slim and meretricious young women, looking down at her: they are scantily clad, with hair arranged in the French manner in snaky ringlets. They are Napoleon's three sisters, Elisa, Pauline, and Caroline. The upper end of the table stretches across the foreground. On the extreme left. Arthur O'Connor, the only civilian, ogles a lady, holding her chin and offering her a dish of 'Pommes d'Am[our]', while she holds up a tumbler of wine. In front of him is a decanter labelled 'Maidstone'. Between this lady and the general on Napoleon's r. is a grotesque officer greedily devouring a large fragment of the 'Tower de Londres'. An officer (r.) ogles a woman with whom he drinks wine. All the women have the patched faces that in these prints indicate dissoluteness. Two of the officers have the plucked scalp of the Frenchman in BMSat 9960. Before Napoleon is a dish containing the 'Bank of England', flying a tricolour flag. The back of his chair is decorated with a carved eagle or vulture whose eyes are turned to the fatal message. Before Josephine is a dish inscribed 'Prune Monsieur' containing two plums; beside it are two bottles of 'Maraschino', one overturned. The decollated head of a bishop fills a dish inscribed 'Oh de Roast Beef of Old England'. Wine, fruit, and jelly-glasses fill the spaces on the table."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Handwriting upon the wall
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Bonaparte, Paolina,--1780-1825--Caricatures and cartoons., Caroline Bonaparte,--consort of Joachim Murat, King of Naples,--1782-1839--Caricatures and cartoons., Gillray, James, 1756-1815, publisher., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Josephine,--Empress, consort of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French,--1763-1814--Caricatures and cartoons., Napoleon--I,--Emperor of the French,--1769-1821--Caricatures and cartoons., O'Connor, Arthur,--1763-1852--Caricatures and cartoons., and Piombino, Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi,--principessa di,--1777-1820--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Napoleon, enthroned, receives the obeisance of Fox and his party. The centre figure is the enormous Mrs. Fox, burlesqued, and full face, who curtsies, fan in hand; her coarse features and patched face indicate Gillray's view of her antecedents, cf. BMSats 5352, 5587, 10589. On her right and next Bonaparte, O'Connor bends forward, chapeau-bras; from his pocket projects a pamphlet: 'Trial of O'Conner at Maid[stone]'. Opposite Bonaparte, and on his wife's left, Fox much caricatured, and with gouty swollen legs, makes a low bow, right hand on his breast, hat held out. He wears court dress with a sword. From his pocket issues a document: 'Original Jacobin Manuscripts'. Behind him Erskine, tall and self-important in barrister's wig and gown, bows with a complacent smile, holding out a brief bag in his left hand. Behind him Lord and Lady Holland (who is meretricious-looking) are bowing. In the foreground and on Fox's left, Robert Adair, much emaciated, grovels on the floor, his head between his arms which are extended along the carpet, in a gesture of abject homage. From his coat pockets project 'Revolutionary Odes, by Citizen Bow-ba-dara' and 'Intelligence for the Morning Chronicle.' Napoleon, very thin, sits on a canopied throne whose arms terminate in globes covered with maps of the world, each supported on the shoulders of a naked manikin. On one globe the Consul rests his right hand, clutching it with long predatory fingers; the left hand is extended towards Fox. He wears military uniform, with a huge plumed cocked hat, and (like Fox) a black bag attached to his coat collar, below his cropped hair. His throne is on a circular dais, covered with a fringed carpet, with a tasselled cushion for his feet. Behind it is a carved irradiated sun, reminiscent of Louis XIV, le Roi Soleil, but with eyes which look down in surprise at the First Consul. On each side of the throne fierce Mamelukes stand at attention, holding sabres, and with pistols in their belts."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Introduction of Citizen Volpone and his suite at Paris
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Adair, Robert,--Sir,--1763-1855--Caricatures and cartoons., Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Erskine, Thomas Erskine,--Baron,--1750-1823--Caricatures and cartoons., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Fox, Elizabeth,--1750-1842--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Holland, Elizabeth Vassall Fox,--Lady,--1770-1845--Caricatures and cartoons., Holland, Henry Richard Vassall,--Baron,--1773-1840--Caricatures and cartoons., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Napoleon--I,--Emperor of the French,--1769-1821--Caricatures and cartoons., and O'Connor, Arthur,--1763-1852--Caricatures and cartoons.
"A burlesque of the trial of O'Connor at Maidstone (22 May), parts of the court being hidden by the large labels which issue from the mouths of prisoner and witnesses. The presiding judge (Buller) looks down with horror at the witnesses, the other judges are hidden. O'Connor (not caricatured), wearing leg-irons, stands at the bar; his hands are clasped, and he bends forward in profile to the left, making a confession which, though condensed, does not differ substantially from that made by him, McNevin, and Emmet, and published in the Report of the Secret Committee made to the Irish House of Commons on 21 Aug. ('Lond. Chron.', 27 Aug.), see BMSat 9244, &c. ... From O'Connor's pocket hangs a paper: 'The Press by O'Connor' [inflammatory organ of the United Irishmen, see BMSat 9186]. Round his neck is a noose of rope held by the hand emerging from clouds of the (invisible) Justice; in her right hand are equally balanced scales. The witnesses to O'Connor's character are speaking simultaneously. Four stand in the foreground in profile to the right, behind a barrier, looking towards the judge across a table. Fox (right), nearest O'Connor and the spectator, holds the book to his lips, his raised left arm thrust forward in a rhetorical gesture. ... From his pocket projects a book: 'Letters to Lord Ed F. M O'Connor &c &c.' (cf. BMSat 9244). Next stands Sheridan, with a sly expression, holding the book, 'Four Evangelists', his hat in his left hand; he testifies ... Next is Erskine, kissing the book, with left arm raised oratorically ... Next (left) is the Duke of Norfolk, kissing the book, his expression and attitude suggesting embarrassment. ... On the extreme left and behind Norfolk is Grattan. ... Among a crowd of other heads, chiefly hidden by labels, is one resembling Tierney. Above this phalanx of Opposition witnesses is a crowded gallery. Three counsel (the Attorney-General (Scott), Solicitor-General (Mitford), and (?) Garrow), who sit beneath the judges, are divided from the witnesses by a table covered with papers, &c, one being conspicuous: 'Charges of High Treason against Arthur O'Connor, Oliver Bond Dr McNevin.'"--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Plate from: The Anti-Jacobin review and magazine, or, Monthly politique and literary censor. London, 1798, v.1, p. 285. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Erskine, Thomas Erskine,--Baron,--1750-1823--Caricatures and cartoons., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Norfolk, Charles Howard,--Duke of,--1746-1815--Caricatures and cartoons., O'Connor, Arthur,--1763-1852--Caricatures and cartoons., Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons., and Wright, J. (John), 1770?-1844, publisher.