"The Tower of Babel is represented by a vast pile of bundles of documents tied by tricolour ribbon, culminating in the allegations of Mrs. Clarke against the Duke of York. It is being destroyed by the Speaker, Abbot, who swoops down upon it from a cloud with uplifted and irradiated mace, and holding up a long scroll: Justice Triumphant-- Decisions of the Rt Honble The House of Commons--Majority against the Evidence of a Prostitute--Majority against the Machinations of Republicans & Levellers--. The tower totters sideways under blasts from the mouths of Canning, Castlereagh, and (below) Perceval, who lean forward from clouds on the left of the design. Between the two clouds appears part of a curving band, on which is a sign of the Zodiac, the Scales, evenly balanced to show that they are an emblem of Justice (cf. No. 10972). The leaders of the 'Republicans' fall headlong from the tower (right) as it topples, and are also struck down by a copious stream of water from the sky inscribed Royal-Water-Spout. Mrs. Clarke receives its full impact. She is astride the shoulders of Wardle who is falling downwards from the summit. Her large muff (see No. 11225), inscribed Mrs A. Clarke's Old Conjuring Muff, To be sold to the best Bidder, flies from her hand. In her hair are the serpents of Discord. To her belt of Ingratitude is attached a bag of Plunder. Wardle wears regimentals; in his pocket is a paper: Wardle Private Reas[ons]. Just below him Lord Folkestone is falling; he drops Patriotic Harangues by Fid Fad Folkstone and a large bundle of papers inscribed Motions for Kicking up a Row in the House of Commons. In his pocket are papers: Cobbetts Hints. Just below him is Whitbread who has fallen on a (falling) ladder, breaking it in half; he sprawls across the broken fragment, struck down by one of his own barrels, inscribed Barrel of Mischief. Its frothing contents pour over his head, inscribed Quassia [see No. 10574], Cocus Indicus, Opium [see No. 10795]; the falling barrel-head is Whitbreads Entire Butt [see No. 10421]. He drops a paper: Essay upon Political Brewing without Malt or Hops, and an open book: Political Divinity by Sam Froth--The Wicked shall be caught in the work of their own Hands. The ladder which he has broken is the Broad-Bottom Ladder of Ambition [cf. No. 10530]. The vast Lord Temple has broken the lower rungs and lies on his back, his legs in the air, the ladder on top of him. ..."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Three lines of quoted text following title: "And they said, go to, let us build to us a city and a tower, whose top may reach to heavens, and let us make us a name!" ... and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Abbot, Charles,--Baron Colchester,--1757-1829--Caricatures and cartoons., Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos,--Duke of,--1776-1839--Caricatures and cartoons., Burdett, Francis,--1770-1844--Caricatures and cartoons., Canning, George,--1770-1827--Caricatures and cartoons., Castlereagh, Robert Stewart,--Viscount,--1769-1822--Caricatures and cartoons., Clarke, Mary Anne Thompson,--1776-1852--Caricatures and cartoons., Cobbett, William,--1763-1835--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Lansdowne, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice,--Marquess of,--1780-1863--Caricatures and cartoons., Perceval, Spencer,--1762-1812--Caricatures and cartoons., Radnor, William Pleydell-Bouverie,--Earl of,--1779-1869--Caricatures and cartoons., Tooke, John Horne,--1736-1812--Caricatures and cartoons., Wardle, Gwyllym Lloyd,--1762?-1833--Caricatures and cartoons., and Whitbread, Samuel,--1764-1815--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Cobbett (right) stands facing six men grouped at a round table who applaud the toast he gives: 'Damnation to the House of Brunswick' [cf. No. 11234]. In his left hand is a bottle of 'True Napoleone Spirits'; the contents of his raised glass are exploding. On his right sits Horne Tooke, with a crutch, holding a jug of 'Botley Ale' and a glass, both frothing. He says with a sinister upturned glance: 'Huzza! Huzza'. On Cobbett's left, and in back view, stands a naval officer wearing a cocked hat and high fashionable boots. He holds high a steaming bowl of 'Botley Grog'; under his foot is a paper: 'Basque Roads- Court Martial', showing that he is Cochrane, see No. 11326, &c. Facing Cobbett sit Bosville and Clifford. Bosville, silent, decrepit, and senile, grasps a bottle of 'Botley Ale' and holds a foaming glass; in his pocket is a 'Plan for a new Convention'. Clifford, brandy-faced, and with his barrister's wig awry, holds a bottle of 'French Brandy' and a brimming glass, saying "Huzza". Behind these two stand Burdett and Folkestone. Each holds up a frothing glass; Burdett waves his bonnet rouge and shouts "Huzza!-Huzza!" Folkestone echoes "Huzza!" In the foreground with his back to the table lies Wardle, very sick, clasping a bottle of 'Botley Ale', and vomiting over papers: 'Charges against the Duke of York' and 'Reform', see No. 11328, &c. A cat (left), with a collar inscribed 'Mrs Clarke', miaows at him (see No. 11216, &c). On the right are a tankard inscribed 'Whitbread's Small Beer', and a wine-cooler containing five bottles of 'Napolean Wine' [cf. No. 11004]. The floor is boarded, but under Cobbett's chair is a fringed carpet. The room is lit by candles set in branches which decorate the oval frame of a half-length portrait of 'Napoleone Le Grand'; he is in profile to the right, looking down at Cobbett and holding out a 'Cordon d'Honor'. The portrait is flanked by busts on brackets: 'Despard' [see No. 9969] with a noose round his neck, and 'Robespiere' with two daggers. On the table by Clifford are two more bottles of 'French' [Brandy], by Cochrane a bottle labelled (?) 'Coitaris', an overturned bottle, and a plate of 'Diables'. [Diable = a name given to the Toad-fish, Frog-fish, or Sea-Devil.] Empty bottles and a broken glass lie under the table."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Below image is printed a second plate etched with text only: Plate 7th. I did not look behind me 'till I got to St Omer's & thence fled to America; here I offer'd to become a spy for the English ... See my own Memoires in [the] Political Register, 1809., Series number etched above image, in upper left., Seventh print of eight in a series entitled: The life of William-Cobbett, written by himself., and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Burdett, Francis,--1770-1844--Caricatures and cartoons., Clifford, Henry,--1768-1813--Caricatures and cartoons., Cobbett, William,--1763-1835--Caricatures and cartoons., Dundonald, Thomas Cochrane,--Earl of,--1775-1860--Caricatures and cartoons., Gillray, James, 1756-1815, artist., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Napoleon--I,--Emperor of the French,--1769-1821--Caricatures and cartoons., Radnor, William Pleydell-Bouverie,--Earl of,--1779-1869--Caricatures and cartoons., Tooke, John Horne,--1736-1812--Caricatures and cartoons., and Wardle, Gwyllym Lloyd,--1762?-1833--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Sir Francis Burdett declaims, holding up a bonnet rouge shaped like a fool's cap; he addresses those who are making a bonfire of statutes, &c., on the cobbles of Palace Yard (left). His raised left arm is flung back, pointing towards Westminster Hall, which is being stoned and demolished by a mob. He says: "It is only in the House of Commons / "that the People of England are spoken of / "with Contempt, & calumniated!!!-- / "--can things be remedied by Bills? No!-- / "it must be by an Honest House of "Commons!--what is the use of Magna-Charta, Habeas-Corpus, / "or the Bill of Rights?-- / See, my own Speech at Westminster--Vide, "Cobbett's Patriotic Register. He tramples on a sceptre beside which lies a crown, reversed and covered by a long scroll: Resolution[s] of the Whig-Club; Resolved--That it is the decided Opinion of this Club that no Substantial & permament [sic] Good can be derived by the Country, from any change of Ministry, unless accompanied by an entire change of Systemn--accomplish'd by an entire Reform of the Parliament. A great pile of documents with a Holy Bible in the centre, is ready for the flames; Horne Tooke, in bonnet rouge, dressing-gown, and slippers, kneels at Burdett's feet, holding a dark lantern (as in No. 10738), and applying a flaming brand, inscribed Sedition, to the pile. Three simian and negroid creatures holding papers like sub-human newsboys, as in Gillray's New Morality [No. 9240], apply torches to the pile. One, with a tartan cloth round its waist, holds the Edinburgh Review, another the Morning Chronicle; the third wears a wig inscribed Independ[ent] Wig. Under Tooke's firebrand are the Rights of the House of Brunswick to the Throne Brunswick Succession; Magna Charta; Bill of Rights; Habeas Corpus. Other documents are Act for Punishing Libelers of the State, and Act to Suppress Inflamatory Libels (attacked by the Independent Wig and Morning Chronicle respectively); Legal Authorities; Rights of the Establish'd Church; Rights of the House of Lords; Priviliges of the He of Commons; Act of Protestant Succession; Freedom of Election; Old-Bailey Trials. ..."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Patriots lighting a revolutionary bonfire in New Palace Yard
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Buckingham, George Nugent Temple Grenville,--Marquess of,--1753-1813--Caricatures and cartoons., Burdett, Francis,--1770-1844--Caricatures and cartoons., Cobbett, William,--1763-1835--Caricatures and cartoons., Grattan, Henry,--1746-1820--Caricatures and cartoons., Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville,--Baron,--1759-1834--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Radnor, William Pleydell-Bouverie,--Earl of,--1779-1869--Caricatures and cartoons., Tooke, John Horne,--1736-1812--Caricatures and cartoons., Wardle, Gwyllym Lloyd,--1762?-1833--Caricatures and cartoons., and Whitbread, Samuel,--1764-1815--Caricatures and cartoons.
