"Pitt steers a small boat, 'The Constitution', with a single sail, a Union pennant flying from the mast, through huge waves between a high rock (left) and a whirlpool whose circumference is an inverted crown which merges in the swirling water. He is in profile to the right, gazing fixedly at a castle on a promontory (right) among still waters, which flies a flag inscribed 'Haven of Public Happiness'. Britannia, a buxom young woman, sits in the boat, her hands raised in alarm, her head turned towards the rock, on the summit of which is a large bonnet-rouge with a tricolour cockade on a post within a ramshackle fence. Spray dashes against Scylla; beside the rock and in the foreground (left) three sharks with human heads closely pursue Pitt's boat: Sheridan, Fox, and Priestley (good profile portraits), their eyes fixed menacingly on the boat. They are: 'Sharks'; 'Dogs of Scylla'."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Vessel of the Constitution steered clear of the Rock of Democracy and the Whirlpool of Arbitrary Power
Description:
Title etched below image., Caption below image, under the heads of Priestley, Fox and Sheridan: Sharks, dogs of Scylla., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on lower edge., and Temporary local subject terms: Flags: union pennant -- Constitution as a boat -- Boats -- Cap of liberty as bonnet rouge -- Allusion to the French Revolution -- Crowns: royal crown inverted as a whirlpool -- Cap of Liberty -- Symbols: tricolor cockades -- Allusion to Scylla abd Charybdis (Greek mythology) -- Literature: George Canning, 1770-1827, The Pilot that Weathered the Storm -- Waves -- Fortresses.
Publisher:
Pubd. April 8th, 1793 by H. Humphrey, N. 18 Old Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Priestley, Joseph, 1733-1804, and Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816
"Pitt steers a small boat, 'The Constitution', with a single sail, a Union pennant flying from the mast, through huge waves between a high rock (left) and a whirlpool whose circumference is an inverted crown which merges in the swirling water. He is in profile to the right, gazing fixedly at a castle on a promontory (right) among still waters, which flies a flag inscribed 'Haven of Public Happiness'. Britannia, a buxom young woman, sits in the boat, her hands raised in alarm, her head turned towards the rock, on the summit of which is a large bonnet-rouge with a tricolour cockade on a post within a ramshackle fence. Spray dashes against Scylla; beside the rock and in the foreground (left) three sharks with human heads closely pursue Pitt's boat: Sheridan, Fox, and Priestley (good profile portraits), their eyes fixed menacingly on the boat. They are: 'Sharks'; 'Dogs of Scylla'."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
Vessel of the Constitution steered clear of the Rock of Democracy and the Whirlpool of Arbitrary Power
Description:
Caption below image, under the heads of Priestley, Fox and Sheridan: Sharks, dogs of Scylla. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Priestley, Joseph,--1733-1804--Caricatures and cartoons., and Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons.
A satire of Pitt's return to office in 1804. Pitt is shown in the chamber of Britannia. Britannia sits listlessly on a bed, holding a sword in one hand. Next to her, leaning against the bed, is her shield and olive branches. Pitt holds aloft a bottle labelled "Constitutional Restorative" as he kicks another man, a caricature of Addington, through the door. Addington is in the process of dropping a bottle labelled "Composing Draft". With his other foot, Pitt steps on the face of a flailing and prostrate Fox, who holds a bottle labelled "Rebublican Balsam" towards Britannia. From Fox's pocket dice and a dice container labelled "Whig Pills" have fallen. Emerging from behind the bed curtains, the figure of Death, a skeleton with the face and plumed bicorne of Napoleon, overturns a table and upsets bottles of medicine and points his sword toward the unsuspecting Britannia
Description:
Title etched below image. and In paper frame: 450 x 330 mm. Stamped in upper right corner: "84."
Publisher:
Publish'd May 20th 1804 by H. Humphrey
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount, 1757-1844, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, and Pitt, William, 1759-1806
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character) and Politics & government
"Britannia, tall and powerful, holds Napoleon across her knee, and raises a birch rod to thrash his bleeding posterior. She wears Roman draperies, with corslet and plumed helmet. The rod is tied with a ribbon inscribed: 'United Kingdoms'. She says: "There take that and that and that, and be carefull not to provoke my Anger more." He exclaims: "oh forgive me this time and I never will do so again, oh dear! oh dear! you'll entirely spoil the Honors of the Sitting." Beside Britannia (left) are her spear and sword; beside Napoleon (right) his huge cocked hat and sabre. The scene is by the sea (left), with a fleet of retreating vessels flying the tricolour flag. On the right is a cliff on which a small British lion lies on a scroll inscribed: 'Qui uti scit ei bona' [good things to him who knows how to use them]."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker identified as Charles Williams in the British Museum catalogue., Publisher's advertisement in lower right: Folios of caracatures [sic] lent out for the evening., With watermark: A. Stace., and Matted to 49 x 38 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. June 13th, 1803, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Name):
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Subject (Topic):
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815, Britannia (Symbolic character), Spanking, Warships, and French
Title etched below image., Date of publication from that of the periodical in which the plate appeared., Text above image: Engrav'd for the Oxford Magazine., Imperfect; sheet trimmed within plate mark with loss of text above image. Missing text supplied from impression in the British Museum., Plate from: The Oxford magazine or, Universal museum ... London : Printed for the authors, v. 4 (1770), p. 64., Temporary local subject terms: Emblems: cap of liberty -- Emblems: staff of liberty -- Weapons -- Masks: bull's head -- Britannia's shield., and Mounted to 20 x 14 cm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of, 1735-1811, Norton, Fletcher, 1716-1789, Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 1708-1778, Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquis of, 1730-1782, Temple, Richard Grenville-Temple, Earl, 1711-1779, and Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, 1705-1793
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character), Liberty cap, Petitions, Daggers & swords, Axes, Shields, and Masks
Title from item., Printmaker identified by Richard T. Godfrey, Dec. 13, 1979., Publication date from British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Temporary local subject terms: Personifications: Trade as a caryatide -- Personifications: Public credit as a caryatide -- Subsidies., and Mounted to 37 x 28 cm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Newcastle, Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of, 1693-1768, Holland, Henry Fox, Baron, 1705-1774, Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, Earl of, 1690-1764, Anson, George Anson, Baron, 1697-1762, and Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 1708-1778
Title etched below image., Publication place and date inferred from those of the periodical for which this plate was engraved., Text above image: Engrav'd for the Political Register., Sheet partially trimmed within plate mark., Plate from: The Political register and London museum. London : J. Almon, v. 5 (1769), p. 55., and Temporary local subject terms: Military uniforms: 3rd Regiment Foot Guards -- Riots: reference to St. George's Fields, May 1768 -- Furnishings: carpet -- Chains -- Prelate.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of, 1735-1811 and Bath, Thomas Thynne, Marquis of, 1734-1796
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character), Clergy, Shackles, and Guards
"A drunken orgy in a room with mirrors on the wall. Britannia, dressed as a courtesan (right), leans back in a chair, dead drunk, in her right. hand is a wine-bottle. One foot rests on her shield. A man standing behind pours over her the contents of a wine-bottle, in his right. hand he holds out a wine-glass. In the centre is a staggering figure wearing the ribbon and order of the Bath. His pocket is being picked by a plainly dressed man, while another holds his shoulder. Two men aimlessly flourish drawn swords. Another aims a blow with a long pole at a mirror. A courtesan has broken a mirror with a wine-bottle which she is waving in the air. In the background a woman, seated on a man's knee, is picking his pocket. On the floor in the foreground are broken wine-glasses, and a broken punch-bowl inscribed "the Constitution". The explanatory text asks "Who are the greatest drunkards? - Those at the helm - Who set the most glaring examples of adultery, fornication, &c -.."."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Great ones in a bagnio
Description:
Title etched below image., Publication place and date inferred from that of the magazine for which this plate was engraved., Plate from: The Oxford magazine or, Universal museum ... London : Printed for the authors, v. 8, p. 185., and Temporary local subject terms: Drunkenness -- Prostitutes -- Dishes -- Allusion to the Constitution.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character), Intoxication, Courtesans, Drinking vessels, Wine, Bowls (Tableware), and Pickpockets
Sir Francis Burdett, holding copies of the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights, is arrested by the Speaker of the House of Commons (who calls Britannia a 'blank eyed b-h'). Britannia stands, hands clasped in supplication, her lion by her side. Burdett argued in the House of Commons against the imprisonment of the radical John Gale Jones. Failing to have Jones released, Burdett issued a revised edition of his speech in the Weekly Register, an action which the House voted a breach of privilege. The Speaker issued a warrant for Burdett's arrest and he was taken by soldiers from the Commons to the Tower of London, where he remained until the next Parliamentary recess
Description:
Title from item., Possibly by Thomas Rowlandson?, and Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum.
Publisher:
Pubd. April 11th, 1810, by T. Tegg, 111 Cheapside
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Burdett, Francis, 1770-1844 and Jones, John Gale, 1769-1838.
Title from item., Song sheet with an etching at top showing Britannia and Prince Leopold mourning at the tomb of Princess Charlotte. Music on two staves with interlinear words. Additional three stanzas in three columns below. Text and music within mourning border. Opening words: Brittannia [sic], mourn! your glorys hope ... "Pr. 1/.", and For further information, consult library staff.
Publisher:
Published at No. 91, Aldersgate Street
Subject (Name):
Charlotte Augusta, Princess of Great Britain, 1796-1817 and Léopold |b I, |c King of the Belgians, |d 1790-1865,
Subject (Topic):
Britannia (Symbolic character), Grief, and Tombs & sepulchral monuments