Public credit is depicted as a vigorous young gentleman, nobly-dressed in a Senator's gown and holding a merchant's account book whose cover is printed with the motto "solutus omni faenore" signifying true credit free from interest. The griffin below signifies safe custody. In the background figures representing Popery, Rebellion, and Slander, all of which seem to threaten Publick Credit are thwarted as is the fox, an emblem of cunning and deceit. Both the text below describing the image and the image above are enclosed in two separate scroll-formed frames; in the center of the scroll at the top is a mask and a dagger. Probably a response to Robert Walpole's Some considerations concerning the publick funds
Description:
Title engraved in image., Statement of responsibility and place and date of publication engraved in one line below explanatory text., Description based on imperfect impression; sheet trimmed within plate mark., and For further information, consult library staff.
Title etched below image., Date of publication from unverified data in local card catalog record., Plate numbered 'No. X' in upper right corner., Plate from: London und Paris, April, 1802., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., Temporary local subject terms: National Debt., and Mounted to 35 x 27 cm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Pitt, William, 1759-1806, and Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816
"Pitt sits astride a huge pile of bundles strapped to the back of a bull (John Bull); he is about to enter a high archway inscribed 'Trea[sury]'. His pose and expression combine jauntiness with dignity. His head is in profile to the right, his right hand on his hip, he wears a large bag to his wig, and while pressing his hat under his left arm holds the (slack) reins of the bull; his long thin leg hangs considerably above the bull's back, owing to the height of the bundles. The sturdy bull, though with downcast head and closed eyes, is not weighed down with his burden. Dundas (right), in Highland dress, marches grinning in front of the bull, playing the bagpipes which are inscribed 'Union Pipes' and have a transparent bag filled with coins. The bull's burden consists of ten superimposed bundles, inscribed with figures relating to the Loyalty Loan. Some of these are '50 000!, 30 000!, East India Company 2 000 000!!!, Duke of Queensbury 100-000!, 100 000!, Pit[t] D. dass 10000 [partly obscured by Pitt's foot], 50000, Duke of Bridgewater 100 000!, Corporation of London 100 000!' Behind the bull and on the extreme left are crowded together four British Jacobins, much caricatured, wearing bonnets-rouges and looking up at Pitt with anger and dismay. Their heads rise vertically one behind the other; the foremost and lowest is Fox, clenching his fist, next Sheridan in profile; then Stanhope, the fourth a mere scrawl."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Watermark: Strasburg bend with date 1798?, and Mounted to 42 x 29 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. by W. Holland, Oxford St.
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain. and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Fox, Charles James, 1749-1806, Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816, Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, Earl, 1753-1816, Bridgewater, Francis Egerton, Duke of, 1736-1803., and East India Company.
Subject (Topic):
Finance, Public, Economic conditions, John Bull (Symbolic character), Debts, Public, Loyalty Loan, and Musical instruments
