Ticket to the Anniversary Meeting of the Medical Society of London, to occur at the Society's House on Bolt Court, Fleet Street
Alternative Title:
This ticket admits the bearer to the Anniversary Meeting at the Society's House, Bolt Court, Fleet Strt
Description:
Title from item., Entirely engraved; illustrated at top with an image of Apollo with bow and arrow seated over a slain serpent, signed "W. Grainger inv. sc." in lower right., Monogrammatic initials "MSL" within circle in lower left., Completed in manuscript with details of the meeting, including the date of 8 March 1821 and time of 3 o'clock. "Mr. Callaway" is noted as giving the oration, and the ticket is numbered "No. 144" in lower right., Mounted to 27.1 x 20.9 cm., and Mounted before page 469 in volume 3 of an extra-illustrated copy of: Malcolm, J.P. Londinium redivivum, or, An antient history and modern description of London.
"Lord Lonsdale as Satan is seated in triumph, his right foot resting on a sack of 'Coals from the Infernal Pitt.' (Pitt gave Lowther his peerage, see BMSat 6579.) Peter Pindar (Wolcot) (left) kneels on one knee at his feet, with clasped hands, beseeching mercy. A lawyer (right) whose legs are twisted serpents crouches at his left hand writing 'Peter Pindar' in a book inscribed 'Black List'; he is the coachman of BMSat 8155. Lonsdale is a magnificently arrogant figure with horns, wings, and muscular legs which are bare from the knee, his toes being talons; he resembles the Satan of BMSat 6027. He wears an earl's coronet inscribed 'Evil be thou my Good', and a military coat with epaulettes. From his mouth issues two streams of flame ... In his left hand, which rests on his knee, is a flaming torch inscribed 'Epistle to Lord Lonsd[ale] by Peter Pindar'. Behind his head is a large halo from which radiate tongues of flame that reach to the margins of the design, each with an inscription. ... The last inscription points at the lawyer as the first does at Pindar. Pindar's clothes are ragged, toes protrude through a tattered shoe. ... From his pocket project two books: 'Odes upon Cowardice' and 'Odes of Importance alias Conciliatory Odes'. The latter, published in 1792, contained an 'Ode to Lord Lonsdale', in which Lonsdale is urged to imitate the King's forbearance towards 'the poet's harmless wit'; it is by no means abject, and threatens him with an independent jury and Erskine's irony. ... Lonsdale's attorney holds 'Briefs' and 'Writs' under his left arm, on which a brief-bag is hung. The coals issuing from Lonsdale's sack are inscribed: 'Covetousness', 'Dissimulation', 'Rapine', 'Treachery', 'Malice', 'Cruelty', 'Envy', 'Pride', 'Ingratitude', 'Deceit', 'Swindling', 'Rapine', 'Meanness'. ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Peter Pindar crouching to the devil
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Text following title: Sketch'd from the peep-hole at Scalegill., Dedication etched below title: To the worthy inhabitants of Cumberland, this impartial representation of the virtues of his Infernal Majesty, is respectfully dedicated., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Temporary local subject terms: Bag of coals -- Allusion to William Pitt, 1759-1806 -- Lawyers' brief bags -- Black lists -- Quills -- Emblems: earl's coronet -- Uniforms: military officer's uniform -- Torches -- Prayers -- Crimes: libel -- Haloes -- Literature: Pindar's Ode to Lord Lonsdale in Odes of importance, alias conciliatory odes -- Literature: Pindar's Commiserating epistle., and Mounted to 47 x 36 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. May 8th, 1792 (for the proprietor) by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Lonsdale, James Lowther, Earl of, 1736-1802 and Pindar, Peter, 1738-1819
"A satire on the struggle between Pitt and Thurlow travestied as a scene from 'Paradise Lost'. Pitt (left) is Death, wearing the king's crown and using a long sceptre as a weapon. Thurlow (right) is Satan; he raises the (breaking) mace to smite, and holds out an oval shield decorated with the bag of the Great Seal and a tiny woolsack. The Queen, as Sin, naked, with snaky locks (Medusa-like), and two writhing serpents for legs, interposes with outstretched arms, looking with terrified face at Thurlow in her desire to protect Pitt. She is a hideous hag with pendent breasts; from her snaky hair hangs a large key inscribed 'The Instrument of all our Woe', and evidently symbolizing Secret Influence ... Pitt's naked body is emaciated and corpse-like; from his shoulders hangs a long ermine-trimmed cloak; his sceptre radiates darts of lightning. His face expresses alarm and determination. Behind him, and guarding the gate of Hell which is indicated by a stone arch, is Cerberus, with the profile heads of Dundas, Grenville, and Richmond, looking up at Thurlow; their body terminates in a large serpent with a barbed tail. Thurlow has wings, and is naked except for a quasi-Roman kilt. He wears his Chancellor's wig, his profile and eyebrow are of a terrifying fierceness; serpents twine round his shield, and spit fire at Pitt and the Queen; a serpent entwined in Pitt's crown, and others in the Queen's snaky locks, retaliate. On the right are the flames of Hell in which demons are flying; smoke fills the background. Beneath the design is etched: 'NB: The above performance containing Portraits of the Devil & his Relatives, drawn from the Life, is recommended to Messrs Boydell, Fuselli & the rest of the Proprietors of the Three Hundred & Sixty Five Editions of Milton now publishing, as necessary to be adopted, in their classick Embellishments.'"-- British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Six columns of verse from Milton's Paradise Lost, four above the image and two below: "... black it stood as night, Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as hell, And shook a dreadfull dart: what seemd his head, The likeness of a Kingly crown had on;' ... "Had not the Snaky-Sorceress that sat, "Fast by hell-gate, and kept the fatal Key, "Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rushd between.'", One line of text in bottom of design: NB: The above performance containing portraits of the Devil & his relatives ..., and Mounted to 36 x 49 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. June 9th, 1792, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Shakspeare Gallery., Charlotte, consort of George III, King of Great Britain, 1744-1818, Pitt, William, 1759-1806, Thurlow, Edward Thurlow, Baron, 1731-1806, Melville, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 1742-1811, Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville, Baron, 1759-1834, and Richmond and Lennox, Charles Lennox, Duke of, 1735-1806
Subject (Topic):
Cerberus (Greek mythology), Medusa (Greek mythology), and Serpents
