A grotesquely caricatured, thin and ragged Tom Paine, dressed as a tailor with huge scissors hanging from his pants, kneels before a gigantic crown; he uses a tape measure to determine its dimensions. He wears a French-style hat with a cockade inscribed "vive la liberty". He ruminates on his task,a satire on the first part of his Rights of man.
Alternative Title:
Tommy Paine, the little American taylor, taking the measure of the crown for a new pair of revolution breeches
Description:
At top of design: Humbly dedicated to the Jacobine clubs of France and England by Common Sense. "These are your gods, O, Israel!", Plate shows signs of reworking; 'the' following 'Tommy Paine' in title etched twice, with the repeated word on the second line of title scored through and mostly burnished from plate., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Burke, Edmund,--1729-1797.--Reflections on the Revolution in France., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Paine, Thomas,--1737-1809.--Rights of man., and Paine, Thomas,--1737-1809--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Lord Howe (left) sits cross-legged on a tailor's shop-board working at a naval coat which lies across his knees. He holds up a threaded needle in his right hand; in his left are shears with which he is about to cut the thread. He says, "I have now finish'd my Seven Years Plan of the N-v-l Uniform; next the Marines must be Blue, faced with White, & White Buttons. I shan't let the Guardships cruize as formerly, a bad plan, give me young Officers that know little, then I may shew my skill - The word Merit should be expung'd from the Dictionary. Next Year I must set a few more of the old Ninety Two's aside, & have smart young Admirals. I'll have a general reform soon." Beside him is a tailor's goose, &c. Behind him (right) five naval coats in course of completion hang from a row of pegs, two have elaborately wide cuffs, one of which is decorated with an anchor. Beneath the board on which Howe sits are demons from whose operations smoke rises to surround him. Two grotesque nude creatures (left), one very thin, the other obese, are on the top of a circular platform which rests on a mast flying an ensign. They are cooking a goose, a cabbage, and a cucumber, all emblems of the tailor, cf. BMSat 5805, &c. The place where the 'cabbage' (pilfered cloth) was kept was called Hell. Grose, 'Dict. Vulgar Tongue', 1796. Next them a large devil with a gridiron under his arm stretches out his talons, saying, "And I'll have a general Reform soon as I shall get you before you are aware of it. I've ting'd your Heart so may safely leave you to go on."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Black-Dick turned tailor and Black-Dick turned taylor
Description:
Printmaker from British Museum catalogue. and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
G. Humphrey, No. 48 Long Acre
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Great Britain.--Royal Navy--Promotions., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Howe, Richard Howe,--Earl,--1726-1799--Caricatures and cartoons., and Humphrey, G. (George), 1773?-1831?, publisher.
