John Bull kneels beside a young gentlemen in a red cloak holding a magnifying glass and a stick, looking towards a cloud within which the future is foretold. It depicts John Bull in seven different scenarios: drinking unadulterated porter, free from taxes, smoking Trinidad tobacco, talking French & grown quite a fine gentleman, eating cinnamon from Ceylon, free from care, and with bread at 6d the quarter loaf. John Bull says: ‘what be all those people I see. Mercy on us so many good things will be more than I can bear’. His companion replies: ‘Look through this glass Mr. Bull & behold your future prosperity, it magnifies but very little I assure you’.
- Printmaker: Roberts, Piercy, active 1791-1805, printmaker.
- Title: Iohn Bull peeping into futurity [graphic] / Woodward delin. ; etch’d by Roberts.
- Publication: London : Pubd. by P. Roberts, 28 Middle Row, Holborn, [between 1801 and 1803?]
801.00.00.23
Acquired May 2018