“Fox, wearing a military cocked hat, with civilian dress, threatens Prussia (or Frederick William III) with his sabre, while he puts a foot on the sword that Prussia has dropped. The latter, a grotesque figure with a long pigtail and moustaches, kneels terrified at his feet, clasping his hands in supplication. Fox says, with an expression of sour and calculating contempt, ” – O you Prussian Marauder, you! – what I’ve caught you at last? – what, You took me for a double-faced-Talleyrand! did you? – did you think I was like yourself, to Look One way & Row another? – what you thought because I make Loyal Speeches now, that I must be a Turncoat? – O you Frenchified Villain! – I’ll teach you to humbug & insult my poor, dear, dear Master? – & to join with such Rascals as Boney, & O’Conner!” Prussia exclaims, terrified, “indeed! indeed! indeed! I could not help it. – ” Meanwhile, Napoleon, holding his sabre, and wearing feathered bicorne, with spurred jack-boots, furtively hastens up to Fox from behind, to read the open book which the latter displays to him behind his back: ‘State of the Nation’.
- Printmaker: Gillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker.
- Title: The magnanimous minister chastiseing [sic] Prussian perfidy [graphic] / Jas. Gillray delt.
- Created: [London : s.n, ca. 2 May 1806?]
Catalog Record & Digital Collection
806.05.02.01+
Acquired November 2013
“Naval mutineers, seated and standing at a long table, glare ferociously at Admiral Buckner, who stands (left) calmly, hat in hand, in profile to the right at the foot of the table. The man at the head of the table, seated in a chair which is higher than the others, holds a blunderbuss and wears a hat. He must be Richard Parker, but does not resemble him. At his elbow and on the extreme right stands Thelwall filling a glass from a ‘Grog’ can; he says “Tell him we intend to be Masters, I’ll read him a Lecture”; from his pocket hangs a paper: ‘Thellwals Lecture’ (see British Museum Satires No. 8685). One man only is seated on the president’s left and on the near side of the table. He places a fist on a long paper headed ‘Resolutions’. Under the table in the foreground, lifting up the tablecloth, five secret instigators are (left to right): Lauderdale, holding a paper: ‘Letter from Sheerness to Ld L——le’; Horne Tooke, Stanhope, Grey, Fox, the most prominent, saying, “Aye, Aye, we are at the bottom of it”, and Sheridan. All have satisfied smiles. Four ruffians are seated at the farther side of the table, others stand behind them; one aims a pistol over the admiral’s head, one man smokes, another chews tobacco, taking a quid from his box. Weapons lie on the table. On the wall behind them are a print of Britannia head downwards, and two torn ballads: ‘True Blue an old Song’ and ‘Hearts of Oak are our Ships Jolly Tars are our men We alway are Ready’, the last word scored through. On the right the slanting window of the captain’s cabin is indicated.”–British Museum online catalogue