“Two women …, the Duchess of Gordon and her daughter, weep beside an ornate coffin on trestles decorated with ducal coronets and the arms and crest, ‘Che Sara Sara’, of the Duke of Bedford. The Duchess, grossly fat and much caricatured, her hands on her hips, stands on the left, saying, “You intended to ha’a him my dear if you cauld thats certain or ony of the Family, but ne’er heed it Chiel I’ll take You down to the Abbey [Woburn] and try again.” She wears a Scots cap on a wig with short curls. Lady Georgiana (right) stands with both arms extended, staggering backwards, in uncontrolled despair. A miniature on a velvet ribbon has fallen from one wrist, another is about to fall. She exclaims: “Ah me, a luckless Maid, thus crossed in hope & expectation too. quite lost in both Attempts, the one for ever gone the other far too Cold, to feel the genial warmth of mine and Mothers Love. I’ll take me to my Weeds & shew the World the ne’er was Love like mine.” Her hat and necklace lie on the coffin; her curled wig, flung off by her extravagant gestures, is about to fall on it. Broadside ballads lie on the ground; beside the Duchess: ‘There’s Nae luck about the House’ and ‘We’ll tuck up our petticoats under our arm and over . . .’ Beside her daughter: ‘Wither my Love ah Wither art thou gone’ [cf. British Museum Satires No. 9311] and ‘Mad Bessy of Bedl[am]’.”–British Museum online catalogue.
- Printmaker: Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker.
- Title: The Gord-ian knot still untied, or, The disapointed [sic] Dido still in despair [graphic].
- Publication: [London] : Pubd. May 9th, 1802, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly, [9 May 1802]
802.05.09.01+
Acquired June 2024
“Bonaparte (left) and Cornwallis play chess. Bonaparte, not caricatured, alert and military, wearing his large plumed cocked hat, leans forward, pointing to his move; his left arm lies on the table and in his left hand is his sheathed sabre. He says: “Check to your King, remember it is not the first time, and I think a very few Manœuvres more will completely convince you that I am better acquainted with the Game I am playing than you are aware of.” Cornwallis, plump and civilian despite his regimentals and profession, sits without a hat, scratching his head apprehensively. He says: “Curse it I shall lose this Game; You are too much for me.” He wears his ribbon and star, ‘Honi soit’ on his garter. The chairs are symbolical: that of Bonaparte has ormolu laurel wreaths, the legs are formed of fasces and axes; that of Cornwallis, with plain oval back, suggests an English drawing-room.”–British Museum online catalogue.
Three men sit by a supper-table, a grandfather-clock behind them points to XI. The man on the left is having his jack-boots pulled off by a small boy; the boy stands astride his right leg pulling hard, his back to the man, who is scowling and pushes his other booted foot against the boy’s back; on the floor are a pair of spurs, a pair of slippers, and a boot-jack. A man (right) wearing a night-cap, but otherwise completely dressed and wearing spurred boots, leans one elbow on the table, his face contorted as if in pain, he holds his hand to his thigh. On the table beside him is a small packet inscribed “Diaculum”. In the centre, and on the farther side of the table, the third man leans both elbows on the table, his hair is tousled and his eyes are shut. A servant behind, yawning, is carrying off a square box, probably a wig-box, while a maidservant stands on the right, a candle in one hand, a warming-pan in the other, watching with amusement the efforts of the boy to pull off the boot. Three hats hang on the wall; a bottle, a plate, three wine-glasses, and a guttering candle, burnt down to the socket, stand on the table. See related image in the British Museum catalogue.
