Tant va la cruche à l’eau qu’enfin elle se brise

description below

“By the efforts of Pitt, who directs Addington, and of a jester wearing cap and bells, an earthenware jug representing George III is lowered into the sea and fatally damaged by striking a rock inscribed ‘Malte’. ‘Addington’ is a man of straw (his body formed of a bundle of straw), a puppet attached to a pole placarded with his name; Pitt (left) pulls threads attached to the dangling arms and legs, but looks round horrified at the disaster resulting from his machinations. The jester crouches on a rock (right); under his foot is a document: ‘Traité d’Amiens’ [see British Musueum Satires No. 9852, &c.]; he holds in both hands the rope, lowering the royal pitcher, but the other end of the rope is round Addington’s hand and thus is manipulated by Pitt. Malta is a small castellated island with a church and a sharp rock which has gashed the pitcher just where it is decorated with a dog-like lion from whose head a crown falls. The mouth of the pitcher is a profile portrait of George III crowned, and looking down with angry dismay at the fatal rock.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Title:Tant va la cruche à l’eau qu’enfin elle se brise [graphic].
  • Publication:A Paris : Chez Martinet, Rue du Coq, Saint Honoré, [ca. May 1803]

Catalog Record

803.05.00.01+

Acquired May 2020

La derniere cuvée

description below

“French soldiers are being cooked or drowned in a big round vat built of stone, under which a fire is burning. Blücher (left) and Wellington (right) stand over the vat, holding long-handled perforated ladles with which they skim the surface of the water, fishing out the soldiers. Blücher (left), saying “Mon cher Welington je commence a écumer j’espere que vous me Seconderez,” holds on his level ladle a hussar in large busby, braided tunic, and boots. Wellington holds up on his (tilted) ladle a man hanging head downwards. Beside the vat (right) is a rocky cone from a fissure in which the flames of Hell emerge; Cerberus, a monster with three serpentine necks and webbed wings, reaches from the opening towards Wellington’s captive, and devours his legs with two of his great jaws. Wellington answers: “mon ami Blucher je sais pret a vous suivre mais surtout travaille fort cette nuit.” Other soldiers struggle to get out or sink back hopelessly. An eagle (standard) projects from the water, on which float many tricolour cockades. Wellington’s victim, who has a moustache, is not Napoleon, who is a subordinate figure, struggling to get out, and extending his arms towards Wellington.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Title: La derniere cuvée [graphic].
  • Publication: A Londre [i.e. France?] : [publisher not identified], 1815.

Catalog Record

815.07.00.01+

Acquired May 2020

Loose principles

description below

“Fox rises from a close-stool; Sheridan (left) is about to apply a syringe, inscribed ‘R——ts [Regent’s] Clyster’, to his rectum. Burke (right), wearing a Jesuit’s biretta (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6026), gropes in the close-stool, holding in his left hand its lid, inscribed ‘Not searching from Precedents but Consequences’ (a characteristic dictum); he says, “To Ordure – Ordure” (Burke was often called to order for his speeches on the Regency, cf. British Museum Satires No. 7499, &c). Fox says, “Exegi Monumentum cere perennias, or the finishing Stroke” (perhaps an allusion to the revolution Pillar, see British Museum Satires No. 7396). In his hand is a paper inscribed ‘Magna Charta Non Posteris sed Posterioribus’; his posterior is inscribed ‘Patriotic Bum’ and ‘Vox Populi’. He stands on a paper inscribed ‘Resolutions of P——l——t.’ Sheridan is ‘Principal Promoter of loose Principles’; under his right foot is an open book: ‘Congreve Plays School for Scandal’, probably implying plagiarism by Sheridan (cf. Moore, ‘Life of Sheridan’, p. 180, where resemblances between ‘The School for Scandal’ and ‘The Double Dealer’ are noted). The background is a library wall: a book-case containing folio volumes in some disorder is flanked by scowling busts of ‘Wat Tyler’ and ‘Jack Kade’. The books are inscribed: ‘The Laws of Pharaoh’ (Faro, cf. British Museum Satires No. 5972), ‘Political Prints’, ‘Life of Oliver Cromwell’ (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6380, &c), ‘Cataline’ (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6784), ‘Memoirs of Sam House’.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, printmaker.
  • Title: Loose principles [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. Jany. 21, 1789, by S. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly, [21 January 1789]

Catalog Record

789.01.21.01+

Acquired May 2020

Le plan de campagne de 1806

description below

A French satire on the British administration, who are gathered around a table with bottles and glasses (two of which are toppled over) and a battle plan (’Plan de Berlin’) drawn on the tablecloth. In1806, French forces under Napoleon occupied Prussia, pursued the remnants of the shattered Prussian Army, and captured Berlin.

 

  • Title: Le plan de campagne de 1806, ou, Les deliberations des politiques anglais sur la guere [graphic].
  • Publication: A Paris : Chez Martinet, [1806]

Catalog Record

806.00.00.54+

Acquired May 2020

Portrait of a woman in a large hat

description below

A portrait of a woman in the rondel frame; in profile, head and shoulders only, looking down and to the right, wearing an extravagant hat; possibly a performer.

 

  • Printmaker: Laurie, Robert, 1755-1836, printmaker.
  • Title: [Portrait of a woman in a large hat] [graphic] / Robt. Dighton pinxit ; R. Laurie fecit.
  • Publication: London : Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett, No. 53 Fleet Street, 26 Feby. 1778, as the act directs.

Catalog Record

778.02.26.01

Acquired May 2020

A man-trap

description below

“A fashionably-dressed young woman reclining to left on a garden bench, looking provocative; roses and a sign-post lettered ‘Spring Guns set here’ behind to right, and a tree behind to left.”–British Museum online

 

  • Title: A man-trap [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Printed for Carington Bowles, No. 69 in St. Pauls Church Yard, London. Publish’d as the act directs, [between 1766 and 1789]

Catalog Record

766.00.00.69

Acquired May 2020