The arms of two gibbets extend symmetrically, high above a bonfire; between them is an equally high post supporting a board on which the title is etched. From one (right) dangles a realistic effigy of Napoleon (scarcely caricatured) in cocked hat, uniform, and Hessian boots. From the other hangs a ruffianly fellow holding a dark lantern. They face each other in profile.
- Creator: Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, artist.
- Title: Execution of two celebrated enemies of Old England & their dying speeches, Nov. 5th, 1813 [art original].
- Production: [England], [1813]
Drawings R79 no. 22 Box D305
Acquired April 2023
“Mrs. Clarke (right) sits triumphantly astride the upper end of a see-saw which is supported on an upholstered stool. The Duke of York (left), dropping his sword, falls headlong from the other end which rests on the ground. She waves her arms, pointing a derisive finger at the Duke, and sings: “Here I go up up up and there you go Down Down Downy, The game it is pretty well up, and so you must fall to the Grouny!” The Duke sings: “What a way for to serve your own Sweety, how could you vex your own Deary, If you had not thrown me quite down, you’d have had your 4 hundred a Yeary.” On the ground are the Duke’s cocked hat (left) and (right) a mitre, with a book, ‘Ovid art of Love’, and crosier (see British Museum satires no. 11227), with writing materials and papers: a bundle of ‘Love Letters’ (see British Museum satires no. 11228, &c.) tied like legal documents, against which is a door-plate inscribed ‘for further particulars inquire within’, a bundle docketed ‘Account of Debts Gloucester’ [Place, see British Museum satires no. 11222, &c], a paper headed ‘To Col Wardle’. There is a landscape background irradiated by a setting sun.”–British Museum online catalogue.
“Lord Cornwallis holds a levee in Government House, Calcutta, in a large room divided by a panelled partition which stretches across the design from left to right and is broken by three wide doorways, showing an inner room, crowded with guests, with three large windows between which are pier-glasses in ornate frames. In the spaces between the doorways are four candle-sconces placed above four of Thomas Daniell’s ‘Views of Calcutta’, either the originals or (more probably) the aquatints. [Published by him at Calcutta 1786-8, reproduced in W. Corfield’s ‘Calcutta Faces and Places’. Cf. also ‘Memoirs of William Hickey’, iii. 327, 342.] In the nearer portion of the room the figures are dispersed; Cornwallis stands in the inner room on the right, his right hand on his breast, left in his breeches pocket. He is talking to Cudbert Thornhill, a grotesque-looking civilian who faces him in profile to the right. Behind Thornhill, waiting to approach Cornwallis, is King Collins wearing regimentals. Behind this group is a crowd of unidentified guests. The figures in the foreground (left to right) are: Lt.-Col. Alexander Ross, secretary to Cornwallis, who is talking to Colonel John Fullarton, senior officer at the Presidency (‘East India Kalendar’, 1791, p. 14). Next, a stout civilian, with legs thick to deformity, holds both hands of a very slim and foppish civilian; they are John Haldane and Claud Benizett, [Identified by Wright and Evans as John Wilton.] Sub-Treasurer. The centre figures are a very stout colonel talking to a thin and grotesque civilian holding a long cane; both wear spectacles. They are Colonel Auchmuty and William Pye, Collector of the Twenty-four Pergunnahs. A grotesquely ugly little civilian, standing alone in profile to the left, taking snuff, is W. C. Blaquiere. [Identified by Wright and Evans] On the extreme right an obese man and a cadaverously thin man, both civilians, take each other’s hands in an affected manner; they are Robert MacFarlane, Clerk of the Market, and John Miller, Deputy of Police. From MacFarlane’s pocket hangs a long paper: ‘Price Current Calcutta Market Grain Rice Bran Paddy Agent’. Behind Pye stands the Rev. Thomas Blanshard, a very stout man in profile to the left with his hands behind his back. Behind him a civilian grasps the hands of a Greek priest wearing robes and a high hat. They are Edward Tiretta of the Bazaar and Father Parthanio. …”–British Museum online catalogue.
“Lady Conyngham stands directed to the left, feet apart, dressed as in British Museum satires no. 15720; she amusingly combines the ultra-feminine with masculine attributes and stance. She is immensely fat and wide with small cherubic features and curls; under her left arm is a cocked blunderbuss. She wears a wide-brimmed hat, a neckcloth fastened with a jewelled crown, a coach-guard’s greatcoat, wide open over her tight-waisted dress. A pouch hangs from her shoulder and two coach-horns from her left arm. Above her head: ‘I says to our Governor says I–keep your eye on them ere Leaders George’; i.e. on Lyndhurst and Scarlett, see British Museum satires nos. 15720, 15850. Cf. British Museum satires no. 15716.”–British Museum online catalogue.