“The Devil (right), in the foreground and much larger than the other figures, stands Asmodeus-like on a house-top (cf. British Museum Satires No. 16160), overturning with a long pole a dinner-table and upsetting the guests who fall on clouds of Dust. He is a grotesque muscular creature with goat’s legs, barbed wings and tail, and looks round with a triumphant grin at the spectator. The guests are also assailed by harpies, little winged men, whose bodies terminate in barbed and scaly tails. One of these (Corder), holding a long bill which rises into the air above him, assails a man (Roach) mounted on a cockroach and holding up a book inscribed Parish Acct; he is The Grand Carver mounted on his Cockroach.; from the cockroach’s antennae hang two big keys, and it emits a tail-blast inscribed We are of the Select, against his assailant. The latter holds out a paper inscribed Majority 7 and says am I not the Elect. Another harpy holding out a constable’s staff flies menacingly towards the cockroach, saying, By St Thomas I cheque this. Roach exclaims: I tell you it’s all a farce so we have taken the liberty to Cribb the Books Keep the Keys tight Cockey. A third harpy threatens the feast with a pair of spurred cavalry boots, saying you will Do-Well to give in, showing he is T. W. Dow (a boot-maker of York Street, Covent Garden. P.O. London Directory, 1822), see British Museum Satires No. 15528. A fourth has seized a paunchy Vestryman by the nose; the victim screams Oh my Nose–Rose Water rose water–oh oh oh– From the table fall birds, hare, tureen, decanter, pineapple, &c. The dust forms a background, and is inscribed Dust for the Eyes of the Parishioners; looming through it is the façade of St. Paul’s, Covent Garden. The bill held by Corder is headed Dinners. The items are Richardson £8-5, Hodgson & Gan £47-11-0, wine 5. 3. 0. Hodgson & Gan[n] Venison feast 30. 3- 6–Dinner on auditing Accounts £11- 4- 0, Hodg & Gann Ditto £40 4-0, Richardson Visitation Din . . £22. 7. 6, Joys St Thomas Day Dinner £20-10-0—&c &c.”–British Museum online catalogue.
- Printmaker: Heath, William, 1795-1840, printmaker.
- Title: The Devils doings, or, The cruel radical harpies destroying a feast [graphic] / [man with an umbrella] Eqs. de.
- Publication: [London] : Pub. by T. McLean, 26 Haymarket …, [April 1828]
828.04.00.02+
Acquired October 2018
