“The Lord Mayor sits (right) in profile to the left in a chair of state facing a city officer in a long gown holding a wand who leads in a file of five amused ‘cits’, three men and two women. The officer says: “Here are a number of People brought before your Honor, by your Honor’s Order, for not keeping the pavement clean before their Houses in Frosty Weather – according to the Act of Parliament for that purpose; but the worst of all is – here is a Worthy Alderman, lays information, that the pavement before your Honor’s Door is as much neglected as any of the rest – and moreover says that he himself had a fall there in the late Frost, which shook him so much, that he has been unable to digest Turtle or Venison ever since – A material injury to one of the Body Corporate.” The alderman, who heads the file, clasps an enormous paunch. The Mayor answers, proffering a coin: “Well, Well, if that is the case, take my five Shillings, and say no more about the Business.” The Mayor wears spectacles and a chain of office; he has not the plebeian appearance of the alderman and his companions. (Charles Price was Lord Mayor 1802-3.)”–British Museum online catalogue.
- Printmaker: Roberts, P. (Piercy), active 1785-1824, printmaker, publisher.
- Title: Diamond cut diamond, or, A whimsical information [graphic] / Woodward delin. ; etch’d by Roberts.
- Publication: London : Pubd. by P. Roberts, 28 Middle Row, Holborn, [1803?]
803.00.00.53+
Acquired February 2024
A man stands facing the viewer, a pipe in his left hand and a paper labelled “London Gazette” sticking out of the pocket of his coat. He gleefully points with his left hand to two bottles set on a drop-leaf table beside him. The room is decorated with a marble pilaster with Ionic capital.
A gentleman is shown half-length in profile to the right, pressing a walking stick to his chin and holding his hat under his arm; he stands in a disconsolate manner at table on the right on which are set tankard lettered “small beer” and paper “W. Davison druggist Alnwick sells”.
An old man, wearing a robe from which hangs a crucifix, walks with a staff towards a city in the distance. A long beard grows from his chin and long hair hangs from the back of his head; the top of his head is completely bald.
A theatre scene; a man on stage holding a long cane leans towards the box stage left saying: ‘Bucks of the Boxes, sneer and talk aloud! I don’t mean you.’ The rotund young man at the front of the box says ‘Boo Boo’; he holds an unfurled sheet of paper headed ‘Fair Penitent. Lothario, by the amateur who murdered Romeo …’