print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1935,0522.11.126
- Title
- Object: An excursion to Brighton.
- Description
-
An adaptation of No. 11904 (1812), by Cruikshank, reversed, with Lady Conyngham replacing Lady Hertford. The open barouche, with four galloping horses and the Cupid postilion, is closely copied. Behind the carriage, as footman, General Bloomfield replaces McMahon. Conyngham replaces Hertford on the donkey, with the antlers, dress, and (incorrectly) the staff of office of his predecessor. He says: "How fortunate am I to have a Handsome and Cunning wife or I should not wear those marks of Distinction!" Lady Conyngham repeats Lady Hertford's words: "We have had a glorious ride my Love! It is worth Half a Crown" [cf. No. 13826]. George IV: "My Cunning-one I have not Half a Crown to give thee, Would that I had." The Devil drives, as before, but sits alone, instead of beside Lord Yarmouth; a long barbed tail has been added. The 'Female Asylum' (for discarded mistresses) is similarly drawn but less ramshackle; the women looking from the windows are altered; Lady Hertford replaces Mrs. Fitzherbert: the words are as before, but '. . . his Poor F' becomes 'his Poor H'. On the roof, in place of two cats as supporters of the inverted feathers and coronet, are three cats with a (heraldic) scroll and a chamber-pot. The tail of the procession (Sheridan and the wagon 'For Yarmouth . . .') is omitted. The signpost points 'To Brighton'; Ragley is replaced (left) by the domes and minarets of the Pavilion, burlesqued. After the title:
"For trifling sports I quitted grave affairs"
"And let not wine or anger wrest"
"Th' intrusted secret from your breast".
c. September 1820
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1820
- Dimensions
-
Height: 236 millimetres
-
Width: 430 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', X, 1952)
There is little difference in caricature between the Hertfords and the Conynghams: a fat and handsome lady, with a tall thin and usually antlered husband. In May Greville noted: 'Nobody talks of anything but Lady Coningham and the King', and in June that Lady Hertford's windows had been shattered by the mob, but those of her rival were untouched (showing that the populace did not know of the change). In 1819, when the Regent rode with Lady Conyngham, Lord Beauchamp (b. 1800) said: 'By G. our Grandmother [Lady Hertford] must learn to ride or it is all over with us.' Greville, 'Memoirs', 1938, i. 93, 96. During the 'trial' the King was attacked with great scurrility on account of the new attachment (and for other mistresses). See Fulford, 'George IV', 1935, pp. 217 ff. See Nos. 13770, 13851, 14117.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1935
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1935,0522.11.126