- Museum number
- 1851,0901.818
- Title
- Object: The British menagerie
- Description
-
The interior of a menagerie; the animals represent the sovereigns of Europe and have numbers referring to notes beneath the design. Pitt (left) stands in profile to the left, lifting in both hands a shovel-full of guineas which he puts into the mouth of a gigantic leopard, in a cage which is raised above the level of the ground and stretches across the left wall. Beside him is a bucket full of guineas. Behind him Mr. and Mrs. Bull stand together, a dismayed couple of sightseers. Pitt says: "You see Mr Bull how voraciously he Swallows the Guineas he is very tame I assure you notwithstanding his terrific appearance." Mrs. Bull says: "They do bolt them rarely, to be sure the Eagles dont seem half satisfied". A voracious double-headed eagle, a crown attached to a neck, stands on the top of the leopard's cage and stretches its necks for the guineas. They are '1 The Austrian Leopard, a -very fierce Animal originally but now remarkably tame' and '2 The Prussian Eagle also famous for gold eating'. On a perch beside the eagle a crowned cock sits quietly; he is '3 The Gallic Cock, formerly a great crower! - but now quietly at roost in the Menagerie.' (Monsieur (recently expelled from Italy) was in Germany, Artois was at Holyrood.)
Beneath the leopard's cage are a gigantic frog (resembling an otter) in a tub on the extreme left and next it a hedgehog in a cage. They are '9 A Dutch Frog (a remarkable sleeper)' and '5 A Sardinian Hedge Hog lately imported'.
Two large cages are one above the other against the back wall, and just behind Mr. and Mrs. Bull. In the lower one a crowned bear sits apparently asleep; above, a crowned pig puts its head greedily through the bars. They are '4 The Russian Bear - a very prudent Animal' and '10 A Swedish Pig'. On the right stands Dundas, in full Highland dress, with feathered bonnet, plaid, dirk, and sporran. His finger-nails are talons and he scratches his arm in accordance with a stock gibe at the Scots (cf. BMSat 5940). He holds a long wand surmounted by a crown and says, pointing to the right, "Walk in Ladies and Gentlemen and See the curiosities the only Complete Collection in Europe the last Beast now bringing in has long kept the World at Bay - he now is as tame as the Austrian Leopard!! Wha Walks in - Wha walks in to view the British Menagerie." Two men, one a sailor, bring in on their shoulders a cylindrical cage in which crouches the Pope, wearing his triple crown and holding his cross. He is '11 The Whore of Babylon who once was Master of All Europe, but now glad to find a place in this Menagerie.' In the foreground on the extreme right are two small rats which have come from a little kennel and are nibbling a paper inscribed 'Manof'. They are '6 & 7 Condé and Brunswick Mice - very tame they have subsisted for some time on the fragments of old Manifestoes'. Behind them is '8 A Neopolitan Bat', a bat in a cage. 5 July 1796.
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1796
- Dimensions
-
Height: 327 millimetres
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Width: 453 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942)
A satire on the heavy burdens due to subsidies to allies who were greedy but inert. For the loan to Austria see BMSat 8658, &c. England, in the spring of 1796, held back the subsidy promised to Vienna; Prussia had made peace with France in 1795; a British mission to Berlin (July-Aug. 1796) offering territorial gains in Germany or the Netherlands failed. 'Camb. Hist. of Br. Foreign Policy', i. 262, 264, 267. Russia's part had been one of calculated aloofness, though she was the nominal ally of England (Feb. 1795) and had been offered an annual subsidy of a million in exchange for 50,000 men. But in Aug. 1796 Catherine determined to send troops to the Rhine. New subsidies were offered to Vienna (as to Berlin). Guyot, 'Le Directoire et la Paix de l'Europe', 1912, pp. 100 f., 228 f. The annual subsidy to the king of Sardinia was opposed, 3 May 1796, on the ground of the probability of peace (and perhaps alliance) between France and Sardinia. 'Parl. Register', xliv. (bound as vol. 60) 593-6. It was withheld, and peace was made on 15 May 1796. For the torpid Stadholder, a refugee living at Hampton Court, see BMSat 8822. For Brunswick's manifesto and defeat (1792) see BMSat 8125, &c. The humiliation of the Pope (threatened in 1792, see BMSat 8290) by Bonaparte is anticipated, see BMSat 8997. For French satires on these sovereigns and the gold of Pitt see BMSats 8363, 8674. For the burden of subsidies cf. BMSats 8477, 8488, 8494, 8658, 8664, 8672, 8808, 9013, 9038, 9164, 9285, 9286, 9338, 9400, 9544.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated names
-
Associated with: Charles II, Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg
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Associated with: Catherine II, Empress of Russia
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Associated with: Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé
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Associated with: Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
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Associated with: Ferdinand IV, King of Castile and Leon
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Associated with: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor and Francis I, Emperor of Austria
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Associated with: Frederick William II, King of Prussia
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Associated with: Gustav IV Adolf, King of Sweden
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Associated with: Louis XVIII, King of France
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Associated with: William Pitt the Younger
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Associated with: Pope Pius VI
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Associated with: Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia
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Associated with: William V, Prince of Orange
- Acquisition date
- 1851
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1851,0901.818
