print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1851,0901.941
- Title
- Object: The funeral of the party.
- Description
-
The coffin, its pall inscribed 'The \ Party \ Supported by Corresponding Citizens', is the centre of a procession, preceded (right) by four ragged Citizens each playing a marrow-bone and cleaver: 'Marrowbones and Cleavers by Corresponding Citizens'. Behind them walks the Duke of Norfolk, holding up a standard: 'Majesty of the People'; on its summit perches a bird: 'The Standard Bearer in Half Mourning with the Chicken [M. A. Taylor, see BMSat 6777] chaunting the Elegy'. His Earl-Marshal's baton projects from his coat-pocket. Next, in a surplice, hold ing an open book, 'Right of Man' [see BMSat 7867, &c] walks 'Parson H-----e T-----e [Horne Tooke] reading the Service'. The coffin is supported by three plebeian pall-bearers wearing long gowns edged with tricolour, and mourning noisily, who walk beside the coffin; the legs of three others are seen beneath it. Behind it are the 'Chief Mourners': Fox (weeping) and Sheridan are the first pair; next is Derby, very short, beside the tall Bedford. Erskine and Lauderdale walk together, followed by Stanhope on the extreme left. All the mourners wear bonnets-rouges with mourning-scarves.
The coffin is surmounted by a pile of emblems, 'Regalia of the Deceased', in the form of an animal 'couchant', on a large book: 'Kentish-Oath's'. On this is a smaller book, 'Toasts and Sentiments'. A pile of 'Old Wigs' forms the creature's shoulders and fore-paws; the hind-quarters are a bundle of 'worn out Liberty Caps'. The head is a skull inscribed 'Boney-parte'; under its jaw is thrust a long dagger; it wears a cap of 'Libert[y]'. The pall, bordered with tricolour, has three side-panels, and one, 'Injusti[ce]', partly visible, in front; each of the three has a bonnet-rouge; beneath it, representing [1] 'Plunder' are crossed muskets, [2] 'Murder' with crossed daggers, and [3] '[P]erjury' with spears. 30 October 1798
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1798
- Dimensions
-
Height: 281 millimetres
-
Width: 527 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 plight of the Opposition, see BMSat 9248, &c, after the Battle of the Nile, see BMSat 9250, &c. For Norfolk's standard and the book of toasts see BMSat 9168, &c. 'Kentish-Oaths' is an allusion to O'Connor's trial at Maidstone, see BMSat 9245, &c. For the London Corresponding Society see BMSat 9189, &c. Perhaps an imitation of BMSat 7526, but the striking similarity may derive from the resemblance of both to an actual funeral procession. Cf. BMSat 9411.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1851
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1851,0901.941
