print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1852,1211.157
- Title
- Object: [Scene in the Crown and Anchor tavern.]
- Description
-
Pl. to 'An Admonitory Nod to a Blind Horse', verses (by G. Huddesford) appended to 'The Scum Uppermost. . .' , see BMSat 9883. Fox stands on a large chair on an immense table, holding up in his left hand a flaming globe (the traditional sign of a 'World's End' tavern). His great paunch is inscribed, as in BMSat 9886: 'Victuelled by Subscription of the Nobility', an allusion to the subscription of 1793, see BMSat 8331, &c, and cf. BMSat 10566. Before him on the table stands a young man with a vacant face, wearing a fool's cap (Lord William Russell), who points both hands at Fox, while he addresses the vast cheering crowd that surrounds the table on which are a large punch-bowl, glasses, and many empty bottles. Against Fox's chair leans a bulky rolled document: 'Sovereign Rights of the People'; beside it is a large volume, 'Howard' (allusions to the toasts given by Fox and Norfolk, for which they were removed from the Privy Council, see BMSats 9168, 9205, &c). The crowds wave their hats in frantic applause. Burdett is a small figure standing by the left corner of the table. Near him is Dr. Parr; other rightecognizable heads (on a small scaled) are Tierney, Sheridan, and Erskine. In the foreground an evil-looking man has 'R T' [? Returned Transport] across his shoulders. Four busts on brackets decorate the walls: 'Mirabeau', 'Talleyrand', 'Buonaparte', 'O Conner'. July 1802
Etching
- Production date
- 1802
- Dimensions
-
Height: 206 millimetres
-
Width: 280 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VIII, 1947)
See BMSat 9878, &c. A satire on a speech made by Russell, praising Fox, before the cavalcade of Burdett's supporters set out on 26 July from the Crown and Anchor in the Strand for Brentford. The penultimate verse:
'No, - tho' the advocates he joins
Of anarchy and slaughter,
R------'s no knave, but only shines
A fool of the first water.'
A Grand dinner at the Crown and Anchor was given for Burdett and his supporters on election day (29 July); the procession reached it at 9 p.m. 'Lond. Chron.', 30 July 1802. For Fox, Burdett, and O'Connor see BMSat 9245, &c. See also BMSat 9886.
Broadley, i. 97-8 (attributed to 1796-7).
A bound edition of "The Scum Uppermost", including an impression of this print, is kept at 298*.a.11.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1852
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1852,1211.157
