print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1854,0708.189
- Title
- Object: A voice from the graves!!!
- Description
-
After the title: '"—foul deeds will rise, | "Though all the earth o'erwhelm them to men's eyes—Shakspeare' ["Hamlet", I. ii]. The Duke of Cumberland, in civilian dress, flinches in horror from two ghosts (right); he declaims:
'"Avaunt! and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!
"Hence horrid shadow, unreal mockery hence!'
["Macbeth", III. iv, misquoted]
'—"Cold drops of sweat hang on my trembling flesh—
"My blood grows chilly and I freeze with horror ;—
"Oh tyrant, Consciene [sic]!—how dost thou afflict me!—'
The foremost spirit is Lord Graves, in a shroud, holding out a razor in each hand, the blade dripping blood. He exclaims:
'"Oh! thou whose unrelenting thoughts, not all
"The hideous terrors of thy guilt can shake—
" Whose conscience with thy body, ever sleeps,
—behold these gaping wounds!
"Then shall thy own devouring conscience
"Gnaw thy heart, and terribly revenge
"My Wrongs!—'
Just behind him stands a handsome and younger man (Sellis), exclaiming, 'What—! another victim'. Both are surrounded by cloud. On two tables near a sofa are two books, 'Secret Amours', and 'Life of a Libertine', and a paper: 'Billet Doux from Lady G—'. February 1830
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1830
- Dimensions
-
Height: 240 millimetres
-
Width: 330 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', XI, 1954)
On 7 Feb. Lord Graves, see No. 16011, &c, cut his throat; this, it is said, was after receiving by post caricatures on his wife and Cumberland ("the vile agency of the Press & caricatures .. .", 'Letters of George IV', iii. 470). Cumber-land vigorously repudiated the allegations. Ibid., Appendix, pp. 505-8. For Sellis, the valet who cut his throat in 1810, see Nos. 11561, 11914, 12063, 12591, and Index.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1854
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1854,0708.189
