- Museum number
- 1865,1111.621
- Description
-
BM Satires 14389. Satiricial pamphlet of 40 pages including the frontispiece illustration entitled:
"Kilts and Philibegs!! The Northern Excursion of Geordie Emperor of Gotham and Sir Willie Curt-his, the Court of the Buffon &c &c."
Lettered beneath the title:
"With a coloured Plate Etched by Mr.G. Cruikshank.
London: Printed and Published by John Fairburn, Broadway, Ludgate-Hill, One Shilling."
The illustration, bound opposite the title page *(landscape) is lettered with the title:
"Geordie and Willie "keeping it up" - Johnny Bull pays the piper!!"
The pair, both very bulky in Highland costume, are back to back. The King (right), wearing a feathered bonnet, a huge sporran, and a sword, stoops to kiss a lady (see BM Satires No. 14384), hands clasped behind her neck; he says: "The Sweetest hours that 'ere I spent, it was among The Lasses O! Other ladies eagerly wait their turn. One, behind the King, covers her face with her fan. Curtis, grotesquely obese, and directed to the left, capers, snapping his fingers. He wears a turtle in place of sporran, and in his belt are knife, fork, and ladle. Round his neck is a double chain of sausages. He sings:
"Georgie loves good ale & wine
And Geordie loves good Brandy
And Geordie loves to Kiss all the Girls
As sweet as Sugar Candy"—
God save the King Huzza my Boys!!
I'm the Boy for a bit of a Jollification! play up Piper!! A piper (left) with bare, thin, and misshapen legs plays and dances. A stout Highlander watches with a grin.
A second title page repeats the title and describes the text as:
Serio-Tragico-Comico-Ludicro-Aquatico Burlesque Gallimaufry; interspersed with Humorous Glees, Sporting Catches and Rum Chaunts by the Male and Female Characters of the Piece."
The pamphlet is a dramatic verse-satire. See BM Satires No. 14382, &c. The satire especially attacks the expense of 'a visit of mere ceremony' to Scotland; George IV is admitted to have 'looked like a real Northland laird', with Curtis as a foil, or 'buffoon appendage to the court or travelling excursion'. The sausages illustrate the slang term 'alderman in chains' for a turkey garnished with sausages.
1822
Hand-coloured etching with letterpress pamphlet
- Production date
- 1822
- Dimensions
-
Height: 135 millimetres (Approximate page height (illustration))
-
Height: 220 millimetres (approximate page height (pamphlet))
-
Width: 135 millimetres (Approximate Page Width (pamphlet))
-
Width: 220 millimetres (Approximate page width illustration)
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', X, 1952)
A signed pencil drawing (reversed). Also another sketch for the same subject, the King and Curtis dancing, 1891,1117.54, 1891,1117.55 (Binyon, i. 286, P&D pressmark 199.c.1/54, 55).
For the sequel, "The Second Act of Kilts and Philibegs" also bound in "Political Tracts Volume 3," see, 1865,1111,622.
Bound as part of "Political Tracts Volume 3" a compilation of political pamphlets published circa 1819-1822, number 3 of 10 volumes.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1865
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1865,1111.621
