print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.12511
- Title
- Object: The night mare.
- Description
-
Pl. to the 'Anti-Jacobin Review', iii. 99. Fox, asleep in a half-tester bed, is beset by the phantoms of his dream. A fiery horse, ridden by a sansculotte, lies on his chest, kicking a hind hoof in his mouth. The rider plants on Fox's breast the staff of a flag inscribed 'Vive la Liberté' on which a heart (on an inverted crown) is transfixed by a dagger. The foot of the low bedstead has collapsed and the whole bed slides downwards on a tilted floor. A fierce creature (Bonaparte), almost naked except for cocked hat, jack-boots, and enormous sabre, wrenches at the fingers of Fox's out-thrown left hand. A demon with webbed wings, naked except for an arsenal of daggers and a bonnet-rouge, clings to the top of the tester, and clutches at the bed-coverings which he has dragged from Fox. Under Fox's pillow is a dagger, a winged dagger flies towards him from the window. By the foot of the bed (left) are Fox's boots and coat, from the pocket projects 'Godwins Political Justice'. A chamber-pot is inscribed 'Le Paux' (see BMSat 9240). On the floor, with a single die, are pamphlets and papers: 'Ancient Republics', the words facing a black man standing on his head; '[Wa]kefield Answer'; 'Morn[ing Chronicle]'. 1 May 1799
Stipple engraving
- Production date
- 1799
- Dimensions
-
Height: 218 millimetres
-
Width: 276 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942)
Illustration to verses on Fox, 'the Arch-Seceder' (see BMSat 9018, &c), which ('inter alia') show the identity of the Frenchman:
'War's phantom, too, horrific shape assumes,
The Ægyptian hero's form, hell's fit viceroy,
With Murder's sword, and Death's awe-moving plumes,
Salutes the patriot in rude frantic joy.'
One of many satires on Fox as a Jacobin. The design probably derives from Fuseli's 'Nightmare', travestied in a satire on Fox in 1784 (BMSat 6543, cf. also BMSats 8555, 8671). For Wakefield's 'Reply' to Bishop Watson see BMSat 9240; he was convicted of seditious libel, 21 Feb. 1799; while in the King's Bench awaiting sentence he was visited by Fox and others. Godwin's book (1793) represents the philosophic expression of English revolutionary radicalism; he was not associated with Fox. Cf. BMSat 9244, also of Fox and a nightmare.
An unfolded impression showing that copies were issued separately.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.12511
