print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.4148
- Title
- Object: Merit Rewarded or Truth Triumphant against the Reapers being A most beautiful Contrast
- Description
-
Satire on the political situation on October 1761 as Pitt resigns office. Fame holds aloft a medallion portrait of Pitt with his letter to William Beckford (published in the Annual Register) giving the reasons for resignation; on the right, George III sits on his throne desiring Pitt to accept a reward of £3,000 for 'Faithfull Services'; Britannia flies towards Pitt urging him to accept, while the devil flies off dropping coin ('Seeds of Sedition') so that Pitt's opponents can reap 'a Second Crop'; in the centre, a group of ministers hope for a such a crop. Pitt's supporters, a group of City merchants, urge acceptance of the reward, listing recent victories over the French. On the left, a ship has run aground; a sailor calls from the poop deck to others, some seated drinking at a table in the centre, who together lament the loss of Pitt. At lower left, a French tailor flatters an English fop (Lord Lovefrench) who holds a bill for a coat amounting to £100, while 'Honesty a poor Tradesman' holds an unpaid bill from Lovefrench for £110.19s.11d. At bottom centre, Henry Fox (a fox) mounts the British lion who is being muzzled by a Spaniard (from whose pocket protrudes the 'Treaty Offensive and Defensive or Ships and Money to Humbug the English') to the relief of a Frenchman. Beside this group, stand Louis XV handing a cornucopia of Louis d'or to Bussy telling him to 'sow' plentifully at Bedford, Mansfield, Hardwicke and Newcastle (the ministers opposed to Pitt), but to avoid the 'Barren Land' of Temple and Pitt.
Etching
- Production date
- 1761 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 218 millimetres
-
Width: 336 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The History of Parliament gives a brief account of the circumstances of Pitt's resignation: 'George III could not begin his reign by dismissing the man who had led Britain to victory. Instead, he tried to separate Newcastle from Pitt, and with Newcastle’s compliance secured Bute’s admittance to office as secretary of state. Pitt, now isolated in the Cabinet (except for his brother-in-law Temple), was disgusted at Newcastle's failure to stand by him. Resolved to maintain the alliance with Prussia and to prosecute the war until France had been rendered innocuous as a colonial power, he did not appreciate that the nation was becoming weary of the struggle nor did he recognize that it might be dangerous to humble France too much. In September 1761, having learnt of the Franco-Spanish alliance, Pitt demanded a declaration of war against Spain. Only Temple supported him in the Cabinet, and on 5 Oct. they both resigned. Pitt was granted a pension of £3,000 per annum and his wife was created a peeress, a reward his services had well merited but which cost him a temporary loss of popularity in the City.'
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
- Associated Event: Seven Years War 1756-1763
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.4148
