print; satirical print

Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

Object Type: print; satirical print
Museum number: 1868,0808.4246
Title: Object: The Laird of the Boot, or Needs must when the De'el drives
Description: Satire on the influence of Lord Bute on the young George III, showing the king and queen, as a lion and lionness, in a coach decorated with thistles, driven at speed by Princess Augusta with Bute at her feet whipping on the horses and throwing out coins; Britannia has fallen and is about to be run over by the coach. Henry Fox rides postillion, asking for instructions from Bute who replies that the route is "through [the Princess of] Wales". A Scots footman warns that William Pitt is following; Pitt and Newcastle gallop after the coach while Cumberland has been thrown from the "H[anove]r" horse". Lord Mansfield and another Scottish peer (identified in the verses below as "Jockey Americanus") ride beside the coach "to guard 'em along". A group of Scotsmen in the foreground cheeer Bute on. Etched title and three columns of verse below. Etching
Producer name
School/style
Production date: 1762
Production place: Published in: London (England)
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 187 millimetres; Width: 302 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: This print was advertised on "The Posts" (BM Satires 3944), 7 September 1762: "... J. Williams Bookseller next the Mitre Tavern Fleet Street, of whom may be had the Asses of G-t Bri-n the Laird of the Boot - Without & Within & the fall of Mortimer'; and on "The Rum Letter ..." (BM Satires 3901) also by J. Williams. On the verso is a pencil sketch of a man with a caricaturical large head and bowler hat.
Bibliographic references
Location: Not on display
Subjects: satire; scottish; carriage/coach
Associated names: Representation of: George III, King of the United Kingdom; Representation of: Charlotte, Queen of George III; Representation of: Augusta, Princess of Wales; Representation of: John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute; Representation of: Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland; Representation of: William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham; Representation of: Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle; Representation of: Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland; Representation of: Britannia; Representation of: William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1868
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1868,0808.4246

Free entry

Opening hours