- Museum number
- 1868,0808.5468
- Title
- Object: The free-born Briton or a perspective of taxation
- Description
-
John Bull stands full-face, shouting and stamping with rage, on a block of turf inscribed 'Land-Tax 4s in the pound'. Across his shoulders are two yokes, one inscribed 'National - Debt &c', the other 'Civil-List &c.'; from the four ends hang objects representing taxes. From the left end of the former dangles a figure made up of barrels, bars, &c, the head represented by lighted 'Candles'; it is inscribed 'Excise-Man'; the rope attaching it to the yoke is 'Excise'. Its right hand (left), inscribed 'Auctions', holds out an auctioneer's hammer; the left holds a bottle of Wine, in a stand inscribed 'Plate'. The other portions of the body are inscribed 'Beer', 'Tea', 'Cyder', 'Spirits', 'Malt', 'Tobacco', 'Calico', 'Hides', 'Glass', 'Soap', 'Coffee', 'Chocolate'. Between its legs are the words 'Licenses &c. &c.' The head of a crocodile inscribed 'New Taxes' extends from the lower left corner of the design, directing a barbed tongue at the Excise Man. From the other end of this yoke a bundle of scrolls dangles from a rope inscribed 'Taxes: Maid Servants, Men Servants, Carriages &c, Game, Places, &c &c.' A similar bundle of Stamps hangs from the left end of the Civil-List yoke: 'Medecines', 'Warrants of Attorney', 'Cards & Dice', 'Almanacks', 'Notes', 'Horses', 'Receipts', 'Bonds &c', 'News-papers', 'Pamphlets', '&c. &c.' From the right end of this yoke hangs a pyramid of barrels, sacks, &c, its rope inscribed 'Customs:' they are inscribed respectively, 'Wine', 'Cloth', 'Leather', 'Salt', 'Pepper', 'Coals', 'Sugar', 'Wool', 'Tobacco &c &c.'
Two feathers (or leaves) fly upwards, inscribed 'Attornies' (left) and Pawnbrokers (right). Portions of two buildings are visible on the extreme left and right: on the left is a two-storied house, the roof inscribed 'Tile Tax', the front inscribed 'Brick Tax', 'Insurance Tax', 'Window Tax', 'House Tax', its wide blocked-up door or window, 'Shop Tax'. On the right is the corner of a church, inscribed 'Parochial Taxes, Poor's rate, Watch, Lights, Scavenger Pavement &c.' A tombstone (?) resting against it is inscribed 'State Taxes, Births, Christenings, Marriages, Deaths and Burials'. The Briton wears a bandage over one eye inscribed 'Commutation'; his hat is labelled 'Stamp' and 'Turn-pike'. His shouting mouth is inscribed 'Custom' and 'Excise' and these words, together with 'Stamp', are inscribed respectively on his body and limbs. A caterpillar crawls towards him from the right, inscribed 'Marriage Portions'. Beneath the title is etched:
'From top to toe, all o'er stuck full
With Taxes grievous, poor John Bull,
By acts of state so strictly bound,
Pays shillings fourteen in the pound;
Should Taxes new the rest surprise,
Like Shop-Tax, stamps and laws excise,
John must sink beneath the evil,
Or kick them all to the Devil.' 11 January 1786
Etching
- Production date
- 1786
- Dimensions
-
Height: 252 millimetres
-
Width: 352 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938)
A comprehensive view of the burdens, national and parochial, old and new, which weighed down John Bull but were lightened by expanding trade. The stamp duties were extended by North in 1782, doubled by Lord John Cavendish (1782), and extended by the Coalition (1783) to Receipts, see BMSat 6243, &c, and to the registration of births, deaths, and marriages, see BMSat 6253, &c. Pitt's first budget (1784) included new duties on hats, coals (withdrawn), horses (see BMSat 6672), hackney coaches, bricks and tiles, paper, licences for shooting and licences for traders in excisable goods. For the Commutation Tax, lowering the tax on tea and raising that on windows, see BMSat 6634, &c. For the tax on shops see BMSat 6798, &c, and on maidservants BMSat 6794, &c. Pitt's licence duties were extended in 1785 to the legal profession (attorneys, &c.) and to pawnbrokers. See Dowell, 'Hist. of Taxation and Taxes'; Rose, 'Pitt and National Revival', 1911, chap, viii. See also BMSat 6962, 7132, 7145, 7389, 7480, 7494, 7869.
An altered version was issued in 1790, see BMSat 7625.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2004-2005 July-Jan, London, Tate Britain, Art and National Identity
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.5468
