- Museum number
- 1868,0808.5641
- Title
- Object: A convention of the not-ables.
- Description
-
The Prince of Wales and his friends besiege the Treasury, whose gate is on the right: a massive door, spiked and triply padlocked, fills a stone arch inscribed 'TRE[ASURY]'. Fox, his legs encased in armour, stoops down to bite one of the huge padlocks. Behind him are Hanger, about to strike the door with his massive club (cf. BMSat 6924, &c), and a barefooted Scot in Highland dress, probably Adam, preparing to smite with a sword whose blade is inscribed 'Faction'. In the centre, but rather behind his followers, stands the Prince, ragged and dishevelled, but fashionable, firing at the gate a blunderbuss inscribed 'Itch Diadem'. On the left are Burke and North: Burke, very lean, wears armour, a Jesuit's biretta (cf. BMSat 6955) and huge spectacles. He clasps a rolled document inscribed 'Impeachment', and bends forward, his right hand on his hip. North, very short and fat, stands passively on the extreme left, holding across his shoulder an axe inscribed 'To Conquer America'. He is grotesquely dressed, wearing a feathered helmet, bag-wig, and low top-boots. Beside Burke is a barking dog standing over an open book inscribed 'Plenipotentiary'. Fox, Burke, and North are evidently copied from BMSat 6955. There are four placards on the wall (left to right): [1] 'At a Meeting of the Not Abies Resolved Nem Con that they do vigioursly [sic] attack the Treasuary with all their proper Weapons Get into Place, Humble the Pride of Master Billy, Kick out the Treaty of Commerce, Convict Hastings, Remove the Sceptre, Repeal the Shop Tax Pass Fox's India Bill Keep their Places & do many more things if they are able'
[2] 'Whereas Prosecution against High------[treason] in Fitz[herbert]' (cf. BMSat 6924, &c).
[3] 'Sold by Auction by Tattersall His Highness's Studd A. Filly' (cf. BMSat 6967).
[4, above the Prince's head] 'Theatre Royal Benefit of Mrs F------[Fitzherbert] Seduction Principal Characters . . . R.P.'
Within the Treasury gate, above the door, is a crown inscribed 'Safe'; words from some one inside the Treasury, presumably Pitt, appear above the gate: 'I have Gain'd the affections of my Sovereign, and they must cut keener than a Diamond to affect me'. (Probably an allusion to the diamond sent to the King through Hastings, see BMSat 6966, &c.) 28 April 1787
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1787
- Dimensions
-
Height: 301 millimetres
-
Width: 415 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938)
For the Commercial Treaty see BMSat 6995, &c.; for the Shop Tax see BMSat 6798, &c.; for Fox's India Bill see BMSat 6368, &c. Cf. also BMSat 6945. The French Assembly of Notables met on 22 Feb. 1787, cf. BMSat 7140.
There is a superficial resemblance to the work of Gillray, chiefly owing to the imitation of figures in BMSat 6955. The stone wall which forms a background appears to be copied from BMSat 6945.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.5641
