- Museum number
- 1868,0808.6416
- Title
- Object: The fountain of invention!!
- Description
-
On a pedestal is a realistic figure of Pitt in the guise of a statue. He is directed to the left, looking up; from his mouth rises a stream of words falling in a symmetrical cascade which forms the upper part of the design. He sits on a block of masonry inscribed 'Power' and leans against a broken column (right) whose base is 'Consistency'. His feet rest on a paper: 'Par[liament]ary Re[for]m Thatch'd Ho[use] Tavern'. The rectangular pedestal is inscribed: 'This justly admired fountain \ was greatly improved \ and the present \ Statue \ erected in the Year \ MDCCLXXXII.'
The central part of the fountain (reading downwards): 'Marriages, Leases, Insurance, Almanacks, News Papers, Game, Houses, Carts, Dice, Receipts, Windows, Bricks, Tiles, Horses'. The cascade falling to the left is: 'Licenses, Cards, Wax Candles, Vellum, Paper, Parchment, Dressers of Hides, Servants, Hawkers and Pedlars, Callico Printers, Brewers of Small Beer, Auctioneers, Apprentices, Clerks, Burials, Wine, Rum, Tea, Cocoa, Bonds, Hair Powder, Promissory Notes, Four-wheel Carriages, Attornies, Agreements'. The cascade falling to the right is: 'Lottery Offices, Wills, Inventories, Spermaceti, Soap, Starch, Tobacco & Snuff, Letters of Attorney, Drays and Waggons, Medicines, Drafts, Makers of Tallow Candles, Brewers of Strong Beer, Hats, Bills of Exchange, Bachelors, Coffee, Gin, Brandy &c &c &c &c &c. &c.' (Commas have been inserted.) c. February 1795
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1795
- Dimensions
-
Height: 654 millimetres
-
Width: 263 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942)
Pitt is pilloried for inconsistency with regard to Parliamentary Reform (on 7 May 1782 he made his first motion in favour of Reform), see BMSat 8635, &c, and for his burdensome taxes. Many of the taxes enumerated are the subject of prints in volume vi, see especially BMSats 6914, 7480, 7625. New taxes in the budget of 1795 were: increased duties on wine, spirits, tea, coffee and cocoa, stamps on receipts, affidavits, indentures, wills, &c, and on certain customs duties (not specified in the print); insurance and the wearing of hair-powder (see BMSat 8629, &c.) were also taxed. 'Parl. Hist.' xxxi. 1311-14. Cf. BMSat 9017.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.6416