print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.7022
- Title
- Object: The city combat, or the desperate attack at the English baron.
- Description
-
The Lord Mayor, wearing his gown, has risen from his chair at the head of a table laid with gold plate, the upper end of which, with the three principal guests, is on the right, to push back with his mace a crowd of unwelcome civic guests. The Prince of Wales is on the Mayor's right; he faces a lady wearing jewels and feathers; next her is (?) the Duke of Cumberland. Both Princes are in uniform. Other would-be guests crowd in behind the two Sheriffs, trying to advance from the left. The Mayor says: "stand off Stand off if I invited the two principal Staunch feeders, I shall not allow the whole Pack". One Sheriff says, looking over his shoulder: "Come on my lads we shall have rare sport, Well make a desperate Attack at the Baron of Beef". A grinning parson, slim and smartly dressed, says: "We'll show his Hignness what a desperate Knife and Fork City Chaplins can play". Only the gate-crashers are caricatured. 3 May 1802
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1802
- Dimensions
-
Height: 248 millimetres
-
Width: 397 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VIII, 1947)
On Easter Monday, 19 Apr., the Lord Mayor, Sir John Earner, gave a grand dinner and ball in honour of the Peace (see BMSat 9852, &c.) to which the Prince of Wales went, his first visit to the City, as well as the Dukes of the Clarence, Cumberland, and Cambridge. The woman of highest rank was the Duchess of Gordon, but she is not the lady depicted. The Sheriffs, Rawlins and Cox, did not dine, a thing almost without precedent; they stayed away because, in place of the customary cards for their friends for the Easter Monday entertainment, they received personal invitations only. Emblems the peace, prosperity, and naval victory were many and elaborate, illustrating the City's hopes of increased trade, see BMSat 9866. 'Lond. Chron.', 20 Apr. 1802.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.7022
