print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.7777
- Title
- Object: Labour in vain or old women trying to wash a black amore white
- Description
-
The Duke of York, coal-black, naked, and muscular, sprawls across a large shallow, leaky tub, filled with soap-suds and inscribed House of Commons. Three men, dressed wholly or partly as women, try to make him white; they are poorly characterized and cannot be safely identified. One (? Perceval) empties a bucket of water over him, saying, Pray exert yourselves my old Girls scrub away—I know it is a dirty job but we must get through it—I'll supply you with Scalding water, Perlash, and Soaplees. The other two use brushes: one says: I'll try to scrub him white though I know heys Black in grain; the other, who resembles Liverpool and brushes away at the Duke's left breast: I'm afraid I shall never make him white in this part—the more I scrub the blacker he Appears. A fourth (? Castlereagh) scrubs at the Duke's military coat which is inscribed Honor of a [Prince, see No. 11269]; he says: I can't get the Stain out of this Garment, if I was to scrub for ever & a day. Behind him (left) stands Wardle, an amused spectator, saying, You may lather and wash as long as you like / But you never can make a blackemore white. On the extreme left stands Mrs. Clarke, holding a glass to her eye; she says: I see you are completely in the suds now. The Duke says: Oh dear what will become of me, I Oh dear what shall I do— / None but old Women a washing me / None but old Women—Heigh-ho! On the extreme right John Bull (not named), watches, saying, It must be Fudge or Flummery they are useing—How Rank it smells it It [sic] St—ks on their side as bad as a Muscovy Tom Cat. His dog befouls papers inscribed Commission and David. In the foreground are bars of Soap, one inscribed Windsor Soap [the influence of the Crown], a large vessel of Fullers Earth Pipe Clay [an allusion to John Fuller, see No. 11234], others of Soft Soap and Soap Lees.
March 27 1809
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1809
- Dimensions
-
Height: 250 millimetres
-
Width: 348 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VIII, 1947)
See No. 11216, &c; for the Duke's acquittal, No. 11269. Cf. Nos. 11263, 11299. David is Dundas see No. 11256. For the washing of the blackamore cf. No. 8667 by I. Cruikshank.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.7777
