print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.8388
- Title
- Object: John Bull supporting, the nuptial bed!!!
- Description
-
John Bull, a stout 'cit', stoops in profile to the left, supporting on his head and shoulders, in a horizontal position, a large ornate bed with a tent-shaped canopy, he says: "This is a Piece!! [altered to] Peace of heavy Burdens [cf. No. 12705]." A ladder in front of John's shoulder, reaches from the carpeted floor to the bed. Members of the royal family, on a smaller scale than John, are grouped on left and right. Princess Elizabeth, drawing aside a curtain, looks down at the Queen who stands below (right) looking up and taking snuff. The Queen asks: "Well my dear Bess, how do you Feel? . . . [&c.]." The Princess: "I feel much Exhausted, Mamma but I'm resolved to pursue the Point as far as it will go." The Prince looks through another gap in the curtains to the Regent, who stands on the extreme left saying, "Plague on it what are you about all this time, you are a long while Humbugging! . . . [&c.] (see No. 12986, &c.)." Next the Regent, the Duke of York, in regimentals with cocked hat, stands beside his wife who holds one of her many dogs (see No. 13226, &c.). He says: "Alas! my Sporting days are over there was a Time when with the assistance of My Clarke!!—I might have done the Thing [see No. 11216, &c.]." The Duchess says: "I cant get an Heir! but I can give the Old Bull Dog a prime Puppy." Beside them stands the Duke of Cambridge with his arm round his betrothed, Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel (see No. 13022); she says: "I wish we was in?" He answers: "Do not be Impatiant my Love, we shall soon get in!!!—Ah, with Rapture we'll melt like Cambridge Butter [cf. No. 13105] in a German Stove!" On the extreme right the Duke of Cumberland in hussar uniform walks sulkily off to the right with his wife on his arm, saying, "I'll be d—d if I move a Yard to get an Heir.—one bad turn deserves another.—I'm Earnest."
c. April 1818
Hand-coloured lithograph
- Production date
- 1818
- Dimensions
-
Height: 262 millimetres
-
Width: 374 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', IX, 1949)
In the debates on marriage grants for the Royal Dukes, see No. 12987 these were urged on the ground that the marriages were to provide for the succession. The Duke of Cumberland alludes to the two refusals of a grant to himself, see No. 12951, &c.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.8388
