print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.8563
- Title
- Object: Poor Byrne as he was on Novmbr 2nd 1811/ Byrne as he now is crown'd with innocence
- Description
-
Two designs, each with title (above) and inscription (below). [1] Byrne, stripped to the waist and tied to a cart's tail, is ferociously flogged on his much-scarred back by a ruffian with a gallows branded on his forehead. Byrne wears neat breeches with top-boots. A sheriff rides on each side of the cart. Behind is a jeering crowd, and a house with spectators looking from the windows. A bishop wearing a mitre peeps out, parting the curtains. Below: The Victim of Episcopal profligacy and Irish Municipal Justice. [2] Byrne, holding a paper inscribed Trial, tramples on a scaly serpentine monster with two barbed tails and a quasi-human head, with fanged teeth and serpents for hair; it holds a crosier. From its face a mitre and a mask with bland features have fallen. Similar creatures escape to the right Behind (left), a meretricious-looking Truth stands among clouds holding up her mirror from which rays inscribed Truth slant across Byrne and strike the fleeing monsters, especially one with the wig of a judge. Others wear legal wigs, and one has long ass's ears and holds a mace to show that he is the Lord Mayor of Dublin. A second figure emerges from clouds (right) to hold a crown of Innocence above Byrne's head. Below: Rescued from Ignominy and raised from Indigence by British Sympathy and Benevolence. September 1822
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1822
- Dimensions
-
Height: 220 millimetres
-
Width: 285 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', X, 1952)
James Byrne, a coachman or stable-hand, was tried in Dublin, at a Court of Oyer and Terminer, 28 Oct. 1811, for attempting to blackmail (a capital offence) the Bishop of Clogher, see No. 14377, &c. The bishop was complimented on his courage in making the charge. Byrne's Counsel threw up the case, and Byrne was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and to be flogged three times; on 2 Nov. he was flogged. The legal monsters depicted are intended for the judge, Mr. Justice Fox (sic), the Solicitor-General Charles Kendal Bushe, especially denounced by Cobbett, appointed L. C. J. of Ireland, Feb. 1822, and Byrne's Counsel, &c. The Mayor (1811-12) was William Henry Archer. Cobbett reprinted the trial with comments. A dinner to Byrne was arranged for 2 Nov. at the Horns Tavern, Kennington, 'to celebrate the Anniversary of the Dreadful Scourging inflicted on James Byrne, through the mitred influence of the Bishop of Clogher', at which Cobbett spoke. 'An altercation of a most unpleasant nature' arose from the attempt of a guest to defend Bushe. Cobbett's Pol. Reg., 10 Aug., 12 Oct., 9 Nov. 1822. Cf. No. 14406.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.8563
