print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.8808
- Title
- Object: A great actor (not Liston) in the popular farce of "Twould puzzle a conjurer"
- Description
-
George IV, dressed in Liston's part, as the Conjurer, looks askance at John Bull (right) who presents a lengthy petition headed The Humble Petition of John Bull. The King wears a wig of many curls resting on his shoulders, quasi-seventeenth-century dress, with a steeple-crowned hat, sash, and very baggy breeches with pockets from which the sceptre and crown project. He takes one end of the scroll held by J. B., who says: My Name's Bull, Sir, and if it may please Your Worships Glory, to spare a moment from Your pastimes, and read how bad times are with Us, perhaps You'd have the goodness to Mend 'em. The King, disconcerted, answers, with a puzzled frown: Mend 'em indeed it's easily said mend 'em!! J. B., a plainly dressed fellow, has gaunt cheeks, his pocket hangs inside out. Behind him, his starving wife, in red cloak, crosses her hands on her breast, curtseying; a gaunt ragged boy plucks a forelock, two other boys register hunger, anxiety, or despair. Lady Conyngham has thrust her left arm through the King's and points with jaunty insouciance to the left, where the newly arrived giraffe is waiting, with a royal crown poised on its horns. On the beast are two saddles, one for the King in front, a side-saddle behind (see BM Satires 15425). One African holds a rope attached to its head, another places a ladder against its side. A background of trees indicates Windsor Park. [? Aug. 1827]
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1827 (?)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 240 millimetres (cropped)
-
Width: 325 millimetres (cropped)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', X, 1952)
The farce was played in July 1827; the King's giraffe arrived in August, see No. 15425. In 1827 industry revived, employment and wages improved, the harvest was good. Canning called it 'hopeful but not confirmed convalescence'. Smart, Econ. Annals of the Nineteenth Century, ii. 431 ff.
Dated July 1827 by E. Hawkins.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.8808