- Museum number
- 1872,1012.4968
- Title
- Object: Sketches of fairy-land or a comparison between England & Lilliput, Pl, 2
- Description
-
A companion plate to No. 11581.
[1] 'In Lilliput, cases of Crim Con, are so common that they are considered as fashionable by all ranks of people.—How John Bull would grumble, if that was the case in England.' A fashionably dressed pair sit side by side on a settee, embracing while an elderly husband gapes in astonished dismay. Cf. No. 11119, &c.
[2] 'The Lilliputian Ladies, sit up all night ruining their healths and Families, at cards, pharoah, and Hazard. Fie for shame!!' Four ladies play cards at a round table lit by two candles in an ornate branched candlestick. A wall-clock, surmounted by a figure of a sleeping Cupid, shows that the time is 1.55.
[3] 'It is a well known fact in that country, that Church Wardens, Overseers. &c, sit down to splendid feasts at the expence of the poor, we know John Bull would not believe it, if he had not received it from such respectable authority.' Five men guzzle at a small table; the two who face each other in profile have tucked the ample table-cloth under their chins; one man gnaws a bone which he holds in both hands. There are two waiters, one serving wine, the other bringing in a steaming capon. For the parish feast see Nos. 2474, 6877, 8770, 9639.
[4] 'There a young man of Fashion apes the slang and manners, of a Stage Coachman, so unlike the naturel refinement of our own Country.' A scene in the yard of the 'Bang-up-Livery Stables. C. Cypher' (the name over a wide doorway). Two men stand in conversation, one fashionably dressed and wearing top-boots, the other wearing a coat reaching to the ankles, with four capes and a high collar; he holds a coachman's whip. Behind is the back of a coach with two men in the dickey. A satire on the Four-in-hand Club, see No. 11700, &c. 'Bang up' was a new catch-phrase connected with coaching.
[5] 'In Summer the Beaus are buttoned to the chin, and the Ladies go half naked, can any thing be more absurd!!' A fashionably dressed couple walk together in a landscape, the lady holding a small fringed parasol, and a reticule; she wears a very decolletee dress, and long gloves on her bare arms, with tiny slippers. He wears a heavily swathed neck-cloth, double-breasted tailcoat, and Hessian boots.
[6] 'But what is worse than all, the Lilliputians are fond of sending out expeditions, and as soon as they are out calling them back again, it is true they are slow and sure, slow to depart, and sure to be too late!—how different from the alacrity, and prompitude of our own country'. A fleet of ships in full sail. For the Walcheren Expedition see No. 11364, &c.
December 1810
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1810
- Dimensions
-
Height: 237 millimetres
-
Width: 343 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VIII, 1947)
Also an impression with date obliterated in 'Caricatures', viii. 167.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1872
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1872,1012.4968