- Museum number
- 1935,0522.12.185
- Title
- Object: Steward's Court of the Manor of Torre Devon
- Description
-
The House of Lords, as arranged for the Bill of Pains and Penalties, see No. 13825, is seen from the right, so that the angle of the left and end walls form the centre of the design, the throne being on the right The peers are crowded together to watch the entry of the Queen, complacently seated on a black ram with the head of Bergami; the animal wears two orders, and from its neck hangs a disc inscribed 'Santa Carolina', see No. 13810. Immediately behind her walks Alderman Wood, wearing his furred gown and holding a decanter. Behind him, and in the foreground, marches Brougham, followed by Denman and Lushington. Her other followers hold long staves. A plebeian fellow in a red gown just behind the barristers may be Fellowes, her chaplain. A woman and a fashionably dressed man walking together are probably Lady Anne Hamilton and Keppel Craven, the Queen's Vice-Chancellor. From the crowd of her supporters emerges a pole supporting a cap of Liberty, and a placard: 'May our Wives be like Her' (which is against pictures of the allegations of the 'trial', see below). In the foreground (left) a ragged Savoyard sings, turning the handle of an orgue de barbarie slung from his neck.
On the woolsack, in front of the peers, sits Eldon, saying "Go and Sin no more" (words quoted by Denman in his speech for the defence). On his right stands Grey, hands crossed on his breast, bowing towards the ram. Behind the Chancellor stands a peer, saying, "Innocent as our Wives." On Eldon's left stands a tall man, wearing the ribbon of St. Patrick. On the end of a bench in the right foreground sits a peer who has some resemblance to Liverpool. Behind him stands a man resembling Lord Holland. Among a crowd on the steps of the throne is Wellington. From closely seated peers (left) rises the word 'Guiltless'. In the right foreground, and screening himself by a cloth, a crouching incendiary, resembling Cobbett, holds a torch to a pile of papers. These are Addresses, with, at the base, 'Gunpowder Treason'. The other inscriptions are 'London Address', 'Leeds Address', 'Manchester Address'.
The gallery (left) is crowded with spectators; against it and above the heads of those on the floor of the House is a medley of canvasses, supported on poles; on these incidents from the evidence against the Queen are depicted. [1] A Turk, Mahomet, dances (see No. 13929). [2] The Princess and Bergami sit amorously together. [3] Bergami helps the Princess to dress as the Muse of History (see No. 13890, &c.). [4] Bergami bathes the Princess (see No. 13819, &c.). [5] Bergami and the Princess in a carriage (see No. 13820). [6] The pair look from the tent on the polacca at a helmsman (see No. 13818, &c.). [7] They inspect statues of Adam and Eve in a grotto ('Parl. Deb.', N.S. ii. 1094). [8] They sit together on the deck of the polacca ('ibid.', pp. 895, 920). [9] Seated under a canopy they are rowed on Lake Como. [10] The Princess dances a pas seul.
Enclosed in an oval below the title are the Queen's words: "Here I am Riding on a Black Ram Like a w-e as I am, . . . Therefore I pray you Mr Steward let me have my C-n again." (By the custom of certain manors a widow who, through unchastity, had lost her freebench, or life interest in her husband's copyhold, could recover it by coming into the court on a ram, and reciting the above words ('crown' replacing the 'land' of the original), given in full in 'The Spectator' for 1 Nov. 1714.) The oval is flanked by the 'Savoyards Song' (? by T. Hook). Seven of ten verses (in the peep-show man's patter):
'1 Who be dat de Ram do sit on ?
Tis C- purest Q- of Briton.
Who loves a Ram & Fleece to sit on.
Doodle Johnny Calf....
5 Who talk of 'Self' in dat Green Ribbon ?
Oh! dat be de Man who put a Cap on
To marry his W- & lives on Pension.
O Vanity, Ingratitude.
6. And who in Grey do bow so civil?
Oh! dat be de Great Bow Wow of de Kennel
A Whig & half & half a Radical.
Doodle Johnny Calf.
7 What Parson he, dat quote de Scripture
To prove a W-e to be no impure?
Oh! dat be de Protestant Sinecure. Doodle [&c.]
8. And who be dose Bravadoes dere,
Who bawl out 'Guiltless' with great Stare?
Oh! dey be de Cuckolds among de Peer,
Doodle [&c.]
9. But pray, who in de chair do sit-a?
Tis honest John di Cancellaria
Who wants no Place, but Place to quit-a
Ungrateful Johnny Calf.
10 So Sirs, we have shewn you all dose Patrons
Who strip from our Eves their Fig Leaf Aprons
And damn de characters of English Matrons
Be wise in Time John Calf.'
December 1820
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1820
- Dimensions
-
Height: 271 millimetres (trimmed)
-
Width: 398 millimetres (trimmed)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', X, 1952)
One of a set of elaborately cruel but amusing prints, published by Humphrey and perhaps inspired by T. Hook, which must have contributed to the Queen's rapid loss of popularity (cf. No. 14145). John Bull is warned against the dangerous tendency of mass agitation as represented by Addresses, cf. Halévy, 'Hist. of the English People, 1815-1830', 1926, pp. 100-2. Walter Scott wrote, 26 Oct.: 'It is half our amends for the Victory of Waterloo to see John Bull brought into something like real peril from causes so infinitely ridiculous.' 'Letters', vi, 1934, p. 286. Enniskillen, K.P. (verse 5), a Tory, voted against the Bill, which he had previously supported, saying that 'every man should be guided by his own judgment' ('Parl. Deb.', N.S. iii. 1671). For Grey's important speech (verse 6), maintaining that guilt was not established, see 'ibid.', pp. 1544 ff.; Trevelyan, 'Lord Grey of the Reform Bill', 1929, p. 196. The 'Parson' (verse 7) is Trench, Archbishop of Tuam, who spoke and voted against the Bill, citing 'St. Matthew', v. 32 and 'Malachi', ii. Ibid., p. 1718. Eldon (verse 9), far from wishing to quit his place, clung to it, cf. No. 15139. Lord Anglesey (or, it is sometimes said, Wellington), stopped by the mob on his way to the House of Lords with the demand that he should shout 'God save the Queen', did so, adding 'and may your wives be like her'. For the Addresses see No. 13934, &c.; many of the published replies were by Cobbett. Cole, 'Life of Cobbett', 1924, p. 249. The plate is depicted in No. 14206.
De Vinck, No. 10410.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1935
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1935,0522.12.185
