print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1935,0522.4.125
- Title
- Object: The lawyers last circuit
- Description
-
See No. 13451. A lawyer, holding a brief-bag, rides back to back with a grinning skeleton, Death, who holds a scythe and a bone and points to a grotesque demon seated among flames (right) who beckons, holding up an hour-glass. Demons crouch in flames bordering the foreground; they hail the lawyer. One, with money-bags, holds up a fat purse; a female with ram's horns flourishes a rattle and a cap with a large peacock's feather. A third smokes an elaborate pipe. On the extreme left are the three baying heads of Cerberus. A demon flies beside the horse's head, pointing downwards, and flourishing a comet-like stream of fire on which the title is etched. Small inconspicuous demons are scattered over the background. The skeleton-horse is urged on by a nude demoniac figure riding a white horse (the Pale Horse of 'Revelation') with fire shooting from its nostrils. He has horns and talons, and holds up in each hand a bunch of hissing serpents. Below the design in four columns:
'In his Office with Writs and Parchments hung round,
Midst Letters and Lawsuits Old Justice was found,
His eyeballs were sunk, whilst his hands grasp'd his fees,
For Old Nick would no more be put off with sham Pleas,
On shelves Bills in Chanc'ry were rang'd pile o'er pile,
With Demurrers, Decrees, and Injunctions to file
But his Petition's answer'd—his Orders are past,
And Death's struck a Docket against him at last!
No more he'll declare, or for Clients e'er plead,
Though Issue was join'd, his Cause did not succeed,
His Counsel, 'twas plain, could not lend him relief,
Though doubly he fee d him—he threw up his Brief,
His false Witness heard—to gain time then he try'd,
But Chief Justice Death a fresh Trial denied;
His Costs are all tax'd—final judgment is past,
And Old Nick with a CA SA [abbreviation of 'Capias ad satisfaciendum', a writ to take into custody after judgement till the plaintiff's claim is satisfied] has got him at last,
The news through the regions of Pluto soon fled,
And on Earth it was whisper'd "Old Justice was dead",
Whilst thousands flock'd round, none believing the tale,
'Till they saw his poor Clients their sad loss bewail,
His Creditors met—but soon clamorous grew,
For his Assents [sic] wouldn't yield e'en the Devil his due,
To find him they swore—yet the road none could tell,
Though 'tis said that the Lawyer's last Circuit's to Hell.'
c.1819
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1819 (?)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 265 millimetres (cropped)
-
Width: 338 millimetres (cropped)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', IX, 1949)
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1935
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1935,0522.4.125
