print; satirical print

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Object Type: print; satirical print
Museum number: 1948,0214.830
Title: Object: Honi. soit. qui. mal. y. pense.
Description: Title on a blue Garter ribbon. A view of Humphrey's shop-window, architecturally as in Gillray's well-known print (No. 11100), but seen at closer range, H.L. figures of a crowd of window-gazers forming the base of the design, which is cut off at the base of the glass panes in the door (right). There are three curving rows of seven panes; in the highest row each pane is filled with a large upright print ([1]-[7]); each pane of the next row is filled with four smaller prints ([8]-[35]); in the third row are large horizontal prints filling the upper half of the panes; a lower row of prints is indicated between the heads of the crowd. All the prints are careful copies from the series published by Humphrey attacking the Queen. They are, reading from left to right and downwards: [1] The Caroline Column, No. 14129. [2] Delicious Dreams, No. 14175. [3] The Time Piece, No. 13738. [4] ['Design for'] A new Coat of Arms ['Dedicated to Mother Wood Windsor & Co & all the Fancy Queens'], the central device: Bergami and Wood, as satyrs, are the supporters of a shield covered with imputations on the Queen's character (1 May 1821, De Vinck, No. 10432). [5] Caroline Fair, No. 14170. [6] The effusions of a troubled Brain, No. 14196. [7] The Radical Ladder, see under No. 13895. [8] Little Darling, No. 14112. [9] A Pas de Deux, No. 14183. [10] The Choice of Hercules, No. 14184. [11] An Arm full of Love, No. 14176. [12] Automaton Scaramouch, No. 14120. [13] The Como-cal Hobby, No. 14171. [14] A gentle Jog, see under No. 14015. [15] [Travelling] Tete a Tete (25 June 1821, De Vinck, No. 10449), the Queen and Bergami in a travelling chaise, a mounted courier looking in at the window. [16] Dignity, see under No. 14190. [17] Tent-ation, 25 June 1821, De Vinck, No. 10448. The Queen and Bergami in the tent, cf. No. 13818, &c. [18] Knight of the Bath, No. 14188. [19] [The] Modern Genius [of History at her Toilet], 20 May 1921, De Vinck, No. 10435, cf. No. 13890, &c. [20] National Love, De Vinck, No. 10440, cf. No. 13731 [4]. [21] Modesty, No. 14190. [22] The long & the Short, No. 14103. [23] Bat Cat & Mat, 1 June 1821, De Vinck, No. 10441. The Queen at Calais between the distressed Bergami and the delighted Wood, cf. No. 13730. [24] Parting Hug [at St Omer!], 1 June 1821, De Vinck, No. 10438. The Queen takes passionate leave of Bergami before following Wood, cf. No. 14144. [25] A Wooden Substitute, No. 14109. [26] Moments of Pleasure, No. 13989. [27] Cat & Monkey, No. 14131. [28] Band Box, No. 14110. [29] Bonassus, No. 14192. [30] Address to the Sun, No. 14191. [31] Dido in Despair, No. 14144. [32] [The] Whole Truth[, or John Bull with his eyes opened], 1 Feb. 1821, De Vinck, No. 10419. A travesty of 'Macbeth', nine lines beginning 'Out damned spot'; the Queen regards her dress where stains have the forms of her lovers: Manby, Austin, Sir T. Lawrence, Wood, and Bergami; John Bull watches horror-struck. [33] Auctoneer [sic], No. 14147. [34] Returning Justice, No. 14189. [35] Broom and Wood, No. 14146. [36] Bamboozl'em, No. 14122. [37] Stewards Court, No. 14013. [38] Arrival at Mother Woods, No. 13734. [39] The Royal Extinguisher, No. 14145. [40] Kings Head v Mother Red Cap [see under No. 13975]. [41] Brass Founders, No. 14119. [42] Lucifera's Procession, No. 14182. The window-gazers point and stare, amused or shocked; all are men except for a boy and two fashionably dressed women (left) who are not looking at the prints. Through the glass-fronted door is seen a fashionably dressed man (? G. Humphrey) who holds a sheaf of caricatures, pointing to a figure of a man firing a gun with the inscription [Shoot] Folly as it flies [Pope, 'Essay on Man', Ep. 1]. A John-Bullish fellow looks over his shoulder, much amused. 12 August 1821 Hand-coloured etching
Producer name: Print made by: Theodore Lane; Published by: George Humphrey
School/style: British
Production date: 1821
Materials: paper
Technique: etching; hand-coloured
Dimensions: Height: 265 millimetres; Width: 414 millimetres
Curator's comments: (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', X, 1952) The campaign carried on by Humphrey against Queen Caroline began in earnest in January 1821; before that date plates attacking the Queen were interspersed with occasional plates hostile to the King, cf. Nos. 13988, 14031. Cf. No. 14049, embodying Queenite caricatures. In August 1821 Humphrey published The Attorney General's Charges against the late Queen . . . on Saturday August 19, 1820, illustrated with fifty coloured plates; these are, according to De Vinck, Nos. 12889, 12890 (1817), the 42 plates of this window display, Nos. 13736, 14015, 14197, 14206, and Mother Cole, pub. 20 July 1821, the Queen drinks brandy with Wood (De Vinck, No. 10450), and a fiftieth (unspecified) pl. There is a commentary, 'humouristique, généralement en patois' [? the showman's patter, cf. No. 14013]. A copy of the book is in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Tf 134), but not in the British Museum; see De Vinck, No. 10405. De Vinck, No. 10456.
Bibliographic references: BM Satires / Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (14206)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: satire
Associated names: Associated with: Hussein, Pasha-Dey of Algiers; Associated with: Bartolommeo Bergami; Associated with: Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux; Associated with: Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet; Associated with: George Canning; Associated with: Caroline of Brunswick; Associated with: Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh and 2nd Marquess of Londonderry; Associated with: William Corbett; Associated with: Hon Keppel Richard Craven; Associated with: Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman; Associated with: John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon; Associated with: Lieutenant Flinn; Associated with: George IV, King of the United Kingdom; Associated with: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey; Associated with: Lady Anne Hamilton; Associated with: Joseph Harrison; Associated with: John Cam Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton; Associated with: Lieutenant Hownam; Associated with: Joseph Hume; Associated with: Henry "Orator" Hunt; Associated with: Sir Thomas Lawrence; Associated with: Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool; Associated with: Mahomet; Associated with: Captain Thomas Manby; Associated with: Countess Oldi; Associated with: Rev Samuel Parr; Associated with: Francis Place; Associated with: Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth; Associated with: George James Squibb; Associated with: Samuel Waddington; Associated with: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington; Associated with: Sir Robert Thomas Wilson; Associated with: Sir Charles Wolseley, 7th Baronet; Associated with: Sir John Page Wood, 2nd baronet; Associated with: Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet
Acquisition name: Purchased from: Francis D Klingender
Acquisition date: 1948
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1948,0214.830

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