- Museum number
- Cc,3.44
- Title
- Object: The Knights of Baythe, or the One Headed Corporation
- Description
-
Satire on the loyal address of the Corporation of the City of Bath in response to the Peace of Paris, suggesting that Ralph Allen, the most dominant alderman, was taking credit. Allen's head appears in the centre of the print on a large scale; he is identified by a raven standing on top of his head and crying "Raafe Raafe poor Raafe". He hold the address which reads "I the Mayor, Aldermen & Com[-] of the ancient & loyal City of B do beg leave to congratulate & thank - for a Glorious & Adequate &c / upon all Occasions I shall be ready -". A former draft of the address referring to "a peice[sic] of no consequence" has been torn in pieces. Beneath Allen's head is a plan of four roads crossing, "[To] Bath", "To Scotland", "To France" and "To the Devil", an allusion to Allen's development of the system of "cross-post" avoiding the necessity of sending mail via London. William Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester, whispers in Allen's ear, "Tis I did this great Work for you"; a label on his shoulder reads "Sanson Barsisa Vide Turkish tales (an allusion to Santon Barsisa, the protagonist of one of the tales in 'The Romance of the Forty Vezirs' (The Guardian, No. 149) who seduces the daughter of his king; Warburton had married Allen's neice). A flying devil in tartan with a thistle dangling from his kilt (Lord Bute) contradicts the bishop: "No, no, friend twas I, the father of Political lies, that first thought of Addressing." On either side of Allen stand members of the Corporation identified by the tools of their trade which, in most cases, take the place of their faces. The most visible are Walter Wiltshire, a waggoner, with a road-waggon for a head; Dallamore, who was connected with the lucrative office of collecting post-horse duty, with a horse's head; a group of doctors, one identified as Simon Crook, with medicine jars and urinals for heads, one holding a phial labelled, "Emetic for the ancient City of Baythe by Ralph"; a greyhound wearing a coat and a collar lettered "For", representing Ford of the Greyhound Inn; an ass wearing a coat representing the physician Abel Moysey, saying, "Pray dont drive me Sr John [Sebright] Il' go graze on the Common, or in Prior Park"; a Janus-headed Mayor (either Samuel Bush or John Horton, mayors of Bath respectively in 1763 and 1764); Richard Laurence, a clock maker with a clock face as his head; a man with an E O table suspended from his neck and 'Beau Nash['s] Jest[s]" as his face (Hawkins identifies this man as James Leake, the bookseller, but he he may be someone who ran a gambling table); Axford, a glazier, whose face is a leaded casement window; Thomas Warr Atwood, an ironmonger, with a door lock as his face and holding a hammer; Spurrier, a toyman, with a money bag, lettered £500, as his face, and holding a doll and a necklace; Lewis Clutterbuck, the town clerk, with an ink pot and two quill pens for a face, saying "whats all this Clutter about"; John Chapman, a saddler, with a saddle for a face; a pewterer or plumber, with a ladle for a face. In the foreground, to right, stands the town crier, named Cooper, crying "Work for the Cooper" (words from an old song) with a hoop over his shoulder and a barrel lettered, "Adequate" for a head. On the left, stands Sir John Sebright who had become MP for Bath on 28 April 1763, dressed as Falstaff and crying "Dam ye for a set of Poltroons, Il drive you from hence with this Dagger of Lath". On the wall behind, hang portraits of William Pitt, MP for Bath since 1757, and General John Louis Ligonier, MP for Bath from 1748-63. 1763
Etching and engraving
- Production date
- 1763
- Dimensions
-
Height: 198 millimetres (image)
-
Height: 230 millimetres (sheet)
-
Width: 380 millimetres (image)
-
Width: 395 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Hawkins annotated another impression (1868,0808.4327) with identifications of members of the Corporation.
he promoted a congratulatory address from the corporation to the king, on the ‘adequate’ peace already castigated by Pitt as ‘inadequate’ (ODNB)
Prior Park was Allen's house outside Bath.
E O (Even-Odd) was a game introduced to Bath by Richard 'Beau' Nash.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Romance of the Forty Vezirs (The Guardian, No.149)
- Acquisition date
- 1827 (before)
- Acquisition notes
- See comment on S,2.1.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Cc,3.44
