- Museum number
- J,1.103
- Title
- Object: The bull broke loose
- Description
-
A bull, snorting violently, has broken the rope by which he was attached to a post and is charging Lord North who flees before him, throwing towards the bull a paper inscribed "A Committee of Accounts"; in his other hand is a paper inscribed "Pro[te]st". The bull has trampled over torn papers inscribed "Hertfordshire Pr[o]test", "Hunt[ingdon Prot]est"; "Prot[est]"; his collar is inscribed "Grievances". North's flight is impeded by a heap of cylindrical rolled documents, inscribed "Taxes", "Unfunded Debt", "National Debt", "Extraordinaries", "Pension List", "Civil List", "Indian Paents" [? Patents], "Exch[equer] Bills", "Treasury Contracts", "Navy Debt", "Private Contracts", "Sinecure Places". Facing North on the right. are France, holding out his sword in the attitude of a fencer, America as a Red Indian holding a scalping knife, Spain holding out a spear. Behind them a Dutchman (Holland) watches with an expression of satisfaction. The bull is being urged on by four leaders of the Opposition (left) who run (left to right) holding documents inscribed "Petition". One says "Extraordinaries"; another, who resembles the Duke of Richmond, says "K------s Civil List"; a third (Burke?), "Extravagant Emoluments, Places & Pensions; the last, Huzza the Majority of two".
In the background on the right is a view of the southern part of Buckingham House; outside its palisade stands the signboard of an inn on which is a head of George III (taken from the mezzotint published as 'Ecce Homo' or 'The Patriot', see BMSat 5544-7), beneath the head is etched "Turks Head". In front of the house George III confers with Mansfield, who holds a paper inscribed, "The good ship Obstinacy bound for Hanover". Behind the king, and stooping so that his head is concealed, is a Scotsman (Bute) in a kilt. Between this group and the bull stands a man holding a Circular Letter to the Irish Association. He is saying "Factious Libellous & unconstitutional". From his pocket hangs a paper inscribed "Speech on the Address". He is Lord Hillsborough, see his speech on the Address 25 Nov. 1779. 'Parl. Hist.' xx. 1045, &c. (appointed Secretary of State for the Northern Department on that day). During the debate the Duke of Richmond ridiculed Hillsborough and reminded the House of his "celebrated circular letter written in 1768 wherein he pledged not only his own word, but that of his sovereign and the British legislature, that no more taxes would be laid on the people of America for the purpose of raising a revenue", ibid., p. 1077.
Beneath the design is etched:
"Here, as in a glass you see
The Scene that is, or soon, will be:
The BULL, long prick'd in back & side,
Breaks from the stake, to which he's tied
He plunges, darts, and springs around,
Now tears Protests, and now the ground,
You see him rage, you hear him roar,
And rush on BOREAS just before:
Dismal and horrid is His plight,
While Grievances oppose his flight:
Piled are the Bills with which he racks us
And see - he stumbles over taxes:
As Dogs are hushed to peace with sops,
A Committee of Accounts he drops:
Anxious, since vain is all protest,
To grant a part to save the rest:
But even this cannot give breath
To one within Two votes of death:
In vain Lord Circular scolds and squalls,
And 'factious, libellous, illegal' bawls:
While in his famous Speech we trace
The terms on which he took his place.
And by his Letter, see him Cherish
The Associations of the Irish.
The Turks-Head Tavern stands behind
Where grouped in harmony we find,
The guilty two, and tutored one
By whom this bustle &c. &c. &c." 1 March 1780
Etching
- Production date
- 1780
- Dimensions
-
Height: 258 millimetres
-
Width: 357 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', V, 1935)
A comment on the important debates of Feb. 1780. On 8 Feb. Sir George Savile presented the Yorkshire petition, see BMSat 5638, making a speech which Walpole feared portended civil war. ('Letters', xi, p. 130.) On 11 Feb. Burke made his great speech on Economical Reform, and on 21 Feb. Savile's motion for a list of all places and pensions paid by the Crown was defeated by two votes only. On 14 Feb. North received favourably Burke's proposal for a Committee of Accounts. The protests trampled on by the bull are those made by certain counties against the petitions of Yorkshire and the other associated counties. See 'Parl. Hist.' xx. 1318 ff., xxi. 1 ff. 'Ann. Reg.' 1780, pp. 85 ff. Walpole, 'Last Journals', 1910, ii, 270ff. For the county petitions see BMSat 5638, &c. Here George III, though depicted as an obstinate despot is yet the tool of Bute and Mansfield. Perhaps intended as an answer to BMSat 5643. Resembles the manner of Viscount Townshend.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1818
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- J,1.103
