print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- J,4.115
- Title
- Object: The Birmingham Moses
- Description
-
Lord George Gordon, dressed as a Jew, stands in profile to the left, holding an open book inscribed 'Mosaic Law', the pages covered with pseudo-Hebraic characters. He looks up sanctimoniously, his left hand raised. He has a beard and wears a long gown with bands, and a wide-brimmed hat. He ignores two dogs who worry him; the collar of the larger dog is inscribed 'Bow St.', that of the smaller, King's Bench. At his feet is a torn scroll inscribed 'Protestant Association'. In the background is a weathercock pointing to the east. Beneath the design is etched:
'To Law & Presbyters he bid adieu,
To save his Soul & Body in the Jew;
And wonder not he stole to misbelievers,
Since they of stolen things are oft receivers;
But Justice their strange Proselyte found out,
And lodg'd the Runaway in prison stout,
Lest he, mad flaming Bigot, should surprise
The Christians his new friends to nat'ralize.' 12 December 1787
Etching with hand-colouring
- Production date
- 1787
- Dimensions
-
Height: 163 millimetres
-
Width: 150 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938)
Gordon was convicted, 6 June 1787, in the King's Bench for a libel on the Judges and the Administration of the Laws in England (see BMSat 6992), and on the 13th June for libels on the Queen of France and the French Ambassador (for his allegations in support of Cagliostro, see BMSat 7010). He went to Amsterdam, cf. BMSat 7134, was sent back by the magistrates and retired to Birmingham, where he lived in the house of a Jew and adopted Jewish dress and customs. He was brought up for judgement on 28 Jan. 1788, and sentenced to five years' imprisonment, see BMSat 7423. Birmingham (Brummagem) signified inferior or counterfeit.
Rubens, No. 134. See BMSat 8249.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1818
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- J,4.115