Loose principles [graphic].

[London] : Pubd. Jany. 21, 1789, by S. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly, [21 January 1789]

1 print : etching ; plate mark 21 x 35 cm, on sheet 26 x 37.7 cm

laid paper.

"Fox rises from a close-stool; Sheridan (left) is about to apply a syringe, inscribed 'R------ts [Regent's] Clyster', to his rectum. Burke (right), wearing a Jesuit's biretta (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6026), gropes in the close-stool, holding in his left hand its lid, inscribed 'Not searching from Precedents but Consequences' (a characteristic dictum); he says, "To Ordure - Ordure" (Burke was often called to order for his speeches on the Regency, cf. British Museum Satires No. 7499, &c). Fox says, "Exegi Monumentum cere perennias, or the finishing Stroke" (perhaps an allusion to the revolution Pillar, see British Museum Satires No. 7396). In his hand is a paper inscribed 'Magna Charta Non Posteris sed Posterioribus'; his posterior is inscribed 'Patriotic Bum' and 'Vox Populi'. He stands on a paper inscribed 'Resolutions of P------l------t.' Sheridan is 'Principal Promoter of loose Principles'; under his right foot is an open book: 'Congreve Plays School for Scandal', probably implying plagiarism by Sheridan (cf. Moore, 'Life of Sheridan', p. 180, where resemblances between 'The School for Scandal' and 'The Double Dealer' are noted). The background is a library wall: a book-case containing folio volumes in some disorder is flanked by scowling busts of 'Wat Tyler' and 'Jack Kade'. The books are inscribed: 'The Laws of Pharaoh' (Faro, cf. British Museum Satires No. 5972), 'Political Prints', 'Life of Oliver Cromwell' (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6380, &c), 'Cataline' (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6784), 'Memoirs of Sam House'."--British Museum online catalogue.

English

June 08, 2020