Charles the Third, King of all the Orkneys and would be monarch of the East, or, The effects of a bad conscience [graphic].

[London] : Pubd. June 16th, 1784, as the act directs, by S. Fores, 3 Piccadilly, [16 June 1784]

1 print : etching and stipple engraving ; plate mark 27.8 x 30.2 cm, on sheet 30.0 x 38.0 cm

laid paper.

Temporary local subject terms: Emotions -- Male costume: Tudor dress -- Allusion to gambling -- Tassels -- Curtains -- Allusion to William Shakespeare, Richard III, v. 3.

Title etched below image.

"Fox, dressed as a Tudor monarch, starts from a low couch on which he has been lying, his eyes staring in horror. In his right hand he grasps a sword inscribed 'Injustice'. Round his neck, on a ribbon inscribed 'Order of Blacklegs', is a medallion bearing a dice-box and dice. At his feet is a helmet (right) with a closed visor inscribed 'Helmet of Unrighteousness', and various documents inscribed respectively 'Petn Kirkwa[ll]' ; 'Westminster Election'; 'Private list 2500 bad votes on my side of the Question'; 'Ways and means P-- W-- [Prince of Wales] Newmar[ket] Brooks's--Dutchess--North--D-- de Chart[res] &c. &c. &c. &c'; 'India Bill For the better security Of power to me and my Friends'. Fox wears a ruff, slashed doublet and trunk-hose, an ermine-bordered cloak, and slashed shoes. A curtain hangs on each side of the couch; it partly conceals (left) a framed portrait-head of the Duchess of Devonshire in profile to the right, wearing at her breast a 'Fox' favour. Above the design is etched: 'If we be conquerd, Let men conquer us, And not these Bastard Britons, whom my Father Has in their own Land, Cheaten, spurn d and trod 'on And left them on record an Heir of Shame. Are these men fit to be the Heirs of England?'"--British Museum online catalogue.

English

August 25, 2006

Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 6, no. 6622