The comet [graphic] / JS [monogram] f.

[London] : Publd. by Thos. Cornell, Bruton Street, 18th Feby. 1789.

1 print : aquatint and etching ; plate mark 22.8 x 29.6 cm, on sheet 29 x 40 cm

laid paper.

"A comet traverses the design diagonally and downwards from right to left across an aquatinted background; the head is that of the Prince Wales in a star, the tail contains the heads of his disappointed followers. This broadens as it recedes from the head; immediately after the Prince is the head of Sheridan, with a gloomy expression. Behind him are Fox, with a melancholy smile, and Portland, looking angry. After them comes the wig in back view of Lord Loughborough (see British Museum Satire No. 6796). Next come Stormont and (in 'profil perdu') North. They are followed by the Duke of Queensberry (one of the 'rats') holding up a quizzing-glass and Powys with his habitual melancholy scowl. Behind them are Lord Lothian (another 'rat'), Burke, with an angry frown, and the Duke of Norfolk. Between Norfolk and Queensberry is the 'profil perdu' of Derby. They are followed by Lord Sandwich, Bishop Watson of Llandaff, and Sir Grey Cooper. Next are two clerical wigs in back view identified by Miss Banks as Wilson, Bishop of Bristol, and Warren, Bishop of Bangor, while in the upper left corner of the print is the swarthy profile of Sawbridge. Beneath the title, and on the background which represents the sky, is etched: 'A Return of the Comet which appeared in 1761 [Above the final '1' of the date is a '2'.] is expected this Year and to be within our horizon from the month of Octr 1788 to Augt 1789 but is expected to be most -visible {if it forces itself upon our Notice) in the Winter months Febry & March ------ vide Dr Trusslers Almanack By some of the ancient Astronomers Comets were deemed Meteors kindled in the Air and designed as Presages or unlucky Omens of some disastrous Catastrophe------ The Peripateticks deemed them not permament Bodies but bodies newly produced and in a short Time to perish again, and affirmed that they were made up of Exhalations in the terrestrial Regions------ Sr Isaac Newton asserts That the Tail of a Comet is nothing else than a fine Vapour which the Head of the Comet emits by its heat that Heat the Comet receives from the Sun and the magnitude of the Tail is always proportional to the degree of heat which the Comet receives, and Comets which are nearest to the Sun have the longest Tails------'."--British Museum online catalogue.

English

October 27, 2006

Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 6, no. 7508