Promis'd horrors of the French invasion, or, Forcible reasons for negociating a regicide peace [graphic] : vide, the authority of Edmund Burke / Js. Gy. d. & fect.

Creator:

Gillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker

Copyright Date:

[20 October 1796]

Physical Description:

1 print : etching & aquatint on wove paper ; plate mark 32.5 x 44 cm, on sheet 36 x 46 cm

Notes:

Title etched below image.

Abstract:

"French troops march with fixed bayonets up St. James's Street, the houses receding in perspective to the gate of the Palace, which is blazing. In the foreground on the left and right are 'White's' and 'Brookes's'. The former is being raided by French troops; the Opposition is in triumphant possession of the latter. In the centre foreground a 'tree of Liberty' (see BMSat 9214, &c.) has been planted: a pole garlanded with flowers and surmounted by a large cap of 'Libertas'. To this pole Pitt, stripped to the waist, is tied, while Fox (left) flogs him ferociously, a birch-rod in each hand. Between Fox's feet lies a headsman's axe, bloodstained; on it stands a perky little chicken with the head of M. A. Taylor (see BMSat 6777). On the right is an ox, his collar, from which a broken cord dangles, inscribed 'Great Bedfordshire Ox' (the duke of Bedford); it is tossing Burke, goaded on by Thelwall, who holds its tail, and flourishes a document inscribed 'Thelwals Lectures' (see BMSat 8685). Burke flies in the air, losing his spectacles, and dropping two pamphlets: 'Letter to the Duke of Bedford', see BMSat 8788, &c, and 'Reflections upon a Regicide Peace', see BMSat 8825. Behind the ox, Lord Stanhope holds up a pole to which is tied, by a ribbon inscribed 'Vive l'Egalite', the beam of a pair of scales; this is balanced by the body of Grenville, suspended by his breeches, and by his head, suspended by the hair; both drip blood. Stanhope, in profile to the left, looks up with a pleased smile; Lauderdale stands facing him, raising his arm to applaud. Behind is an advancing band of British Jacobins waving bonnets-rouges. Sheridan, with furtively triumphant smile, enters the door of Brooks's; a large porter's knot on his head and shoulders supports a sack: 'Remains of the Treasury £'; under his arm is another: 'Requisition from the Bank of England'. Beside the door (right) stands a pestle and mortar inscribed 'J. Hall Apothecary to the New Constitution Long Acre'; the mortar is filled with coronets. On the balcony above the door, Lansdowne, with his enigmatic smile, is working a guillotine; his left hand is on the windlass, in his right he holds up (towards Erskine) Loughborough's elongated wig; the purse of the Great Seal is attached to a post of the guillotine. On the left corner of the balcony rests a dish containing the heads of (left to right) Lord Sydney, Windham, and Pepper Arden, 'Killed off for the Public Good'. Behind stands Erskine, leaning forward and holding up in triumph a firebrand composed of 'Magna Charta', and a 'New Code of Laws'. On the right corner of the balcony four men stand watching the guillotine with quiet satisfaction: Grafton, in profile to the left; Norfolk, clasping his hands, and Derby. Only the hat and eyes of the fourth are visible. In the club windows behind, staring faces are indicated. The lamp beside the door is crowned with a bonnet-rouge. On the door-post a broadside, 'Marsoiles[e] [sic] Hymn', is placed above 'Rule Brit[annia]' (torn). In the street outside and in the foreground (right) is a basket containing the head of Dundas and a set of bagpipes; it is labelled 'To the care of Citizen Horne Tooke'. Beside it lies a bundle of documents labelled 'Waste Paper 2d pr £6'; they are 'Acts of Parliament, Bill of Rights, Statutes.' The left (east) side of the street is filled with goose-stepping republican soldiers, headed by a grotesque and ferocious officer, a drawn sword in his hand, who strides past the decollated head of Richmond, beside which lies a paper: 'Treatise upon Fortifying the Coast' (see BMSat 6921, &c). A grotesque and dwarfish drummer marches in front (left); on his drum is the cap of Liberty and the motto 'Vive la Liberté'. He is immediately outside the door of White's, up the steps of which French officers with fixed bayonets are pressing; one tramples on a prostrate and bleeding body, another transfixes the throat of a member; behind are the hands of members held up to beg for mercy. Other soldiers have reached the balcony and are using daggers; they push over the bleeding body of the Duke of York, indicated by his ribbon and the dice-box and dice which fall from him. The Prince of Wales falls head first, the Duke of Clarence is about to be stabbed. From a projecting lamp-bracket beside the door hang the bodies of Canning and Hawkesbury, tied back to back. Their identity is shown by a placard: 'New March to Paris by Betty Canning (an allusion to Elizabeth Canning, convicted of perjury, cf. BMSat 7982) & Jenny Jenkison'. The (broken) lamp is surmounted by a broken crown. On the club steps and in the street lie a broken 'EO' (roulette) board and playing-cards. The street is filled with close ranks of French soldiers, except for the small body of British Jacobins on the right."--British Museum online catalogue.

Variant Titles:

Forcible reasons for negociating a regicide peace
Forcible reasons for negotiating a regicide peace
Promised horrors of the French invasion, or, Forcible reasons for negociating a regicide peace

Topics:

Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815--Proposed invasion of England, 1793-1805.

Topics:

France--Foreign public opinion, Great Britain.
Great Britain--Foreign public opinion, France.

Topics:

Alvanley, Richard Pepper Arden,--Baron,--1745-1804--Caricatures and cartoons.
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership.
Burke, Edmund,--1729-1797--Caricatures and cartoons.
Canning, George,--1770-1827--Caricatures and cartoons.
Dundas, Henry,--1742-1811--Caricatures and cartoons.
Erskine, Thomas Erskine,--Baron,--1750-1823--Caricatures and cartoons.
Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.
Frederick Augustus,--Prince, Duke of York and Albany,--1763-1827--Caricatures and cartoons.
George--IV,--King of Great Britain,--1762-1830--Caricatures and cartoons.
Gillray, James, 1756-1815, artist. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50033402
Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy,--Duke of,--1735-1811--Caricatures and cartoons.
Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville,--Baron,--1759-1834--Caricatures and cartoons.
Harvey, Francis--Ownership.
Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n97861435
Jenkinson, Charles,--1727-1808--Caricatures and cartoons.
Lansdowne, William Petty,--Marquis of,--1737-1805--Caricatures and cartoons.
Lauderdale, James Maitland,--Earl of,--1759-1839--Caricatures and cartoons.
Norfolk, Charles Howard,--Duke of,--1746-1815--Caricatures and cartoons.
Pitt, William,--1759-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.
Richmond and Lennox, Charles Lennox,--Duke of,--1735-1806--Caricatures and cartoons.
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,--1751-1816--Caricatures and cartoons.
Smith-Stanley, Edward,--1752-1834--Caricatures and cartoons.
Stanhope, Charles Stanhope,--Earl,--1753-1816--Caricatures and cartoons.
Sydney, Thomas Townshend,--Viscount,--1733-1800--Caricatures and cartoons.
Taylor, Michael Angelo,--1757-1834--Caricatures and cartoons.
Thelwall, John,--1764-1834--Caricatures and cartoons.
William--IV,--King of Great Britain,--1765-1837--Caricatures and cartoons.
Windham, William,--1750-1810--Caricatures and cartoons.

Language:

English

Genre:

Annotations (Provenance)--18th century.--CtY-LW
Aquatints--England--London--1796.
Etchings--England--London--1796.
Satires (Visual works)--England--1796.

Format:

Image

Rights:

The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.

Access Restrictions:

Public

Call Number:

Auchincloss Gillray v. 4

Orbis Record:

9777478

Yale Collection:

Beinecke Library

Digital Collection:

General Collection, BRBL, Yale University

oid pointer:

11824020

Citation:

Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 7, no. 8826
Wright, T. Historical and descriptive account of the caricatures by James Gillray, no. 155
Wright, T. Works of James Gillray, the caricaturist with the history of his life and times, p. 204

Extent of digitization:

Complete folder digitized.

OID:

11823814

PID:

digcoll:4000142