The hostile press and the consequences of crim. con., or, Shakspeare in danger / R. Cruikshank delt.

Creator:

Cruikshank, Robert, 1789-1856, printmaker.

Copyright Date:

[1825 February]

Physical Description:

1 print : etching on wove / laid paper, hand-colored ; image 222 x 360 mm

Related Links:

http://hdl.handle.net/10079/digcoll/lwlpr38296

Notes:

Title etched below image.
George Cruikshank might have collaborated with Robert Cruikshank in the production of this print; see British Museum catalogue.
Sheet trimmed to / within plate mark.
Quoted text following title: "Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow - thou shalt not escape calumny" - Hamlet.

Abstract:

"Kean, in the costume of Sir Giles Overreach, stands on the stage, indicated by a boarded floor surrounded by flame and smoke from the jaws of a semicircle of ferocious monsters, serpentine, scaly, and fanged, and with glaring eyeballs. The largest and most menacing is the Old Times, emitting Gall, Spite Venon [sic] Hypocricy. Towards this Kean directs his levelled rapier, saying, By the powers of Shakspeare, I defy ye all. He holds above his head a large open book: Shakspeare, which is irradiated. Almost as large as the 'Times' is the pendant to it: New Times, vomiting Hypocricy. The other monsters are not specified, they spit flames inscribed respectively: Spleen; Cant; Malignity; Slander; Spite; Envy; Malice; Nonsence; Oblique."--British Museum catalogue.
A comment on the backlash in the press regarding the Cox vs. Kean trial, in which Kean was accused of adultery with Robert Albion Cox's wife, Charlotte Cox. Kean gave a speech at Drury Lane, Jan. 28 1825, in which he offered himself up to the audience: "If it [the backlash] is done by a hostile Press, I shall endeavour to withstand it -- if it is your verdict, I shall bow to your decision, remember with gratitude your former favours, and leave you" (quotation from the British Museum catalogue).

Variant Titles:

Shakspeare in danger
Shakespeare in danger

Topics:

Performances.--(OCoLC)fst01353970

Topics:

Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878, attributed name.
Fairburn, John, 1768 or 1769-1832, publisher.
Kean, Edmund,--1787-1833,--depicted.
Kean, Edmund,--1787-1833.--(OCoLC)fst00015932
Kean, Edmund,--1787-1833--Performances,--depicted.

Language:

English

Genre:

Caricatures--19th century.
Etchings--England--London--1820.
Prints--19th century.
Satires (Visual works)--England--1820.

Format:

Image

Content Type:

Prints & Photographs

Rights:

These images are provided for study purposes only. For publication or other use of images from the Library's collection, please contact the Lewis Walpole Library at walpole@yale.edu. Further details on the Library's photoduplication policy are available at http://www.library.yale.edu/walpole/html/research/rights_reproductions.html

Call Number:

825.02.00.XX

Orbis Record:

14831206

Yale Collection:

Lewis Walpole Library

Digital Collection:

Lewis Walpole Library

Local Record Number:

lwlpr38296

Citation:

Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 10, no. 14867

OID:

17289088

PID:

digcoll:5201171