![A Posthaste Conveyance for S-[cottish] Members.](jpegs/21326.jpg)
A Posthaste Conveyance for S-[cottish] Members.
JS[ayers] f.
Published as the Act directs by Jas. Bretherton New Bond Street 20th January 1784.
Etching on thick watermarked laid paper, 230 x 280mm. 9 x 11". Creasing to upper right margin.
Political satire: a Scotsman enclosed in a letter inscribed in large letters 'To The Majority St Stephens Westmr Free Duke or no Duke'; the letter franked 'Free'. A signpost (left) points 'To London', showing that he is being projected through the air from Scotland to London. A thistle at the foot of the post indicates Scotland. The fellow wears a Scots cap and tartan stockings. This is a satirical swipe at William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738 - 1809), who in April 1783 became Prime Minister, with Fox and Lord North as secretaries of state. The Duke was accused of corrupting Scottish MPs by means of a fund for travelling expenses – a theme still very topical! Portland resigned in December 1783, when Fox's India Bill had been thrown out in the Lords. By James Sayers (1748 - 1823). Sayers's caricatures were so powerful and direct in their purpose that Fox is said to have declared that they did him more harm than all the attacks made on him in parliament or the press.
BM Satires 6381. DNB.
[Ref: 21326] £110.00
Published as the Act directs by Jas. Bretherton New Bond Street 20th January 1784.
Etching on thick watermarked laid paper, 230 x 280mm. 9 x 11". Creasing to upper right margin.
Political satire: a Scotsman enclosed in a letter inscribed in large letters 'To The Majority St Stephens Westmr Free Duke or no Duke'; the letter franked 'Free'. A signpost (left) points 'To London', showing that he is being projected through the air from Scotland to London. A thistle at the foot of the post indicates Scotland. The fellow wears a Scots cap and tartan stockings. This is a satirical swipe at William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738 - 1809), who in April 1783 became Prime Minister, with Fox and Lord North as secretaries of state. The Duke was accused of corrupting Scottish MPs by means of a fund for travelling expenses – a theme still very topical! Portland resigned in December 1783, when Fox's India Bill had been thrown out in the Lords. By James Sayers (1748 - 1823). Sayers's caricatures were so powerful and direct in their purpose that Fox is said to have declared that they did him more harm than all the attacks made on him in parliament or the press.
BM Satires 6381. DNB.
[Ref: 21326] £110.00