William Hogarth - Print, satirical print (BM 1868,0808.4249 1)

Satire on Lord Bute, the peace negotiations and Hogarth. The scene is set outside St James's Palace which carries the sign of the Talbot Inn (a reference to the parsimonious regime imposed by William, Earl Talbot, Lord High Steward); the palace is obscured by another inn carrying a sign showing the Gate of Calais (based on Hogarth, Paulson 180). On the left, in the foreground, a female figure of the City of London sits disconsolately holding a "Petition Rejected"; William Beckford, City politician and MP from April 1761, holds her left arm and tries to raise her up; behind him stands Charles Churchill. To the right of this group is an angryWilliam Hogarth with a Scotsman riding on his back who holds a blank scroll (perhaps intended to be lettered so as to refer to Hogarth's payment as Sergeant Painter); Hogarth drives forward a pig, urging it on with a thistle while clutching its tail against his palette; the tail forms the "Line of Buty" (see Paulson 181). The pig pushes between the legs of William Pitt who draws his sword on Henry Fox; the shadowy figure of Earl Temple stands behind, his hand resting supportively on Pitt's shoulder. A central group consists of John Bull (half man, half bull) whose head is held down by the Duke of Bedford, and a grotesquely caricatured Bute dressed as a Scotswoman (see also BM Satires 3904). Bedford is cramming into Bull's mouth a scroll lettered "Peace" that has been let down on a string by a monkey (the Duke of Nivernois, French ambassador) perching on the sign of the Gate of Calais; Henry Fox takes the opportunity to pick Bull's pocket of a watch and keys. The Duke of Newcastle (who reluctantly resigned as First Lord of the Treasury on 26 May 1762) slides backwards off Bull's back, in spite of the support of William Pitt and the Duke of Cumberland each of whom grasp one of his arms; Cumberland lashes out at Nivernois with a horse-whip. Bute, bending almost double as he shouts in Bull's ear, pushes his buttocks, from which a thistle protrudes, against a large playing-card showing the knave of hearts (Louis XV?). Behind them Robert Hay Drummond, Archibishop of York, looks towards Cumberland while holding out a restraining hand towards an angry Lord Mansfield whose wig is falling off (a reference to Drummond's defence of Mansfield and others against a charge of Jacobitism in 1753); a placard on the wall behind reads "York and Mansfield Machines sets out [fr]om the Talbot Inn. Places and Parcils [taken] care off". Further to the right is Arthur Murphy holding his newspaper, the Auditor; he wears a jack boot on one leg and a French sabot on the other foot. Behind him, a Scotsman troubled by fleas rubs his backside against a post on which hangs a placard lettered "Post for the Briton" depicting Tobias Smollett (editor of the Briton) being flogged. At the extreme right, Edward, Duke of York, Admiral of the Blue, wearing sailor's trousers, and followed by another naval officer, climbs over a blank inn-sign of the Patriot Arms to come to the assistance of his uncle Cumberland. Behind them a show-sign hangs from the balcony of the Gate of Calais showing the Tower of London, advertising "Lodgings to lett", and two large "Ost[riche]s alive", perhaps intended to imply that the king has his head in the sand with regard to Bute's ambitions. On the balcony a herald wearing fleurs-de-lis and thistles proclaims peace while a group of men celebrate; they include a Scotsman, a Frenchman and a Dutchman who reach eagerly towards the Tower. In the background, to left, is a gateway flanked by statues of Scotia, with a fool's cap on her staff and holding a thistle, and a Scottish soldier with "1745" etched on his shield. Beyond is "The Caledonian Coffee House", proprietor "Smallwit" (Smollett), with a sign lettered "1745/P[rince] C[harles]/ An Angel appearing to Shepherds", the angel being a winged figure of Bute. The dove of peace flies above on a string held by Nivernois but it has dropped its olive branch and is about to be attacked by a hawk (Admiral Hawke). On either side of the print are scrolls: a disconsolate sailor stands on the left, a grenadier seated behind him, cobwebs attached to both figures; on the right, a Scot attacks a limbless man with the man's own wooden leg; the latter cries, "O Liberty, O my Country". Unfinished proof:

Etching