Fox, as host, stands behind a table on which is a large twelfth-cake decorated with trees of liberty and crowned by a bonnet-rouge. He and all his guests are inspecting the tickets they have drawn from a bonnet-rouge full of papers which lies on the corner of the table opposite sheridan (right). Fox delightedly holds out his ticket, 'perpetual dictator'. The others (left to right) are: first 'tierney', his ticket 'a nabob'; then lord moira, stiffly in profile to the left, 'the irish hoaxter' (cf. Bmsat 9184); the duke of bedford, seated, 'collector of taxes' (see bmsat 9167), norfolk, on fox's right, 'perpetual toast master' (see bmsat 9168, &c. ); m. A. Taylor, very small and wearing a bonnet-rouge, his ticket inscribed 'go to roost' (he was 'the chick of law', see bmsat 6777); erskine, on fox's right, soliciter general (cf. Bmsat 8502), burdett, 'keeper of the prison in cold bath fields' (see bmsat 9341), sheridan (the impecunious), seated, 'first lord of the treasury', and (?)byng, [perhaps grey. ] m. P. For middlesex, looking nearsightedly at 'bastile jervise'. On the wall is a placard: 'rules to be observed at this meeting 1 that the cake be decorate with appropriate insignia 2 that the tickets be deposited in a bonnet rouge and drawn in rotation 3 that the old fashioned game of king and queen be exploded & catch as catch can substituted in its stead. ' 16 january 1799
hand-coloured etching. Date: 1799. Dimensions: Height: 262 mm; Width: 423 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford. Collection: British Museum. Drawing for twelfth-cake at St Annes Hill.!! (BM 1868,0808.6814)
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