Satire on lord bute and his government, and on william hogarth; for references within the print, see curator's comment. In the centre, (b) bute as a wig block balanced on (a) a staff "from a highland fir of vast height length and thickness", standing on the "treasure box"; one leg is a jack-boot, a bag-pipe is suspended suggestively from his waist; he wears an order of knighthood (the collar decorated with asses, the badge bearing a thistle, crossed keys and the motto, "knock & it shall be open'd", and riband lettered, "the landtax lower'd a new peace by the bedford undertaker/transposed for the bagpipe according to the scots measure") and a jointed scale lettered, "architectonic sector"; his scotch bonnet is surmounted by (c) a bespectacled owl holding a thistle in its teeth. On the left, is a block attached to bute by a string, representing the duke of bedford, negotiator for peace with france, with a hole to show that his head is empty; leaning against it is a mattress of "either down" and a horse-whip resting on a paper lettered "lichfield races"; other blocks represent, "noddys hewn out of the cocoa tree", an ink pot and quill is hung from one (perhaps intended as a journalist) and a shuttlecock balances on top of the other (charles townshend). On the right, a block represents francis dashwood, chancellor of the exchequer. Another, hung about with kitchen equipment lord talbot, lord high steward of the household, a saucepan on his head lettered, "these useless now", referring to his economies in the royal kitchen (condemned in the north briton, xii, 12 august 1762); a dog with "st. James's [palace]" on its collar drools hungrily. In the background is a picture partly obscured by a curtain; it is lettered, "designed for the city, see north briton xix and shows the devil trampling on a female personification of the city of london and breaking wind in the face of the figure of liberty as he turns to stab her; leaning against the picture is a a volume lettered "manuscript / [james] ralph against pitt, liberty & the city by the instigation of a noble [crossed out] scot lord and co. "
outside the etched frame, on the left, hangs a scroll lettered, "to be lett for any succeeding lord mayors day the bruisers comp[an]y as ministerial whifflers"; below is "the scotch faction", i. E. , pro-bute journalists tobias smollett (the "briton") and arthur murphy (the "auditor") represented by blocks held on a forked stick by the devil who is clad in tartan and reading a paper on "scot[c]h reasons for givin up the havannah because keeping it would pay the national debt and thats contra to my scheming"; lettering added vertically along the edge of the print in the second state, complains of the potential loss of havana in the peace treaty. On the right, lettering describes two other blocks, (h) hogarth and (k) joshua kirby, the author of "dr. Brook taylor's method of perspective made easy" (1754), as a "genus" cut in hogarth's case from a dutch elm, "a blasted codling tree" and a medlar, and in kirby's "cut out of a crab tree rotten at heart". Mathematical instruments are attached to kirby's block while hogarth's has a large burin and paint brush, a palette lettered "line of buty" on which is drawn the outline of a boot, and a paper lettered, "the times/a grand scheme for a new academy the professors pension'd before hand"; an open book beneath the heads is lettered "brook taylors inspetive or, clearing into obscurity by i. K. /an assay on the beauty of pannel painting by w h"; in the third state a gallows is added from which is suspended a letter "written from the cocoa tree". Beneath is, on the left, a key and, on the right, a note reading, "n. B. There are a pair of heads not blocks which are to be heard of at the townsend of halifax. That we cannot exhibit in this plate, nor severall others whom we have the honour to be acquainted with none of mr hogarths wigs fitting. "; in the centre, is a mock heraldic device, labelled in the second state, "the scot patriot arms", comprising a boot in a lozenge surrounded by clenched fists, and supported by "nail'em" (a blacksmith) and "flogg'em" (a one-eyed coach man) with the motto, "by blows and knocks/we'll prove this peace is orthodox". 1762-63
etching. Date: between 1762 and 1763. Dimensions: Height:232 mm Width:383 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: William Hogarth. Collection: British Museum. A sett of blocks for Hogarth's wigs (BM 1868,0808.4228)
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