Heading to a song of eighteen verses, printed in three columns. Charles iv of spain, dressed as the conventional spanish don, starts up from a sofa, on which he half reclines, with an expression of angry dismay, his right arm raised with clenched fist. The grotesque heads of four courtiers (right) look at him from behind the sofa with expressions and gestures of alarm. The verses describe the king's dream which is depicted in three small scenes surrounded by clouds on the left of the design. Above is the defence of gibraltar, with red-hot shot blowing up the spanish gunboats (see bmsat 6035). Below is a spaniard (charles iv) putting to flight a body of british soldiers (at nootka sound); corpses lie at his feet. Below this again is louis xvi in a prison cell, biting his thumb, his crown on the ground beside him. The verses are to the tune of 'begging we will go'. The eighth, fifteenth, and seventeenth verses are:
'he saw the fall of kingcraft,
he saw the grand monarque;
he saw him of his glitter stript,
and moping in the dark. Now don awoke, and ranted;
the dream had turn'd his brain:
he swore he'd set the thames on fire,
and carry george to spain. O france! to spanish worth lend
thy philosophic eye,
nor in a frantic despot's cause
permit the brave to die. ' 14 july 1790. Hand-coloured etching. Date: circa 1790. Dimensions: Height: 425 mm; Width: 269 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre, . Collection: British Museum. The British tar's laughing-stock, or the royal Quixote (BM 1868,0808.5950)
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