Buonaparte, hearing of Nelson's victory, swears by his sword, to extirpate the English from the earth., James Gillray, 1798

Bonaparte, burlesqued, stands, swaggering, with legs astride, head in profile to the left. In his right hand is a sabre, dripping blood, inscribed 'egalité'; he holds out the scabbard (chained to his waist) in his left hand. Under his right foot is a torn paper headed 'nelsons victory over the fleet of the republic'. He wears an enormous cocked hat decorated with feathers, aigrette, tricolour cockade, and crescent. The skirts of his double-breasted military coat fly back, reaching to the ground behind; round his waist is a voluminous fringed sash, in which are thrust a pistol and a jewelled dagger. He declaims, the words in a large label which floats up to the upper margin: ""what? our fleet captur'd & destroy'd by the slaves of britain? \ - "by my sword & by holy mahomet i swear eternal vengeance! - yes, \ - "when i have subjected egypt, subdued the arabs, the druses & the maronites; \ "become master of syria, - turn'd the great river euphrates, & saild upon it through \ "the sandy desarts; compel'd to my assitance [sic], the bedouins, tuscomans [sic], kurds, \ "armenians, & persians; form'd a million of cavalry, & pass'd them upon rafts \ "six or seven hundred miles over the bosphorus, i shall enter constantinople - \ - "now i enter the theatre of europe, i establish the republic of greece, \ "i raise poland from its ruins, i make prussia bend ye knee to france; - \ "i chain up the russian bear, i cut the head from ye imperial eagle; \ "i drive the ferocious english from the archipelago - i hunt them \ "from the mediterranean, - & blot them out from the catalogue of \ "nations! - then shall the conquer'd earth sue for peace, \ "& an obelisk be erected at constantinople, inscribed \ "to buanoparte [sic] conqueror of the world, \ & extirpater of the \ english nation. "" a french dispatch rider, dismounted from a camel whose head is on the left, stands full-face, gaping at the general, hat in hand and with a bundle, 'les dépéches, under his arm. Behind bonaparte (right) is part of a tent, of oriental type but decorated with tricolour. Beneath the title: 'see, buonaparte's speech to the french army at cairo;published by authority of the directory, in volney's letters'. 8 december 1798 hand coloured etching. Date: 1798. Dimensions: Height: 335 mm; ; Width: 255 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Napoléon I, Emperor of the French. Collection: British Museum. Buonaparte, hearing of Nelson's victory, swears by his sword, to extirpate the English from the earth. (BM 1868,0808.6801)