Lord lansdowne sits at a small writing-table, pen in hand, a number of papers before him. Three jews (left) stand obsequiously on his right, but he turns with his enigmatic smile towards a french post-boy (right), a grotesque dwarfish man with long queue and jack-boots holding his whip and hat, who holds out to him with a cunning smile a paper inscribed:
'my dear lord paris 7th jany 1783
i am happy to hear you have so nearly concluded your alley arrangements. The preliminaries shall be signed coute que coute by the time you desire, & you may rely on the courier's arrival on the eve of the 23d
yours truly
billy paradice [william eden. ]'
under lansdowne's elbow is a paper inscribed 'memorandums pay off the mortgage on jesuits colledge in berkeley square - pay off solomons any for 500£ pr annm inquire what tayt will take for my bond for 3000£ given for furniture sold at christyes'. The foremost jew holds out to lansdowne a paper: 'policy £15 to return £100 if the preliminaries arrive by jany 23d 1783
£1000 prem recd j. Gee
£1000 do ---- i. Bond
£1000 do p. Jones
£1000 do j. Wolls
£1000 do w long
£1000 do p. Pinder'
on a shelf, inscribed 'waste paper', in the upper right corner of the design, are three large bundles of papers: 'ordnance estimates', 'state of the national debt', and 'civil list'; two piles of documents hang from the shelf. On the wall above lansdowne's head are two bust portraits: 'john calvin', wearing a steeple-crowned hat, gown, and bands, and 'ignatius loyola', a profile portrait of burke wearing a jesuit's biretta as in bmsat 6026, &c. 12 march 1787
etching and aquatint. Date: 1787. Dimensions: Height: 274 mm; Width: 378 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Edmund Burke. Collection: British Museum. A noble lord, on an approaching peace, too busy to attend the expenditure of a million of the public money- (BM 1868,0808.5630)
Loading...
