A Birmingham toast, as given on the 14th of July, by the - Revolution Society, James Gillray, 1791

Six men, seated and standing behind a table on which are decanters, punch-bowl, &c, drink a treasonous toast. This is given by priestley (left) who stands in profile to the right, holding up an empty communion dish and a brimming chalice, saying, "the------ [king's] head, here!" fox sits in the centre, raising his glass, his right hand on his heart; he looks up ecstatically, saying, "my soul & body, both, upon this toast!!!" on his right. Sits sir cecil wray, saying, "o heav'ns! why i would empty a chelsea pensioners small-beer barrel in such a cause!!" [see bmsat 7892]. On the extreme left sheridan bends forward, avidly filling his glass from a decanter of sherry; he says, "damn my eyes! but i'll pledge you that toast tho hell gapes for me. " on fox's left sits horne tooke, saying, "i have not drank so glorious a toast since i was parson of brentford, & kept it up with balf & mcquirk!" (he had tried to secure the execution of these two 'bludgeon men' for murder at the middlesex election of 1768; though convicted they were pardoned, see bmsats 4223-4226. ) he grasps a decanter of 'holland[s]' (perhaps indicating attachment to fox, after previous hostility, cf. Bmsat 7652). On the extreme right sits dr. Lindsey, with (like sheridan) a drink-blotched face; he drinks, saying, "amen! amen!" before him are two decanters of 'brandy'. Behind horne tooke and lindsey stands a group of sanctimonious dissenters, with lank hair, much caricatured; three say respectively: "hear our prayers: & preserve us from kings & whores of babylon!!!"; "put enmity between us & the ungodly and bring down the heads of all tyrants & usurpers quickly good lord - hear us good lord". And "o! grant the wishes of thine inheritance". On the wall above foxs head is a picture of st. Paul's cathedral; from the façade emerge the heads of three pigs feeding from a trough. This is 'a pig's-stye \ a view from hackney' (an allusion to priestley's congregation at the gravel pit chapel. Hackney, where he had succeeded price). 23 july 1791 hand-coloured etching. Date: 1791. Dimensions: Height: 275 mm; Width: 500 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Balfe. Collection: British Museum. A Birmingham toast, as given on the 14th of July, by the - Revolution Society (BM 1851,0901.538)