On the extreme right the royal coach is passing, the king is seen through the window in profile to the right. A ragged man with the head of burke, bald and aged, stands with a hatful of stones, about to hurl one at the king. He is restrained by a burly bow street officer with a long constable's staff who grasps his ragged shirt. A young man, plainly dressed but resembling the prince of wales, seizes him firmly by the right arm. A stout woman and a sailor stand arm-in-arm on the left. The woman, who is fox, carries a basket and a 'dying speech', she looks regretfully at burke; above her head is etched 'creul [sic] fortune thus our hopes [to] destroy'. The sailor, who is sheridan, turns his head away, saying, "dam'd unlucky". He holds a paper '[ki]ngs last speech'. In the background is a procession of life guards riding behind the king's coach and looking towards fox and his friends. A beefeater with a pike stands on the extreme right, the head of another appears in the background. On the roof of the coach sits a small demon playing a fiddle. 31 january 1790. Hand-coloured etching. Date: 1790. Dimensions: Height: 238 mm; Width: 333 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Edmund Burke. Collection: British Museum. Frith the madman hurling treason at the king (BM 1868,0808.5909)
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