A satire on the attentions of the prince of wales to lady salisbury. In the foreground are four figures with numbers referring to explanatory notes in the margin. On the right the prince of wales (2), wearing a ribbon and star, stands beside (1) (lady salisbury), holding her right hand in his right, his left arm is round her waist; she holds a fan in her left hand. They are both in profile, looking towards each other; he says,
"oh let me thus. . Eternally admiring, fix & gaze
on those dear eyes; for every glance they send
darts thro' my soul - "
in the centre stand a man and a woman whose faces and limbs resemble blocks of stone, left unfinished by a sculptor; the man (3) is james, 6th earl (afterwards 1st marquis) of salisbury (1748-1823); he clenches his fists, and stamps, his left leg raised, and saying, "zounds sr leave my wife alone or i'll tell the old wig" [george iii]. Rudimentary horns are sprouting from his forehead. The lady (4), whose features are more defined than those of salisbury, stands between, and slightly behind, salisbury and the prince of wales. She holds out both hands in distress saying, "to leave me thus!" she is mrs. Robinson or perdita, who had been deserted by the prince of wales. Behind and on the left two ladies and three men, holding hands, dance in a ring. In the lower margin is etched, "the figures n. 1 & 2 are judged by conoiseurs to have lately been animated with the cælestial fire - n° 3 is an unfinish'd resemblance of the human form, from the vacancy of countenance & roughness of the workmanship this figure cannot be supposed ever to have been intended as a companion to n° 1. " [lady salisbury, whom he married in 1773; she was mary amelia, d. Of the 1st marquis of downshire. ] "n° 4 from the attitude &c. Is supposed to represent some forlorn dido or forsaken ariadne of quality &c. &c. &c. " 15 june 1782
hand-coloured etching. Date: 1782. Dimensions: Height: 248 mm; Width: 350 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: George IV, King of the United Kingdom. Collection: British Museum. Monuments lately discovered on Salisbury Plain (BM 1851,0901.88)
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