The nuptial-bower;-with the evil-one, peeping at charms of Eden, from Milton., James Gillray, 1797

Pitt, grotesquely thin and much caricatured, leads eleanor eden, a conventionally pretty woman, towards a bower (right) covered with a vine bearing many bunches of grapes interspersed with coronets. Within it are three large sacks inscribed '£'. His left hand is on her back, his right points to the bower. She advances demurely, a fan inscribed 'treasury' held before her face. A cupid with a torch flies before them. The devil, a fat nude creature with webbed wings and the face of fox, crouches behind the bower (right), impotently gnashing his teeth and clenching his fists. Ribbons with the jewels and star of an order are twined in the bower; more coronets and a star emerge from the ground. Beneath the couple is etched: "to the nuptial-bower he led her, blushing like the morn. " 13 february 1797 hand-coloured etching. Date: 1797. Dimensions: Height: 255 mm; Width: 359 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Eleanor Eden. Collection: British Museum. The nuptial-bower;-with the evil-one, peeping at charms of Eden, from Milton. (BM 1868,0808.6593)