Heading to printed verses: 'a ballad, occasioned by a certain earl's styling himself a sans culotte citizen in the house of lords. ' stanhope, wearing a bonnet-rouge inscribed 'liberty', tramples on a scroll inscribed 'a deo et rege', beside which lies his (overturned) earl's coronet. He capers bare-legged, his breeches flutter to the ground from his left hand. In his right is a tricolour flag inscribed 'vive l egalite'; the flagstaff is surmounted by an ass's head, which looks down at stanhope, who looks ecstatically up at it, his head turned in profile to the left. Above the design: "---off, off, ye lendings. "
stanhope, his coronet, breeches, and flag, are in full light, the rest of the design is in shadow, clouds forming a background. On the left three members of the house of lords flee, their backs towards him: the lord chancellor (loughborough), in hat, wig, and robes, as the speaker of the lords, carrying a document: 'vote of the house of lords one dissentient stan[hope]'. Next him is a judge carrying 'magna charta'; the third is a bishop with a 'bible' under his arm. On the right four ladies, one elderly, the others young (presumably his wife and daughters), hasten in alarm away from stanhope. The first and third of fifteen verses:
'rank character, distinction, fame,
and noble birth forgot,
hear st****pe, modest earl, proclaim
himself a sans culotte!
but, thrown away on lordly ears,
his counsel none attend;
no pattern take his brother peers
by st****pe's latter end. ' 3 may 1794
etching and aquatint above letterpress verse. Date: 1794. Dimensions: Height: 205 mm (plate-mark); Height: 493 mm (sheet); Width: 256 mm (plate-mark). Medium: paper. Depicted People: Alexander Wedderburn, Ist Earl of Rosslyn. Collection: British Museum. The noble sans-culotte. (BM Y,5.70 1)
Loading...
