GreatCaricatures.com    •    Articles & Galleries  •  

                 

Bobbin Galleries:

Human Passions
Delineated

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

Gallery 3

James Gillray
Galleries

The Golden Age
of the English
Engraver

Books on
British Caricature

Books on
William Hogarth

Books on
James Gillray

© Great Caricatures
2023

 

 
1

|

|

3

|

4

|

5

|

6

|

7

|

8

|

9

|

10

|

11

|

12

|

13

|

14

|

15
     
 

Plate 1: The Statesmen

   
 
 


Publish'd as the Act Directs, May 1773

7 3/4"w x 5"h

               
   
 

From "The EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES in the Book of Heads entitled
HUMAN PASSIONS DELINEATED": EXPLANATION of PLATES 1.

   
 

F

OUR statesmen here, all plac'd and pension'd sit,
Have drown'd all care, and murder'd patriot wit ;

Their bellies fill'd with wine, their chests with gold,
Squeez'd from a nation which they've bought and sold.
No conscience pricks; — no dread of public wrath; —
They rob like Orford, or an Earl of Bath !
A groaning nation breaks no silken ease,
And only study how l——d B——te to please,
Thus warm'd within the down of regal wing,
Whilst England mourns, her statesmen laugh and sing.
   O Britain's guardian, when wilt thou awake,
   And on such vipers deadly vengeance take.

   
              Return to Top