A_Birmingham_toast,_as_given_on_the_14th_of_July,_by_the_-_Revolution_Society_(BM_1851,0901.538).jpg
Summary
A Birmingham toast, as given on the 14th of July, by the - Revolution Society
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| Artist |
Print made by: James Gillray
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| Title |
A Birmingham toast, as given on the 14th of July, by the - Revolution Society
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| Description |
English:
Six men, seated and standing behind a table on which are decanters, punch-bowl, &c, drink a treasonous toast. This is given by Priestley (left) who stands in profile to the right, holding up an empty Communion dish and a brimming chalice, saying, "The------ [King's] Head, here!" Fox sits in the centre, raising his glass, his right hand on his heart; he looks up ecstatically, saying, "My Soul & Body, both, upon this Toast!!!" On his right. sits Sir Cecil Wray, saying, "O Heav'ns! why I would empty a Chelsea Pensioners small-beer barrel in such a cause!!" [see BMSat 7892]. On the extreme left Sheridan bends forward, avidly filling his glass from a decanter of Sherry; he says, "Damn my Eyes! but I'll pledge you that Toast tho Hell gapes for me." On Fox's left sits Horne Tooke, saying, "I have not drank so glorious a Toast since I was Parson of Brentford, & kept it up with Balf & McQuirk!" (He had tried to secure the execution of these two 'bludgeon men' for murder at the Middlesex Election of 1768; though convicted they were pardoned, see BMSats 4223-4226.) He grasps a decanter of 'Holland[s]' (perhaps indicating attachment to Fox, after previous hostility, cf. BMSat 7652). On the extreme right sits Dr. Lindsey, with (like Sheridan) a drink-blotched face; he drinks, saying, "Amen! Amen!" Before him are two decanters of 'Brandy'. Behind Horne Tooke and Lindsey stands a group of sanctimonious dissenters, with lank hair, much caricatured; three say respectively: "Hear our Prayers: & preserve us from Kings & Whores of Babylon!!!"; "Put enmity between us & the ungodly and bring down the Heads of all Tyrants & usurpers quickly good Lord - Hear us good Lord". and "O! grant the Wishes of thine inheritance". On the wall above Foxs head is a picture of St. Paul's Cathedral; from the façade emerge the heads of three pigs feeding from a trough. This is 'A Pig's-Stye \ a View from Hackney' (an allusion to Priestley's congregation at the Gravel Pit chapel. Hackney, where he had succeeded Price). 23 July 1791
Hand-coloured etching |
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| Depicted people | Associated with: Balfe | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | 1791 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medium | paper | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dimensions |
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| Collection |
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| Current location |
Prints and Drawings
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| Accession number |
1851,0901.538
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| Notes |
(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938) On 14 July 1791 the 'Constitutional Society' (cf. BMSat 7859), of Birmingham, held an anniversary dinner, inviting by advertisement 'any friend to freedom'. A seditious handbill relating to the dinner (see 'Ann. Reg.', I791' p. 29) was disowned by the promoters. Priestley was warned by a friend, not to attend and was not there. After the guests had departed, a mob attacked the building, then attacked Priestley's house, burning his books and papers. 'D.N.B.'; Laprade, 'England and the French Revolution', 1909, 44 ff.; 'Life of William Hutton', 1816, pp. 157 ff. See also BMSats 7896, 7899, 8082. For the toast to the King's execution cf. BMSat 7892. Grego, 'Gillray', 130-1. Wright and Evans, No. 58. |
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| Source/Photographer | https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1851-0901-538 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Permission
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© The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Licensing
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This image is in the
public domain
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