British mezzotint satires without dates

A to D E to H I to L M to P Q to T U to Z

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

Admiral Nelson forever. Huzzah!

83
Printed for Bowles and Carver. No. 69 in St. Pauls Church Yard, London.

A heavy, drunken sailor with a simian head and high forelock sprawls back on a barrelhead, hoisting unsteadily a glass that slops foam as he toasts. In his left hand a large beer cannister tips so its contents spill out on the deck or ground.

This image was recycled from an earlier version, entitled Admiral Keppel Forever, Huzza! which would probably date its origins to 1779 and print responses to the Keppel courtmartial. See An English Jack-Tar Giving Monsieur a Drubbing (1779).

12.9 x 11.2 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (798.0.10)

AIR

R. Pyle pinxt R. Houston fecit

Printed for Bowles & Carver, 69 St. Paul's Church Yard, London

A young woman stands in a trimmed cape with hood and flat hat. The wind appears to sweep her gown and cape to the left behind her. She grasps the rim of her hat with one hand and points to a windmill (r.) behind.

Emblematic representations of air and water was a popular "fancy picture" motif originating with images by Phillipe Mercier. The Irish engraver, Richard Houston (1722-75) had earlier, 1756, engraved posture mezzotints after Mercier. These impressions after Robert Pyle, active during the 1760s, differ in their treatment from Mercier and are cruder in their rendering. For examples of impressions from Mercier and Francis Adams, see Postle, p. 48, 85-86.

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

WATER

A companion print to Air, a young woman in lacecollar and sleeves, pearl necklace, and cap, turns left and pours water from a cup into a tureen. Clouds in the background suggest rain and behind (r.) can be seen a fountain.

13.5 x 11.2 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (764.0.18-19)

©The Metropolitan Museum of Art

ALEHOUSE POLITICIANS

Four gentlemen gathered around a pub table listen earnestly as one talks, pointing with one finger to what might be a tally. Three are seated at the table with the one holding forth in the center facing out. The man (r.) with a large hooked nose holds a canister. The fourth stands to the left and leans toward the center, smoking a pipe. A barmaid enters through a door behind and right carrying four pipes and a punchbowl.

13.4 x 11 cm.
Metropolitan Museum (24.63.310)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

And if he answers that, Madam, through my small Guts, my Breath, Blood, and Mistress are all at his Service

from Scene I, Miss in her Teens, or the Medley of Lovers

Printed for Carington Bowles at his Map & Print Warehouse, No. 69 St. Paul's Church Yard, London. As the Act directs (erased)

This scene from David Garrick's farce, "Miss in her Teens. . ."(1747) is set in a chamber of the heroine Miss Biddy Bellair's townhouse. Miss Biddy stands right, her hands clasped in apparent alarm, as one of her suitors, the hot-headed Mr. Flash, in a fighting posture thrusts left with his drawn sword and speaks this line. Though he is asserting what he would do to a rival, Flash is soon exposed for a coward in the play's celebrated fighting scene. Behind the posturing Flash stands Miss Biddy's maid Tag. In the background a door opens into the next room and a portrait in an oval frame looks down from the wall. In modern editions, this boast occurs in Scene I of Act II.

32.5 x 24.5 cm.
New York Public Library (Satyr p.16)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

Brandy is the Liquor of Life

Tenier pinx! Wilson fecit

London. Printed for Robert Sayer, No. 53 in Fleet Street

An elderly man at a table in a pub, raises a wine glass to a young barmaid who holds a glass and a paper or bill. The title may be what he is saying to her. She smiles and listens intently. On the table in front of her sits a large punch bowl, a jug, and some small implements.

13 x 11 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (750.0.24)

Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

The CHANDLER'S SHOP GOSSIPS, or WONDERFUL NEWS

Printed for Carington Bowles, Map & Printseller, No. 69 in St Pauls Church Yard, London

The scene is the interior of a shop drawn in detail with drawers in a wall chest, plank flooring, hanging candles and hams, bottles and cheese on the shelf. To the right is a fireplace burning brightly with a mantle holding cups and teapot and a print pinned above. At the table (c.) the shopwoman with a scale has just told a young woman who stands in front of the fireplace something remarkable and she clasps her hands and looks up in amazement. The listener has a torn apron and a bottle in her pocket. She may have spun as she heard the news because the flames from the fireplace reach out as if to catch her sweeping dress. To the left a small man or boy uses the diversion as a opportunity to reach for some coins. The verse beneath reads:

Dame Prattle tells suprising News.
Dot Drab her Face with wonder screws.//
Jack Filch while she turns up her eyes,
Her Cash to his own use applies.

The companion may be The Gin Shop Displayed, also at Colonial Williamsburg.

23.4 x 31.8 cm
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (1973-262)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

The Covetous Wife, or Sharping Gallant

N. Lancret pinxt I. Simon fecit

The husband seated at his desk with his account books is approached by a gentleman who points back at the wife who stands behind him and looks on angrily. The verse indicates the dandy has gotten double value for his money: paid off the loan and enjoyed her favors.

Cross from yr. Books (kind sir) the Sum you lent me--
I paid it for your wife--here--She'll content ye.
The Dame enrag'd at her Gallant's Behavior.//
(To pay back, what he'd given for a __Favour:)
Cou'd Scarce forbear--if Husband much less brook it,
Had he known on what terms, his Good Wife took it.

24.2 x 34.7 cm.
New York Public Library (Satyr p.35)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

DISGUISE

Printed for Carington Bowles in St. Pauls Church Yard London

Dressed like an elder in a heavy, old-fashioned gown and carrying a cane, a young woman with an amused look and direct gaze sits in a basket chair. The setting is rural with a flowered twig stuck through the chair's handle and a barn on the riverbank beyond. The subtext reads:

Dress'd like her maiden Aunt the fair,
Would fain assume a Prudish Air;//
But what avails her little Art
Those Eyes bespeak a Youthful Heart

31.5 x 24.8 cm.
New York Public Library (Satyr p.157)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Library of Congress

THE DOCTOR

Printed for Henry Parker, opposite Birchin Lane, in Cornhill, London.

A leering doctor in a flat cap leans over his patient from behind and probes his left eyelid with a needle. The man cries out, open mouthed and with a desparate side-long glance. In the foreground is a wide-brimmed felt hat, the patient holds in his left hand.

16.4 x 13.9 cm. (mezzotint and etching)
Library of Congress (PC2+n.d.)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

Domestic Amusement. Playing on the Guitar

Philip Mercier pinxt. Richd. Houston fecit

Printed for Robt. Sayer at the Golden Buck in Fleet Street

An attractive young woman wearing pearls and kerchief in her hair and gown with flowing sleeves smiles as she plays a guitar.

31. 5 x 24.8 cm.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (1975-306)
13.3 x 11.2 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (titled Domestic Employment. Playing on the Guitar, 764.0.16)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

A DRAP OF WHISKEY

Printed for & Sold by Bowles &Carver. No. 69 in St. Pauls Church Yard, London

In an oval, a drinker in ragged dress lifts a glass to his lips as he grins and looks out at the viewer from the corners of his eyes. He sits at a table with his right arm guarding a whiskey descanter in woven basket. The original is a watercolour by Robert Dighton.

13.7 x 11.2cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (793.0.15)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

The Dutch Chymist

Jn. Stein fecit. J. Wilson London.

Printed for Robert Sayer, Map & Printseller, No. 53 Fleet Street

A sleepy-eyed chemist (l.) in a soft hat stirs a clay pot over the burner on a bench. Beside him, another man (r.) in a dark flat cap reads either directions or a letter or paper. Behind them another man in a tall hat looks on. A mortar and pestle, beaker, and towels lie on the bench beside the burner.

32.5 x 24.8 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (954.5.2.5)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

A Dutch Concert

Gstadt pinxt.

Printed for J. Gapper in New Bond Street

An older woman seated at a desk holds a musical score for a man with a violin who leans over her shoulder. Sitting across the desk from her, and singing along, is a stout man who holds a beer glass in one hand and keeps time with the other. Next to his feet stands a large pitcher. He wears a felt cap with a feather, the violinist a felt hat. All are plainly dressed.

14.3 x 11.3 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (770.0.100)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

THE DUTCH SONGSTER

Printed for Carington Bowles in St. Pauls Church Yard, London

In the gloom of a tavern, an engrossed man intently reads the sheet music he holds close to his face. His jug sits on the table before him. The verse reads:

The Clownish Boor--the Evening long,
Cons o'er and o'er his fav'rite Song,//
Mean while devoid of Care or fear,
He quaffs his Jug of Ale or Beer.

14.1 x 11.5 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (770.0.79)