Monuments lately discover'd on Salisbury Plain
Below caption title: The Figures N. 1 & 2 are Judged by Conoiseurs [sic] to have lately been animated with the Cælestial Fire - N° 3 is an unfinish'd resemblance of the Human Form, from the Vacancy of Countenance & roughness of the Workmanship this Figure cannot be supposed ever to have been intended as a companion to N° 1 - N° 4 from the Attitude &c. is supposed to represent some forlorn Dido or forsaken Ariadne of Quality &c. &c. &c.
From the library of Gordon N. Ray.
Print shows four figures with numbers referring to explanatory notes in the margin. On the right the Prince of Wales (2), wearing a ribbon and star, stands beside (1) (Lady Salisbury), holding her right hand in his right, his left arm is round her waist; she holds a fan in her left hand. The Prince is saying, "Oh let me thus...Eternally admiring, fix & gaze On those dear Eyes; for every glance they send Darts thro' my Soul - " In the centre stand a man and a woman whose faces and limbs resemble blocks of stone; the man (3) is James, 6th Earl (afterwards 1st Marquis) of Salisbury (1748-1823); he clenches his fists, and stamps, his left leg raised, and saying, "Zounds Sr leave my Wife alone or I'll tell the Old Wig" [George III]. Rudimentary horns are sprouting from his forehead. The lady (4), whose features are more defined than those of Salisbury, stands between, and slightly behind, Salisbury and the Prince of Wales. She holds out both hands in distress saying, "To leave me thus!" She is Mrs. Robinson or Perdita, who had been deserted by the Prince of Wales. Behind and on the left two ladies and three men, holding hands, dance in a ring.
Ray, Gordon Norton, 1915-1986, former owner.