"Crumbs of comfort", or, Old-orthodox restoring consolation to his fallen children

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James Gillray
1756-1815
"Crumbs of comfort", or, Old-orthodox restoring consolation to his fallen children
[London : s.n., 1782]
etching, hand colored
image: 227 x 323 mm; sheet: 244 x 323 mm
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
1986.370
Provenance: 
From the library of Gordon N. Ray.
Notes: 

Library's copy trimmed, with paper border: 288 x 416 mm
By James Gillray; a variant impression includes the names of the subjects etched below the image and the name of the artist within the plate at lower right, along with a date of Sept. 1782.
Remnants of imprint burnished from plate at lower right: 178[2?] ... E. D'Achery [i.e. Elizabeth D'Archery] St. James Str ...

Summary: 

Print shows the Devil standing at the center of a mountain top with outstretched wings, dressed in lawyers wig and bands, but with horns on his head and feet with claws. On the left Fox kneels, eagerly receiving from Satan a dice box and dice, an allusion to his notorious gambling habit, while on the right Burke receives a scourge and rosary, a reference to his supposed Catholicism. A satire on the resignation of Fox and Burke after Shelburne's appointment.

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