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Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

"Pity the sorrows of a poor old man" : vide scene in Bloomsbury Square / Js. Gy. d. et f[ecit].

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James Gillray
1756-1815

"Pity the sorrows of a poor old man" : vide scene in Bloomsbury Square / Js. Gy. d. et f[ecit].

[London] : Pubd. Feby 25th, 1796, by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street, [1796]
etching, hand colored
image: 325 x 231 mm; plate mark: 349 x 245 mm; sheet: 361 x 254 mm
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
1986.404
Inscriptions/Markings
Library copy is annotated in pencil on verso with notes identifying the subjects of Gillray's caricature.
Provenance

From the library of Gordon N. Ray.

Summary

Print shows Burke as a shambling beggar, holding out his hat towards the Duke of Bedford who looks between the folding gates of Bedford House. Their words float upwards from their mouths: Burke says: "Pity the Sorrows of a poor old Man, add a trifle to what has been bestowed by Ministry to stop my Complaints ... [etc.]." Bedford says: "Hark'ee, old double Face, - its no use use [sic] for you to stand Jawing there, if you gull other people, you won't bother us out a single Shilling, with all your canting-rant, - no, no, it wo'nt do, old Humbug! - let them bribe you, who are afraid of you, or want your help, - your Gossip wont do here." Burke wears the red and blue of the Windsor uniform, his dress is tattered, one foot protrudes through his shoe. In his right hand is a sheaf of broadsides: 'Last Dying Speech of Old Honesty the Jesuit'. On his back is a sack inscribed '£4000 pr Annum' indicating his two pensions. From his back protrudes a book inscribed 'Reflections upon Political Apostacy'. The design is framed by the stone gateway of Bedford House, each side surmounted by a sphinx

Associated names
Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
Ray, Gordon N. (Gordon Norton), 1915-1986, former owner.
Classification
Department