Sale of the cabinet stud
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Print shows a horse auction at Tattersall's, with the auctioneer standing in his rostrum with his hammer, ready to sell a procession of horses with human heads, numbered "2" to "14"; there is no key with the print, and the auctioneer is numbered "1". The different horses, &c, are arranged in four rows, the first consisting of the auctioneer (left), the gateway of Tattersall's, and no. 2, a powerful horse (right) with the King's profile, led by a youth clearly intended for Pitt. The King tramples on a paper inscribed "National Debt 240,000,000" and excretes upon "Mag[na] Cha[rta]"; nos. 3 to 6 are in the second row: 3, "The Thrash Bag of the Cabinet", is a horse with the head of Thurlow, the bag of the Great Seal is across the saddle; the man leading him carries the mace; no. 4 (Pretyman), is a horse eating from a sieve inscribed "India Corn" (implying bribery), ridden by a small man wearing a bishop's mitre and saying "The Road to Lincoln"; no. 5 is a horse with the head of Dundas, with Hastings placing on his back a large sack inscribed "Eastern Oats for Scotch Hacks"; no. 6 is a horse inscribed "Back Stairs" and wearing a baron's coronet reversed and inscribed "Prostitution"; no. 7 is a horse with the head of Eden, with a pack on his back inscribed "For the French King, a Staple Commodity of Gt Britain in return for a Pair of Lace Ruffles and 6 Fans"; no. 8 is a horse inscribed "Commissary" (i.e. Brook Watson) with a wooden leg inscribed "One of the Rotten Members of the City of London", drawing a two-wheeled cart in which sits a man saying "We the Lord Mayor & Alderman, or Desert knife Madge Nicholson"; no. 9 is a horse with the head of Wilkes, and behind the rider is a bundle inscribed "The Apostate Baggage N° 45", shown trampling the "Mag[na] Cha[rta]" and Bible as his near hind-leg kicks Britannia in the face; no. 10 is a horse with an aquiline profile (Carmarthen?) holding up a wine-glass in his near fore-foot; no. 11 is a clumsy horse drawing a farm-cart inscribed "Royal Filth", the profile not unlike Lord Sydney; no. 12 is a horse with a packet on his saddle inscribed "An Eastern Bulse to adorn the British Crown" (presumably Hastings, but not resembling ); no. 13 is the Duke of Richmond firing a cannon with his near fore-foot, a bundle on his back is inscribed "Plans of Fortifications"; the last horse, no. 14, is a lean animal inscribed "Lean Hog" (Sir Joseph Mawbey?), led by a youth blowing a horn (a sow gelder) as a dog urinates against his fore-legs.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.