Modern defence, or, The siege of Fort Phyllis
[London] : Pubd. 16 May 1786 by Geo. Townley Stubbs Peters Court St. Martins Lane, [1786].
Ten lines of verse engraved below caption title: In vain Before the Fair one Arms / With Breastworks high her panting charms ... Guard well that Pass: there lies the Proof / Jove! dearly lov'd a well Thatch'd Roof.
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Print shows a lady resembling Mrs. Fitzherbert standing on a mound in profile to the left; a young military officer (left) fires a cannon from an embrasure, while another fires a trench-mortar at her from behind. Her dress caricatures the fashion for a projecting bust and a prominent padded rump; she wears a hat with an enormous brim, with her hands tucked into a large fur mutt, and at the foot of the mound, a Cupid uses his arrow to undermine the ground on which she stands. Cf. British Museum catalog.