Frith the madman hurling treason at the King
[London] : Pub Jan 31. 1790 by S W Fores No 3 Piccadilly, [31 January 1790]
Library's copy trimmed within plate mark.
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
On the extreme right the royal coach is passing, the King is seen through the window in profile to the right. A ragged man with the head of Burke, bald and aged, stands with a hatful of stones, about to hurl one at the King. He is restrained by a burly Bow Street officer with a long constable's staff who grasps his ragged shirt. A young man, plainly dressed but resembling the Prince of Wales, seizes him firmly by the right arm. A stout woman and a sailor stand arm-in-arm on the left. The woman, who is Fox, carries a basket and a 'Dying Speech', she looks regretfully at Burke; above her head is etched 'Creul [sic] Fortune thus our hopes [to] Destroy'. The sailor, who is Sheridan, turns his head away, saying, "Dam'd unlucky". He holds a paper '[Ki]ngs last Speech'. In the background is a procession of Life Guards riding behind the King's coach and looking towards Fox and his friends. A beefeater with a pike stands on the extreme right, the head of another appears in the background. On the roof of the coach sits a small demon playing a fiddle. Cf. George.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.