A Quartette in Character. Hand colored engraving.
London: T. McLean, May 1829. A wonderfully colored satirical print depicting King George IV, the Duke of Wellington, Lady Conyngham, and Robert Peel standing posed as four stagecoach characters.
Secretary Robert Peel was disparaged for nepotism for granting his cousin Thomas Peel extensive tracts of land in the new Swan River Colony, later Western Australia.
Manuscript ink descriptions in a period hand are written below each character explaining their roles. King George: "The Swell wot drives wherever he likes"; Wellington: "The MSN wot drives the sovereign"; the Marchioness of Connyngham (sic): "the Guard of the Sovereign"; Secretary Peel: "the cad of the man wot drives the Sovereign". A further note on the verso reads, "cad, a name given to the man who sits behind holding out his finger to attract passengers".
At the left the King is depicted wearing a brown overcoat and wide brimmed hat. Next to him is Wellington as a stagecoach driver carrying a whip; next, the obese figure of Lady Conyngham, the King's last mistress, dressed in a guard’s livery and blowing a horn, and at the far right, Peel as cad or rat catcher with trap in hand, thumbing his nose.
With wide margins beyond the plate marks, 14 1/2 x 10", paper 17 x 11 1/4". BM Satires 15746; 1868,0808.9001 colored. Very good condition. Item #24792
Price: $225.00