Jack a' both sides!

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James Gillray
1756-1815
Jack a' both sides!
etching, hand colored
image: 335 x 227 mm; platemark: 350 x 250 mm; sheet 360 x 260 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2233
Published: 
[London] : Pub. Jan. 1, 1794, by S.W. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly, [1794]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Title from item.
Reissue by Fores of a print originally published by William Humphrey in 1783, with the original imprint line ("Pubd July 11th 1783 by W. Humphrey No 227 Strand"), at lower left, crossed out.

Summary: 

Lord North balances smugly on his left foot atop the beam of a pair of scales tipping the balance in favor of a very obese Charles Fox. Fox laughs at Lord Shelburne who remains suspended on the other scale, unable to bring it down despite stamping his feet. He is being enveloped by a cloud of gas labelled "anathema" being excreted by North. Above to the left, George III, blindfolded with a tartan handkerchief, with the crown suspended above his head, reaches out from a cloud to place an enourmous wig on North's head.

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