With the word "no" added in ink to the third line in the fifth stanza of verse below the image, altering it to read: And, yet, there's [no] fear, tho' he can enter our Houses ...
Caption title.
Satire on Pitt's transference of the duty on tobacco from customs to excise.
Evidently an early impression, with the third line of stanza 5 reading "And, yet, there's fear, tho' he can enter our Houses", with the word "no" added in pen and ink to read "And, yet, there's no fear, tho' he can enter our Houses", a correction which appears in the impression of the print in the collection of the British Museum.
With 8 numbered stanzas of etched verse below, with introductory text: Addressed to the Manufacturers of and Dealers in Tobacco and Snuff, throughout Prince Pitt's Dominions, and recommended to all Publicans to hang in their smoaking Rooms, in commemoration of the extention of the Excise Laws, which took place. October the 10th 1789: with a Song to the Tune of Derry down.
Library's copy closely trimmed to image within plate mark.
Print shows Pitt in the hopper of a 'Snuff Mill' as an artisan (left) turns the handle and from its spout emerge Pitt's legs, inscribed 'Popularity', broken in fragments. His hair stands on end, and he screams, holding up his arms; his body is inscribed 'Tobacco Bill'. Various persons connected with the tobacco trade attack and insult him. On each side stands a stout citizen puffing smoke at him from a long pipe; an artisan (right) with a shovel throws snuff at him from a basket inscribed 'Snuff'. An artisan (left) belabours him with a club (or stick of tobacco), saying, "Here's a bit of Pig-tail for you, Master Billy derry down, down, derry down." A fat man stands in the foreground (left) holding a frothing quart-pot inscribed 'True man's Entire', and a paper inscribed 'License 5s Trial without Jury open to excise Officers &c.'; he says to the man with the 'Pig-tail': "That's right give the poor Devil his due". Behind him and on the extreme left is a grinning profile. On the right an artisan belabours Pitt with a rod made of tobacco leaves, saying, "You must be prying into our secrets, must you? take that for it - you Puppy - ". Another in the foreground flings snuff into his face with a shovel. Behind him is a woman about to strike with a broom made of 'Real Virginia'; she says, "A Man! Zounds I would not give a grain of Shag for such a shabby Thing". On the extreme right are a barrel of 'Tobacco' and a grinning man holding a bundle of tobacco leaves. Cf. George.