Changing places, alias, Fox stinking the badger out of his nest

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James Gillray
1756-1815
Changing places, alias, Fox stinking the badger out of his nest
etching, hand colored
image: 236 x 355 mm; plate mark: 258 x 369 mm; sheet: 275 x 381 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2370
Published: 
[London] : Pubd. March 22d, 1782 by W. Humphrey No, 227 Strand, [1782]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

By James Gillray.

Summary: 

Print shows North in the guise of a badger, fleeing a little cave under a rock. Charles Fox as a fox snarls at him, while he excretes a stream inscribed "Eloquence". The badger is identified as North by a ribbon tied round his body, and by the four points of the compass in a circle on his head, his snout being inscribed "North". The fox stands over a bag inscribed "Faro Bank" from which guineas are pouring, playing-cards are strewn on the ground at his feet. In the foreground is a small bundle inscribed "Budget" within which are bars inscribed "Soap" and a small barrel inscribed "Small Beer" in allusion to the taxes proposed by North in his budget speech of 11 Mar. Behind the badger is a sign-post with hand of the arm pointing left, in the direction to which North is running, inscribed "To Tower Hill". The other arm points downwards at the cave which the badger has left, and is inscribed "To the Treasury". Behind Fox is a statue inscribed "Janus", one head being that of a bearded old man, the other that of a fox, it is crowned by a a dice-box and two dice. In the distance a hunt is in progress, a stag pursued by dogs; the foremost rider is the king who is falling from his horse after having leapt a gate.

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