The brewer and the thistle

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James Sayers
1748-1823
The brewer and the thistle
etching and aquatint
image: 329 x 248 mm; plate mark: 357 x 251 mm; sheet: 371 x 267 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 1890
Published: 
[London] : Published by H. Humphrey, St. James's, 26th June 1805.
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Lettered with 5 lines of text below. First line: "Sansterre [sic] forsook his Malt and Grains"; last line: "To mash a Thistle's head."
Library's copy lacks last line of subject text at bottom of sheet.

Summary: 

Whitbread, his body, limbs, and head covered by tubs of varying shapes and sizes, raises a drayman's pole, to which is attached a hooked chain to smite the drooping head of a thistle with the features of Melville, his profile facing the ground; the flower forms a spiky coronet. The stem is inscribed "Me quisque impune lacerrit" (replacing the "nemo me impune ..." of the motto of the Order of the Thistle). Whitbread's heavy pole is "Tenth Report". The tub on his body is "Wormwood", those on his legs are "Quashee" [Quassia] and "Aloes" (allegations of adulteration against his beer). He tramples on torn papers: "Trial by Peers" and "Magna Charta". Another torn paper is "Criminal Prosecution by the Atty General". A large intact paper is: "New Law Inquisition Committees Torture Question Thumb Screw Peine forte [et dure]".

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