Bishop O'Blarney's flight to Ireland with Mrs. Clarke

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Charles Williams
1796-1866
Bishop O'Blarney's flight to Ireland with Mrs. Clarke
hand colored etching
image: 221 x 335 mm; plate mark: 248 x 352 mm; sheet: 263 x 366 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 1935
Published: 
London : London Pubd. March 1809 by E Knightly Lambeth, March 1809.
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Lettered with title, text within image and publication line "London Pubd. March 1809 by E Knightly Lambeth."
The bishop is perhaps O'Meara, but his features have more resemblance to the Duke of York, often depicted as a bishop, than to the grotesque parson who stands for the former in these prints.

Summary: 

Mrs. Clarke sits on the back of a bishop who flies with large feathered wings across the sea from a cliff inscribed 'Holyhead' (right) to a plain with buildings inscribed 'Dublin' (left). He wears long robes and mitre, and holds a crosier. He says: "I'll take you to the Holy land, Honey! --I'll take you to the Island of Saints! I'll defend you from Rag Boys, White Boys, and Tight Boys. I'll defend you from all evil, unless a gentle stroke from an Irish Shillelee."

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