Pantagruel's victorious return to the court of Gargantua after extirpating the Soup-Meagre's of Bouille Land / Js. Gy. desn. et fect.

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James Gillray
1756-1815
Pantagruel's victorious return to the court of Gargantua after extirpating the Soup-Meagre's of Bouille Land / Js. Gy. desn. et fect.
[London] : Pubd Feby 10th 1794 by H Humphrey, N 18 Old Bond Street, [1794]
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
1986.525
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[London] : Pubd. Feby 10th 1794 by H. Humphrey, N. 18 Old Bond Street, [1794]
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From the library of Gordon N. Ray.
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Print shows the Duke of York handing to George III two large keys: 'Keys of Paris'. The King, seated on the throne in hunting-dress, leans eagerly forward. The Duke is followed by soldiers bearing (worthless) trophies of victory; he says: "Th-th-th-there's Paris for you, damme! did not I say I'd take it? -th-thats all! - a-a-and here's all the Plunder of France! and all the Heads of the whole nation of Sans Culottes, damme! - if y-y-you will do me any honor, why do it; - if not, why even take the next Paris yourself, damme! - look 'e I expect to be made either a Cæsar or an Alexander! -----, d-d-d-d-damme!'. The King, eagerly goggling, says: "What! what! Keys of Paris! Keys of Paris! give us hold! gads bobs, its nothing but, Veni, with you, lad, hay? Veni, Vidi? - ay, ay! Veni, Vidi, Vici! - ay, ay." A tricolour standard inscribed 'Vive la Liberta' lies at the King's feet. Behind the Duke are French weapons, broken: a sword inscribed 'Vive la Lib . .', a cannon similarly inscribed, cannon-balls, a musket, and a pile of decapitated heads wearing bonnets-rouges, on which tramples the Duke's secretary, who holds out a scroll inscribed: 'Authentic Journal - Issuing Manifesto's - Taking Dunkirk 1500 Barrels of Gunpowder 32 pieces of Cannon, & killing 5000 Troops, - sending off 10000 to the hospitals in Flanders - marching into the heart of France, & finishing the War without expence. Js Suckfizzle Secretary.' The secretary is saying, "Here's something like a List of glorious Actions! - well, let them that come after us do as much as we have done, and the Campaign will soon come to a conclusion." Behind him, guardsmen advance carrying bulky burdens: bales of 'Assignats', a large basket of sabots inscribed 'Wooden Shoes of the Poissards', a bundle of 'Breeches of the Sans Coulotte[s]', and a pot of frogs. Pitt sits on the dais at the King's left hand; he writes on papers which he supports on his up-drawn knees: 'Bricks Rum - Brandy Water Air'; 'new Taxes not to be felt by the Swinish Multitude'; 'loan of Eleven Millions.' Behind the throne sits the Queen, gleefully holding out an apron into which the Devil shovels coins from a sack inscribed 'Two Millions Pr Annm'.

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