Printmaker from BM Satires.
Sheet trimmed within plate mark.
Oval design shows Sarah Siddons standing on stage, her head turned in profile to the left, her left hand outstretched to take a heavy purse which hangs on a pitchfork emerging from clouds, dropping a dagger to the ground as she does so; in her left hand is a cup whose contents she is pouring on the ground, and the panniers of her dress fly backwards revealing two bulging pockets, one full of guineas, the other of notes or cheques inscribed '£1000, £300', &c.; she is saying: "Famish'd & spent relieving others woe, Your poor devoted Suppliant only begs, This morsel for to buy a bit of Bread." The clouds of smoke rise in a pillar of cloud from the pit of the theatre where flames are indicated, from which come the words "Encore! Encore!", while iIn the background a temple of Fame on a mountain-top is collapsing, and the figure of Fame falls backward, dropping his trumpet.