Attributed to William Dent. Cf. British Museum catalog.
A satire on the ostentatious retrenchments of July 1786, when the Prince closed half of Carlton House, dismissing the workmen, the King having refused to pay his debts. Cf. British Museum catalog.
Library's copy closely trimmed with loss of plate mark.
Print shows a ramshackle coach and four conveying the Prince's establishment from Carlton House to Brighton; Weltje drives, and his box-seat is crammed with provisions: a calf's head, leg of mutton, sirloin, carrots, turnips, &c, and is inscribed "Purveyor, Coachman, Cook and Butler"; from it hang a gridiron (or saveall) and an iron pot inscribed "L.W. [Louis Weltje] St James's Street"; the head-bands of the wretched horses are inscribed "Whim" and "Caprice", and inside the coach Mrs. Fitzherbert sits reading "Principles of Oeconomy", as the Prince, seated on her left, gazes at her amorously. In front of them are boxes and a bundle inscribed 'Childbed Linnen'. On the roof of the coach sits Hanger (left), an enormous bludgeon under his arm, reading a paper inscribed "For Sale by Tattersall The Princes Stud". His feet rest on a cask of "Small Beer", with a basket of "Raisin Wine", on the boot behind the coach. On the front of the roof sits Fox, very disconsolate, holding a pair of bellows. Between them is a large basket containing a close-stool, a warming-pan, and a cradle. On the panels of the coach are the Prince's feathers and motto, upside-down, and two stars.