Alderman Wood in the character of Hercules : Encountering the Hydra!

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William Benbow
Alderman Wood in the character of Hercules : Encountering the Hydra!
lithograph
image: 327 x 265 mm ; sheet: 378 x 281 mm
Peel 2054
Published: 
[London] : Published by Benbow, 169, Strand, [ca. 1820]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Inscription: 

Note pencilled on lower right corner of sheet: Dupl.
Note pencilled on lower right corner of sheet: Suppress'd

Notes: 

Does not appear in George, M.D. Catalogue of political and personal satires preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum.

Summary: 

Sir Matthew Wood, naked except for the skin of the Nemean Lion, wields a club at the Hydra, which has four heads, saying "Down, down to Hell! / and say I sent thee thither". The nearest head (probably King George IV) says, "Thou shalt not / commit Adultery." The second (probably Bartolomeo Bergami) says, "Non mi ricordo!" The third head, wearing a judge's wig and collar, has no speech bubble, but printed beside beside its profile is "Bill of Pains &c." The fourth head is unidentified, and silent, as is a shadowy fifth at the bottom right. Another unidentified head rests at the center bottom of the image; Wood is either standing on or just behind it.

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