A political academy

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A political academy
etching
image: 235 x 374 mm; sheet: 322 x 374 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2417
Published: 
London : Pubd the 3d of the 9th Moon in Utopia, and Republished by Wm Holland, N° 50, Oxford Street, [1789]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Title from item.
Year of publication from British Museum online catalog.
A parody of the advertisements of Boruwlaski, the "Polish Dwarf."
Eight lines of text below caption title, beginning: The Sieur Jablanouski, just arrived from Lilliput, where he has had the honour to instruct the Prime M-----, the Lord High C------ ...
At foot of sheet: In Holland's Exhibition Rooms maybe seen all the French Caricatures, with the largest Collection in Europe of Humorous Prints. Admite. One Shilg.
Library's copy closely trimmed within plate mark.

Summary: 

Ministers execute a high jump on the stage of a theatre under the direction of a dwarf who stands on a high platform to which a ladder gives access. The scene is viewed from the back of the stage, which probably resembles that of Astley's Amphitheatre; behind a parapet are several rows of spectators. On the right, above the stage, is the royal box in which the King and Queen are seated. Pitt, in leaping the highest, falls headlong to the ground. Behind him Thurlow, in his Chancellor's robes and holding the mace in both hands, soars triumphantly above the second. The Duke of Richmond (left) runs towards the lowest jump. Above them hang three placards forming a species of triptych, with the center panel exhibiting six numbered "Rules and Orders", the reading "1 No gentleman to attempt the prime ministers leap, except he promises to introduce a general Excise ..."

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