Printmaker from British Museum catalogue.
Lettered with title followed by "Vide Gazetteer Novr. 11."
The incident referred to here, as related in the "Gazetteer", occurred when Mr. Wilberforce gave an entertainment at Wimbledon for Mr. Edward James Eliot, a "Miss Woodley", William Pitt, &c., when "In honour of the approaching nuptials [i.e. the marriage of Eliot to Harriot Pitt], much wine was drank - and the young Minister was "praeter solitum levis".' On the departure of Miss Woodley all wished to escort her across the common; horses could not be found, but two asses appeared, Wilberforce mounting one, Pitt the other; on Pitt's ass refusing to start, a passer-by exclaimed 'What will nobody kick the Minister's A------!' A kick from Elliot, or the dread of a kick, made the ass gallop across the common. A ballad on the subject, with the same title, was published by Fores, 26 Nov. 1784, probably to accompany this print. Cf. British Museum online catalog.
A lady on horseback rides between Pitt and Wilberforce mounted on asses. The ass (left) on the lady's right is galloping, its rider (Wilberforce) waves his hat triumphantly towards Pitt whose ass refuses to move. A man standing behind it (right) by a milestone inscribed 'Wimbledon Common', is about to kick the ass violently. The lady, whose horse is restive, raises her riding-switch to beat Pitt's ass. Cf. British Museum online catalog.