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The pigs possessed - or - the Broadbottom'd litter running headlong into ye sea of perdition

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The pigs possessed - or - the Broadbottom'd litter running headlong into ye sea of perdition

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George III, as a farmer in a smock, drives his pigs, now very plump, out of his farmyard and down a cliff into a turbulent sea. They have burst through a rotten paling; the foremost are struggling in huge waves, the last, the reluctant Sheridan, is propelled by the farmer's boot. Behind the king is the old sow in front of a thatched hovel, backed by trees. Among pigs who have already reached the sea is Howick, on his back on a billowing wave. Beside him floats a paper. Behind him the head of Lord Holland looks up wistfully. Lord Grenville is carried downwards, one forefoot on a paper, while the (torn) 'Catholic Bill' floats before him. His body is covered with a distended skin of guineas, in reference to his two highly paid offices. Next, the hind-legs and vast rump of Lord Temple project from the water; beside him is another paper. Beside him is an almost submerged barrel, from which project the hind-legs of the drowning Whitbread. Next behind these, and about to plunge into the waves, are Lord St. Vincent, wearing a naval coat, Buckingham in spectacles and Garter ribbon, Bedford (Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland), from whose neck falls a ribbon. Just behind St. Vincent and Buckingham are Windham, Fitzpatrick (on his back), and Petty. Next, above these, the Duke of Norfolk, Erskine wearing his Chancellor's wig, Lauderdale, his body covered with tartan, and Spencer, with Moira close behind Bedford. The latest pigs to leave the ground are Ellenborough in his wig, Courtenay, Sidmouth, Derby, Carlisle, and Tierney. A little apart from the others Sheridan, his body covered with Harlequin's chequered coat, still has his hind-legs on the edge of the cliff. Portions of six other pigs appear in the mélée. A rosary floats on a swirling wave in the foreground (BM).
Courtesy of Boston Public Library

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Date

1807
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Source

Boston Public Library
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Public Domain

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james gillray 1756 1815 prints and drawings
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