Skip to main content

John Bull at the Sign, the Case is Altered!!, 2 March 1801

 Item — Box: LF104/6 Box 1
Reference code: LF104/6/50

Scope and Contents

By Isaac Cruikshank. A design in two equal compartments placed side by side. A fat Frenchman (left) sits at a round table in profile to the right, knife and fork in hand, grinning delightedly at a large joint of beef flanked by a vast loaf and a decanter. He wears an enormous cocked hat, Hessian boots, and a coat of quasi-military cut. He says: "Ah What Monsieur Jack Bull you going to starve me!!!" Beside him sits his greyhound, bulgingly replete. From the table hangs a scroll: 'Beef Mutton Veal [bracketed] 002, loaf 005, Plenty'. The table has a cloth, the floor is carpeted. John Bull (right), thin and almost bald, his baggy face showing traces of former tet, sits in profile to the left, with clasped hands, regarding with resigned disgust a small oblong table, on which are a plate of fish (herring and sprats), a small oar, and a meagre dish of potatoes. His ragged coat is that of a once prosperous citizen. He says: "who would have thought it!" From the table hangs a scroll headed 'Pd: Beef 1s, Mutton 10 1/2, Veal 1[s], Butter 1. 6, loaf 1. 9 Potatoes 3d' A Pitcner °f water stands on the boarded floor. Beside him his emaciated bulldog lies moribund. On the wall in each compartment is a large print: [left] 'A French man in 1788', a copy, Gillray's 'Politeness' (see frontispiece, vol. v); a thin fop taking snuff, and saying over his shoulder (to John Bull), "Vous etes une Bete". The lean greyhound behind his chair sniffs other nervously towards John's mastiff; frogs hang on the wall, [right] A copy of 'John Bull in 1788', John sits scowling contemptuously over his (right) shoulder at the Frenchman, saying, "you be d------d". A huge joint hangs on the wall. Description from the British Museum.

Dates

  • Creation: 2 March 1801

Conditions Governing Access

Available by appointment in our Reading Room

Extent

1 Item(s)

Language of Materials

English

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository

Contact:
Western Bank Library
University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN United Kingdom
+44 (0) 114 222 7299