The STATE HACKNEY COACH.

Date1773

MediumBlack and white line engraving

DimensionsOH: 5" x OW: 8"; Plate H: 3 3/4" x W: 6 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-154

DescriptionThe upper margin reads: "They go fast whom the Devil drives."

This print was published in the London Magazine. The maker has resorted to the familiar theme of a coach propelled without horses. Now firmly entrenched as England's political leader, Lord North, controlled by the Devil, has harnessed a group of easily swayed colleagues to the vehicle. However, the satirist has chosen to identify only two of the many possible by a recognizable representation. First in line is Lord Holland (Henry Fox), one of those who rose rapidly in power under North's tutlage. Just under the driver in the last row is a black, satiric guise for Jeremiah Dyson, lord of the treasury and another of North's coterie. Oblivious to the events about him, George III sleeps peacefully in the coach, a pose often used by satirists to suggest his lack of concern for England's grave problems. The coach is being driven towards the Tower of London.
ProvenanceEx coll: H. Dunscombe Colt. Other known copies: Peel collection at the Morgan Library; where ever there is a set of the magazine.