Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Direct scan of object
POOR old England endeavoring to reclaim his wicked AMERICAN CHILDREN.
Direct scan of object

POOR old England endeavoring to reclaim his wicked AMERICAN CHILDREN.

DateSeptember 1, 1777
Maker Matthew Darly (ca. 1720 - 1780)
OriginEngland, London
MediumBlack and white etching
DimensionsOH: 10 1/4" x OW: 17"; Plate H: 8" x W: 12 7/8"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1960-61
DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "Pub Sep 1, 1777 by M. Darly 39 Strand/ POOR old England endeavoring to reclaim his wicked AMERICAN CHILDREN./ = and therfore is ENGLAND maim'd & forc'd to go with a Staff/ Shakespeare."

The Darly shop responsible for the amusing Macaroni satires issued this lightly etched, somewhat crude print on September 1, 1777. England, symbolized by a wizened old man with a wooden leg leaning his crutch on the English shield at his feet, throws lines across the ocean in an effort to regain control of America represented by five men on the opposite shore. At the end of each line a hook has been secured in a man's nose and England pulls on the lines in an attempt to reclaim the colonials. The men make obscene gestures toward the old man; one has turned and bared his buttocks. Printed below is the following parody of a Shakespearean line:
And therefore is England maimd & Forc'd to go with a Staff./ shakespeare
ProvenanceEx coll: H. Dunscombe Colt. Other known copies in Halsey Collection at Brown, the New York Public Library Collection has the latest version.