The BULL ROASTED; or the POLITICAL COOKS Serving their CUSTOMERS.

DateFebruary 12, 1780

Publisher John Harris

MediumBlack and white line engraving

DimensionsOH: 9 1/2" x OW: 13 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-75

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "Behold the poor Bull! Once Britania's chief boast,/ Is kill'd by State Cooks, and laid down for a Roast!/ While his Master, who should all his Honours maintain,/ Turns the Spit tho' he should such an Office disdain./ Monsieur licks his gills at a bit of the Brown,/ And the other two wish for to gobble him down,/ But may ill digestion attend on the treat,/ And the Cooks every one soon be roasted & Eat."

The bull, symbolic of England, is being roasted on a spit, tended by the leaders who must share responsibility for its demise. Turning the spit, George III complains that it has made him sweat. Bute sits by the bull's head and praises the noble beast that was, while Sandwich, holding a large basting spoon, comments that there is less fat than before. As leader of the government, Lord North serves as waiter for the nations who have contributed to England's downfall. A Frenchman demands part of the brown; Indian Princess America, knife and fork raised, asks for a portion of the buttock; Spain request some flank. A Dutchman sits on the floor with a bowl of memorial broth, a reference to the succession of complaints of treaty violations lodged by England against Holland.
ProvenanceEx coll: H. Dunscombe Colt. Ohter known copies: Peel Collection at the Morgan Library; New York Library collection. This was also in the Halsey collection at the time of the New York show, but did not go to Brown.