The HORRORS of WAR a VISION Or a Scene in the Tragedy of Rich.d 3.

DateDecember 1, 1782

Publisher Daniel Wilson

MediumBlack and white line engraving

DimensionsOH: 9 1/2" x OW: 13 1/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-107

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "The HORRORS of WAR a VISION Or a Scene in the Tragedy of Rich.d 3./ London, Published as the Act directs, Dec. 1.st, 1782, by D. Wilson."

The horrors of war - the American Revolution- are brought home to the defeated English ministers.

To the right, an unidentified leader, possibly Sandwich, with a look of horror on his face, watches from his couch as the drama unfolds. On the left, Lord North watches and comments, "Perdition seizes thee! Had'st thou finished the intended Purpose, the triumphs of the junto had been complete. But now disgrace and public detestation mark the awful resignation of our Places". A satyr-like figure of a woman, corruption, holds out a cup to a seated Britannia saying, "My good lord, I have nearly done her business". Britannia responds, "Oh I have drank of the deadly pois'nd cup adminst'red by corruption". The Indian Princess America stands on a cloud that covers four naked, dead children and some weapons of war. She addresses the prone leader, "Can'st thou behold this mangled beast-this dreadful carnage of my children & feel no keen remorse! Oh forego this bloody warfare, else can revolted nature 'eer forget her wrongs or close in amity the dire catastrophe of recent woes". He replies, "Hence bloody Phantom! Shake not thy gory locks at me. Approach thou like the rugg's Rhinoceros or fierce Hyrcanian beast take any shape but that, & my firm nerves shall never tremble". Behind him yet another deposed leader examines a map of the British Empire in 1775 and comments: "O'er America's lofty summits And Africa's dusky plains: From Europe to the Ganges: And wher'eer the Atlantic bathes the western shores," an accurate description of Britain's pre-Revolutionary empire.
ProvenanceEx coll: H. Dunscombe Colt. Other known copies: Halsey Collection at Brown; Peel collection at the Morgan Library; New York Public Library.