John Bull's House set in Flames

Date1762

MediumBlack and white line engraving and etching

DimensionsTrimmed to plate and remounted: 7 1/2" X 11"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-133

DescriptionUpper margin reads: "JOHN BULL's HOUSE set in FLAMES."
Label TextSt James Palace is on fire. The friends of Lord bute are running away, while their political antagonists are trying to extinguish the flames. The flames are destroying the sign of a house next door. this sign in the form of a globe is engraved with the words "New Lost Land." The Earl of Bute, in his shirt, runs from the burning palace, wielding a huge pair of bellows, with which he had been fanning the fire. On the bellows is painted a large Thistle. He evacuates wind with energy against the burning building, crying out "O for an Inundation from the North, D--n the Bellows wont do. I can blow a Stronger blast otherways." A group of men is at the door of a house on the other side of the square. one of the men stands on a fire pump with hose in hand spewing out water on the fire. A verse goes along with the print, but has been trimmed from ours.