“The Races of the Europeans, with their Keys.” (The plate in its first state)
“The Races of the Europeans, with their Keys.” (The plate in its first state)
“A Skit on Britain.” (The plate in its second state)
“A Skit on Britain.” (The plate in its second state)
In its original state it bears the punning title, “The Races of the Europeans with their Keys.” The line of publication runs:—“Geo. Bickham, junr., invt. et sculp. According to the late Act, 1740. Price 1s. Sold at ye Black Moors Head against Surry Street in ye Strand.” The composite design is made up of variorum copies of four separate prints recently published. These are enclosed in the four quarters of an elaborate design, surmounted by a crouching wolf. At the point where the four corners meet is a grotesque horned head. At the foot are a mask and a poniard. Each panel is differently dated, and surmounts its own set of explanatory notes. The allusions to contemporary politics are most ingeniously conceived, but are so numerous that space forbids even their barest description.
In its second state the plate is entitled “A Skit on Britain.” The line of publication runs the same as before, saving the name of the artist, which has been changed into “Ged Bilchham.” A line of script has also been added on this copy, which states that “This plate is upon the same copper as ‘The Races of the Europeans,’ much of the {240} allusions not having been obliterated,” which seems considerably to understate the case. The enclosing design is certainly much the same as before, though in this there are many alterations in detail, but of the four engravings by far the greater portion has been removed. The aerial parts are practically untouched, but of the crowds of figures only a few unimportant groups remain. All the tables of reference have been burnished out, and are replaced by doggerel verses. The dates have been removed from the four compartments, and in the places of three of them appear “Porto Bello, Nov. 1739,” “Cartagena,” and “The Havana,” while the fourth is left blank. The main part of the satire is directed against the policy of Sir Robert Walpole, but is of too elaborate a nature to be entered upon here.
