1805.
February 3, 1805. Quarterly Duns, or Clamorous Tax-gatherers. Published by Howitt, 73 Wardour Street, Soho.—Taxation in 1805 raised a great deal of bad feeling; the satirists treated the increased imposts, and the methods of collecting them, from their point of view, and made the public smile at ills to which perforce they were compelled to submit. The house of a quack practitioner in 'Rotten Row,' one Dr. Humbug, at the sign of the Golden Pestle of Hippocrates, who advertises 'advice gratis' on his front door, is the scene of a general muster of the inquisitors and collectors of taxes. Window Tax, Income, Property, House, Servants, Horses, Dogs, &c., are among the requisitions to be levied. The Budget opened, or how to raise the wind for the year 1805 explains these visitations. The quack and his wife are declining to admit their duns; they are surveying the besieging party from an upper window, and the goodwill of their house is, according to a placard, to be disposed of. The prospect of 'Houses to Let' and of windows 'Blocked up' shows that taxation was pressing with over-severity, and had, in reality, been carried beyond a joke.
February 25, 1805. The Famous Coal Heaver, Black Charley, looking into the Mouth of the Wonderful Coal Pit. Published by Ackermann. Described by an English Yeoman. (Here follows a long description turning on 'the fundamental deficiency.')—Fox, in blue and buff, on his hands and knees, is staring with a look of astonishment into the mouth of a large head of Pitt, beside which flourishes a Scotch thistle (for Dundas), and around is a thicket of scrubs, which are interlaced over a bench, with T.B. (Treasury Bench) cut on it.
April 23, 1805. The Modern Hercules cleansing the Augean Stable.—'Augeas, a king of Elis, had a stable which was not cleansed for thirty years, yet Hercules cleansed it in one day.'—Heathen Mythology. The modern Hercules, wrapped round with his lion's skin, is making use of a monster measure, Whitbread's Entire, with the contents of which he is freely deluging the St. Stephen's stables. The abbot of St. Stephen's, with mitre and crozier, ensconced in his niche, is in consternation at the work going on. The horses are all standing with their heads turned to their stalls, and their hoofs to the purifier. Dundas (Lord Melville) is kicking with energy, crying 'What the Deel is the man aboot?' Wilberforce's 'Broom for the suppression of Vice' is between his legs, and before him is a huge private chest for stray provender, with money bags outside. Trotter stands next; he cries, 'Attack the Gallopers! I am only a poor Trotter.' Pitt, a very bony steed, is crying, 'I am afraid we shall all be drenched in turn;' and a crowd of others are thrown into confusion at their prospects, saying, 'Who could have expected this?' Against the wall are stalls stored with money-bags from end to end: 'Navy Stall,' 'Army Stall,' 'Treasury Stall,' &c.
April 23, 1805. The Fifth Clause, or Effect of Example. Published by T. Rowlandson.
April 28, 1805. A Scotch Sarcophagus. Published by T. Rowlandson, Adelphi.—The Sarcophagus is of handsome design; two cherubims, in Scotch bonnets, surmount the lid; two devils, evidently much shocked, appear on the sides. Two Highlanders, in full kilt and tartan dresses, are standing as mourners, one is leaning weeping with his elbow on the urn, the other is seeking comfort in his snuff mull.
Stop, Traveller, and read.
Within this
Sarcophagus,
composed of Scotch pebbles,
are deposited the political remains of