Thomas Leatherbreeches the Somersetshire – Grimaldi receiving an answer to his letter

William Heath (Paul Pry)

Thomas Leatherbreeches the Somersetshire – Grimaldi receiving an answer to his letter

London, T McLean, 1829

Etching

Original hand colouring

375 x 260 mm

£280

Lethbridge, dressed as a clown, staggers back with flexed knees, and a fixed and terrified stare. In his right hand he holds up a halter labelled ‘No Popery’; in the left is a letter: ‘Sir We Just Trouble with a Line—which we sincerely hope will accelerate your Elevation.’ He says: ‘I know I’m a little changed—but they whant to Halter [H crossed out] me entirely.’ Above the design:’—Serris [sic] of sketches—of the principal performers in the Grand New Pantomime—Call’d The popes Eye—or Tricks & Changes—brought out with considerable applause at the National Theatre 1829.’

Sir Thomas Buckler Lethbridge (1778-1849), M.P. for Somerset (whose father had the same nickname, , had taken a prominent part in a Devonshire protest against concessions to Catholics in January; on 6 Feb., after the King’s Speech, he announced that his opinions were unchanged. On 6 Mar. he explained that he now supported Emancipation, believing that the measure was necessary and that the feeling in the country was altered