A voice from the graves!!!

(Thomas Howell Jones pseud T.H.)

A voice from the graves!!!

London, February 1830

Etching

Original hand colouring

240 x 330 mm

£180

After the title: ‘”—foul deeds will rise, | “Though all the earth o’erwhelm them to men’s eyes—Shakspeare’ [“Hamlet”, I. ii]. The Duke of Cumberland, in civilian dress, flinches in horror from two ghosts (right); he declaims:
‘”Avaunt! and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!
“Hence horrid shadow, unreal mockery hence!’
[“Macbeth”, III. iv, misquoted]
‘—”Cold drops of sweat hang on my trembling flesh—
“My blood grows chilly and I freeze with horror ;—
“Oh tyrant, Consciene [sic]!—how dost thou afflict me!—’
The foremost spirit is Lord Graves, in a shroud, holding out a razor in each hand, the blade dripping blood. He exclaims:
‘”Oh! thou whose unrelenting thoughts, not all
“The hideous terrors of thy guilt can shake—
” Whose conscience with thy body, ever sleeps,
—behold these gaping wounds!
“Then shall thy own devouring conscience
“Gnaw thy heart, and terribly revenge
“My Wrongs!—’
Just behind him stands a handsome and younger man (Sellis), exclaiming, ‘What—! another victim’. Both are surrounded by cloud. On two tables near a sofa are two books, ‘Secret Amours’, and ‘Life of a Libertine’, and a paper: ‘Billet Doux from Lady G—’