Balaam,–or the Majesty of the People.

James Gillray
Balaam,–or the Majesty of the People.
London, H HunphreyApril 14th. 1783
Etching
250 x 355 mm
A later, uncoloured issue.
£180
The design is set in an oval., being a satire on tithes and the clergy.
A tall ,thin , Military officer, wearing a hat, gorget, and sword, carries on his shoulders, an enormously fat parson dressed in gown and bands.
The officer, walking head in profile, is saying; I am an Independent Country Gentleman & Col.
of Militia. The parson, with a complacent expression, holds over his right shoulder a scourge with three lashes, one, ending in a snake’s head is inscribed Pious Fraud, the second is English Statutes, the third, ending in beads and a cross, is Popish Canons. Under his left arm he holds a basket labeled Tithes, in it are visible chickens and a sucking- pig. Behind the parson walks a dejected- looking farmer in a smock-frock, holding his hat in one hand, a branch in the other4, he says; We farmers have our Bodys Eat up, for the good of our Souls. Behind the farmer are sheaves of corn, in one of which is a branch similar to the one he holds. After the main title is inscribed; The Lord opened the Mouth of the Ass &c.
One of many satires on the clergy and Tithes.
BM 6209