Swearing to the cutting monster or – a scene in Bow Street

James Gillray

Swearing to the cutting monster or – a scene in Bow Street

Etching

Bohn c. 1850

250 x 350 mm

£120.

Originally published 20th. May 1790 A young woman stands upon a high stool, her skirts raised to show her posteriors to three men (half length) behind her. She bends forward, pointing to Charles Fox who stands with his hands handcuffed in a booth or box behind a bar. Fox has an enormous head and an expression of terrified dismay at the denunciation. Behind him is a man in profile holding a constable’s staff. The three men are evidently Bow Street Justices (Sir Sampson Wright, Addington, and Bond); the principal magistrate (Wright) wears a hat and spectacles and is much caricatured (cf. BMSats 6119-21). Above their heads are the evenly balanced scales of Justice. In front of the woman stands a clerk (half length) meditatively biting his pen.