James Gillray
The Devil to pay; – the wife metamorphos’d, or Neptune reposing, after Fording the Jordan
Etching
Bohn c. 1850
250 x 350 mm
£120.
Originally published 24th. October 1791
A large bed, its head surmounted with the Royal Arms (sketchily burlesqued), and with loosely draped curtains, extends almost across the design. In it the Duke of Clarence lies asleep, Mrs. Jordan sits up with a rapt air, saying, "What pleasant Dreams I have "had To-night! methought I was in Paradise, upon a bed of Violets & Roses, "and the sweetest Husband by my side! . . ." [&c. &c] a quotation from Coffey’s play ‘The Devil to pay: or, the Wives metamorphosed’. Nell Jobson the cobbler’s wife finds herself (temporarily) in the place of Sir John’s lady. See Baker, ‘Biog. Dram.’, 1812, ii. 161. On a chair (left) are the Duke’s naval coat and a pair of breeches; on a stool (right) a petticoat and pair of stays. Under the bed is a chamber-pot inscribed ‘Public Jord[an] open to all Parties’. Beneath the design verses are etched, beginning: ‘"Ten Thousand Transports wait "To crown my happy State,’ and ending ‘"Then Jobson, now adieu, "Thy Cobbling still pursue, "For hence I will not, cannot, no, nor must not buckle to.’
