Charles Williams
The divine and the donkey- or Petworth frolicks.
London, M. Jones February 1st. 1814
Etching
Original hand colouring
201 x 510 mm
Traces of old folds as issued, neat marginal repair.
£400
A magnificent bed forms the centre of the design; towards this two fashionably dressed men carry a fat and drunken parson (left), encouraged by the Regent who stands by the corner of the bed, in back view, holding up a decanter and glass. On the right two other men, lifting up an ass, wrapped in a frilled feminine garment, are about to place it in the bed, while a man in back view, probably Lord Egremont, turns back the bed-clothes. Other guests at Petworth watch with great amusement. A footman stands near the open door (left) holding up lighted candles. A man bending over the head of the parson with decanter and glass says: "Come one more bumper to the Allies!—" The parson answers: "I’ll drink another bottle to the Allies—Huzza!! Love and Wine for ever!!" The Prince, striking an elegant attitude, says: "Bravo my Boy— we have provided you an Allie for the night my Buck I hope you will agree together." From under the valance of the bed appear the head and shoulders of a woman; she looks up at McMahon, who stoops towards her, saying, "What Margery!—did you want to hear the news from the Doctors lips." From his pocket hangs a purse inscribed ‘P P’ [Privy Purse, see No. 11874, &c.]. The man who holds the ass by a hind-leg says: "Why Jenny you must not kick in this manner, when you have got your Bedfelow with you." Behind and on the right three men drink together. One holds out his glass, saying, "Come lets drink a Bon Repos to them." Another fills his glass, saying, "Bon Repos to Ourselves for there will be a rare duet of snoring & Braying." The third laughs, holding his sides: "Oh dear! Oh dear!—I shall die with laughing what will the Parson say when he finds what a strange bedfellow he has got—" In the foreground (right) is the parson’s open portmanteau, with the name outlined in nails: ‘[D]avis D D’. Beside it lie open books: ‘Sermon on the Sin of Drunkenness’; ‘Commentarie[s] on the Golden Ass’ [of Apuleius]; ‘Thirty-nine Articles’. Inside it are a large Bible, a garment, and (strapped inside the lid) a bundle of ‘Sermons’ and a pair of shoes. On the head of the bed are the arms, crest and motto, ‘Au Bon Droit’, of Lord Egremont.
