J. C.
The sale of the coal. heavers. scraps!!
London, M. Jones December 1st. 1813
Etching
Original hand colouring
287 x 485 mm
Traces of old folds as issued, neat marginal repair.
£380
An auction of the deceased Huntington’s property takes place outside a house whose corner appears on the right. The auctioneer, one Tutchin, stands in a high desk (left); his man, kneeling on one knee on a large oval table, holds up a high-backed old-fashioned arm-chair, the back inscribed ‘S S’; a demon is breaking its way out through the cover. Eager bidders on the farther side of the table raise their arms looking up at the auctioneer, who says, raising his hammer: "Now Gentlemen I cannot suffer this Lot to pass without Tuchin upon it’s various properties It is the very identical Chair in which the Prophet when sitting at his Ease examined the "Wise and foolish Virgins" & play’d his "Innocent Games" in "The Saints seed time" which he called the "follies of Youth" having cost him 30£ when "the Bond Child was brought to the Test" & this is my "Final exhortation" as for further particulars see his "Answer to fools", thank you Sir 60 Guineas is bid going for the last time at 60 Guineas!!!!" The foremost bidder says: "I bid 60 Guineas Sir don’t dwell "forward press forward” that’s my Motto my Boy." His hand rests on a paper inscribed ‘M—rg—n’ (Morgan, an upholsterer, commissioned by a devotee to bid up to £105). The next man says: "50 Guineas"; the third: "I am Overs’eer & Treasurer." Both men wear over-sleeves and are butchers, the former holds a paper: ‘H—Marrowbone St’; they are Ashlin and Over, both wish to succeed the deceased preacher. In the foreground, in front of the table, is a pit from which flames are rising. From this emerge the head and shoulders of Huntington, inscribed ‘Lot 60’. He wears a coal-heaver’s hat and extends his arms towards his old chair. A large Devil grips Huntington, holding up a large money-bag, ‘Gleaning of the Vintage’, and saying: "Agoing agoing agoing for the last time agoing." The flames round Huntington are inscribed: ‘Cry of little Faith’, ‘Feeble Disput’ [sic], ‘Glory of the Second House’, ‘Satan’s law Suit’. Groups of devotees surround the table, others lean from the two open windows of the house, which are placarded ‘Sale by Auction Tuchin’. Some of the women are old crones, others are meretricious-looking. Three (left) hold a pair of breeches inscribed ‘S S’, one of them has a paper: ‘Bear & Forbear’; another wearing spectacles peers inside them, saying, "Altho I have given 6 Guineas for a pair of the dear mans spectacles I can see nothing in them." A stout man stands behind the rostrum, saying, "Seven times have I been Transported by Love & the Eighth by Law." He is one Langford, alleged ‘methodist preacher’, recently sentenced at the Old Bailey to seven years’ transportation for ‘marrying’ seven women, all still alive. A respectable-looking man stands by the table, his hand resting on a paper inscribed ‘Strong Shoes’; he is a wealthy shoemaker. Another kneels with clasped hands, a medicine-bottle in his pocket; he is an apothecary in Oxford Road. A footman in livery wearing a hat shouts into the enormous ear-trumpet of an elderly woman, in whose pocket is a bottle, the aperture being inscribed ‘S S’. She is Huntington’s widow, relict of a Lord Mayor, see No. 11083. On the right ‘a dashing kiddy blade’ puts his arm round a demure and comely ‘Methodistic maid’, saying, "What do you think of that Hey My dear?" On the extreme left is a tombstone inscribed ‘Here Lyes the Coal heaver Beloved of his God but abhored of Men having amased many thousands. And England shall know that he hath had a Great PROFIT!!! among them WH • S alias WH • A • S • S’. Behind it kneels Huntington himself, inscribed ‘S S’, apparently tearing the pages of a book; beside him: ‘Utility of the Books "Music & odour of Saints"’. On the extreme right a man descends the steps from the house carrying on his head a tray on which is church plate inscribed ‘S S’. Another man walks off to the right with a large wall-clock, apparently from the preacher’s chapel. Another follows with a treasure-chest inscribed ‘Bank of Faith S S’. On the ground (right) is miscellaneous property for sale: a basket inscribed ‘S S’, a foil, jars or bundles inscribed ‘S S’, a mouse or rat in a trap, a barber’s block carved to represent Huntington’s head, a paper inscribed ‘Child of Liberty in Legal Bondage’.
