West Indian sugar-growers making gin for the British market at the expense of Scottish grain farmers. Aquatint by Samuel de Wilde, 1808.

  • De Wilde, Samuel, 1751-1832.
Date:
[1 July 1808]
Reference:
38477i
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Description

A satire on the Bill requiring the distillers of spirits to use sugar and molasses, rather than Scottish grain, in order to protect the West India planters from the effects of the loss of the continental market. On the left, two black plantation workers feed a furnace with sugar-cane. In the centre a black wizard in a white gown applies his wand to a large vat from which gin ("Old Tom") comes forth in the form of little demons representing disease and vice: one of them is hydrocephalic, walks on crutches, and has a swollen leg. On the right are the President and Secretary of the Board of Agriculture (Sir J. Sinclair, astride a ram, and Arthur Young) and two emaciated fleeing Scotsmen

Publication/Creation

[London] ([Leadenhall Street]) : [Published for The satarist ... by S. Tipper], [1 July 1808]

Physical description

1 print : aquatint, with etching ; image 17 x 32.4 cm

Lettering

The rival majicians or raising the spirit. Thomaso Scrutiny invt.

References note

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, London 1947, vol. 8, no. 10993

Reference

Wellcome Collection 38477i

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