The Festival of the Golden Rump (BM Cc,3.173 1)

Satire on George II and Robert Walpole, based on a "Visio"n described in "Commonsense, or the Englishman's Journal", 19 March 1737. The king is represented as a satyr, seen from the rear, standing on an altar kicking his left leg and breaking wind; Queen Caroline, as a priestess wearing a bell on her wrist, approaches from the right to administer an enema of "Aurum potabile" (a flavoured brandy); Bishop Hoadly stands behind her followed by men carrying on their heads vessels of gold, several of which have been deposited at the foot of the altar, square pieces of gold having spilled from one. On the left; Robert Walpole dressed as the Chief Magician, dressed in a coat embroidered with dragons and the words "Auri Sacra fames" and carrying a rod, looks up at the satyr; behind him is a procession of couriters with the insignia of the golden rump embroidered on their shoulders; in the foreground Walpole's brother Horatio Walpole holds out a pair of scales, an allusion to his concern to preserve the balance of power in Europe which earned him the nickname, the "Balance Master". A curtain hanging across the top is embroidered with golden rumps. 1737
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