Seymour, Robert "McLean’s Monthly Sheet of Caricatures No. 44"

Robert Seymour.  "McLean’s Monthly Sheet of Caricatures No. 44." 

London:  Thomas McLean, 1 August 1833.  Lithograph.  13 5/8 x 9 ¾.  Original hand color. 

Thomas McLean (1788-1875) was a London publisher of caricatures, notably by “H. B.” (John Doyle), Robert Seymour (1798-1836) and others.  In 1830 McLean initiated the Monthly Sheet of Caricatures, or, The Looking Glass with the first seven engraved by William Heath and the rest lithographed by Robert Seymour, who later gained fame as illustrator of work by Dickens.  Each month had several satirical illustrations of current events, often using terminology and images offensive today.

Number 44 is no exception.  Six illustrations satirize:  the political difficulties of Prime Minister Earl Grey;  Chancellor of the Exchequer Viscount Althorp and Colonial Secretary Edward Smith-Stanley confronting the financial implications of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833;  the clinging to power of Grey, Althorp and the Lord Chancellor, Lord Brougham;  the defeat of Don Miguel’s attempted usurpation of  the Portuguese throne from his niece Donna Maria;  the Jewish Emancipation Act which had recently passed the Commons but would be blocked by the Lords for several more years;  and  Irish Catholic Member of Parliament Daniel O’Connell “blowing his own horn.”