Byng return'd, or, The council of expedients [engraving]

Byng return'd, or, The council of expedients [engraving]

[London? s.n. 1756?]

1 engraving : ill. ; 23 x 30 cm. on a leaf 46 x 29 cm.

IN L2005F180 1698/1811 ff

The "quacks of government" sit around a table "in consultation ... not for the sickly patient's sake/ Nor what to give, but what to take." At the head of the table sits a fox. On the wall behind them are displayed Portmahon, Boulogne betray'd by the E. of Warwick in the reign of Edward the 6th, Calais betray'd in the council in the reign of Queen Mark, Dunkirk sold by the council in the reign of Chas the 2d. Scales at lower right appear overweighted by Pitt, Townshend, Pultney, Hay and others. Byng, standing in the doorway, says, "My lords, By these your original instructions, & these my still ungarbled letters, I must stand or fall in the judgment of my country."
One of the "quacks" holds an itemized bill for 223,000 pounds; another holds his Experiments for my better modelling the army, probably a reference to Townshend's authorship of the handbook of military discipline for the Norfolk militia or to the bill "For the better ordering the militia forces" which had recently been brought before the Parliament.
At lower left, below text: Hudibras
On leaf 122v of The tragedy of Admiral Byng, 1756-1757

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