Description

Engraved by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) in 1792, this print was much reproduced by loyalist propagandists in England, to challenge the French Revolution abroad and parliamentary reform at home. First printed in the aftermath of the September Massacres and the arrest of King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774–92), the print contrasts the virtues of ‘British Liberty’ with the dangers of Jacobin ‘French Liberty’. Comprising two roundels, the print depicts Britannia on the left holding ‘Magna Charta’ and the scales of Justice, with the noble lion of England reposing peacefully at her feet. On the right, a gruesome French Medusa, carrying a trident impaled with hearts and a severed head, tramples a decapitated corpse underfoot, with a man hanging from a lamp-post in the background. The lesson was clear: ancient British liberties, deriving from Magna Carta, were equated with ‘justice’, ‘prosperity’ and ‘happiness’, while revolution led to ‘misery’, ‘injustice’ and ‘ruin’. The viewer was asked to decide, ‘Which is best?’