Shop in Assize Time_. The great caricaturist carried this plate, _the
last work on copper by the hand of Gillray_, as notified upon the
print, so far as his intermittent returns of reason would allow him.
As Gillray died June 1, 1815, when the plate was evidently unfinished,
this is probably one of the caricaturist's coppers which, as we have
already related, were handed to George Cruikshank, another departed
worthy, to complete. The unexpected death of the veteran has prevented
the writer verifying this circumstance, although it is probably one of
the plates--probably the most important as to size--which Cruikshank
held in recollection when he informed the writer he considered that
the most flattering testimonial which had been paid him in his long
life was being selected, while a young man, to complete the engravings
Gillray had left unfinished under the painful circumstances of his
mental aberration, as already detailed. (See _The Works of James
Gillray, the Caricaturist, with the Story of his Life and Times_, page
19, Introduction; and, further, the reduced engraving, from this plate
(1811), page 370, the _Works_).
1811 (?). _Modern Antiques._--The cabinet of an antiquarian, richly
filled with supposititious relics of the past. On a shelf is a row
of Etruscan vases; bacchic masks and terminal gods are ranged on the
walls; the chief features of the collection are a gathering of Egyptian
deities and some magnificent sarcophagi. The satire, in some degree,
seems to hint at Sir William Hamilton (then deceased) and the fair Emma.
An old antiquary, decrepit and bent, is peering at the shapely
proportions of an Egyptian figure bearing a close resemblance to life.
The chief incident of the picture is centred in a mummy's coffin,
tenanted for the time, like a sentry-box, by a gallant young officer,
who is embraced, behind the lid of his temporary resting-place, by a
lady, who, like all the beauties designed by the artist, is represented
of fine proportions and somewhat free graces. The _inamorata_ has
thrown down a work which she has evidently studied to some purpose,
_Loves of the Gods--embellished with cuts_, and she is taking the
opportunity to make a practical application of her readings.