nistration, which shows the once happy pair, Fox
and Burke, turned away from their previous Paradise, the Treasury, over
whose gate appears the menacing head of Lord Shelburne--who succeeded
them at the head of the Cabinet, Pitt being Chancellor of the
Exchequer--with others of his Ministerial colleagues above ...

... "the gate
With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms.
Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon;
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide."

James Gillray made his entry into English political caricature almost at
the same date as Sayer--namely in 1782--with his caricatures on the
subject of Rodney's naval victory. His father was of Scotch descent, and
having been wounded as a soldier at the battle of Fontenoy--where he
lost his arm--he became in later life an out-pensioner of Chelsea
Hospital; so that it was in Chelsea that James, his son, was born. Like
William Hogarth he too was put in his early years to letter engraving;
but, becoming tired of this rather dull employment, he ran away and
joined a company of strolling players, sharing in the hardships and
adventures of their roving life, perhaps taking part in such scenes as
Hogarth had depicted in his famous print, where the company have
successfully "stormed" their barn and are getting ready--dressing-rooms
being at a discount--for the next performance.

But Gillray's bent towards the plastic arts must have been too strong to
let him remain long in the theatre: when he returned to London he became
a student of the Royal Academy, and seems to have worked hard at
improving his drawing. He also studied under the engraver Bartolozzi;
and the result of his training begins to show itself in his engravings
of "The Deserted Village" and "The Village Train," published in 1784 to
illustrate Goldsmith's poem, and in his imitations of drawings by
Lavinia, Countess Spencer. But, though successful as an engraver, and
even as a painter, it was as a caricaturist that he was destined to win
his lasting fame. Here his individuality came at once to the front;
though even when a professional caricaturist he continued the practice
of engraving and painting, as his portraits of William Pitt and numerous
engravings bear witness.

The political history of England was then approaching a most dramatic
epoch, and this--even apart from Gillray's marvellous natural aptitude
in this dire