Billy the Bamboozler robbing the cobler : the portrait of him taken just before he was turnd off.
[London] : Publishd January 9th 1789 by H. Humphries, New Bond Street, London, [1789]
Caption below image: Some account of the life and behavior of William Pett alias Billy the Bamboozler.
Library's copy cropped within plate mark; the imprint has been excised and pasted down onto the plate at the foot of the image.
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
William Pitt in the guise of a robber who is about to be hanged. He aims a pistol at the head of a cobbler, saying, "You Rascall, You keep a Shop, and shall pay for it". The cobbler, kneeling hat in hand, in profile to the left, says, "Lord Sir, mines only a Stall, Have mercy on my Wife & Family". Part of his bulk or stall appears behind him (right). Behind Pitt (left) the Duke of Richmond kneels on the ground, holding out his cocked hat for the coins which the former drops into it; he points to houses of playing-cards which are round him on the ground and represent his scheme of fortifications. Cf. British Museum online catalogue.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.