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‘Sham Peter!’, 1820

© 2021 Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Description

Mounted hand coloured etching, entitled ‘Sham Peter !’, designed by Marks, etched and published by anon around 1820.

Here a fashionable dandy, attended by a well-dressed young servant, stands admiring himself in a long mirror beside his dressing table. He says “… since I cannot prove a lover, I am determined to prove a villain”.

The shelves above the table are full of medicine pots and bottles, including those lettered: “pills from Dr Eady” (“Dr” Eady was a well-known quack whose remedies were widely advertised), and “mercury” (an anti-venereal preparation). A book “The Art of Seduction” lies open on the floor near to a clyster syringe.

Lettered below design: “Sham Peter ! – Would it had been done! Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else. This Isle with Calibans” (Caliban is a character in William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest).