‘The Power of One, or John Bull’s Relax’, 1831

Description

Mounted coloured lithograph, entitled ‘THE POWER OF ONE, OR JOHN BULL’S RELAX.’, designed by Charles Jameson Grant, lithographed by anon, and published by S. Gans in 1831.

This caricature depicts John Bull as an invalid, sitting in an armchair, dressed in a bedgown. He has one-eye-bandaged, plasters on his face, his right arm in a sling, while his left leg gouty rests on a cushion. He is seated by table on which is a box of “GREY’S PILLs” and a bottle labelled “RUSSEL’S PURGE”.

On the floor lies a paper headed “Reform (Bill)”. Lettered in a speech bubble, John Bull comments on being restored by one pill; “My Health and Strength were going Fast, To a Certain Dissolution, When Strange to say One pill at last!, Hath saved my Constitution.”