View source for Gillray Don't Be Afraid of My Bear Ladies and Gentlemen

==Background details==
Don't Be Afraid of My Bear Ladies and Gentlemen is a caricature drawn by [[Author::Artist::James Gillray]] 

[[File:gilray_bear.jpg|thumb]]
 
Published by Henry G Bohn hand-coloured etching, published 1851 caricature by Gillray, published on the 19th of May, was entitled, " The bear and his leader," Later printing from original plates. A closed tear near lower right hand corner

==Synopsis of Print==
Fox is represented as a bear muzzled and led in a chain by his master, Lord Grenville : he says, " What though I am obliged to dance a bear, a man may be a gentleman for all that ;" Lord Grenville has a cudgel in his hand, inscribed, " Cudgel for disobedient Bears." A paper inscribed, " Rewards for obedient Bears," hangs from his pocket. He calls out, "Don't be afraid of my Bear, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have tamed and muzzled him, and reformed his habits :" " My Bear ever dances to the genteelest of tunes." Lord Sidmouth enacts the part of a blind old fiddler with a wooden leg, and is playing " God save the King " to the dancing of the bear. From his pocket hangs, " Pray remember your poor and old blind Fiddler." Lord Henry Petty, as a monkey, holds the bear's tail with one hand, and a cap in the other, to collect contributions ; he is dancing, at his feet is the ballad, And a begging we will go." One of the bear's feet is on " Sa ira." Behind Lord Sidmouth hangs out a signpost, inscribed "Pro Bono Publico. Superb fine Exhibition at the Bear-Garden, Broad-Bottom Alley. Orpheus charming the Brutes, with a grand accompaniment by Dr. Sangrado." By his side, " Pease Soup, or Bruin's Delight, a Ballet ;" and " Bubble and Squeak, a Duett," an allusion to Lord Grenville's relatives, Sir Watkins William Winn and Mr. Charles Winn, so nick -named. The insinuation intended to be conveyed by Gillray in this print is, that Fox having owed his introduction to office to Lord Grenville, to whom the King had given a carte blanche to form an Administration, was thereby reduced to subordination to that Nobleman. The constitution of the Cabinet, and the measures adopted by the new Ministers, particularly the mode of opening the negotiation for peace with Franco, and the frank and conciliatory spirit in which it was conducted, proved that Fox's genius was in the ascendant. Fox loved to take counsel with his colleagues on terms of equality ; he would not have brooked a superior. Lord Grenville had the good sense to appreciate the value of his alliance. He was the only man of the party who could, at that time, have led the House of Commons with equal success. It redounds to the honour of the three sections which constituted the Cabinet, that they seem to have acted together with mutual confidence, unalloyed by jealousy,,as long as the health of Fox was spared to share in their deliberations **
==Condition of Print==

==Book Details==
*Category: [[Book Category::Antique Books]]
*Purchased: [[Purchased Date::2017]]
*Price Paid: [[Price::$175.00]]
*First Edition?: [[First Edition::Yes]]
*Condition?: [[Condition:: Very Good]] 
*Comments: [[Comments::UK first edition]]

==References==
*https://books.google.com/books?id=p_kjAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA268&lpg=PA268&dq=don%27t+be+afraid+of+my+bear+gillray&source=bl&ots=NI5DVvdeKY&sig=YuvT14Vrnsi61BhFhbnA8_hJwNE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6neLh9vPRAhWFVyYKHR84CMEQ6AEINzAH#v=onepage&q=don't%20be%20afraid%20of%20my%20bear%20gillray&f=false
[[Category:Book Collecting]]