Opposition Eloquence

Opposition Eloquence is one of a series of caricatured portraits (all listed as being published on January 6th, 1795) illustrating eight kinds of eloquence, and sometimes associated with particular, real-life individuals. For more about the series as a whole, see my Overview.

In this case, the title and image clearly identify this as a portrait of Charles James Fox, the leader of the Whig opposition in the House of Commons.

The example provided of opposition eloquence is not so easily associated with Fox. There is no such language to be found in either the newspapers or the parliamentary debates of 1794. The British Museum cites a passage from the end of the 1794 term where Fox spoke of "'disasters which not fortune but folly, had brought upon the country" and called the war 'calamitous beyond example'" But though the sense can be broadly (very broadly) construed as similar, not a single word of this can be found in the caption. This lack of an even approximate source for this example of eloquence is just one more instance of the sloppiness of the material provided to Gillray by AS. And it is only excusable under the assumption that Collings (aka AS) was seriously ill or incapacitated at the time.

As with other drawings in the series, AK's sketch is crudely done with Fox's right shoulder looking distinctly odd. But once again Gillray has gone out of his way to make the best of what he received. And I can't help suspecting that he even tried to mimic the face of Colling's earlier version of Fox in the Attic Miscellany.

Sources and Reading

• Commentary from the British Museum on Title.
• "Samuel Collings," Wikipedia
• "Charles James Fox," Wikipedia

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