Engraving on slightly textured, medium, white wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 12 5/8 × 9 7/8 inches (32.1 × 25.1 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Lettered, lower center: "OLD HOUSES in the BUTCHER ROW | The right hand corner house in this view (which stood on the east side of the St. Celement's lane, near Clement's Inn, and | was taken down 30 March 1798) has been suggested to have been the House in which the horrid conspiracy to destroy the | King, and his Children and Parliament, by Gun powder was determined upon and sworn, and that a book entitled | 'The Gun powder Treason', prefaced by ... Bishop of Lincoln (reprinted 1679) identified it as such, but in respect to this sugges- | tion, it appears, on referring to the book, that the conspirator Thomas Winter, confessed that Catesby, Peroy, Wright, Guy Vaux and | himself met merely 'behind Saint Clements' (without any further description fo the place_) where they adminstered to each other the | oath of secrecy, and after, received the sacrament 'in the next room ; On this ground, therefore, the identity of the House is still uncer | tain, and the above houses are inserted only as curious specimens of ancient modes of building in the metropolis"; lower center: "Pub: Aug 10 1798 by N. Smith, Rembrandts Head Gt. Mays Building St. Martins Lane & I.T. Smith, 40 Frith Street, Soho"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection