Hand coloured etching entitled 'New Dramatic Resource _a Begging we will go!_a Scene from Covent Garden Theatre after the Conflagration' and 'Theatrical Mendicants relieved - have Pity upon all our Aches and Wants!', engraved by James Gillray, 15th January 1809

Hand coloured etching. The etching has two titles, at the top the text reads 'New Dramatic Resource _a Begging we will go!_a Scene from Covent Garden Theatre after the Conflagration' and at the the base it reads 'Theatrical Mendicants relieved - have Pity upon all our Aches and Wants!'. It shows John Philip Kemble, followed by his brother Charles, and his sister, Mrs. Siddons, holds out his hat, bowing, to the Duke of Northumberland who stands at the gate of Northumberland House in the Strand (right).

Given by the British Theatre Museum Association

(Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VIII, 1947)
Covent Garden Theatre was burned down on 20 Sept. 1808. The Duke of Northumberland offered Kemble a loan of £10,000 on his bond, which was returned to be destroyed at the dinner held to celebrate the laying of the foundation stone of the new theatre on 30 Dec. 1808. Boaden relates the generosity, delicacy, and princely charm of the assistance given by the Prince of Wales. Lord Mountjoy was among those calling on the Kembles to condole; he said: 'It will be but 'gratitude' in the people to compensate your loss.' 'Memoirs of J. P. Kemble', 1824, ii. 459-61, 474 f. Presumably the other persons mentioned also subscribed. Its rebuilding led to the O.P. riots, see No. 11414, &c. For an estimate, doubtless exaggerated, of the subscriptions received, see No. 11418.
Grego, 'Gillray', p. 368. Wright and Evans, No. 567. Reprinted, 'G.W.G.', 1830.

Given to the British Theatre Museum Association by Mrs Ducker in August 1965.

Hand coloured etching entitled 'New Dramatic Resource _a Begging we will go!_a Scene from Covent Garden Theatre after the Conflagration' and 'Theatrical Mendicants relieved - have Pity upon all our Aches and Wants!', engraved by James Gillray, 15th January 1809.

Covent Garden Theatre was burned down on 20 Sept. 1808. The Duke of Northumberland offered Kemble a loan of £10000 on his bond, which was returned to be destroyed at the dinner held to celebrate the laying of the foundation stone of the new theatre on 30 Dec. 1808.

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