Regularly employed to illustrate a royal setting or depict actions of the king, the lion and the unicorn of the United Kingdom’s heraldic coat of arms have come to life in many historic political satires. This image caricatures the situation surrounding the Hibernian Ball of 1822, planned by Lady Hertford and the Dowager Duchess of Richmond as a charity event to benefit those suffering in Ireland. The planners did not invite Lady Conyngham, mistress of King George IV. Greatly offended, the courtier planned a ball of her own, to which the two noblewomen were not included on the list of patronesses.
View Conciliation an Irish Farce in the Brown Digital Repository
S.W. Fores, 1822
Hand-colored etching
The Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, John Hay Library