Pitt (left) and Fox (right) each hold one wing of a large goose which is flying between them, though a chain is attached to a collar round its neck, the other end being fixed to a staple at Pitt's feet, where are also nine large eggs. The goose turns its head towards Pitt, saying, "I think Gentlemen you make me look very silly."
<p><br>Fox, his right arm raised in his accustomed orator's gesture (cf. BMSat 5755), is saying:
<br><br>"Have I for Britons felt such pangs,
<br>And made so many long harangues,
<br>And having graspt at last the Goose,
<br>Must I be made to let her loose?
<br>And must I see her golden joy 
<br>Plac'd in the Bosom of a Boy, 
<br>Unripe in Judgment, bold in prate, 
<br>Unfit to wade the depths of State, 
<br>To make us peace, or war to wage, 
<br>There is not Judgment in your age. 
<br>To lead the British Lion, Pitt, 
<br>Thy youth's unseemly and unfit. 
<br>I'll give you Sir a proof of this, 
<br>You helpt to beg our present peace, 
<br>When Monsieur scarce could keep his legs, 
<br>Sure, you deserve no golden Eggs, 
<br>To give the goose to such a lad, 
<br>Enough to make a Fox run mad: 
<br>I'll have the Goose I now declare, 
<br>Or from a Fox, I'll turn a Bear."
<br><br>Pitt answers:
<br><br>"Gently wise Sir, nor think your tongue, 
<br>Must carry all things right or wrong. 
<br>You say you'll have the Goose, But when? 
<br>Possession's nine points out of ten: 
<br>And now I've got her, fast I'll hold, 
<br>Yes, pocket too the Eggs of Gold; 
<br>Let who will call it getting Pelf, 
<br>It's duty to my King, and self, 
<br>You say you'll have the Goose again, 
<br>Not surely Fox, in this Kings reign, 
<br>But, be not overmuch perplext, 
<br>You have a prospect in the next"
<br><br>Fox and Pitt stand in profile, facing each other, not caricatured.  19 January 1784
</p>
<br>Etching
1784<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1784-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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