Global Encounters and the Archives: Britain’s Empire in the Age of Horace Walpole

Sawney Discover'd, or, The Scotch Intruders 1760, 1761

Though Scots after 1760 achieved an unprecedented degree of integration into the British Empire –as colonial administrators, military leaders, even politicians –their rising influence met with skepticism and resentment from many Britons. This print by George Townshend captures those sentiments. Scottish men and women stand before a screen yearning for commissions across Britain and its empire. Surrounding them are references to their cultural differences from the English –evidenced in their wearing of Highland plaids –and allusions to their contrary interests to those of the British Empire. The screen, for example, reads "Scotch Interest against English Merit." One seeks a noble title so that she "may be Gratefull to the French" –a clear reference to perceptions of Scottish treachery in the French-supported 1745 Highland rebellion. Instructions below invite the viewer to hold the print to the light in order to "see further of the subject," revealing yet more portrayals of Scots using English positions to further their own ambitions. Together these characters frame Scots as treacherous outsiders seeking places in order to pursue ends antithetical to the British Crown –a view underscored by use of the word "Sawney," a vulgar eighteenth-century epithet for Scot. Catalog Record

Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University Library

George Townshend

Graphic Satire Collection The Lewis Walpole Library boasts one of the most important collections of eighteenth-century British graphic satire anywhere. It is the largest such collection outside of the United Kingdom.Extent: over 10,000 caricatures and satirical prints Summary: Collection founders W.S. Lewis and Annie Burr Lewis began collecting satire to "improve" the Yale edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence. The collection is organized chronologically reflecting their interest in the political and social content of the visual collections. Many once belonged to Horace Walpole and often include annotations in his own hand. The collection includes important examples of work by every artist in the canon of British graphic satire, including William Hogarth, James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson, Richard Newton and George Cruikshank, among many others. Featured prominently in this exhibit, George Townshend (1724-1807), a colonial official and contemporary of Horace Walpole, recognized the potential of graphic satire to influence public opinion and ridicule his political opponents. As an aristocrat, he produced caricature as an amateur, often creating drawings for private circulation and publishing prints for an elite audience. A great deal of material relating to Townshend can be found throughout Yale University's libraries, including the Townshend Papers at Beinecke Rare Book Library and at Sterling Library's Manuscript and Archives and an attack on Townshend called Baratariana at the Lewis Walpole Library. Beyond papers relating directly to Townshend, the Lewis Walpole Library boasts a substantial literary satire collection in both print and manuscript during the mid-eighteenth century.