The British butcher supplying John Bull with a substitute for bread

Gillray, James, 1756-1815 · July 6, 1795

Pitt (right), as a butcher, stands arrogantly behind his block, holding up a leg of mutton to a hungry, lean, and dismayed John Bull, who stands with bent knees (left), his right hand groping in his breeches pocket. His cleaver lies on his blood-stained block, on the front of which are two placards side by side. Behind Pitt is the pent-house roof of the shop or stall from the front of which hang joints of meat and pieces of offal. The lower story of a house forms a background (left). John Bull wears the dress and wrinkled gaiters of a yokel (BM). / The dearness of corn, and the increasing scarcity of provisions and high price of bread, led to much rioting in the months of June and July, 1795. The Minister is said to have sent some recommendations to the Lord Mayor, which were represented as implying principles like those expressed in this print. John bull presents a picture of starvation, which is not usual with him (Wright/Evans).