Precocity

Prince George of Cumberland stands bestriding a hobby-horse, holding a stick of barley-sugar, and smiling delightedly. He stands with his back to a long settee where William IV and Queen Adelaide sit at opposite ends. The King holds up a sealed document saying, ‘Georgy my boy here’s a Lieutenant Generals Commission for you’. The Queen, flatteringly portrayed, holds an open bag of sweets, and says: ‘Nay now do let the child eat his barley sugar. I am sure it will suit him best’. A child’s profile looks from behind a curtain (left) to say ‘I want a bit of barley sugar too’. (An allusion to the seclusion in which Princess Victoria was kept by the Duchess of Kent, cf. No. 16779, and an attack on sinecures (the Commission seems to be an invention). Source British Museum BM Satires 16625