A fearful woman (Britannia) is encouraged by three British politicians to resist the invading fleet of France. Coloured etching by J. Gillray after J. Sneyd, 1803.

The fainting Britannia is fortified by "doctors and ministers" represented by Charles Jenkinson (Baron Hawkesbury, subsequently Earl of Liverpool) and Henry Addington (subsequently Viscount Sidmouth): Jenkinson wears a fur-lined robe, while Addington, as a doctor in the robes of the Royal College of Physicians, holds smelling salts ("Gunpowder") to her nose. Sheridan, as a quack doctor's assistant ("Sherry Andrew", play on "Merry Andrew"), holds a club and a shield in the form of the head of the Medusa against Napoleon and a French invasion force crossing the English Channel. Fox is shown behind them. The characters speak as if playing roles in a Shakespearian tragedy

Physical aid, - or - Britannia recover'd from a trance; - also, the patriotic courage of Sherry Andrew, & a peep thro' the fog.

[London] (27 St. James's Street) : H. Humphrey, 14 March 1803.

1 print : etching, with watercolour ; platemark 26.1 x 36.3 cm

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. VIII, London 1947, no. 9972

Wellcome Library no. 12191i

Wellcome library