2-751-962 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'So Much out of the Fire or The Man Wot's Lost His Throne', 1834. Chancellor of the Exchequer John Spencer says to King William IV: 'Please your Majesty - The House of Commons is destroyed! The House of Lords is destroyed! The Throne is destroyed! But these [Poor Law Amendment and Reform Bill] thank Heaven are preserved'. The Palace of Westminster in London burned down on 16 October 1834. Extract from Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland's speech in "Henry IV Part 2", Act 1, Scene 1: "Ev'n such a man, so faint, so spiritless; So dull, so dead in look, so woebegone; Drew Priam's Curtain in the dead of night; And told him half his Troy was burned." Satirical cartoon on British politics by 'H.B.' (John Doyle). [Thomas McLean, London, 1834]