I cannot track down this classical, satirical caricature which I saw
for a few times in newspapers, it describes in a pretty acid manner
the
mutual views the English and French (used to) have of each other. The
style (gravure) and the costumes of the characters suggest the end of
the 18th century - here is the description of the drawing: John Bull
is sitting on a stool, a beer stein in hand, and has just angrily
retorted "Damn' you!" to a skinny, haughty French marquis who sits on
a chair (himself having a wooden leg), sniffing tobacco, by a line of
dried frogs dangling from a tree branch, who has just informed him
(John Bull) "Vous etes une bette!"(?)
The style & content suggest the English cartoonist Gillray, yet my
reseach lead me nowhere. Help me! Can I have the name of the author
and how can I get/ make a copy of this remarkable, two hundred years
old, prescient piece of W & Donald Rumsfeld-Jaques Chirac & Villespin
transatlantic mutual assessments?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 07 Apr 2004 23:00 PDT

This has been a fascinating quest.

The cartoon that you're remembering is indeed by Gillray. It's called "Politeness."

"Ch'ien Lung punch bowl painted in grisaille with a depiction of the
Battle of the Saints, 1782 after Robert Dodd. On the other side is a
caricature based on 'Politeness' by James Gillray (a seated Englishman
and Frenchman exchanging abusive remarks). Inscribed above the
Englishman 'You be Damm'd', his dog's collar is inscribed 'CTAS'.
Above the Frenchman 'Vous etes une Bête' (you are a brute)."

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/collectionsDetail.cfm?ID=AAA4358

"Politeness" appears on the cover of a book called "Beef and Liberty":

"Beef & Liberty, by Ben Rogers
 VINTAGE £7.99 (207pp)

Taken from Gillray's print Politeness, the splendid cover depicts John
Bull sitting alongside a great rib of beef and scowling at a
Frenchman: "You be D--m'd!" The importance of beef to the British was
acknowledged by Shakespeare, but it was in the 18th century that roast
beef became a symbol of Albion, rhapsodised by Fielding ('It ennobled
our hearts'), raised to iconic status in Hogarth's The Gate of
Calais."

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=497765&host=5&dir=207

Unfortunately, only the leftmost portion of the cartoon is included on
the book cover:

http://www.fetchbook.co.uk/showImage.do?search=0099286394

And here I lose the scent. I have been unable to find "Politeness"
online, other than in the edited version linked above.

If this is sufficient information to qualify as an answer, I'll be
pleased to repost it as such. If not, I can bow out, and we can give
another Researcher a shot at this.

Thanks to a tip from a Google Answers colleague, I have now located a
print for you, so I'm reposting the material above, with information
about the print (and a small online image), as the answer to your
question.

The cartoon that you're remembering is "Politeness," by James Gillray.

"Ch'ien Lung punch bowl painted in grisaille with a depiction of the
Battle of the Saints, 1782 after Robert Dodd. On the other side is a
caricature based on 'Politeness' by James Gillray (a seated Englishman
and Frenchman exchanging abusive remarks). Inscribed above the
Englishman 'You be Damm'd', his dog's collar is inscribed 'CTAS'.
Above the Frenchman 'Vous etes une Bête' (you are a brute)."

Collections Online:
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/collectionsDetail.cfm?ID=AAA4358

"Politeness" appears on the cover of a book called "Beef and Liberty."
Unfortunately, only the leftmost portion of the cartoon is included on
the book cover. It has been colorized:

Fetchbook
http://www.fetchbook.co.uk/showImage.do?search=0099286394

Gillray's "Politeness" is part of a private collection that is
licensed by the Bridgeman Art Library. You'll find a very small
reproduction of the print here:

The Bridgeman Art Library
http://www.bridgeman.co.uk/search/view_image.asp?button=add&image_id=179196

Larger images, in three formats, are offered by the library. 

The Bridgeman Art Library: Paper Printouts
http://www.bridgeman.co.uk/how_to_use/delivery_format.asp?id=2

The Bridgeman Art Library: Transparencies
http://www.bridgeman.co.uk/how_to_use/delivery_format.asp?id=3

The Bridgeman Art Library: Digital Images
http://www.bridgeman.co.uk/how_to_use/delivery_format.asp?id=4

For further information, please contact the Bridgeman Art Library:

The Bridgeman Art Library: Contact US
http://www.bridgeman.co.uk/contact.asp

These were the search strings that I found most helpful:

Google Web Search: "gillray" + "frenchman"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=gillray+frenchman

Google Web Search: "gillray" + "politeness"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=gillray+politeness

Please note the comment below by bowler-ga regarding books containing
the works of James Gillray. A visit to the library (or an interlibrary
loan) may be quite worthwhile.

Many thanks to my Google Answers colleague answerfinder-ga and to the
erudite and helpful commenter bowler-ga for providing information and
assistance.

I hope this helps. If anything is unclear, if a link doesn't work for
you, or if I have not correctly identified the cartoon you're seeking,
please request clarification before you rate my answer, and I'll
respond as soon as I am able to do so.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

Of course there are many books about the works of James Gillray
available at many libraries and you may find them for sale at a used
book store:

The works of James Gillray :
582 plates and supplement containing the 45 so-called "suppressed plates." 
Author: Gillray, James, 1756-1815.; Bohn, Henry George,
Publication: Bronx [New York] : B. Blom, 1968, 1851

For sale at:
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/BookSearchPL?cmid=hp-search-form

James Gillray :
prints by the eighteenth-century master of caricature / 
Author: Hart, Katherine W.; Gillray, James,; Hacker, Laura.
Publication: Hanover, N.H. : Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 1994

James Gillray, 1756-1815: drawings and caricatures. 
Corp Author: Arts Council of Great Britain.
Publication: London, Arts Council, 1967

The works of James Gillray, the caricaturist, with the history of his
life and times /
Author: Wright, Thomas, 1810-1877.; Grego, Joseph,
Publication: London : Chatto and Windus, 1873

Perhaps they can be found at your local library or obtained through
interlibrary loan.  It's hard to say which one of these may contain
the cartoon but it may be worth a try to obtain any or all of these.

All James Gillray's books for sale at:

www.abebooks.com
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/BookSearchPL?cmid=hp-search-form