Nightly visitors, at St Ann's Hill by James Gillray

Size 26cm x 36cm

Originally published by Hannah Humphrey etched by James Gillray from 'The Genuine Works of James Gillray, engraved by himself. Thomas McLean edition on heavy rag-paper from the original copper plates printed 1830.

Ghosts (right) stand in a row at the foot of Fox's bed; he sits up, staring in terror, hands raised, large tears on his cheeks. The ghosts emerge from clouds; they are headless, with bloodstained necks round which are nooses, except for Lord Edward Fitzgerald, who stands above the others, in profile to the left, with blood-stained hair and shirt. His right hand is on his breast and he says:

"" Who first sedue'd my youthful Mind from Virtue? -  
"Who plann'd my Treasons, & who caus'd my Death? - 
"Remember poor Lord Edward, and despair!!! - "

Fox says:

""Why do'st thou shake thy, Goary Locks at me? 
"Dear, bravest, worthiest, noblest, best of Men! 
"Thou can'st not say, I did it! - " 

The body on Lord Edward's right and on the extreme right is that of Grogan, a leader of rebels in Wexford, it was said under compulsion, hanged from Wexford Bridge, his head fixed on a pike. Lecky, 'Hist. of England', 1890, viii. 95, 166-7. On Lord Edward's left is a body, the label from the neck inscribed 'Remember Hervay'. (Bagenal Harvey, commander-in-chief in Wexford, executed with Grogan.) Next is 'Quigley' (or O'Coigley) executed 7 June 1798 at Maidstone. Next, a label, 'Shears's', rises from clouds in which the bodies are concealed. (John and Henry Sheares, elected to the Directory in Dublin on the arrest of Bond and others, were arrested 21 May and executed on 14 July 1798.

Lord Edward died of the wounds received when he resisted arrest. Above Fox's head fly two naked creatures with infantine bodies, webbed wings, and the serpents of faction or discord springing from their heads and writhing round their bodies. They hold up between them a paper inscribed 'Confessions \ of O'Conner \ Ol Bond'. The bed is framed in heavy curtains. Mrs. Fox lies asleep with her back to Fox. On the ground at his side is an open book partly hidden by the bed-draperies: ' . . . Head Quarters London. Plan of the Irish Rebellion.' 21 September 1798