John Murphy after Francis Wheatley.

The Encampment at Brighton.

26.5 x 21.5

A large-scale mezzotint engraved my John Murphy after Wheatley and published in London in 1796.

This ostensibly tranquil scene belies the fact that by 1796, when this print was made, there was a great deal of military upheaval and political uncertainty sweeping across Europe in what would later become known as The French Revolutionary Wars spanning the decade from 1792 until 1802. The British Army, like many of its European counterparts, needed to swell the ranks and recruitment drives became a common occurrence. Here we see the army pitched upon the South Downs outside Brighton on both a PR exercise and an attempt to persuade the local lads to sign up. Jane Austen famously refers to the excitement generated by the troop's arrival in a locality when, in Pride and Prejudice, Lydia tries to persuade her father to take her to Brighton so she can flirt with the soldiers: " They are going to be encamped near Brighton; and I do so want papa to take us there for the summer! It would be such a delicious scheme, and I dare say would hardly cost anything at all. Mama would like to go too of all things! Only think what a miserable summer else we shall have!"

The three gallant soldiers pictured here have come to the edge of the encampment to fraternise with the locals but there appears to be little impropriety in the scene, only a friendly purchase of provisions and a chance for the local scamps to pet the horses.

£950