Bunbury was a friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds and also of Hoppner, he thus moved in the artists' circle of the day. "During the time he was living in Suffolk, he was prominently associated with the County Militia; and no doubt it was at this period that ideas for humorous military sketches presented themselves. 'The Militia Meeting,' 'Recruits,' and 'The Deserter' may be mentioned among these, while a story is told in connection with another sketch that is characteristic of Bunbury's readiness with his pencil. A young private of his regiment applied for a pass in order to visit the lady of his affections. The application having come before Mr. Bunbury, he not only signed the pass, but drew a comical sketch on the permit, representing the meeting of the amorous couple, to the great amusement of the officers to whom the pass was presented. "In 1778, political relations between England and America were very strained, in consequence of which militia camps were formed in various parts of the country. Henry Bunbury, as an officer of the Suffolk Militia, was ordered to join his camp at Coxheath. All sorts of caricatures from all sorts of pencils (most of them anonymous) satirize the military mania of the time. Naturally Bunbury was not behind the rest, and many sketches of a military character, evidently drawn by him at this time, are still in existence. Bunbury's wonderful talent in making these sketches of a martial kind appears to have been recognized at the time, for an exhibition of his military drawings was organized in 1788 and held at Somerset House."[18] [18] Herbert Ewart, in _The Connoisseur_, June 1903, pp. 87-88. Gillray, the second artist mentioned above, was the son of a soldier who fought at Fontenoy, and thus his thoughts were constantly turned to military subjects. Though his satirical drawings dealt with the various topics of the day--his works were published between 1777 and 1815--he seems to have lost no opportunity of showing his spleen for the French, and Napoleon in particular. We have a long list of such artistic effusions of which the following may be mentioned: 1. Fighting for the Dunghill: or Jack Tar settling Citoyen François. 2. Buonaparte, hearing of Nelson's victory, swears by his sword to extirpate the English from off the Earth. 3. General result of Buonaparte's attack upon Ibrahim Bey's Rear Guard. 4. Britannia between Death and the Doctor. 5. The Surrender of Ulm: or Buonaparte and General Mack coming to a right understanding. 6. The New Dynasty: or the little Corsican gardener planting a royal pippin-tree. 7. Apotheosis of the Corsican Phoenix.