Printmaker and date of publication from BM Satires.
Beneath the design are engraved [lines from King Lear]: 'St Withold footed thrice the Wold / She met the Night Mare & her nine Foal, / Aroynt thee Witch aroynt;
Fox, as Belial, seated in a depression in the centre of a large mass resembling a balloon in process of deflation, which is inscribed 'Publica Fides'. Four vertical posts marked with figures seem intended to measure the (rapidly decreasing) degree of 'Publica Fides' on which Fox can still count. These posts are headed '4', 'B' [? Boreas], 'Ind', and '3' respectively. Fox is a fat, almost-naked creature, with horns and talons; a fox's head is tattooed on his arm; with one talon he clutches the post marked 'Ind', [ ? Independent], with the other and his foot he tears at a paper inscribed 'charters', indicating the chartered rights which his India Bill was supposed to attack. The deflating mass rests on a rock inscribed in large letters 'ROCK', and in italics, 'Land Tax', 'Customs', 'Excise', 'Malt', 'Trade', 'Agriculture', 'Windows', 'Houses', 'Salt', indicating the burden of taxation. Against it leans (left) a spear, and Britannia's shield inscribed 'Defender of the Faith'. Other emblematic objects are a large cap of Liberty on a pole projecting from the mass (right), a large cannon inscribed 'Defender of the Faith', a ship whose rigging only is visible behind the cannon, a heap of cannon balls (right), and a waning moon (left). Cf. British Museum online catalog.