Counterfeit signature; print by Gillray. Cf. BM Satires.
Library's copy trimmed within plate mark.
Lord Lansdowne sits at a small writing-table, pen in hand, a number of papers before him. Three caricatured Jewish men stand at left, but he turns with his enigmatic smile towards a French post-boy (far right), a grotesque dwarfish man with long queue and jack-boots holding his whip and hat, who holds out to him with a cunning smile a paper inscribed: 'My dear Lord Paris 7th Jany 1783 I am happy to hear you have so nearly concluded your Alley Arrangements. The Preliminaries shall be signed coute que coute by the Time you desire, & you may rely on the Courier's arrival on the Eve of the 23d yours truly Billy Paradice [William Eden.]' Under Lansdowne's elbow is a paper inscribed 'Memorandums Pay off the Mortgage on Jesuits Colledge in Berkeley Square - Pay off Solomons any for 500£ pr Annm Inquire what Tayt will take for my Bond for 3000£ given for furniture sold at Christyes'. The foremost Jewish man holds out to Lansdowne a paper ... On a shelf, inscribed 'Waste Paper', in the upper right corner of the design, are three large bundles of papers: 'Ordnance Estimates', 'State of the National Debt', and 'Civil List'; two piles of documents hang from the shelf. On the wall above Lansdowne's head are two bust portraits: 'John Calvin', wearing a steeple-crowned hat, gown, and bands, and 'Ignatius Loyola', a profile portrait of Burke wearing a Jesuit's biretta. Cf. British Museum online catalogue.