Title from caption etched below image.
Date in imprint partially burnished from plate; evidently a later state of George no. 6796 in the British Museum, with that impression bearing the date "8th June 1785".
Item no. 66 of a collection of prints by James Sayers (PML 146857); formerly part of an album of mounted prints, now disbound.
Boring a secret of state
In pencil at foot: "Ld Stormont" and "Ld Loughborough".
Cartoon shows the trunk of a tree projecting horizontally from a trestle on which it rests. Within its circumference is the head of Lord Sydney, in profile to the right, facing the point of an auger with which a judge (Loughborough), whose head is in back-view, is boring into the transverse section of the log. The point of the auger is the smiling head of Lord Stormont, in profile facing downwards, the top of his wig being the point of contact. Two small stumps of branches are inscribed 'Ist Proposition' and '2d Proposition'. After the title is etched, 'a hasty Sketch of yesterday's Business'. Cf. George.