True reform of Parliament : i.e. patriots lighting a revolutionary-bonfire in New Palace Yard / Js. Gillray inv. & fect.

Print shows Sir Francis Burdett holding up a bonnet rouge shaped like a fool's cap; he is addressing those who are making a bonfire of statutes, &c., on the cobbles of Palace Yard. He is saying: "It is only in the House of Commons "that the People of England are spoken of "with Contempt, & calumniated!!!--"--can things be remedied by Bills? No!-- "it must be by an Honest House of "Commons!--what is the use of Magna-Charta, Habeas-Corpus, "or the Bill of Rights?--See, my own Speech at Westminster--Vide, "Cobbett's Patriotic Register ... He tramples on a sceptre beside which lies a crown covered by a long scroll: Resolution[s] of the Whig-Club; Resolved--That it is the decided Opinion of this Club that no Substantial & permament [sic] Good can be derived by the Country, from any change of Ministry, unless accompanied by an entire change of systemn--accomplish'd by an entire Reform of the Parliament. A great pile of documents with a Holy Bible in the centre, is ready for the flames; Horne Tooke kneels at Burdett's feet, applying a flaming brand, inscribed Sedition, to the pile. Three simian creatures apply torches to the pile. Beside Tooke crouches Bosville placing an Act against Fomenting Treason on the flames. Behind him Whitbread stands with a barrel on his shoulder whose contents he empties on to the fire. The barrel is Well-Pitch'd Old Beer Barrel to Crown ye Bonfire; the hoops: Whibreads Entire and Pro Bono Publico. The contents are papers: Respect to the Crown; Rules & Orders of the House of Commons; Dignities of the House of Lords; etc. Lord Folkestone brings three Acts: Act against Seditious Meetings; against Bribery; against Corruption. Clifford, in barrister's wig and gown, is about to hurl three documents into the flames: Trial by Jury; List of Penal Statutes; Laws of England. Cobbett, above and behind the others, holds up a three-pronged pitchfork from which hangs a (tricolour) placard: Elements of Reform by W. Cobbett the Hampshire-Hog-Reformer. On the extreme left are Wardle and Grattan; the former carrying on his shoulder an Act against Defaming the Royal Family. Grattan brings to the fire the Act of Union, between Great Britain and Ireland and an act against Irish Rebels. Behind the groups are clouds above which appears The Rising Sun of Republicanism. In the foreground the Marquis of Buckingham and Lord Grenville carry off large money-bags, that of the former, labelled Family Pickings, is £400000; the latter's is Exchequer Pickings. Buckingham says: come away! Brother-Broad-Bottom! come away. Grenville answers: Ay! they may want to Reform our Pockets perhaps. In the background a mob, tiny figures with banners, pickaxes, axes, and firebrands, hurries towards and into Parliament, a Gothic building resembling Westminster Hall.