Frontispiece to the 2d edition of L-d St-----e's Observations on Mr. Pitt's plan of finance [print] / JS f.

Stanhope stands in his library, declaiming; he has just risen from his chair and holds his pen in his raised right hand, his left rests on a small table (right) covered with documents. He wears a cocked hat; his leanness is caricatured, his legs being of exaggerated thinness. His right foot rests on a large volume, "Cocker's Arithmetic". Under his left hand are "Observations upon Mr Pitts Plan" and "M . . of Mr Sheridan's Speech - I prefer the Noble Lord['s] Plan to th[at] of the Minister less visionary". Behind the table is a bookcase against which are pinned two placards, the smaller superimposed on the other. The larger is a "Table of the Average Price of Stocks for April 1786", the prices being partly hidden by the smaller print: a man rides a horse in the air, above a line of buildings; a flying figure blows a trumpet. It is inscribed "Ready for Ascension in a few Days Aerial Figures" and "Thin glittering Textures of the filmy Dew". On the right is a small cupboard on legs, its open door showing a chamber-pot whose overflowing contents drip on to a document inscribed "To Prevent Bribery at Elections". On the pot are papers inscribed "Sinking Fund" and "Surplus"; these fragments appear to have been torn from a document inscribed "Report of the select Committee upon the Ministers Plan for the Reduction of the National Debt. Amount of Taxes Red[ucti]on of Salar[ies]". Above this is an oval picture of the three Graces, to ridicule Stanhope's lanky figure and awkward gestures. Cf. George.