Tom Paine's nightly pest / Js Gy design et fect pro bono publico.

Paine lies asleep on straw on a ramshackle wooden bedstead, covered by his coat. He wears a cap inscribed "Libertas". He lies diagonally from left to right, facing the spectator. On the head of his bed are drawn the profile heads, with wings, of his Guardian Angels: Priestley (left) and Fox (right). His head rests on a bundle of straw round which is a striped and torn (?) flag inscribed "Vive l'America". His arm lies across an open book: "The Rights of Farthing Candles proving their Equality with the Sun & Moon. And the necessity of a Reformation in the Planetary System." From his coat-pocket protrudes a pamphlet: "Common Sense or Reason destructive to Free Government." On a table by his side (right) are a rat with its head caught in a trap, writing materials, and a paper: "The Golden Age The Art of Equalizing the Property of Princes & Pikemen."