A crowd of dubious characters promote different causes in this satire on topical issues of the time, described in one journal as “one of the most humorous productions we ever remember to have seen.” The image makes fun of fads of the time such as phrenology: the banner ‘Gall and Spurs-him [Spurzheim]’ (referring to the founders of phrenology) is held by a man with a bumpy, bandaged head. It also mocks progressive causes like the abolition of slavery, whose proponent is depicted as a devil.

This etching comments on the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American War of Independence. John Bull, the personification of Britain, throws up his arms in despair, as a farting demon carries away a map of America – Britain’s lost territory. Personifications of other European nations (left to right: the Netherlands, Spain, France) look on and comment.

In Britain, prices for crops fluctuated due to bad harvests and war around the time of this print. Here a mayor has lowered the cost of bread to such a level that the crops hoarded by the farmers in hope of a significant profit are now half their anticipated price. The farmers are clearly well-fed – with their round bellies mirroring the sacks of corn they hold – while their protruding bottom lips imply both disappointment and, from a physiognomic perspective, poor intellect.