The European race heat 1st anno dom. MDCCXXXVII humbly inscrib'd to [the] politicians of Great Britain, France, Spain, Rusia [sic], Turky [sic], Germany, Italy, Holland and Corsica, by their most obedient servant, an Englishman / [graphic]

"Satire on the jockeying for position of the European powers in the late 1730s, and in particular on the unwillingness of Walpole's government to go to war. A race-course on the sea-shore with a variety of animals and riders representing different countries: first comes a fox ridden by Cardinal Fleury (France) leading a wolf ridden by a Spaniard in 16th-century costume and a bear (Russia) ridden by a man with a scimitar and a flag bearing crescent moons (trophies won in recent wars with Turkey). Fleury has attempted to noose an elephant ridden by a Turk, but the animal has dropped the noose and stands immobile looking through a pair of spectacles (said to be English, i.e., his view is enhanced by warnings given by Sir Everard Fawkener, the British Ambassador to Constantinople) which allows him a clear view of the French fleur-de-lis grafted on to his trunk. ..."--British Museum online catalogue