A noble lord, on an approaching peace, too busy to attend to the expenditure of a million of the public money [graphic]

"Lord Lansdowne sits at a small writing-table, pen in hand, a number of papers before him. Three Jews (left) stand obsequiously on his right, but he turns with his enigmatic smile towards a French post-boy (right), a grotesque dwarfish man with long queue and jack-boots holding his whip and hat, who holds out to him with a cunning smile a paper inscribed: 'My dear Lord Paris 7th Jany 1783 I am happy to hear you have so nearly concluded your Alley Arrangements. The Preliminaries shall be signed coute que coute by the Time you desire, & you may rely on the Courier's arrival on the Eve of the 23d yours truly Billy Paradice [William Eden.]' Under Lansdowne's elbow is a paper inscribed 'Memorandums Pay off the Mortgage on Jesuits Colledge in Berkeley Square - Pay off Solomons any for 500£ pr Annm Inquire what Tayt will take for my Bond for 3000£ given for furniture sold at Christyes'. The foremost Jew holds out to Lansdowne a paper ... On a shelf, inscribed 'Waste Paper', in the upper right corner of the design, are three large bundles of papers: 'Ordnance Estimates', 'State of the National Debt', and 'Civil List'; two piles of documents hang from the shelf. On the wall above Lansdowne's head are two bust portraits: 'John Calvin', wearing a steeple-crowned hat, gown, and bands, and 'Ignatius Loyola', a profile portrait of Burke wearing a Jesuit's biretta as in British Museum Satires No. 6026, &c. 12."--British Museum online catalogue