Political chemist and German retorts, or, Dissolving the Rhenish Confederacy [graphic].

"In a goblet-shaped glass vessel on the top of a cylindrical 'German Stove' a little Napoleon is being heated to dissolution point. Two retorts are connected with this vessel inscribed 'Intrigue and Villainy' and 'Ambition and Folly'; four others issue symmetrically from the stove: 'Gasconade and Lies', 'Fire and Sword', 'Arrogance and Atrocity', 'Murder and Plunder'. In the front of the stove is an opening for the fire; this is being stoked by John Bull (left), a fat 'cit' who leans forward, supporting 'Iohn Bulls Coal Tub', and holding out a lump of coal in a pair of tongs. His vis-à-vis is a fat Dutchman (right) who crouches on his knees plying a pair of 'Dutch Bellows'. He wears a cap and is smoking a pipe; beside him is a pot marked 'Gall'. Behind John stand five sovereigns or personifications of their countries: the King of Würtemberg, grotesquely obese, gazes up, pointing a finger as if giving directions; he holds an open book: 'Publishd Wirtemburgh'. Bernadotte, wearing several orders, triumphantly empties into the steaming vessel a bottle labelled 'Sulphat of Swedish Iron'. Behind him are the hussar who stands in these prints for Prussia or Frederick William III, and (?) Francis I. Between Bernadotte and the glass is an older face, perhaps the King of Saxony. All look up exultingly at the tortured Napoleon. Facing this group stands a German officer (right) stretching up to hold a lid which he is about to clap down on the vessel, though this reaches only to below the victim's waist. Napoleon, in profile to the left, puts one hand to his head with a despairing gesture, and flings out his left arm as if to ward off the extinguishing lid; he exclaims: "Oh Spare me till the King of Rome / Is ripe for mischief yet to come." On the extreme right a Spanish don pounds with a pestle in a large mortar inscribed 'Saragossa'. On the left are four men seated close together at a round table where one of them, a large Cossack, is mixing chemicals. He is directed to the left and holds a book while he mixes the contents of a small pot; a pair of scales lies on the table on which are also jars and an hour-glass. The other three watch intently; next him is a man wearing a fur cap inscribed 'Polar Star' (? Sweden or Poland) who also appears in British Museum Satires No. 12117. His neighbour resembles the Emperor of Austria, but he and the man on the extreme left may be the King of Bavaria and the Duke of Baden, princes of the Confederation of the Rhine. On the ground near the table three books are propped up. The largest is open; on the left page but scored through are the words 'Napoleon Protecter of the Rhenish Confederacy'; on the right page: 'Francis Emperor of Germany restored 1813'. The others are 'Liberty of Germany' and 'The Downfall of Boney'. Behind the Cossack, but directed to the right and watching Napoleon, stands the Pope, wearing his tiara and holding a bottle in each hand containing 'Fulminating Powder' and 'Vial of Wrath'. Chemical appliances are indicated in the background."--British Museum online catalogue.