Tiddy-doll, the great French-gingerbread-baker, drawing out a new batch of kings his man, hopping Talley, mixing up the dough / [graphic]

"Napoleon is the London street-seller of gingerbread cakes whose wares and patter made him a long-remembered character. He stands in his bakery vigorously drawing out from the arched aperture of his oven a broad shovel (peel) on which are figures of three kings in royal robes holding orb and sceptre. They are 'Bavaria', 'Wirtembg (very fat), and 'Baden'. The keystone of the arch is inscribed 'New-French Oven for Imperial Gingerbread'. Napoleon, in profile to the right., wears a feathered cocked hat and a white apron over uniform with jack-boots. Behind him is a heap of cannon-balls, with a shovel inscribed 'Fuel'. Under the oven is a second and larger arched opening: 'Ash-hole for broken Gingerbread'. Broken and discarded cakes have been swept into it by a broom: 'Corsican Besom of Destruction', which lies on the ground against a (gingerbread) galleon flying the flag of 'Venice', a crowned skull inscribed 'Spain', a boot inscribed 'Italy', a Papal tiara, a staff and cap of 'Liberty', a figure, face downwards, showing heavy posteriors in bulky breeches inscribed 'Holland'; two fragments, 'Switzerland' and 'Netherlands'; a Habsburg eagle, inscribed 'Austria', the crowns falling from both heads; a tricolour flag, inscribed 'vive le Republique Francois' from whose shaft falls a bonnet rouge. There are also sceptres, a rosary, a coroneted skull, a fleur-de-lis. In the foreground (l.) is a round double-handled basket, from which protrude the heads of men and women puppets wearing crowns or coronets and holding sceptres. It is labelled: 'True Corsican Kinglings for Home Consumption & Exportation'. Beside it lies a cornucopia in the form of a fool's cap edged with bells and inscribed 'Hot Spiced Gingerbread! all hot - come who dips in my luckey bag'. From it pour crowns, coronets, orders, stars, sceptres, a cardinal's hat, three documents with pendent seals inscribed respectively 'Principality', 'Pension', 'Dukedom'. On the extreme right. is a solid chest with three drawers inscribed respectively 'Kings & Queens', 'Crowns & Sceptres', 'Suns & Moons'. On it stand unbaked figures crowded together: 'Little Dough Viceroys, intended for the next new Batch!' In the front row: Sheridan, Fox, Moira, Derby. Behind are Burdett [This is confirmed by Lord Holland. Stanhope, according to Wright and Evans.] and (?) Tierney. All wear coronets and hold sceptres. Behind (l.), Talleyrand, with his back to his master, bends over a large 'Political Kneading Trough' handling heaps of a yeasty mass inscribed 'Hungary', 'Poland', 'Turkey'; in the r. corner of the trough is a portion inscribed 'Hanover', which is being devoured by a crowned eagle with a collar inscribed 'Prussia'. Talleyrand wears a mitre over a tricolour cap and a bag-wig; a stole and robes looped up to show a bandy leg and a surgical shoe (incorrectly on the left foot) In his mouth is a pen; a rosary and an ink-pot hang from his waist."--British Museum online catalogue