Phaeton alarm'd! [graphic]

"Canning, as Phaeton, drives his chariot with four horses abreast on a curving track across the heavens, slanting upwards across the design from left. to r. On this are signs of the zodiac; other constellations of the zodiac are on the darkened sky, above and below the path of Phaeton; all assail him. The base of the design is part of the northern hemisphere, showing the world in flames, and flanked by the ghosts of Pitt and Fox. In the lower left. corner is the ghost of Pitt as Apollo (half length); he weeps, dropping his lyre, and raises his shroud to gaze up at his son, Phaeton. He is surrounded by heavy clouds. In the opposite corner, the head and shoulders of Fox as 'Pluto', holding a pitchfork, emerge from flames: he looks up with sinister anxiety at the conflict in the heavens. Canning's head is the centre of an irradiated sun: 'The Sun of Anti-Jacobinism.' He is heroic, youthful, and naked, except for floating draperies. Above him (l.) is a crescent moon. His horses have human heads set behind equine jaws and nostrils which jet flame. They are (l. to r.): Hawkesbury, Perceval, Castlereagh (with a profile expressive of nobility), Eldon (sub-human). Flame streams backwards from the chariot wheels; the wheels pass over the (dismantled) scales, 'Libra-Britannicus' [British justice], one scale inscribed 'Copenhagen'. Close behind the chariot the British Lion, 'Leo Britannicus', rushes furiously; on the chariot's track, facing the horses, is the Ram (faintly sketched). Behind this is Taurus, a ferocious Irish bull, snorting fire at the horses. His collar is inscribed 'Erin go Bragh'; from it flies a rosary; to his tail is tied a pot inscribed 'Emancipation'. The most conspicuous assailant of the horses is 'Scorpio Broad-Bottom', with the head of Grenville, the words inscribed on the two ferocious claws, in which his arms terminate. (He is the Scorpion who 'bends out his arms into two bows, . . . [and] spreads over the space of two signs'.) The body spirals into a barbed tail, emitting names close to Fox. Smaller claws terminate in human heads (below, l. to r.): Temple, Spencer (both spitting fire), Bedford; (above, l. to r.): Moira, Tierney. Covering Grenville's posterior is an irregular circle. In its centre is an irradiated ring enclosing a chalice with the Host; round this are irradiated heads: Grafton, Stanhope, Derby, Carlisle, Norfolk, Holland. Flame and a barbed tongue issue from Grenville's mouth. ..."--British Museum online catalogue