[Melville's acquittal] [graphic]

"A sequel to British Museum Satires No. 10416. The thistle grows from papers resting on an upturned tub on the extreme right. The head, with Melville's profile facing his tormentors, is erect; the stem is inscribed 'His radiis rediviva viresco'. These roots or papers are inscribed: 'First Charge Lie Ist'; '2d Charge Lie 2d'; '3d Charge Lie 3d'; '5th Charge Lie 5'; '7th Charge Lie ye 7th'. Clouds of dense smoke issue from these papers and billow to the left. across the upper part of the design, carrying with them the heads of nine of Melville's discomfited assailants whom he regards with a slight smile. By the tub falls a sheaf of bulky papers headed 'Protest'. The heads are (left to right): Erskine (close to a plume of feathers denoting the Prince of Wales), Derby, a judge's wig in back view, [For many years this denoted Lord Loughborough (Rosslyn); he died in 1805.] Fox, Stanhope, Ellenborough (scowling), Howick, Sidmouth, Moira. The thistle is irradiated with rays dispelling the dark smoke and inscribed: 'Judicium Parum', 'Not Guilty', and 'Lex Terrae'. Beside them floats a scroll: 'No Crime by ye unanimous opinion of ye eleven Judges'. On the extreme left is a cask, on low trestles, in which stands Wilberforce, with the lank hair bands, and steeple-crowned hat of a seventeenth-century sectary; his hat blows off in the drifting cloud; he turns his head in profile towards the thistle saying, "Tis the Lords doing And has spoiled our Brewing." In the foreground is a procession, leaving the platform on which stands the thistle. On the extreme left is the Speaker, partly concealed by the left margin in wig, hat, and gown, but with no body (to indicate that he is nobody, cf. British Museum Satires No. 5570, &c.) and with the gown raised to show a large foot and ankle inscribed 'Ex pede Herculem'.[Judge the whole from the part, as you guess the size of Hercules from seeing only his foot. Abbot was very small.] He carries a pole inscribed 'Casting Vote' [see British Museum Satires No. 10301] attached to a small ladder. He is followed by two men who carry, slung from a drayman's pole (as in British Museum Satires No. 10574), a cask (damaged), from which Whitbread leans out to shake his left fist at Melville. Under his right hand is a paper: 'Vote of Thanks to the Managers'. From the bung-hole issues a mass of exploding froth inscribed 'not sweet wort'. The cask-bearers are descending the shallow steps from the platform, where a bulky paper lies: 'The Tenth Report waste Paper'. The two men wear bag-wigs; the foremost gloomily gnaws his nails; from his pocket hangs a torn paper: 'I do my Best and yet it fails I hold my tongue and Bite my Nails'."--British Museum online catalogue