The radical ladder [graphic]

"Queen Caroline reaches the top step of a flimsy double-ladder, pushed by the foremost of a train of gnome-like Jacobins who scramble up behind her or wait (right) to ascend. She holds a blazing firebrand (cf. British Museum Satires No. 14145) emitting clouds of smoke, with which she tries to reach the royal crown (irradiated), which rests on a cushion and Bible, on the summit of a pillar representing the Constitution. A mitre and crosier are carved on the pillar which is spiralled with a band inscribed (reading upwards) 'Commons', 'Lords', 'King'. On the square base are the equally balanced scales of Justice. The Queen wears a feathered hat and an enormously long cloak, under which the Radicals on the ladder are sheltering. These wear caps of Liberty (or Folly) with tricolour cockades; one has a dagger, one a pike, one (Hunt) a bludgeon, one holds the shaft of a banner, inscribed 'Democracy Republic', topped by a cap of Liberty. The rungs of the ladder are: 'Spa Fields Riot'; 'Smithfield', Hunt climbs from one to the other; 'Hunts Procession'; 'Peter[loo]'; 'Cato Stre[et', see No. 13707, &c.]; 'Queens Arrival' [see No. 13730, &c.]; 'Radical Address' [see British Museum Satires No. 13934, &c.]; 'Mob Government' [the top]. The back of the ladder (reading downwards): 'Revolution'; 'Anarchy'; 'Ruin'."--British Museum online catalogue