Sic transit gloria mundi (BM 1868,0808.4234 3)

Satire on William Pitt suggesting that his policies are a bubble that will burst. Pitt, in profile to right, sits astride a large bubble labelled "Pride, Conceit, Patriotism, Popularity" floating in the air above Palace Yard, Westminster, a smiling sun beaming above the Hall; he blows a bubble labelled, "Moderation" while other bubbles float beneath him, "Spanish War/Changing Sides [etched faintly]Honesty/North America/Self-Importance/Adulation/Pension [etched faintly] Vanity". A man standing on a gallows or inn sign hammers a crown turning it into a broad-brimmed hat (suggesting parliamentary rule rather than monarchy). Burst bubbles are labelled "Beer/Pension/Taxes/Blood & Treasure/Sincerity/Changing Sides"; small bubbles lettered "P/O/V/E/R/T/Y" float downwards towards an unsuspecting crowd of Pitt's admirers; plate 16 to 'The British Antidote, or, Scots Scourge' (British Library, Grenville 18,165). 1762
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