A political satire, first published in March 1784, then re-issued in William Humphrey’s ‘The History of the Westminster Election’, which was published in the October, lampooning events surrounding the election which had taken place in the May. One of the most stridently pro-Fox caricatures, it depicts him standing heroically in a suit of armour, holding up his ‘Shield of Truth’, and wielding his sword marked ‘Justice’, facing down a dragon with many heads which in turn say ‘Tyranny’, ‘Assumed Prerogative’, ‘Despotism’, ‘Oppression’, and so on, including the severed ones on the ground. Behind Fox are three close groups of supporters, comprising two emaciated East Indians, a group of English soldiers, also in armour and flying a ‘Standard of Universal Liberty’ bearing the image of Britannia, and a group of Irish reserves. Behind the monster, four figures in various styles of continental dress dance around a ‘Standard of Sedition’, gloating at the political turmoil of the time. The presence of the Indians suggests this is a rare image in favour of the India Act, which established the dual political and commercial control of the subcontinent by the British government and the East India Company, respectively.

The Westminster Election proved a huge boost to Rowlandson’s burgeoning career as a caricaturist, the political upheaval providing ample opportunities for him to lampoon both Fox and Pitt, which he did with relish, happily responding to demand from both sides.