A Hackney meeting (BM 1868,0808.6500)

The two members for Middlesex simultaneously address a meeting of freeholders from a hustings against a building (The Mermaid, at Hackney) which forms a background. Both lean forward in profile to the right. Byng (left), thin and elegant, gesticulates with clenched fist, right arm above his head. He frowns, while Mainwaring (right) grimaces insinuatingly, his hands held out deprecatingly. From Byng's pocket issues a paper: 'Treatise on the use of Cocoa'. On the extreme left, behind Byng, stands Fox, holding Byng's hat. The other men on the platform, all wearing hats, are freely sketched. On the wooden barrier of the hustings are two bills, the lower part of which is concealed by the heads of the spectators, which reach across the lower edge of the design: 'Mermaid Hackney Meeting of the Freeholders for obtaining a Repeal of the odious, detestable, obnoxious, unconstitutional oppressive treasonable . . .' and 'Address to his Majesty by the Freeholders.' 1 February 1796

Hand-coloured etching