Print, satirical print, 1739

Satire suggesting that britain has taken the lead among european powers in the growing confrontation that was to lead to the war of austrian succession; the composition is freely based on those of the "european race" series (bm satires 2333, 2415, 2431 and 2455). A race on the sea-shore with a variety of animals and riders representing different countries: in the lead cardinal fleury (france) falls from the fox he is riding as its tail is grasped by the british lion ridden by robert walpole. The lion kicks out at the muzzled spanish mule behind so that its rider falls. A dutchman, holding a fleur-de-lis and smoking a pipe, ambles along on a mule followed by a russian whipping along his bear and a swede on a reindeer, also brandishing a whip. Overhead, the emperor, charles vi, flies on his eagle hampered by the fleur-de-lis in its mouth. The swede is followed by a turk on an elephant which is gored by a persian rhinoceros ridden by 'kouli kan' (nadir shah). The king of portugal sits on the distance post holding a large flag. Nearer the foreground, the duke of orleans has fallen from his fox (having renounced his military role) and a spaniard pulling a chaise with the king and queen of the two sicilies comes to a sudden halt upsetting the chaise. Behind them, an astrologer standing at the mouth of a cave addresses the old and young pretenders pointing out with his wand the three crowns of england, scotland and ireland in the clouds. In the sky a devil flies by holding two opposition journals, the craftsman and commonsense. At lower left, theodore of corsica is pushed from his horse by philipv of spain. In the foreground, two men lead away a ram left unguarded as a wolf attackes a dog; 'liberty', an unbridled, unsaddled horse is ridden by a jockey, and another jockey, holding his own horse, bets, 'lyon five to one'. In the background, at right, britannia sits on a hillside beside the sea receiving a victor's palm from neptune, and a british merchant with bales of goods around him rejoices in 'trade reviv'd'. Engraved verses in three columns below explain the content. 17 march 1740 etching and engraving. Date: 1739. Dimensions: Height: 310 mm (image); Height: 367 mm (trimmed?); Width: 452 mm (image); Width: 456 mm (trimmed?). Medium: paper. Depicted People: Cardinal André Hercule de Fleury. Collection: British Museum.