The brightest star in the state, or, A peep out of a royal window [graphic].[November 1820]eng"George IV, a terrified colossus, tortured by demons, sits full face in an arm-chair. His right leg, bandaged and swollen, is thrust forward, his heel resting on a cushion, the swathings inscribed 'Pillar of the State'. He grasps the horns (as if wishing to cornute himself) of two little demons who, kneeling on his hips, tug at the ends of a cord which is round his waist. Above the cord are the words 'Pains and Penalties'; below it, on his breeches, is inscribed: 'Ports--mouth Briggs changed for a Dinner'. A third demon savagely pulls from the left knee the Garter ribbon which is inscribed 'Honi . soit . Qui . Mal. y .' and 'Degradation'; he shouts "Down with the Star & Garter that Old Sign must be hung on another Post." The star on the King's coat is represented by an irregular aperture inscribed 'Places out of Danger'; three heads, with hands, are seen within: Eldon above, with Castlereagh (left) and Liverpool (right); the centre-piece is a fourth head, that of a devil with clerical bands, who says: "I wish I wasn't A--h B--p of C--y" [see British Museum Satires No. 13985]. Eldon asks: "Cast--rag what's that noise about Q--n for Ever Tower Guns Firing. Thank G--d I'm here. For its a knell that would summon us to H--ll." Castlereagh: "Hang the people what a riot they make Thank God I'm safe at home, they surely won't dare drag me out of C--n H--e." Liverpool: "Devil take the Bill they want to make me pay it at Sight on Tower Hill but I should have run my head against a block for they would have axe'd me about it which I shouldn't like." The King, with gap-toothed mouth and starting eyes, his wig in a peak above his pear-shaped head, exclaims "Quee-- Car--o". The two demons at his waist say: "Pains & Penalties," and "Purge Corruption from the Commons Sewer" [a plea for Parliamentary Reform]."--British Museum online catalogueTitle etched below image.Sheet trimmed within plate mark.Mounted to 58 x 39 cm.Mounted on leaf 18 in volume 2 of the W.E. Gladstone collection of caricatures and broadsides surrounding the "Queen Caroline Affair."Date "Nov. 1820" written in ink in lower right corner. Typed extract of twenty-nine lines from the British Museum catalogue description is pasted opposite (on verso of preceding leaf).