Libel hunters on the look out

Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827 · April 12, 1810

A committee of the Rotten Borough Society, established in 1810 (Gibery Vixe, president ; Leatherbreech, vice), is met to consider the licence of the press, to bring all their faculties to bear for the detection of any lurking evidences of libel or treason. The President is reading aloud, with the assistance of a magnifying glass to enlarge any suspicious paragraphs ; the members of the committee are all on the qui vive to note any libellous allusions. Cobbett's Register is under examination, Magna Charta is trodden under foot, and the Bill of Rights is thrown on one side.