Inscribed. Dated., Inscription: Inscribed recto: u.c. "Cicero Against Verres." in the plate; lower edge - "The time is come, Fathers, when that which has long been wished for, towards allaying the envy, your House has been subject to, & removing / the imputations against trials, is (not by human contrivance, but superior direction) effectually put in our power. An opinion has long / prevailed, not only here at home, but likewise in foreign countries, both dangerous to you, and pernicious to the state, viz. That, in prosecutions, / men of wealth are always safe, however clearly convicted. There is now to be brought upon his trial before you, to the confusion, I hope of / the propagators of this slanderous imputation, one, whose life and actions condemn him in the opinion of all impartial persons; but / who, according to his reckoning, and declated dependance upon his riches, is already aquitted; I mean W____ H____. I have / undertaken this prosecution, Fathers, at the general desire, and with the great exceptation of the British People, ______ / with the direct design of clearing your justice and impartiality before the world., Inscription: For I have brought upon his trial, one, whose conduct has / been such, that, in passing a just sentence upon him, you will have an opportunity of re-establishing the credit of such trials; of recovering / whatever may be lost of the favour of the British People; and of satisfying foreign states and kingdoms in alliance with us, or tributary to us. I demand justice of you, Fathers, upon the robber of the public treasury, the oppressor of Afia, and the invador of the rights & privileges of Britons, the scourge and curse of Indoftan. If that sentence is passed upon him which his crimes deserve, your authority, Fathers, / will be venerable & sacred in the eyes of the public. But if his great riches should bias you in his favour, I shall still gain one point, viz. To make it apparent to all the world, that what was wanting in this case was not a criminal, nor a prosecutor; but justice, & adequate punishment. / Boyne & Walker No. 11, Great Turnstile, Lincolns Inn Fields." in the plate; l.r. of image - "IB" initials of engraver in the plate.
