The brewer and the thistle

Whitbread, his body, limbs, and head covered by tubs of varying shapes and sizes, raises a drayman's pole, to which is attached a hooked chain to smite the drooping head of a thistle with the features of Melville, his profile facing the ground; the flower forms a spiky coronet. The stem is inscribed "Me quisque impune lacerrit" (replacing the "nemo me impune ..." of the motto of the Order of the Thistle). Whitbread's heavy pole is "Tenth Report". The tub on his body is "Wormwood", those on his legs are "Quashee" [Quassia] and "Aloes" (allegations of adulteration against his beer). He tramples on torn papers: "Trial by Peers" and "Magna Charta". Another torn paper is "Criminal Prosecution by the Atty General". A large intact paper is: "New Law Inquisition Committees Torture Question Thumb Screw Peine forte [et dure]".