George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll

Plate 306, labelled Statesmen No. 11, carries the caption "God bless the Duke of Argyll" — a phrase then current as a Scots blessing invoked by crofters who rubbed their backs against the Duke's fence-posts, a wry joke at his paternalist Highland landlordism. Carlo Pellegrini ('Ape') renders Campbell as a squat, broad-skulled figure with arms crossed and a scowl of magnificent self-satisfaction, his oversized head of sandy hair emphasising intellectual vanity. In 1869 Argyll was Gladstone's Lord Privy Seal, a Liberal grandee bridging Whig aristocracy and reformist politics. The crown vignette top-right flags his ducal rank. No ethnic caricature operates here; the humour is purely class-political — the great landlord unconsciously blessing his tenants by giving them a scratching-post.