John Dugdale Astley, 'the Mate'

Leslie Ward ('Spy') caricatures Sir John Dugdale Astley, 1st Baronet, MP and celebrated sporting man, beneath the caption 'the Mate'—a nod to his reputation as a clubbable companion on the turf and in the ring rather than any nautical role. The plate exaggerates Astley's considerable girth with affectionate relish: he fills his rust-brown Norfolk jacket and matching waistcoat to bursting, grey knickerbockers straining at the knee, a cigar clamped in a florid, white-bearded face beneath a low bowler. He grips a riding crop loosely at his side. The heraldic shield upper-right identifies him as a baronet. No ethnic caricature is present; the comedy is purely physical, targeting the prosperous English squire's appetite for good living.