The mothers hope [graphic]

"A little boy (looking more like a girl) in a frock and cross-gartered shoes, with short, untidy hair, stands agressively, one foot raised to kick, fists clenched. At his feet are a battledore and shuttlecock and a doll; above his head hangs a canary in a cage. He shouts: I dont like Dolls!--I dont like Canary Birds--I hate Battledore and Shuttlecock, I like Drums, and Trumpets--I wont go to school-I will stay at home--I will have my own way in every thing!! The mother, an ugly middle-aged woman (right), in an old-fashioned dress, with a cap and apron, stoops towards him, saying, Bless the Baby--what an aspiring spirit--if he goes on in this way--he will be a second Buonaparte! Behind her (right) stands a pretty nursemaid holding a younger child who screams and waves a rattle."--British Museum online catalogue, description of an earlier state