Rural sports. Smock racing [graphic]

"A crowd watches three country girls who race (left to right) barefoot and lightly clad; a dog has tripped up a fourth. A dog runs too, with some object tied to its tail. Many of the crowd are in violent action, fighting or falling. Spectators watch from a wagon into which a very fat woman is being hoisted. Others fall from a bench (right), near which are a man on stilts with a fiddle on his back, and another blowing a coach-horn. A horse driven by a would-be fashionable in a gig plunges into the crowd, and the driver is fiercely assailed by two mounted men. In the background, on a ridge, are a few small tents with banners and spectators, indicating a village fair. Farther off (right) is a church with a double spire."--British Museum online catalogue