[Frontispiece to Pierce Egan's Life in London ...] [graphic]

"A short and broad Corinthian column standing on grass is almost covered by little scenes emblematical of social classes, from high to low. Across the centre, enclosed in a garland, the three heroes carouse, Corinthian Tom and his country cousin Jerry Hawthorne raise their glasses; Bob Logic (1.), more dandified, sprawls in his chair. Broken bottles are on the ground. The capital, Corinthian Capital, is covered with a scene at Court: George IV on the throne, lords and ladies in court dress. Inscriptions: Roses Pinks, and Tulips, and The Flowers \ of Society. Two figures flank the column immediately below the capital: Noble, a peer wearing a star, and Respectable, a stout citizen with a pen behind his ear. Between these and above the central circle, a blood drives a woman in a curricle; they are Ups and, the corresponding group below the circle and at the base of the column being Downs \ of \ Life in London: a thin, ragged, and desperate man sits on a stone between a beggar-boy and an old basket-woman. Two flanking scenes on projecting slabs are (1.) Mechanical, a knock-kneed artisan holding a frothing tankard and a hammer and (r.) Tag Rag & Bob tail, a scarecrow figure with bare legs hideously splayed, bawling a Last Dying Speech. Between these four single figures are projections from each side of the circle: (1.) Ins &, a man looking from a prison window, and (r.) Outs, a man just released and waving his hat. On the plinth: (The Base), is a tiny scene in a cellar, dimly lit by a fire; a woman smoking a pipe sits on a truckle bed; a ragged man seated on a stool smokes and drinks. Over the hearth is a gibbet broadside. On the r. a man sieves rubbish; sacks, one inscribed G C, and a spade lean against the wall. Below: Bunches of Turn-ups [turnips = ruined persons]-Vegetables, Strings of Ing-ens [onions]. The base of the whole is a slab inscribed: Here are we met three merry Boys,/Three merry boys, I trow are we,/And mony a night we've merry been,/And mony mae we hope to be. Burns. Bound in the 1821 edition of Pierce Egan's Life in London, printed for Sherwood, Neely and Jones. (See 1864,0611.376-412. 184.c.7)"--British Museum online catalogue