[A maiden aunt smelling fire] [graphic]

"A grotesque old maid having woken at night, the open door of her bedroom behind at left, approaching the foot of a staircase with a candle, only partly dressed and with her bosom hanging outside her dress, led on by a cat; above at left, the young niece appearing at her own bedroom door as if only just awake, her lover escaping in his nightshirt up the stairs at right; at the foot of the stairs, a paper lettered 'Old maids are doomed to lead apes in hell'."--British Museum online catalogue