Dram-a-tic demireps at their morning rehearsal [graphic].

"In a sordid room four women begin the day by dram-drinking. An ugly elderly woman sits up in a half-tester bed; a pretty young one, naked except for a cloak, night-cap, and slippers, crouches in a chair over a few sticks burning on a flat hearth; another supports herself by leaning across a table. All look towards the fourth who wears a hat and cloak, and approaches from the right with a bottle and glass. The objects in the room denote squalor. An open book on the ground is 'The Chapter of Accidents' [a popular comedy by Sophia Lee, 1780]; a dog has a collar inscribed 'Romeo'; an empty tankard on the floor is inscribed 'Drury Lane'. On the wall is a placard headed 'For the Benefit of the Theatrical Fund' [the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund (still in existence) was founded in 1776]. Other prints on the wall: 'Dirty Peg & the Duke' [two heads kissing, one probably the Duke of York]; 'Bald as a Coote' [the profile head of a disconsolate man, probably General Sir Eyre Coote (1762-1823) who besieged Flushing in 1809, see British Museum Satires No. 11364, &c.]; 'Little Darby O' [a recognizable caricature head of Lord Derby, who married the actress Eliza Farren, see British Museum Satires No. 9074, &c]; 'Ever Craving' [a caricature profile, probably of Lord Craven (1770-1825), who married the actress Louisa Brunton in 1807]; 'Old Q' [a similar profile of Queensberry]. On the projection that forms a chimney-piece is a jug inscribed 'Alamode Beef Jug', a melon inscribed 'Rotten Ripe' [probably indicating Harriot Mellon], and a bust presumably of Whitefield inscribed 'Doctor Squintum' [from Foote's 'Minor']; over his head are the words 'Bang up to the Mark' [cf. British Museum Satires No. 11700]. Tallow dips hang from a nail and on the ground 'Duplicates' [pawn-tickets] are spiked on a file. A gridiron and saucepan stand on the hearth, a bowl of 'Saloup' on the table. A broken bellows is on the ground."--British Museum online catalogue.