The Brilliants [graphic]

"A drunken orgy by the members of a convivial club, grouped round an oblong table in a dignified room, which suggests a fashionable society. The chairman (left) with raised hammer gives a toast which is drunk sitting. Most are jovial, three are vomiting, one over a prostrate member. An elderly man protests angrily; his neighbour tries to make him sit down. The room is lit by a chandelier hanging from an ornate ceiling. A servant draws a cork, another enters with a punchbowl from behind a screen (right). Bottles stand in a magnificent wine-cooler, round which empty bottles are massed. The members' hats are piled on an ornate chimney-piece; a Jew reaches over a low screen to take a hat, unaware hat a member has risen to denounce him. This screen is in front of a 'Ballotin Box', with two round apertures inscribed 'Nay' and 'yea'. On the wall (left) is a placard: 'Rules to be observed in this Society, Ist That each Member shall fill a half pint Bumper to the first Toast. 2nd That after Twenty four Bumper toasts are gone round, every [sic] may fill as he pleases. 3 That any Member refusing to comply with the above Regulations to be fine a bumper of Salt & Water'."--British Museum online catalogue