Dandies at tea [graphic]

"A dandy entertains a fellow-dandy in a small ramshackle room, the bed turned up against the wall to give space for two chairs and a small round table. Both are very thin and have the high collars and cravats, brushed-up hair, bulging chests, high shoulders, and short waists of the dandy, with ribbons and seals hanging from the fob; both wear short yellow gloves. The host (left) wears tight pantaloons below the calf, the guest puffed-out breeches with top-boots. The table-cloth is ragged, the fare scanty. The host languidly empties a tea-pot into a broken and saucerless cup, the guest elegantly sips his tea, holding the saucer. Between his extended legs is an umbrella (see British Museum Satires No. 13060). The former says: "My Dear Fellow, Mr Sim is your Tea agreeable?" Sim, with spectacles on his forehead, answers: "Charming my Dear Lollena do you buy it?" Ragged garments are pegged on a line stretching across the room. A rat looks from a hole in the floor; beside it is a smoothing-iron. A small casement window shows a row of houses and the dome of St. Paul's."--British Museum online catalogue