Waiting on the ladies [graphic]

"A satire on costume and manners. Dandies (see British Museum Satires No. 13029) eagerly offer refreshments to ladies at a reception or ball. An elderly fright stands in the centre, between a thin (left) and a fat (right) dandy, one proffering a large goblet on a salver, the other a plate of patties, one of which is stuffed into his grinning mouth. She eagerly turns to the left with an ogling grin. On the left a footman spills a tray of goblets and ices over an elderiy lady seated on a chair which tilts backward. He has been knocked off his balance by the bow of the thin dandy. On the right a dandy seated by a fat ugly lady offers her a goblet. Her short skirt displays fat shapeless legs, defined by cross-gartering. All are much décolletée. A dandy drinks, while admiring himself in a mirror. A candle-sconce hangs between two oval mirrors, but in an adjacent room seen through an archway is a hanging chandelier with chimneys which probably indicate gas. Violinist, 'cellist, &c., play in a musicians' gallery in the background (left)."--British Museum online catalogue