A long way through a short life [graphic]

"Long, dressed as a funeral mute or mourner, stands full-face, legs apart, carrying four large boards like a sandwich-man (then "board-man"). Only his draped hat and eyes appear above the central board. In his hand is a staff draped in black which is inscribed 'Killing No Murder' [cf. British Museum Satires No. 11371]. At his feet are many ducks, all angrily quacking: 'quack!!'; 'quack!!!'; or (one) 'cruel quack'. He says, quoting a nursery rhyme, 'Come, Dilly, Dilly, Dilly, come and be killed!!!' The principal board is headed 'To the Public', with the Royal Arms. Inscriptions: 'A Receipt of my Grandmothers | Decline Arrested | Consumption prevented | A Cure for all diseases | By The Simple | process of | Skinning Alive | protected by the | NOBILITY | and a House-Full of | Ladies | of the first Distinction | Dr Needy, Harley-Street | NO QUACKERY'. On both flanking boards are a grinning skull and cross-bones inscribed 'momento [sic] mori'; on one (left) are wine-glasses, tankard, and bottle and 'A Short Life and a Merry one'; (right) 'N.B. . Short Accounts make LONG Friends'. Behind is a funeral procession with two coffins, preceded by a duck. This passes the railings of a London square. Behind are houses, on one of which is a hatchment, and a church-steeple on which prances a tiny devil flourishing a trident."--British Museum online catalogue