"A plebeian family of 'cits' drive in a rough two-wheeled cart (aping a fashionable gig) drawn by a clumsy carthorse. The man drives, wearing cocked hat and top-boots; his wife, wearing large feathers in her small straw cap, holds up a fan. Both are absurdly complacent. A boy and girl are crammed in. Behind rides a fat and grinning footman, with plodding dog. On the extreme right a newsboy with the 'London Gazette' blows his horn. Behind (left) is an open doorway inscribed 'Mash Brewer'; within are casks. The wall is inscribed 'Puddle Dock', and on it are two bills: 'Theatre Royal Covent Garden the Comedy of the Bankrupt with High Life Below Stairs and A House to be let in Grosvenor Square Suitable for a Genteel Family' (they appear to be bound for this house). Houses form a background."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Road to ruin in the east
Description:
Title etched below image., Temporary local subject terms: Vehicles: carts -- Breweries -- Mash -- Newsboys -- Literature: reference to High Life Below Stairs by James Townley (1714-1778) -- Reference to The Bankrupt by Samuel Foote ( 1720-1777)-- Puddle Dock -- Female dress: plumed hats -- Expressions of speech: 'road to ruin'., 1 print : etching on wove paper ; plate mark 23.4 x 34.8 cm, on sheet 24 x 37 cm., Printmaker's name burnished from plate., and Watermark: Russell & Co 1797.
