"A disorderly mass of pedestrians fills the pavement outside the White Horse in Piccadilly, the street slanting in perspective from left to right. The pillared porch of the hotel is flanked by large curved windows, above which is the inscription 'Coffee House & Hotel'. The porch is inscribed 'Hatchetts', above it, against the wall, is the (pictorial) sign of a white horse, inscribed: 'Coaches & waggons to all parts of the kingdom'. Above the area railings, which are hidden by the crowd, is a placard (over the entrance to the basement): 'White Horse cellar coaches to all part[s]'. In the foreground (right) a coach and pair with outside passengers is driven recklessly (right to left) by a driver in a many-caped coat; an angry man sprawls by the horses' hoofs, another escapes to the right. A box-like coach or wagon facing in the opposite direction is on the off-side of the first; a man pushes a fat woman in at the back, while two outside passengers are about to fall from the roof, which is open. It is inscribed 'T[O] . . . MERS . . . TURNHAM' [? To Amersham by Turnham Green]. At the edge of the pavement stands a tough-looking coach-tout pointing out the Amersham wagon to an oafish-looking and would-be fashionable countryman whose pocket is being picked by a little Jewish boy; a Jewish woman with a basket of fruit slung from her neck deftly screens him. A raffish tout dressed as a coachman assails alarmed pedestrians with violent gestures. A stout John Bull pushes violently past a Jewish fruit-seller, spilling the fruit, while the Jew takes a watch from his fob. A boy diving for the falling fruit upsets a man carrying on his head and porter's knot a large corded chest. A little chimney-sweep with twisted shin-bones quizzes an amused negro servant, who holds a band-box, and is smartly dressed, but wears an apron. Facing the coaches stands a newsboy, holding up his papers to the passengers. He holds his horn; in his hat is a placard: 'Great News from St Hel[ena]'. Below, where the crowd is thickest in front of the hotel porch, men fight with fists. Two dandies stand under the porch, above the mêlée."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title from caption below image. and Reprint. Originally published by George Humphrey, 29 December 1818.
Publisher:
Pubd. by Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket
Subject (Geographic):
Piccadilly (London, England), England, and London
Subject (Topic):
Accidents, Carriages & coaches, Chimney sweeps, City & town life, Crowds, Dandies, Dogs, Street vendors, and Taverns (Inns)
