"Copy of a room in the Fleet Prison; Tom sits at a table, to left, on which is a rejection letter from John Rich to whom he has submitted a play; his wife clenches her fists, the gaoler asks for garnish money and a boy asks payment for a tankard of ale; to left, Sarah Young has fainted and is being administered smelling salts by one woman while another slaps her hand, her child clings to her skirt; she is supported by an older man with a beard who has dropped a sheet containing a scheme for paying the national debt (a reference to such a scheme put forward by Hogarth's father); in the background an alchemist works at a forge."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Rake's progress. Plate 7
Description:
Title from text engraved above image., Verses, attributed to John Hoadly, below image in three columns, four lines each: His hours of joy are fled with rapid speed, And scenes of anguish in a jail succeed ... Can his person from restraint enlarge., The seventh of eight prints in a series; all are copies of the first states of Hogarth's plates with new verses in the columns below the image; copies were made with Hogarth's consent in 1735. See Paulson, R. Hogarth's graphic works (3rd ed.), page 90., and "Plate 7."--Lower right below design.
Publisher:
Published with the consent of Mr. William Hogarth by Tho. Bakewell
