Tom and a wealthy old woman are being married in the dilapidated church of St. Marylebone. The bride has only one eye and growths on her forehead; the IHS on the wall behind her serve as a mock halo. In contrast the old woman is attended by a beautiful young woman who has already caught Tom's eye. In the background on the left, the elderly pew opener pushes Sarah Young, carrying Tom's child in her arms, and Sarah's mother; she shakes her keys in their faces to prevent them from entering the church to stop the marriage. Two dogs in the lower left of the image mirror the courtship of Tom and his bride; the courted dog has only one eye. The clergyman is assisted at the altar by a clerk, and a charity-boy kneels at the bride's feet offering a hassock. The Poor Box on the left is covered with a cobweb; there is a large crack down the center of the slab with the numbered commandments on the wall behind the clergyman
Alternative Title:
New to [ye] school of hard mishap, driven from [the] ease of Fortune's lap ... and New to ye school of hard mishap, driven from ye ease of Fortune's lap
Description:
Title, state, and imprint from Paulson., Added title from first line of verses below image on 1st state., Second state showing process of revisions including the erasure of the bridesmaid hat; Tom's right foot has been straightened; larger crack in the Commandments, etc., After the painting at Sir John Soane's Museum., and Description based on imperfect impression; sheet trimmed within plate mark with loss of imprint and verses below.
