A satire, divided into quarters, with four small scenes of different episodes of persons trying to collect their Christmas boxes. In the first square in the upper left, a plump supplicant in an apron holds out his hat to a scowling-faced man with a kerchief tied over his hat and a walking stick under his arm as they meet in a road outside a building with a lamp. Behind him on the wall is a sign posted "Miser'. In response to the request, the miser says "Give you a Christmass box. Curse you don't I pay you for your meat." On the top row, right, a thin man (a grave digger?) with a pipe in his mouth, bows to an obese clergyman, with a fat dog at his heel, as they stand in the graveyard of a church. The gravedigger asks, "Most worthy Parson give me a Christmass box." The Parson replies, "Give you a halter you rascal. What should I give you a Christmass box for." In the lower left, clergyman shakes his walking stick at a surprised man who is carrying a large box on his back and secured with a strap over his forehead. The clergyman says to the laborer, "If you ever ask me for a Christmass box again, I'll physic you to death." They are standing in front of building with a lantern and sign that reads "Gargle Apothycary." The fourth square, lower right, shows old, hag-faced woman with a hat and muff standing in a parlor as she slaps the face of an astonished footman. She tells him, "Take that you saucy rascal for a Xmass box!" He replies, "What's that for. I did not want a box on the ear, not I."
Alternative Title:
Christmas boxes
Description:
Title etched below image., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., and Mounted to: 33 x 43 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. by Wm. Holland, 50 Oxford St.
Subject (Geographic):
England. and England
Subject (Topic):
Charity, Christmas, Social life and customs, Begging (Pleading), Cemeteries, Clergy, Dogs, Milestones, Muffs, and Obesity
