"A room in the Fleet Prison (after the painting at Sir John Soane's Museum); Tom sits at a table, to right, 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:
Happy the man whose constant thought (tho' in the school of hardship taught,) can send remembrance back to fetch and A rake's progress
Description:
Title, state, and imprint from Paulson., "Plate 7"--Added at the bottom left., Added title from first lines of verses below image., and On page 76 in volume 1. Plate trimmed to: 34.3 x 39 cm; with loss to upper right corner, repaired.
Publisher:
Wm. Hogarth
Subject (Topic):
Children, Debt, Jails, Poverty, Rake's progress, and Unmarried mothers
Hayne sits, pen in hand, at a table, nervously facing a burly ruffian holding a large key who proffers a paper headed 'items'. Other debtors sit by the fire or gaze from the padlocked window of the sponging-house. There are pictures of the two chief debtors' prisons, 'Bench' and 'Fleet', and a framed table of 'House Fees. Fire 0 2.6. Candles 0.2.6. Bed 0.10.6. Warming do. 0.1.0. Breakfast 0.7.6. Eggs 0.2.0. Total £1.7.0. See British Museum catalogue
Description:
Title, printmaker, and imprint from published state., Plate etched for: Westmacott, C.M. English spy. London : Sherwood, Jones, and Co., 1825-1826., For published state see: No. 15214 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 10., Ms. note in pencil on front: Vol. 2, Page 240. Note came originally up to nose, then change in plate. Watermark 1825., and Watermark: J. Whatman 1825.
