A group of ladies sit in highback chairs around a circular table, drinking tea and gossiping. On the table in front of the lady on the right, lays a book open to pages which read "Chit-Chat"; her lap dog sits looking up at her eagerly while a demon hides under the table at her feet. The ladies sit in a well-appointed parlor decorated with a rug, an elaborate mirror, and curtains. Above the fireplace hangs a picture of a clergyman carrying a woman on his back to church. To the left Envy chases Truth and Justice out the open door. On the right two gentlemen peer into the room through an open window and listen to the ladies' conversation. The engraved lines below in verse berates women for their love of gossip and inability to follow the dictates of the ninth commandment, forbidding one to bear false witness against one's neighbor. To the left of the fireplace is a niche filled with cups, plates, and other tableware
Description:
Title from item., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Publication date in British Museum catalogue: 1710?., Later state, published no earlier than 1740, i.e., the beginning date of John Bowles's business location at Cornhill. See London book trades, 1775-1800 / Ian Maxted, p. 26, Sixty-nine lines of verse engraved in three columns below image: How see we scandal (for our sex too base), seat its dread empire in the female race ..., Dated from the Westminster Paving Act of 1766., and Mounted to 33 x 24 cm.
Publisher:
Sold by Jno. Bowles, Print and Map Seller, at No. 13 in Cornhill, London
Subject (Name):
Woodward, John, 1665-1728.
Subject (Topic):
Devil, Eavesdropping, Envy, Ethics, Furnishings, Gossiping, Justice, Niches, Parlors, Pets, Tea parties, and Truth
