"A tailor on his raised shop-board (right) kneels in terror at the apparition of an emaciated corpse-like man and a fat pig with its throat cut standing on its hind-legs. Beneath the shop-board the head and shoulders of the Devil emerge from the flames of Hell; he holds a trident and a bulky roll of cloth inscribed 'Cabbage' (cf. BMSat 8035, &c.), implying that the tailor's pilfering has not been restricted to scraps of material. (The place where tailors kept their 'cabbage' was termed Hell; see Grose, 'Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue'). The tailor wears a nightcap and apron; round his neck is a tape-measure; he says (excreting), "o Lord o Lord I am in a nasty Condition". A small demon (right) holds his nose. Beside the tailor are his goose, lying on a garment (which is burning from the heat of the iron); the heel of a loaf with a knife, onions and cucumbers lie next a paper inscribed 'sick and in prison and he [word erased, comforted] me'. reside an ink-pot are an open book: 'The Benevolent Society Benifet of \ Survivership', and a paper: 'Advice to overseers respecting the poor'. The corpse stands in back view holding out a minatory hand and turning his nead in profile to the right; he asks "who starved me to Death". The pig says "you have been the Cause of my death". A man on the extreme left looks through a door, saying, "Aye Aye this comes of your ingratitude for my saving your life". On the wall which forms a background are (left to right) two pictures, two broadside ballads, and a print: [1] The lower part of a picture of 'Howard' shows the legs of a man walking past a barred prison window, through which look two faces. (News was received on 26 Feb. of the death of John Howard, the prison reformer, 'Gent. Mag.', 1790, i. 276, but this Howard appears to be the corpse.) [2] 'A Song by Tom Stitch on the Windsor Corporation'. [3] 'A Song in Ridicule of my best Friend.' [4] A print of a gibbet from which hangs a noose inscribed 'The Desert.' [5] A large picture: 'Windsor Charity'; the tailor stands in a prison cell, pointing to an emaciated man lying on straw, turning to a woman who kneels at his feet, he says, clenching his fist, "let him Die & be d--d." The woman says, "for God sake don't Suffer my Poor father to Starve". The dying man says "I perish for want"."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Tailor befrited and Ghosts
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Dated in contemporary hand in lower right corner: 'Sept. 1790.', Sheet partially trimmed within plate mark., and Watermark: armorial shield with fleur-de-lis above and monogram W below.
