An etching in outline representing the interior of a room, with a door on the left, a circular table on the right. On the table is a dish on which sits a boar's head; a scroll on the table to the left reads "Reprieve for murder." A crutch is propped up against the back of the table. From the ceiling above the middle of the room hangs a birdcage with a yellow bird inside. Under the birdcage sits the singer Miss Anne Ford a guitar in hand; Anne was the daughter of Thomas Ford Clerk of Arraigns, an Old Bailey lawyer. She sings "si tutti de olberi". William, the third Earl of Jersay kneels at her feet and with joined hands says, "Believe my sighs my vows my dear &c" A second crutch lies on the ground beside him; he is much older and suffers from gout. The lawyer Ford enters the room from the left, hat under his arm as he regards the scene with amusement. See British Museum catalogue
Description:
Title and publication date from British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark with loss of title., Plate used for frontispiece Thicknesse, A. Letter from Miss F--d, addressed to a person of distinction. 2nd ed. London, 1761., See Gentleman's magazine, January 1761, pages 33, 79., Watermark., and Mounted to 27 x 37 cm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Jersey, George Bussey Villiers, Earl of, 1735-1805, Thicknesse, Ann, 1737-1824, and Ford, Thomas, -1768,
Subject (Topic):
Birdcages, Boars, Courtship, Crutches, Gout, Guitars, Interiors, Lawyers, and Singers
Williams, Charles, active 1797-1830, printmaker, artist
Published / Created:
[16 September 1802]
Call Number:
Print01325
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
An operator treating Ann Ford, a society lady, with "Perkins's tractors", for her venomous tongue and "An old maid is tied by arms and ankles to an armchair while an operator applies 'metallic tractors' to her tongue, using both hands. An iron clamp holds her head steady. She wears old-fashioned dress with a laced stomacher. From the doctor's pocket projects a paper: 'Fores [partly obliterated] Operator'. Rays of flame dart from the victim's tongue: 'Half-Hints', 'Innuendoes', 'Hypochrisy', 'Envy', 'Scandal', 'Detraction', 'Malignity'. Three young girls watch from the left: they say: "good Heavens? could you suppos my Aunt had such an envenomed Tongue"; "oh yes my dear there are many more such in our Town, if this good man cures all such Tongues he will deserve a Statue"; "Yes and all our young Friends I am sure will subscribe liberally". The room is that of the patient: on the right is a round table where spectacles have just been laid down; on it are writing materials, a large 'Bible', and a paper: 'Mem - not to forget at Miss Magpy's Tea party the hints respecting the Young Miss Tumid also the round appearance of Mrs Generous who was married last Week. Particulars Insinuate how Miss Lively lives so genteel When we cannot find out what resources she has------to take Care I do for Miss Bold who insolently said she did not believe the story of Miss Virtues Slip.' Beside it an open cupboard, with bunch of keys in the lock, shows decanters of 'Ratafia', 'Peppermint', and 'Caraway', four books: 'Duty of Man', 'Eloise', 'Sermons', 'Glass Cookery', and a large bottle of 'Nig' [gin], a flagon of 'Cherry Brandy', and a glass. A low screen with half-panels has on one leaf a flaming globe inscribed 'Observe the End'; the ray of 'Half-Hints' strikes the flames. On the screen sits a parrot. On a chair (left) a cat suckles kittens."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., "Folios of caracatures lent out for the evening"--Below imprint statement., Text below image, on either side of title: A new discovered virtue in these invaluable operators most cordially recommended to the public at large and to Dr. Perkins in in [sic] particular as a likely means of preventing more murder than all the poenal statutes., The print contains three pieces of dialogue., and Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Metallic tractors.
Publisher:
Pubd. Septr. 16, 1802, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain and Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Perkins, Benjamin Douglas, 1774-1810. and Thicknesse, Ann, 1737-1824.
Subject (Topic):
Quacks and quackery, Medical instruments and apparatus, Costume, History, and House furnishings
