"One of a set of eight plates, No. 7 (not mentioned by Grego) being missing, all having the same signatures. They may have been intended to burlesque Wheatley's 'Cries' (1793-7), from which they appear to derive. [The subjects are different from those of Wheatley, and there is no element of copying, but the group, with sentimental or humorous incident and architectural background, was Wheatley's innovation on the traditional single figure representing the 'Cries of London'. Cf. W. Roberts, 'The Cries of London', 1934, p. 12.] A ragged man, with traps of various patterns slung round him, and a trap in each hand, offers his wares to an old man (left) who looks from his bulk or stall, on which are a bird in a wicker cage and a rabbit in a hutch. A little boy and girl, hand in hand, stare intently at the rabbit. A dog snarls at two rats in one of the traps. A woman looks down from a casement window over the pent-house roof of the stall. In the background are a church spire and the old gabled houses characteristic of the slums of St. Giles and Westminster."--British Museum online catalogue.
"Two men sit in a dilapidated room, the floor completely covered by water in which three pigs wade, ducks swim and dive, and geese run aggressively towards a dog. Their feet rest on boulders. One stout man in a broken chair sits with his elbows on a small round table, holding up a large watch, the hands showing that it is 9.40, and yawning deeply. On the table are a decanter containing a tiny 'blue devil', cf. British Museum Satires No. 8745, and a guttering candle stuck in a potato at which a rat is nibbling. Another rat runs up the table leg. The other man (right), with closed eyes, and hands on knees, sits on a stool, registering melancholy resignation. One pig (left) devours a 'Racing Calendar' which floats on the water. A fire of sticks burns smokily on a wide hearth; a large pot is overturning, the contents gushing over. Above the chimney-piece hangs a picture in a broken frame of a country house. There is one small casement window, half boarded up, the other half partly stuffed up with a pair of breeches. A ham and a hare hang from hooks in the ceiling. High up on the wall is a small shelf on which is broken china; a cat stands on it."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Possibly etched after a design by Bunbury; see British Museum catalogue. and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humphrey, No. 27 St. James's Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Bunbury, Henry William, 1750-1811, attributed name., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., and Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher.
