1795

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

HEAD OF A JUDGE

Published 16th March 1795 by Laurie & Whittle, 53 Fleet Street, London

A face in profile with judge's collar and long flowing wig. The text explains: "A Representation of the Ice, in the Fountain of Garden Court in the Temple, on Monday the 26th of Jany 1795, which remained nearly in the same shape for several Days__Sketched out by a Gentleman on the spot as a singular Curiosity."

Lewis Walpole Library (795.3.16.1)

THE SAILOR'S FAREWELL

348
Published 30th March 1795 by Laurie & Whittle, 53, Fleet Street, London.

A sailor bids his beloved farewell as he prepares to step into a ship's boat rowed by two seated figures. Another sailor who may have boarded before him scrambles toward the bow. The sailor's lady seems well dressed with a feathered hat and jewelry. Behind another woman, either her companion or the girlfriend of the sailor who has already boarded, weeps with her left hand to her forehead. In the background, two ships ride at anchor. The farthest has the lines of a man-of war and the closest with gunports and the Union Jack is clearly a naval vessel. The link between image and verse is obscure and may be no more than that the song similarly records the parting of a sailor and his girl. The inscription is six numbered verses:

1
All in the Downes the fleet was moor'd,
The streamers waving in the wind,
When black-ey'd Susan came on board,
'O where shall I may true-love find!
Tell me, ye jovial sailors, tell me true,
If my sweet William sails among your crew.
2
William, who high upon the yard,
Rock'd by the billows to and fro,
Soon as here well-known voice he heard,
He sigh'd and cast his eyes below;
The rope glides swiftly thro' his glowing hands,
And quick as lightning on the deck he stands.
3
So the sweet lark, high-poised in Air
Shuts close his pinions to his breast,
If chance his mate's shrill voice to hear,
And drops at once into her nest.
The noblest captain in the British fleet
Might envy William's lips those kisses sweet.
4
O Susan! O Susan! lovely dear!
My vows shall ever true remain;
Let me kiss off that falling tear!
We only part to meet again.
Change as ye lift, ye winds, my heart shall be
The faithfull compass that still points to thee.
5
Believe not what the landmen say,
Who tempt with doubts thy constant mind;
They'll tell thee sailors, when away,
In ev'ry port a mistress find:
Yes, yes, believe them when they tell thee so,
For thou art present wheresoe'er I go.
6
Tho' battle calls me from thy arms,
Let not my pretty Susan mourn;
Tho' cannons roar, yet safe from harms
William shall to his dear return;
Love turns aside the balls that round me fly,
Lest precious tears should drop from Susan's eye.

25.3 x 29 cm.
Huntington Library (colour, BMX 1795 Pr.Box 211.26/70)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University

The MORALIST

Published 13th April 1795, by Haines & Son No.19 Rolls Buildings Fetter Lane, Fleet Street

An older man sits in a chair, pointing to a rose and lecturing two attentive young ladies. The one with book and pen listens intently, the other may be coy or demure. The verse is the cautionary lecture:

Where Virtue encircles the Fair,
There roses and lillies are vain;
Each Blossom must drop with despair,
Where Innocense takes up her reign,
No gaudy embellishing arts,
The fair one need call to her aid;
Who kindly by nature imparts
The Graces that Virtue has made.//
The Swain who has sense must despise,
Each coquettish art to ensnare;
If timely ye'd wish to be wise,
Attend to my counsel, ye fair;
Lest Virgins whom nature has blest,
Her sovereign dictates obey,
For Beauties by nature express'd,
Are beauties that never decay.

30.5 x 24.8 cm.
Yale Center for British Art (B1970.3.796)

Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

MATERNAL ADVICE

Published 21st April 1795, by Haines & Son No.19 Rolls Buildings Fetter Lane, Fleet Street

An large elderly woman sits at a table with two young woman. She has a book open before her, holds her glasses in her right hand and gestures with the left. The print records two reactions to maternal advice. The daughter in the middle rests her face on her hand, perhaps bored, but the other in profile, holding a flower in one hand and a huge muff in the other, sits erect and frowns, displeased with what she is hearing. The long verse reads:

To Reason my Children assert your pretence,
Nor hearken to Language beneath common sense;
When Angels men call you, and homage will pay,
If you credit the tale, you're as faulty as they
Ten thousand gay scenes are presented to view,
Ten thousand oaths sworn, but not one of them true;
Such Passion, O heed not unless to deride,
Lest victims ye fall to an ill grounded Pride.//
E'en Hymens fond slave is oft heard to complain,
Joys founded in love are but airy and vain;
While friendships recorded in truths sacred page,
The rapture of youth, and the solace of age.
Prefer ye the dictates of virtue to sound,
True bliss never yet without goodness was found!
Leave folly and fashion, misguiders of youth,
And stick to their opposites, wisdom and truth.

29.9 x 24.8 cm.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (colour, 1962-287)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Library of Congress

THE CHRISTMAS PIE or RICHARD'S CHOICE

Plate 1
Published 29th April 1795 by Haines and Son No 19 Rolles Buildings Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, London.

The scene is the kitchen with three figures, a well-dress'd squire, the simple country fellow named Richard in the title, and a maid. The squire and Richard gaze at a large pie on a kitchen side-board at the far left. The squire looks amused at his joke, Richard entranced by the pie tries to mask his interest behind his hat. Kate (r.) with her hands on her hips appears highly displeased. Beside her a hound looks intently up at Kate. Behind Kate is a large fireplace with a tankard and several candlesticks along the mantle. The verse explains the situation.

Richard, who long had been in Love
With Kate the Cook Maid of the Grove
Being impatient of Delay,
He bids her fix the Nuptial Day.
The Blushing Nymph reply'd with ease
E'en dear dear Richard when you please.
This said---in rapture Richard tries
To kiss the Maid, and warmly cries,
Had you but said this much before---
When now Kate's Master op'd the Door.//
Dick turn'd, look'd silly, leer'd at Kate
And crept up closer to the Grate.
The Squire facetious, young and gay,
Had Richard known before that day.
And thus began, Why Man so sad
What! does your Christmas prove so bad?
Here Kitty, quickly take the Key,
And fetch the large minc'd Pie to me.
Alluring Sight! Then said the Squire.
Come, Dick, here's something I require.//
To which if you will but comply,
Yours shall be all the Christmas Pie.
Know Richard then the case is this,
You must forbear our Kate to kiss;
Kate star'd at this, Dick cast an eye
First on the Wench, and then the Pie
But Judgment not to form in haste
Permission begs that he might taste
Dick tasted, and, the taste approv'd
Then doubled which he better lov'd.//
Women, 'tis said, are good, he cries
But are they half so good as Pies?
Again he tastes, again approves,
Nor longer doubts which best he loves.
He turns to the Squire, makes this reply,
Sir, if you please, I'll take the Pie.

35.2 x 25.2 cm.
Library of Congress (PC3+1794)

THE VETERANS

Two old veterans are portrayed in the yard before a pub or inn, one a soldier, the other a sailor. The old soldier, a Chelsea pensioner, (r.) sits beside a small table or bench bearing a mug and wineglass, his cane propped against his thigh. He is missing his right arm. The sailor (l.) with one peg leg leans on his cane and reaches to pluck the other's rolled empty sleeve. A pretty barmaid looks out through the pub window.

The print at the Huntington Library has been cropped leaving only the title. The original impression was "Published 15th May 1795 by Haines & Son, No. 19 Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane London" and included the verse that records the dispute between sailor and soldier and its nationalistic resolution:

Dick Dock a tar at Greenwich moor'd,
One day had got his Beer aboard,
When he a poor maim'd pensioner from Chelsea saw;
And all to have his jeer and flout,
For the Grog once in, the wits soon out,
Cried how Good Lobster did you lost your Claw?
Was't that time in a drunken fray,
Or t'other when you ran away,
But hold you Dick, the poor soul has one foot in ye Grave,
For slanders wind too fast you fly,
D'ye think it fun, you swab you lie,
Misfortune ever claimed the pity of the brave,//
Old Hannibal in words as gross,
For he like Dick had got his dose,
To try a bout at wrangling, quickly took a spell:
If I'm a lobster, master Crab,
By the information on your nab,
In some scrimmage or other, why they've cracked your shell;
And then why how you hobbling go,
On that jury mast, you timber toe,
A nice one to find fault, with one foot in the grave;
But halt! Old Hannibal, halt, halt!
Distress was never yet a fault,
Misfortune ever claimed the pity of the brave.//
If Hannibals your name d'ye see,
As sure as they Dick Dock call me,
As once it did fall out, I owed my life to you;
Spilt from my horse, one when 'twas dark,
And nearly swallowed by a Shark,
You boldly plunged in sav'd me, & pleas'd all the crew:
If that's the case then cease our jeers,
When boarded by the same Mounseers,
You, a true English Lion, snatched me from ye grave;
Cried cowards do the man no harm
Dammee, don't you see he has lost his Arm
Misfortune ever claimed the pity of the brave,
The broach a Can before we part, //
A friendly one, with all us heart,
And as we put the Grog about we'll cheerly sing,
At sea, and Land my Britons fight,
The worlds example and delight,
And conquer every enemy of George our King:
ÔTis he that prove's the Hero's friend,
His bounty waits us to our end,
Though crippl'd & laid up, with one foot in ye grave;
Then Tars, and Soldiers never fear,
You shall not want compassions tear,
Misfortune ever claimed the pity of the brave.

28.6 x 24.8 cm.
Huntington Library (title only, BMX n.d. Pr.Box 211.4/44)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, New York Public Library

FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON

Dighton delt.

London. Published 18 June 1795 by Haines & Son. No. 19 Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane.

A young gentleman sits with a woman relaxing in the afternoon. The lines below reflect his mood: "With Women and Wine I defy ev'ry care." He raises his glass in a salute, she holds hers and looks at him amused. Beside her stands a round table with two wine bottles and a bowl of fruit. Through the partially open door behind her a canopied bed can be seen.

This is the second of a series of four Dighton images, along with Twelve at Night and Five in the Morning (below), that follow the dandy through the day and a night of carousing. The first, Twelve at Noon, not included in American collections, shows him standing alone in a salon. The subtext reads: "I'm the Tippy__Ripe for Fun__Dam-me!"

33 x 25.2 cm.
New York Public Library (Satyr p.77)

TWELVE AT NIGHT

Dighton delt.

London. Published 18 June 1795 by Haines & Son. No. 19 Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane.

Now a drunken reveler the young gentleman with the shorter hair and fashionable garb of the 90s has just beaten one watchman to the ground and turns with his raised bludgeon to another who looks on in horror. The bludgeon is the common gentleman's accessory, like a crop or walking stick, for the time. The gentleman's breeches are ripped and bloody and his face smudged from the fray. His expression is gleeful, as he swings his bludgeon with one hand and holds his prize, the watchman's lamp, in the other. To his right, over the body of the fallen watchman, another raises his lamp to signal for help. From the stone building above him juts an oil lamp, shattered from the reveler's blow. Its bottom cap careens on the ground beside the fallen watchman who looks up, his hand to his battered head. The text reads:"Keep it up--Dam--me--thats your sort."

32 x 24.4 cm.
Huntington Library (colour, BMX 1795 Pr.Box 211.11/47)

© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

FIVE IN THE MORNING

Dighton delt.

London. Published 18 June 1795 by Haines & Son. No. 19 Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane.

Dishevelled and unsteady on his feet, he is helped toward a sedan chair by one man in a great coat (r.) and a street urchin (l.) whose grin suggests he may be picking the drunken gentleman's pocket. To the far left the chairman also in a great coat prepares the conveyance. A poster or playbill that the gentleman tramples reads, "At the Theatre Royal/ Covent Garden/ on Wednesday Dec. 1 1794/ The Road to Ruin." The subtext reads: "I am Allm__o__t do__n__e up Dam__me."

33 x 24 cm.
Metropolitan Museum (1976.602.8), Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco

THE RAREE SHOW

London. Published 11th July 1795 by Haines & Son. No. 19 Rolls Building, Fetter Lane

A man in a long overcoat and cocked hat, a trumphet under his arm, operates a box peepshow on the side of which several rings on strings dangle. The box is topped with a false gable and Union Jack to resemble a theatre. The showman may be a veteran by his dress and patriotic message, but he speaks with a foreign accent. He holds the coin just given him by a customer in his left hand and pulls a ring with his right to raise a scene. A man stoops to peer into the box. Behind him stands a boy in a felt hat and two well-dressed young women look on. The verse records the exchange between the showman and the viewer as the showman pulls rings to raise varying scenes:

Now you shall see, what you shall see,
Lady, gemmen, come,
One very great curiosity,
What make to speak de dumb,
Vat green and red and brown & white
And black and blue can paint:
Vat make Jew Christian, Christian Jew,
Make good come out of evil,
Make a Devil of a Saint,
And of a Saint a Devil:
Peep troo dat little hole Sir, vat you see dere. Eh! what do you say master Showman, it will make black white & the devils in it if it wont,__why its a huge purse of money.//
Now you shall see, vat you shall see.
Please to look in there.
One very great curiosity,
Vat make de people stare,
One terrible one shocking ting,
In honour dat abound,
Before our face I go to bring,
One horrible production:
Look quick and you shall be surround,
Vid death, and vid destruction.
Vill Saar, vat you see now Eh!__Ah master Showman you be a wag.__death and destruction with the devil too't.__why it be a po- ticary's Shop.//
Now you shall see, what you shall see.
Please to put our eyes,
One very great curiosity,
Vat give you great surprize.
More shocking as the to der sight.
You have never see such,
Come look, make haste, don't you befright.
You shall see one place spacious,
All fill up vid great many much
Strange animal voracious:
Why master Showman, this be cuter joke than tother__I wish I may die if it ben't the Lord Mayor and Aldermen at dinner.//
Now you shall see, what you shall see.
Please to look once more.
Vat give you more delight & glee
As all you see before.
Great pleasure and great bliss vat give
To all the englitch race.
Vat make them all so happy live,
Vat blessing can impart.
Vat make the smile in all the face,
The joy in all the heart.
Ah master showman, you did never say a truer thing in our life.__Why Lord love him, tis the Kings Majesty.

A handwritten note "Dighton" remains on the Huntington impression, an attribution that is credible due to stylistic affinities with three other plates by Robert Dighton from Haines & Son in 1795, Five in the Afternoon, Twelve at Night, and Five in the Morning. Three years later, this mezzotint will be echoed, though with a simplified image and abbreviated text, in an etching The Show-man, inscribed to George Woodward and Isaac Cruikshank, and published in 1798 by S.W. Fores, impression at the Library of Congress. The Show-man is reproduced in Diana Donald, p. 7.

25 x 29.4 cm.
Huntington Library (BMX 1795 Pr.Box 212.5/6)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University

THE NOSEGAY GIRL

361
Publish'd 19th Augt 1795 by Laurie & Whittle, 53 Fleet Street, London

A girl with a basket of bouquets and accompanied by a small girl encounter two young ladies more finely dressed. One lady (c.) already holds a flower, so the girl offers a nosegay to and addresses the other one who is the more elegant of the two with her fan, colored shawl, and feathered hat. She seems the most removed from the nosegay girl's advocacy of simplicity and artlessness and creates a sense of skeptical distance:

Beauty I sell, who'll buy! who'll buy!
Roses and lilies girls, here am I:
Neither black, brown, nor fair shall have cause for complaint,
They all look like angels, & all without paint.
Who'll buy, who'll buy
Here am I.//
Come maids and be beautiful, easy's the task,
Use this rouge newly made from modesty's mask,
As it blooms shall fair truth shew your heat in the flush,
And duty's enamel shall polish thy blush,
For duty gives charms that will last all your lives,
None but dutiful daughters make beautiful wives,
Beauty I sell, &c. //
Now's your time, all ye wives, would ye beautiful grow,
Draw some drops from content's lucid fount as they flow;
Take the mildness of love, throw away all the art,
Mix these in indearment's alembic, the heart,
Let the fire of attention, the whole gently boil,
Then add nature's best gloss, a perpetual smile,
Beauty I sell &c.//
Come round me, I've wares for maid, widow, and wife,
This essence of truth to the eyes give a life,
This tincture of sweetness shall bliss disclose,
And from this, virtue's balm, shall bring beauty's best rose,
Then, while art's in fashion, how can you refuse
That which nature & reason permit you to use.
Beauty I sell &c.

The numbering here as well as elements of composition such as similar posing indicates the close affinity of The Nosegay Girl, The Sweet Little Gipsey, and The Cherry Girl. A claim of innocence, or a sentimental implication of innocence linked to ideas of class and nature, may be compromised by aspects of the song, the situation, or suggestive gestures.

Yale Center for British Art (B1970.3.800)

Courtesy of the Harry Elkins Widener Collection, Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library

LACE-MAKING

Published Sept 1st 1795, by John Fairburn, Map, Chart & Printseller, No. 146 Minories, London

Before her cottage, a woman sits intent at her lace-making. The strip of lace lies across a pillow that rests on her lap. Bobbins fan out from the end of the lace on which she is currently working. Beside her a little girl who holds a windmill watches. In the foregound a hen in a small coop made of slats feeds with her chicks around her.

30.5 x 25 x cm.
Harry Elkins Widener Collection, Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library (colour, HEW 13.8.3)

Courtesy of the Print Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

THE SWEET LITTLE GIPSEY

365
Published 5th Novr 1795 by Laurie & Whittle, 53 Fleet Street London

Two young gentlewomen meet a gypsy woman and her small child (l.) in a woodland. The gypsy woman points as she reads the palm of the one far right, who shyly averts her face and covers it with her fan. The young women are dressed for walking with loose fitting white gowns and feathered hats. The gypsy woman wears a black flat hat tied under her chin, a cloak, and split apron. A grove of trees forms the background with a cottage in the distance to the right. The verse reads:

Come hither ye Girls, and attend to my call
I'm the poor little gipsey that sings at Vauxhall
Who cunning enough, if you cross but her hand
To know whether fate will obey her command
This list to my call,
Whether sober or tipsey,
Attend to the gipsey,
The poor little gipsey
That sings at Vauxhall//
Some youths who're in love & can live on a sight,
May be anxious to guess at their fair one's reply,
If she shows her white teeth & for ever is gay,
Love is sad, and you only are in a sad way.
You'll shortly sing small, No longer so ipse,
So mind you the gipsey,
The poor little gipsey,
that sings at Vauxhall.//
The sweet little Miss, just arrived at her teens,
Who cannot make out what the gentlemen means
Begs teacher to fuller her lot may be told her,
Whether husband & coach as in time she grows older
Then come to my call,
So friskey and wispee,
The poor little gipsey,
That sings at Vauxhall.//
Would you all wish to know then the fortune of all
Here come to my levee at merry Vauxhall,
Where cross gipsey hand with a small bit of stuff,
No man but shall pay, I give blessings enough.
Then be blest one and all
Either sober or tipsey,
Remember the gipsey,
The poor little gipsey,
That sings at Vauxhall.

29.6 x 25.3 cm.
Lewis Walpole Library (795.11.5.1)