[Frontispiece to Pierce Egan's Life in London ...] [graphic]Cruikshank, Robert, 1789-1856, printmaker[15 July 1821]eng"A short and broad Corinthian column standing on grass is almost covered by little scenes emblematical of social classes, from high to low. Across the centre, enclosed in a garland, the three heroes carouse, Corinthian Tom and his country cousin Jerry Hawthorne raise their glasses; Bob Logic (1.), more dandified, sprawls in his chair. Broken bottles are on the ground. The capital, Corinthian Capital, is covered with a scene at Court: George IV on the throne, lords and ladies in court dress. Inscriptions: Roses Pinks, and Tulips, and The Flowers \ of Society. Two figures flank the column immediately below the capital: Noble, a peer wearing a star, and Respectable, a stout citizen with a pen behind his ear. Between these and above the central circle, a blood drives a woman in a curricle; they are Ups and, the corresponding group below the circle and at the base of the column being Downs \ of \ Life in London: a thin, ragged, and desperate man sits on a stone between a beggar-boy and an old basket-woman. Two flanking scenes on projecting slabs are (1.) Mechanical, a knock-kneed artisan holding a frothing tankard and a hammer and (r.) Tag Rag & Bob tail, a scarecrow figure with bare legs hideously splayed, bawling a Last Dying Speech. Between these four single figures are projections from each side of the circle: (1.) Ins &, a man looking from a prison window, and (r.) Outs, a man just released and waving his hat. On the plinth: (The Base), is a tiny scene in a cellar, dimly lit by a fire; a woman smoking a pipe sits on a truckle bed; a ragged man seated on a stool smokes and drinks. Over the hearth is a gibbet broadside. On the r. a man sieves rubbish; sacks, one inscribed G C, and a spade lean against the wall. Below: Bunches of Turn-ups [turnips = ruined persons]-Vegetables, Strings of Ing-ens [onions]. The base of the whole is a slab inscribed: Here are we met three merry Boys,/Three merry boys, I trow are we,/And mony a night we've merry been,/And mony mae we hope to be. Burns. Bound in the 1821 edition of Pierce Egan's Life in London, printed for Sherwood, Neely and Jones. (See 1864,0611.376-412. 184.c.7)"--British Museum online catalogueTitle and publication information from British Museum catalogue.Four lines of verse in lower portion of image: Here are we met three merry boys, three merry boys I trow are we ...Sheet trimmed within plate mark.Lacking imprint statement. For intact imprint statement cf. no. 14320 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 10.