The sailor and the quack doctor!! [graphic]

A sailor with a bandaged eye consulting a mercenary medical practitioner. The sailor describes his medical history in nautical terms. He refers to a skeleton suspended in a cupboard as the doctor's "messmate".

"Sailor and quack face each other in a consulting room. The sailor (left) has a clumsy bandage over forehead, one eye, and left cheek; he is dressed as in British Museum Satires No. 10894; under his arm is a cudgel, and in his hand a paper headed 'List of Cures'. Behind him (left) is an open cupboard containing a tall skeleton with goggling eye-sockets. With forefinger raised, warily pugnacious, he says: "You must know Doctor I have got a bit of a Confusion on my larboard cheek from a chance shot, and as I dont think it of consequence enough for our Ship's surgeon, I bore down to you, after overhauling a long list of your cures - but I suppose front the messmate in the Cabin there, you dont always make a return of the Killed and Wounded?" The doctor, in old-fashioned dress and wig, leans towards him with extended forefinger, saying, "Sir, my rule of practice is this, there is pen, ink, and paper, - sign a certificate of your cure, and I'll take you in hand immediately on paying down two Guineas!" A table with writing materials stands against the wall; on the floor is a crudely patterned carpet."--British Museum online catalogue