"A grotesquely ugly old maid, wearing pattens, walks preceded by a small poodle, clipped in an exaggeration of the French manner, and followed by a black foot-boy in livery, who holds on a skewer a lump of 'Cat's Meat'. He carries an umbrella under his arm. Her dress is blown back against her skinny form; her hands are in a large muff, and she wears a fur tippet over a tight bodice defining shoulders, round to deformity. Her profile is hideously sub-human. She walks with a fixed stare, not looking at a half-naked beggar (right) with a patch over one eye and supported on a crutch who holds out his hat for alms. Behind is a blank wall, above which are a church spire and old-fashioned gabled houses."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title below image., Description based on imperfect impression; sheet trimmed within plate mark with loss of imprint., For a later state see Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 9, no. 11973., A 1811 edition described in: Grego, J. Rowlandson the caricaturist, v. ii, p. 237., and Mounted to 49 x 32 cm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Topic):
Black people, Beggars, Dogs, Servants, and Single women
"A room crowded with cooks and scullions : a tall cook addresses the others with clenched fist, holding the queue of his hair. The others make similar gestures of indignation ; one negligently holds a spit transfixing a bird which a dog is eating. Against the wall hang birds, &c., and a poster: Royal Bill of Fare ... second course."--British Museum catalogue, description of a variant state with different title
Alternative Title:
Cooks, scullions, hear me every mother's son and Fierce as staring Ajax from his seat
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker and date of publication from Grego., Variant state, with different title, of a plate issued with the title: Fierce as staring Ajax from his seat, uprose with visage stern the king of meat. Cf. No. 7187 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 6., and Temporary local subject terms: Literary quotation -- Peter Pindar's The Lousiad.
A view of the interior of busy French barracks shows a more domestic atmosphere than military although weapons and other gear adorn the walls and lay scattered on the floor. The scene includes a woman nursing a baby (right) as another child plays at her feet. Beside her another woman holds up a mirror so that an officer can admire his reflection from both the front and back. A third woman (left) cuts an officers toe nails as a barber dresses his long queue; another officer has his hair powdered. In the background a man in his night shirt sits on the side of his bed as he stretches his arms and yawns
Description:
Title from engraving based on this drawing, published by S.W. Fores 12 August 1791. and For further information, consult library staff.