11.
- Creator:
- Cooper, Robert, active 1795-1836, printmaker
- Published / Created:
- [8 September 1785]
- Call Number:
- 785.09.08.03+
- Image Count:
- 1
- Resource Type:
- still image
- Abstract:
- A companion print to British Museum satire no. 6878: The country justice. Inside a watch-house, a burly watchman stands (left) facing an elderly constable who sits frowning in his arm-chair. He holds out a broken lantern and points to a thin, fashionably dressed, and apparently drunken man who stands beside him with closed eyes, holding a large stick in his left hand. Next to the constable is a clerk writing at a desk with a slanted top. The room is lit by a lantern slung from the roof. A map on the wall apparently represents the roads of the parish and the beats of the watchmen. A fire burns in a grate (right).
- Description:
- Title engraved below image., Eight lines of verse below title: "Watchman. This wicked dog did lift his hand, First knocked me down, then bid me stand; The peaceful neighbours he awoke, And then the Knave my lanthorn broke, At which the Villain loud did Laugh, So down I knock'd him with my staff. "Constable: If so: you Justice did yourself, Therefore begone thou prating Elf.", Originally published July 10, 1785. Cf. British Museum catalogue no. 6879., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Watermark: fleur-de-lis on a shield with initials G R below.
- Publisher:
- Published Sepr. 8th by S.W. Fores at the Caracature [sic] Warehouse, No. 3 Piccadilly
- Subject (Geographic):
- England and London.
- Subject (Topic):
- Law enforcement, Police, Clerks, Dogs, Fireplaces, Inkstands, Lanterns, Rifles, Soldiers, British, Watchmen, and Writing materials
- Found in:
- Lewis Walpole Library > The night constable [graphic]
