Copy of the fourth print in the Hogarth's series "Four Times of the Day. Set at the intersection of Rummer Court and Charing Cross, Le Sueur's equestrian statue of Charles I can be seen in the background. It is the anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II (29 May, known as "Oak Apple Day"). In the foreground a drunken freemason (probably the corrupt magistrate Sir Thomas De Veil) is supported by a serving man. Behind them a man pours gin into a keg. To the left a barber is seen at work through a window; each pane of the shop window contains a lit candle. From a window above the barber shop, a chamber pot is being emptied onto the top of a wooden shelter under which a man and woman sleep. Beside them, a link boy crouches as he blows on the flame of his torch. Behind and to the right of the freemason, the Salisbury Flying Coach has crashed and overturned while trying to avoid a bonfire in the middle of the street; the passengers reach out the window of the coach, alarmed looks on their faces.Two men look on, one of whom appears to be a butcher. Shop and tavern signs include the barber's which is decorated with oak leaves and advertises "Shaving Bleeding & Teeth Drawn wth. a Touch Ecce Signum"; the Rummer Tavern; the Earl of Cardigan; and, the Bagnio and the New Bagnio
Alternative Title:
Nuit
Description:
Title engraved below image., Date from Paulson: Publish'd 23d June 1740., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., and Matted to: 379 x 281 mm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain. and England.
Subject (Topic):
Liquor laws, Freemasons, Jacobites, Accidents, Barbering, Butchers, Carriages & coaches, City & town life, Children, Fires, Intoxication, Liquor, Prostitution, Sleeping, Signs (Notices), and Taverns (Inns)
