Part 2 (1/2)
THE TAVERN SCENE.
”O vanity of youthful blood, So by misuse to poison good!
Woman, framed for social love, Fairest gift of powers above, Source of every household blessing; All charms in innocence possessing: But, turn'd to vice, all plagues above; Foe to thy being, foe to love!
Guest divine, to outward viewing; Ablest minister of ruin?
And thou, no less of gift divine, Sweet poison of misused wine!
With freedom led to every part, And secret chamber of the heart, Dost thou thy friendly host betray, And shew thy riotous gang the way To enter in, with covert treason, O'erthrow the drowsy guard of reason, To ransack the abandon'd place, And revel there with wild excess?”
Mr. Ireland having, in his description of this Plate, incorporated whatever is of value in Dr. Trusler's text, with much judicious observation and criticism of his own, the Editor has taken the former _verbatim_.
”This Plate exhibits our licentious prodigal engaged in one of his midnight festivities: forgetful of the past, and negligent of the future, he riots in the present. Having poured his libation to Bacchus, he concludes the evening orgies in a sacrifice at the Cyprian shrine; and, surrounded by the votaries of Venus, joins in the unhallowed mysteries of the place. The companions of his revelry are marked with that easy, unblus.h.i.+ng effrontery, which belongs to the servants of all work in the isle of Paphos;--for the maids of honour they are not sufficiently elevated.
”He may be supposed, in the phrase of the day, to have beat the rounds, overset a constable, and conquered a watchman, whose staff and lantern he has brought into the room, as trophies of his prowess. In this situation he is robbed of his watch by the girl whose hand is in his bosom; and, with that adroitness peculiar to an old pract.i.tioner, she conveys her acquisition to an accomplice, who stands behind the chair.
”Two of the ladies are quarrelling; and one of them _delicately_ spouts wine in the face of her opponent, who is preparing to revenge the affront with a knife, which, in a posture of threatening defiance, she grasps in her hand. A third, enraged at being neglected, holds a lighted candle to a map of the globe, determined to _set the world on fire, though she perish in the conflagration_! A fourth is undressing. The fellow bringing in a pewter dish, as part of the apparatus of this elegant and Attic entertainment, a blind harper, a trumpeter, and a ragged ballad-singer, roaring out an obscene song, complete this motley group.
”This design may be a very exact representation of what were then the nocturnal amus.e.m.e.nts of a brothel;--so different are the manners of former and present times, that I much question whether a similar exhibition is now to be seen in any tavern of the metropolis. That we are less licentious than our predecessors, I dare not affirm; but we are certainly more delicate in the pursuit of our pleasures.
”The room is furnished with a set of Roman emperors,--they are not placed in their proper order; for in the mad revelry of the evening, this family of frenzy have decollated all of them, except Nero; and his manners had too great a similarity to their own, to admit of his suffering so degrading an insult; their reverence for _virtue_ induced them to spare his head. In the frame of a _Caesar_ they have placed a portrait of _Pontac_, an eminent cook, whose great talents being turned to heightening sensual, rather than mental enjoyments, he has a much better chance of a votive offering from this company, than would either Vespasian or Trajan.
”The shattered mirror, broken wine-gla.s.ses, fractured chair and cane; the mangled fowl, with a fork stuck in its breast, thrown into a corner, and indeed every accompaniment, shews, that this has been a night of riot without enjoyment, mischief without wit, and waste without gratification.
”With respect to the drawing of the figures in this curious female coterie, Hogarth evidently intended several of them for beauties; and of vulgar, uneducated, prost.i.tuted beauty, he had a good idea. The hero of our tale displays all that careless jollity, which copious draughts of maddening wine are calculated to inspire; he laughs the world away, and bids it pa.s.s. The poor dupe, without his periwig, in the back-ground, forms a good contrast of character: he is maudlin drunk, and sadly sick.
To keep up the spirit of unity throughout the society, and not leave the poor African girl entirely neglected, she is making signs to her friend the porter, who perceives, and slightly returns, her love-inspiring glance. This print is rather crowded,--the subject demanded it should be so; some of the figures, thrown into shade, might have helped the general effect, but would have injured the characteristic expression.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE RAKE'S PROGRESS.
PLATE 3.
TAVERN SCENE.]
PLATE IV.
ARRESTED FOR DEBT.
”O, vanity of youthful blood, So by misuse to poison good!
Reason awakes, and views unbarr'd The sacred gates he wish'd to guard; Approaching, see the harpy _Law_, And _Poverty_, with icy paw, Ready to seize the poor remains That vice has left of all his gains.
Cold _penitence_, lame _after-thought_, With fear, despair, and horror fraught, Call back his guilty pleasures dead, Whom he hath wrong'd, and whom betray'd.”
The career of dissipation is here stopped. Dressed in the first style of the ton, and getting out of a sedan-chair, with the hope of s.h.i.+ning in the circle, and perhaps forwarding a former application for a place or a pension, he is arrested! To intimate that being plundered is the certain consequence of such an event, and to shew how closely one misfortune treads upon the heels of another, a boy is at the same moment stealing his cane.
The unfortunate girl whom he basely deserted, is now a milliner, and naturally enough attends in the crowd, to mark the fas.h.i.+ons of the day.
Seeing his distress, with all the eager tenderness of unabated love, she flies to his relief. Possessed of a small sum of money, the hard earnings of unremitted industry, she generously offers her purse for the liberation of her worthless favourite. This releases the captive beau, and displays a strong instance of female affection; which, being once planted in the bosom, is rarely eradicated by the coldest neglect, or harshest cruelty.
The high-born, haughty Welshman, with an enormous leek, and a countenance keen and lofty as his native mountains, establishes the chronology, and fixes the day to be the first of March; which being sacred to the t.i.tular saint of Wales, was observed at court.