A tailor on his raised shop-board (right) kneels in terror at the apparition of an emaciated corpse-like man and a fat pig with its throat cut standing on its hind-legs. Beneath the shop-board the head and shoulders of the devil emerge from the flames of hell; he holds a trident and a bulky roll of cloth inscribed 'cabbage' (cf. Bmsat 8035, &c. ), implying that the tailor's pilfering has not been restricted to scraps of material. (the place where tailors kept their 'cabbage' was termed hell; see grose, 'classical dict. Of the vulgar tongue'). The tailor wears a nightcap and apron; round his neck is a tape-measure; he says (excreting), "o lord o lord i am in a nasty condition". A small demon (right) holds his nose. Beside the tailor are his goose, lying on a garment (which is burning from the heat of the iron); the heel of a loaf with a knife, onions and cucumbers lie next a paper inscribed 'sick and in prison and he [word erased, comforted] me'. Reside an ink-pot are an open book: 'the benevolent society benifet of \ survivership', and a paper: 'advice to overseers respecting the poor'. The corpse stands in back view holding out a minatory hand and turning his nead in profile to the right; he asks "who starved me to death". The pig says "you have been the cause of my death". A man on the extreme left looks through a door, saying, "aye aye this comes of your ingratitude for my saving your life". On the wall which forms a background are (left to right) two pictures, two broadside ballads, and a print: [1] the lower part of a picture of 'howard' shows the legs of a man walking past a barred prison window, through which look two faces. (news was received on 26 feb. Of the death of john howard, the prison reformer, 'gent. Mag. ', 1790, i. 276, but this howard appears to be the corpse. ) [2] 'a song by tom stitch on the windsor corporation'. [3] 'a song in ridicule of my best friend. ' [4] a print of a gibbet from which hangs a noose inscribed 'the desert. ' [5] a large picture: 'windsor charity'; the tailor stands in a prison cell, pointing to an emaciated man lying on straw, turning to a woman who kneels at his feet, he says, clenching his fist, "let him die & be d--d. " the woman says, "for god sake don't suffer my poor father to starve". The dying man says "i perish for want". Beneath the design is etched:
'a taylor i once was as blith as e'er need be
until that the divel a monster sure mad me
for howard so lusty i soon sent him no where
but now he is come again to do me over
last time he appeared to me thro the shop window
my goose being hot burnt the sieve to a cinder
but now with the hog he is come back from dover
all this with ingratitude has done me over' 1790
etching. Date: 1790. Dimensions: Height: 235 mm; Width: 356 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Howard. Collection: British Museum. The ghost's or the taylor befrited &c &c a German story (BM 1868,0808.5919)
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