A Rake's Progress, Plate 4, William Hogarth, 1735

A scene in st james's street (after the painting at sir john soane's museum) with tom emerging from a sedan-chair to be arrested for debt; figures in the foreground include a welshman, probably the creditor, honouring st david's day (march 1st) with a leek in his hat, sarah young dropping her seamstress's box as she offers a purse of money to reprieve her former lover, a lamp-lighter carelessly spilling oil on tom's head, and a group of street-boys - newspaper vendors (one of whom reads "the farthing post") and shoe-blacks - who gamble with dice and cards beside a post labelled "black" in satirical reference to white's club further down the street; in the distance is the gate of st james's palace with a crowd of sedan-chairs approaching to celebrate the birthday of queen caroline; a streak of lightning flashes across the sky. 1735 etching and engraving. Date: 1735. Dimensions: Height: 357 mm (plate mark); Height: 412 mm (sheet); Width: 408 mm (plate mark); Width: 467 mm (sheet). Medium: paper. Collection: British Museum. A Rake's Progress, Plate 4 (BM 1868,0822.1532)