Scene outside a posting inn. A man (right) riding right to left clutches his horse round the neck, he has lost his stirrups and his hat flies off. The horse is rearing, startled by the drum and fifes of a recruiting party in guards' uniform led by an officer with a drawn sword, and followed by three recruits wearing ribbon favours in their hats. The rider is fashionably dressed in riding clothes, a pair of curling tongs falls from his pocket, a box which he was carrying has fallen to the ground, where various articles of the barber's trade have fallen from it: tresses of hair, a packet of "powder", a comb, razor, &c. In the background is a three-storied inn, with bay-windows on all floors. Spectators watch from the windows. The sign is hung from a standard (right); behind (left) are outhouses inscribed "licensed to [hire] post horses"; a coach stands in front of them. 20 may 1782
hand-coloured mezzotint. Date: 1782. Dimensions: Height: 350 mm; Width: 251 mm. Medium: paper. Collection: British Museum. The Barber riding to Margate (BM 1935,0522.1.190)
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