Ireland, John: Hogarth illustrated (Band 2,3): Nature (London, 1793)

FIVE GROUPS OF HEADS.

THE LAUGHING AUDIENCE.

' Let him laugh now, who never Isugh'd before;
' And he who always laugh'd, laugh iiow the mon

From the first print that Hogarth engraved
to the last that he published, I do not think there
is one, in which character is more displayed than
in this very spirited little etching. It is much
superior to the more delicate engravings from his
designs by other artists, and I prefer it to those
that were still higher finished by his own burin.

The prim coxcomb with an enormous bag,
whose favours, like those of Hercules between
Virtue and Vice, are contended for by two rival
orange girls, gives an admirable idea of the dress
of the day; when, if we may judge from this
print, our grave forefathers, defying nature, and
despising convenience, had a much higher rank
in the temple of Folly than was then attained by