Trusler, John; Hogarth, J.; Nichols, John; Hogarth, J. [Oth.]; Nichols, John [Oth.]; Hogarth, William [Ill.]: The Works Of William Hogarth In A Series Of Engravings: With Descriptions And A Cmment On Their Moral Tendency (London: Published By Jones And Co., 1833)

24

HOGARTH'S WORKS.

selves in that which noways concerns them, and which they in no respect understand,
though their immediate ruin shall follow it: nay, so infatuated do we find him, so
taken up with his beloved object, as not to bestow a few minutes on the decency of his
person. In the back of the room is one who owes his ruin to an indefatigable search
after the philosopher's stone. Strange and unaccountable!—Hence we are taught by
these characters, as well as by the pair of human wings on the tester of the bed, that
scheming is the sure and certain road to beggary: and that more owe their misfortunes
to wild and romantic notions, than to any accident they meet with in life.
In this upset of his life, and aggravation of distress, we are to suppose our prodigal
almost driven to desperation. Now, for the first time, he feels the severe effects of pinching
cold and griping hunger. At this melancholy season, reflection finds a passage to his
heart, and he now revolves in his mind the folly and sinfulness of his past life;—considers
within himself how idly he has wasted the substance he is at present in the utmost need
of;—looks back with shame on the iniquity of his actions, and forward with horror
on the rueful scene of misery that awaits him; until his brain, torn with excruciating
thought, loses at once its power of thinking, and falls a sacrifice to merciless despair.
Mr. Ireland remarks, on the plate before us :—" Our improvident spendthrift is now lodged in
that dreary receptacle of human misery,—a prison. His countenance exhibits a picture of despair;
the forlorn state of his mind is displayed in every limb, and his exhausted finances, by the turnkey's
demand of prison fees, not being answered, and the boy refusing to leave a tankard of porter, unless
he is paid for it.
" We see by the enraged countenance of his wife, that she is violently reproaching him for having
deceived and ruined her. To crown this catalogue of human tortures, the poor girl whom he
deserted, is come with her child—perhaps to comfort him,—to alleviate his sorrows, to soothe his
sufferings :—but the agonising view is too much for her agitated frame; shocked at the prospect of
that misery which she cannot remove, every object swims before her eyes,—a film covers the
sight,—the blood forsakes her cheeks—her lips assume a pallid hue,—and she sinks to the floor of
the prison in temporary death. What a heart-rending prospect for him by whom this is occasioned !
" The wretched, squalid inmate, who is assisting the fainting female, bears every mark of being
naturalised to the place; out of his pocket hangs a scroll, on which is inscribed, 'A scheme to pay
the National Debt, by J. L. now a prisoner in the Fleet.' So attentive was this poor gentleman to the
debts of the nation, that he totally forgot his own. The cries of the child, and the good-natured
attentions of the women, heighten the interest, and realise the scene. Over the group are a large
pair of wings, with which some emulator of Dedalus intended to escape from his confinement; but
finding them inadequate to the execution of his project, has placed them upon the tester of his bed.
They would not exalt him to the regions of air, but they o'ercanopy him on earth. A chemist in
the back-ground, happy in his views, watching the moment of projection, is not to be disturbed from
his dream by any thing less than the fall of the roof, or the bursting of his retort;—and if his dream
affords him felicity, why should he be awakened? The bed and gridiron, those poor remnants
of our miserable spendthrift's wretched property, are brought here as necessary in his degraded
situation; on one he must try to repose his wearied frame, on the other, he is to dress his scanty meal."