DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61480#0111
INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS.
PLATE X.
THE INDUSTRIOUS 'PRENTICE ALDERMAN OF LONDON; THE
IDLE ONE BROUGHT BEFORE HIM, AND IMPEACHED BY HIS
ACCOMPLICE.
" Thou shalt do no unrighteousness in judgment." Leviticus, chap. xix. verse 15.
" The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.'' Psalms, chap. ix. verse 16.
Imagine now this depraved and atrocious youth hand-cuffed, and dragged from his
wicked haunt, through the streets to a place of security, amidst the scorn and contempt
of a jeering populace; and thence brought before the sitting magistrate, (who, to heighten
the scene and support the contrast, is supposed to be his fellow-'prentice, now chosen an
alderman,) in order to be dealt with according to law. See him then at last having run
his course of iniquity, fallen into the hands of justice, being betrayed by his accomplice;
a further proof of the perfidy of man, when even partners in vice are unfaithful to each
other. This is the only print among the set, excepting the first, where the two principal
characters are introduced; in which Mr. Hogarth has shown his great abilities, as well
in description, as in a particular attention to the uniformity and connexion of the whole.
He is now at the bar, with all the marks of guilt imprinted on his face. How, if his
fear will permit him to reflect, must he think on the happiness and exaltation of his
fellow-'prentice on the one hand, and of his own misery and degradation on the other!
at one instant, he condemns the persuasions of his wicked companions ; at another, his
own idleness and obstinacy : however, deeply smitten with his crime, he sues the ma-
gistrate, upon his knees, for mercy, and pleads in his cause the former acquaintance that
subsisted between them, when they both dwelt beneath the same roof, and served the
same common master: but here was no room for lenity, murder was his crime, and
PLATE X.
THE INDUSTRIOUS 'PRENTICE ALDERMAN OF LONDON; THE
IDLE ONE BROUGHT BEFORE HIM, AND IMPEACHED BY HIS
ACCOMPLICE.
" Thou shalt do no unrighteousness in judgment." Leviticus, chap. xix. verse 15.
" The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.'' Psalms, chap. ix. verse 16.
Imagine now this depraved and atrocious youth hand-cuffed, and dragged from his
wicked haunt, through the streets to a place of security, amidst the scorn and contempt
of a jeering populace; and thence brought before the sitting magistrate, (who, to heighten
the scene and support the contrast, is supposed to be his fellow-'prentice, now chosen an
alderman,) in order to be dealt with according to law. See him then at last having run
his course of iniquity, fallen into the hands of justice, being betrayed by his accomplice;
a further proof of the perfidy of man, when even partners in vice are unfaithful to each
other. This is the only print among the set, excepting the first, where the two principal
characters are introduced; in which Mr. Hogarth has shown his great abilities, as well
in description, as in a particular attention to the uniformity and connexion of the whole.
He is now at the bar, with all the marks of guilt imprinted on his face. How, if his
fear will permit him to reflect, must he think on the happiness and exaltation of his
fellow-'prentice on the one hand, and of his own misery and degradation on the other!
at one instant, he condemns the persuasions of his wicked companions ; at another, his
own idleness and obstinacy : however, deeply smitten with his crime, he sues the ma-
gistrate, upon his knees, for mercy, and pleads in his cause the former acquaintance that
subsisted between them, when they both dwelt beneath the same roof, and served the
same common master: but here was no room for lenity, murder was his crime, and