MARRIAGE A LA MODE.

Plate III.—The Procuress at the Quack's in this print is said to be designed for the once celebrated Betty Careless, and the remark is countenanced by the initials "B. C." on her bosom. This woman, by a very natural transition, from being one of the most fashionable of the Cyprian corps, became lady abbess of a brothel; and, after frequent arrests and imprisonments, was buried from the poorhouse of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, April 22, 1752. Fielding, in his Amelia, says: "It is impossible to conceive a greater appearance of modesty, innocence, and simplicity, than what nature had displayed in the countenance of that girl,"—meaning her whom he in another place calls "the inimitable Betsy Careless."

Ib. Plate IV.—A card on the floor in this print is inscribed:

"Count Basset desire to no how Lade Squander sleep last nite?"

A fashionable foreign adventurer, of the name of Count Basset, occurs as one of the characters in the Provoked Husband, or a Journey to London, which might have suggested the hint for this name. But, query, whether a real person? or the artist might have meant to satirize the game of Basset.

N.B.—The set of prints of "Marriage à la Mode" is said to have furnished the idea for the comedy of the Clandestine Marriage.