The butcher and little fellow who are assisting the terrified passengers, are possibly free and accepted masons. One of them seems to have a mop in his hand;—the pail is out of sight!
To crown the joys of the populace, a man with a pipe in his mouth is filling a capacious hogshead with British Burgundy.
The joint operation of shaving and bleeding, performed by a drunken 'prentice on a greasy oilman, does not seem a very natural exhibition on a rejoicing night.
The poor wretches under the barber's bench display a prospect of penury and wretchedness which I hope is not so common now as it was then.
In the distance is a cart laden with furniture, which some unfortunate tenant is removing out of the reach of his landlord's execution.
There is humour in the barber's sign and inscription: "Shaving, bleeding, and teeth drawn with a touch. Ecce signum!"
The Rummer Tavern still retains its old situation. It was then quaintly distinguished as the New Bagnio.
By the oaken boughs on the sign, and the oak leaves in the freemasons' hats, it seems that this rejoicing night is the 29th of May, the anniversary of our second Charles's restoration; that happy day when, according to our excellent old ballad, "the king enjoyed his own again." This might be one reason for the artist choosing a scene contiguous to the beautiful equestrian statue[143] of Charles I.
In the distance we see a house on fire,—an accident very likely to happen on such a night as this.