August 8, 1810. Smuggling In, or a College Trick.—The picture represents the corner of a college quadrangle. Three festive and mischievously disposed collegians appear at the window of their rooms; with the contrivance of a sling and a stout rope they are managing to draw up, clandestinely, as they fondly imagine, a pretty, modish, and, we fear, wanton maiden, who is not in the least terrified or abashed at her situation, but is entering into the spirit of the adventure. A frowning proctor, who is scandalised at these reprehensible irregularities, is standing in an angle, half-concealed in the shadow, scowling at the party, and waiting to dart out and surprise the violators of the academical proprieties at the critical moment for their detection.
September 8, 1810. Procession of the Cod Company from St. Giles's to Billingsgate. Published by T. Tegg (11).—A view of old Billingsgate, overlooking the river, with the fish being landed from the crowds of smacks at the old covered jetty, since swept away. The pilgrimage of the sturdy members of The Cod Company, we presume, is made to the craft on the river to take in cargoes of fish. The procession is composed of corpulent old Irish women, of colossal breadth and strength, all balancing their fish-baskets on their heads, some smoking their cherished clay pipes, and carrying their stoutly developed arms crossed, akimbo, or on their hips, after their individual proclivities.
September 25, 1810. Rigging out a Smuggler. Published by T. Tegg (8).—A party of sailors in a cabin are fitting out a handsome young creature to 'run the gauntlet' of the Custom-house officers, or rather to go on shore, with as full a cargo of excisable articles as they can secure round her person. Huge pockets of 'old Japan china, tea, gum,' &c. are disposed round her waist, together with a small keg of 'coniac,' and a flagon of otto of roses. Chests of Congou and Souchon and flasks of arrack are standings about.
September 30, 1810. Dramatic Demireps at their Morning Rehearsal. Published by T. Tegg (10).—The intention of this burlesque is a pun on dram-atic; the theatrical demireps being very ungallantly displayed in the Hundreds of Drury, inhabiting an attic, and indulging in matutinal potations of gin. The surroundings do not give a very cultivated idea of the actresses or their belongings. The Chapter of Accidents seems to be the piece in rehearsal. The toilettes of the fair performers are shockingly neglected. Over the mantelpiece are various professional announcements 'for the benefit of the Theatrical Fund,' &c. By the side of an 'À la mode beef jug' is a melon marked 'Ripe—rotten,' and other ironical allusions to current scandals and personages then well recognised are posted on the walls, as sketches for portraits: Peg and the Duke, Bald as a Coote, Little Darby O! Ever Craving, and Old Q., and various innuendoes hardly flattering to the originals indicated.
October 5, 1810. Sports of a Country Fair. Part the First. Published by T. Tegg.—The bustling picture of a country fair in full operation. In the rear are swings, booths, and theatrical shows. In the foreground is shown a cart overset; a man is holding on to the head of the horse, which in rearing has snapped his girths and tilted the cart on end, while the late occupants are thrown down in motley confusion, sprawling on the turf, pommelling, kicking, shrieking, and throwing up their limbs, while eager groups of spectators are hurrying up to enjoy the disaster.
October 5, 1810. Sports of a Country Fair. Part the Second.—A nearer view of the same fair: the thick of the crowd; stick-throwing for snuffboxes, oyster-opening, pocket-picking, and a round-about swing; one of the boats is giving way, and a fair swinger and her swain are falling through. There is an inn where cordials are supplied, through the windows of which various scenes of love-making are visible. In the distance may be seen Polito's stage-booths, horse-racing, and other diversions.
October, 1810. Sports of a Country Fair. Part the Third. Published by T. Tegg.—The interior of another booth-theatre; the play is interrupted; the only performer on the stage is thrown into consternation, and the whole of the audience are dispersing in terror at an unexpected intruder. A royal Bengal tiger has made his escape from an adjoining show, and is bounding through the canvas walls of the theatrical booth, threatening to descend plump into the auditorium. The effect on the frightened playgoers may be well imagined. Some are prostrate with terror; one man is down on his knees and cannot move for fright; ladies are fainting; husbands are manfully endeavouring to carry off their wives out of the way of the terrible visitor, and everything is turned topsy-turvy.
1810. Sports of a Country Fair.—The sport in this case is accidental, and the amusement verges on peril of a terrible character. A temporary theatre, Cockburn's Company, is on fire, and the spectators are escaping as best they may. The entrance is from a balcony reached by a flight of steps, and the frightened spectators are pouring out of the building, which is burning furiously, and throwing themselves pellmell down the steps, at the bottom of which they are sprawling, kicking, and plunging in fright and confusion. Certain buxom damsels are climbing over the balustrade and dropping from the balcony, with the musicians, into the arms of those below. A bill on the booth announces the Last Night, Pizarro and Don Juan, A Shower of Real Fire, and A View of the Infernal Regions. Crowds are scudding away in the distance, and the other attractions of the fair are at a standstill.
October 25, 1810. An Old Ewe Drest Lamb Fashion. Published by T. Tegg. A deceptive old tabby, clad in a juvenile style, is dashing along in a high poke-bonnet; three or four Don Juans of eccentric exterior are hurrying after her to tender their attentions, an act of gallantry they are likely to regret on closer inspection. The quotation offered as A Misery of Human Life runs thus: 'Walking fast and far to overtake a woman from whose shape and air as viewed en derrière you have decided that her face is angelic, till, on eagerly turning round as you pass her, you are petrified by a Gorgon.'