Plucking a spoony, Thomas Rowlandson

A promising young 'spooney,' according to the artist's view, is entering on life's dangers represented pictorially in three subjects which are hanging over the head of the victim : 'the fair sex drinking and gaming,' being the evils set down to avoid. The novice is evidently well advanced on the downward route, and has fallen among experienced professors of the plucking process. A gaily-dressed lady by his side, a 'decoy duck,' of captivating exterior, is beguiling the senses of the self-satisfied dupe with various familiarities ; while a smug stout person, dressed like a parson, is discreetly keeping up the spirit of the affair by filling the glasses and manufacturing fresh supplies of punch, which the 'spooney' is imbibing freely and without regard to the consequences. A pile of gold and notes has been laid on the table by this very innocent pigeon, and opposite to him sits the crafty and accomplished 'rook' a captain, from his 'keeping who, by a skillful manipulation of the cards, assisted by the carelessness of the simple young roué, bids fair to succeed in leaving the pigeon 'without a feather to fly with.'
Courtesy of Boston Public Library

Thomas Rowlandson - English caricaturist of the 18th and early 19th centuries Britain, known for his humor, caricatures, satirical drawings, and watercolors, a popular artist in the Regency period in England.