The Injured Count,, S- (BM 1868,0808.5501)

Lady Strathmore sits drinking with her servants; she leans back in her chair, a small flagon (indicating gin) in her right hand, a glass in her left; her breasts are bare and are sucked by two cats. A little boy (left) stands beside her chair crying; he says, "I wish I was a Cat my Mama would Love me then". A footman, wearing a nightcap and holding a candle, puts his hand on her arm, saying, "My Lady its time to come to Bed". A number of women-servants are seated at a rectangular table, the most prominent being one whose head and arms have advanced from her body and lean on the table; she holds out a glass to touch that of Lady Strathmore; in her right hand is a decanter; on her lap is a paper: 'Duty of a Ladies Maid, by M. Morgan see Old Baly Chronle'. Four other servants drink in a debauched manner, one holds a broom, another a spit. A man (right) looks round a folding screen, his hand raised in surprise. On the extreme left a man stands with his hands on his hips, spectacles pushed up on his forehead; he looks at a map on the wall of the '[Bowe]s Estate', showing 'Newcastle' and 'Durham', and says, "We'll have it Farmer and nearer". He is either Stoney (afterwards Stoney-Bowes) or some other fortune-hunter. On the wall there is also a picture, 'Messalina'. c.1786 or c. May 1788
Hand-coloured soft-ground etching