The Triple Plea: A lawyer, a doctor and a churchman, each holding the tools of his trade, illustrate the ‘The Triple Plea’. It is a satirical piece on these three professions, all of which demand significant payment for their services. The message is that the doctor will only provide advice if he is paid, otherwise he stays silent, or ‘mum’ (“Without a Fee the Doctor’s – Mum”) and swears that “Life and Health are in his Pill”. The choice to pay is ours, which is why the poem ends with: “Then be advis’d: In none confide,But take sound Reason as your Guide.”
The Tythe Pig: The image shows a parson being prevented carrying off a piglet that has been selected for tithe payment by a farmer’s wife who insists that if the reverend is taking part of her flock then he must take one of her children, who she can presumably no longer afford to feed, as well. The rhyme at the foot of the image reads: The Tythe Pig In Country Village Lives a Vicar, Fond – as all are – of Tythes and Liquor, To mirth his ears are seldom Shut, He’ll Crack a Joke, and laugh at Smut; But when his Tythes he gathers in, On Fish, On Flesh, On Bird, On Beast, Alike lays hold the Churlish Priest Hob’s Wife and Sow – as Gossips tell Both at a time in Pieces fell; The Parson comes, the Pig he claims And the good Wife with Taunts inflames; Kept back the Pig and held the Child; The Priest look’d gruff, the Wife look’d big, Z…ds, Sir! quoth she, no Child, no Pig.
Height: 9 ¾”
In good condition