Print shows an interior view of a room; a duke has arrived home drunk at 5 a.m. (as shown on the longcase clock beside the door) accompanied by two attendants and watchman only to find his bedchamber occupied by another man. Through the open curtains around the bed can be seen a bare-breasted duchess. On the floor near the bed is an open book, “Memoirs of a woman of pleasure” (a reference to John Cleland’s Fanny Hill …) beside the chamber pot. As the duke with sword drawn, staggers forward, his rival climbs through a window in the background, leaving his clothes behind on a chair. A monkey dashes onto the table near the window on the heels of the husband’s rival but pulls down the tablecloth causing the items on the table to be strewn across the floor in the foreground; a book opened to pages “Chastity in the nobility a farce. Dedicated to their Graces the Duke & Dutchess xxx”, breaking a broken mirror, and sending the bottles and jars onto the floor. The bottles have labels “Viper drops” and “Surfeit water” and the jar is labeled “Lip salve”.
- Title: High life at five in the morning [graphic].
- Publication: [London] : [publisher not identified], publish’d according to act of Parliament, May 1st, 1769.
769.05.01.01+
Acquired February 2022
“Ten ladies, arranged in two rows, with numbers referring to notes etched beneath the design, their proposed offices etched above their heads. … ‘(1) First Lady of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer.’ The ‘Duc – ss of Gor-n’ (Pitt’s friend), wearing a tartan drapery, sits at a writing-table. Facing her, with outstretched right arm, is ‘(2) President of the Council and Duc-ss of Ric-nd.’ ‘(3) Lady High Chancellor is the Coun-ss of Buc-s-e’, very short and fat, in wig and gown and holding the purse of the Great Seal. Facing her is ‘(4) Chamberlain’, who is ‘Margr-ne of Ans-h’, wearing a coronet and feathers, and holding a long wand of office. ‘(5) Mistress of the Horse’ holding a whip is ‘Lady Arc-r.’ ‘(6) First Lady of the Admiralty’ is ‘Mrs Jo-n’, with her arms folded, in profile to the right, as if playing the part of Priscilla Hoyden in ‘The Romp’, see British Museum Satires No. 6875, but wearing a naval cocked hat, emblem of her liaison with the Duke of Clarence, see British Museum Satires No. 9009. Facing her is ‘(7) Secretary of War & Capn of the Guards, La-y Wa-ce’ (sister of No. 1); she wears a military cocked hat and coat with epaulettes, her hands placed truculently on her hips. (Her friendship with Dumouriez is perhaps hinted at.) ‘(8) Mistress of the Buck Hounds’, is ‘March-ss of Sa-ry’, thin and weatherbeaten, holding two hounds on a leash, ‘(9) Ranger of Hyde Park’, is ‘La-y La-e’ (wife of Sir John Lade) wearing a riding-habit and holding a riding-switch. ‘(10) Post Mistress General and Inspector of Mis-sent Letters’ is ‘La-y Je-y’. She sits at a round table on which are many letters and appliances for opening and re-sealing them, including a spirit-lamp inscribed ‘Hot water’. She holds a lighted candle and peers through spectacles at a sealed letter.”–British Museum online catalogue.
