Skip to main content

The Farmer's Toast, 20 March 1801

 Item — Box: LF104/6 Box 1
Reference code: LF104/6/57

Scope and Contents

Farmers converse at a table from which the cloth has been removed for dessert. All six are fat and grossly bucolic, two wear smocks, the others are fashionably dressed, wearing spurred top-boots. One (right) stands on a chair, one foot resting on the table, holding up a decanter of 'Claret' in one hand, a full glass in the other; he says: "are you all Charged? Here's the Duke of Portland." The toast is received with enthusiasm. A farmer stands pointing behind him to a letter 'To the Lord Lieutenant of the County of Kent' signed 'Portland', which hangs on the wall in a frame elaborately decorated with wheatsheaves and cornucopias. The room is stacked with piles of sacks, all inscribed 'Sample'; two have the additions: 'of 700 Q' and 'of 500 Qurs'. Signs of luxury are decanters labelled 'Claret' [see above], 'Tokay', 'Burgundy', and 'old Hock', a china punch-bowl, and dishes of pineapple, grapes, and peaches. From the pocket of a farmer wearing a fashionable whisker projects a 'design for my new Curricle [depicted]'. Description from the British Museum. A companion print to LF100/6/58.

Dates

  • Creation: 20 March 1801

Conditions Governing Access

Available by appointment in our Reading Room

Extent

1 Item(s)

Language of Materials

English

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository

Contact:
Western Bank Library
University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN United Kingdom
+44 (0) 114 222 7299