it. Under that consciousness, he is properly
and naturally represented as ungraceful, and embarrassed in his new
situation."

[Illustration: THE RAKE'S PROGRESS.

PLATE 2.

SURROUNDED BY ARTISTS & PROFESSORS.]

PLATE III.

THE TAVERN SCENE.

"O vanity of youthful blood,
So by misuse to poison good!
Woman, framed for social love,
Fairest gift of powers above,
Source of every household blessing;
All charms in innocence possessing:
But, turn'd to vice, all plagues above;
Foe to thy being, foe to love!
Guest divine, to outward viewing;
Ablest minister of ruin?
And thou, no less of gift divine,
Sweet poison of misused wine!
With freedom led to every part,
And secret chamber of the heart,
Dost thou thy friendly host betray,
And shew thy riotous gang the way
To enter in, with covert treason,
O'erthrow the drowsy guard of reason,
To ransack the abandon'd place,
And revel there with wild excess?"

Mr. Ireland having, in his description of this Plate, incorporated
whatever is of value in Dr. Trusler's text, with much judicious
observation and criticism of his own, the Editor has taken the former
_verbatim_.

"This Plate exhibits our licentious prodigal engaged in one of his
midnight festivities: forgetful of the past, and negligent of the
future, he riots in the present. Having poured his libation to Bacchus,
he concludes the evening orgies in a sacrifice at the Cyprian shrine;
and, surrounded by the votaries of Venus, joins in the unhallowed
mysteries of the place. The companions of his revelry are marked with
that easy, unblushing effrontery, which belongs to the servants of all
work in the isle of Paphos;--for the maids of honour they are not
sufficiently elevated.

"He may be supposed, in the phrase of the day, to have beat the rounds,
overset a constable, and conquered a watchman, whose staff and lantern
he has brought into the room, as trophies of his prowess. In this
situation he is robbed of his watch by the girl whose hand is in his
bosom; and, with that adroitness peculiar to an old practitioner, she
conveys her acquisition to an accomplice, who stands behind the chair.

"Two of the ladies are quarrelling; and one of them _delicately_ spouts
wine in the face of her opponent, who is preparing to revenge the
affront with a knife, which, in a posture of threatening defiance, she
grasps in her hand. A third