asal droning of the
_lay brother_ is most happily expressed. Accompanied by her child and
mother, the unfortunate victim of his seduction is here again
introduced, endeavouring to enter the church, and forbid the banns. The
opposition made by an old pew-opener, with her bunch of keys, gave the
artist a good opportunity for indulging his taste in the burlesque, and
he has not neglected it.

A dog (Trump, Hogarth's favorite), paying his addresses to a one-eyed
quadruped of his own species, is a happy parody of the unnatural union
going on in the church.

The commandments are broken: a crack runs near the tenth, which says,
_Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife;_ a prohibition in the
present case hardly necessary. The creed is destroyed by the damps of
the church; and so little attention has been paid to the poor's box,
that it is covered with a _cobweb_! These three high-wrought strokes of
satirical humour were perhaps never equalled by any exertion of the
pencil; excelled they cannot be.

On one of the pew doors is the following curious specimen of church-yard
poetry, and mortuary orthography.

THESE : PEWES : VNSCRUD : AND TANE : IN : SVNDER
IN : STONE : THERS : GRAUEN : WHAT : IS : VNDER
TO : WIT : A VALT : FOR : BURIAL : THERE : IS
WHICH : EDWARD : FORSET : MADE : FOR : HIM : AND : HIS.

This is a correct copy of the inscription. Part of these lines, in
raised letters, now form a pannel in the wainscot at the end of the
right-hand gallery, as the church is entered from the street. The mural
monument of the Taylor's, composed of lead, gilt over, is still
preserved: it is seen in Hogarth's print, just under the window.

A glory over the bride's head is whimsical.

The bay and holly, which decorate the pews, give a date to the period,
and determine this preposterous union of January with June, to have
taken place about the time of Christmas;

"When Winter linger'd in her icy veins."

Addison would have classed her among the evergreens of the sex.

It has been observed, that "the church is too small, and the wooden
post, which seems to have no use, divides the picture very
disagreeably." This cannot be denied: but it appears to be meant as an
accurate representation of the place, and the artist delineated what he
saw.

The grouping is good, and the principal figure has the air of a
gentleman. The light is well distributed, and the scene most
characteristically represented.

The co