File:Language! (BM 1978,U.3023.6).jpg

English: See No. 15191- [1] A Billingsgate scene. Two fishwives shriek insults at each other, surrounded by interested and appraising market-people. A primly dressed woman walks off, shocked. Behind are masts and a notice-board: 'Notice All boats laden with Oysters arriving at Billings-Gate Market during the season to be moored at the Head of Billingsg...' Cf. No. 13081. [2] 'Ideality'. A man starts up in bed, terrified at clothes on a chair which resemble a ghastly seated man. Garments on a peg resemble a white-robed figure. A full moon, with grinning features, is seen through the window. [3] 'Wit'. A poor old woman with a lantern in a churchyard is terrified by boys hiding behind a tombstone inscribed '"Alas Poor Yorick"'; they hold up a turnip-headed 'ghost' on a pole. [4] 'Imitation— &—Approbation', the words applying to Mathews (1.) and his audience. On the stage Mathews, wearing black spectacles, stands behind his table with its two lamps as in No. 14714; &c. He holds up a skull with phrenological markings (as in No. 15191); other skulls are on the table. He mimics a phrenological lecture, to the delight of the audience, who laugh and clap; one has a playbill: 'Mathews at Home'. [5] 'Comparison'. Contrasted figures approach each other: a very tall thin man with a neatly furled umbrella under his arm, at the corner of 'Long Acre' (right) and a very short woman with ballooning petticoats and open parasol, opposite 'Little St Martin's Lane'. Two barelegged boys point and jeer. 1 August 1826
Hand-coloured etching