print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.3514
- Title
- Object: The Doctors in Labour; or a New Whim Wham from Guildford
- Description
-
Twelve scenes relating to the affair of Mary Toft, "the rabbit breeder": from top left, she is held aloft by two men and a Harlequin or Merry Andrew, she has a rabbit in either hand; she pursues a rabbit while working in a field; she dreams of being impregnated by rabbit, Cupid is shown on a cloud beside her bed holding a rabbit in either hand; she is seated in a chair attended by two women while the two men and Harlequin discuss the monstrous birth; Harlequin demonstrates that he can express milk from her breast; Harlequin feels "the rabbets leapin in her belly" while two men look on; she sits on the edge of a bed and Harlequin kneels to seize a rabbit that emerges from her skirts while a doctor raises his hands in surprise, wishing to anatomize the animal; Harlequin stands behind a table holding a balance in which he weighs dung removed from the rabbit explaining to two men that this will allow him to judge whether the animal had "breath'd in air"; doctors and midwives discuss the phenomenon around a table and Harlequin enters claiming that the birth must be "praeternatural"; a crowd of gentlemen are welcomed to the bagnio in Leicester Square where Toft is housed; two men spy from the door to Toft's room as another hands her a dead rabbit; Toft, weeping, is led away to Bridewell by two constables while Harlequin "sits upon Repenting stool,/Cursing his fate in being made a Fool." 1726
Etching
- Production date
- 1726
- Dimensions
-
Height: 335 millimetres
-
Width: 263 millimetres (trimmed)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Stephens assumes that Harlequin or Merry Andrew is intended for Nathaniel St André.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.3514
