English: A house is on fire (left), flames pouring from an upper window; the occupants escape from a side door on to open country, the men in nightshirts with bare legs, the women similarly dressed, their persons much exposed. On the extreme left a man stands by the door holding a whip, he shouts with his hand to his mouth, 'Tally ho Tally ho they are all Unkennell:d a rare Scent'. A terrified man and woman look from a window above the door. A man leaps head first from an adjacent window (right) from which flames are pouring; he wears a hunting-cap and says, "A rare Knight for smoaking the Badgers"; he is Meynell, Master of the Quorn hounds. One man drags along an enormously fat woman by a rope round her neck, saying, "come along Marjery come sweet Marjery". A younger man with cropped hair pushes her behind with his knee, his hands on her shoulders, saying, "A fine Essex Calf D------e & as Obstinate". She wears on her stomach a band inscribed 'Vanbutc[hell] Belly Ba[nd]', a device of the famous truss-maker (cf. BMSat 7930). She is Lady Essex, one of the men being her husband. In front of this group a good-looking young man (the Duke of Bedford) carries an excessively thin woman (Lady Salisbury). In her hair is an 'honi soit' ribbon, his breeches have been thrown round her shoulders. He wears her high-crowned hat. She says, "To be thus exposed Oh - Nell!!!" (An H appears to have been altered to an N.) He says, "Aye its D------d unlucky". In front (right) Paget, a young man, carries on his shoulders a young woman whose hair curls on her shoulders, the Duchess of Rutland. She says, "Pray my L------d Stand firm [words erased] & Carry me any where, to the Parsons if you will." He answers, "My Dear D------s I'll Carry you off through fire or Water". On the extreme right is a church. 10 December 1791.
Hand-coloured etching