Attr Williams Charles (1 results)

Two young Quakers sit primly side by side in bed. The woman (left) holds her thumbs and fingers wide apart, the hands almost touching at the finger-tips. The man's thumbs are in the same position, but the fingers are interlaced. They sit squarely, their heads slightly turned, looking sideways at each other. He asks: "Beloved Ruthshall We go to sleepor how?" She answers: "Why Obidiah if the Spirit moveth us we will how firstand go to sleep afterwards." The treatment is decorative, the heads slightly caricatured, the necks thin and elongated. A white tufted coverlet forms the base of the design, which is framed by curtains. Further inscription on the bottom: 'Among words which signify the same pr. ideas / some are clean & decent, others unclean some chaste / other obscene'; 'Talk not to a Lady in a way that modesty will not permit her to answer', the latter sentence from Samuel Richardson's 'Clarissa'. l Hand colored etching on paper with margins; plate mark: 246 x 325 mm, total: 266 x 348 mm; some slight damages along the most external margin, otherwise very charming print.