The interior of a cobbler's work-room. The cobbler has seized his wife by the arm and is about to beat her with a strap. Her stays are partly laced, the end of the lace is twisted round a hammer. Her hair is dressed in the fashionable pyramid, surmounted by a meagre ostrich-feather, lace, &amp;c. She wears a quilted petticoat and high-heeled shoes. On the right. is a cobbler's bench with tools; lasts and tools are in a rack on the wall; a wicker cage in which is a bird hangs from a hook. A print of a leg of mutton and turnips is pinned to the wall. Under the cracked casement window (l.) is a wooden chair. Beneath the title is engraved:
<p><br><br>"The Hoity head &amp; Toighty waist,
<br>As now they're all the ton, 
<br>Ma'am Nell the cobbler's wife, in taste
<br>By none will be outdone,
<br><br>But, ah! when set aloft her cap,
<br>Her Boddice while she's bracing, 
<br>Jobson comes in, &amp;, with his strap
<br>Gives her, a good tight lacing." 4 November 1777
</p>
<br>Etching
1777<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1777-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_J-5-132">https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_J-5-132</a>