Rowlandson the Caricaturist; a Selection from His Works. Vol. 2 by Joseph Grego

1800. _Matrimonial Comforts._ No. 5, _Killing with Kindness_. Woodward

del. Etched by Rowlandson. Published by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand.--The victim to ill-directed matrimonial attentions is a stout countrified old gentleman; he is seated in his arm-chair, very much at the mercy of two fair and youthful tormentors, whose exertions on his behalf are probably _not_ disinterested. The wife, a very stylish damsel, seemingly young enough to be the daughter of her embarrassed spouse, is leaning on his chair and pressing him to partake of a dish of fruit, and insisting, 'You must have some apricots, my love!' while her sister, patting the husband affectionately on the shoulder, is forcing a bunch of grapes into his mouth, which he has incautiously opened, to express his dissent: 'Just take these grapes, brother-in-law, you never eat finer!' The old gentleman, who shrewdly values this devotion at its worth, is crying: 'I wo'nt eat anything more, I tell you--I shall be choked--got an eye to the estate, I suppose!'