Engraved verses below image: The Demon of Fashion Sir Fopling bewitches-- The reason his Lady betrays-- For as she is resolved upon wearing the Breeches, In revenge he has taken the Stays!
Plate numbered 320 at upper right.
Print shows a dressing-room scene. A dandy stands by the dressing-table (right) making a gesture of rejection towards his wife (left). He is lacing a pair of stays over his shirt and puffed-out breeches. His waist is very small, his bare legs emaciated; a set of false teeth is on the dressing-table. She is plump and comely, and holds out her arms to him; she wears frilled drawers reaching below the calf, and a long pad across her shoulders to give her short-waisted dress the fashionable line. A large fire is burning; on it is an iron; kettle and coffee-pot are on the hob. Before it on a towel-rail hang stockings and other garments; top-boots are warming by the fender. A high-shouldered coat hangs on a T-shaped stand. On a shelf above the wash-stand a pair of short yellow gloves are drying on stands.