Les Caprices de la Goute, Ballet Arthritique

A room in the establishment of Abraham Buzaglo, whose treatment of the gout by 'muscular exercises' is here satirized. Men with their limbs strapped into wooden cases are performing exercises. A stout man whose arms are extended by a wooden frame or jacket strapped across chest and arms, his thighs similarly encased and extended, capers on one leg, the other is swathed in a stocking (perhaps one of the 'bootikins' described by Horace Walpole, 'Letters', x. 342, 30 Oct. 1778, &c). On each side of him is a man in a contorted attitude, with legs or leg encased (the other leg being swathed). Each wooden case is inscribed 'Buzaglo'. In the background (left) Buzaglo himself, apparently, stands in profile to the left superintending his assistant, who is strapping the leg of a patient into a case; the other leg is already encased; his crutches are beside him. Against the centre of the back wall is an elaborate stove, inscribed Buzaglo. On the wall (right and left) hang two pairs of leg-cases. In front of the design, as if decorating the front of a stage, is a placard nailed above a pair of crossed crutches: "Patent Muscular Health-restoring Exercise. I. It takes off within the hour all Pains from the Shoulders, Elbows, Sides, Back, Knees, Calves & Ancles. ... See British Museum online catalog.