The friend of humanity and the knife-grinder

George Tierney stands directed to the right, with left hand raised in reproof to the knife-grinder (right), who pushes his barrow with a shuffling gait. The latter's hat, coat, and breeches are torn and he has a fixed, insinuating grin. Behind him is the door of an alehouse, the sign of the Chequers hanging from a beam inscribed "Best Brown Stout". On the lintel is "Dealer in Brandy Rum & Gin". Tierney has short hair, wears a round hat, double-breasted coat, and half-boots, and holds a stick. Behind him a street recedes diagonally to the right, the nearest house inscribed "Tierney & Liberty". In front of this is a coach with an earl's coronet, and two footmen standing behind; a horseman advances towards it from the right. Beneath the title is etched in two columns the well-known parody of Robert Southey's poem "The Widow", by George Canning and John Hookham Frere, published in the second number of the "Anti-Jacobin". Cf. British Museum online catalog.