“The virtuous2 woman is a crown to her husband.”
Proverbs, chap. xiii. verse 4.
The reward of industry is success. Our prudent3 and attentive4 youth is now become partner with his master, and married to his daughter. The sign, by which this circumstance is intimated, was at first inscribed5 Goodchild and West. Some of Mr. Hogarth’s city friends informing him that it was usual for the senior partner’s name to precede, it was altered.
To show that plenty reigns6 in this mansion7, a servant distributes the remains8 of the table to a poor woman, and the bridegroom pays one of the drummers, who, according to ancient custom, attend with their thundering gratulations the day after a wedding. A performer on the bass9 viol, and a herd10 of butchers armed with marrow-bones and cleavers11, form an English concert. (Madame Pompadour, in her remarks on the English taste for music, says, they are invariably fond of every thing that is full in the mouth.) A cripple with the ballad12 of Jesse, or the Happy Pair, represents a man known by the name of Philip in the Tub, who had visited Ireland and the United Provinces; and, in the memory of some persons now living, was a general attendant at weddings. From those votaries13 of Hymen who were honoured with his epithalamiums, he received a small reward. To show that Messrs. West and Goodchild’s habitation is near the monument, the base of that stately column appears in the back-ground. The inscription14 which until lately graced this structure, used to remind every reader of Pope’s lines,
Where London’s column, pointing to the skies,
Like a tall bully15, rears its head, and lies, &c.
The duke of Buckingham’s epigram on this magnificent pillar is not so generally known:
Here stand I,
The Lord knows why;
But if I fall —
Have at ye all!
A footman and butcher, at the opposite corner, compared with the other figures, are gigantic; they might serve for the Gog and Magog of Guildhall.
It has been said that the thoughts in this print are trite16, and the actions mean, which must be in part acknowledged, but they are natural, and appropriate to the rank and situation of the parties, and to the fashions of the time at which it was published.

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1
industrious
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adj.勤劳的,刻苦的,奋发的 | |
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2
virtuous
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adj.有品德的,善良的,贞洁的,有效力的 | |
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3
prudent
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adj.谨慎的,有远见的,精打细算的 | |
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4
attentive
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adj.注意的,专心的;关心(别人)的,殷勤的 | |
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5
inscribed
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v.写,刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 );内接 | |
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6
reigns
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n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 );君主统治时期;任期;当政期 | |
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7
mansion
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n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
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8
remains
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n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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9
bass
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n.男低音(歌手);低音乐器;低音大提琴 | |
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10
herd
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n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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11
cleavers
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n.猪殃殃(其茎、实均有钩刺);砍肉刀,剁肉刀( cleaver的名词复数 ) | |
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12
ballad
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n.歌谣,民谣,流行爱情歌曲 | |
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13
votaries
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n.信徒( votary的名词复数 );追随者;(天主教)修士;修女 | |
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14
inscription
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n.(尤指石块上的)刻印文字,铭文,碑文 | |
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15
bully
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n.恃强欺弱者,小流氓;vt.威胁,欺侮 | |
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16
trite
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adj.陈腐的 | |
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