2-756-364 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'The Man with the Load of Mischief', 18th century, (1943). A man with a chain and padlock round his neck, carrying a "load of mischief": a woman holding a glass of gin rides on his back, while a monkey pokes him in the ear. In the background is a pawnbroker's shop, a reference to belongings being pawned to buy alcohol. A misogynistic depiction which portrays the wife as a literal 'burden' to the husband. ('Trouble and Strife' is cockney rhyming slang for 'wife'). Inn sign attributed to William Hogarth which reputedly came from an inn called "The Mischief", in Oxford Street. From "English Inns", by Thomas Burke. [Collins, London, 1943]