Beer Street

Preparatory drawing for the engraving "Beer Street."
Hogarth's paean to the invigorating benefits of English-brewed beer - in contrast to the devastating effects of gin, with its high alcohol content - features a cobbler and a pair of fishwives along with a group of laborers outside a tavern. The workmen smoke pipes and read the newspaper, while a sign painter plies his trade with a smile. In the background, a city square is under construction, and a group of roofers raise their hats as they drink a salute to the king. The pawnbroker is a recluse in this scene, his shop having fallen into disrepair for lack of business. A curious detail can be found at center: at the upper right of a sedan chair drawn in graphite is a waving hand. Hogarth had revised the composition on a separate piece of paper that is now lost. This change is evident in the first published state of the print. The hand belongs to a Frenchman who is being hoisted single-handed by a beer-drinking butcher. In the third and most common state of the print, Hogarth changed this group further, introducing an amorous man with his arm around a woman, making the scene bawdier than in the drawing. -- See also the record for the pendant drawing Gin Street (or Gin Lane, III, 36).