I.TBERTY AND TRADE. 



133 



The cut here copied, is a copy of their portion of the 

 picture. The difference between the tobacco and wine 

 cask, has been carefully noted 

 by the engraver. A great oppo- 

 nent of the bill, was the tobac- 

 conist Ben Bradley, whose por- 

 trait was published by Pond, 

 with the verse beneath : — 



" Behold the man, who, when a gloomy band 

 Of vile excisemen threatened all the land, 

 Help'd to deliver from their harpy gripe 

 The chearfull bottle and the social pipe. 

 rare Ben Bradley ! may for this the 



bowl, 

 Still unexcised, rejoice thy honest soul ! 

 May still the best in Christendom * for this 

 Cleave to thy stopper, and compleat thy 



bliss ! " 



Hogarth decorated this plate 



with a minute etching, indicative 



of unexcised liberty; in which 



the British Lion, pipe in mouth, 



makes free with Britannia who 



also smokes while seated on a hogshead of tobacco. 



This design of Hogarth's was adopted on Bradley's 



shop-bill, with the inscription beneath " the best in 



Christendom without excise." At this period, when 



tradesmen vied with each other in expensive signs, 



carved or painted, over their doors, they also rivalled 



* Bradley used to wTap his tobacco in papers, thus inscribed, 

 /ble art of puffing has always flourished in trade. 



The 



