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The Rake is on his way to attend a public levée on Queen Caroline's (wife to George II, who reigned from 1727 to 1760) birthday. He is wearing a splendid court dress (his hopes high on becoming a courtier) but his sedan chair is hired (it is numbered) because there is not much left of his fortune. On his way to St. James' Palace he is arrested for debt by Welshmen (note the leeks in their hats), but is saved from prison by Sarah Young who pays his debt from her small salary earned as a seamstress (as can be concluded from the contents of her box). In the consternation, a young rascal steals the Rake's gold-topped cane, while the lamplighter lets his oil spill over the Rake's wig, as if anointing him. |