[WOMEN]
Keep Within Compass and you shall be sure to avoid many Troubles which others Endure.
"WHILE THOSE WHO PLAY DEEP SOON EMPTY THEIR PURSE, AND THEN TAKE TO DRINKING & MAKE BAD THINGS WORSE"
Seemingly unrecorded. This appears to be a cheap engraved copy of Bowles & Carver’s much grander mezzotint design which was published in 1785 (with a companion print aimed at men ). The imprint at the foot of the sheet seems to have been cut away.
A cheap instructional print reminding women to “keep within compass” and not be seduced by the evils of alcohol and gaming.
The design of this print is very familiar from the version published by Bowles ad Carver and often found with handsome hand colouring (see the many examples in the British Museum catalogue). By contrast, the present example is a much cheaper production presumably intended to be marketed (and aimed) at poorer women. The small illustrations in the corners of the print show a woman with cards before her on a table, secretly taking a drink when she is alone, being led away by two men and finally sentenced to hard labour in a jail. The text at the foot of the sheet reads:
“My fair British sister be counsel’d by me.
Let Keep within Compass your motto shall be,
While those who play deep soon empty their purse,
And then take to drinking & make bad things worse“
