Stout! More Stout!!

Alfred Crowquill

Wood engraving by the Dalziels

2 ¼ x 3 inches

Bon Gaultier’s Book of Ballads, 158.

Another punning joke, which takes up with ‘The Midnight Meditation’s’ approval for stout (158) (a type of heavy, black beer). Crowquill, however, shows us ‘stout’ in the sense of being over-large; the fact that consumption of stout will lead to stoutness clinches the joke.

Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.

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