Venus preparing the armour of Mars
William Makepeace Thackeray
Wood engraving
c.1861
Illustration for Thackeray's own Vanity Fair
Passage illustrated: "Mrs. O'Dowd, the good house-wife, arrayed in curl-papers and a camisole, felt that her duty was to act, and not to sleep, at this juncture. "Time enough for that," she said, "when Mick's gone;" and so she packed his travelling-valise ready for the march, brushed his cloak, his cap and other warlike habiliments, set them up in order for him; and stowed away in the cloak-pockets a light package of portable refreshment and a wicker-cupboard flask or pocket-pistol, containing near a pint of a remarkable sound Cognac brandy" (Chapter 30).