Charles Williams ("Argus"). Jack and Poll at Portsmouth, after the Battle of Trafalgar. Published London, 1806.

Hand-coloured etching. A sailor and a girl stand on the harbour, beside guns aimed out to sea. A ship fires a salute off shore. Poll stands with her hands on Jack's shoulder. saying "Welcome! welcome home my Dear Jack - !! Ah! but you have not brought the brave Lord Nelson with you, well I hope he is in Heaven." To this, Jack answers, looking down at his tobacco box: "In Heaven! aye to be sure he is Poll. What in Hell should prevent him." He has a bludgeon under his arm; she wears a flowered gown looped up over a petticoat with an apron.

The way in which the skirt of Poll's dress is looped up over her contrasting petticoat is interesting as a very late example of the style of dressing a la polonaise, which had its heyday between 1775 and 1790. By 1805, fashion-conscious women were more usually to be seen in 'round gowns' - dresses with closed fronts which were not open over a contrasting or matching petticoat, although it would take a while before this style filtered down to the masses. Poll's dress is not strictly a robe a la polonaise (which refers to a distinctively cut dress rather than solely the draped skirt) but represents a style that was fashionable in the late eighteenth century with the skirt worn hanging straight down. The depiction of the skirt being looped up here polonaise-style is interesting, and this styling, at such a late date, was probably for practical rather than fashionable reasons.

- Daniel Milford-Cottam, May 2012

E.514-1943