Madame Saqui, or Marguerite-Antoinette Lalanne (1786-1866) made her name in her native France as a tightrope walker and rope dancer. In April 1816 her performance at Covent Garden Theatre, descending a tightrope stretched at an incline over the auditorium, made her name in England and she became the subject for this cartoon by George Cruikshank entitled 'A Wonderfull (sic) Thing from Paris, or, Madame Sacchi Gratifying John Bull's Curiosity.'

George Rogers Barratt and Jonathan Tyers Barrett, the proprietors of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, subsequently engaged her there for four years, where her hugely popular act act included her descent at a run, on an inclined tightrope stretched from a mast, to one of the main walkways, in a storm of exploding fireworks.

The men in the audience are seen using the long, collapsible type of telescope known as an Opera Glass that prosperous theatregoers could buy in the 18th century to help them see performances on stage. Early 19th century satires featured the use of binoculars and opera glasses to glimpse details of ladies' dress on stage, and in this case above the auditorium, that would not otherwise have been so evident.