Merry Thoughts No 12. (caricature)

This print depicts two sailors walking on a dirt road in the rain. One sailor wears a red waistcoat and a straw hat. The other sailor wears a yellow waistcoat and holds his hat in his hand. Inscribed above the image, ‘Merry Thoughts No. 12’, and beneath the image: ‘I say Jack why don’t you wear your hat?’ / ‘Cause I can't, blest if I can! & yet it fitted me well enough at the Jew’s Shop, but now it's all no use, I’ve rigged it on my head both fore & aft & athwart ships but the Devil of an Inch can I drive it down’. The publication information reads: ‘London, Published by Tho. Dawson, 29, Bedford St Covent Garden’ and ‘Printed by L M Lefevre’.

This print refers to the stereotype of the Jewish tailor or rag merchant. Historically excluded from many professions, many Jewish immigrants worked in the second-hand cloth and clothing trades. In the nineteenth century, antisemitic prints and ballads often mocked Jewish clothing sellers for offering ill-fitting attire.