Circa 18th century A.D. A satirical print on paper from Hogarth's copperplate 'Beggars Opera' engraving with verse below: 'Brittons attend.-. view this harmonious Stage, And listen to those notes which charm the age Thus shall your tastes in Sounds & Sense be shown, And Beggar's Op'ras ever be your own.' 25 grams, 31 x 29 cm (12 1/4 x 11 1/2 in.). English collection formed in the 1990s. UK art market. Property of an Essex gentleman. Satire on Gay's 'Beggar's Opera'. In the foreground a group of animal-headed singers are shown on an outdoor stage beneath which Apollo and a muse are lying, a lyre and guitar beside them. In front of the stage a group of musicians play bagpipes, a salt box, a Jew's harp, a dulcimer, a bladder and string.To the left, a group of noblemen raise their arms admiring the performance; a crowd of women stand on the right, and in front of them a fat butcher and another man are seen in shadow. Behind the stage, to left, theatre boxes are crowded with an audience chiefly of ladies, and below is a wall hung with ballads against which two men urinate and defecate. In the centre background, is a street with an inn sign and gallows. To the right, a conventional stage on which the Italian opera is evidently being performed and men appear to be pressing money on a woman singer. An angel carrying a ribbon lettered 'Harmony' flies off at top right, and above is a ribbon lettered 'et cantare pares et respndere parate'. [No Reserve]