Company shocked at a lady getting up to ring the bell

A violent disturbance in a luxuriously furnished breakfast parlour. The only lady present has risen from her chair to pull a bell-pull. The frantic efforts of five elderly men to stop her have produced a sequence of disasters. An urn overturns and pours boiling water on a fat man who puts a large lump of food speared on his fork into his eye. A man behind him, rushing to seize the bell-rope, spears the former's wig with his knife. Crockery cascades to the floor, the contents of a tea-pot falling on a dog, who bites the knee of a man in regimentals -- he leans forward, planting his toe on the gouty foot of a man behind. The latter, about to fall, grasps the officer's pigtail, flourishing a knife, his mouth choked with food. A fifth man stands behind the table with raised hands and shrugged shoulders. The fare is boiled eggs, bread, and muffins. Over the chimney-piece is a picture of a fat Cupid firing his bow. His quiver is reversed, and one leg is transfixed with an arrow. The walls of the room are ornamented by gilt pilasters in the shape of palm-trees. Between them are empty candle-sconces decorated with palm-branches. The men appear to be the suitors of a rich widow (BM).
Courtesy of Boston Public Library