English: 'The Neglected Tar': a press gang seizing a seaman (caricature)
This vignette-form drawing of seaman being seized from his family by a press gang may have been intended as the basis of a print, possibly to illustrate the ballad of 'The Neglected Tar' of which a broadsheet copy is included at the lower-right corner, lying by the sailor's fainting wife. However, it may have been included simply as a typical an approriately titled item among a seaman's family possessions. The song itself dates back to at least 1791 when Robert Sayer (on 1 October that year) published a plate including it below a completely different illustration (see PAF4019). It remained current for many years and was, for example, included among other sea songs in 'The Universal Songster, or Museum of Mirth' (1826, vol II, p.346): that generally names authors but not in this case, so who wrote it is probably unknown. [PvdM 10/14]