A hint to young officers

Gillray, James, 1756-1815 · July 7, 1804

Lord Moira, a candle in each hand, stands in the doorway of his house. He wears a dressing-gown in place of a coat He has opened the door to a young officer, who steps forward unsteadily raising his cocked hat. An ugly watchman (l.) in Highland dress trudges to the left holding his staff and lantern. He is the only figure who is caricatured. The architrave is surmounted by an earl's coronet. The dignified doorway is set in a wall of heavy stones and flanked by two windows high above the cobbled street (BM). / The circumstance alluded to in this plate is as follows. Lord Moira, who was then Governor of Edinburgh Castle, severely scolded his servant one morning for not calling him in time for review. The man excused himself on the plea that Mr. Tom Sheridan, his lordship's aide-de-camp, never returned home till four or five o'clock in the morning, and that this was the cause of his oversleeping himself. Lord Moira desired him not to sit up that night, as he would open the door himself. Accordingly, when Sheridan knocked, his lordship opened it. Sheridan felt the rebuke, made many apologies, and promised to be more regular in future (Wright/Evans).