Plate IV. _Rakewell_ is going to court on the first of _March_, which was Queen _Caroline's_ birth-day, as well as the anniversary of _St. David_. In the early impressions a shoe-black steals the Rake's cane. In the modern ones, a large group of blackguards[6] [the chimney-sweeper peeping over the poll boy's cards, and discovering that he has two honours, by holding up two fingers, is among the luckiest of _Hogarth's_ traits] are introduced gambling on the pavement; near them a stone inscribed BLACK'S, a contrast to _White's_ gaming-house, against which a flash of lightning is pointed. The curtain in the window of the sedan chair is thrown back. This plate is likewise found in an intermediate state;[7] the sky being made unnaturally obscure, with an attempt to introduce a shower of rain, and lightning very aukwardly represented. It is supposed to be a first proof after the insertion of the group of black-guard gamesters; the window of the chair being only marked for an alteration that was afterwards made in it. _Hogarth_ appears to have so far spoiled the sky, that he was obliged to obliterate it, and cause it to be engraved over again by another hand.[8] Not foreseeing, however, the immense demand for his prints, many of them were so slightly executed, as very early to stand in need of retouching. The seventh in particular was so much more slightly executed than the rest, that it sooner wanted renovation, and is therefore to be found in three different states. The rest appear only in two. In Plate V. is his favourite dog _Trump_. In this, also the head of the maid-servant is greatly altered, and the leg and foot of the bridegroom omitted. From the antiquated bride, and the young female adjusting the folds of her gown, in this plate, is taken a _French_ print of a wrinkled harridan of fashion at her toilet, attended by a blooming coëffeuse. It was engraved by _L. Surugue_ in 1745, from a picture in crayons by _Coypel_, and is entitled, _La Folie pare la Decrepitude des ajustemens de la Jeunesse_. From the _Frenchman_, however, the _Devonshire-square_ dowager of our artist has received so high a polish, that she might be mistaken for a queen mother of _France_.