TheGlasgowStory 

Skip Navigation / Jump to Content

Featured Images

Anchor Line
Anchor Line

Lion and Unicorn Staircase
Lion and Unicorn Staircase

A Good New Year

GUL, Sp Coll, Northern Looking Glass

*Open in New Window
A Good New Year

Coloured cartoon from the Northern Looking Glass 9 January 1826, the third in a series of cartoons depicting events in Glasgow at Hogmanay. Entitled "A Good New Year" it depicts the scene as the clock strikes midnight.

"The butler has just entered, bearing a huge currant bun, and is obliged to be assisted in his task, having evidently been drinking deep to the "coming year", nor does the footman who brings up the rear with the "Het Pint" (a mixture of ale, spirits, sugar and spices, generally drunk at this season) appear to be less sparing in his potations. Indeed we are not sure the artist has not maliciously exhibited symptoms of the mirth-inspiring God, in the countenances of some of the company; we mean of course the gentlemen."

"The old lady at the head of the table soberly enjoys the mirth of the evening in a manner befitting her years, whilst the children, allowed on such occasion to sit up beyond their usual time of rest, struggle hard against the drowsy addressed of the drowsy God, and have with difficulty been kept awake till the appearance of the promised New Year."

Reference: Sp Coll Bh14-x.8

Glasgow University Library, Special Collections

Keywords:
ale, beer, butlers, children, currant buns, dining rooms, domestic servants, drinking, drunkenness, drunks, flirting, footmen, Glasgow Looking Glass, grandfather clocks, Het pint, Hogmanay, kissing, lithographs, New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, Northern Looking Glass, oil lamps, wine, women



Quick Search


Photo Album

You have 0 images in your photo album.

View Photo Album

Log-In (Optional)

username:
password:
Not a user? Register now for FREE!

Other Options