'Pity the sorrows of a poor old man'

An inked inscription verso in a period hand gives the title, which is the first line of an early 18th-century hymn, 'The Beggar's Petition' by Isaac Watts. The first verse in full reads:

'Pity the sorrows of a poor old man,
Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door,
Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span,
Oh! give relief, and heav'n will bless your store.'

And this is the last verse:

'Oh! take me to your hospitable dome;
Keen blows the wind, and piercing is the cold;
Short is my passage to the friendly tomb,
For I am poor and miserably old.'

The first line was used by Gilray for a cartoon in 1796 and by Géricault for a print in 1822.

Photographed by 'Dr Wallich's Studio' of Kensington.

In addition to being a photographer, George Charles Wallich (1815-1899) was also a medical doctor and a marine biologist. The year before his death he won the Linnean Society's gold medal 'in recognition of the valuable work accomplished by him in connection with the exploration of the fauna of the deep sea' (St James's Gazette, 16 April 1898). The article adds 'that close on forty years have passed since he made his important discovery of the existence of higher organisms in great depths. Mr Wallich, it may be recalled, accompanied Sir Leopold M'Clintock in her Majesty's ship Bulldog on a voyage across the North Atlantic to survey the sea-bottom for the laying of the proposed Atlantic cable. The recognition of his claims to be included in the list of gold medalists of the Linnean Society, though late in coming, has given the veteran much pleasure.'

According to his obituary the following year in the Dundee Evening Telegraph, Surgeon-Major George Charles Walllich of the Indian Medical Service had served 'during the Sutlej and Punjaub campaigns, and also during the Sontail rebellion of 1855-56. He retired from the service in 1858.'