Study of two coal heavers

In 1807, in letter XIII of his Letters from England, the poet Robert Southey commented on the strange appearance of the coal heavers regularly seen on the streets of London: 'The most singular figures in the streets of this metropolis are the men who are employed in carrying the earth-coal, which they remove from the barge to the waggon [sic], and again from the waggon [sic] to the house, upon their backs. The back of the coat therefore, is as well quilted as the cotton breastplate of our soldiers in America in old times; and to protect it still more, the broad flap of the hat lies flat upon the shoulders. The head consequently seems to be unusually forward, and the whole figure has the appearance of having been bowed beneath habitual berthens.'