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{{Short description|Person who is reluctant to spend}}
{{Redirect-several|Miser|Cheapskate|Skinflint}}
[[File:Piccinni L'Avaro.jpg|thumb|A detail from ''L'Avaro'', a print by [[Antonio Piccinni]] (1878)]]

A '''miser''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|aɪ|z|ər|}} is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities, in order to hoard money or other possessions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/miser|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811103227/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/miser|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 11, 2012|title=miser - definition of miser in English from the Oxford dictionary|work=oxforddictionaries.com}}</ref>  Although the word is sometimes used loosely to characterise anyone who is mean with their money, if such behaviour is not accompanied by taking delight in what is saved, it is not properly miserly.

Misers as a type have been a perennial object of popular fascination and a fruitful source for writers and artists in many cultures.

==Accounting for misers==
One attempt to account for miserly behaviour was [[Sigmund Freud]]'s theory of [[anal retentiveness]], attributing the development of miserly behaviour to [[toilet training]] in childhood,<ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2m1UQI4QpVsC&pg=PT232 |title=Foundations of psychology |author=Nicky Hayes |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2000|isbn=1861525893 }}</ref> although this explanation is not accepted by modern evidence-based psychology.<ref name=berger>{{cite book |last = Berger |first = Kathleen |title = The Developing Person |publisher = Worth Publishers |year = 2000 |location = New York |pages = 218 |isbn = 1-57259-417-9}}</ref>

In the Christian West the attitude to those whose interest centred on gathering money has been coloured by the teachings of the Church. From its point of view, both the miser and the [[usury|usurer]] were guilty of the cardinal sin of [[Seven deadly sins#Greed|avarice]] and shared behaviours.<ref>Richard Newhauser, The Early History of Greed: The Sin of Avarice in Early Medieval Thought and Literature, Cambridge 2000, [https://dokumen.pub/the-early-history-of-greed-the-sin-of-avarice-in-early-medieval-thought-and-literature.html p.31]</ref> According to the parable of [[the Elm and the Vine]] in the quasi-Biblical [[Shepherd of Hermas]], the rich and the poor should be in a relationship of mutual support. Those with wealth are in need of the prayers of the poor for their salvation and can only earn them by acts of charity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/002/0020024.htm|title=Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol II: THE PASTOR OF HERMAS: Similitude Second. As the Vine is Supported by the Elm, So is the Rich Man Helped by the Prayer of the Poor.|work=sacred-texts.com}}</ref> A typical late example of Christian doctrine on the subject is the Reverend [[Erskine Neale]]'s ''The Riches that Bring No Sorrow'' (1852), a moralising work based on a succession of biographies contrasting philanthropists and misers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/richesthatbring00nealgoog#page/n5/mode/2up|title=The Riches that Bring No Sorrow|work=archive.org|year=1852}}</ref>

Running parallel has been a disposition, inherited from Classical times, to class miserly behaviour as a type of [[Eccentricity (behavior)|eccentricity]]. Accounts of misers were included in such 19th century works as G. H. Wilson's four-volume compendium of short biographies, ''The Eccentric Mirror'' (1807).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/eccentricmirror03wilsgoog#page/n10/mode/2up|title=The Eccentric Mirror:: Reflecting a Faithful and Interesting Delineation of ...|work=archive.org|year=1813}}</ref> Such books were put to comic use by [[Charles Dickens]] in ''[[Our Mutual Friend]]'' (serialised 1864–1865), with its cutting analysis of Victorian capitalism. In the third section of that novel, Mr Boffin decides to cure his ward Bella Wilfer of her obsession with wealth and position by appearing to become a miser. Taking her with him on a round of the bookshops,
{{blockquote|Mr Boffin would say, 'Now, look well all round, my dear, for a Life of a Miser, or any book of that sort; any Lives of odd characters who may have been Misers.'  .... The moment she pointed out any book as being entitled Lives of eccentric personages, Anecdotes of strange characters, Records of remarkable individuals, or anything to that purpose, Mr Boffin's countenance would light up, and he would instantly dart in and buy it.'<ref>Chapter 5 [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/883/883-h/883-h.htm#link2HCH0038 Gutenberg site]</ref>}}

In the following chapter, Mr Boffin brings a coachload of the books to his premises and readers are introduced to a selection of typical titles and to the names of several of the misers treated in them. Among the books appear [[James Caulfield]]'s ''Portraits, Memoirs, and Characters of Remarkable Persons'' (1794–1795);<ref>Various volumes appear in [https://books.google.com/books?id=csZMAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22%5B%5BJames+Caulfield%5D%5D+%22+Characters&pg=PR1 Google Books]</ref> ''Kirby's Wonderful Museum of Remarkable Characters'' (1803);<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jQpekaJh-WIC|title=Kirby's Wonderful and Scientific Museum|work=google.co.uk|year=1803}}</ref>
Henry Wilson's ''Wonderful Characters'' (1821);<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=26wvAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Daniel+Dancer%22|title=Wonderful Characters|work=google.co.uk|last1=Wilson|first1=Henry|year=1821}}</ref> and F. Somner Merryweather's ''Lives and Anecdotes of Misers or The Passion of Avarice displayed in the parsimonious habits, unaccountable lives and remarkable deaths of the most notorious misers of all ages'' (1850).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/livesandanecdot00merrgoog#page/n4/mode/2up|title=Lives and anecdotes of misers|work=archive.org|year=1850}}</ref>

The majority of the misers are 18th century characters, with [[John Elwes (politician)|John Elwes]] and [[Daniel Dancer]] at their head. The first account of Elwes' life was [[Edward Topham]]'s ''The Life of the Late John Elwes: Esquire'' (1790), which was initially published in his paper ''The World''. The popularity of such accounts is attested by the seven editions printed in the book's first year and the many later reprintings under various titles.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MK9bAAAAQAAJ&q=%22john+elwes%22|title=The Life of the Late John Elwes|work=google.co.uk|last1=Topham|first1=Edward|year=1790}}</ref> Biographies of Dancer followed soon after, at first in periodicals such as the ''Edinburgh Magazine''<ref>"Anecdotes of the late Daniel Dancer Esq", [https://books.google.com/books?id=fnAEAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22Daniel+Dancer%22&pg=PA340 1794, pp.399-40]</ref> and the
''[[Sporting Magazine]]'',<ref>"Anecdotes of the Late Daniel Dancer" [https://books.google.com/books?id=RJ0aAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Daniel+Dancer%22 1795]</ref> then in the compendiums ''Biographical Curiosities'' (which also included Elwes)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALFVAAAAcAAJ|title=Biographical Curiosities; or, Various pictures of human nature. Containing ...|work=google.co.uk|year=1797}}</ref> and ''The Strange and Unaccountable Life of Daniel Dancer, Esq. ... with singular anecdotes of the famous Jemmy Taylor, the Southwark usurer'' (1797), which was often to be reissued under various titles.<ref>Roy Bearden-White, ''How the Wind Sits; Or, The History of Henry and Ann Lemoine, Chapbook Writers and Publishers of the Late Eighteenth Century'', Southern Illinois University 2007 [https://books.google.com/books?id=cZyRBNmFHkYC&dq=%22Daniel+Dancer%22&pg=PA55 pp.55-7]</ref>

[[File:Cooper Dancer.jpg|thumb|A pencil drawing of [[Daniel Dancer]] by [[Richard Cooper Jr]], 1790s]]
Jemmy Taylor's name also appears in the list of notable misers that Mr Boffin enumerates. He is coupled with the banker [[Jemmy Wood]] of Gloucester, a more recent miser about whom Dickens later wrote an article in his magazine ''[[All the Year Round]]''.<ref>April 10, 1869 [https://books.google.com/books?id=x_jVAAAAMAAJ&dq=miser+%22Jemmy+Wood%22+Gloucester&pg=PA454 pp.454-6]</ref> Others include John Little (who appears in Merryweather), Reverend Mr Jones of Blewbury (also in Merryweather) and Dick Jarrel, whose surname was really Jarrett and an account of whom appeared in the [[Annual Register]] for 1806.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lOcxAQAAMAAJ&q=Dick+Jarrett+miser&pg=PA387|title=Annual Register|work=google.co.uk|year=1808}}</ref> The many volumes of this publication also figured among Mr Boffin's purchases.

Two more of the misers mentioned made their way into other literary works. [[John Hopkins (died 1732)|John Hopkins]], known as Vulture Hopkins, was the subject of a scornful couplet in the third of [[Alexander Pope]]'s Moral Essays, "Of the Use of Riches":
{{blockquote|<poem>When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend	
The wretch who living saved a candle's end.<ref>An account of him was given in ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' for 1788, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xKZJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA510 pp.510-11]</ref></poem>}} 
John Overs, with a slight change to his name, became the subject of a three-act drama by [[Douglas William Jerrold]], ''John Overy or The Miser of Southwark Ferry'' (1828), roughly based on an incident when he feigned death to save expenses and was killed by accident.<ref>''The Dramatic Magazine'' 1, 1829 [https://books.google.com/books?id=oDY5AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22%27John+Overy%22++%22The+dramatic+magazine%22&pg=PA78 pp.78-9]</ref>

Another public source of information about misers, in Scotland at least, was the prose [[broadside (printing)|broadside]]. One example concerns Isobel Frazer or Frizzle, who died in [[Stirling]] on 26 May 1820.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.nls.uk/broadsides/broadside.cfm/id/15938|title=Broadside entitled 'Female Miser'|work=nls.uk}}</ref> Much of the broadside is taken up with detailing the contents of her three rooms, into which she had let no one enter. Not more than £8 in currency was discovered there, but she had bought and hoarded many articles of dress over the years, although rarely wearing them. She had also carefully picked up every pin that fell in her way, till she nearly filled one hundred pincushions. In addition to much other [[bric-a-brac]], there were a great number of buttons, which had been cut off old coats. This makes her sound more like a [[compulsive hoarding|compulsive hoarder]] than the "Female Miser" that she is called in the report. The title was more deserved by Joseph MacWilliam, who was found dead of a fire on 13 June 1826. A servant whose home was a damp [[Edinburgh]] cellar without either bed, chair or table, his colleagues and neighbours claimed to have seen him in the same threadbare clothes for 15 years. After his death, property to the value of more than £3,000 was found in the cellar, some in the form of property deeds, and more in bank receipts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.nls.uk/broadsides/broadside.cfm/id/15466|title=Broadside entitled 'Miser'|work=nls.uk}}</ref>

Later in the 19th century there were small regional publications dealing with single individuals of local interest. Examples of such works include Frances Blair's 32-page ''Memoir of [[Margery Jackson]], the Carlisle miser and misanthrope'' (Carlisle 1847)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/memoirofmargeryj00blai#page/12/mode/2up|title=Memoir of Margery Jackson, the Carlisle miser & misanthrope|work=archive.org|year=1848}}</ref> and in the United States the 46-page ''Lochy Ostrom, the maiden miser of Poughkeepsie; or the love of a long lifetime. An authentic biography of Rachel Ostrom who recently died in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., aged ninety years, apparently very poor, but really wealthy'' (Philadelphia 1870).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924022051514#page/n5/mode/2up|title=Lochy Ostrom, the maiden miser of Poughkeepsie; or, The love of a long lifetime. An authentic biography of Rachel Ostrom who recently died in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., aged ninety years, apparently very poor, but really wealthy ..|work=archive.org|year=1870}}</ref>

One trait of misers arising out of the accounts about them was their readiness to incur legal expenses where money was involved. Daniel Dancer was notorious for spending five shillings in an unsuccessful effort to recover three pence from a shop woman.<ref>''Biographical Curiosities'', (London 1797), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ALFVAAAAcAAJ&q=Upon+this+reply pp.14-15]</ref> He was also involved in a lawsuit with his equally miserly brothers when his sister died [[intestate]], although this time he was more successful.<ref>''Biographical Curiosities'' (London 1797), p.6</ref> In the same century, Margery Jackson was involved in an epic Chancery suit between 1776 and 1791 over a family inheritance.<ref>Frances Blair, ''Memoir of Margery Jackson'', [https://archive.org/stream/memoirofmargeryj00blai#page/12/mode/2up pp.12-14]</ref> The American [[Hetty Green]], who despite being a multimillionaire had also a reputation as a miser, involved herself in a six-year lawsuit to obtain her aunt's fortune, only to have it proved against her that she had forged the will.<ref>''Notable American Women''. (Harvard Univ 1971), [https://books.google.com/books?id=rVLOhGt1BX0C&dq=Hetty+Green++%22lawsuit%22&pg=RA1-PA81 vol.1, p.81]</ref> More modern times yield the Chinese example of an 80-year-old affronted by being called a miser in a poem by his son-in-law. Blaming his hospitalization with [[Parkinson's disease]] three years later on this, he sued his daughter for medical fees and 'spiritual compensation'.<ref>''China Daily'', [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2009-02/13/content_7475806.htm 13 Feb 2009], "Daughter sued by dad over 'miser' poem"</ref>

==Misers in literature==

===Fables===
There were two famous references to misers in ancient Greek sources. One was [[Aesop's Fables|Aesop's fable]] of "[[The Miser and his Gold]]" which he had buried and came back to view every day. When his treasure was eventually stolen and he was lamenting his loss, he was consoled by a neighbour that he might as well bury a stone (or return to look at the hole) and it would serve the same purpose.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/perry/225.htm|title=THE MAN AND HIS GOLD|work=mythfolklore.net}}</ref> The other was a two-line epigram in the [[Greek Anthology]], once ascribed to [[Plato]]. In this a man, intending to hang himself, discovered hidden gold and left the rope behind him; on returning, the man who had hidden the gold hanged himself with the noose he found in its place.<ref>''The Greek Anthology'' III, London 1917, [https://archive.org/stream/greekanthology03newyuoft#page/24/mode/2up pp.25-6]</ref> Both these stories were alluded to or retold in the following centuries, the most famous versions appearing in [[La Fontaine's Fables]] as ''L'avare qui a perdu son trésor'' (IV.20)<ref>''The Complete Fables of Jean de La Fontaine'', translated by Norman Shapiro, University of Illinois 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xWnR0pCxH9UC&dq=the+miser+who+lost+his+treasure++norman+shapiro&pg=PA101 p.101]</ref> and ''Le trésor et les deux hommes'' (IX.15)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.readbookonline.org/readOnLine/20012 |title=Jean de La Fontaine's Fable Poem: The Treasure And The Two Men |work=readbookonline.org }}</ref> respectively. Yet another of La Fontaine's fables was the late addition, ""The miser and the monkey" (XII.3),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oaks.nvg.org/fonta12.html#damismonkey|title=Jean de La Fontaine Fables|work=nvg.org}}</ref> used as a cautionary tale for financiers. Here a man keeps his hoard in a sea-encircled tower until a pet monkey amuses itself one day in throwing the coins out of the window.

In Asia, misers were the butt of humorous folklore. One very early cautionary tale is the ''Illisa Jataka'' from the Buddhist scriptures. This includes two stories, in the first of which a rich miser is miraculously converted to generosity by a disciple of the Buddha; following this, the Buddha tells another story of a miser whose wealth is given away when the king of the gods impersonates him, and when he tries to intervene is threatened with what will happen if he does not change his ways.<ref>Tale 78, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j1/j1081.htm Sacred texts online]</ref> Two 16th century stories concerning misers are included among the witticisms attributed to [[Birbal]] during Mughal times. In one he extracts from a casuistical miser a fee for a poem written in his praise.<ref>Anindya Roy, ''Akbar-Birbal Jokes'', New Delhi 2005 [https://books.google.com/books?id=gc1UP05XUKYC&dq=Miser+poem&pg=PA125 "The Miser's Misery", pp. 125–6]</ref> In the other the miser is forced to reward a merchant who rescued his hoard from a fire with the whole of it.<ref>Clifford Sawhney, ''50 Wittiest Tales Of Birbal'', Bangalore 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HJX694hcntAC "A question of 'like'", pp. 47–9]</ref> Arabs similarly made extensive use of misers in their literature. The most famous being the 600 page collection of anecdotes called ''Kitab Al Bukhala'' or Book of Misers by [[Al-Jahiz|Al-Jāḥiẓ]]. He lived in 800 CE during the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] in [[Basra]], making this the earliest and largest known work on the subject in [[Arabic literature]].

When there was renewed European interest in Aesop during the early [[Renaissance]], the [[Neo-Latin]] poet [[Laurentius Abstemius]] wrote two collections of original fables, among which appeared ''Avarus et poma marcescentia'' (The miser and the rotten apples, fable 179), published in 1499. This was eventually translated into English by [[Roger L'Estrange]] and published in his fable collection of 1692.<ref>''Fable'' 458, [https://books.google.com/books?id=OE5AAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22There+was+a+Stingy%2C+Narrow-hearted%22&pg=PA430 p. 430]</ref> It concerns a miser who cannot bring himself to eat the apples in his orchard until they start to go rotten. His son invites in his playmates to pick the fruit but asks them not to eat the rotten ones since his father prefers those. The 18th century French fabulist [[Claris de Florian]] was to adapt the story in his "L'avare et son fils" (The miser and his son, IV.9). In this version the miserly father hoards his apples and only eats those going rotten. His son, upon being caught raiding them, excuses himself on the grounds that he was confining himself to eating just the sound ones.<ref>''Fables de Florian'', Paris 1846, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yg8tAAAAYAAJ&q=L%27Avare+et+son+fils&pg=PA109 p. 109]</ref>
 
[[File:Blake Miser&Plutus.jpg|thumb|A print of John Gay's "The Miser and Plutus" by [[William Blake]], 1793]]
In 18th century Britain, when there was a vogue for creating original fables in verse, a number featured misers. [[Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea|Anne Finch]]'s "Tale of the Miser and the Poet" was included among others in her 1713 Miscellany.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/women/finch/1713/mp-miser.html|title=A Tale of the Miser and the Poet|work=upenn.edu}}</ref> There an unsuccessful poet meets [[Mammon]] in the guise of a miser digging up his buried gold and debates with him whether the life of wit and learning is a better calling than the pursuit of wealth. Eventually the poet is convinced that keeping his talent hidden until it is better regarded is the more prudent course. It was followed by [[John Gay]]'s "The Miser and Plutus", published in his collection of fables in 1737.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://immortalpoetry.com/The_Miser_and_Plutus|title=The Miser and Plutus|work=Immortal Poetry}}</ref> A miser frightened for the security of his hoard denounces gold as the corruptor of virtue and is visited by the angry god of wealth, who asserts that not gold but the attitude towards it is what damages the personality.

While these are more or less original interpretations of the theme, French fabulist [[Antoine Houdar de la Motte]] harks back to the light-hearted approach of the Greek Anthology in "The Miser and Minos", first published in his fables of 1719.<ref>Fable XIX, [https://books.google.com/books?id=a4hdAAAAcAAJ&dq=de+la+motte++%22L%27avare+et+minos%22&pg=PA97 Internet Archive]</ref> Descending to the Classical underworld at his death, the miser is brought before the judge of the dead and is given the extreme punishment of returning to earth to witness how his wealth is now being spent. The Scottish poet [[Allan Ramsay (poet)|Allan Ramsay]] adapted this into dialect two years later,<ref>''Poems'' vol. 2 (1761) [https://archive.org/details/poems01ramsgoog/page/n46  <!-- quote=Miser poem. --> pp. 37–9]</ref> and Charles Denis provided a version in standard English in his ''Select Fables'' (1754), reversing the title to "Minos and the Miser".<ref>Fable XC [https://books.google.com/books?id=JW5bAAAAQAAJ&q=Minos&pg=PR2 p. 326]</ref>

===Poetry===
Misers are frequent figures of fun in the epigrams of the [[Greek Anthology]].<ref>A group of eight in Book XI are numbered [https://archive.org/stream/greekanthology04newyuoft#page/150/mode/2up 165-73]</ref> It is charged of them that they are not masters of their own money if they do not spend it. Niarchus tells of one who does not commit suicide because of the cost of the rope to do so; Lucillius tells of another who dies because funeral expenses are cheaper than calling in a doctor. Elsewhere in the anthology is another epigram by Lucillius of a miser's encounter with a mouse that assures him he only wants lodging, not board.<ref>The Greek anthology for schools, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7u4pAAAAYAAJ&dq=Greek+Anthology+miser&pg=PA33 poem 29]</ref> In one more, a miser dreams that he is in debt and hangs himself.<ref>Poems of the Orient [https://archive.org/details/poetryorient00algegoog/page/n339 <!-- quote=Greek Anthology miser. --> p.323]</ref>

The Latin writer [[Horace]] put miserly behaviour at the centre of the first poem in his first collection of satires, dealing with extremes of behaviour.<ref>''Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica'', Loeb edition translated by H. Rushton Fairclough, London 1942 [https://archive.org/stream/satiresepistlesa00horauoft#page/4/mode/2up p.5 ff]</ref> In writing an imitation of it, an English poet who provides only his surname, Minshull, was to emphasise this by titling his work ''The Miser, a Poem'' (London, 1735).<ref>{{Cite book |last = Kupersmith |first = William |year = 2007 |title = English Versions of Roman Satire in the Earlier Eighteenth Century |location = Cranbury, NJ |publisher = [[Associated University Presses]] |page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=imPB3_3EPxYC&pg=PA95 95]}}</ref>

In [[Dante Alighieri|Dante Alighieri{{'}}s]] ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', misers are put in the fourth circle of hell, in company with [[spendthrift]]s as part of their mutual punishment. They roll weights representing their wealth, constantly colliding and quarreling.<ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RnhlOrCgf-UC&pg=PA40 |title=Dark Way to Paradise |author=Jennifer Doane Upton|date=March 2005 |isbn=9781597310093 }}</ref>

During the 16th century, [[emblem books]] began using an illustration of [[an ass eating thistles]] as symbol of miserly behaviour, often with an accompanying poem. They appeared in various European languages, among them the illustrated [[Trencher (tableware)|trencher]] by [[Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger]], dating from about 1630, on which an ass laden with rich foods is shown cropping a thistle, surrounding which is the quatrain:
{{blockquote|<poem>The Asse which dainty meates doth beare
And feedes on thistles all the yeare
Is like the wretch that hourds up gold
And yet for want doth suffer cold.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=213402&objectId=1527520&partId=1|title=British Museum - Image gallery: Scenes from Aesop's Fables|work=British Museum}}</ref></poem>}}

In the third book of ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'', [[Edmund Spenser]] created a portrait of a man trapped between conflicting desires in Malbecco, who appears in cantos 9–10. He is torn between his miserliness and love for his wife Hellenore. Wishing to escape with a lover, she sets fire to his storeroom and forces him to choose between them:
{{blockquote|<poem>Ay when to him she cryde, to her he turnd,
And left the fyre; love money overcame:
But when he marked how him money burnd,
He left his wyf; money did love disclame.<ref>III.10, stanza 15</ref></poem>}}
Eventually losing both, he becomes the embodiment of frustrated jealousy.

The 18th century, so culturally rich in miser lore, furnished some notable poetic examples. [[Allan Ramsay (poet)|Allan Ramsay]]'s "Last speech of a wretched miser" dates from 1728 and is written in modified [[Scots language|Scots dialect]]. The miser bids farewell to his riches in a comic monologue and details some of his shifts to avoid expense.<ref>''The Poems of Allan Ramsay'', London 1800, [https://archive.org/details/poemsofallanrams01rams/page/304 pp.304-11]</ref> [[Alexander Pope]] created another masterly portrait in the character of Cotta in his ''[[Moral Essays|Epistle to Bathurst]]'' (1733). Reluctance to spend confines this aristocrat to his ancestral hall, where he refuses to engage with the world.<ref>Moral Essays III, [http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2278&chapter=216010&layout=html&Itemid=27 lines 177-196]</ref> Later in the century another Scottish poet, William Stevenson (1719–83), included nine satirical epitaphs on misers among his collected works, of which the last begins: 
{{blockquote|<poem>A miser rots beneath this mould'ring stone,
Who starv'd himself through spleen to skin and bone,
Lest worms might riot on his flesh at last
And boast, what he ne'er could, a full repast.<ref>''Original Poems on Several Subjects'' Volume 2, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ollHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA277 p.280]</ref></poem>}}

Poetic titles from the 19th century include the Irish Arthur Geoghegan's ''The Old Miser and Mammon: an Incident Poem'' (Newry 1818) and Frederick Featherstone's ''New Christmas Poem entitled The Miser's Christmas Eve'' (1893). There was also an anonymous didactic poem titled ''The Miser'' (London 1831). Although miserly behaviour is referenced during the course of its 78 pages, the real focus there is the attraction of money in all its manifestations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/miserapoem00misegoog#page/n4/mode/2up|title=The miser: a poem|work=archive.org|year=1831}}</ref>

===Broadside ballads===
[[File:Old Miser ballad.gif|thumb|The broadside ballad of "The Old Miser", early 19th century]]
In the realm of popular poetry, there were a range of narrative [[Broadside (music)|broadside]] ballads concerning misers from the 17th century onward. Some of the earliest deal with the grain speculators who caused such suffering to the poorest.  A representative example is "The Wretched Miser" (1682), prefaced as "a brief Account of a covetous Farmer, who bringing a Load of Corn to Market, swore the Devil should have it before he would take the honest Market price". The devil closes with the bargain and on accounting day carries off the farmer as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/21994/xml|title=EBBA 21994 - UCSB English Broadside Ballad Archive|website=ebba.english.ucsb.edu}}</ref> The social message is carried by the refrain that follows each stanza: "O Farmers, covetous Farmers,/ why would you pinch the Poor?" The religious aspect is dealt with in the contemporary "A Looking-glass for a covetous Miser" by [[Thomas Jordan (poet)|Thomas Jordan]]. Here a West Country entrepreneur and a poor husbandman debate the respective merits of anxious profit-making and contentment.  The miser laments the current low price of grain and resolves not to sell or plant more until the price rises.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/33461/xml|title=EBBA 33461 - UCSB English Broadside Ballad Archive|website=ebba.english.ucsb.edu}}</ref> The theme continued into the early 19th century, where a farmer is again the subject of "The life and awful death of a rich miser ".<ref>James G. Hepburn, ''A Book of Scattered Leaves: Poetry of Poverty in Broadside Ballads'' Bucknell University 2000 [https://books.google.com/books?id=SlhlFB07kqIC&pg=PA201 p.201]</ref>

Another common subject of these ballads was the dilemma of the miser's daughter unable to marry the man of her choice and the stratagems employed to overcome her father. In "Bite Upon the Miser", printed in the late 18th century, a sailor dresses up as the devil and scares the miser and the parson he intended as her husband into allowing the match.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://images.library.yale.edu/walpoleweb/oneitem.asp?imageId=lwlpr25361|title=Lewis Walpole Library Digital Collection|work=yale.edu}}</ref> Much the same situation occurs in "The Politic Lovers or the Windsor Miser Outwitted", where it is a butcher who impersonates the devil and scares the miser into handing over his riches.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/static/images/sheets/20000/15693.gif|title=Bodleian Library}}</ref> In about 1800 there appeared an English broadside ballad called "The old miser" which was to serve as basis for what grew into a [[Folk music|folk song]] with multiple versions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vwml.org/roudnumber/3913|title=Vaughan Williams Memorial Library - Welcome to the English Folk Dance and Song Society|work=vwml.org}}</ref> The scene is set in London, where a miser's daughter is courted by a sailor and the father arranges for him to be press-ganged to get him out of the way. As well as persisting in England, there are also versions in the US and [[Tristan de Cunha]].<ref>Folk Songs of the Catskills, State University of New York, 1982, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IEmkHeB35XEC&dq=Catskills+miser&pg=PA187 pp.187-9]</ref> Misers were notorious tricksters, so ingenuity transcending barely credible impersonations was generally needed. "Bite upon bite or the miser outwitted by the country lass" (1736–63) does not feature the miser's daughter but another sort of damsel in distress. A girl bears a child out of wedlock and is advised by her mother to name it Maidenhead and offer it for sale. A rich miser closes the bargain and is eventually forced to support the child by the magistrate.<ref>Scarlet Bowen, ''The Politics of Custom in Eighteenth-Century British Fiction'', London 2010 [https://books.google.com/books?id=XZvGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA185 footnote on p.185]</ref>

Still another ballad theme was the privations of the miser's servant, a comic situation in drama and fiction also, and here principally concerned with how little food the household has to live on. One example is "The Miser's Man (dating from between 1863 and 1885).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/static/images/sheets/05000/03336.gif|title=Bodleian Library}}</ref> At the start of the 19th century, the theme had figured as an episode in [[Robert Anderson (poet)|Robert Anderson]]'s "Croglin Watty". A simple-minded countryman down from the fells, Watty was hired by the real-life [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]] miser Margery Jackson (1722–1812) and served her for a [[Calendar year#quarter|quarter]]. The ballad mixes sung verses with prose description, both in Cumberland dialect: 
{{blockquote|<poem>Neist my deame she e'en starv'd me, that niver liv'd weel;
Her hard words and luiks wou'd ha'e freeten'd the deil:

She hed a lang beard, for aw t' warl leyke a billy goat, wi' a kil-dried frosty feace: and then the smawest leg o' mutton in aw Carel market sarrad the cat, me, and hur for a week.<ref>''The Songs and Ballads of Cumberland'', George Routledge & Sons, 1866, [https://archive.org/stream/songsballadsofcu00gilprich#page/330/mode/2up/search/Croglin pp. 330–3]</ref></poem>}}
Dame Margery is not named in the poem because at the time of writing (1805) she was still alive and known to be litigious. We know that it is meant to be her from the fact that in William Brown's painting of the ballad, "Hiring Croglin Watty at Carlisle Cross", it is she who figures in the foreground.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/margery-jackson-17221812-hiring-croglin-watty-at-carlisle-cross-144228|title=Margery Jackson (1722–1812), Hiring Croglin Watty at Carlisle Cross|work=[[Art UK]]}}</ref> About 1811, just before her death, Brown had already devoted another painting to her alone as she tramped through the town.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/margery-jackson-the-carlisle-miser-144225|title=Margery Jackson, the Carlisle Miser|work=[[Art UK]]}}</ref> That she is still amusedly remembered there is witnessed by the modern ''Miser! The Musical'' (2011), based on her life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.journallive.co.uk/culture-newcastle/culture-latest-news/2011/06/07/margery-jackson-s-remarkable-life-inspires-miser-the-musical-61634-28831039|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130421005724/http://www.journallive.co.uk/culture-newcastle/culture-latest-news/2011/06/07/margery-jackson-s-remarkable-life-inspires-miser-the-musical-61634-28831039|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 21, 2013|title=Margery Jackson's remarkable life inspires Miser! The Musical|author=Tony Henderson|date=6 June 2011|work=journallive}}</ref>

===Drama===
Misers were represented onstage as comic figures from Classical times. One of the earliest appears in the comic [[Phlyax play]]s developed in the Greek colonies in Italy during the 4th century BCE, which are known only from rare fragments and titles. They were also popularly represented on Greek vases, often with the names of the characters written above them. In one of these by [[Asteas]] two men are depicted robbing a miser.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phlyax_scene_on_a_calyx_krater_by_Asteas_Antikensammlung_Berlin_F3044_5.jpg|title=File:Phlyax scene on a calyx krater by Asteas Antikensammlung Berlin F3044 5.jpg|work=wikimedia.org}}</ref> At the centre the miser Charinos has settled for sleep on top of his  strongbox in the comfort of two blankets. He is rudely awoken by two rascals mishandling him in an effort to lay their hands on his riches. On the left, Gymnilos has already pulled away the blanket on top of him while, on the right, Kosios drags out the blanket beneath. On the far right, the miser's slave Karion stands with outstretched arms and knocking knees.<ref>Klaus Neiiendam, ''The Art of Acting in Antiquity'', Museum Tusculanum Press, 1992, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CNyZ1v844P4C&dq=phlyax+play+%22miser%22&pg=PA26 pp.25-7]</ref>

Such stock figures eventually provided inspiration for the Latin dramas of [[Plautus]].<ref>Sean McGrath, ''South Italian Phylax Plays'', [http://www.u.arizona.edu/~christed/latin401/McGrath.pdf University of Arizona]</ref>
The character of Euclio in his ''[[Aulularia]]'' was to be particularly influential, as was the complicating subplot of a marriageable daughter.<ref>Translated into blank verse in the 18th century by Bonnell Thornton, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JaIrAAAAYAAJ&q=THE+TREASURE&pg=PP9 available on Google Books]</ref> One of the earliest [[Renaissance]] writers to adapt the play was the Croatian [[Marin Držić]] in about 1555, whose ''Skup'' (The Miser) is set in Dubrovnik. [[Ben Jonson]] adapted elements from Plautus for his early comedy ''[[The Case is Altered]]'' (c. 1597).<ref>The text is [http://hollowaypages.com/jonson1811case.htm online]</ref> The miser there is the Milanese Jaques de Prie, who has a (supposed) daughter, Rachel. [[Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft]] and [[Samuel Coster]] followed with their very popular Dutch comedy ''Warenar'' (1617). The play is named from the miser, whose daughter is Claartje. Molière adapted Plautus' play into French as ''L'Avare'' ([[The Miser]], 1668) while in England [[Thomas Shadwell]] adapted Molière's work in 1672<ref>Albert S. Borgman, ''Thomas Shadwell, his life and comedies'', New York 1969, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Gf_Vazee2vgC&dq=%22The+miser%22++Shadwell&pg=PA141 pp.141-7]</ref> and a version based on both Plautus and Molière was produced by [[Henry Fielding]] in 1732.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OF1MAAAAcAAJ&q=%22The+miser%22++Fielding&pg=PR4|title=The miser|work=google.co.uk|last1=Fielding|first1=Henry|year=1803}}</ref> Among later adaptations there was [[Vasily Pashkevich]]'s 18th-century Russian comic opera ''The Miser'' and pioneering dramatic works in Arabic by [[Marun Al Naqqash]] (1817–55)<ref>M.M.Badawi, "Arabic drama: early developments" in ''Modern Arabic Literature'', Cambridge 1992, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Pk5TA0sfERIC&dq=misers+play&pg=PA331 pp.331-2]</ref> and in Serbian by [[Jovan Sterija Popović]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SrVpFGioFUC&q=miser&pg=PA154|title=McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama|year=1984|isbn=9780070791695}}</ref>
[[File:Volpone Beardsley.jpg|thumb|left|[[Aubrey Beardsley]]'s 1898 title page for [[Ben Jonson]]'s play ''[[Volpone]]'']]

There were also independent dramatic depictions of misers, some of them being variations of the Pantaleone figure in 16th-century Italian [[commedia dell'arte]]. He is represented as a rich and miserly Venetian merchant, later to become the father of [[Columbina]].<ref>''The Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre'',[https://books.google.com/books?id=Tb-OAQAAQBAJ&dq=Pantaleone++%22miser%22&pg=PA374 Pantaloon entry, p.374]</ref> The Venetian characters who reappear in English drama include the Jewish moneylender [[Shylock]] in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' (1598) and the title character of [[Ben Jonson]]'s ''[[Volpone]]'' (1606). In [[Aubrey Beardsley]]'s title page for the latter, Volpone is shown worshiping his possessions, in illustration of the lines from the play, "Dear Saint, / Riches, the dumb god that giv'st all men tongues."<ref>[[:File:Volpone Beardsley.jpg|Wikimedia]]</ref> A similar scene takes place in the second act of [[Alexander Pushkin]]'s short tragedy ''Skupoi rytsar'' (1836). This concerns a son, Albert, kept short of funds by his father, the Baron. Under the title [[The Miserly Knight]], it was made an opera by [[Sergei Rachmaninoff]] in 1906.<ref>There is a complete performance on [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9HvGV7Kg-k YouTube]</ref> In the corresponding act in the latter, the Baron visits his underground storehouse, where he gloats at a new addition to his coffers and moodily contemplates the extravagance of his son during a 15-minute solo.

Following on from the continuing success of Molière's ''L'Avare'', there was a spate of French plays dealing with misers and their matrimonial plans over the next century and a half. What complicates matters is that several of these had the same title but were in fact separate plays written by different authors. ''L'Avare Amoureux'' (The Miser in Love) by Jean du Mas d' Aigueberre (1692–1755) was a one-act comedy acted in Paris in 1729.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A5m0Rcp94K8C&q=l%27avare+-Moliere|title=Les trois spectacles, ou Polixene|work=google.co.uk|year=1729}}</ref> It is not the same as the anonymous one-act comedy of the same title published in 1777.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w7MWAAAAQAAJ&q=l%27avare+-Moliere|title=L'Avare amoureux|work=google.co.uk|year=1777}}</ref>

Another set of plays borrows a title from the Italian dramatist [[Carlo Goldoni]], who was working in France at the end of his life. He had already produced a one-act comedy titled ''L'avaro'' (The Miser) in Bologna in 1756. In 1776 he produced in France the five-act ''L' avare fastueux'' (The Spendthrift Miser).<ref>Edward Copping, ''Alfieri and Goldoni: Their Lives and Adventures'', London 1857, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bss5AAAAcAAJ&dq=%22avare+fastueux%22+Goldoni&pg=PA259 p.259]</ref> The same title was used by L. Reynier for his five-act verse drama of 1794<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8UU6AAAAcAAJ&q=l%27avare+-Moliere|title=L' avare fastueux|work=google.co.uk|last1=Reynier|first1=L.|year=1794}}</ref> and by Claude Baron Godart d'Aucourt de Saint Just (1769–1826) for his three-act verse drama of 1805.<ref name="La fille de l'avare">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fVJUAAAAcAAJ&q=l%27avare+-Moliere|title=La fille de l'avare|work=google.co.uk|last1=Bayard|first1=Jean François Alfred|last2=Duport|first2=Paul|year=1835}}</ref>

The early 19th century saw misers become the subject of the musicals then fashionable in France. [[Eugène Scribe]] and [[Germain Delavigne]] collaborated on
''L'avare en goguette'' (The miser's spree) in 1823,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H4MUAAAAQAAJ&q=l%27avare+-Moliere|title=L'avare en goguettes|work=google.co.uk|last1=Scribe|first1=Eugène|last2=Delavigne|first2=Germain|year=1823}}</ref> while [[Jean-François Bayard]] and [[Paul Duport]] collaborated on the two-act ''La fille de l'avare'' (The Miser's Daughter) in 1835.<ref name="La fille de l'avare" /> The latter play was freely adapted in 1835 by [[John G. Millingen]] under the title of ''The Miser's Daughter''. Two further adaptations of the French play were to follow later: ''Love and Avarice'' (1859) by J. V. Bridgeman (1819–89), and [[John Palgrave Simpson]]'s ''Daddy Hardacre'' in 1857. Meanwhile, [[William Harrison Ainsworth]]'s period novel  ''[[The Miser's Daughter]]'' (first serialised in 1842) was spawning a fresh crop of dramas of that title. Two were played in 1842 and a further adaptation called ''Hilda'' in 1872. A similarly titled play was the five-act comedy partially in verse, ''The Miser's Daughter or The Lover's Curse'' of 1839, a schoolboy indiscretion of the future controversial churchman, Rev.[[John Purchas]].<ref>''New Monthly Magazine'' 1839 [https://books.google.com/books?id=LdwRAAAAYAAJ&dq=Miser+poem&pg=PA583 p.583]</ref> And on the other side of the Atlantic there was a stage production of ''Julietta Gordini:The Miser's Daughter'', a verse play in five acts, which claimed to derive its plot 'from an Italian story'.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qb09AAAAYAAJ&pg=PP11|title=Julietta Gordini|work=google.co.uk|last1=Pray|first1=Isaac Clarke|year=1839}}</ref>

[[Douglas William Jerrold]]'s ''John Overy or The Miser of Southwark Ferry'', (1828)  also brings in a daughter whom the miser attempts to sell off as a mistress to her disguised lover.<ref>The Dramatic Magazine 1, 1829 [https://books.google.com/books?id=oDY5AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22%27John+Overy%22++%22The+dramatic+magazine%22&pg=PA78 p.79]</ref> Earlier Jerrold had written a one-act farce, ''The Smoked Miser or The Benefit of Hanging'' (1823), in which a miser tries to marry off his ward to advantage.<ref>[http://victorian.worc.ac.uk/modx/assets/docs/pdf/Vol58xivSmoked.pdf Text at Victorian Plays project] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407080516/http://victorian.worc.ac.uk/modx/assets/docs/pdf/Vol58xivSmoked.pdf |date=2014-04-07 }}</ref> Another farce produced in Canada, Major John Richardson's ''The Miser Outwitted'' (1841), had an Irish theme and dealt with a plot to trick a miser out of his money.<ref>''Theatre Research in Canada'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20140407071710/http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/tric/article/view/7403/84627.1 Spring 1986]</ref> The later [[Thomas Peckett Prest]]'s ''The Miser of Shoreditch or the Curse of Avarice'' (1854) was based on a [[penny dreadful]] story by him; later he adapted it as a two-act romantic drama set in time of Henry VIII.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20141017130216/http://victorian.worc.ac.uk/modx/assets/docs/pdf/Vol18xiiMiser.pdf Victorian Plays project] </ref>

The popularity of these theatrical misers is evident from the number of paintings and drawings based on them, many of which were then adapted as prints. In 18th-century England, it was Fielding's "The Miser" that attracted most attention. [[Samuel Wale]]'s drawing of the second act was also made into a print.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=279279&objectId=748809&partId=1|title=British Museum - Image gallery: drawing|work=British Museum}}</ref> But it was principally depictions of various actors in the character of Lovegold, the play's anti-hero, which attracted artists.  [[Samuel De Wilde]] pictured [[William Farren]] in the role at the [[Theatre Royal, Bath]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/william-farren-as-lovegold-in-the-miser-by-henry-fielding-228483|title=Art UK - William Farren as Lovegold in 'The Miser' by Henry Fielding|work=[[Art UK]]}}</ref> Several other works became plates in one or another book dedicated to English drama. James Roberts II  (1753 – c. 1810) executed a pen and ink watercolour of [[Edward Shuter]] in character which was adapted as a print for the six-volume play collection, ''Bell's British Theatre''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=1243799&objectId=3482300&partId=1|title=British Museum - Image gallery: Mr Shutter in the Character of Lovegold|work=British Museum}}</ref> [[Charles Reuben Ryley]] made a print of Thomas Ryder in the role for ''Lowndes' British Theatre'' (1788),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3504942&partId=1&searchText=Miser&page=1|title=British Museum - Mr Ryder in the character of Lovegold|work=British Museum}}</ref> while  [[Thomas Parkinson (painter)|Thomas Parkinson]]'s painting of [[Richard Yates (actor)|Richard Yates]] as Lovegold was adapted for the 1776 edition of that work.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3511028&partId=1&searchText=Miser&page=1|title=British Museum - Mr Yates in the character of Lovegold|work=British Museum}}</ref> In the following century, Thomas Charles Wageman's dramatic head and shoulders drawing of [[William Farren]] as Lovegold illustrated [[William Oxberry]]'s collection of texts, ''The New English Drama'' (1820).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=1238006&objectId=3466137&partId=1|title=British Museum - Image gallery: Mr W. Farren, as Lovegold|work=British Museum}}</ref> From this time too dates the coloured print of Samuel Vale acting the part of Goliah Spiderlimb, the comic servant in Jerrold's ''The Smoked Miser''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3473661&partId=1&searchText=Miser&page=1|title=British Museum - Mr Vale as Goliah Spiderlimb|work=British Museum}}</ref>

Molière's ''L'Avare'' was not altogether eclipsed in England by the work adapted from it. A drawing by [[William Hogarth]] of the play's denouement was included as a print in the translation of Molière's work<ref>P.J.De Voogd, ''Henry Fielding and William Hogarth'', Amsterdam NL 1981, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EXBb9xiowoEC&dq=Hogarth++%22L%27Avare%22&pg=PA38 pp.38-9]</ref> and prints based upon it were made by various other engravers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O182837/h-beard-print-collection-print-hogarth|title=H Beard Print Collection|work=vam.ac.uk}}</ref> [[William Powell Frith]] devoted one of his theatrical paintings to a scene from L'Avare in 1876<ref>{{cite web|url=http://19thcenturybritpaint.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/william-powell-frith-ctd.html|title=Victorian British Painting|author=rfdarsie|work=19thcenturybritpaint.blogspot.co.uk|date=6 July 2012 }}</ref> while the French actor [[Grandmesnil (actor)|Grandmesnil]] in the role of Harpagon was painted by [[Jean-Baptiste François Desoria]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artflakes.com/en/products/the-actor-grandmesnil#show-zoom?__affiliate=webgains&__siteid=54264|title=The Actor Grandmesnil, picture art prints and posters by Jean Baptiste Francois Desoria - ARTFLAKES.COM|work=artflakes.com|access-date=2013-03-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608095240/http://www.artflakes.com/en/products/the-actor-grandmesnil#show-zoom?__affiliate=webgains&__siteid=54264|archive-date=2013-06-08|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In addition, the challenging and complex part of Shylock was favoured by English artists. [[Johann Zoffany]] painted [[Charles Macklin]] in the role that had brought him fame at [[Royal Opera House|the Covent Garden Theatre]] (1767–68)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shmoop.com/merchant-of-venice/photo-shylock.html|title=The Merchant of Venice|work=Shmoop}}</ref> and Thomas Gray portrayed a confrontation between Shylock and his daughter Jessica (1868).<ref>[[:File:Shylock&Jessica.JPG|Wikimedia]]</ref> Character portraits of other actors in Shylock's role have included Henry Urwick (1859–1931) by Walter Chamberlain Urwick (1864–1943),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/henry-urwick-18591931-as-shylock-54952|title=Art UK - Henry Urwick (1859–1931), as Shylock|work=[[Art UK]]}}</ref> [[Herbert Beerbohm Tree]] by [[Charles Buchel]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shmoop.com/merchant-of-venice/photo-shylock-2.html|title=The Merchant of Venice|work=Shmoop}}</ref> and [[Arthur Bourchier]], also by Buchel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/arthur-bourchier-18631927-as-shylock-54890|title=Art UK - Arthur Bourchier (1863–1927), as Shylock|work=[[Art UK]]}}</ref>

===Fiction===
Characterisation of misers has been a frequent focus in prose fiction:
[[File:Cruickshank miser.jpg|thumb|The miser discovers the loss of his money, [[George Cruikshank|George Cruickshank]]'s 1842 illustration for [[William Harrison Ainsworth|Ainsworth's]] ''[[The Miser's Daughter]]'']]

* The miserly priest who was [[Lazarillo de Tormes]]' second master in the Spanish [[picaresque novel]] published in 1554.<ref>The Universal Anthology vol.12, 1899, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TCoPAQAAMAAJ&dq=Greek+Anthology+miser&pg=PA94 pp.94-103]</ref>
* Yan Jiansheng in an episode of ''[[The Scholars (novel)|The Scholars]]'' by Wu Jingzi (吳敬梓), written about 1750. This miser was unable to die easily until a wasteful second wick was removed from the lamp at his bedside.<ref>C. T. Hsia, ''The Classic Chinese Novel: A Critical Introduction'', Chinese University Press, 2016</ref>
*Jean-Esther van Gobseck – an affluent usurer in the novel ''[[Gobseck]]'' (1830) by [[Balzac]].<ref>A translation on the [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1389 Gutenberg site]</ref>
*Felix Grandet – whose daughter is the title character in the novel ''[[Eugénie Grandet]]'' (1833) by [[Balzac]].<ref>A translation on the [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1715 Gutenberg site]</ref>
*Fardarougha Donovan in the Irish [[William Carleton]]'s ''Fardarougha the Miser'' (1839).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16002/16002-h/16002-h.htm|title=Fardorougha, the Miser, by William Carleton|work=gutenberg.org}}</ref>
*John Scarve – in the novel ''[[The Miser's Daughter]]'' (1842) by [[William Harrison Ainsworth]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IsEBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP1|title=The miser's daughter|work=google.co.uk|last1=Ainsworth|first1=William Harrison|year=1855}}</ref> 
*[[Ebenezer Scrooge]] – the lead character of ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' (1843) by [[Charles Dickens]].<ref>Available on the [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46 Gutenberg site]</ref> He may have been partly based on John Elwes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4y78YB9vVMG1xYrW8CmzjPw/a-life-wasted-who-was-the-real-ebenezer-scrooge|title=BBC Arts - BBC Arts - ‘A life wasted’: Who was the real Ebenezer Scrooge?|website=BBC}}</ref> The story has been [[Adaptations of A Christmas Carol|adapted many times]] for stage and screen.
*Mr. Prokharchin – title character of the short story ''[[Mr. Prokharchin]]'' (1846) by [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]].<ref>{{cite book|last= Lantz|first=K. A.|title=The Dostoevsky encyclopedia|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2004 |isbn=0-313-30384-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfDOcmJisn0C&pg=PA118|page=118}}</ref>
*Uncle Jan and his nephew Thijs in [[Hendrik Conscience]]'s novel of Flemish peasant life, ''De Gierigaard'' (1853, translated into English as "The Miser" in 1855).<ref>Available in [https://books.google.com/books?id=osABAAAAQAAJ Google Books]</ref>
*Silas Marner – title character of [[George Eliot]]'s novel ''[[Silas Marner]]'' (1861), who eventually abandons his avaricious ways.<ref>Available on the [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/550 Gutenberg site]</ref>
*Ebenezer Balfour the villain of [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s ''[[Kidnapped (novel)|Kidnapped]]'' (1886), which is set during the [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] disturbances in 18th century Scotland. Attempting to deprive his nephew David (the hero of the novel) of his inheritance, he arranges to have the young man kidnapped.<ref>Available on the [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/421 Gutenberg site]</ref>
*Francisco Torquemada, the main character in [[Perez Galdós]]' ''Torquemada en la hoguera'' (Toquemada on the pire, 1889). The novel is centred on a Madrid moneylender who had appeared incidentally in earlier novels of his and now had three more devoted to him: ''Torquemada en la cruz'' (Toquemada on the cross, 1893), ''Torquemada en el purgatorio'' (Toquemada in Purgatory, 1894) and ''Torquemada y San Pedro'' (Torquemada and Saint Peter, 1895). All of these deal with Spanish social trends in the closing years of the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gep.group.shef.ac.uk/abctorq.htm|title=The Perez Galdos Editions Project - Summary of the Torquemada novels|work=shef.ac.uk}}</ref>
*Trina McTeague, the miserly wife in ''[[McTeague]]: a story of San Francisco'' (1899) by [[Frank Norris]].<ref>Available online at [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/165/165-h/165-h.htm Gutenberg]</ref> As avarice slowly overtakes her, she withdraws her savings so that she can gloat over the money and even roll about in it. The book was the basis for a silent film in 1916 and [[Erich von Stroheim]]'s ''[[Greed (1924 film)|Greed]]'' in 1924.  More recently, it was also the basis for [[William Bolcom]]'s opera ''McTeague'' (1992).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-QCAAAAMBAJ&q=mcteague+opera&pg=PA99|title=New York Magazine|work=google.co.uk|date=16 November 1992}}</ref>
*Henry Earlforward in [[Arnold Bennett]]'s novel ''[[Riceyman Steps]]'' (1923), who makes life miserable for the wife who married him in the hope of security.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://severalebooks.com/386064/riceyman-steps-arnold-bennett.html|title=Riceyman Steps – Arnold Bennett|work=Several eBooks Free|access-date=2014-08-20|archive-date=2020-08-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804015232/http://severalebooks.com/386064/riceyman-steps-arnold-bennett.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*Séraphin Poudrier, the central figure in [[Claude-Henri Grignon]]'s ''Un Homme et son péché'' (1933). This French-Canadian novel was translated into English as "The Woman and the Miser" in 1978. Set at the end of the 19th century, the novel broke with the convention of extolling rural life and depicts a miser who mistreats his wife and lets her die because calling in a doctor would cost money. There have been adaptations for stage, radio, TV and two films, of which the most recent was ''Séraphin: un homme et son péché'' (2002), titled [[Séraphin: Heart of Stone]] in the English-language version.

There were beside many other prolific and once popular novelists who addressed themselves to the subject of miserliness. For the most part theirs were genre works catering to readers in the [[Public library#Origins as a social institution|circulating libraries]] of the 19th century. Among them was the [[gothic novel]] ''The miser and his family'' (1800) by [[Eliza Parsons]] and [[Catherine Hutton]]'s ''The miser married'' (1813). The latter was an [[epistolary novel]] in which Charlotte Montgomery describes her own romantic affairs and in addition those of her mother, an unprincipled spendthrift who has just married the miser of the title.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/misermarriednove03hutt|title=The miser married : a novel. In three volumes : Hutton, Catherine, 1756-1846 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive|work=Internet Archive|year=1813 }}</ref> Another female novelist, Mary E. Bennett (1813–99), set her ''The Gipsy Bride or the Miser's Daughter'' (1841) in the 16th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REFWAAAAcAAJ|title=The Gipsey Bride: Or, the Miser's Daughter. By the Author of Jane Shore ...|work=google.co.uk|last1=Bennett|first1=Mary E.|year=1841}}</ref> [[Mary Elizabeth Braddon]]'s [[Aurora Floyd]] (1863) was a successful [[sensation novel]] in which banknotes rather than gold are the object of desire and a motive for murder.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/aurorafloydnovel00brad#page/n5/mode/2up|title=Aurora Floyd. A novel|work=archive.org|year=1863 }}</ref> It was dramatised the same year and later toured the US; in 1912 it was made a silent film. Later examples include [[Eliza Lynn Linton]]'s ''Paston Carew, Millionaire and Miser'' (1886); ''Miser Farebrother'' (1888) by [[Benjamin Leopold Farjeon]];<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MN_HhLbRqxkC|title=Miser Farebrother: A Novel (Complete)|isbn=9781465528162|last1=Farjeon|first1=Benjamin Leopold|year=1889}}</ref> and ''Dollikins and the Miser'' (1890) by the American Frances Eaton.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/dollikinsandmis00eatogoog|title=Dollikins and the Miser : Frances Eaton : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive|work=Internet Archive|year=1890 }}</ref> In 1904 [[Jerome K. Jerome]] created ''Nicholas Snyders, The Miser of Zandam'' in a sentimental story of the occult in which the Dutch merchant persuades a generous young man to exchange souls with him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/869/869-h/869-h.htm|title=The Soul of Nicholas Snyders, Or the Miser Of Zandam, by Jerome K. Jerome|work=gutenberg.org}}</ref>

==Misers in art==
[[File:Jheronimus Bosch 050.jpg|200px|thumb|''[[Death and the Miser]]'' by [[Hieronymus Bosch]] in 1494]]

Mediaeval art works of Christian origin take a clear moral stance on the sin of avarice in its various manifestations. The frieze on the west wall of [[Lincoln Cathedral]] depicts the torments of Hell visited on those guilty of this sin,<ref>[[:File:Carving on exterior of Lincoln Cathedral (1).JPG|Wikimedia]]</ref> while [[Sassetta]] made "The Blessed Ranieri showing the friars the soul of the Miser of Citerna carried to hell by demons" a panel of an altarpiece (now in the [[Louvre]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sassetta_-_Damnation_of_the_Soul_of_the_Miser_of_Citerna_-_WGA20866.jpg|title=File:Sassetta - Damnation of the Soul of the Miser of Citerna - WGA20866.jpg|work=wikimedia.org}}</ref>
But the bracketing of the miser and the usurer as equally culpable types, mentioned earlier, makes it difficult to interpret the subject of later moralistic paintings, since they may represent either a hoarder, a money lender or even a tax collector.

Such paintings cluster into recognisable genres, all of which point to the sinful nature of preoccupation with money for its own sake. [[Hieronymus Bosch]]'s panel of [[Death and the Miser]], dating from the 1490s, started a fashion in depicting this subject among [[Low Countries]] artists. Bosch shows the miser on his deathbed, with various demons crowding about his possessions, while an angel supports him and directs his attention to higher things. The link between finance and the diabolical is also drawn by another Fleming, [[Jan Matsys]], in his portrayal of the man of affairs being assisted in his double bookkeeping by a demon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-miser-218879|title=Art UK - The Miser|work=[[Art UK]]}}</ref> The same connection is made in "The devil and the usurer" in the Valenciennes [[:fr:Musée des beaux-arts de Valenciennes|Musée des beaux-arts]], formerly attributed to [[Pieter Bruegel the Younger]], in which two devils pluck at the sleeve of a poorly dressed moneylender.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/joconde/0039/m063804_0000636_p.jpg|title=French Government arts site}}</ref>

The Gospel [[Parable of the Rich Fool]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bible.cc/luke/12-20.htm|title=Luke 12:20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'|work=bible.cc}}</ref> lies behind another series of paintings which stem ultimately from mediaeval illustrations of the [[Danse Macabre|Dance of Death]]. There a skeleton compels those from all walks of life, but particularly types of the rich and the powerful, to join him in his dance to the grave. In 1538 [[Danse Macabre#Hans Holbein's woodcuts|Hans Holbein the Younger]] initiated a popular treatment of this subject in which each type is separately illustrated, of which there were many imitations in succeeding centuries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dodedans.com/Eholbein28.htm|title=Hans Holbein's dance of death, Rich man / Miser|work=dodedans.com}}</ref> Among the depictions is a man starting up in protest behind a table piled with wealth on which a skeleton is laying hands. In his print of 1651, [[Wenceslas Hollar]] makes the connection with the parable clear by quoting from it in the frame.<ref>[[:File:Wenceslas Hollar - Miser (State 2).jpg|Wikimedia Commons]]</ref>  A variation is provided by [[Jan Provoost]]'s 16th century diptych in which death confronts the man of affairs with his own account.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Provoost_-_Death_and_the_Miser_-_WGA18447.jpg|title=File:Jan Provoost - Death and the Miser - WGA18447.jpg|work=wikimedia.org}}</ref> A century later, [[Frans Francken the Younger]]  treats the theme twice, in both versions of which a skeleton serenades a luxuriously dressed greybeard sitting at a table.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.niceartgallery.com/Frans-II-Francken/Death-and-the-Miser.html|title=Death and the Miser|work=NiceArtGallery.com}}</ref> Another curious variation occurs in [[Pieter Quast]]'s print of "The Miser and Death" (1643). Here the man sits at table clasping his money bags while contemplating a skull wearing a plumed hat, beside which is an [[hour-glass]]. The visitation of death is carried forward in the 19th century in similarly titled works. They include a portrayal by Franz Häussler (1845-1920) of an old man standing at his desk who peers round fearfully as he glimpses a skull reflected in a mirror.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glaspalast_M%C3%BCnchen_1891_025a.jpg|title=File:Glaspalast München 1891 025a.jpg|work=wikimedia.org}}</ref> The charcoal and watercolour drawing by the Austrian Albert Plattner (1869–1919) is more ambiguous and has the figures facing away from each other in a cramped space.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/albert-plattner/der-geizhals-und-der-tod-f15vfVIiAM5EPoDj8NkMdw2|title=Der Geizhals und der Tod|work=artnet.com}}</ref>

Yet another genre was the Allegory of Avarice, of which one of the earliest examples is [[Albrecht Dürer]]'s painting of a naked old woman with a sack of coins (1507).<ref>[[:File:Albrecht Dürer 004.jpg|Wikimedia Commons]]</ref>  This makes the point that age comes to all and confiscates all consolations. A woman is chosen as subject because the Latin ''avaritia'' is of the feminine gender. Low Countries artists who took up the allegorical theme added the variation of making the woman examine a coin by the light of a candle or lantern, as in the paintings by [[Gerrit van Honthorst]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/h/honthors/2/03oldwom.html|title=Web Gallery of Art, image collection, virtual museum, searchable database of European fine arts (1000-1900)|work=wga.hu}}</ref>  and [[Mathias Stomer]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/joconde/0370/m099404_3j01415_p.jpg|title=French Government cultural site}}</ref> In his own allegorical treatment, [[Paulus Moreelse]] made the link with the dance of death genre by introducing a young boy slyly fingering the coins while keeping a wary eye on the woman to see if she has noticed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=75789|title=The Athenaeum - Allegory of avarice (Paulus Moreelse - )|website=www.the-athenaeum.org}}</ref> These Dutch variations were mostly painted during the 1620s, when [[Rembrandt]] too borrowed the imagery, but his candlelit examiner of a coin is male and the piece is variously titled "The Money Changer" or "The Rich Fool", in reference to the parable already mentioned.<ref>[[:File:Rembrandt - Der reiche Narr.jpg|Wikimedia Commons]]</ref> [[Jan Steen]], on the other hand, makes his subject very obviously a miser who hugs a small sack of coins and holds one up for intent inspection.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arthistoryimages.org/baroque/jan-steen/flat |title=arthistoryimages.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018064313/http://www.arthistoryimages.org/baroque/jan-steen/flat |archive-date=2014-10-18 }}</ref>

In the Hieronymus Bosch ''Death and the Miser'', the pull between spirituality and materialism is highlighted by making the deathbed a scene of conflict between the angel and demons. Quentin Matsys suggests the same polarity in his ''The moneylender and his wife'' (1514).<ref>[[:File:Quentin Massys 001.jpg|Wikimedia]]</ref> Here the woman is studying a religious book while her husband is testing coins by weight. In the hands of the later [[Marinus van Reymerswaele]] the contrast disappears. The wife of his moneylender is shown helping with the bookkeeping and leaning sideways, as mesmerised as her husband by the pile of coins.<ref>[[:File:Marinus Claesz. van Reymerswaele 001.jpg|Wikimedia Commons]]</ref> [[Gillis van Tilborch]]'s painting of much the same scene is titled ''The Misers'' and again demonstrates the ambivalent targets of the moral message. The only difference is that the couple engaged in inspecting their money are old, as was the case in all the allegories of avarice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linternaute.com/musee/diaporama/1/7081/musee-de-la-cour-d-or/5/32363/les-avares|title=Les avares|work=linternaute.com|access-date=2013-05-08|archive-date=2015-02-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213212007/http://www.linternaute.com/musee/diaporama/1/7081/musee-de-la-cour-d-or/5/32363/les-avares/|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[David Teniers the Younger]] depicted a couple similarly engaged in 1648 which was later engraved in France by [[Pierre-François Basan]] under the title ''Le plaisir des vieillards'' (the pleasures of old age). Verses as the bottom underline the moral: "Why do you make/ such piles of gold?/ Soon you'll grow old/ and Death takes all.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://art.famsf.org/pierre-fran%C3%A7ois-basan/le-plaisir-des-vieillards-19633029254|title=Le Plaisir Des Vieillards|work=FAMSF Explore the Art}}</ref>

Another area of ambivalence centres on the kind of clothes worn by the so-called misers. The subject of [[Hendrik Gerritsz Pot]]'s painting from the 1640s in the [[Uffizi]] is fashionably dressed and wearing a ring. He may be inspired by the wealth and jewelry piled on his table, but he obviously has no objection to advertising his well-to-do status.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wga.hu/art/p/pot/themiser.jpg|title=Web Gallery of Art}}</ref> On the other hand, the ''Miser Casting His Accounts'' presented by [[Jan Lievens]] is poorly dressed and his interest in hoarding is indicated by the way he gloats on the key that will lock his money away.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-miser-casting-his-accounts-171333|title=Art UK - A Miser Casting His Accounts|work=[[Art UK]]}}</ref> The same dichotomy occurs in later centuries. [[Jean-Baptiste Le Prince]]'s miser is also richly robed as he sits surrounded by his possessions,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artexpertswebsite.com/pages/artists/leprince.php|title=Jean Baptiste Leprince. Expert art authentication, certificates of authenticity and expert art appraisals - Art Experts|work=artexpertswebsite.com}}</ref> while Theodore Bernard Heuvel's miser sits on the chest containing his hoard and looks anxiously over his shoulder.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.niceartgallery.com/Theodore-Bernard-Heuvel/The-Miser.html|title=The Miser|work=NiceArtGallery.com}}</ref> [[Paul Gavarni]]'s miser shows much the same apprehension as he leans on the table where his money is piled and glances round suspiciously.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/joconde/0532/m501104_09-580238_p.jpg|title=French government arts site}}</ref>

[[File:Old Gripus plundered.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.05|Old Gripus plundered by his young wife (1773)]]

A sub-theme of this kind of contrast occurred in [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]'s "The Miser and his Mistress". There a young woman in luxuriant Renaissance dress stands behind an ugly miser, reaching across him to take coins from the money bags he clutches to his chest, while he looks up at her, crying out with a grimace and trying to push away her hand. An updated version by [[Philip Dawe]] was published as a print in 1773 under the title of ''The Scramble, or Old Gripus plunder'd by his Young Wife''. Underneath is a verse commentary: 
:::How hard is the conflict, yet claims ridicule,
:::When doting and avarice possess an old fool!
:::His wife while she plunders with smiles and caresses,
:::At once cools his love and his avarice distresses.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=818426&objectId=1639559&partId=1|title=British Museum - Image gallery: The Scramble, or Old Gripus plunder'd by his Young Wife|work=British Museum}}</ref>
Literary manifestations of the theme of the mismatched couple include the Malbecco episode in "The Faerie Queene" and Catherine Hutton's novel "The Miser Married".

English depictions of misers in the 18th century begin as genre paintings. [[Gainsborough Dupont]]'s poorly dressed character clutches a bag of coin and looks up anxiously in the painting in the [[Ashmolean Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-miser-141941|title=Art UK - The Miser|work=[[Art UK]]}}</ref> John Cranch (1751-1821) pictures two armed desperadoes breaking in on his.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-miser-95743|title=Art UK - The Miser|work=[[Art UK]]}}</ref> However, it is in the realm of satirical prints that the most inventiveness is found. [[James Gillray]] does not neglect the moral dimension either in his "The miser's feast" (1786). He is pictured seated at a table eating a meager meal, attended by Death in the guise of an emaciated and naked manservant holding in his right hand a tray with a bone on it and behind him, in his left hand, the dart of death. Famine, a withered hag naked to the waist, is also in attendance wearing a large hat and fashionable skirt. These characters are identified by the verse at the bottom: "What else can follow  but destructive fate,/When Famine holds the cup and Death the plate?"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collectionimages/AN00132/AN00132769_001_l.jpg|title=British Museum}}</ref>

Among other details in Gillray's crowded print is a fashionably dressed prostitute coming through the door. Lechery was supposed to be an attribute of some misers, exposing them to a contest between satisfying this weakness and their overmastering passion to save expense, as exemplified in the Old Gripus print. [[Thomas Rowlandson]] points to one solution of his dilemma in a print showing a miser engaged with two nude prostitutes whom has hired for the price of one.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eroti-cart.com/thomas-rowlandson-c-53_57/the-miser|title=The Miser|author=Mike Hannon|work=eroti-cart.com|access-date=2014-08-22|archive-date=2014-08-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826160852/http://www.eroti-cart.com/thomas-rowlandson-c-53_57/the-miser|url-status=dead}}</ref> In another Rowlandson revisits the theme of the meager feast, depicting his miser crouched by an empty grate and keeping himself warm by hugging his money-bags. A hag enters, bringing a tiny portion to eat on a plate which a famished cat scrambles to reach.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://amica.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/AMICO~1~1~60064~92549:The-Miser?sort=INITIALSORT_CRN%2COCS%2CAMICOID&qvq=q:AMICOID%3DFASF.7611%2B;sort:INITIALSORT_CRN%2COCS%2CAMICOID;lc:AMICO~1~1&mi=0&trs=1|title=The Miser|work=davidrumsey.com}}</ref> One more dichotomy explored by Rowlandson appears in his watercolour of "The spendthrift and the miser".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/full/382cc4ee81fb319c2eb8bdf38af78e1ca362392a.html?ixsid=KPmk7RQ17Iy|title=A&A - The Spendthrift and the Miser|work=artandarchitecture.org.uk}}</ref> The drunken young man alarming the miser there is probably his son, taking up a literary theme to be found, among other places, in Allan Ramsay's comic monologue. It will be remembered too that the thriftless ne'er-do-well of ''[[A Rake's Progress]]'' inherited his money from a miserly father.

By the end of the 19th century the theme of the miser was distancing itself from the simple moralities of journeyman painters and becoming a subject for aristocratic amateurs. The Empress [[Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark)|Maria Feodorovna]]'s miser of 1890 handles a small strongbox.<ref>[[:File:Maria Fyodorovna-Miser.jpg|Wikimedia]]</ref> The Indian [[Raja Ravi Varma]] paints a Jewish character type for his miser, dated 1901,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cyberkerala.com/rajaravivarma/ravivarma-painting-59.htm|title=Raja Ravi Varma Oil Painting 59 - The Miser|work=cyberkerala.com}}</ref> while the Hungarian nobleman [[Ladislav Medňanský]] titles his humanised study "Shylock" (1900).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Medny%C3%A1nszky_Shylock.jpg|title=File:Mednyánszky Shylock.jpg|work=wikimedia.org}}</ref> Apart from them, there is an etching by [[James Abbott McNeill Whistler]] which emphasises the essential isolation of such figures. His enigmatic "The Miser" of 1860 pictures an individual of indeterminate gender seated with its back to the viewer in the corner of a bare room next to the window. He is looking down as if examining something and the room behind him is spartanly furnished with just a table and bench, while a broadsheet is tacked to the wall.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk/catalogue/etchings/image/?filename=K0690303|title=Whistler Etchings :: Image of Impression|work=gla.ac.uk}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{wikiquote-inline|Misers}}
*{{wiktionary-inline}}
*{{commons category-inline|Misers}}
*[https://www.biblia.work/sermons/miserliness/ Miserliness] – Sermons and Biblical Studies

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[[Category:Misers| ]]
[[Category:Stock characters]]