This enigmatic painting of the early 1730s contains elements later incorporated into three of the series, 'A Rake's Progress', for which the paintings (Sir John Soane's Museum, London) were completed in 1734 and the engravings published in June 1735. The scene takes place in a prosperous household. The father, seated in the centre, is joining his daughter's hand to that of the young man on the right, who turns away to read a letter. A jockey indicates other distractions for the young man. The marriage is clearly doomed. The painting has suffered a disastrous cleaning in the nineteenth century and many parts of it are repainted.