This drawing is an illustration to one of Burns’s songs that is part of a collection, and are commonly known as ‘The Jolly Beggars’. The songs were first published in 1799, and are also known as 'Love and Liberty - A Cantata'. The common themes of the songs are friendship, drunkenness, poverty and love. This drawing illustrates a verse from the ‘Soldier’s Joy’ section, where an injured soldier has fallen into a life of poverty but finds friendship and release in the tavern. Weigall shows a young girl sitting on the knee of the old soldier who has raised his glass in the air, his wooden leg stretched out before her. In the background, others drink merrily, raising their glass. It is believed that Burns witnessed a similar scene one evening in Poosie Nancy’s tavern in Mauchline.