The scene shows the gallery of the Middlesex Music Hall in Drury Lane, London, familiarly known as the Mogul Tavern or the Old Mo’. The title refers to nights spent in convivial entertainment and conversation at Ambrose’s Tavern in Edinburgh. These were recorded and published in the form of dialogues in Blackwood’s Magazine(1822-35). The work went through three states, this being a third state with two applications of aquatint.

Further reading:
Ruth Bromberg, Walter Sickert Prints, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2000