This image created by George Cruikshank -published
in Hone's Everyday Life Book, Vol 1. 1825
shows a Guy flopping about, not very realistic and while wearing what
could be a form of papal tiara it is a form influenced by
the pantomime complete with Harlequin like bows.d Note that there is no
trace of the traditional mask design and that celebrants do not wear
masks. In London Labour and
the London Poor Vol. III(1856) Mayhew laments the appearance of these
sloppy Guys. 
"The general characteristics of all guys consists in
a limpness and
roundness of limb, which give the form a puddingy appearance.
All the extremities have a kind of paralytic feebleness, so that
the head leans on one side like that of a dead bird, and the feet have
an unnatural propensity for placing themselves in every position but
the right one; sometimes turning their toes in, as if their legs had
been put on the wrong way, or keeping their toes turned out, as if they had
been "struck so" while taking their first dancing-lesson. Their fingers
radiate like a bunch of carrots, and the arms are as shapeless and bowed as
the monster sausage in a cook-shop window. The face is always composed
of a mask painted in the state of the most florid health,
and singularly disagreeing with the frightful debility of the body.
Through the holes for the eyes bits of rag and straw generally protrude, as though
birds had built in the sockets. A pipe is mostly forced into the mouth,
where it remains with the bowl downwards; and in the hands it
is customary to tie a lantern and matches. Whilst the guy is carried along,
you can hear the straw in his interior rustling and crackling, like
moving a workhouse mattress. As a general rule, it may be added, that guys
have a helpless, drunken look. "
Apgar in Festivals of Colonial America: From Celebration to Revolution.,1995,
p.53 writes:
(this image) "depicts the procession with the Guy seated in
chair fitted with poles for easy carrying. Characteristically, the Guy's head
is allowed to bob with the jostling of the ride to show his confusion. A fireworks
notice is posted on the street light presumably reminding people that fireworks are prohibited even on Guy Fawkes Day...."
I am not to certain that it was meant for Guy to appear confused or that
the sign is saying that fireworks are banned. Perhaps the sign is inviting the celebrants to the fireworks.
About the Image:George Cruikshank -published
in Hone's Everyday Life Book, Vol 1. 1825
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