Set to the melody from the aria "The flocks shall leave the mountains" in George Frideric Handel's opera Acis and Galatea, it is the best-known of his poems describing the consequences of brandy-drinking.

[5] The epistles, written and performed in different styles, from drinking songs and laments to pastorales, paint a complex picture of the life of the city during the 18th century.

A frequent theme is the demimonde, with Fredman's cheerfully drunk Order of Bacchus,[6] a loose company of ragged men who favour strong drink and prostitutes.

At the same time as depicting this realist side of life, Bellman creates a rococo picture, full of classical allusion, following the French post-Baroque poets.

The women, including the beautiful Ulla Winblad, are "nymphs", while Neptune's festive troop of followers and sea-creatures sport in Stockholm's waters.

[9] The epistle was written in the summer of 1770, and set to a melody from the aria "The flocks shall leave the mountains" in George Frideric Handel's 1718 opera Acis and Galatea.

[14] In the text, Fredman, accompanied by Father Berg on flute, begins in accordance with a pattern from classical elegies and meditates on the greatness of the past and the ravages of time.

Märk denna stora stuga, Du full af Flickor mins, Är nu så tom, at knapt en enda fluga Uti taket fins.

He finds it "surprising" that Bellman has chosen to take an aria from Handel's Acis and Galatea, but notes that by marking it lamentabile and "cunningly interweav[ing] a flute obbligato with the vocal phrases", he manages to create a "tragi-comic picture".

The audience in his day were well aware of that dramatic context, so hearing the melody as a backdrop to the sharply contrasting situation of a pub brawl created a powerfully comic effect.