Caricature and Other Comic Art in All Times and Many Lands.Parton, James
History
Caricature and Other Comic Art in All Times and Many Lands.
Parton, James
Caricature -- History
Scarlet, the Chair richly embroydered, fringed, and bedeckt with Golden
Balls and Crosses; at his feet a Cushion of State, two Boys in
Surplices, with white Silk Banners and Red Crosses, and Bloody Daggers
for Murdering Heritical Kings and Princes, painted on them, with an
Incense-pot before them, sate on each side censing his Holiness, who was
arrayed in a rich Scarlet Gown, Lined through with Ermin, and adorned
with Gold and Silver Lace, on his Head a Triple Crown of Gold, and a
Glorious Collar of Gold and precious stones, St. Peters Keys, a number
of Beads, Agnus Dei's and other Catholick Trumpery; at his Back stood
his Holiness's Privy Councellor, the Devil, frequently caressing,
hugging, and whispering, and oft-times instructing him aloud, to
destroy His Majesty, to forge a Protestant Plot, and to fire the City
again; to which purpose he held an Infernal Torch in his hand. The whole
Procession was attended with 150 Flambeaus and Torches by order; but so
many more came in Voluntiers as made up some thousands. Never were the
Balconies, Windows and Houses more numerously filled, nor the Streets
closer throng'd with multitudes of People, all expressing their
abhorrence of Popery with continual Shouts and Acclamations."
With slow and solemn step the procession marched to Temple Bar, then
just rebuilt, and there it halted, while a dialogue in verse was sung in
parts by "one who represented the English Cardinal Howard, and one the
people of England." We can imagine the manner in which the crowd would
come thundering in with
"Now God preserve Great Charles our King,
And eke all honest men;
And Traytors all to justice bring,
Amen! Amen! Amen!"
Fire-works succeeded the song, after which "his Holiness was decently
tumbled from all his grandeur into the impartial flames," while the
people gave so prodigious a shout that it was heard "far beyond Somerset
House." For many years a similar pageant was given in London on the same
day.
As an additional illustration of the feeling which then prevailed in
Puritan circles, I will copy the rude and doleful rhymes which accompany
a popular print of 1680, called "The Dreadful Apparition; or, the Pope
haunted with Ghosts." Coleman, Whitebread, and Harcourt, who figure
among the ghosts, had been recently executed as "popish plotters." The
picture shows the Pope in bed, to whom the devil conducts Coleman, and
an angel leads the spirit of Sir Edmundsbury Godfrey. Whitebread and
Harcourt are in shrouds. A bishop, a cardinal, and other figures are
seen. A label issuing from the mouth of each of the persons represented
contains the rhymes which follow:
THE POPE IN BED.
"_Away! Away! am not I Pope of Rome,
torment me not before my time is Come._"
THE DEVIL, IN THE FORM OF A DRAGON.
"_Your Sevt S{r}! Ned Coleman doth appeare
he'll tell you all, therefore I brought him here._"
COLEMAN'S GHOST.
"_S{r} you are Cause of my Continuall paine,
My Soul is Lost, for your Ambitious gaine._"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account