- Museum number
- 1851,0901.1172
- Title
- Object: End of the Irish farce of Catholic emancipation-
- Description
-
A burlesqued illustration of the quotation from 'Paradise Lost' etched below the design:
'"And now St Peter at heav'n's wicket seems
"To wait them with his keys, & now at foot
"Of heav'ns ascent they lift their feet: - when lo!
"A violent cross-wind from either coast
"Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry
"Into the devious Air: then might ye see
"Cowls, hoods, & habits, with their wearers, tost,
"And flutter'd into rags; then Reliques, Beads,
"Indulgences, Dispenses, Pardons, Bulls,
"The sport of winds! - All these whirl'd up aloft
"Fly o'er ye backside of the world far off
"Into a Limbo large, & broad, since call'd
"The Paradice of Fools! Milton B. 3d' [ II. 484-96. Correctly quoted, except 'whirl'd up' for 'upwhirled'.]
In the upper left. corner of the design, and in the background, an aged St. Peter holds open a small arched door, putting one of his three massive keys into the lock. The irradiated doorway is 'Popish Supremacy'; through it is seen a table, also irradiated, spread with loaves, fishes (cf. BMSat 10697), and wine. A golden staircase receding in perspective ascends in a curve to the door from the summit of the globe, on which 'Ireland' (the more conspicuous) and 'England' are marked. A procession of petitioners winds up the globe from the lower margin of the design; its leaders have begun to ascend the stairs but have been struck by three mighty blasts of wind. These issue from the mouths of Pitt, Hawkesbury (just below), and Sidmouth (considerably lower) Their profile heads emerge from dark clouds on the extreme left.
The blasts have overthrown the leading petitioners: Grenville, in bishop's robes, staggers back with outstretched arms, his crozier and mitre fall, and the Catholic Petition blows from his hands, tattered by the wind, in a stream of 'popish' objects which slants upwards across the design. Immediately behind him, full face, the spectacled Buckingham staggers backward. He is dressed as a monk. In front of the two brothers Moira has fallen on his back on the third stair, kicking wildly, his upright l. leg expressing his characteristic stiff rigidity. He wears a surplice over regimentals and spurred boots, and his sword has broken. He has dropped the halter of the Irish bull on which sits Fox, dressed as a cardinal, the central figure of the design. The bull, snorting flames, rears violently, throwing Fox back into a horizontal position. Round its neck is a tricolour ribbon inscribed 'Order of St Patrick', from which hangs a medal with a profile of 'Buonaparte'; on its head is a bunch of shamrock. Fox is a Papal Legate; he is about to fall, and drops his triple cross to which is attached a tattered tricolour banner, inscribed 'Catholic Emancipa[tion']. His cardinal's hat flies off; from his left hand blows a document with many seals: 'Hierarchical Powers of ye Legate-Cardinal Volpone'. Mrs. Fitzherbert, a Mother Abbess, has fallen headlong from the stairs on to the globe. Her r. hand is on Ireland, resting on an open book: ' . . by the Brighton Abbess System of Education for the benefit of Protestant Children'; her left. wrist is on England. Her crozier rests on the globe. Her robes, rent by the fall, display bare posteriors and fat, kicking legs, suggesting the connotation of 'abbess' and bawd, see BMSat 5184, &c. Moira has flung his left. arm across her.
The other petitioners are on a smaller scale; the foremost are sheltered by the massive bulk of Fox and his flying cloak. There is a line of five kneeling or crouching acolytes, wearing surplices, which extends from the bull's hindquarters to the right. margin. The first is Grattan, kneeling devoutly and swinging a censer. After him walks Sheridan, crouching and conspiratorial; he holds a monstrance on which is a crowned 'N' [Napoleon]. He is followed by Grey, who drops his bell in alarm. Behind him crouches Lord Holland, holding a lighted candle in one hand, a lantern in the other; under his arm is a paper: 'Religion à la Paris'. Last, and on the extreme left., is Lord Henry Petty (his first appearance in these prints), holding up a paper: 'Petty, Prayer [so written as to resemble 'Bray'] of the Fathers Ignat. . [scarcely legible]'. Behind them walk erect a group all wearing the high biretta of the Jesuit, with gown and bands. They are led by Windham, holding up in the r. hand a flaming paper inscribed 'Weekly Register' [which he had financed, cf. BMSat 10414], and in the left. a banner on which is depicted: 'Auto de Fé - scene in Smithfield'; a man burns at the stake. It is supported on a cross on which is a tricolour ribbon inscribed 'Vigour'beyond the Law'. On his right. is Tierney, holding a cross topped by bonnet rouge shaped like a fool's cap. On Windham's l., and on the extreme right., is Erskine, holding up a paper of 'Instructions for the Advocate of the Holy Order'. Behind them a crowd of followers is indicated by birettas and hand holding up spears; one holds up a banner inscribed 'Purgatory'.
In the foreground, lower down the globe and at the base of the design, another line of petitioners, all half length or less, wearing robes or surplices. They are headed by the Duke of Clarence, hideously caricatured (cf. BMSat 9910, &c.), who holds up a chamber-pot, in which is an aspergillum; it is inscribed 'Holy-Water from ye River Jordan'. (For coarse prints on Mrs. Jordan cf. BMSat 7835, &c.) Next comes the Duke of Bedford holding an open book: 'Transubstantiation or Oil-Cake turn'd into real Mutton with the method of Feeding ye flock at Wooburn Priory' [see BMSat 9912]. The Duke of Norfolk fills a chalice from a bottle inscribed 'Whitbred Bottled Porter', but pours awry as he looks up at the disaster with scowling alarm. These three look up startled. They are followed by a group on a smaller scale, all intent on open books inscribed 'Vespers'. They are (l. to r.) Lord Derby, Burdett, Lord Spencer, Lord Carlisle, and Lord Stanhope [Lord Holland's identification. He resembles Adair, and is unlike Stanhope. Wright introduces Lauderdale and Thanet in place of Grey, Spencer, and Carlisle.] (Adair).
Above the bull's head an overturned altar flies into the air; a chalice falls, other objects fly upwards - four candles, broken and guttering, a blasphemously grotesque image of the Virgin, her head and crown detached, holding out an orb in the r. hand, the Child in the left., two kneeling demons with palm-branches taking the place of angels, a book of 'Decretals' [signifying papal forgeries]. An irradiated owl, representing the Saint Esprit, flies off. Other scattered objects are a rosary, a bag of 'Relicks' from which issues a braying ass labelled 'Balaam Ass'; more relics stream from it - breeches labelled 'St Ignatius Breeches', a tress of 'Virgins Hair', a serpent with an apple in its mouth, a bottle of 'Virgins Milk', a tiny chapel carried by two winged figures. There are also episcopal vestments, mitre and crozier, a censer. Papers in a scattering bundle, some with pendent seals, are: 'Dispensations', 'Anathemas of the Church', 'Absolutions', 'Indulgences', 'Pardons', 'Infallibility'. Two open books are 'Miracles of ye Chu[rch]', 'Raising Dead' and 'Pennance for Penitents'. These objects, flying away in the ministerial wind, are also struck by thunderbolts radiating from a dark cloud in the upper part of the design. From this two arms (the King's) emerge, one holding a flaming sword, the other a pair of scales. A book inscribed 'Truth', on which rests a crown on one scale, outweighs a papal tiara with a rosary and shackles. From the obscured head between the arms thunderbolts descend on the staggering Grenville and his petition. 17 May 1805
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1805
- Dimensions
-
Height: 380 millimetres
-
Width: 460 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VIII, 1947)
The Irish petition for Catholic Emancipation, the first of many, was introduced in the Lords by Grenville on 10 May, in the Commons by Fox on 13 May, on motions for a Committee to consider it (defeated in the Lords by 178 to 49, in the Commons by 336 to 124). The all-powerful sword and crown indicate the opposition of George III which made the petition 'a farce', brought forward in the knowledge that it would not be accepted. Its general unpopularity was admitted, and the Prince of Wales was opposed to it. T. Grenville correctly divined the danger of his becoming as hostile to emancipation as his father. 'H.M.C., Dropmore MSS.' vii. 268. Grattan, who made a brilliant speech, was brought into Parliament by Lord Fitzwilliam in order to support the petition. 'Parl. Debates', iv. 98-103 (text of petition), 651 ff., 833 ff.; W. Hunt, 'Trans. of the Royal Hist. Soc.', 1908, pp. 3-19; Holland, 'Memoirs of the Whig Party', 1852, i. 199 f. The Irish Bull is associated with Napoleon to indicate French support of Irish republicanism; for Fox and Napoleon cf. BMSats 9735, 9892. For Mrs. Fitzherbert and the education of her Protestant ward see BMSat 10389, &c. See also BMSats 10241, 10368, 10403, 10405, 10589; cf. BMSat 10709, 10738, 11384.
Grego, 'Gillray', p. 319 f. (reproduction). Wright and Evans, No. 299. Sprinted, 'G.W.G.', 1830.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated names
-
Associated with: Sir Robert Adair
-
Associated with: Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
-
Associated with: George Nugent Temple Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham
-
Associated with: Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet
-
Associated with: John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford
-
Associated with: Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle
-
Associated with: Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby
-
Associated with: Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine
-
Associated with: Maria Anne Fitzherbert
-
Associated with: Charles James Fox
-
Associated with: George III, King of the United Kingdom
-
Associated with: Henry Grattan
-
Associated with: William Wyndham Grenville, Baron Grenville
-
Associated with: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
-
Associated with: Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
-
Associated with: Henry Richard Fox Vassall, 3rd Baron Holland
-
Associated with: Mrs Dorothy Jordan
-
Associated with: Francis Rawdon Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings and 2nd Earl of Moira
-
Associated with: Napoléon I, Emperor of the French (Napoleon)
-
Associated with: Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk
-
Associated with: Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne
-
Associated with: William Pitt the Younger
-
Associated with: Pope Pius VII
-
Associated with: Richard Brinsley Sheridan
-
Associated with: George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
-
Associated with: Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope
-
Associated with: George Tierney
-
Associated with: Samuel Whitbread II
-
Associated with: William IV, King of the United Kingdom
-
Associated with: William Windham
- Acquisition date
- 1851
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1851,0901.1172
