End of the Irish farce of Catholic emancipation [graphic]

"A burlesqued illustration of the quotation from 'Paradise Lost' etched below the design ... 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. ..."--British Museum online catalogue