The Committee; or Popery in Masquerade (BM 1849,0315.82 1)

Broadside satire against non-conformists: A. in an upper room, top left, a conference of the Cabal (Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, Lauderdale) from which a ray of light shines down on the table in the centre of the print, and a ribbon, lettered "Root and Branch", extends to shake hands with another, lettered "Wee'll be true to you", which extends from the mouth of B. "Little Isaac" (Pennington) who looks out from a window at top right; beside him is C. a diminutive Pope who says "Courage mes enfans". In the centre, D., is a table, around which sit a committee of men representing Protestant sects (from left to right: [Lodowicke] Muggleton, a Ranter, a Quaker, an Anabaptist, a Presbyterian taking the chair, an Independent, a Fifth Monarchist, [James] Nailor and a naked Adamite) united by a ribbon over their heads which reads "Behold wee are a covenanting people"; the table is strewn with a number of papers on which are written "Church and Crown Lands", "Sequestrations", "Remonstrainces", "Petitions", "Court of Justice" and "Humiliation"; to the right a sheet fixed to the wall is lettered 'A solemn league and covenant ...'. Two pairs of petitioners, E., address the committee: on the left, a woman ("Elder's Mayd") saying "No Service Book" with a copy of "The Protestant Tutor" at her waist, is hand in hand with a dog ("Swash") saying "No Bishops"; on the right, is "The Colchester Wedding", a man saying "No Popish Lords" arm in arm with a mare saying "No Evill Councillors". Between the petitioners, F., the secretary to the committee (perhaps intended as Henry Care) is seated at a small table writing on a paper in an illiterate fashion; on his table is a monkey, a pipe and a broken pot. On the ground in the centre foreground is a pile of books, "Magna Carta", "Biblia Sacra", "Councills", "Laud against Fisher", "Hooker". At lower left, G., a group of men carrying clubs, banners lettered "Liberty Property", "Religion" "A Thorough Reformation", and bishop's mitre on a pole; in front of them, a poorly dressed man, holding the royal crown, leads [Sir Richard] Gurney, Viscount Stafford and Archbishop Laud in chains; on the ground lie a sceptre, an orb and a bust of Charles I. At lower right, H., a woman holds the head of a seated clergyman while he vomits up "Canons", "Common Prayer", "Surplice", "Apocrypha", "+ in Baptism"; pinned to his chest is a sign reading "Sequestered Livings" and to his left is, I., an open close stool from which little imps climb; on the wall behind him, partly concealed by curtains, are shelves with books lettered "Excise", "Army Accounts", "Directory", "Ordinances", "Journall", and two bottles of "A Cordial for ye Dr.", one "Widows Tears", the other "Blood of Orphans". Below, letterpress title, "The Explanation", and four columns of verses with key. 1680
Engraving and letterpress