The clerical magistrate
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George Cruikshank
1792-1878
The clerical magistrate
wood engraving
173 x 105 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2083
Published:
[London] : [Printed by and for William Hone, Ludgate-Hill], [1819]
Provenance:
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes:
Title from caption.
Printed between image and original verse are six lines from The form of ordination for a Priest, and six unattributed lines.
Original parody verse begins: This is a Priest, made "according to Law",
Detached from The political house that Jack built (London: William Hone, 1819).
Summary:
A parson (Ethelston) with two heads and two pairs of arms, emerges Janus-like from a double rostrum, one half pulpit, the other a magistrate's seat. One (left) holds up a cross, the other (right) a miniature gallows. The latter also holds blunderbuss, scourge, and shackles. On the pulpit "IHS" surmounts an irradiated triangle; on the other panel is an irradiated crown surmounted by "GPR".
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