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'].
Print shows St. Peter at left holding open a small arched door headed 'Popish Supremacy'; through it is seen a table spread with loaves, fishes, and wine. A golden staircase ascends to the door from the summit of the globe, on which 'Ireland' and 'England' are marked. A procession of petitioners have been struck by three mighty blasts of wind from the mouths of Pitt, Hawkesbury, and Sidmouth. Grenville, in bishop's robes, staggers back with outstretched arms, his crozier and mitre fall, and the Catholic Petition blows from his hands in a stream of 'popish' objects. Behind him Buckingham, dressed as monk, staggers backward and Moira has fallen on his back. He has dropped the halter of the Irish bull on which sits Fox, dressed as a cardinal. The bull, snorting flames, rears violently, around 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 dropping his triple cross to which is attached a tattered tricolour banner, inscribed 'Catholic Emancipa[tion']. 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. Her right hand is on Ireland, resting on an open book: ' . . by the Brighton Abbess System of Education for the benefit of Protestant Children'. Her robes, rent by the fall, display bare posteriors and fat, kicking legs. There is a line of five petitioners wearing surplices. The first is Grattan, swinging a censer, followed by Sheridan, with a monstrance, Grey, who drops his bell in alarm, Lord Holland, with a paper: 'Religion à la Paris', and Lord Henry Petty, holding up a paper: 'Petty, Prayer [so written as to resemble 'Bray'] of the Fathers Ignat. . [scarcely legible]'. Behind them walk a group all wearing the high biretta of the Jesuit, with gown and bands. They are led by Windham, holding up a flaming paper inscribed 'Weekly Register', and a banner on which is depicted: 'Auto de Fé - scene in Smithfield'; a man burns at the stake. Tierney is shown holding a cross topped by bonnet rouge shaped like a fool's cap and Erskine holds up a paper of 'Instructions for the Advocate of the Holy Order'. Behind them a crowd of followers holds up a banner inscribed 'Purgatory'. In the foreground another line of petitioners is headed by the Duke of Clarence, who holds up a chamber-pot, in which is an aspergillum; it is inscribed 'Holy-Water from ye River Jordan'. 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'. The Duke of Norfolk fills a chalice from a bottle inscribed 'Whitbred Bottled Porter'. They are followed by Lord Derby, Burdett, Lord Spencer, Lord Carlisle, and Lord Stanhope. Above the bull's head an overturned altar flies into the air; a chalice falls, other objects fly upwards - a grotesque image of the Virgin, her head and crown detached, two kneeling demons with palm-branches taking the place of angels, a book of 'Decretals'. An 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. 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 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', outweighs a papal tiara.