Artist: James Gillray. Published: Hannah Humphrey. 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, 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 left 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 right 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. 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 right hand a flaming paper inscribed 'Weekly Register' [which he had financed], 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 left, 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, 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', 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 (left to right) 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 right 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. Description from the British Museum.