Amongst the many publications relating to the victorious career of Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, there was one entitled the Swedish Intelligencer,
printed at London in 1632, for Nathaniel Butter and Nicholas Bourne,
both of them names associated with the first establishment of newspapers
in England. The Swedish Intelligencer gives very full accounts
of the exploits of Gustavus, and it is illustrated with his portrait, a
bird’s-eye view of the siege of Magdeburg, a plan showing how the King
of Sweden and his army crossed the river Lech into Bavaria, and a plan
or bird’s-eye view of the battle of Lutzen, where Gustavus was killed.
The portrait, the siege of Magdeburg, and the battle of Lutzen, are
engraved on copper, but the passage of the Lech is a woodcut. I have
copied the latter, the others being too elaborate for reproduction on a
reduced scale. The three last named are very curious as illustrations of
war news. Gustavus had crossed the Danube, and his troops overspread
the country between that river and the river Lech. Field Marshal Tilly
was in front of him, waiting for reinforcements from the army of
Wallenstein, in Bohemia, and the junction of fresh levies raised in
Bavaria, with which he hoped to drive the invaders back across the
Danube. The account in the Swedish Intelligencer of this celebrated
passage of the River Lech is too long for quotation, but I give a
condensed version of the circumstances from other sources.

The
Lech takes its rise among the mountains of the Tyrol, and, after
washing the walls of Landsberg and Augsburg, falls into the Danube at a
short distance from the town of Rain. The banks are broken and
irregular, and the channel uncertain. Nor are there many rivers of the
same size in Germany which can be compared with it in the strength and
rapidity of its current. The united forces of Bavaria and the League,
with this efficient means of defence in front, extended their right wing
towards the Danube and their left towards Rain, while the banks of the
river, as far as the city of Augsburg, were observed by their patrols,
supported by detached bodies of infantry. Tilly had taken the precaution
of breaking down the bridges over the Lech, and had thrown up field
works at points where he judged the passage might be considered attended
with fewest difficulties. That the Swedes would attack him in his main
position was a pitch of daring to which, well as he was acquainted with
the enterprising spirit of the king, he could scarcely suspect him of
having yet attained. Such, however, was the full determination of
Gustavus. After he had reconnoitred the course of the Lech for some
miles, at the imminent peril of his life, he fixed upon a point between
Rain and Thierhauppen, where the river makes a sweep to the eastward, as
the spot for carrying his venturous design into effect. The king’s
first intention was to throw a floating bridge over the stream, but the
attempt was no sooner made than it was found to be rendered hopeless by
the rapidity of the current. It was then imagined that tressels might be
sunk, and firmly secured by weights in the bed of the river, on which
the flooring of the bridge might afterwards be securely laid. The king
approved of this plan, and workmen were commanded to prepare the
necessary materials at the small village of Oberendorf, situated about
half a mile from the spot. During the night of the 4th of April the work
was entirely finished, the supports fixed in the stream, and the planks
for forming the bridge brought down to the water’s edge. The king had,
in the meantime, ordered a trench to be dug along the bank of the river
for the reception of bodies of musketeers, and several new batteries to
be constructed close to the shore, the fire from which, as they were
disposed along a convex line, necessarily crossed upon the opposite
side; those upon the left hand of the Swedes playing upon the left of
the enemy, and those on the right upon the wood held by the Bavarians.
Another battery, slightly retired from the rest, directed its fire
against the entrenchments occupied by Tilly’s centre. By daybreak on the
5th, all necessary preparations having been made, the bridge was begun
to be laid, and completed under the king’s inspection. Three hundred
Finland volunteers were the first who crossed, excited by the reward of
ten crowns each to undertake the dangerous service of throwing up a
slight work upon the other side for its protection. By four in the
afternoon the Finlanders had finished their undertaking, having been
protected from a close attack by the musketry of their own party and the
batteries behind them, from which the king is said to have discharged
more than sixty shots with his own hand, to encourage his gunners to
charge their pieces more expeditiously. The work consisted merely of an
embankment surrounded by a trench, but it was defended both by the
direct and cross fire of the Swedes. As soon as it was completed,
Gustavus, stationing himself with the King of Bohemia at the foot of the
bridge, commanded Colonel Wrangle, with a chosen body of infantry and
two or three field-pieces, to pass over, and after occupying the work,
to station a number of musketeers in a bed of osiers upon the opposite
side. The Swedes crossed the bridge with little loss, and after a short
but desperate struggle the Imperialists were routed. The whole of the
Swedish army was soon upon the eastern bank of the Lech, where the king,
without troubling himself with the pursuit of the enemy, commanded his
army to encamp, and ordered the customary thanksgivings to be offered
for his victory.

The account in the Swedish Intelligencer
is wound up in these words: ‘And this is the story of the King’s bridge
over the Lech, description whereof we have thought worthy to be here in
Figure imparted unto you.’ Then follows an ‘Explanation of the Letters
in the Figure of the Bridge,’ given below the illustration. The
engraving does not appear to have been entirely satisfactory to the
author, for on its margin the following words are printed: ‘Our Cutter
hath made the Ordnance too long, and to lye too farre into the River.
The Hole also marked with R, should have been on the right hand of the
Bridge.’

PASSAGE OF THE RIVER LECH, BY GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. FROM THE ‘SWEDISH INTELLIGENCER,’ 1632

REFERENCES TO PASSAGE OF THE RIVER LECH.

A The King of Sweeden, and the King of Bohemia by him.
B The Bridge.
C
A Trench or Brestworke, in which the Kings Musketeers were lodged,
betwixt the severall Batteryes of the great Ordnance, which Musketeers
are represented by the small stroakes made right forwards.
D Divers little Field-pieces.
E Plat-formes or Batteryes for the Kings greater Cannon.
F
The Halfe-moone, with its Pallisadoe or Stocket, beyond the Bridge, and
for the guard of it. It was scarcely bigge enough to lodge a hundred
men in.
G A little Underwood, or low Bushy place.
H A plaice voyd of wood; which was a Bache, sometimes overflowne.
I A Brestworke for Tillyes Musketeers.
K K Tilly and Altringer; or the place where they were shot.
L The high wood where the Duke of Bavaria stood.
M Tilleyes great Batteryes to shoot down the Bridge.
N A small riveret running thorow the wood.
O Tillyes great Brestworke; not yet finished. Begun at sixe in the morning; and left off when he was shot.
P Some Horse-guards of Tillyes: layd scatteringly here and there all along the river from Rain to Augsburg.
Q The kings Horse-guards, and Horse-sentryes.
R A hole in the earth, or casual advantageable place; wherein some of the Kings Foot were lodged.
S The Hill behind Tillyes great worke.
T The fashion of the Tressels or Arches for the Kings Bridge.’

In 1636 the Sallee Rovers
had become very troublesome, and not only hindered British commerce on
the high seas, but even infested the English coasts. They had captured
and carried into slavery many Englishmen, for whose release a ‘Fleete of
Shippes’ was sent out in January 1636. Assisted by the Emperor of
Morocco, the nest of pirates was destroyed and the captives released. A
full account of this expedition is given in a curious pamphlet,
entitled, ‘A true Journal of the Sally Fleet with the proceedings of
the Voyage, published by John Dunton, London, Mariner, Master of the
Admirall called the Leopard. Whereunto is annexed a List of Sally
Captives names and the places where they dwell, and a Description of the
three Townes in a Card. London, printed by John Dawson for Thomas
Nicholes, and are to be sold at the Signe of the Bible in Popes Head
Alley, 1637.’ This tract is illustrated by a large plan of Sallee,
engraved on copper, with representations of six English vessels of war
on the sea. After minutely describing the proceedings of the voyage, and
giving a long list of the captives’ names, the journalist winds up in
these words: ‘All these good Shippes with the Captives are in safety in
England, we give God thanks. And bless King Charles and all those that
love him.’

At the end of the pamphlet is printed the
authority for its publication: ‘Hampton Court, the 20. of October, 1637.
This Journall and Mappe may be printed.’

There is an illustrated pamphlet of this period which I have not been able to see. It is entitled, ‘Newes,
and Strange Newes from St. Christopher’s of a Tempestuous Spirit, which
is called by the Indians a Hurrycano or Whirlwind; whereunto is added
the True and Last Relation (in verse) of the Dreadful Accident which
happened at Witticombe in Devonshire, 21. October, 1638.’

The Weekly News,
begun in 1622, had been in existence sixteen years when the idea of
illustrating current events seems to have occurred to its conductors;
for in the number for December 20, 1638, there is, besides the usual
items of foreign news, an account of a ‘prodigious eruption of fire,
which exhaled in the middest of the ocean sea, over against the Isle of
Saint Michael, one of the Terceras, and the new island which it hath
made.’ The text is illustrated by a full-page engraving showing ‘the
island, its length and breadth, and the places where the fire burst
out.’ I have not been able to find a copy of the Weekly News for December 20, 1638, either in the British Museum or elsewhere. My authority for the above statement is a letter in the Times of October 13, 1868. As far as I have been able to ascertain, no other illustrations were published in the Weekly News,
so that we must conclude the engraving of the ‘prodigious eruption of
fire’ was an experiment, which in its result was not encouraging to the
proprietor or conductors of the journal.

TAKING OF THE CASTLE OF ARTAINE, IRELAND, 1641

When
the Irish Rebellion of 1641 broke out, many news-books were published
describing the transactions in that country, and several of them are
illustrated. I may here remark that the illustrations of events in these
pamphlets, as well as many of those contained in the numerous tracts
published during the Civil War in England, appear to be works of pure
imagination, and were, probably, invented by the artist just as a modern
draughtsman would illustrate a work of fiction. Others, again, were
evidently old woodcuts executed for some other purpose. A few instances
occur, however, where drawings have been made from actual scenes, and
sometimes maps and plans are given as illustrations of a battle or a
siege. This rising of the Roman Catholics in Ireland began with a
massacre of the Protestants, and, according to the tracts published at
the time, the atrocities of recent wars in Bulgaria and elsewhere were
equalled in every way by the Roman Catholics in Ireland in the
seventeenth century. The illustrations in these tracts are very coarse
woodcuts. One represents the arrest of a party of conspirators, and
another is a view of a town besieged, while a third gives a group of
prisoners supplicating for mercy. The best illustration that I have met
with of this Irish news is contained in a pamphlet entitled, ‘Approved,
good and happy Newes from Ireland; Relating how the Castle of Artaine
was taken from the Rebels, two of their Captaines kild, and one taken
prisoner by the Protestants, with the arrival of 2000 foot, and 300
horse from England. Also a great skirmish between the Protestants and
the Rebels at a place near Feleston, wherein the English obtained great
renowne and victory: Whereunto is added a true relation of the great
overthrow which the English gave the Rebels before Drogheda, sent in a
letter bearing date the 27 of February to Sir Robert King, Knight, at
Cecill house in the Strand. Printed by order of Parliament. London,
Printed for John Wright 1641.’ The woodcut on the title-page of this
tract represents the taking of the castle of Artaine, but there is only
the following very short paragraph relating to it:—‘The last news from
Ireland 7 March 1641. The 10 of February our men went to Artaine against
a castle so called, which had before done some mischiefe, to some of
our men, the enemy being in it. But the enemy fled before our second
coming, and left the Castle, and a garrison was left in it by us.’ The
other news is related more at length, and one of the paragraphs runs
thus:—‘On the 13 a man was brought to our City, being taken by some of
our scattering men scouting about our City, who confest without
constraint, that he had killed an Englishwoman at a place called
Leslipson, 6 Miles West of our City, and washed his hands in her bloud,
being set on by the popish Priests so to doe; he was presently hanged,
but dyed with much repentance and a protestant, which few do.’ The
concluding paragraph of this pamphlet shows the writer to have been a
man of a commercial spirit:—‘Tis to be feared that a famine is like to
be in our City, in that still men come to us and provision is short, and
none of yours that come to us bring any vittailes, great taxes are upon
us, more than can be borne. He that had Butter, and Cheese, and Cloath,
at between 6 and 14 shillings a yard here sent by any out of London
might make a good trade of it. Cheshire Cheese is sould here for
sixpence a pound already. Some of your Londoners are come hither
(acquaintance of mine) that will send for such things, for great profit
may be made by them and quicke returne.’

Several other
pamphlets relating to the Irish Rebellion are illustrated, but, with a
few exceptions, the cuts bear very little relation to the subject, and
were probably not executed for the purpose. One gives an account of a
victory obtained by the English at Dundalk in 1642, and it has a woodcut
of a man firing a cannon against a town, a copy of which is appended.

VICTORY AT DUNDALK, 1642

The
description is in the following words:—‘Newes from Ireland. On Monday
morning came three Gentlemen to our City of Dublin from Sir Henry
Tichbourne, who brought a message to the state of a great and happy
victory obtained by the aforesaid Sir Henry Tichbourne with 2000 horse
and foot marched to Ardee, and there put 400 of the Rebels to the sword,
yet lost not one man of our side; from thence upon the Saturday
following, he mustered up his forces against a place called Dundalke
some 14 miles northward from Tredath, where the enemy was 5000 strong,
and well fortified. At his first approach there issued out of the Towne
3000 of the Rebels who all presented themselves in Battallia, our
Forlorne hopes of horse and foot had no sooner fired upon them, but they
routed the Rebels. Captaine Marroe’s Troope of horse setting on killed
great store of the Rebels who thereupon retreated to the Towne, made
fast the gates, and ran out at the other end to their boats beforehand
provided: Our Army coming in fired the gates, entred, and killed those
within. Captain Marroe followed the flying foe, and slew abundance of
them upon the strand, and it is reported by them that if he had known
the Fords and the River, he had cut them all off, if he had gained the
other side of the River, but being a stranger, could not doe it (wanting
a guide) without endangering the Troope. There was slaine of the Rebels
in this sudden skirmish not less than 1100 besides what they took
prisoners. Sir Philomy O’Neale fled with the rest of the Commanders; but
10 common soldiers were lost of our side. Sir Philomy O’Neale made
speed away to a place called Newry, a chiefe garrison of the Rebels. Sir
Henry Tichbourne hath sent 600 men more to Dublin, intending that place
shall be the next he begins withall, which is granted, and tomorrow
there goeth to him 500 men, if not 5000, for whose safety and prosperity
in the meantime is the subject of our daily prayers that he may have as
good success as in all his other designs from the first till this time;
for no man was ever so beloved by his souldiers, that protest to follow
him while they can stand. We are in great hope he will recover the
Newry very shortly; it is credibly reported, that they got 20,000 pounds
at least in pillage at Dundalke.’

In another
pamphlet, dated 1642, there is an account of a battle at Kilrush, which
is also illustrated with a woodcut. The circumstances are related in
detail, but they are sufficiently set forth in the title, without
further quotation:—‘Captaine Yarner’s Relation of the Battaile fought
at Kilrush upon the 15th day of Aprill, by my Lord of Ormond, who with
2500 Foot and 500 Horse, overthrew the Lord Mountgarret’s Army,
consisting of 8000 Foot and 400 Horse, all well armed, and the choyce of
eight Counties. Together with a Relation of the proceedings of our
Army, from the second to the later end of Aprill, 1642.’

BATTLE OF KILRUSH, 1642

Many
other illustrated pamphlets relating to current events were published
at this time. It would appear that in 1641 there was a visitation of the
plague in London, and a tract of that date has reference to it. It is
entitled:—‘London’s Lamentation, or a fit admonishment for City and
Country, wherein is described certain causes of this affliction and
visitation of the Plague, yeare 1641, which the Lord hath been pleased
to inflict upon us, and withall what means must be used to the Lord, to
gain his mercy and favour, with an excellent spirituall medicine to be
used for the preservative both of Body and Soule.’ The ‘spiritual
medicine’ recommended is an earnest prayer to heaven at morning and
evening and a daily service to the Lord. The writer endeavours to
improve the occasion very much like a preacher in the pulpit and
continues his exhortation thus:—‘Now seeing it is apparent that sin is
the cause of sicknesse: It may appear as plainly that prayer must be the
best means to procure health and safety, let not our security and
slothfulnesse give death opportunity, what man or woman will not seem to
start, at the signe of the red Crosse, as they passe by to and fro in
the streets? And yet being gone they think no more on it. It may be,
they will say, such a house is shut up, I saw the red crosse on the
doore; but look on thine own guilty conscience, and thou shalt find thou
hast a multitude of red crimson sinnes remaining in thee.’ I have
copied the illustration to this tract, and it will be seen that it is
divided into two parts—one representing a funeral procession advancing
to where men are digging two graves—the other showing dead bodies
dragged away on hurdles. The first is labelled ‘London’s Charity.’ The
second ‘The Countrie’s Crueltie.’ This was perhaps intended to impress
the reader in favour of the orderly burial of the dead in the city
churchyards, a subject on which public opinion has very much changed
since that time.

THE PLAGUE IN LONDON, 1641

We
have already noticed that the vicissitudes of the sea and the accidents
of maritime life, which supply so much material to modern newspapers,
were not less attractive to the early news-writers. There is a very
circumstantial account of the voyage and wreck of a ship called the
Merchant Royall in a pamphlet published in 1641. The engraving it
contains is the same block used by Thomas Greepe in 1587. It is
entitled, ‘Sad news from the seas, being a true relation of the losse
of that good Ship called the Merchant Royall, which was cast away ten
leagues from the Lands end, on Thursday night, being the 23 of September
last 1641 having in her a world of Treasure, as this story following
doth truly relate.’ Another illustrated pamphlet, dated 1642, contains a long and minute narrative of how a certain ship called the Coster was
boarded by a native of Java, who, watching his opportunity, murdered
the captain and several of the crew, but who was afterwards killed when
assistance arrived from another ship. There is a woodcut representing
the murders, and the title runs as follows:—‘A most Execrable and
Barbarous murder done by an East Indian Devil, or a native of
Java-Major, in the Road of Bantam, Aboard an English ship called the
Coster, on the 22 of October last, 1641. Wherein is shewed how the
wicked Villain came to the said ship and hid himself till it was very
dark, and then he murdered all the men that were aboard, except the
Cooke and three Boyes. And lastly, how the murderer himselfe was justly
requited. Captain William Minor being an eye-witnesse of this bloudy
Massacre. London: Printed for T. Banks, July the 18, 1642.’ The very
full particulars given in this pamphlet show how minute and
circumstantial the old news-writers were in their narratives. It will be
seen by the following extracts that the story has an air of truth given
to it by careful attention to various small matters of detail:—

‘On
Friday the 22 of October last 1641 towards night there came aboard an
English ship called the Coster, in a small Prow (or flat Boat with one
paddle) a proper young man, (a Java, which is as much as to say as a man
born or native of the Territory of Java.) This man, (or devill in mans
shape) with a pretence to sell some Hews, (hatching mischiefe in his
damned minde,) did delay and trifle time, because he would have the
night more dark for him to do his deeds of darknesse. At last he sold 6
Hews for half a Royall of 8 which is not much above two shillings. There
came also another Java aboard, (with the like small Prow or Boat) to
whom he gave the half Royall, sent him away and bade him make haste; he
being asked for what the other Java went for, the answer was that he had
sent him for more Hews and Goates to sell.

‘Night
being come, and very dark, (for it was the last night of the wane of the
Moone) this inhumane dog staid lurking under the half deck having 2
Crests (or dangerous waving daggers) and a Buckler, of which he would
have sold one and the Buckler with it, and as he was discoursing he took
off one of the Crests hefts and put cloth about the tongue of the
Blade, and made it sure fast: on the other Crest he rolled the handle
with a fine linnen cloth to make it also sure from slipping in his hand;
these things he did whilst the Master, Robert Start, Stephen Roberts,
his mate, Hugh Rawlinson, Chirurgeon, William Perks, Steward, James
Biggs, Gunner, and 3 Boys or Youths attending. At supper they were very
merry, and this Caitiffe took notice of their carelessnesse of him to
suffer him to sit on the quarter deck upon a Cot close by them.

‘Supper
being ended about 6 at night the Master went to his Cabin to rest, the
Gunner asked leave to go ashore, (the ship riding but half a mile from
landing.) Afterwards Robert Rawlinson and Perks walked upon the quarter
deck; and the devilish Java perceiving the Master to be absent, he asked
the Boyes where he was, who answered he was gone to sleepe. This
question he demanded 3 or 4 times of the Boyes, and finding it to be so,
he arose from the place where he sate, which was on the starboard side
and went about the Table next the Mizzen Mast (where Roberts, Rawlings
and Perks were walking) with his Target about his Neck for defence
against Pikes, or the like; and his 2 Crests in his hand, and upon a
sudden cries a Muck, which in that language is I hazard or run my death.
Then first he stabd Roberts, secondly he stabd Rawlinson, thirdly
Perks, all three at an instant. After that he let drive at the Boyes,
but they leapd down, and ran forward into the forecastle, where they
found the Cooke, to whom the Boyes related what had happened.’

Further
details are given at great length, showing how the savage continued his
bloody work, and how he was finally overpowered. The narrative thus
winds up:—
 

MURDERS ON BOARD AN ENGLISH SHIP, 1642

‘It
is observable that of all these men that were thus butchered, the
Hel-hound did never stab any man twice, so sure did he strike, nor did
he pursue any man that kept clear of his stand under the quarter-deck.
So there dyed in all (in this bloody action) Robert Start, Master,
Stephen Roberts, his Mate, Hugh Rawlinson, Chirurgeon, William Perks,
Steward, Walter Rogers, Gunner’s Mate, and Francis Drake, Trumpeter of
the Mary. And after the Muck, Java, or Devill, had ended the first part
of this bloody Tragedy, there was only left in the ship, the Cooke, 3
Boyes, and one John Taylor, that was almost dead with a shott he
foolishly made. So that 7 men were unfortunately lost (as you have
heard) and the Gunner escaped very narrowly through God’s merciful
prevention, from the like of these related disasters and suddaine
mischiefs, Good Lord deliver us.’

The engraving,
like all those belonging to this period, is very rough; but it was
evidently prepared specially for the occasion, and some care appears to
have been taken to represent the ‘Java’ as he is described. It is a
genuine attempt to illustrate the story, and on that account is more
interesting than some of the woodcuts in the early newspapers.

The
Earl of Strafford, who was executed on Tower Hill, May 12, 1641, forms
the subject of more than one illustrated tract of this period. In 1642
was published a curious pamphlet, consisting of an engraved title and
eight pages of illustrations, representing the principal events of
1641-2. There are sixteen illustrations, exclusive of the title, two on
each page. They are all etched on copper, and are done with some freedom
and artistic ability. I shall have occasion to refer to this pamphlet
hereafter; but at present I have copied the engraving entitled, ‘The
Earle of Strafford for treasonable practises beheaded on the
Tower-hill.’

EXECUTION OF STRAFFORD, 1641

In
this example of illustrated news the artist has faithfully represented
the locality in his background, but there the truth of his pencil stops.
Strafford himself, although his head is not yet severed from his body,
lies at full length on the scaffold, and instead of the usual block used
for decapitations the victim’s head rests on an ordinary plank or thick
piece of wood. There is no one standing on the scaffold but the
executioner, whereas history asserts that the Earl was attended in his
last moments by his brother, Sir George Wentworth, the Earl of
Cleveland, and Archbishop Usher. These omissions, if they were noticed
at all, were no doubt looked upon as trivial faults in the infancy of
illustrated journalism, and before a truth-loving public had learnt to
be satisfied with nothing less than ‘sketches done on the spot.’ What
appears to be a more correct view of the execution was, however,
published at the time. In the British Museum are two etchings by Hollar
(single sheets, 1641), representing the trial and execution of the Earl
of Strafford. They both look as if they had been done from sketches on
the spot, that of the execution giving a correct view of the Tower and
the surrounding buildings, but they are too crowded to admit of
reproduction on a reduced scale.

The taste of the time
tolerated the publication of satires and petty lampoons even upon dead
men. Soon after Strafford’s death a tract was published entitled ‘A
Description of the Passage of Thomas, late Earle of Strafford, over the
River of Styx, with the Conference betwixt him, Charon, and William Noy.’ There is a dialogue between Strafford and Charon, of which the following is a specimen:—

‘Charon.—In
the name of Rhodomont what ayles me? I have tugged and tugged above
these two hours, yet can hardly steere one foot forward; either my dried
nerves deceive my arme, or my vexed Barke carries an unwonted burden.
From whence comest thou, Passenger?

‘Strafford.—From England.

‘Charon.—From
England! Ha! I was counsailed to prepare myselfe, and trim up my boat. I
should have work enough they sayd ere be long from England, but trust
me thy burden alone outweighs many transported armies, were all the
expected numbers of thy weight poor Charon well might sweat.

STRAFFORD CROSSING THE STYX, 1641

‘Strafford.—I bear them all in one.

‘Charon.—How?
Bear them all in one, and thou shalt pay for them all in one, by the
just soul of Rhodomont; this was a fine plot indeed, sure this was some
notable fellow being alive, that hath a trick to cosen the devil being
dead. What is thy name?

‘(Strafford sighs.)

‘Charon.—Sigh
not so deep. Take some of this Lethæan water into thine hand, and soope
it up; it will make thee forget thy sorrows.

‘Strafford.—My name is Wentworth, Strafford’s late Earle.

‘Charon.—Wentworth!
O ho! Thou art hee who hath been so long expected by William Noy. He
hath been any time these two months on the other side of the banke,
expecting thy coming daily.’

Strafford gives Charon but
one halfpenny for his fare, whereat the ferryman grumbles. Then ensues a
conversation between Strafford and William Noy, part of which is in
blank verse. The tract is illustrated with a woodcut, representing
Strafford in the ferryman’s boat with William Noy waiting his arrival on
the opposite bank.

A BURLESQUE PLAY ABOUT ARCHBISHOP LAUD. ACT I. 1641

No
man of his time appears to have excited the hostile notice of the press
more than Archbishop Laud. The Archbishops of Canterbury had long been
considered censors of the press by right of their dignity and office;
and Laud exercised this power with unusual tyranny. The ferocious
cruelty with which he carried out his prosecutions in the Star Chamber
and Court of High Commission made his name odious, and his apparent
preference for ceremonial religion contributed to render him still more
unpopular. Men were put in the pillory, had their ears cut off, their
noses slit, and were branded on the cheeks with S. S. (Sower of
Sedition), and S. L. (Schismatical Libeller). They were heavily fined,
were whipped through the streets, were thrown into prison; and all for
printing and publishing opinions and sentiments unpleasing to Archbishop
Laud, under whose rule this despotic cruelty became so prevalent that
it was a common thing for men to speak of So-and-so as having been
‘Star-Chambered.’ No wonder, when the tide turned, that the long-pent-up
indignation found a vent through the printing-press. Amongst the
numerous tracts that were published after the suppression of the Star
Chamber were many which held up Laud to public execration. He was
reviled for his ambition, reproached for his cruelty, and caricatured
for his Romish sympathies. During the four years between his fall and
his execution, portraits of him and other illustrations relating to his
career may be found in many pamphlets. I propose to introduce the reader
to some of these, as examples of the kind of feeling that was excited
by a man whose character and actions must have contributed not a little
to bring about a convulsion which shook both the Church and the throne
to their foundations. It must have been with a peculiar satisfaction
that Prynne, one of the chief sufferers under Laud’s rule, found himself
armed with the authority of the House of Commons to despoil his old
enemy. Probably a similar feeling caused many others to chuckle and rub
their hands when they read, ‘A New Play called Canterburie’s Change of Diet, printed in 1641.’
This is a small tract illustrated with woodcuts, and is written in the
form of a play. The persons represented are the Archbishop of
Canterbury, a doctor of physic, a lawyer, a divine, a Jesuit, a
carpenter and his wife. The doctor of physic is intended for either Dr.
Alexander Leighton, or Dr. John Bastwick, both of whom had their ears
cut off; the lawyer is Prynne; and the divine is meant for the Rev.
Henry Burton, a London clergyman, who also suffered under Laud’s
administration. In the first act enter the Archbishop, the doctor, the
lawyer, and the divine. Being seated, a variety of dishes are brought to
the table, but Laud expresses himself dissatisfied with the fare placed
before him and demands a more racy diet. He then calls in certain
bishops, who enter armed with muskets, bandoleers, and swords. He cuts
off the ears of the doctor, the lawyer, and the divine, and tells them
he makes them an example that others may be more careful to please his
palate. On the previous page is a copy of the cut which illustrates the
first act.

A BURLESQUE PLAY ABOUT ARCHBISHOP LAUD. ACT II

A BURLESQUE PLAY ABOUT ARCHBISHOP LAUD. ACT III.

In
the second act the Archbishop of Canterbury enters a carpenter’s yard
by the waterside, and seeing a grindstone he is about to sharpen his
knife upon it, when he is interrupted by the carpenter who refuses to
let him sharpen his knife upon his grindstone, lest he should treat him
(the carpenter) as he had treated the others. The carpenter then holds
the Archbishop’s nose to the grindstone, and orders his apprentice to
turn with a will. The bishop cries out, ‘Hold! hold! such turning will
soon deform my face. O, I bleed, I bleed, and am extremely sore.’ The
carpenter, however, rejoins, ‘But who regarded “hold” before? Remember
the cruelty you have used to others, whose bloud crieth out for
vengeance. Were not their ears to them as pretious as your nostrils can
be to you? If such dishes must be your fare, let me be your Cooke, I’ll
invent you rare sippets.’ Then enters a Jesuit Confessor who washes the
bishop’s wounded face and binds it up with a cloth. There is also an
illustration to this act which is here copied.

ASSAULT ON LAMBETH PALACE, 1642

In
the third act the Archbishop and the Jesuit are represented in a great
Cage (the Tower) while the carpenter and his wife, conversing together,
agree that the two caged birds will sing very well together. The woodcut
to this act represents a fool laughing at the prisoners.

There
is a fourth act in which the King and his Jester hold a conversation
about the Bishop and the confessor in the cage. There is no printer’s or
publisher’s name to this play, only the date, 1641.

The
pamphlet previously referred to as containing a picture of Strafford’s
execution, has also an engraving showing how the tide of public feeling
had set against Archbishop Laud. The powerful Churchman had been
impeached for high treason; he was deprived of all the profits of his
high office and was imprisoned in the Tower. All his goods in Lambeth
Palace, including his books, were seized, and even his Diary and private
papers were taken from him by Prynne, who acted under a warrant from
the House of Commons. The engraving under notice is entitled ‘The rising
of Prentices and Sea-men on Southwark side to assault the Archbishops
of Canterburys House at Lambeth.’

In a tract entitled ‘A Prophecie of the Life, Reigne, and Death of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury,’
there is a caricature of Laud seated on a throne or chair of state. A
pair of horns grow out of his forehead, and in front the devil offers
him a Cardinal’s Hat. This business of the Cardinal’s Hat is alluded to
by Laud himself, who says, ‘At Greenwich there came one to me seriously,
and that avowed ability to perform it, and offered me to be a Cardinal.
I went presently to the king, and acquainted him both with the thing
and the person.’ This offer was afterwards renewed: ‘But,’ says he, ‘my
answer again was, that something dwelt within me which would not suffer
that till Rome were other than it is.’ It would thus appear that the
Archbishop did not give a very decided refusal at first or the offer
would not have been repeated; and that circumstance, if it were known at
the time, must have strengthened the opinion that he was favourably
inclined towards the Church of Rome. At all events, the offer must have
been made public, as this caricature shows.

Though Laud
behaved with dignity and courage when he came to bid farewell to the
world, if we are to believe the publications of the time, he was not
above petitioning for mercy, while any hope of life remained. In 1643 a
pamphlet was published with the following title, ‘The Copy of the
Petition presented to the Honourable Houses of Parliament by the Lord
Archbishop of Canterbury, wherein the said Archbishop desires that he
may not be transported beyond the Seas into New England with Master
Peters in regard to his extraordinary age and weaknesse.’ The
petition is dated ‘From the Tower of London this 6th of May 1643,’ and
in it the petitioner sets forth that out of a ‘fervent zeal to
Christianity’ he endeavoured to reconcile the principles of the
Protestant and Roman Catholic religions, hoping that if he could effect
this he might more easily draw the Queen into an adherence to the
Protestant faith. He deplores that his endeavours were not successful,
and he begs the honourable Parliament to pardon his errors, and to
‘looke upon him in mercy, and not permit or suffer your Petitioner to be
transported, to endure the hazard of the Seas, and the long
tediousnesse of Voyage into those trans-marine parts, and cold
Countries, which would soon bring your Petitioners life to a period; but
rather that your Petitioner may abide in his native country, untill
your Petitioner shall pay the debt which is due from him to Nature, and
so your Petitioner doth submit himselfe to your Honourable and grave
Wisdoms for your Petitioners request and desire therein. And your
Petitioner shall humbly pray &c.’

CARICATURE OF THE DEVIL OFFERING LAUD A CARDINAL’S HAT, 1644

If
Archbishop Laud was really the author of this petition he appears to
have expected that his long imprisonment would end in banishment rather
than death. He was beheaded on Tower Hill, January 10, 1645. There is a
woodcut portrait of the Archbishop printed on the title-page of the
petition.

ARCHBISHOP LAUD

[from Allan: reading through the rest of this book, I’m seeing that the author is far more interested in reprinting odd and interesting woodcuts from these ancient publications, along with long extracts from the texts, and the actual HISTORY of the publications and art is getting very little coverage. I thought there was much more meat about publications and techniques than I’m now seeing. Therefore I’ve decided to cut the book off here, as it is not what I really wanted to showcase here. If you’d like to read more of this interesting book, you’ll find it available from archive.org.]