Let us examine in detail the most important features of this elaborate broadside.
The centre of attraction is, of course, the surreptitious infant Prince of Wales, who lies in his cradle to the left of the picture. Those assembled about him are discussing the possibility of the plot having been discovered. On his coverlet are various playthings, amongst which is conspicuous a toy mill, emphasising, of course, the generally accepted belief that he was the son of a miller, for, in their lying, James’s enemies were nothing if not circumstantial. This allusive toy figures in almost all the satiric prints dealing with the Old Pretender.
At the foot of the cradle, which is decorated with an owl, an owlet, and a snake (emblems of evil), is a pap-bowl and spoon, half concealed by the arm of “the first mother”[40] (1) {204} who seems to be pointing out to Father Petre (2), the instigator of the plot, that the child has been born too old. The Father, whose intimacy with the lady is suggested by a tender fondling of her right hand with his left, fingers his rosary with the other, and gazes fixedly into her eyes.
[40] It is not easy to decide which of the female figures is intended to represent Mary of Modena and which the miller’s wife. At first sight one would expect the Queen to be represented by the central figure 3, but, on the other hand, I have in my possession a very rare mezzotint of the period which represents Father Petre and the Queen in almost identical attitudes as figures 1 and 2 in the present plate. This view of the matter is supported by the following scandalous verse of the day:
Some priests, they say, crept nigh her honour, And sprinkled some good holy water upon her, Which made her conceive of what has undone her.
Edward Petre was one of the best-hated men in the country, and was popularly looked upon as James’s evil genius. The King would have made him Archbishop of York, but the Pope refused his dispensation. In the year preceding the production of this satire he had been made a Privy Councillor.
“L’Europe alarmée pour le Fils d’un Meunier.” (The plate in its first state)
“L’Europe alarmée pour le Fils d’un Meunier.” (The plate in its first state)