My cursed speeches against Presbetry
Declares unto the world my foolery.
The mortification of the Presbyterians led in Scotland to the proclamation of Charles II. as king, and to the ill-fated expedition which ended in the battle of Worcester in 1651, when satirical pamphlets, ballads, and caricatures against the Scottish Presbyterians became for a while very popular. One of the best of the latter is represented in our cut No. 182. Its object is to ridicule the conditions which the Presbyterians exacted from the young prince before they offered him the crown. It is printed in the middle of the broadside, in prose, published on the 14th of July, 1651, with the general title, “Old Sayings and Predictions verified and fulfilled, touching the young King of Scotland and his gude subjects.” The picture has its separate title, “The Scots holding their young kinges nose to the grinstone.” followed by the lines—
Come to the grinstone, Charles, ’tis now to late
To recolect, ’tis presbiterian fate,
You covinant pretenders, must I bee
The subject of youer tradgie-comedie?
No. 182. Conditions of Royalty.
In fact, the picture represents Presbyterianism—Jack Presbyter—holding the young king’s nose to the grindstone, which is turned by the Scots, personified as Jockey. The following lines are put into the mouths of the three actors in this scene:—