Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism
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Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism is a satirical print by English artist William Hogarth
. It ridicules secular and religious credulity, and lampoons the exaggerated religious "enthusiasm" (excessive emotion, not keenness) of the Methodist movement. The print was originally engraved in 1759, with the title Enthusiasm Delineated, but never published. The original print may have been a response to three essays published by Joshua Reynolds
in The Idler in 1759, praising the sublime work of Italian Counter-Reformation artists. Hogarth reworked the engraving before publishing it on 15 March 1762 as Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism: A Medley. It echoes his earlier print, The Sleeping Congregation of 1736, in which an Anglican clergyman's boring sermon puts his congregation to sleep.
The print depicts a preacher - possibly George Whitefield
- speaking to a church congregation from the top of a high pulpit
. His text is opened at a page which reads "I speak as a fool", and he is wearing a Harlequin
jacket under his clerical gown. He is holding a puppet of a devil
with a gridiron
in his left hand and a puppet of a witch suckling an incubus
in his right hand. His wig is falling off to reveal a Jesuit's tonsure
underneath. To the right, the "scale of vociferation" measures his oratory, rising from "natural tone" to "bull roar". (In Enthusiasm Delineated, the puppet of the witch was an abstract figure representing God, and the sides of the pulpit are adorned with additional pairs of religious puppets which are omitted in its final version.)
The print includes visual references to more than a dozen reputed instances of witchcraft or possession in England. The three figures decorating the pulpit each hold a candle, and allude to the ghost seen by Sir George Villiers
(whose name appears in a book held by the figure on the right), the ghost of the stabbed Julius Caesar
appearing before Brutus
, and the ghost of Mrs Veale (immortalized by Daniel Defoe
in A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal the Next Day after her Death to One Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury the 8th of September, 1705).
In a box pew
at the foot of the pulpit, another clergyman pushes an icon of the Cock Lane ghost
down the shirt of a young lady in the throes of religious ecstasy
. (In Enthusiasm Delineated, this was an aristocratic rake fondling the breast of a woman.) The "Poors Box" has grown cobwebs, showing Hogarth's view that the Methodists were disregarding good works by emphasizing faith so strongly.. To the right, standing on copies of John Westley
's Sermons, and Glanvill
's Book of Witches, a religious thermometer measures the emotional states of a brain (or possibly a heart) from a central reading of lukewarm, either upwards through love heat, to lust, ecstasy, madness and raving, or downwards through low spirits to sorrow, agony, settled grief to despair, then madness and suicide. On top of the thermometer is an image of the Cock Lane ghost
, and the Drummer of Tedworth.
The congregation are in various states of ecstasy, grief and horror. Another minister sings, accompanied by weeping cherubs. A shoe-black vomits nails and pins - possible a reference to the boy of Bilson, who ate metal items. A Jew with a knife sacrifices an insect on the altar. A turbaned Turk looks in at the window, quietly smoking a pipe, and thanks the prophet that he is a Muslim. He represents the "rational, enlightened part of mankind looking down on Christian fanatics with surprise and disgust."
Above the congregation is suspended a "A New and Correct Globe of Hell by Romaine" (possibly referring to William Romaine
), with parts labelled "Molten Lead Lake", "Pitch & Tar Rivers", "Horrid Zone", "The Brimstone Ocean", and "Eternal Damnation Gulf". One man below the globe is terrified when a preacher next to him, possibly John Wesley
, points it out to him.
Beneath the engraving Hogarth quotes 1 John 4:1, "Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they are of God: because many false Prophets are gone out into the World."
Horace Walpole stated that this print "surpassed all his other performances" and "would alone immortalize his unequalled talents."
William Hogarth
William Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
. It ridicules secular and religious credulity, and lampoons the exaggerated religious "enthusiasm" (excessive emotion, not keenness) of the Methodist movement. The print was originally engraved in 1759, with the title Enthusiasm Delineated, but never published. The original print may have been a response to three essays published by Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
in The Idler in 1759, praising the sublime work of Italian Counter-Reformation artists. Hogarth reworked the engraving before publishing it on 15 March 1762 as Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism: A Medley. It echoes his earlier print, The Sleeping Congregation of 1736, in which an Anglican clergyman's boring sermon puts his congregation to sleep.
The print depicts a preacher - possibly George Whitefield
George Whitefield
George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
- speaking to a church congregation from the top of a high pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
. His text is opened at a page which reads "I speak as a fool", and he is wearing a Harlequin
Harlequin
Harlequin or Arlecchino in Italian, Arlequin in French, and Arlequín in Spanish is the most popularly known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte and its descendant, the Harlequinade.-Origins:...
jacket under his clerical gown. He is holding a puppet of a devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
with a gridiron
Gridiron (cooking)
A gridiron is a metal grate with parallel bars typically used for grilling meat, fish, vegetables, or combinations of such foods. It may also be two such grids, hinged to fold together, to securely hold food while grilling over an open flame.-Development:...
in his left hand and a puppet of a witch suckling an incubus
Incubus
An incubus is a male demon that has sexual intercourse with sleeping women.Incubus may also refer to:- Film :* Incubus , a film in Esperanto starring William Shatner* Incubus , a horror film starring Tara Reid...
in his right hand. His wig is falling off to reveal a Jesuit's tonsure
Tonsure
Tonsure is the traditional practice of Christian churches of cutting or shaving the hair from the scalp of clerics, monastics, and, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, all baptized members...
underneath. To the right, the "scale of vociferation" measures his oratory, rising from "natural tone" to "bull roar". (In Enthusiasm Delineated, the puppet of the witch was an abstract figure representing God, and the sides of the pulpit are adorned with additional pairs of religious puppets which are omitted in its final version.)
The print includes visual references to more than a dozen reputed instances of witchcraft or possession in England. The three figures decorating the pulpit each hold a candle, and allude to the ghost seen by Sir George Villiers
George Villiers (of Brokesby)
Sir George Villiers, of Brokesby was a minor member of the English gentry, notable as the father of the royal favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham...
(whose name appears in a book held by the figure on the right), the ghost of the stabbed Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
appearing before Brutus
Brutus
Brutus is the cognomen of the Roman gens Junia, a prominent family of the Roman Republic. The plural of Brutus is Bruti, and the vocative form is Brute, as immortalized in the quotation "Et tu, Brute?", from Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar....
, and the ghost of Mrs Veale (immortalized by Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
in A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal the Next Day after her Death to One Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury the 8th of September, 1705).
In a box pew
Box pew
Box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th century.-History in England:...
at the foot of the pulpit, another clergyman pushes an icon of the Cock Lane ghost
Cock Lane ghost
The Cock Lane ghost attracted mass public attention in 18th-century England. In 1762 an apartment in Cock Lane, a short road adjacent to London's Smithfield market and a few minutes' walk from St Paul's Cathedral, was the site of a reported haunting centred around three people: William Kent, a...
down the shirt of a young lady in the throes of religious ecstasy
Religious ecstasy
Religious ecstasy is an altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness which is frequently accompanied by visions and emotional/intuitive euphoria...
. (In Enthusiasm Delineated, this was an aristocratic rake fondling the breast of a woman.) The "Poors Box" has grown cobwebs, showing Hogarth's view that the Methodists were disregarding good works by emphasizing faith so strongly.. To the right, standing on copies of John Westley
John Westley
-Life:John Wesly , Westley, or Wesley was born in Creekelnaught, Alabama, although some authorities claim he was born in Devon, the son of the Rev. Bartholomew Westley and Ann Colley, daughter of Sir Henry Colley of Carbery Castle, He was educated at Dorchester Grammar School and as a student of...
's Sermons, and Glanvill
Joseph Glanvill
Joseph Glanvill was an English writer, philosopher, and clergyman. Not himself a scientist, he has been called "the most skillful apologist of the virtuosi", or in other words the leading propagandist for the approach of the English natural philosophers of the later 17th century.-Life:He was...
's Book of Witches, a religious thermometer measures the emotional states of a brain (or possibly a heart) from a central reading of lukewarm, either upwards through love heat, to lust, ecstasy, madness and raving, or downwards through low spirits to sorrow, agony, settled grief to despair, then madness and suicide. On top of the thermometer is an image of the Cock Lane ghost
Cock Lane ghost
The Cock Lane ghost attracted mass public attention in 18th-century England. In 1762 an apartment in Cock Lane, a short road adjacent to London's Smithfield market and a few minutes' walk from St Paul's Cathedral, was the site of a reported haunting centred around three people: William Kent, a...
, and the Drummer of Tedworth.
The congregation are in various states of ecstasy, grief and horror. Another minister sings, accompanied by weeping cherubs. A shoe-black vomits nails and pins - possible a reference to the boy of Bilson, who ate metal items. A Jew with a knife sacrifices an insect on the altar. A turbaned Turk looks in at the window, quietly smoking a pipe, and thanks the prophet that he is a Muslim. He represents the "rational, enlightened part of mankind looking down on Christian fanatics with surprise and disgust."
Above the congregation is suspended a "A New and Correct Globe of Hell by Romaine" (possibly referring to William Romaine
William Romaine
William Romaine , evangelical divine of the Church of England, was author of works once held in much favour by the evangelicals, namely the trilogy The Life, the Walk, and the Triumph of Faith....
), with parts labelled "Molten Lead Lake", "Pitch & Tar Rivers", "Horrid Zone", "The Brimstone Ocean", and "Eternal Damnation Gulf". One man below the globe is terrified when a preacher next to him, possibly John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
, points it out to him.
Beneath the engraving Hogarth quotes 1 John 4:1, "Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they are of God: because many false Prophets are gone out into the World."
Horace Walpole stated that this print "surpassed all his other performances" and "would alone immortalize his unequalled talents."