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Edward Underhill the Hot Gospeller preaching to the Giants in the By-ward.
George Cruikshank
February 1840
steel-engraving
12.7 cm high by 9.8 cm wide, framed, facing p. 45.
"Edward Underhill the 'Hot Gospeller,' preaching to the Giants in the By-ward or Gate Tower," steel-engraving for the sixth chapter of Ainsworth's The Tower of London.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Placing a small table in the centre of the chamber, Og seated himself opposite it, and took Xit upon his knee; while Gog sat down beside him, and Magog supported his huge bulk against the wall. Divesting himself of his cap and sword, and placing an hour-glass on the table, the Hot-gospeller then opened a small volume, which he took from beneath his cloak; from which he began to read certain passages and to comment upon them in a vehement tone.
His exhortation opened with a burst of rejoicing on the accession of Queen Jane — in which he pronounced terrible anathemas against all those who sought to restore the fallen religion. Perceiving the fierce gaze of the prisoner fixed upon him, he directed his chief thunders against him, and, excited by his subject, soon worked himself into a state approaching to frenzy.
In this strain he continued for some time, when a sound arose which drowned even his vehemence. Overcome with drowsiness, the three giants, who for a short time vainly endeavoured to attend to the discourse of the Gospeller, had now sunk into a comfortable slumber — and the noise which they made was tremendous. In vain Underhill endeavoured to rouse them by thumping the table. Gog gazed at him for an instant with half-shut eyes, and then leaning on Og’s shoulder, who, with head dropped back and mouth wide open, was giving audible proof of his insensible condition, he speedily dropped asleep again. Such was the astounding din, that the Gospeller could not even make himself heard by the dwarf, who, perched on Og's knee at a few paces' distance, stared in amazement at his gesticulations. [Book One, Chapter VI. — "Of the Solemn Exhortation Pronounced to the Giants By Master Edward Underhill, The 'Hot-Gospeller,' at their Lodging in the By-ward Tower; and of the Effect Produced Thereby," p. 68]
Although the scene with the animated ultra-Protestant preacher and his near-slumbering congregation furthers the strain of comic relief established by the convivial scene in the Stone Kitchen, through it Ainsworth underscores the sixteenth-century religious strife that contributed to the instability of English society, and even that of the throne of England. Queen Jane, the choice of the Protestant faction to which Northumberland has attached himself, is already meeting resistance from "those who sought to restore the fallen religion," including the Machiavellian Spanish ambassador, Simon Renard. Undoubtedly, he has been supporting the faction that favours placing Mary Tudor on the throne, and 'restoring the fallen religion' which her mother, Catherine of Aragon, devoutly espoused. Later, Simon Renard will trick Northumberland into abjuring the Protestant faith in order to preserve his life, and will similarly tempt Jane with a reprieve if she rants. The stalwart young noblewoman, however, is not a backslider, and defends his religious convictions forcefully — unlike her essentially amoral father-in-law whose only religion is power.
With a roaring fire in the grate, Underhill's fiery eloquence for the somnolence into which the dwarf Xit (centre) and the three Henry VIII-lookalikes Gog, Og, and Magog to the left have fallen. Cruikshank dramatises the warder-brothers' relative indifference to doctrinal matters; throughout the book they serve without question whoever is in control of the Tower of London, and hence the realm. Underhill has been timing his sermon, which, according to the sands in the glass, has nearly reached its conclusion.
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Last modified 10 October 2017