Welsh Journals

WILLIAMS OF FRON- CLERIC AND SATIRIST (PLATE XIV. 26) PUNGENT political satire has been in relative abeyance for many years in Britain. Its recent revival in visual form, although acceptable in varying degrees of appreciation by the community, was somewhat short-lived, and soon it had to go into temporary suspension. In the meantime it is well to recall that during the eighteenth and nineteenth century the political lampoon was a sharp and cruel weapon, wielded in an offensive fashion by a person who had a caustic wit and, often enough, a serious grievance. It should be remembered that royalty, which now enjoys relative immunity in these matters, was blatantly and even scurrilously attacked in former days. Royal aberrations of behaviour were described in poem and prose and often illustrated by a gifted pen. A certain amount of latitude was allowed without incurring official restrictive measures. At the same time a large proportion of the general populace regarded royalty with enthusiasm and affection coupled with tolerance. Occasions of royal happiness were greeted with a rash of commemorative towers or an epidemic of bonfires, and on rarer occasions an oratorio or two. On the summit of Moel Fammau one may still see the ruins of a memorial in stone; and it is strangely incongruous, perhaps, nowadays to recall that Handel composed 'See the Conquering Hero Comes' as a special greeting of welcome to the Duke of Cumberland after his victory at Culloden in 1746. Illnesses and calamities in the royal circle were subjects for nation-wide lamentations. If, by chance, the particular calamity did not prove fatal, then there would be intense gratification followed in due course by a Loyal Address. Such addresses were couched in the flowery circumlocution and turgid phraseology of the period, and their receipt were acknowledged in a similar style. Some time ago a copy of such a Loyal Address, dated St. James's, Oct. 7 (1786) reached my hands in curious circumstances. The evidence suggests that the copy is unique. During 1963 a good second-hand copy of Thomas Pennant's The History of the Parishes of Whiteford and Holywell, which was published in 1796, was secured. On turning over its pages, a loose foolscap printed sheet, 8-1 inches by 13 inches, fell out. In the right hand column was printed a copy of the 'Address of the Bishop, Dean and chapter, and Clergy of the Diocese of St. Asaph', and it was stated that it had 'been presented to the King by His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury',