Handbill, produced by opponents of Catholic relief, headed 'CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. | THE HUSBANDMAN & VIPER.'

On one side of a piece of wove paper, 27.5 x 22 cm. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with some light off-setting of the text. An attractive piece of ephemera, with the text presented in a variety of types and point sizes. Reads 'CATHOLIC | EMANCIPATION. | [short thin-thick rule] | THE | HUSBANDMAN & VIPER. | [short thin-thick rule] A HUSBANDMAN found a Viper al- | most frozen to death; he took pity on | the poor Reptile, and placed it in his | bosom, where it soon recovered; and | its first act was to sting [last word in italics] its Deliverer. | The APPLICATION I leave to | Sir C- H-. | [short rule] | J. Graham, Printer, Alnwick.' Beneath this, in a contemporary hand, and scored through, 'Supposed to be written by J- S- Esqre', followed in the same hand by 'No'. The identity of 'Sir C- H-' is unclear, but the handbill was produced from a part of Northumberland at the very heart of the struggle for Catholic Emancipation: Howick Hall, near Alnwick, was the seat of Earl Grey, one of the leading proponents. According to BBTI Joseph Graham the second was active in Alnwick between 1802 and 1846.