The Mitred Minuet.

Date1774

MediumEngraving

DimensionsOverall: 4 3/4 × 8in. (12.1 × 20.3cm)
Other (Plate): 3 11/16 × 6 3/8in. (9.4 × 16.2cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-47

DescriptionLower margin reads: "The Mitred Minuet."
This satirical print appeared in the London Magazine. The unknown satirist has depicted Catholic bishops celebrating the passage of the Quebec Bill by dancing joyfully around it. The Devil encourages Bute, North, and an unineditfied minister who were responsible for the bill, while other cleric observe the scene with obvious delight.

The scene is a paneled room.Label TextThis satirical print appeared in the London Magazine. The unknown satirist has depicted Catholic bishops celebrating the passage of the Quebec Bill by dancing joyfully around it. The Devil encourages Bute, North, and an unineditfied minister who were responsible for the bill, while other cleric observe the scene with obvious delight.

The scene is a paneled room.

In May 1774 the Quebec Act was passed and met with mixed reactions in England, the colonies, and Canada. Although many provisions of the Bill were less contoversial than those of the Boston Port Bill and the Massachusetts Act, two of its features were very unpopular. Northern colonists strongly opposed giving areas claimed by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia to French Canada. Of even greater concern was the granting of the French Canadians of complete freedom to practice Catholicism. At this period no group was more religiously intolerant than the northern colonial Prostants and they were supported by their English counterparts who viewed this section of the act with great alarm.

London Magazine, XLIII, 312ProvenanceBefore 1960, H. Dunscombe Colt [1901-1973] (New York, NY); before 1960, purchased by the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1960-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).