Satire on disparities in clerical stipends.  A group of well-fed bishops stand behind a high wall, at the foot of which is a much larger group of much thinner parsons  wearing ragged robes many of whom hold sticks. The bishop on the left says,  ”Ask for Bread &amp; I’ll give ye a Stone”, the man next to him brandishes a roll of paper lettered “Excommunication”, the next has in front of him a small cannon lettered “Cannons of Windsor” pointing down towards the poor clerics saying “They know not what they do”; the fattest bishop in the centre says “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst etc”, another holding up a full purse says ”Religion is great Gain”.  The parson on the left holds up a sword, his neighbour says “and cut off him that [pisseth] against the Wall” [1 Kings,14.10, and elsewhere]; the next holds up a large “Shield of Faith” and a stick saying “Encrease our Wages or I will bring Evil upon thine house” ; a younger man kneels on the ground praying “Would I could get a living”; another gesturing towards a poor woman standing beside him holding a baby and with two small children at her skirts says “Lo thus shall a Man be blessed that feareth etc”. One man tries to scramble up the wall and another, on the right, has fallen to the ground and another, pointing at the bishops,  says “I labour more than ye all”. An impression of this plate faces page 85 of the Oxford Magazine 1768.
<br>Etching and engraving
1768<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1768-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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