Cabinet 4: The Popish Plot

Elkanah Settle, a playwright and satirist, produced numerous political pamphlets between 1679 and 1683 and was engaged by the Whigs to manage the popular anti-Catholic Pope-burning pageants in London. Settle wrote The Character of a Popish Successor, in which he urged parliament to avoid a Catholic succession. The Character provoked a number of replies from Tory propagandists, to which Settle in turn responded with A Vindication of ‘The Character of a Popish Successor.

Elkanah Settle, A Vindication of The Character of a Popish Successor: In a Reply to Two Pretended Ansvvers to It, By the Author of the Character (London: R. Dew, 1681) de Beer Ec 1681 P