Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism

The original print may have been a response to three essays published by Joshua Reynolds in The Idler in 1759, praising the sublime work of Italian Counter-Reformation artists.The print depicts a preacher – his open mouth and scale of vociferation an allusion to George Whitefield's powerful voice[1][6] – speaking to a church congregation from the top of a high pulpit.[1][10] In a box pew at the foot of the pulpit, another clergyman pushes an icon of the Cock Lane ghost down the shirt of a young lady in the throes of religious ecstasy (in Enthusiasm Delineated, this was an aristocratic rake fondling the breast of a woman); to the left of this couple a devil whispers into the ear of a sleeping man.The "Poors Box" has grown cobwebs, showing Hogarth's view that the Methodists were disregarding good works by emphasising faith so strongly.[10] To the right, standing on copies of Wesley's Sermons,[7] and Glanvill's Book of Witches, a religious thermometer measures the emotional states of a brain (borrowed from one of Christopher Wren's anatomical illustrations) from a central reading of lukewarm, either upwards through love heat, to lust, ecstasy, madness and raving, or downwards through low spirits to sorrow, agony, settled grief to despair, then madness and suicide.
William HogarthcredulityenthusiasmMethodistJoshua ReynoldsThe IdlerCounter-ReformationRoger de PilesGeorge WhitefieldpulpitHarlequingridironincubusJesuittonsureGeorge VilliersJulius CaesarBrutusDaniel DefoeA True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal the Next Day after her Death to One Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury 8 September 1705box pewCock Lane ghostreligious ecstasyWesley'sSermonsGlanvill'sBook of WitchesDrummer of TedworthcherubsMary ToftWilliam RomaineHorace WalpoleList of works by William HogarthPaul Kléber MonodList of worksEmblematical Print on the South Sea SchemeThe Bad Taste of the TownA Just View of the British StageBefore and AfterThe Company of UndertakersStrolling Actresses Dressing in a BarnThe Distrest PoetThe Enraged MusicianCharacters and CaricaturasIndustry and IdlenessBeer Street and Gin LaneThe Four Stages of CrueltyColumbus Breaking the EggSatire on False PerspectiveFive Orders of PeriwigsJohn Wilkes Esq.The Assembly at Wanstead HouseA Harlot's ProgressA Rake's ProgressSouthwark FairScene from Shakespeare's The TempestFour Times of the DayThe Shrimp GirlPortrait of Captain Thomas CoramTaste in High LifeThe Graham ChildrenCaptain Lord George Graham in his CabinDavid Garrick as Richard IIIPainter and his PugThe Gate of CalaisHogarth's ServantsThe March of the Guards to FinchleyHumours of an ElectionSealing the TombHogarth Painting the Comic MuseThe BenchThe Lady's Last StakeSigismunda mourning over the Heart of GuiscardoMarriage A-la-ModeThe Analysis of BeautyLine of beautyHogarth's HouseSarah MalcolmHogarth ClubMary Edwards (Patron)