thus was she hanged on a gallows in Cheapside, neere to the Crosse, in the Parish of Saint Mathew. Which Cat, being taken down, was carried to the Bishop of London, and by him sent to Doctor Pendleton (who was then preaching at Paul's Cross), commanding it to be shown to the Congregation. The Round-head Fryers cannot abide to heare of this Cat."
It would seem as though the friars might have been less ashamed of such a cruel and ribald jest than the perpetrators thereof; but, to the robust temper of the time, buffoonery dishonoured its victims. Whatever was made ridiculous was made contemptible; and the poor cat, swinging in its priestly vestments, offered an argument against Popery as simple as it was sound.
A still more forcible demonstration of the popular humour lent vivacity to the rejoicings with which London celebrated the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. In the Hatton correspondence there is a lively account of all the pageants, speeches, and "mighty bonfires" which, on this august occasion, gladdened loyal hearts; and particular mention is made of the burning of a "most costly Pope," constructed of wicker-work, and carried with mock solemnity through the streets, accompanied by two "divells." The interior of this Pope was filled with live cats; "which cats," says the writer gleefully,
