“Solomon Eagle Denouncing the City” by John Franklin (circa 1806

[Victorian Web Home —> Franklin —> Visual Arts —> Book Illustration —> John Franklin —> Next]

Solomon Eagle Denouncing the City

Artist: John Franklin (circa 1806 – circa 1881/91)

Engraver: John Franklin

1841; 1847 edition

Steel-plate etching

6 x 3 ¾ inches (14.5 cm high by 9.6 cm wide)

Illustration for W. H. Ainsworth’s historical romance, Old St. Paul’s: A Tale of the Plague and the Fire, facing p. 182, in Book the Third, "June 1665," Chapter II, "How the Fires were lighted in the Streets."

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

See commentary below

Scanned image by Simon Cooke, color correction and sizing by George P. Landow. Caption and commentary by Philip V. Allingham.

You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

Passage Illustrated

After gazing at this extraordinary sight for some time, Leonard began to descend. As yet he had seen nothing of Solomon Eagle, and searching for him in vain in the belfry, he quitted the cathedral. From a knot of persons gathered round one of the fires he learnt that the enthusiast was addressing the crowd at the west side of the building, and proceeding thither he perceived him standing on the edge of the balustrade of the south-western tower, surmounting the little church of Saint Gregory. His brazier was placed on one of the buttresses, and threw its light on the mighty central tower of the fabric, and on a large clock-face immediately beneath. Solomon Eagle was evidently denouncing the city, but his words were lost in the distance. As he proceeded, a loud clap of thunder pealed overhead.

"It comes — it comes!" cried the enthusiast, in a voice that could be distinctly heard in the death-like stillness that followed the thunder. "The wrath of Heaven is at hand."

As he spoke, a bright flash cut the air, and a bolt struck down, one of the pinnacles of the great tower. Flash after flash followed in quick succession, and the enthusiast, who seemed wrapped in flame, extended his arms towards Heaven, as if beseeching a further display of its vengeance. Suddenly the lightning ceased to flash and the thunder to roll. A few heavy drops of rain fell. These were succeeded by a deluging shower of such violence, that in less than a quarter of an hour every fire within the city was extinguished, and all was darkness and despair.

The deepest gloom and despondency prevailed that night throughout London. The sudden storm was regarded as a manifestation of the displeasure of Heaven, and as an intimation that the arrows of its wrath were not to be turned aside by any human efforts. So impressed were all with this feeling, that when, in less than half an hour, the rain entirely ceased, the clouds cleared off, and the stars again poured down their lustre, no one attempted to relight the quenched embers, fearing to provoke the Divine vengeance. Nor was a monitor wanting to enforce the awful lesson. Solomon Eagle, with his brazier on his head, ran through the streets, calling on the inhabitants to take to heart what had happened, to repent, and prepare for their doom.

"The Lord will not spare you," he cried, as he stationed himself in the open space before St. Stephen's, Walbrook. "He will visit your sins upon you. Pray, therefore, that ye may not be destroyed, both body and soul. Little time is allowed you for repentance. Many that hear me shall not live till tomorrow; few shall survive the year!" [Book the Third, "June 1665," Chapter II, ""How the Fires were lighted in the Streets," pp. 177-78]

Commentary

Solomon Eagle, a Quaker, was a supposedly visionary preacher who harangued Londoners with the unwelcome message that the Plague was a sign of the wrath of God. Franklin shows him as a Golem, his body distorted with anguish and fear. The image suggests nightmarish excess, both in its manipulation of the torso and in the expressionistic use of light and dark. The real Solomon 'Eagle' (actually the much less impressive 'Eccles') is mentioned with contempt in Pepys's diary where he is described as a crank, naked except for 'a cloth tied around his privates' so as not to embarrass ladies (!) In Ainsworth's text and Franklin's design he is anything but absurd, and bears comparison with monsters such as Fagin.

Related Material: Phiz's Frontispiece and Title-page Vignette (1842)

Drink the Plague! Drink the Plague: frontispiece
The Dead Cart: title-page & vignette

Bibliography

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Old St. Paul’s: A Tale of the Plague and the Fire. London: Parry, Blenkharn & Co., 1847. This was a one-volume reprint of the three-decker published by Hugh Cunningham in 1841. Routledge re-issued the single volume with the Franklin illustrations prefaced by two additional engravings by Hablot Knight Brown.

Last modified 4 November 2018/p>