John Bull John Bull John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country dwelling, jolly, matter-of-fact man. John Bull originated as a satirical character created by Dr John Arbuthnot, a friend of Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. Bull first appeared in 1712 in Arbuthnot's pamphlet "Law is a Bottomless Pit". The same year Arbuthnot published a four-part political narrative "The History of John Bull". In this satirical treatment of the War of the Spanish Succession John Bull brings
Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot as "the best Memorial that I can leave, both of my Friendship to you, & of my own Character being such as you need not be ashamd of that Friendship." "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" has a "tangled" publishing history. The poem was first published as a folio of 24 pages on 2 January 1735 under the title "An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot", with a date of 1734. It appeared in Pope's "Works" the same year in folio, quarto and octavo, with a Dublin edition and an Edinburgh piracy. During Pope's lifetime, it was included among the "Moral