A Ballad upon the Popish Plot and region (“From Pulpit to Pot / They talk’d of a Plot” [1.5-6]), as well as the fear invoked in the general population (“frighted with Fire-balls, their heads turned round” [1.4]), but then proposes a rational and just correction of these effects. The majority of the rest of the ballad then lists the occupational types, personal characteristics, and machinations of the participants in the plot. The first is a politician “of Body unsound,” who intends to slander the Pope and the current King, Charles II, until both are forced out of power (2.1, 8). The narrator then describes the personal
A Ballad upon the Popish Plot lives of the common people, and especially that part of their inner lives that was emotionally engaged by tumultuous political events such as the Popish Plot, these ballads provide a counterweight to, or throw into relief, other ballads in the collection that merely depict the social life of the Stuart kings, thus enriching our contemporary understanding of the social and political dynamics of the era. They also serve as a relevant reminder—and warning—of the power religious bigotry can exercise over a general population when allowed to develop unchecked. A Ballad upon the Popish Plot A Ballad upon the Popish Plot