Contrasted opinions of Paine's pamphlet
by Frederick George Byron
1791
Yale University Library 791.05.26.01++
The figures depicted reading Thomas Paine's pamphlet The Rights of Man are Edmund Burke, Charles Fox, George III, and Charles Jenkinson in the top row, and Queen Charlotte, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, William Pitt, and Richard Sheridan on the second.
Burke declares, "If ever I read such an infernal book damn me! Here's an insolent fellow for you—" and quotes from Paine's work:
It is not from Mr. Burke's prejudices only, but from the disorderly cast of his genius, that he is unfitted for the subject he writes upon. Even his genius is without a constitution. It is a genius at random, and not a genius constituted. But he must say something. He has therefore mounted in the air like a balloon, to draw the eyes of the multitude from the ground they stand upon.
This image is provided courtesy of the Yale University Library. Created in the 18th century, the copyright term for the image is expired and it is in the public domain.