3-057-621 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

King Charles I, 1646. The Tree of Religion protected by Charles I and watered by a cleric (possibly Archbishop Laud) while a Jesuit strips off the bark. A group of sectaries attack its roots with pickaxes and a shovel, behind them a man in a tub fires a gun at the tree and holds a spear impaling books labelled "Liturgy" and "Cannons" and a bishop's cap. The branches of the tree are labelled, "Faith", "Hope" "Charity", "Obedience" and "Good Works" and two men sitting on the branches cut off the last two. A hand holding a sword emerges from a cloud to defend the Tree. 23 November 1645. Title page to Francis Quarles' The Shepherds [Shepheards ] Oracles: delivered in certain Eglog (London, 1646).