Ein Nachtstuhl bedeute einen geheimen Rath · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Ein Nachtstuhl bedeute einen geheimen Rath
Period: 1800-1850;
Geographic: Balnibarbi; Laputa; England
Description: This image is of a close-stool, or toilet. The close-stool was code for the privy council. This image comes in a description of a conspiracy found by a professor from the Grand Academy on Balnibarbi. This idea is representing code word for terms in the conspiracy that Swift is satirizing. The professor advises that those named in the conspiracy papers be closely monitored at all times, naming specifically while they were using the bathroom, as this is when men were most thoughtful. This conspiracy is thought to be an allusion to the trial of Francis Atterbury, the bishop of Rochester for allegedly plotting with the Jacobites. Atterbury was charged with treason in 1722 and was exiled to France. The evidence used against him were papers found in his close-stool. Many believe this evidence to have been fabricated. The same image appears in the 1839 Krabbe edition.
Image Creator: Grandville (Illustrator)
Type: StillImage; Vignettes
Identifier: mta:21705
Language: ger
Source Name: Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder
Parent Collection: Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder Vol. II. Vignettes by Grandville (1843); Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder Vol. II. Vignettes by Grandville (1843)
Image: mta_21705_OBJ.png
Collection: Gulliver's Travels
Subject: Satire; Learned Institutions and Societies; Fictional Works; Fictitious Characters; Imaginary Places; Imaginary Creatures

Media: mta_21705_OBJ.png