Judge, 1894-11-24 · page 8 of 16
Judge — November 24, 1894 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge magazine cartoon satirizes Democratic political decline, depicting D.B. Hill (identified in the caption) in the role of Cardinal Wolsey from Shakespeare's *Henry VIII*. The costume and theatrical setting invoke Wolsey's famous fall from power. Hill, portrayed as a richly-dressed figure in decline, speaks Shakespeare's lines about reaching "the highest point of all my greatness" before his downfall—comparing Democratic political fortunes to tragic disgrace. The cartoon's audience would recognize this as commentary on Democratic electoral losses or internal party collapse during the Gilded Age period when Judge published. The Shakespeare allusion elevates the satire, treating political failure as classical tragedy while mocking Democratic pretensions to power.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
a THE DOWNFALL OF THE DEMOCRA D. B. Hitt (as Wolsey)—I have touch’d the highest point of all my greatness: long farewell to a ‘And, from that fall ceeridisn of on wo Farewell, 2 toe OF bie 5 Thaste now to my setting. I shall fall Is that poor man that bangs o Like a bright exhalation in the evening, There is, betwixt that stile w And no man see me more. ‘That sweet aspect of politician More pangs and fears tha wa comicbooks.com