Jack Presbyter

English

Proper noun

Jack Presbyter

  1. (derogatory, historical) Generic name for a Presbyterian minister.
    • [1647], The II. Members Justification‎, [London]: [s.n.]:
      Their Synod now ſits in great feare, and ſo does Iack Presbyter, / That we ſhall have a King againe, and once more ſee a Miter: […]
    • [1709], [attributed to William Plaxton], The Yorkshire-Racers. A Poem. In a Letter from H[enry] S[ingle]ton, to His Friend T[om] P[ulle]n. […], London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 22:
      The harmleſs Nettle now has loſt its Sting, JACK Preſbyter can cry, God ſave the King.
    • 1864, Thomas Wright, “History of Caricature and of Grotesque in Art”, in The Art-Journal, London: James S[prent] Virtue, pages 213–214:
      In fact, the picture represents Presbyterianism—Jack Presbyter—holding the young king’s nose to the grindstone, which is turned by the Scots, personified as Jocky.
    • 1989, Tim Harris, “London Crowds and the Revolution of 1688”, in Eveline Cruickshanks, editor, By Force or by Default? The Revolution of 1688–1689, Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd, →ISBN, page 46:
      Tories even appropriated the anti-Catholic calendar, burning effigies of Jack Presbyter on 5 November 1681.

References
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