Pulter’s emblem works to demonstrate the restless and emotive public opinion surrounding the events of the Civil War, and particularly the execution itself. Her description of the “sad spectators” gives them a restless and mob-like appearance which becomes more fervent throughout her account of the duel (line 5). The focus on their reactions to the duel gives them a sense of immediacy, reflecting the spectatorial role citizens had at King Charles I’s execution. A German woodcarving published in 1649 is a useful visual representation for what Pulter depicts verbally in her emblem, as the image captures the civil unrest brewing amongst the spectators at Charles’s beheading.

Execution of Charles I.

Unknown creator, Abscheulichste vnerhörte Execution, an … Carl Stuart … vorgangen, etc, [1649]. © British Library Board, shelfmark Crach.1.Tab.4.c.1.(18.).