Boiled Calf’s Head

After the Restoration of the Monarchy, some of the younger Republicans used to meet once a year at a London inn, where they celebrated the anniversary of the death of Charles I on 30 January 1649. The main part of the dinner consisted of calves’ heads, some crowned with garlands of parsley. The bitterly discontented men drank derisive toasts to the monarchy and eventually went in procession to a courtyard, where they built a great fire. One, masked and carrying an axe, repr