By renowned editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast, circa 1874:
Caption: “An Ass, having put on the Lion’s skin, roamed about in the Forest, and amused himself by frightening all the foolish Animals he met with in his wanderings.”
“In this cartoon, artist Thomas Nast reacts to a series of editorials in the New York Herald criticizing what Herald owner/editor James Gordon Bennett Jr. considered to be President Ulysses S. Grant’s bid for an unprecedented third term.
“The image of the featured cartoon was inspired by, and the text taken from, one of Aesop’s fables, “The Ass in the Lion’s Skin.” … To Nast, the New York Herald is not a roaring lion to be feared, but a braying ass to be ridiculed. The reference in the to “Shakespeare or Bacon” is a jibe at Bennett’s contention that Shakespeare’s works were actually written by Sir Francis Bacon.
“Here, the New York Herald appears as an ass in a lion’s skin, whose ferocious presence frightens the “foolish animals” of the press, including The New York Times (unicorn), the New York Tribune (giraffe), and the New York World (owl). A skittish fox, representing the Democratic Party, has edged onto a reform plank near a gaping pit, by which the trumpeting elephant, symbolizing the Republican vote, lumbers.”
FROM: https://www.harpweek.com/09cartoon/browsebydatecartoon.asp?month=november&date=7