Chapter XIII

The last parliament of George IV.’s reign--The country
clamorous for retrenchment--The Tory _régime_ growing
irksome--The king’s illness, 1830--John Doyle’s caricatures
upon public events (HB’s “political sketches”)--“Present
State of Public Feeling Partially Illustrated,”
1830--Death of the king--“The Mourning Journal: Alas! Poor
Yorick!”--“The Magic Mirror; or, a Peep into Futurity”--The
Princess Victoria--Accession of William IV.--Whig
prospects reviving--Brougham, “A Gheber worshipping the
Rising Sun”--Wellington, a “Detected Trespasser”--Party
intrigues--“Anticipation; or, Queen Sarah’s Visit to
Bushy”--The old campaigner--“_Un_-Holy Alliance; or, an
Ominous Conjunction”--The general election, 1830--“Election
Squibs and Crackers for 1830. Before and After the
Election”--Caricaturists, as politicians, usually above party
prejudices--W. Cobbett returned for Oldham--“Peter Porcupine”
an M.P.--“A Characteristic Dialogue”--Changes of seats--“The
Noodle Bazaar”--Heads for Cabinets--John Bull and the
_Times_--“The man that is easily led by the nose”--“Resignation
and Fortitude; or, the Gold Stick”--“The Rival Candidates;”
Boai and Grant--Wellington’s leadership threatened: “The
Unsuccessful Appeal”--The popular will--Attacks upon the
Wellington and Peel Ministry--Results of the general election
unfavourable to the Cabinet--“A Masked Battery”--“A Cabinet
Picture”--“Guy Fawkes; or, the Anniversary of the Popish
Plot”--Defeat foreshadowed--“False Alarm; or, Much Ado
about Nothing”--The Eastern Question fatal to Wellington’s
Ministry--“Scene from the Suppressed Tragedy entitled the
Turco-Greek Conspiracy”--“His Honour the Beadle (William IV.)
driving the Wagabonds out of the Parish”--The adoption of
liberal progress--Preliminary skirmishing--“The Coquet”--The
ministry thrown out--“Examples of the Laconic Style”--“A
very Prophetical and Pathetical Allegory,” 1831--Reform on
the road--“Leap-Frog down Constitution Hill,” 1831--Another
appeal to the country--“Anticipated Radical Meeting”--The
dissolution--“Great Reform” Specialists; John Bull and his
constitutional deformity--“Hoo-Loo-Choo, _alias_ John Bull,
and the Doctors”--“May-Day”--“Leap-Frog on a Level; or,
Going Headlong to the Devil”--The Reformers having it all
their own way--A swinging pace--Political squibs on the
elections of 1831--The great battle of Lord Grey’s Reform
Bill--“The New Chevy Chase,” a poetical version of the reform
struggle--“Votaries at the Altar of Discord”--“Peerless
Eloquence”--Slaughter of the Innocents--“Niobe
Family”--Extinction of pocket boroughs--Reform at a breakneck
pace--“John Gilpin”--William IV. carried away by the old
Grey--“The Handwriting on the Wall: ‘Reform Bill!’”--A warning
to reformers--Grey and “Brissot’s Ghost”--“Macbeth” and “The
Tricoloured Witches”--Grey, Durham, and Brougham--Althorp and
Russell--A tub to a whale--“A Tale of a Tub, and the Moral
of the Tail”--Renovations at the King’s Head: “Varnishing--A
Sign (of the Times)”--“The Rival Mount-o’-_Bankes_; or, the
Dorsetshire Juggler”--Root-and-branch reform--“LINEal Descent
of the Crown,” a hint from Hogarth’s works, 1832--Hobhouse in
office--“The Cast-off Cloak”--Radicalism over-warm--“Mazeppa”
(William IV.): “Again he urges on his wild career”--“Ministers
in their Cups” 343