Chapter VI: Preface: 'Tuâ nobis est gratiâ.'--CIC (6)

FOX

(_who has suddenly entered, and is standing in his ordinary
declamatory attitude_).

And set the ministers of Hell to work.

_December 22, 1783._ _Great Cry and Little Wool._ Published by Humphrey, Strand.--Somewhat in Sayer's style, the principal figures giving indications of his manner. The personification of Evil, with his horns, hoofs, pointed claws, and forked tail, has a firm hold of Fox, and is shearing the 'Protector's' chest and clawing at his profuse locks. The India Bill, under the Evil One's arm, indicates the source of the satire. The surroundings are more especially in Rowlandson's free handling; the India House is in the background, and the members of the East India Corporation are performing a gleeful dance around a memorable pile--the funeral pyre in effigy of their arch-enemy, treated as a fox roasting on a gibbet.

1783 (?). _The Times._--This caricature represents the situation, from a popular point of view, at the period of the struggle for the Regency which occurred on the first illness of the King. According to Rowlandson's print, right is prevailing and everything is to be settled for the future happiness of the kingdom by the Prince of Wales's accession to the throne; as will be remembered, it was for a short period doubtful whether the King's health would ever be sufficiently restored to enable him to resume the control of the State.

The heir-apparent is shown as the virtuous prince we read of in fairy tales, endowed with all the graces both of mind and person. The Prince is supported, at the foot of the throne, by such protection as _Liberty_ and _Justice_ are placing at his disposal; his foot is on the first step, the _Voice of the People_; the other steps are _Public Safety_, _Patriotism_, and _Virtue_; the crown remains suspended over his head, his right hand is on his heart, and _Britannia_ is leading him to his place, while she is waving back the party which opposed his assumption of an _ad interim_ Regency. The symbolical _Ruler of the Waves_ is declaring: 'I have long been deceived by hypocrisy, but have at last discovered an intention of sacrificing the rights of my people to satisfy a private ambition.' The Queen and her German friends, Madame Schwellenberg and others, are represented as disconcerted Furies, waving hissing snakes, and begirt with _Falsehood_, _Envy_, &c.

Queen Charlotte combined with Pitt to oppose, by every stratagem within their power, the assumption of the Regency by her eldest son. The Queen is brandishing the torch of _Rebellion_; Pitt is thrown into despair, and he is 'bidding a long farewell to all his greatness,' before his retirement from public life, as reasonably might have been his case, if the Prince's party had come into power. _Commerce_, allegorically represented as a fair female, is applauding the elevation of the Prince to the vacant throne, and a deputation from the Corporation of the City is expressing these encouraging sentiments through the Lord Mayor:--'Whilst we mourn the occasion, we must feel ourselves happy in reflecting that we are blessed by a prince whose wisdom will protect our liberties, whose virtues will afford stability to our empire.'

1784.

POLITICAL CARICATURES.

A few examples of the caricatures published by Rowlandson during the famous contested election for Westminster in 1784 were included by the present writer in his account of the works of _James Gillray the Caricaturist_, as certain prints issued on this occasion were doubtless due to a combination on the part of the two caricaturists; however, those plates which bear special indications of Rowlandson's style were set down to their proper author.

_January 1, 1784._ _The Pit of Acheron, or the Birth of the Plagues of England._--This plate bears the initials _F. N._, 1784, in the right-hand corner, but there is no doubt, judging from the evidence of the style of execution, that the chief merit is due to Rowlandson. During the progress of the struggle, in 1784, plates innumerable were published anonymously, or with varying initials. Collectors who have devoted time and observation to the subject, and such well-qualified writers as the compiler of _The History of Caricature and Grotesque in Art, The Caricature History of the Georges, &c._, seem agreed upon the proportion of prints which are due to the skill of our artist, whose handiwork is very prominent amongst the series of electioneering and political satires which appeared on the occasion of Fox's renowned campaign at the Westminster hustings, when the _Champion of the People_ contended successfully against the second Ministerial candidate, Sir Cecil Wray, although the latter received all the assistance which Pitt, with the influence of the King as well, unscrupulously exercised as it was, could bring into play, legitimately or otherwise, to defeat the popular Whig chief, and to inflict the mortification of a lost election upon 'the party' and on their leader, who was at that time the pet aversion of George the Third and idol of the people.

It will be remembered that Rowlandson was by no means a party satirist; unlike Sayer, who was notoriously in the Ministerial pay, he lavished his satire on both sides alternately, utterly regardless of partisanship, and, often at the expense of consistency, we find his cartoons alternately espousing and ridiculing the same section, Whig or Tory, Ministerialist or Opposition, in plates of whimsically opposite tendencies, which not infrequently bear the same date.

_The Pit of Acheron_, if we may trust the satirist, is not situated at any considerable distance from Westminster; the precincts of that city appear through the smoke of the incantations which are carried on in the Pit. Three weird sisters, like the Witches in 'Macbeth,' are working the famous charm; a monstrous cauldron is supported by death's-heads and harpies; the ingredients of the broth are various; a crucifix, a rosary, _Deceit_, _Loans_, _Lotteries_, and _Pride_, together with a fox's head, cards, dice, daggers, and an executioner's axe, &c., form portions of the accessories employed in these uncanny rites. Three heads are rising from the flames--the good-natured face of Lord North, the spectacled and incisive outline of Burke, and Fox's 'gunpowder jowl,' which is drifting Westminster-wards. One hag, who is dropping _Rebellion_ into the brew, is demanding, 'Well, sister, what hast thou got for the ingredients of our charm'd pot?' To this her fellow-witch, who is turning out certain mischievous ingredients which she has collected in her bag, is responding, 'A beast from Scotland called an Erskine, famous for duplicity, low art, and cunning; the other a monster who'd spurn even at Charter's Rights.' Erskine is shot out of the bag, crying, 'I am like a Proteus, can turn to any shape, from a sailor to a lawyer, and always lean to the strongest side!' The other member, whose tail is that of a serpent, is singing, 'Over the water and over the lee, thro' hell I would follow my Charlie.'

_January 4, 1784._ _The Fall of Dagon, or Rare News for Leadenhall Street._ Published by William Humphrey, 227 Strand.

And behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before
the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of
his hands were cut off upon the threshold.

The image of Dagon, which in this case is borrowed to typify the Coalition Ministers, has fallen from the overset _Broad Bottom_ pedestal, and is in the posture described by the quotation; its double-faced head wears the profiles of North and Fox. Tower Hill is represented in the background; a scaffold is erected, and the public executioner is just bringing down his axe on the neck of a traitor--a delicate compliment to the heads of the late Administration. John Bull has changed the sign of his house to _The Axe_, and he is composedly enjoying his pipe under its shadow.

_January 7, 1784._ _The Loves of the Fox and the Badger, or the Coalition Wedding._ Published by W. Humphrey, 227 Strand.--Nine small compartments, very neatly executed upon one plate, are employed to portray the unpopular Coalition Ministry between Fox and North. (1) _The Fox beats the Badger in the Bear Garden._ The unwieldy form of the Badger (Lord North) lies, apparently asleep, on the floor of 'the House;' the Fox, with his brush erect in triumph, is in command of the situation. (2) The _Fox_ has been throwing dice on Hounslow Heath, and he has a _dream_; the vision seems to indicate a choice between a prison or a traitor's head on a spike. (3) The _Badger_, with his riband, tucked up comfortably on a sofa, also indulges in a _dream_; the objects offered for his selection are seemingly the gallows or an executioner's block. (4) _Satan unites them_; the arch-fiend, in person, is joining their paws and pronouncing the magic spell, '_Necessity_.' (5) _They quarter their arms._ Their new escutcheon is symbolical; above a scroll marked '_Money_' the twin supporters are holding up a well-filled Treasury-bag, borne by John Bull, above whose head flourishes a pair of donkey's ears. (6) _The priest advertises the wedding._ The Devil, presiding at the pay-table, is enlisting the advocacy of the press, and three editors, in return for substantial considerations, are respectively promising: 'I'll _Chronicle_ the Coalition,' 'We will _Post_ them,' 'Harry will take both sides.' (7) _The Honeymoon or Eddystone Lighthouse_; the pair are making up a flaming beacon. (8) _The New Orator Henley, or the Churching._ The happy pair are now in their glory, seated on a throne in the '_Bear Garden_,' and surrounded at a respectful distance by the heads (stuck on poles) of the members of their new Parliament, and described as a '_Mopstick majority_.' The churching is proceeding; the original pastor is still present, and is prompting Orator Henley, whose tub stands on a block, labelled, '_Honest Jack Lee_;' the Orator is holding forth a parchment, and declaring, 'A charter is nothing but a piece of parchment with a great seal dangling to it;' to which pious deduction his clerk mounted on 'A Seat for Portsmouth,' is crying, '_Necessity_. _Amen._' (9) _The Wedding Dance and Song._ The pair, now led by the nose by their Satanic friend, are perforce compelled to execute a pretty lively dance, as their conductor wills. They are singing this appropriate _epithalamium_:--

Come, we're all Rogues together;
The people must pay for the play:
Then let us make Hay in fine weather,
And keep the cold winter away!

It seemed, at the beginning of 1784, as if Fox were completely master of the political situation, and indeed he approached much nearer to an absolute control of the Administration than he was ever destined to reach again during the lifetime of his great opponent. The bold manoeuvres of Pitt, backed by the royal favour--the King and his friends condescending to dissimulation and subterfuge where honest policy would not suffice their turn--were crowned with unexpected success, and the Cromwell of the hour fell suddenly from his influential eminence. Up to the famous Westminster Election, Fox was paramount, both in Parliament and out of doors; for although Pitt was actually Crown-Minister, both he and his party were almost powerless when arrayed against the members of the ex-Coalition Ministry, their opponents, led by Fox, and his strong following, who were the real masters of the situation; thus we find a very characteristic portrait of the _Friend of Liberty and of the People_ introduced, with an allusion to Cromwell.

_January 19, 1784._ _His Highness the Protector._--The supplies are kept with a tight hand; and Fox, taking advantage of his power, has put a huge padlock on the door of the Treasury, the key of which he seems determined to retain in his own keeping; a small dagger, held in the popular champion's right hand, indicates that he is prepared to stand on the defensive. His colleague Lord North, with his star round his neck, appears as a bulldog, who is supporting his leader in keeping the supplies inviolate.

The apprehensions of the Pittites (whose chances of retaining the reins of administration in defiance of an Opposition too strong for their policy, now seemed desperate), pictured forth the total subversion of Throne and State; and it was under this influence that the King--whose stubborn will was strengthened by contradiction--indulged his threat of retiring to his German possessions, if he could not secure the return to office of his particular friends, whose hopes of recovering their lost control of the State were somewhat forlorn previous to the election; while Fox, on the other hand, was endeavouring to force the King to accede to the measures he had introduced for the restriction of the royal prerogative. A very complete, but necessarily over-coloured, view of the anticipations of 'the party' is thus pictured forth by Rowlandson.

_January 23, 1784._ _The Times, or a View of the Old House in Little Britain,--with Nobody going to Hanover._ Published by W. Humphrey, 227 Strand.--The Old House is seemingly in a bad way; the foundation is _Public Credit_; the Funds, represented as a grilled gate, are secured with a huge padlock; the Royal Crown and Sceptre are placed on a block, and marked _for sale_; seated on another block, labelled _Protector_, sits the fox, guarding the Treasury; round his waist is a chain secured to the _Coalition-pillar_, which is depicted as rather a twisted support. Lord North has perched his unwieldy person upon a turnstile, and is crying, indifferent to consequences, 'Give me my ease, and do as you please.' The upper part of the _Old House_ is raising more cause for mistrust, since the old building is overweighted and crushed with a mass of _Taxes_, piled on the roof, the accumulated pressure of 'the accursed ten years' American war, fomented by the Opposition and misconducted by a timid Minister.' A light balcony has been thrown out, and therein things are proceeding in true showman style. Burke is officiating as exhibitor, and blowing through a trumpet; another statesman is doing the harlequin-business; merry-andrew 'Sherry' is flourishing his bottle and dancing round the corner of the balcony, on which is a placard announcing a wonderful combination of attractions: 'The Scarlet Woman of Babylon, the Devil, and the Pope.' 'The Man of the People' is pictured as a feather,--on the flag of the party. The sign of the _Old House, Magna Charta_, has fallen to tatters, and the board is dropping down; two lawyers, who appear at the window, are repairing the edifice according to their theories; one of the props of the edifice, _the Lords_, is spared, but the other, _prerogative of the Crown_, is being lopped off by one of the legal magnates. The King is turning his back on the place, and starting in a state coach on his way to Hanover, deaf and blind to the prayers of some of his subjects, who are imploring the royal compassion on their knees. _The Sun of England's Glory_ is setting in the distance, and an eye of light, piercing through the clouds, is warning the retiring monarch to 'Turn out these robbers and repair the House.'

_February 3._ _The Infant Hercules._--Another caricature was directed against the ex-Coalition Ministers, representing them as twin serpents whose tails ('American War' and 'East India Bill') are entwined; the heads of Fox and North appear on the shoulders of the monster. Pitt is figured as the infant Hercules; he has taken his seat on the 'Shield of Chatham,' and has grasped the throats of the serpents, the tails of which are already lopped off. 'These,' he cries, 'were your Ministers.'

Lord North, for twelve years, with his war and contracts,
The people he nearly had laid on their backs;
Yet stoutly he swore he sure was a villain
If e'er he had bettered his fortune a shilling.
Derry down, down; down, derry down.

Against him Charles Fox was a sure bitter foe,
And cried that the empire he'd soon overthrow;
Before him all honour and conscience had fled;
And vowed that the axe it should cut off his head.
Derry down, down; down, derry down.

Edmund Burke, too, was in a mighty great rage,
And declared Lord North the disgrace of the age;
His plans and his conduct he treated with scorn,
And thought it a curse that he'd ever been born.
Derry down, down; down, derry down.

So hated he was, Fox and Burke they both swore,
They infamous were if they enter'd his door;
But, prithee, good neighbour, now think on the end--
Both Burke and Fox call him their very good friend!
Derry down, down; down, derry down.

Now Fox, North, and Burke, each one is a brother,
So honest, they swear there is not such another;
No longer they tell us we're going to ruin,
The people they _serve_ in whatever they're doing.
Derry down, down; down, derry down.

But Chatham, thank heaven! has left us a son;
When _he_ takes the helm, we are sure not undone;
The glory his father revived of the land,
And Britannia has taken Bill Pitt by the hand.
Derry down, down; down, derry down.

_February 3, 1784._ _Britannia Roused, or the Coalition Monsters Destroyed._--Britannia, the symbolical goddess, is fairly aroused, and her greatness and power are effectually asserted on the persons of the late Ministers. Her strong arm is throttling the lethargic Lord North, and she has seized the body of Fox, whose person she is dashing over her head, in a manner which threatens the extinction of the popular idol.

The East India Company and its Corporation became, for a time, the chief bone of contention. Fox had gone out of office on the rejection of his provisions for the proper regulation of our Eastern Empire,[24] and Pitt, on coming into power, introduced his own motion with the same object. The view of the public on this point was expressed by Rowlandson's satirical summary of the situation.

_February 7, 1784._ _Billy Lackbeard and Charley Blackbeard Playing at Football._--Fox and Pitt are both kicking with a will; the football is the old House of John Company, Leadenhall Street; the edifice is turned upside down, and the rival players are succeeding in keeping the vast concern suspended in the air between them. _Billy Lackbeard_ has just turned from the study of Blackstone,--an allusion to the youth of the Prime Minister. It is interesting to remember that Pitt had resigned his ambitious mind seriously to the study and practice of the law, in case the progress of events should deprive him of Parliamentary significance. The commencement of his career was somewhat troublous, especially during the 'Regency struggle,' when the state of the King's health rendered the accession of the Prince of Wales probable, in which case the governing power would have remained in the hands of his more experienced rival. Behind Fox is a dicebox, and at his feet lie packs of playing-cards, indicating that gambling was the only resource left him, if he could not succeed in regaining office.

The influence which was being brought to bear, through illegitimate channels, to strengthen the party of Pitt's followers, who found themselves in such a minority as to be powerless at first, was recognised and commented on out of doors. The satirists freely exposed the Ministerial manoeuvres; it was evident that the Court party, and especially the King, would count no sacrifice too great, could they but contrive to prevent the return of the members of the late Coalition Ministry to power, this hostility being intensified by the prejudices borne in the royal mind against Fox.

So strongly did this influence work that we find in _The Morning Post and Daily Advertiser_ for February 10, 1784, the names of twenty-two members who had fallen under the spell of Ministerial beguilements. The advertisement is quite simple, and appears without either comment or explanation; the heading is pictorial, and represents a string of rats--such as might preface an ordinary rat-catcher's advertisement--it is placed above the name of Jack Robinson, in capital letters. Then follow, in three short columns, the names of the twenty-two Parliamentary rats who had gone over to the good pickings which the King was able to hold forth as a temptation in return for the allegiance of these renegades.

This curious advertisement is repeated in a satirical print which Rowlandson prepared on the same subject.

_March 1, 1784._ _The Apostate Jack Robinson, the Political Rat-catcher. N.B. Rats taken alive._--Before the door of the Treasury, from whence the converter of rats draws his supply of baits and lures, travelling cautiously on all fours and feeling his way, the political rat-catcher is slily augmenting his captures. Round the apostate Jack's waist hangs the _cestus of corruption_, in his pocket is a little aide-de-camp, who is made to cry, 'We'll ferret them out!' On his back is a double trap, baited with miniature coronets, places, &c.; one or two rats have been secured in this; golden pieces strew the floor, and with these the rats to be captured are playing and coquetting. A large bait of pension is held to the nose of one grave old veteran, probably intended for Edmund Burke, and the other rats are watching the bait with longing looks. A placard is pinned on the wall, 'Jack Robinson, Rat-catcher to Great Britain. Vermin preserved.' Under the heading of 'Rats of Note' is given the very list of apostates as published in the _Morning Post_, beneath Jack Robinson's patronymic.

_Second Title._

Thus when Renegado sees a Rat
In the traps in the morning taken,
With pleasure he goes Master Pitt to pat,
And swears he will have his bacon.

_March 3, 1784._ _A Peep into Friar Bacon's Study._--A spectacle of conjuration, which discloses matters of some historical moment. In the centre of the picture stands the brazen head which is giving forth its oracles. King George the Third, who has thrown a conjuror's cloak over his star and riband, is holding out two divining-rods, and questioning the head--'What is this?' To this the magic bust is giving forth these oracle-like phrases: 'Time is, Time was, Time is past;' while three luminous circles, each bordered with the word _Constitution_, help to illuminate the obscurity of the revelation. The first view of the Constitution, 'Time is past,' displays the King on his throne, with a radiance like the sun; the other bodies of the State barely come within the charmed circle; the Houses of Lords and Commons appear mere 'air balloons.' 'Time is' offers another view of the Constitution; the King's circle has diminished, that of the House of Peers is increasing in magnitude and becoming bound up with the royal circle; the House of Commons, without infringing on either, has arrived within the circumference of the Constitution; and in the third view we find the three circles assimilated in size and working one within the other--the Constitution in its perfected form, in fact. Behind the King the members of the late Ministry are appearing at a door. Fox, North, and Burke are in the front rank; they bid the monarch 'Beware!' The King's friends, led by an imp of Satan, or, perhaps, by the Devil in person, are finding their way down the back-stairs. Foremost is a figure bearing a lantern, which is throwing a light on the movements of the Opposition. Lord Temple, and other influential supporters of the Ministry, are making their entry on the scene, and crying, 'We must destroy this coalition,' 'A fig for the resolutions,' &c.

_March 8, 1784._ _Master Billy's Procession to Grocers' Hall._--Pitt has, according to the picture, supplemented his Parliamentary tactics by flattering the citizens, and bidding for the Corporation influence. He is drawn going to _Grocers' Hall_ in state to receive the freedom of the City in a gold box, which is carried at the head of the procession. Great enthusiasm prevails, as a liberal gentleman, in the uniform of a naval officer, is distributing handfuls of coin amongst the mob. Banners are carried in the procession with the party watchwords, '_Pitt and prerogative_,' and '_Youth is a most enormous crime_.' The car of Sir Watney, drawn by satyrs comes first; then, in the middle, perched up in a triumphal car, and with a feather in his hat, comes Master Billy, drawn, of course, by _King's men_. Sir Barney follows, drawn by his admirers, and shouting, 'Pitt and plum-pudding for ever!' The show is passing the shop of 'Tommy Plume, grocer to his Majesty;' this worthy, who is crying, 'O what a charming youth!' is seen at his window, surrounded by shouting spectators. At the sign of the _Lord Chatham_ is gathered another party of sightseers; they are enthusiastically declaring that 'Master Pitt is very like his father!'

_March 11, 1784._ _The Champion of the People._--The sturdy figure of Fox, clad in somewhat theatrical armour, and protected by the _Shield of Truth_, is resolutely combating the overgrown _Hydra_ of patronage, whose growing and unconstitutional power--it was hinted--would shortly destroy the liberty of the subject. The monster, a compound of the Pittite party and its royal supporter, is hissing and spitting venom with all its various heads, _Tyranny_, _Assumed Prerogative_, _Despotism_, _Oppression_, _Secret Influence_, and _Scotch Politics_; while three heads have been already lopped off by the champion's sword, _Duplicity_ and _Corruption_ are laid in the dust. The foreign Powers are represented in alliance, and dancing round the _Standard of Sedition_. Natives, of the subject East Indian races, are kneeling and blessing their champion; and a compact array of _English and Irish supporters_ is drawn up under the standard of '_Britannia and Universal Liberty_.' Fox's followers are respectively declaring, 'While he protects us, we will support him;' and 'He gave us a free trade, and all we asked; he shall have our firm support!'

_March 26, 1784._ _The State Auction._--This print illustrates the pass to which, as it was assumed, the Constitution was coming under the evil effects of the undue extension of the royal prerogative. The 'State Auction' is held, under high patronage, in the '_Commission warehouse; money advanced on all sorts of useless valuables, by Pitt and Co., Auctioneers. N.B. Licensed by Royal Authority._' Pitt, seated on his rostrum, under the royal arms, is knocking down 'State property' in the capacity of auctioneer. The first lot is, it seems, the most interesting one in the sale: 'The Rights of the People, in 558 volumes.' Pitt's friend Dundas is acting as sale porter. 'Show the lot this way, Harry,' cries the auctioneer. 'Agoing, agoing; speak quick, or it's gone. Hold up the lot, ye Dund ass!' To which invitation the Scot, Dundas, who has been doing his best to help Master Pitt, responds, 'I can hould it na higher, sir!' Pitt is favouring the biddings of the 'Hereditary Virtuosi,' a compact knot of Peers and 'the King's friends;' at their head stands Lord Chancellor Thurlow, who is disparaging the Opposition. 'Mind not the nonsensical biddings of those common fellows.' The 'chosen representatives' of the people are standing by themselves, apart from the bidders; their backs are turned upon the entire proceedings, and they are apparently leaving the sale-room _en masse_, by way of protest, at the same time exclaiming, 'Adieu to Liberty!' 'Despair not!' and 'Now or never!' Fox alone is making a resolute stand; he cries, 'I am determined to bid with spirit for lot 1--he shall pay dear for it that outbids me.' The lots are of general interest. Lot 2 is _Magna Charta_; lot 3 is '_Obsolete Public Acts_;' lot 4, the Sword of Justice; lot 5, the Mace; lots 6 and 7, legal wigs and gowns, &c. The sale-clerk, recording the biddings on the parchments of 'sundry Acts,' is declaring gleefully, 'We shall get the supplies by this sale!'

_March 29, 1784._ _The Drum-Major of Sedition._--The portrait of Major John Cartright, one of the most energetic and disinterested Reformers, is given under this title. The Major is firmly grasping a pole of Liberty in his right hand, and is holding forth in front of the hustings erected for the election, round which are gathered numerous voters and a crowd of others, who are being addressed from the platform. Admiral Lord Hood is introduced, shouting, 'Two faces under a Hood!' The speech made by the Drum-Major of Sedition has a strong ironical tendency. 'All gentlemen and other electors for Westminster who are ready and willing to surrender their rights and those of their fellow-citizens to secret influence, and the _Lords of the Bedchamber_, let them repair to the prerogative standard, lately erected at the Cannon Coffee House, where they shall be kindly received--until their services are no longer wanted. This, gentlemen, is the last time of asking, as we are determined to abolish the power of the House of Commons, and in future be governed by Prerogative, as they are in France and Turkey. Gentlemen, the ambition of the enemy is now evident. Has he not, within these few days past, stole the Great Seal of England, while the Chancellor[25] was taking a bottle with a female favourite, as all great men do? I am informed, gentlemen, that the enemy now assumes Regal Authority, and, by virtue of the Great Seal (which he stole), is creating of peers and granting of pensions. A most shameful abuse, gentlemen, of that instrument. If you assist us to pull down the House of Commons, every person who hears me has a chance of becoming a great man, if he is happy enough to hit the fancy of Lord Bute and of Mr. Jenkinson. Huzza! God save the King!'

_March 30, 1784._ _Sir Cecil's Budget for Paying the National Debt._--Sir Cecil Wray, in spite of his Ministerial friends, does not seem to have been a popular candidate after he had deserted the Liberal party; indeed, he became the mere puppet of the hour, the Ministerial struggles of the '_King's friends_' being not so much directed to bringing in their nominee, as to inflict the mortification of a defeat on Fox. Two unfortunate projects, which Sir Cecil Wray had originated, were perpetually used against him by his opponents; these were his proposals to abolish Chelsea Hospital and to tax maid-servants. In the print '_Sir Cecil's Budget for paying the National Debt_' has been accepted, and Chelsea Hospital is brought to the ground, involving in its destruction all the disabled veterans for whom the country was bound to provide. Sir Cecil is shown in the distance, exposed to very humiliating treatment; a pensioner, who has escaped the downfall of the Hospital, is whipping him forward with his crutch, while a group of female servants, with pails and brooms, are visiting on his person, the injustices they anticipated. 'Tax servant-maids, you brute, and starve poor old soldiers--a fine Member of Parliament!' While in office Fox had proposed a tax upon receipts, which was loudly cried down by his Tory opponents; it was now written of Wray:--

For though he opposes the stamping of notes,
'Tis in order to tax all your petticoats;
Then how can _a woman_ solicit your votes
For Sir Cecil Wray?

For had he to women been ever a friend,
Nor by taxing _them_ tried our old taxes to mend,
Yet so _stingy_ he is, that none can contend
For Sir Cecil Wray.

The gallant Lord Hood to his country is dear;
His voters, like Charlie's, make excellent cheer;
But who has been able to taste _the small beer_
Of Sir Cecil Wray?

Then come, ev'ry free, ev'ry generous soul,
That loves a fine girl and a full flowing bowl,
Come here in a body, and all of you poll
'Gainst Sir Cecil Wray!

In vain all the arts of the Court are let loose,
The electors of Westminster never will choose
To run down a Fox, and set up a _goose_
Like Sir Cecil Wray.

_March 31, 1784._ _The Hanoverian Horse and the British Lion. A scene in a new play, lately acted in Westminster with distinguished applause._ Act ii., scene last.--The faithful Commons are still suffering from the aggressive tendencies of the White Horse of Hanover, which is trampling on '_Magna Charta_,' '_Bill of Rights_', and '_Constitution_,' kicking, rearing, and driving the members of the 'faithful Commons' forth with his heels. The brute is neighing out '_Pre-ro-ro-ro-ro-rogative_;' while Pitt, a remarkably light jockey, is encouraging the excitement of the brute: 'Bravo! go it again; I love to ride a mettle steed. Send the vagabonds packing.' The sturdy person of Fox is safely astride the British Lion; the royal beast has quitted his place in the army of England, leaving the notice, '_We shall resume our situation here at pleasure.--Leo Rex._' He is keeping a watchful eye on the Hanoverian Horse, and protesting, 'If this horse is not tamed he will soon be absolute king of our forest.' Fox has come on the scene prepared to render efficient assistance; he is provided with a bit and bridle, and a stout riding-whip, to tame and control the high-mettled Hanoverian steed. 'Prithee, Billy,' he is crying to Pitt, 'dismount before ye get a fall--and let some abler jockey take your seat!'

_April 3, 1784._ _The Two Patriotic Duchesses on their Canvass; requesting the favour of an early poll._--The zealous canvassers for 'the Champion of the people' are enlisting the sympathies of possible voters. Their mode of procedure is shown at a butcher's stall, according to the satirist's view of their patriotic exertions. The Duchess of Devonshire, wearing the Prince of Wales's plume in her hat, above an immense favour _for Fox_, has placed one arm round the waist of a young butcher, and, with her left hand, is pushing a well-filled purse into his pocket; at the same time she is cementing the compact with a chaste kiss. Farther on is seen the Duchess of Portland, who is attempting to beguile another butcher's apprentice; but she is less successful, probably because her personal attractions will not bear comparison with the graces of the winning Georgiana.

_April 4, 1784._ _The Incurable._--Fox, in a strait-jacket, with straw disposed in his hair, is represented as mad beyond recovery; he is singing in forlorn despair:--

My lodging is on the cold ground, and very hard is my case,
But that which grieves me most is the losing of my place.

Doctor Munro, the King's physician, in his court-dress, is examining the patient through his eyeglass, and attesting, 'As I have not the least hope of his recovery, let him be removed amongst the _Incurables_.' Below the print the following lines occur:--

Dazzled with hope he could not see the cheat
Of aiming with impatience to be great.
With wild ambition in his heart, we find,
Farewell content and quiet of his mind;
For glittering clouds he left the solid shore,
And wonted happiness returns no more.

The poll was opened on April 1, and continued without intermission until May 17.

_April 8, 1784._ _The Rival Candidates._--The three candidates who were contesting the 'great fight' for the representation of Westminster are represented according to their supposititious characteristics. Fox, with his hand on his heart, and his arm held out in a declamatory attitude, stands for _Demosthenes_; Hood is introduced as _Themistocles_; and Wray is less flatteringly served up in the character of _Judas Iscariot_. It must be remembered that '_the Knight of the Back-stairs_' had been nominated for the previous Parliament by Fox, with whom he had shared the representation of Westminster, but Wray thought fit to desert to the Tories and oppose his political leader, forsaking his friends and his principles for the sake of promised Ministerial patronage.

_April 10, 1784._ _The Parody, or Mother Cole and Loader._ (See Foote's 'Minor,' page 29.)--The broad-spread figure of Lord North, with a capacious hood round his head, is parodied as the sanctimonious _Mother Cole_; a bottle of 'Constitution Cordial,' to sustain her sinking spirits, is placed by her side. Fox, as _Loader_, with his dicebox thrown to the ground, is listening, handkerchief in hand, to _Old Moll's_ lamentations. 'Ay, I am going, a-wasting, and a-wasting. What will become of the House when I am gone Heaven knows. No, when people are missed, then they are mourned. Sixteen years have I lived in St. Stephen's Chapel comfortably and creditably; and, tho' I say it, could have got bail any hour of the day! No knock-me-down doings in my House--a set of regular, sedate, sober customers--no rioters. Sixteen did I say? Ay, eighteen years have I paid _Scot_ and _Lot_, and during the whole time nobody has said, "Mrs. North, why do you say so?"--unless twice that I was threatened with impeachment, and three times with a halter!' Fox is moved to respond, 'May I lose deal, with an honour at bottom, if Old Moll does not bring tears in my eyes.'

_April 12, 1784._ _The Devonshire, or most approved method of securing votes._--The Duchess of Devonshire has taken to her arms the person of a fat and greasy butcher, whom she is favouring with a salute in the zeal of patriotism; another fair canvasser (possibly the Duchess of Gordon), rejoicing in proportions more expanded than those of the beautiful Georgiana, is seconding the proceeding; while, shouting 'Huzza, Fox for ever!' a lusty butcher, with his tray under his arm, is cheering and hurrying up to share his possible reward.

_April 12, 1784._ _The Westminster Watchman._--Charles James Fox is represented as the trusty guardian, standing unmoved and at his ease amidst the 'Ministerial thunderbolts;' he wears on his head the _cap of Liberty_, and his support is the _staff of 'uprightness_;' his dog, the faithful companion of his rounds, is _Vigilance_; and his lamp, which sheds its light on everything around, is _Truth_. A pair of superannuated and useless watchmen are shuffling off--Hood 'for Greenwich,' and Wray 'for Chelsea.'

The plate is inscribed to Fox's supporters--'To the independent Electors of Westminster this print of their staunch old watchman, the guardian of their rights and privileges, is dedicated by a grateful Elector. N.B. _Beware of counterfeits, as the Greenwich and Chelsea Watchmen are upon the look-out!_'

_April 12, 1784._ _The Poll._--The scene is still the polling-booth, Covent Garden; the canvassers, committees, and mobs are giving their entire attention to the performance carried on for their entertainment between the fair rival advocates, who are balanced at either end of a plank laid across a stone post. The Duchess of Devonshire is sent up into the air; her end of the poll is carried over Fox's head; '_Duke and no Duke, a play_,' is placarded above her.

The opposite extreme of _the poll_ is weighed down effectually by the weight of a corpulent lady, described in these election squibs as _Madame Blubber_, the Honourable Mrs. Hobart (Lady Buckinghamshire), of _Pic-Nic_ notoriety. Hood is cheating by kneeling down and clinging to the skirts of the Ministerial championess, he lends an additional weight to his side of the balance; behind them is Wray, defying his opponent. Over the heads of this group flutters a placard, '_The Rival Candidates, a farce_.'

The Opposition party dwelt mainly upon Sir Cecil Wray's renegade want of principle in turning against his leader, Fox. His liberality was severely called in question, and there was a satirical story of his keeping nothing in his cellar but small beer. The old symbolism of slavery and France--wooden shoes--was revived for the occasion; much stress was laid on the extensive polling of soldiers for Hood and Wray at the beginning of the election, when on one occasion two hundred and eighty of the Guards were sent in a body to give their votes as householders. This, Horace Walpole observes, _was_ legal, 'but which my father (Sir Robert) in the most quiet sessions would not have dared to do.' All dependents on the Court were commanded to vote on the same side as the soldiers. The following placard, which was put out early in the canvass, is a fair example of the courtesies with which the Ministerial manoeuvres were acknowledged by their opponents:--

'All _Horse Guards_, _Grenadier Guards_, _Foot Guards_, and _Black Guards_ that have not polled for the destruction of _Chelsea Hospital_ and the _tax on maid-servants_ are desired to meet at the _Gutter Hole_, opposite the Horse Guards, where they will have a full bumper of _knock-me-down_ and plenty of _soapsuds_, before they go to the poll for Sir Cecil Wray or eat.

'N.B. Those that have no shoes or stockings may come without, there _being a quantity of wooden shoes provided for them_.'

_April 14, 1784._ _Lords of the Bedchamber._--The Duchess of Devonshire, in her morning gown and cap, is favouring two privileged visitors with a cup of tea in her boudoir.

The Duchess is attending to the tea urn; above her head hangs the Reynolds portrait of her liege lord. Sam House, in his publican's jacket, is seated, stirring a cup of tea, on the sofa beside Fox, who is familiarly patting his friend and indefatigable ally on his bald head by way of friendly encouragement.

Sam House was one of the most popular figures of his day, and he came into especial prominence, as we have seen, during the Fox's canvass. He is said to have kept open house during the Westminster Election at his own expense, and was honoured by entertaining the great Whig nobility. He was an indefatigable supporter of Fox, and his assistance was, as may be supposed, of no trifling moment to the cause.

See brave Sammy House, he's as still as a mouse,
And does canvass with prudence so clever;
See what shoals with him flocks to poll for brave Fox;
Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever, for ever, for ever!
Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever!

Brave bald-headed Sam, all must own, is the man
Who does canvass for brave Fox so clever;
His aversion, I say, is to _small beer and Wray_!
May his bald head be honour'd for ever, for ever, for ever!
May his bald head be honour'd for ever!

_April 20, 1784._ _The Covent Garden Nightmare._--This subject is a parody on a painting by Fuseli. Rowlandson has taken the idea and fitted it to the purpose of an electioneering squib. Fox is represented stretched in an uneasy slumber, nightmare-ridden. An unearthly incubus oppresses his body and haunts his repose; a corpulent imp is crouched on his hams pressing the great man's chest, while the head and shoulders of a supernatural mare are shown making their appearance through the bed-curtains. On a table by Fox's side are shown the dice and dicebox, the satirist's inevitable resource when dealing with the frailties of the 'man of the people,' who, it must be confessed, had in his day committed sufficient excesses in the way of gambling; a vice he absolutely renounced in after-life, but not before it had ruined his purse, imperilled his reputation, and proved a fruitful source of recrimination in the mouths of his enemies.

_April 22, 1784._ _Madame Blubber on her Canvass._--We find the Duchess of Devonshire and the Honourable Mrs. Hobart--the most prominent of the fair electioneering agents who threw the power of their personal charms into the political arena--scandalised alternately; her Grace the fascinating Georgiana was represented as a softening influence by which the votes of the butchers were secured; we find Pitt's fair champion, _Madame Blubber_ (Lady Buckinghamshire), endeavouring to cajole the same classes in identical fashion. The lady, who, it must be acknowledged, was somewhat stout, is trying her hand amongst the rough sellers of meat; she is holding out a purse as a bait, saying, 'Hood and Wray, my dear butcher;' the butcher's dogs are regarding the canvasser suspiciously; their master, at ease in his armchair, without moving his pipe from his mouth, is puffing out bluntly, 'I'm engaged to the Duchess!' 'Pho! give her a glass,' suggests the butcher's friend, who is drinking punch with him from a bowl on which is the figure of a fox, the chopping-block serving as their table. _Madame Blubber_ has a train of appreciative butcher's men in her wake; one is declaring that she is 'the fattest cattle he ever handled!' a drover is observing, 'Lincolnshire, dammee!' and a lad with a tray pronounces her a 'plumper!'

THE COURT CANVASS OF MADAME BLUBBER.

_To the Tune of 'The First Time at the Looking-glass.'_

A certain lady I won't name
Must take an active part, sir,
To show that DEVON'S beauteous dame
Should not engage each heart, sir.
She canvass'd all, both great and small,
And thunder'd at each door, sir;
She rummaged every shop and stall--
The Duchess was still before her.

Sam Marrowbones had shut up shop,
And just had lit his pipe, sir,
When in the lady needs must pop,
Exceeding plump and ripe, sir.
'Good zounds,' says he, 'how late you be!
For votes you come to bore me;
But let us feel are you beef or veal--
The Duchess has been before you.'

A fishmonger she next address'd
With many a soothing tale, sir,
And for his vote most warmly press'd,
But all would not prevail, sir.
'The finest cod's-head sure in town,
Of oysters send two score too.'
'Extremely, madame, like your own--
The Duchess has been before you.'

A grocer next, to make amends,
The dame with smiles accosted:
'You grocers all to PITT are friends,'
Of her connection boasted!
'For plums and raisins, ma'am,' said he,
'I'm willing for to score you:
In politics we shan't agree--
The Duchess was here before you.'

Sly Obadiah was at prayers
With many pious folk, sir;
His pretty maid on the _back-stairs_
She found, and thus bespoke her:
'This riband take, all interest make;
Your master will adore you,
For Hood and Wray pray kiss and pray.'
'Now, Duchess, I'm once before you.'

A stable-keeper to engage
She then her talents tried, sir;
He fell into a monstrous rage,
And all her smiles defied, sir.
'Are you a full moon or Court balloon?
Get out, you female Tory;
Tho' Courts prevail I'll not turn tail--
The Duchess was here before you.'

However courtiers take offence,
And cits and prudes may join, sir,
Beauty will ever influence
The free and generous mind, sir.
Fair DEVON, like the rising sun,
Proceeds in her full glory,
Whilst madame's duller orb must own
The Duchess moves before her.

_April 22, 1784._ _Wit's Last Stake, or the Cobbling Voter and Abject Canvassers._--Every stratagem which could secure the popular voice for either candidate was freely put in practice; but while the Pittites resorted to threats and force, Fox and his adherents relied mainly on persuasion and good humour. _Wit's last Stake_ shows the exertions made in the canvassing department. Fox is in the centre of the picture, giving his knee as a seat for his fair advocate, the Duchess of Devonshire, who is resorting to a subterfuge commonly employed as a precaution against actions for bribery at elections, by the stall of a cobbler, who happens to be a voter: her Grace has discovered that her shoe requires a stitch; the cobbler, with his tongue thrust out at the side of his mouth, is working at the supposititious repairs with pantomimic energy; meanwhile his wife is receiving in payment for the job a handful of sovereigns from her Grace's purse. The scene takes place in Peter Street, and the cobbler's board announces, '_Shoes made and mended by Bob Stichett, cobbler to her Grace the tramping Duchess_.' A fox's brush is being waved overhead out of the first-floor window by a supporter, who has been provided with pipe and pot at the Whig expense. Fox is giving his right hand to another voter, a tattered and stupified-looking scavenger, to whom Sam House is also administering comfort in the shape of a pot of porter. Among other followers of the 'Man of the People' Rowlandson has introduced a chimney-sweeper and his boy.

Fox's canvass was enlivened by the rough humours of the various classes whose favour he required to enlist; his own good-nature was equal to every emergency. One blunt tradesman, whose vote he solicited, replied, 'Mr. Fox, I cannot give you my support; I admire your abilities, but d---- your principles!' To which the candidate smartly responded, 'My friend, I applaud you for your sincerity, but d---- your manners!'

In another instance Fox's application to a saddler in the Haymarket for his interest was met with a practical joke--the man produced a _halter_, with which he expressed his willingness to oblige the statesman. Said Fox, 'I return you thanks, my friend, for your intended present; but I should be sorry to deprive you of it, as I presume it must be a _family piece_.'

_April 22, 1784._ _King's Place, or a View of Monsieur Reynard's Best Friends._--Another gathering of Fox's fair adherents. The Prince of Wales, surrounded by fashionably-dressed nymphs, wearing one of Fox's favours below his plume, and with a fox-brush in his hand, is speaking in his friend's favour: 'He supported my cause!' A pleasingly-drawn female--probably intended to suggest Mrs. Robinson, the _Perdita_ of the Prince's early love-story--is asserting, 'He is as generous as a prince, and a prince should not be limited!' A group of Lady Abbesses are also saying 'good things' in their candidate's favour: 'He introduced his Royal Highness to my house!' 'I have taken many a pound of his money. Fox for ever. Huzza!'

_April 22, 1784._ _Political Affection._--The Duchess of Devonshire is still slandered by the satirists; according to the present unjust version her 'political affection' is causing her to neglect her infant, the heir of the Cavendishes, to lavish her tenderness on a hybrid prodigy, a fox dressed up in the robes of an infant. By the side of a neglected cradle is seen a cat, forgetting her kitten to lick the face of a poodle.

This coarse hostility to the Duchess was probably popular in its day, as we find a long series of allusions conceived in the same spirit.

_April 23, 1784._ _Reynard put to his Shifts._--The artists always took care to draw the Duchess of Devonshire as handsome and graceful as possible, even when their satires were most reckless and unsparing; while they descended to outrage the lady's fair reputation by innuendoes which were utterly unwarrantable. The beauteous Devon is standing in the middle of the picture, filled, as usual, with animation for the Whig cause; she is offering the shelter of her protection to a panting and frightened fox, whose pursuers are following fast on his brush. A huntsman is encouraging his hounds: 'Tally O! my good dogs!' 'No Coalition,' 'No India Bill,' and other party utterances are put into the mouths of the pack.

_April 29, 1784._ _The Case is Altered._--The election has gone against Sir Cecil Wray, and he has to turn elsewhere; Fox, it will be remembered, in addition to his return for Westminster, was elected for Kirkwall (Scotland), and in the print he is shown driving his discomfited opponent to Lincoln.

The Ministerial candidate is not travelling with a flourish of trumpets, but is smuggled off in the 'Lincolnshire caravan for paupers;' the knight is reflecting over his reverses: 'I always was a poor dog, but now I am worse than ever.' Fox is acting as charioteer; he is saying, over his shoulder, 'I will drive you to Lincoln, where you may superintend the _small beer and brickdust_.'

Lord Hood, who has come upon this conveyance suddenly, is moved with pity for his late colleague; he cries, 'Alas! poor Wray.'

As the increasing number of votes gave fresh spirit to the Foxites, satirical squibs, and songs exulting over Wray's possible downfall and his future fate, were plentifully put forth by the wits of the Opposition. The following specimen will illustrate the nature of some of the placards which were scattered about towards the close of the election:--

_Oh! help Judas, lest he fall into the_ PITT _of ingratitude_!!!

_The_ prayers _of all bad Christians, Heathens, Infidels, and
Devil's agents are most earnestly requested for their dear friend_,

JUDAS ISCARIOT, _Knight of the Back-stairs,

Lying at the period of political dissolution, having received a
dreadful wound from the lovers of liberty and the Constitution, in
the poll of the last ten days at the Hustings, nigh unto the Place
of Cabbages._

_April 29, 1784._ _Madame Blubber's Last Shift, or the Ærostatic Dilly._--This caricature pictures the hustings at Covent Garden, with a distant view of Richmond Hill. _Madame Blubber_ has patriotically contrived to convert herself into an air-balloon, for the collection and conveyance of _outlying voters_, crying, 'This may save him,' an allusion to some incident in the canvass. A brace of voters have been secured in the parachute of this novel Ærostatic Dilly; these favoured gentlemen are enabled to take a flying view from their elevation of the hustings below. Wray and Hood are anxiously looking forward to the arrival of their balloon. According to the inscription given on the plate, in the artist's hand, the print represents 'The grand political Balloon, launched at Richmond Park, on the--March, 1784, and discharged by secret influence with great effect in Covent Garden at 12 o'clock on the same day.

'As it may be necessary to explain to the public upon what principles a body was conveyed twelve miles with so great velocity, it must be understood that the lady, though ponderous, being of a volatile disposition, out of decency sewed up her petticoats, which, being filled with gas, immediately raised her to a considerable height in the atmosphere, and, by the attraction of secret influence, was conveyed to her desired object--the support of Hood and Wray and the Constitution--and descended happily to the hustings with two outlying and dependent voters.'

Tho' in every street
All the voters you meet
The Duchess knows best how to court them,
Yet for outlying votes,
In my petticoats,
I've found out a way to transport them!