CHAPTER IV.

Sir Robert Walpole “chaired” on his election for Castle Rising, 1701--“Robin’s Progress”--Walpole in Parliament--His offices--Impeached by the Commons for corruption on the death of George, Prince of Denmark--Returned for King’s Lynn--Firmly established in power on the accession of George I.--“A Tory Bill of Costs for an Election in the West, 1715”--The Septennial Act, 1716--The elections of 1721--Walpole’s “universal salve”--“The Election carried by Bribery and the Devil,” 1721--Municipal corruption--Ballad: “Here’s a Minion sent down to a Corporate Town”--The elections of 1727--“Ready Money, the Prevailing Candidate; or, the Humours of an Election,” 1727--“No bribery, but pockets are free”--Ballad: “The Laws against Bribery Provision may make”--“The Kentish Election, 1734”--“The Country Interest” _versus_ “the Protestant Interest”--Vane and Dering _versus_ Middlesex and Oxenden--Vane’s treat to his electors--Walpole paraded in effigy--Hogarth’s design on the election of 1734: Sir Robert Fagg--“The Humours of a Country Election,” 1734--The first suggestion for Hogarth’s series of four election prints--Plays, operas, and poems on elections--The oath imposed upon electors--“A New-year’s Gift to the Electors of Great Britain,” 1741--“The flood of corruption”--Walpole, as “The Devil upon Two Sticks,” carried through the “Slough of Despond,” 1741--“A Satire on Election Proceedings,” dedicated to “Mayors and Corporations in general,” 1741--Walpole’s lease of power threatened--Satirical version of Walpole’s “Coat of Arms”--The Westminster election of 1741--Wager and Sundon _versus_ Vernon and Edwin--A patriotic “Address to the Independent and Worthy Electors” of Westminster, 1741--Royal canvassers--“Scene at the Westminster Election,” 1741--Lord Sundon calls in the grenadiers to close the poll--The Westminster Petition, 1741--A new election--Wager and Sundon unseated; Edwin and Percival returned--Admiral Vernon and Porto Bello--“The Funeral of Independency,” 1741--“The Triumph of Justice,” 1741--Walpole defeated--“The Banner of Liberty displayed,” 1741--A ministerial mortification--Ballads upon the Westminster election of 1741--“The Independent Westminster Electors’ Toast”--“The Downfall of Sundon and Wager”--“The Independent Westminster Choice”--“The True English-Boys’ Song to Vernon’s Glory”--Triumph of the “Country party” or “Patriots”--“The Body of Independent Electors of Westminster” constituted into a society--Their anniversary dinners--A dinner-ticket, 1744--The Stuart rising of 1745--Lord Lovat’s trial--Meeting of “The Independent Electors of the City and Liberty of Westminster” at Vintners’ Hall, March, 1747--Jacobite toasts--“The Spy detected:” ejectment of a ministerial spy from Vintners’ Hall--The state of parties at the Westminster election, 1747--Earl Gower and his son, Lord Trentham--Falling-off of the Independent party--Trentham and Warren _versus_ Clarges and Dyke--“The Two-Shilling Butcher,” 1747--The Duke of Cumberland and the Prince of Wales as rival canvassers--The Duke of Bedford’s support of Lord Trentham--“The Jaco-Independo-Rebello-Plaido”--“The Humours of the Westminster Election; or, the Scald Miserable Independent Electors in the Suds,” 1747--Jacobite vagaries--“Great Britain’s Union; or, the Litchfield Races,” 1747--The Jacobite rebellion--Political animosities carried on to the race-course--Alternate Whig and Tory race meetings--The Duke of Bedford horsewhipped at the Litchfield races on Whittington Heath--Ballad on the _fracas_: “The Lords’ Lamentation; or, the Whittington Defeat,” 1747--Trentham _versus_ Vandeput, 1749--The _fracas_ at the Haymarket Theatre--Frenchified Lord Trentham’s deadly attack on his own electors--Gallic valour and the Admiralty Board--Ballad: “Peg Trim Tram in the Suds; or, No French Strollers,” 1749--“Britannia Disturbed, or an Invasion by French Vagrants, addressed to the Worthy Electors of the City of Westminster,” 1749--Violence and bribery--“Aux Electeurs très dignes de Westminster”--The Duke of Bedford’s oppression and injustice to his tenants--Hogarth’s print of “A Country Inn-yard at the Time of an Election,” 1747--The Hon. John Child--“No Old Baby.” 78