CHAPTER V.

The Pelham Administration--Corruption rife--“The Duke of Newcastle as the Complete Vermin-Catcher of Great Britain; or, the Old Trap new baited,” 1754--Ministerial bribes and baits--Boroughmongering--“Dissection of a Dead Member (of Parliament)”--A mass of corruption--Henry Pelham’s measures--The Jews’ Naturalization Bill, 1753--Death of Pelham--“His Arrival at his Country Retirement and Reception,” 1754--Pelham’s reception across the Styx--The elections of 1754--Humours of canvassing--The election for the City of London: “The Liveryman’s Levee,” 1754--“The City Up and Down; or, the Candidates Pois’d,” 1754--City candidates: Sir John Barnard, Slingsby Bethell, William Beckford, Sir Richard Glyn, Sir Robert Ladbroke, Sir Crispe Gascoyne, and Sir William Calvert--Sir Sampson Gideon, the loan contractor, and “The Jews’ Naturalization Bill”--“A Stir in the City; or, Some Folks at Guildhall,” 1754--Ballad on the City election at the Guildhall--“The Parliamentary Race; or, the City Jockies,” 1754--Ballad on “The Parliamentary Race for the City”--The London and Oxfordshire elections--“All the World in a Hurry; or, the Road from London to Oxford,” 1754--Ballad on “The London Election”--The Oxford Election; Candidates: Wenham and Dashwood _versus_ Turner and Parker--Ballad on the Oxford election--The four election pictures by William Hogarth having reference to the county election for Oxfordshire, 1754--“The Election Entertainment”--Humours of an election feast--“The low habits of venal wretches”--“The New Interest” _versus_ “The Old Interest”--Election party cries in 1754: “Give us our eleven days”--Ballad on alteration in the style--Party animosities--“Act against Bribery”--“Kirton’s Best”--“Canvassing for Votes,” 1754--“Punch, Candidate for Guzzledown”--“The Royal Oak” _versus_ “The Crown,” otherwise “The Excise Office”--“The Polling Booth,” Oxfordshire, 1754--Ballad on the humours of polling--“Chairing the Members,” 1754--Burlesque on Bubb Dodington--The dangers of chairing--A ministerial dinner, 1754--Hogarth’s sketches of “Bubb Dodington and the Earl of Winchilsea”--Murderous incidents of the Oxfordshire election--Wrecking houses--Parliamentary interest _versus_ place--Hawking “marketable ware”--Diary of Bubb Dodington (Lord Melcombe Regis)--Overtures from the Pelhams--Bubb’s “parliamentary interest”--A prime minister--“Bubbling” a boroughmonger--The intriguer over-matched--The Bridgwater Election, 1754--Details of an election contest in 1754, from Dodington’s diary--The Duke of Newcastle, an arch-negotiator--Bubb and his “parliamentary interest” bought for nothing--The vitiating effects of bribery and corruption on a representative legislature--“Burning a Prime Minister in Effigy,” 1756--Denunciations against venal ministers and the vital injuries they inflict on the constitution. 125