Introductory material

John Doyle, a Tory Caricaturist—The Tories out in the cold—“The Waits,” 1833—Grey and the king—“Sindbad the Sailor and the Old Man of the Sea,” 1833—Parliamentary reform not carried far enough—Burdett, Hume, and O’Connell: “Three Great Pillars of Government; or, a Walk from White Conduit House to St. Stephen’s,” 1834—“Time running away with the Reform Bill”—General election, 1834-5—Party competition—“The Opposition ’Busses”—“Original Design for the King’s Arms, to be placed over the New Speaker’s Chair,” supporters, Burdett and Cobbett—“Inconveniences that might have arisen from the Ballot”—Bribery and violence discounted—General election of 1835—Broadside squibs on the Windsor election—Tory view of the decline of the British constitution, “A New Instance of the Mute—ability of Human Affairs,” 1837—Appeal to the Constituencies in 1837—“Going to the Fair with It: a cant phrase for doing anything in an extravagant way”—Contortions of statesmen to keep in place: “Ins and Outs”—“Fancy Ball: Jim Crow Dance and Chorus,” 1837—Conversion of Sir Francis Burdett from Radicalism to Toryism—“A Fine Old English Gentleman, one of Olden Time,” 1837—A bye-election for Westminster—Burdett opposed by Leader—“Following the Leader”—“May-Day in 1837”—Whig gambols—Sir Francis Burdett invites the verdict of his Westminster constituents upon his change of front—Thackeray’s pictorial squib on the event—“The Guide”—“The Rivals; or, Old Tory Glory and Young Liberal Glory,” 1837—Sir Francis Burdett re-elected—His valedictory speech at the Westminster hustings, 1837—His quarrel with Daniel O’Connell, the Liberator—Defeat of Leader—“The Dog and the Shadow”—“Race for the Westminster Stakes between an Old Thoro’bred and a Young Cock-tail; weight for age. The old ’un winning in a canter,” May, 1837—“Taking up a Fare: All the World’s a Stage”—Burdett’s attack on Democracy—“The Last and Highest Point at which the unheard-of Courage of Don Quixote ever did, or could arrive, with the Happy Conclusion”—“An Old Song to a New Tune”—“The Raddies”—Fate of Leader—“A Dead-horse: a sorry subject; what was once a Leader in the Bridgwater Coach”—“The Three Tailors of Tooley Street. We, the People of England”—“Reorganizing the (Spanish) Legion”—Burdett for North Wilts—“Grinding Young”—Lord Durham—“The Newest Universal Medicine”—ejected of Kilmarnock”—Joseph Hume defeated at Middlesex—“Figurative Representation of the Late Catastrophe!”—Dan O’Connell providing the rejected candidates with seats—“Great Western General Booking Office”—Hume for Kilkenny—“Shooting Rubbish”—The interval before parliament reassembled—“Retzsch’s Extraordinary Design of Satan Playing at Chess with Man for his Soul,” 1837—Party tactics—“A Game at Chess (again): the Queen in Danger”—“High Life below Stairs (inverted), as lately performed at Windsor by her Majesty’s servants”—“Election Day: a Poetical Sketch from Nature”—The hustings—The chairing—John Sterling’s poem, “The Election,” 1841—A New Election at Aleborough—Rival Houses—The Candidates—The attorneys—A corrupt bargain—The canvassing—Indirect bribing—The Bribery Act set at naught—Female voters, a fanciful prospect by George Cruikshank—“Rights of Women; or, a View of the Hustings with Female Suffrage,” 1835—Memorable electioneering experiences: Two eminent writers as candidates for seats in parliament, 1857—Incidents in the canvassing of James Hannay—W. M. Thackeray’s contest at Oxford—Summary of bribery at elections: Bribery Acts 374