"I will give your Grace a plumper," said
the man of grease, ?and procure you five
more on a certain condition."

"What is that?"

"That your Grace will give me a kiss."

"Why, then," said the duchess, "take
one."

These familiarities were in turn brought
into use by other ladies of high rank, both
for and against Fox. The committee over
which the Duchess of Devonshire presided,
had among its members the most celebrated
beauties of the day. The Duchesses of
Rutland and Portland, the Countesses of Carlisle
and Derby, Ladies Beauchamp and Duncannon,
and, in fact, most of the ladies of rank
in London were engaged in the contest, and,
in many instances, much to the dissatisfaction
of their husbands. The hustings were
constantly beset with their carriages, either
employed in bringing up voters or encouraging
adherents by their presence. The obstinate
and opposite canvassing fairly bewildered the
Westminster tradesmen, and many, to ease
their lives, left town for the country.

One lady had a troop of milliners in her
carriage, occupied in making up cockades for Lord
Hood, and distributing them to the spectators.
Her Grace of Rutland superintended the
distribution of the rum grog to Lord Hood's
sailors and soldiers, so that Fox's partisans
could the more easily defeat them, and she
encouraged the fierce battles between the
marrow-bones and cleavers and the seamen.
The Devonshire ladies had a balcony erected
in Henrietta Street, and there they greeted
friends or foes as they passed to the hustings.
The secret committee was held here. An
example thus set by the higher classes was
not long before it reached the Westminster
dames of every grade, and Sir Cecil Wray
very soon found that he had more to fear
from the women than from all Fox's and Hood's
roughs together. In the preceding parliament
Sir Cecil had endeavoured to impose a tax
upon maid-servants, to be paid by themselves.
Gilray's caricatures, and pasquinades that
represented him soused by the housemaids,
were placarded through the city. These
papers gave reason to Wray's partisans often
to hide their colours if they would not stand
the chance of being clawed or ducked by
some indignant abigail. Sir Cecil Wray was
also obnoxious to the military, because he had
endeavoured to abolish Chelsea Hospital.

So threatening had become the aspect of
the election that, on the second day, each
candidate found it necessary, having
marshalled the electors at his own committee-
room, to march them under a strong escort of
sailors, soldiers, bullies, thieves, and prize-
fighters, to the hustings, and thence back to
the rendezvous. In their progress to the
hustings, it frequently happened that opposing
parties met, and then a pitched battle took
place; electors ran for their lives, and the
ground was left covered with patients for the
hospitals. The candidates alone were unable
to quell the riots. Authorities called in the help
of constables from other districts, and it then
became the interest of the contending parties
to obtain the protection of these foreign
peace-officers, at their own committee-rooms.
So retained, they invariably sided with the
party by which they were paid, and being
well plied with drink they became active
promoters of increased disturbance. A body
of these constables from Wapping—in an
onslaught they made upon the assemblage,
killed one of their own force—a man of the
name of Casson—by a blow from a staff. This
caused several to stand their trial for murder,
at the Old Bailey.

Thirty sailors fell in a conflict with the
butchers, chairmen and brewers' men. Ten
of them died from the injuries received. The
Queen, who bitterly hated Fox, commanded
the whole of the household troops at St.
James's Palace, together with her household,
—from the page of the back-staircase to the
scullion in the kitchen—to be mustered, and,
on the fifth of April, to go in a body and poll
for Hood and Wray. The plan adopted, to
compel the Guards to vote for Wray, whom
they, to a man, detested, was peculiar. The
colonel of each regiment had the power of
allowing the privates to work at their respective
trades, this liberty making to some a
difference of thirty shillings a week in their
favour. It was threatened that such privileges
would be withheld, unless they all voted
for Wray, and, in this way alone, five hundred
votes were conquered.

The Prince of Wales, at the close of the
election, gave a rural fete at Carlton House
in honour of the victory of Mr. Fox, and the
defeat of the Queen's candidate. The
Duchess of Devonshire, Ladies Walpole,
Jersey, Campbell, Lewisham, Chawton, Julia
Howard, and Duncannon, were dressed in
Fox's colours, which were now blue and buff;
and they wore Fox's tails in their head-dress.
The Prince of Wales, also, wore Fox's
colours, and had a fine brush in the buttonhole
of his coat.

This protracted election having reached its
forty days limit, the high-bailiff granted a
scrutiny, at the desire of Sir Cecil Wray. The
hustings being demolished and the fight over,
Mr. Fox's friends, to the number of several
thousands, accompanied him to the Ladies'
Committee-room in St. James's Street, from
the windows of which the Duchesses of
Devonshire and Portland handed him into a
superb chair, when the grandest spectacle
ensued in the way of procession that had
been witnessed for many years. The
concourse of people was immense; the windows
along the whole route were filled with ladies,
wearing Fox's favours; and the streets were
lined with carriages. The order of procession
and its principal effects, were appointed by
officials from the Theatre Royal, Drury
Lane. It set out with four-and-twenty