"These two patriots, who, let what party will prevail, can be no gainers, yet spend their time, which is their fortune, for what they suppose right, and for a glass of gin lose their blood, and sometimes their lives, in support of the cause, are, as far as I can see, entitled to an equal portion of fame with many of the emblazoned heroes of ancient Rome; but such is the effect of prejudice, that though the picture of an antique wrestler is admired as a grand character, we necessarily annex an idea of vulgarity to the portrait of a modern boxer. An old blacksmith in his tattered garb is a coarse and low being; strip him naked, tie his leathern apron round his loins, chisel out his figure in freestone or marble, precisely as it appears—he becomes elevated, and may pass for a philosopher, or a Deity."
Plate 2. Canvassing for Votes.
"Engraved by C. Grignion, published 20th February 1757," and inscribed to Sir Charles Hanbury Williams.
In this admirable print I discover no variations, except that the lion's teeth are, in the second impression, removed; and the lines throughout having been re-entered, are somewhat darker than in the first state.
Plate 3. The Polling.
"Engraved by Hogarth and Le Cave, published 20th February 1758," and inscribed to the Hon. Sir Ed. Walpole.
In an etching (touched in the shadows by Hogarth) which I have of this plate, the blind voter going up the steps has not any bandage over his eyes. The cockade of the sick figure just before him is not of sufficient length for the words "true blue" now inserted, and probably an afterthought. The fellow before him with a pipe in his mouth, in the print is without a nose, but in the etching has a very large one; while the man to whom this old smoker is presenting tobacco, and who in the print has so speculative and carbuncled a proboscis, has, in the etching, scarcely any nose at all. The book in the pocket of Dr. Shebeare is so much intersected as not to admit of the inscription, afterwards added, of ("the 6th letter to the"), without the strokes being burnished out.
Second impression—"Milicia Bill," awkwardly inscribed on the maimed voter's skirt, intended to appear as a paper hanging out of his pocket.
Plate 4. Chairing the Members.