SECRET INFLUENCE DIRECTING THE NEW PARLIAMENT.
May 18, 1784. Preceptor and Pupil.
Not Satan to the ear of Eve Did e'er such pious counsel give.—Milton.
The Prince of Wales, wearing his plumed hat, has fallen asleep; Fox, now represented as a toad, with a fox's brush for a tail—who has crept from the concealment of some neighbouring sedges—is insinuating pernicious counsel into the ear of the slumberer—
Abjure thy country and thy parents, and I will give thee dominion over Many powers. Better to rule in hell than serve on earth.
May 18, 1784. The Departure.—This affecting scene is taking place outside the Prince of Wales's residence; his Royal Highness is watching the departure of his friend from the window. Fox is mounted on a patient ass, ready to ride the road to 'Coventry;' the High Bailiff, having unlawfully refused to make his return until the conclusion of the scrutiny which Sir Cecil Wray thought proper to instigate, the caricaturist hints that, for the time, the Whig leader will be 'left out in the cold' until the question of his return is finally settled. Fox has accordingly rolled up his India Bill, and is taking a doleful farewell of his fair champions, the Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Ducannon, on either side of his steed; the sorrowing ladies are grasping his hand and crying—
Farewell, my Charley!—let no fears assail. Ah, sister, sister, must he, then, depart? To lose poor Reynard almost breaks my heart.
Fox is observing, before his departure—
If that a Scrutiny at last takes place, I can't tell how 'twill be, and please your Grace!
Burke is standing, equipped as a postilion, in readiness to drive off his ally, with a plan of economy under his arm.