Middlesex-election : 1804 / Js. Gillray, inv. & fect.

Print shows Sir Francis Burdett being drawn by his supporters in his carriage towards the hustings, past a cheering mob. On the three panels of his barouche are depicted (1) a bird with an olive-branch, and the scroll 'Egalité'; (2) a hand emerging from flames holding up a fire-brand, with a scroll, 'The Torch of Liberty') a frothing tankard on which is a bust portrait of 'Buonaparte', the scroll 'Three Pence a Pot'. The driver is Horne Tooke; from his pocket issues a stream of election literature, part of which has reached the ground: 'Speeches for Sir Fra[ncis] on ye Hustings'; 'Hints'; 'Speech from the Hustings'; 'Speeches for the Crown & Anchor Dinner'; 'Sir Fra[ncis's] Address to the Mob'; 'Bills for all the Pissing Posts; 'Hints for the Democra[tic] Newspapers'; 'Sir Francis's Patriotic Speech on the Defence of the Country'; Bills for Hackney Coaches'; 'Important Fact - Pitt the Supporter of Justices'; 'No Begging Candidate'; 'No Squinting Representative'; 'A Squeese for the Contractors.' The last lies besides a dog over whose body the hind-wheel passes making a wound from which guineas are pouring. Behind the carriage, in place of footmen, stand Sheridan, Erskine, and Tierney. Sheridan holds up a fringed pictorial banner, inscribed 'Governor Aris [the name almost obliterated] in all his Glory': Pitt violently scourges Britannia, whose hands are confined in a pillory. Tierney holds up a huge key tied to a pole and labelled 'No Bastille'. Ten or more men drag the carriage by ropes; the wheelers are Fox as a ragged chimney-sweeper with a brush under his arm, and Norfolk, wearing a striped shirt and an apron. In front of these are Derby, as a jockey, and Lansdowne. The next pair are the Duke of Bedford as a farmer in a smock and (?) the Duke of Northumberland, wearing an apron. In front of these are Lord Carlisle as a tailor and Grey. Near him is Lord Spencer. In front of these is the profile of Bosville. Moira, in regimentals, stands in the foreground, beating a drum. Behind the carriage is a band of butchers, beating marrow-bones on cleavers. They are led by Tyrwhitt Jones, dressed as a butcher, and little General Walpole. Behind Moira is a lamp-post from which hangs a rat labelled 'No Ministerial Rats'. To the post is attached a banner: 'Independence & Free Election'; on it are placards: 'Triomphe de la Liberté'; 'The Rats A la Lenterne [sic] an Old Song Revived by Capt Morris'; 'Wanted a number of Recruits for the Coalition Dinner'. Behind the carriage is a tavern, with two placards over the door (inscribed 'Good Entertainment'): 'Mainwaring - King & Country' and 'No Despard.' Its sign, a Bible and Crown, is 'the Constitution'; to this is attached a Union flag. A mob with bludgeons is storming the tavern door, and missiles are being hurled at the sign-board. Others of the mob clamour below the hustings; they have emblems which they hold up on poles: a body hanging from a gibbet, a collecting-box, a white shirt, and a banner: 'No Begging Candidate'.