Middlesex-election, 1804 [graphic] : "a long-pull, a strong-pull, and a pull-all-together" / Js. Gillray inv. & fect.

"Sir Francis Burdett, scarcely caricatured, is being drawn (r. to left.) by his supporters in his carriage towards the hustings, past a densely packed and cheering mob. He bows gracefully, his tricorne (with a tricolour cockade) under his arm. On the three panels of the 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 first and third panels have the motto the 'Peace &\ Plenty'. The driver is Horne Tooke; he flourishes his whip over the heads of his team, and smokes a long pipe. In his hat are a tricolour cockade and a blue and orange (buff) favour. 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 [cf. BMSat 9886]; 'Hints for the Democra[tic] Newspapers'; 'Sir Francis's Patriotic Speech on the Defence of the Country' [see BMSat 10054]; 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 makine a wound from which guineas are pouring. Its collar is inscribed 'A Cur-tis' (Sir W. Curtis, a contractor, cf. BMSat 7676, was one of Mainwaring's chief supporters). Behind the carriage, in place of footmen, stand Sheridan Erskine, and Tierney. Sheridan, a favour inscribed 'no Govr Aris' in his hat, 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. Erskine (in wig and gown) holds up a banner 'The Good-Old Cause' (a republican slogan of the seventeenth century), surmounted by a cap of Liberty with a tricolour cockade. 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 and mopping his forehead. 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, with a pair of shears and a measuring tape, and Grey with shirt-sleeves rolled up. Near him is Lord Spencer. ..."--British Museum online catalogue.