The prevailing candidate, or, The election carried by Bribery and the Devil [graphic].[March 1722?]eng"Satire on the general election of 1722 showing a grand room with two long windows and a pier glass between; to the left of this is a screen with seven folds. On the right three men, one holding a staff of office, can be discerned behind the screen reflected in the glass. From the left side of the screen an electoral candidate walks towards a voter grasping him by his right hand and with his left slipping a purse into the man's pocket. The voter is identified in the verses as a member of a corporation in a borough where only such members could vote; his leg is shackled by a chain. His wife listens to a clergyman who stands in a doorway assuring her "bribery no sin". The devil hovers over the candidate touching the voter on the shoulder and holding a blank scroll. Two boys in the foreground point to the transaction, one holding a wooden shoe, symbol of the oppressive French regime. The screen itself is adorned with little stars, at the top the years 1715-1722 are marked on the seven folds and the names of various acts passed by the previous government, "Quarantine Act .../South Sea Act/Act to indemnify S.S. V[illai]ns/Part of ye Succession Act repeal'd/Septennial Act".--British Museum online catalogueTitle from caption in ribbon above image.Questionable attribution to Hogarth in unverified card catalog record.Sheet trimmed to plate mark.Four stanzas of verse below image: Here's a minion sent down to a corporate town, in hopes to be newly elected ... That betrays the whole kingdom to slav'ry."