to reply--His dignified speech to the king--The king remains silent--“Nero did _not_ fiddle while Rome was burning”--The courtiers abashed--The king prorogues parliament with an address approving of the conduct of both Houses--The citizens eventually triumph in “the cause of Liberty and of the Constitution”--Lord Chatham’s eulogium pronounced upon the “patriotic spirit of the metropolis”--Beckford and Chatham, the champions of popular rights--The national importance of their conduct at this crisis of our history--Civic honours paid to Beckford--His speech to the king inscribed on the monument erected to his memory in the Guildhall--The corrupt ministers cowed--An uncontested election for Westminster, 1770--Sir Robert Bernard’s nomination--His election, without expense or disorder--Speeches of Sir J. Hussey Delaval and Earl Mountmorres on the late conduct of the Government--The advantages of leaving the people to the legitimate exercise of their liberties, uninfluenced by the administrative interest, corruption, and undue influence, the usual features at an election. 207 CHAPTER IX. “The Spendthrift Election,” Northampton, 1768--Expensive contests, the defeated men appearing in the _Gazette_--Colchester; Hampshire--Three noble patrons adversaries at Northampton: the Earls of Halifax, Northampton, and Spencer--Open-house at ancestral seats--The “perdition of Horton”--The petition and scrutiny on the Northampton election--The event referred to chance--Cost of the contest--The results of the reckless expenditure upon the fortunes of the patrons--Sir Francis Delaval at Andover, 1768--His attorney’s bill: item, “to being Thrown out of window, £500”--Reckoning without the host--An hospitable entertainment--Returning thanks--The Mayor _versus_ the Colonel--“Sir Jeffery Dunstan’s Address to the Electors of Garratt,” 1774: a parody upon election manifestoes-“Lord Shiner’s Appeal to the Electors of Garratt”--Bribery at elections, and “controverted election petitions”--Various methods of acquiring “Parliamentary interest”--Boroughs cultivated for the market, like other saleable commodities--Patronage--Buying up burgage-tenures--Recognized prices of votes--The Ilchester tariff--“Dispensers of seats”--Lord Chesterfield’s experience of borough-jobbing--The seven electors of Old Sarum--Typical sinks of corruption--Boroughbridge, Yorkshire--“The last of the Boroughbridges”--A solitary franchise-holder; one man returning two representatives--The bribery scrutiny, Hindon, 1774--203 bribed electors out of a constituency of 210--Wholesale corruption--Bribing candidates committed to the King’s Bench--A fine of “a thousand marks”--Boroughmongering at Milborne Port--Lord North’s agent--A wholesale purchase