“Array’d in matchless beauty, Devon’s fair In Fox’s favour takes a zealous part, But oh! where’er the pilferer comes--beware! She supplicates a vote, and steals a heart.” The compliments poured forth at the altar of this fair divinity were not alone addressed to the beauty of her face, the grace of her person, the excellence of her heart, and her captivating manners,--her intellectual charms also secured due recognition:-- “IMPROMPTU ON HER GRACE OF DEVONSHIRE. “Whilst Devon’s Duchess for Fox takes a part, Whilst she asks for your _vote_, she engages your heart; Can beauty alone such influence sway? Can the fairest of fair make all mortals obey?-- Oh no; for her empire is over the mind, And _beauty_ with _reason_ in her is combin’d.” [Illustration: Fox. Wray. Hood. THE CASE IS ALTERED. BY T. ROWLANDSON. [_Page 281._] Although every concession was made to the empire of Beauty, many of the verses were slyly sarcastic, while some of the caricatures were strongly coloured by the uncompromising coarseness of the age:-- “ODE TO THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE. “Hail, Duchess! first of womankind, Far, far you leave your sex behind, With you none can compare; For who but you, from street to street, Would run about a vote to get, Thrice, thrice bewitching fair! Each day you visit every shop, Into each house your head you pop, Nor do you act the prude; For ev’ry man salutes your Grace, Some kiss your hand, and some your face, And some are rather rude.” “THE PARADOX OF THE TIMES. “See modest Duchesses, no longer nice In Virtue’s honour, haunt the sinks of Vice; In Freedom’s cause, the guilty bribe convey, And perjur’d wretches piously betray: Seduced by Devon, and the Paphian crew, What cannot Venus and the Graces do?-- Devon, not Fox, obtains the glorious prize, Not public merit, but resistless eyes.” As an antidote to the bitterness there was, however, a surfeit of “sweets:”-- “A NEW SONG, TO THE TUNE OF ‘LET THE TOAST PASS.’ “To Fox and to Freedom we give our support, Every Englishman feels it his duty, When their cause is attack’d by the pow’r of the Court, And defended by Virtue and Beauty.”