“Story! God bless you! I have none to tell, sir, Only last night, a-drinking at the Chequers, This poor old hat and breeches, as you see, were Torn in a scuffle. “Constables came up for to take me into Custody; they took me before the justice; Justice Oldmixon put me in the parish Stocks for a vagrant. “I should be glad to drink your honour’s health in A pot of beer, if you will give me sixpence; But, for my part, I never love to meddle With politics, sir. “FRIEND OF HUMANITY. “_I_ give thee sixpence! I will see thee damn’d first!-- Wretch! whom no sense of wrongs can rouse to vengeance!-- Sordid, unfeeling, reprobate, degraded, Spiritless outcast!” [_Kicks the Knife-grinder, overturns his wheel, and exit in a transport of republican enthusiasm and universal philanthropy._ It was in the session of 1797 that Mr. Grey first moved “for leave to bring in a bill to reform the representation of the country.” The motion, seconded by Erskine, was debated until three o’clock in the morning--an exceptional sitting in those days--when it was rejected by a Government majority of fifty-eight votes. Although the system of representation was notoriously corrupt, at least half the seats being in the patronage of interested persons, it was thirty-four years before Earl Grey’s measure for reform could be carried, and then only under extraordinary circumstances. After Grey’s earlier defeat, it was felt that in a House of Commons completely submissive to the ministerial dictates, and which resisted amendment, the opposition leaders could make no impression, and they accordingly announced their intention for the present of taking no further part in its proceedings; the voice of Fox was scarcely heard in the House till the century closed. Meanwhile, after the secession of the Whig party from the debates, the agitation throughout the country increased, political societies became more active, and frequent meetings were held to discuss the necessity for parliamentary reform. One of the most remarkable of these was held under the auspices of Bertie Greathead, the owner of “Guy’s Cliff,” near Warwick; a medal commemorative of this gathering and its object, reform, was struck for the occasion. These medals were a popular method of spreading political opinions. The patriotic reform medal was parodied by another of a loyal nature, representing the devil suspending three halters over the heads of the demagogues, who are mounted in “a condemned cart;” on the one side are shown the applauding “wrong-heads,” while a large assembly of “right-heads” express their contempt for the proceedings. [Illustration: Wilkes. Abbé Siéyès. Horne Tooke. C. J. Fox. William Pitt. Lord Holland. Earl of Chatham.