(_Grub Street Journal_, No. 268. Also in the Poems Edition.) “With a curious frontispiece explanatory of the same in the following particulars:-- “I. The candidate welcomed into the town by music and electors on horseback, attended by a mob of men, women, and children. The candidates saluting the women, and amongst them a poor cobbler’s wife, to whose child they very courteously offer to stand God-father. II. The candidates are very complaisant to a country clown, and offering presents (a bag marked 50_l._) to the wife and children. The candidates making an entertainment for the electors and their wives, to whom they show great respect; at the upper end of the table the parson of the parish sitting, his clerk standing by him. III. The place of electing and polling, with mob attending. The members elect carried in procession in chairs, upon men’s shoulders, with music playing before them; attended by a mob of men, women, and children huzzaing them. To which is added the character of a Trimmer in verse, &c.” “A new Year’s Gift (for the year 1741) to the Electors of Great Britain,” contains the information that “The Oath imposed upon Electors--the only preservative of public Liberty from the secret and fatal attacks of Bribery and Corruption,” was as follows:-- “‘I, ---- ----, do swear, I have not received, or had myself, or any person whatsoever, in Trust for me, or for my Use and Benefit, directly or indirectly, any sum or sums of money, Office, Place, or employment, gift, or reward, or any promise, or security for any money, office, employment, or gift, in order to give my vote at this Election, and that I have not been polled before at this Election, ‘So Help me God.’ “Let every man of common sense judge whether an oath so wisely framed and strictly worded can possibly admit of any equivocation, to cover the base villainy of taking a bribe to his country’s ruin; and what shall we think of those men who dare tempt others to the breach of a duty so sacred! Ought they not to be stoned, or hooted out of society, as the destroyers of public Faith, Virtue, Religion, and Liberty? Do not such agents for the Devil compass his ends most effectually, by seducing men from the indispensable duties they owe to God and their country, to themselves and their posterity? [Illustration: THE HUMOURS OF A COUNTRY ELECTION. 1734. [_Page 90._] “Wisely, therefore, hath that good Law annexed the shameful penalties of the pillory to the breach of that Sacred Oath, with a large Fine of Five Hundred Pounds; and justly excluded all base perjurers from the most valuable Rights and Privileges of _Englishmen_, in the following paragraphs:-- “‘And be it enacted, That whosoever shall be convicted of false swearing, shall incur and suffer the Pains and Penalties as in a case of wilful and corrupt Perjury.