to Baldrick, but, unlike the others, takes his defeat jovially, saying that: "if you can't laugh, what can you do?". His party's policies included: "the compulsory serving of asparagus at breakfast, free corsets for the under-fives, and the abolition of slavery", the last of which was apparently added "for a joke". The baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells (Ronald Lacey) is an enforcer for a loan-sharking operation, The Bank of the Black Monks, in the second-series episode "Money". Blackadder owes him and the bank 1,000 pounds, and when Blackadder cannot afford to pay, the bishop threatens to shove a hot poker into his rectum. Blackadder drugs the bishop and blackmails him by having the bishop sketched in bed with Lord Percy. Brigadier General Horace Bolsom (Geoffrey Palmer) – a candidate for the Dunny-on-the-Wold by-election in "Dish and Dishonesty", standing for the Keep Royalty White, Rat Catching and Safe Sewage Residents Party. Possibly a parody of Bill Boaks, a regular by-election candidate on a Public Safety, Democratic Monarchist and White Resident ticket. Philip of Burgundy aka "The Hawk/Thrush" (Patrick Allen) – The deadly childhood rival of Prince Edmund, he was known to his enemies as "The Hawk" (or, when a child, "The Thrush"). Philip managed to wrest control of The Black Seal away from Edmund, leading to Edmund's hideously violent but amusing death on a bizarre torture device, the "amusing" part coming from the feathers used to tickle Edmund under "what's left of [his] arms". Philip was poisoned by Baldrick and Percy along with the members of The Black Seal. ("The Black Seal") Sir Talbot Buxomly MP (Denis Lill) – Member of Parliament for the village of Dunny-on-the-Wold in Suffolk, who was recruited by Mr. E. Blackadder and the Prince Regent in the Blackadder the Third episode "Dish and Dishonesty" to prevent the Prince Regent from being removed from the Civil List in the House of Commons, but soon died as he sat on a chair while meeting the Prince, and left his seat open for a by-election in Dunny-on-the-Wold. Cain & Abel (Bert Parnaby & Roy Evans) – A pair of peasants with a great admiration for a faceful of manure. ("The Archbishop", "Witchsmeller Pursuivant", "The Black Seal") Lord Chiswick (Stephen Tate) – a courtier to King Richard IV of England. His most significant function appeared to be keeping the King supplied with fresh horses, although he did occasionally curb