An election mob in the Piazza, Covent Garden, the façade of St. Paul's Church, with figures gesticulating on the hustings, indicated in the background. The whole space is crowded with people in violent and disorderly contest. In the foreground (left) a man with a grotesquely ugly profile, holding a flag inscribed 'No Back Stairs No Court Candidate Freedom for Ever', is carried on the shoulders of a lean man. He is followed by a man whose queue is being pulled by a large burly market-woman, who clenches her fist. In the centre a stout man, probably a chairman, a patch over one eye, attacks with a bludgeon a well-dressed man of exaggerated leanness, holding him by the lapel of his coat. The bludgeon-man has a favour in his cap inscribed (?) 'Town', his victim a favour inscribed 'An elector'. Three men lie on the ground, one (right) lies across another; a large favour in his hat is inscribed 'No Undue Influence'. A woman with a stall of cakes is being thrown down. Two viragoes (right) fight viciously, one holds a other's nose flourishing a broken bottle over her head. Behind her is a nag inscribed 'The Womans Man for Ever'. Hats, stones, clubs, a wig, a cat, fly in the air. In the thick of the crowd (left) a coach is being overturned, a man leans from the window.
<p><br>Three figures on a very small scale address the mob from the hustings, the central one being Fox, the others Hood and Wray. Near the hustings is a high gallows with a fox's head; from it hangs a placard: 'Dying speech'. A man brandishes a squalling cat which he holds by the tail. High on a pole surmounted by a crescent is hung a petticoat inscribed 'No petticoat Government'. To a broom is attached a flag inscribed 'Slats &amp; Garters to sell'. Other flags are inscribed, 'No Black Leg the Admiral for Ever'; 'Whig Interest'; 'No Soldiers No Bayonets', and 'No Faction No F'. Above the design is engraved, 'The Rival Candidates, a Farce, [A comic opera by Bate (Bate-Dudley), 1775.] Performed at Covent Garden Theatre!'
<br>8 April 1784 [So dated by Mr. Hawkins]
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<br>Etching
1784<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1784-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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