At a polling booth, reserve voters, consisting of disabled and sick men and others, proceed up the stairs to take oaths; in the background Britannia sits in a coach that has broken down while the coachman and footman play at cards. Engraving by William Hogarth and François Morellon de la Cave, 1758.

  • Hogarth, William, 1697-1764.
Date:
Published 20 Febry 1758. as the Act directs
Reference:
38398i
Part of:
An election
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Description

The two candidates sit at the back of the booth perched on chairs above the throng. On the left, one of the two men in the booth draws a caricature of the nearby candidate. Two rival lawyers argue on either side of a voter with a hook-hand and peg-leg. The lowermost voter supports himself with a pair of crutches. The broken-down coach is an allegory of the state of the nation. A popular execution broadside is hawked by a woman. In the background the bridge is crowded by the rival factions bristling with sticks and staves

Publication/Creation

[London] : W. Hogarth, Published 20 Febry 1758. as the Act directs.

Physical description

1 print : engraving, with etching ; image 40.7 x 54.2 cm.

Related material

Select images of this work were taken by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum: WT/D/1/20/1/91/18

Lettering

The polling. Plate III. Engrav'd by W. Hogarth & Le Cave. To the honble sr Edward Walpole Knight of the Bath. this plate is most humbly inscrib'd by his most obedient humble servant Willm Hogarth. The words "Milicia Bill" appear on the coat of the hook-handed voter in the left foreground; an expiring man has "True blue" inscribed on his hat and a manacled figure has a letter in his pocket inscribed: "the 6th letter to the...by that..."

Edition

Paulson state III.

References note

R. Paulson, Hogarth's graphic works, London 1989, 3rd edition, no. 200
British Museum Catalogue of political and personal satires, London 1877, vol. 3, no. 3309
A poetical description of Mr. Hogarth's election prints: in four cantos. Written under Mr. Hogarth's sanction and inspection, London 1759, pp. 15-18

Reference

Wellcome Collection 38398i

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