Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Ready mony the prevailing candidate, or The humours of an election [print].

Accession number
PML 145850.223
Published
London : Sold at the Print Shop in Grays Inn, [1727
Credit line
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
Notes
Satire on corrupt elections, particularly that of 1727, set in a country town with several candidates bribing voters.
Three columns of verse below: The Laws, against Brib'ry Provision may make ... Contemn Gilded Baits, & Elect Men of Merit.
Inserted as item 224 into an album of collected prints, broadsides, drawings, and miscellaneous single sheet items, assembled by former owner Joseph Ames and entitled "Emblematical and satirical prints on persons and professions" (PML 145850).
Description
1 print : etching ; image: 183 x 290 mm; plate mark: 234 x 296 mm; sheet: 257 x 315 mm
Provenance
From the library of Gordon N. Ray.
Summary
Print shows on the left, a statue of Justice in a niche beneath which a candidate, doffing his hat, offers a purse of money to a voter who replies, "Twill scarce pay, make it twenty more", beside them a gentleman points to the statue saying "Regard Justice" to another carrying a bundle on his shoulder who replies, "We fell out, I lost money by her". In the centre, in front of a large crowd are two candidates, both waving their hats, slip coins into two of the many pockets of a voter's coat; one candidate says, "Sell not your Country" and the voter replies, "No Bribery but Pocketts are free". Further to the right another candidate, saying "Accept this small acknowledgment", offers a purse to a gentleman who grovels on the ground for coins that have been thrown down by the prevailing candidate, from his position on a chair supported by poles on the shoulders of four men. On the right, a statue of Folly in a niche empties bags of coins; before the statue is an altar on which a fire burns, a candidate kneels at its base imploring, "Help me Folly or my Cause is lost"; to the left of the altar, is a butcher crying "See here, see here" and to the right, a classical philosopher, saying "Let not thy right hand know what thy left does", puts his hand behind him to received a bribe from a young man. Beyond is a tavern outside the landlord, wearing horns, calls out "He kist my Wife he has my Vote"; outside the tavern hangs the sign of a bottle with a large globe attached.
Classification
Department