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William Hogarth's The Polling. Plate III. (London, 1758)
This eighteenth-century print shows a polling booth on Election Day. The two candidates sit on chairs at the back of the polling booth, one scratching his head while the other looks over the crowd. One of the men in the booth has drawn a caricature of the candidate closest to him. The pleased expression on the candidate's face suggests that he is winning. Another man in the booth has fallen asleep.
The first voter is an old soldier who has lost both arms and a leg. Therefore, the soldier takes the oath with his hook. The clerk finds this act amusing, but the nearby lawyers argue whether the oath is valid if an actual hand has not been used. Near the old soldier is a simpleton, who is being coached by a man wearing restraints on his legs. Behind him are a dying man, a blind man, and a man with crutches. The implication is that candidates who need votes will bring anyone in to vote.
In the background is a coach that is about to overturn because the coachman and
footman are playing cards. Brittania, the passenger, cannot get their attention to
prevent ruin. Hogarth’s print serves as a warning to Great Britain that bribery and
election stunts are distracting the nation from its important duties.
Source: Ronald Paulson, Hogarth’s Graphic Works, I (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1965), pp. 233–234.
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Historic Triangle
