112 ELECTION JOKE. 



trie genius, he offered himself as a can- 

 didate for the favours of the shoemakers 

 of Stafford ; and, after some few vain at- 

 tempts, succeeded in being returned for 

 that intellectual constituency. Upon one 

 of these occasions, when he had to exhibit 

 himself on the hustings, his speech was 

 received with hisses and vociferations of 

 "Off! Off!" by his opponents. Then 

 a wag in the crowd, a friend of his 

 own, afterwards well known to the au- 

 thor } slily, audibly, hallooed out, " Off with 

 his head so much for Booking *em!" 

 which elicited roars of laughter from 

 both friends and foes. Poor man ! he 

 spent the greater part of his life in 

 aping his superiors; and when he at 

 length attained the great object of his 

 ambition, by being, as he thought, 

 seated beside them in the great council 

 of the nation, death put a stop to all 

 further aspirations, or we do not know 

 to what office the conspicuous talent 



