234 BRIBES. 



never any lack of candidates, and ludi- 

 crous and absurd were the means taken 

 to ensure success. Although it was no- 

 torious, and well understood on both 

 sides, that each poor voter was to re- 

 ceive a certain sum, still it was thought 

 necessary to give 20?. for a parrot, or 

 15/. for a monkey, just brought from 

 abroad, by some seafaring member of a 

 poor family, to place a London banker, 

 a city alderman, or a scion of the noble 

 house of Blenheim, at the head of the poll. 

 I witnessed two or three of these 

 exhibitions of the representative system, 

 during the time I drove through St. 

 Albans, and I cannot say they gave me 

 a very lofty idea of the worth of the 

 constituency, the patriotism of the can- 

 didates, or the infallibility of our insti- 

 tutions. The practice, which it was the 

 intention of the Reform Bill to prevent, 

 had become more gross and palpable, 



