to the tip of his
nose). It had been objected to Bung that he had only five children
('Hear, hear!' from the opposition). Well; he had yet to learn that the
legislature had affixed any precise amount of infantine qualification to
the office of beadle; but taking it for granted that an extensive family
were a great requisite, he entreated them to look to facts, and compare
_data_, about which there could be no mistake. Bung was 35 years of age.
Spruggins--of whom he wished to speak with all possible respect--was 50.
Was it not more than possible--was it not very probable--that by the time
Bung attained the latter age, he might see around him a family, even
exceeding in number and extent, that to which Spruggins at present laid
claim (deafening cheers and waving of handkerchiefs)? The captain
concluded, amidst loud applause, by calling upon the parishioners to
sound the tocsin, rush to the poll, free themselves from dictation, or be
slaves for ever.

On the following day the polling began, and we never have had such a
bustle in our parish since we got up our famous anti-slavery petition,
which was such an important one, that the House of Commons ordered it to
be printed, on the motion of the member for the district. The captain
engaged two hackney-coaches and a cab for Bung's people--the cab for the
drunken voters, and the two coaches for the old ladies, the greater
portion of whom, owing to the captain's impetuosity, were driven up to
the poll and home again, before they recovered from their flurry
sufficiently to know, with any degree of clearness, what they had been
doing. The opposite party wholly neglected these precautions, and the
consequence was, that a great many ladies who were walking leisurely up
to the church--for it was a very hot day--to vote for Spruggins, were
artfully decoyed into the coaches, and voted for Bung. The captain's
arguments, too, had produced considerable effect: the attempted influence
of the vestry produced a greater. A threat of exclusive dealing was
clearly established against the vestry-clerk--a case of heartless and
profligate atrocity. It appeared that the delinquent had been in the
habit of purchasing six penn'orth of muffins, weekly, from an old woman
who rents a small house in the parish, and resides among the original
settlers; on her last weekly visit, a message was conveyed to her through
the medium of the cook, couched in mysterious terms, but indicating with
sufficie