on the bill, not more than between thirty and forty attended at any one
time. By this means, and this only, the bill was eventually carried.

On these grounds John Doyle appears to have founded his theory that
William the Fourth was a sincere convert to Reform.[112] In one of the
"sketches" he shows us his Majesty in the character of Johnny Gilpin
carried along at headlong speed by his unmanageable _grey_ steed
"Reform." He flies past the famous hostelry at Edmonton, where his wife
and her friends (represented by the Duke of Wellington and a party of
Tories) are anxiously awaiting his arrival. The turnpike-keeper (John
Bull) throws open the gate to let him pass, too delighted with the fun
to think of any personal expense to himself, and conscious that if the
gate is shut the inexpert horseman must come to unutterable grief. The
bottles dangling at Gilpin's waist are filled with "Birmingham froth"
and "Rotunda pop," in allusion to the stump oratory of the Birmingham
Political Union and the Rotunda in Blackfriars Road. Hume and O'Connell,
the ardent supporters of the bill, cheering with might and main, closely
follow John on horseback; while Sir Francis Burdett and Sir T. C.
Hobhouse, equally ardent advocates of Reform, join the cry on foot. The
frightened geese with coroneted heads represent, of course, the peers,
who had offered such determined opposition to the measure, while the old
apple woman rolling in the mud is no other than poor Lord Eldon. The
bird of ill-omen foretelling disaster is Mr. Croker, Secretary to the
Admiralty. Later on the same year (1832), we find his Majesty
represented as Mazeppa bound to the _grey_ steed Reform, several of the
Conservative members of either houses of Parliament doing duty as the
wolves and "fearful wild fowl" that accompany the rider in his perilous
course. In another satire, the king, supposed to have discovered his
mistake, figures as Sinbad the Sailor, vainly endeavouring to shake
himself free of the old man of the sea (Earl Grey), who however is too
firmly seated on his shoulders to be dislodged.

UNPOPULARITY OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

The Duke of Wellington's political convictions having prompted him to be
among one of the leading opponents to the Reform Bill, he narrowly
escaped serious injury at the hands of the London rabble. On the 18th of
June, 1832, having occasion to pay a visit to the Mint, a crowd of
several hundred roughs collected on Tower Hill to await