the politics of several reigns. He had been one of
those members of the House of Commons who had carried up the Exclusion
Bill to the bar of the Lords. The court was therefore bent on throwing
him out by fair or foul means. The Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys himself
came down into Buckinghamshire, for the purpose of assisting a gentleman
named Hacket, who stood on the high Tory interest. A stratagem was
devised which, it was thought, could not fail of success. It was given
out that the polling would take place at Ailesbury; and Wharton,
whose skill in all the arts of electioneering was unrivalled, made his
arrangements on that supposition. At a moment's warning the Sheriff
adjourned the poll to Newport Pagnell. Wharton and his friends hurried
thither, and found that Hacket, who was in the secret, had already
secured every inn and lodging. The Whig freeholders were compelled to
tie their horses to the hedges, and to sleep under the open sky in
the meadows which surround the little town. It was with the greatest
difficulty that refreshments could be procured at such short notice for
so large a number of men and beasts, though Wharton, who was utterly
regardless of money when his ambition and party spirit were roused,
disbursed fifteen hundred pounds in one day, an immense outlay for those
times. Injustice seems, however, to have animated the courage of the
stouthearted yeomen of Bucks, the sons of the constituents of John
Hampden. Not only was Wharton at the head of the poll; but he was able
to spare his second votes to a man of moderate opinions, and to throw
out the Chief Justice's candidate. [261]

In Cheshire the contest lasted six days. The Whigs polled about
seventeen hundred votes, the Tories about two thousand. The common
people were vehement on the Whig side, raised the cry of "Down with the
Bishops," insulted the clergy in the streets of Chester, knocked
down one gentleman of the Tory party, broke the windows and beat the
constables. The militia was called out to quell the riot, and was kept
assembled, in order to protect the festivities of the conquerors. When
the poll closed, a salute of five great guns from the castle proclaimed
the triumph of the Church and the Crown to the surrounding country. The
bells rang. The newly elected members went in state to the City Cross,
accompanied by a band of music, and by a long train of knights and
squires. The procession, as it marched, sang "Joy to Great Caesar," a
loyal o