By
means of this new supply he managed matters so successfully, that
an evident majority of votes was secured in his interest, and nothing
could have obstructed his election, had not the noble peer who set
up his competitor, in order to avoid the shame and mortification of
being foiled in his own borough, offered to compromise the affair
with his honour, by giving up two members in another place,
provided the opposition should cease in his own corporation. This
proposal was greedily embraced. On the eve of the election, Peregrine
received an intimation from his patron, desiring him to quit his
pretensions, on pain of his and the minister's displeasure, and
promising that he should be elected for another place.
No other disappointment in life could have given him such chagrin
as he felt at the receipt of this tantalizing order, by which the
cup of success was snatched from his lip, and all the vanity of
his ambitious hope humbled in the dust. He cursed the whole chain
of his court connections, inveighed with great animosity against
the rascally scheme of politics to which he was sacrificed, and,
in conclusion, swore he would not give up the fruits of his own
address for the pleasure of any minister upon earth.
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