Hogarth's 'Country Inn Yard at Election Time': A Problem in Interpretation

Abstract

The print usually called The Stage Coach or Country Inn Yard (see plate I) has never been seriously dealt with by Hogarth scholars.' A relatively slight piece, it has been overshadowed by the immensely popular Simon Lord Lovat that preceded it in 1746 and by the twelve plates of Industry and Idleness that followed later in the same summer of 1747. It has, however, its mysteries; its transparency is clouded in certain particulars. Moreover, it stands at a pivotal point in Hogarth's career, between the complex reading structures of his earlier 'Progresses' and the simple contrasts employed in his popular prints of 1747-51 and later formulated in the aesthetic theory of The Analysis ofBeauty (1753). The print was announced in both the Daily Advertiser and the General Advertiser on 26June 1747: 'This Day is publish'd (Price Is.)', a print 'representing A Country Inn Yard at Election Time'. This title, however, never appeared on the print itself, which was accompanied only by a publication line. In Hogarth's price-lists for his prints it was called simply Country InnYard. The advertised title may have introduced a topical dimension with which Hogarth did not wish permanently to encumber his print. We know that on I7 June, at the end of the current session, Parliament was prorogued and the next day dissolved. On 18 June the King's chief minister, Henry Pelham, unexpectedly announced a General Election to be held at the end of the month. In terms of the Septennial Act a new General Election was not called for until the summer of 1748. Pelham's reason was ostensibly that England's allies in the peace negotiations to end the War of the Austrian Succession might be unwilling or unable to negotiate with a lame-duck parliament. A less idealistic motive may have been the desire to forestall the Prince of Wales's Opposition party, which, having got under way that spring, was not yet a threat to the Pelham ministry but might well become one by the time of the mandatory election.