I TOLD him I had no vote,* for which he readily gave me credit. I assured him I had no influence, which he was not equally inclined to believe, and the less, no doubt, because Mr Ashburner, the draper, addressing himself to me at this moment, informed me that I had a great deal. Supposing that I could not be possessed of such a treasure without knowing it, I ventured to confirm my first assertion, by saying, that if I had any I was utterly at a loss to imagine where it could be, or wherein it consisted. Thus ended the conference.
Mr Grenville squeezed me by the hand again, kissed the ladies, and withdrew. He kissed likewise the maid in the kitchen, and seemed upon the whole a most loving, kissing, kind-hearted gentleman. He is very young, genteel, and handsome. The boys halloo’d, the dogs barked, puss scampered, the hero, with his long train of obsequious followers, withdrew.* We made ourselves very merry with the adventure, and in a short time settled into our former tranquillity, never probably to be thus interrupted more.
* At this time, before the Great Reform of 1832, voting was restricted to those who owned property worth 40 shillings per annum or more. According to Measuring Worth, this is equivalent in today’s economy to about £3,600 in terms of ‘prestige value,’ but as much as £24,770 in terms of ‘relative output,’ that is, the economic influence conferred by an income of 40s. However, Cowper had long been an invalid on account of chronic depression and relied on the generosity of Mary Unwin, which meant that he did not qualify to vote. See The Reform Acts
* In the ensuing election, William Grenville and Sir John Aubrey, both Pittites, were sent to Parliament as Members for Buckinghamshire. Ralph, Earl Verney, who like Cowper took the side of the Commons against George III’s unusual intervention, came third and so was not elected. Grenville rose through the political ranks and in February 1806 became Prime Minister. He remained in the office for just over a year, but in that time managed to get the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade passed, in 1807. Cowper, an ardent Abolitionist, would have thanked him for that.