"In the year 1749 he married Miss Mead, heiress of the Meads of Buckinghamshire; from which marriage probably originated his connexion with that county. In April 1754, he offered himself as a candidate to represent in parlia ment the borough of Berwick, and addressed the electors in terms not ill according with that political spirit which afterwards marked his public conduct. He was not how ever on this occasison successful; but in July 1757, he was elected burgess for Aylesbury, and was also again chosen (at the general election) in 1761, for the same place.

"On the second day of the June following, the first number of the North Briton issued from the press; a work of which Mr. Wilkes was the chief supporter.

Amongst the memoranda of Gibbon, as given to the public by their noble editor, is a note of a spirited dinner party, in which col. Wilkes is mentioned as having supported his share of the conversation with much vivacity and intelligence. He is also related to have made a frank acknowledgment of his resolution to take advantage of the times and "make his fortune." That Mr. Wilkes, then colonel of the Buckinghamshire militia, made such a declaration, there is no doubt. But there may be much and reasonable doubt, whether any construction can be put on this beyond an intimation of his desire to become an object of popular attention. Neither his habits of living, nor his turn of disposition, were such as to render any supposition, that a plan of pecuniary advancement crossed his mind, at all natural.

"When cardinal de Retz was reminded that his debts were large,

he replied,

Cæsar's at my age were greater.' Such in all probability would have been the language of Wilkes, whose cast of temper was as little likely, as even theirs, to make interest the scope of his endeavours. It is not indeed easy to perceive how, even in imagination, he could promise himself, by the course of action which he adopted, that liberal provision as to worldly circumstances which he eventually obtained.

"The truth, I believe, is, that to be known amongst men was his ruling passion, and it must be owned that he undoubtedly possessed many of the qualities which deservedly command renown. A weak administration and ill-directed public counsels afforded him a harvest of materials for attack. He saw his opportunity, put in

his sickle, and crowned his toil with plenty beyond expectation.

"The North Briton had been established but for a few months, and had reached no further than the twelfth number, when it involved him in a quarrel with lord Talbot; a quarrel which ended in a duel. By a retired scholar, unacquainted with the world, it might not unnaturally be made a ques tion, whether a paper like this could by possibility have become a ground on which two reasonable beings should stake the hazard of their lives. And it should seem even to others that the liberty of political attack was certainly at that period in its infancy, when such a trifle occasioned such a meeting. The number complained of has for its subject some pensions, which had been bestowed by the administra tion of that day, amongst which were those allotted to Dr. Johnson and the author of Douglas. Had there been no juster cause of mur

mur

mur than this, they who then held the reins of government might have continued safe in power. When, however, a spirit of dissatisfaction is abroad, the lightest circumstance will tend to widen the circle of its influence. Even this complaint was not without its effect. Lord Litchfield also, and lord Talbot, bear a part in the paper; the chief assault against lord Talbot being a sneer upon his horsemanship at the coronation. His lordship however was irritable, and demanded, first by a note, and then by a message, a disavowal on the part of Mr. Wilkes of his being concerned in the composition of the number which reflected upon his lordship's name. Wilkes, to whose views an affair of this sort was not ill-suited, contented himself with a denial of his lordship's right to interrogate him upon the subject. An appointment was made between them, and they exchanged pistol-shots at Bagshot, without hurt to either party. Mr. Wilkes having fired, 'walked immediately up to lord Talbot and avowed the paper.'

"Mr. Wilkes was now daily becoming more known to, and, from his opposition to lord Bute, a greater favourite with, the public. The North Briton still went on, and Mr. Wilkes also became possessed of a most able coadjutor in Churchill, the poet. In March 1763, he addressed a dedication to lord Bute, prefixed to the tragedy of Roger Mortimer, an unfinished play of Ben Jonson. Between Mortimer, the favourite of Isabel, the mother of Edward the Third, and lord Bute, he drew a parallel necessarily not very favourable to the character of that nobleman.

"The busy and more important part of the life of Wilkes was now arriving. The far-famed No. 45

of the North Briton appeared on the 23d of April, and on the morning of the 30th, Mr. Wilkes was served by a king's messenger with a general warrant, in consequence of which he was on the same morning conveyed to the Tower. That a warrant to apprehend and seize, together with their papers, the authors, printers, and publishers of a work, without naming who those authors, printers, and publishers were even suspected to be, has upon its very face an appearance of illegality, cannot be denied. But in justice to the secretaries of state, who signed it, it should be remembered, that for a hundred years the practice of their office had been to issue such; and that in so doing they did no more than what precedents seemed to justify.

"It is worthy of remark, that this event came not upon Mr. Wilkes unforeseen. It was a piege tendu for his adversaries, rather than a net thrown over him by them. And if the knowledge of this circumstance should in any degree tend to diminish the praise claimed loudly for him at the time, upon the score of presence of mind, it will at least establish, what is perhaps still more to his reputation, and what, I believe, was as truly the real character of his understanding, that he possessed the talent of weighing with skill the consequences of his public actions. In a letter addressed by him to the right hon. George Grenville, in November 1769, he writes thus: The af'fair of Mr. Beardmore has been misrepresented. The warrant against him for several numbers of the Monitor was made special but directed the seizing of his books and papers. Mr. Wilkes knew Mr. Beardmore personally, < went to visit him at the messen. ger's

ger's house, and endeavoured to persuade him to bring an action of false imprisonment and damages for himself, his clerk, books, papers, &c. against lord Halifax. This Mr. Beardmore at that time absolutely refused. The transaction was in Novem⚫ber 1762.' Mr. Wilkes, therefore, had examined the nature of his case, before any step personally hostile to him was taken: and it must, I think, be owned that his battle was well fought, and that the advantage gained on the part of general liberty was not inconside rable. Mr. Wilkes's behaviour under the arrest was intrepid and spirited in a great degree. One instance of his collectedness (which certainly sprung out of the incident of the moment) he thus relates himself in his second letter to the duke of Grafton, 1766:

Whilst some of the messengers and their assistants were with me, Mr. Churchill came into the room. I had heard that, their verbal orders were likewise to apprehend him; but I suspected they did not know his person, and by presence of mind I had the happiness of saving my friend. As soon as Mr. Churchill entered the room, I accosted him, "Good "morrow, Mr. Thompson. How "does Mrs. Thompson do? Does "she dine in the country?" Mr. Churchill thanked me, said she then waited for him, that he only came for a moment to ask me how I did, and almost directly took his leave. He went home immediately, secured all his papers, and retired into the country. The messengers could never get intelligence where he was.'

"It has already been observed, that the secretaries might well stand morally excused in issuing a war

rant, which had so often been is sued before without opposition by other secretaries. But it is difficult to say why they thought it neces sary to command Mr. Wilkes into close custody, or why one of them should give orders for his being dragged out of bed at midnight. In all political contention between the governed and their governors, so much of natural jealousy will ever be excited in behalf of the former, that he is little fit to exercise au thority who permits mere personal irritation to shape his conduct. If it be necessary for the state to pu nish, it can be necessary only on public grounds. Power to procure respect should at all times be ac companied with discretion: but when power takes upon itself the office of crimination, if its demeanour be not grave and decent, it ceases to be power, and is tyranny.

"If that could be deemed a moral law, which regulates itself, not by general utility, but partial instances, the morality of duelling, with regard to this peculiar case, might almost be admitted.

"It is known that Mr. Wilkes was prevented from challenging lord Egremont only by his lordship's death. His lordship could not without reproach, which even he perhaps (not much alive to feeling) would ill have been willing to sustain, have refused giving that satisfaction which his antagonist avowed his intention to demand, whenever, by his giving up the seals, his lordship should become a private citizen. a private citizen. That ferocity, which the law of honour and of courtesy could not prevent, one should perhaps, were the correction certain, not altogether be displeased at its chastising. Fortunately, however, there are considerations of a higher sort to guide mankind than

mere

mere natural indignation; and the question therefore need not be agitated. It is to think more justly, to notice the superiority over his lordship, which Mr. Wilkes derived from the occurrence; a superiority sufficiently mortifying to a proud man, and more mortifying, because brought upon him by his own misconduct. Through the whole interview with the two secretaries, Mr. Wilkes bore himself in a high manner; nor perhaps, weighing his situation fairly, is it to say too much, to use the expression which he uses himself, that no friend of his had reason to wish one word unuttered. "Upon his commitment to the Tower, an application was instantly made to the court of common pleas for his habeas corpus, and he was brought up on the 3d of May. On the 4th he was dismissed from his situation as colonel of the Buckinghamshire militia. On the 6th the validity of his warrant of commitment was argued, his plea of privilege was allowed, and he was in consequence discharged. He im mediately erected a printing-press in his house, in George-street, published a narrative of the transactions in which he had been engaged, and renewed the publication of the North Briton. He visited Paris a few months after, and was there challenged, in the month of August, by a captain Forbes, who, standing forth as the champion of Scotland, asked satisfaction of him, as the editor and conductor of the North Briton, for the calumnies heaped upon his native country. Mr. Wilkes behaved on this occasion with much moderation, and

Mr.

of France, to whom he pledged his honour not to fight on French ground, When set at liberty he proceeded to Menin, and there awaited his challenger: but no meeting took place. The winter now advancing, Mr. Wilkes returned to England, previous to the opening of parliament, and again took upon himself the superintendence of the North Briton. Martin, member for Camelford, and late secretary to the treasury, having been treated in that paper with much asperity, at length took occasion to say in a very full house of commons, that the writer of the North Briton, who attacked him, was a cowardly as well as malignant scoundrel. Mr. Wilkes, though present, took no notice of the expression in the house, but early on the following morning dispatched a note to Mr. M. avow ing himself to be the author of all the passages complained of-an immediate rencontre took place at the ring in Hyde Park.

"When the gentlemen met, they walked together for a little while to avoid some company which seemed coming up to them. They brought each a pair of pistols. When they were alone, the first fire was from Mr. M.'s pistol: Mr. M.'s pistol missed Mr. W. and the pistol in Mr. W.'s hand flashed in the pan. The gentle'men then each took one of Mr. 'W.'s pair of pistois: Mr. W. missed, and the ball of Mr. M.'s pistol lodged in Mr. W.'s belly: Mr. W. bled immediately very much. Mr. M. then came up, and desired to give all the assist

Being again urged, however, though in terms of politeness, he half com. plied, but was in the mean while put under an arrest by the marshals

replied, that Mr. M. had behaved like a man of honour; that he was killed, and insisted on Mr. M.'s making his immediate escape, and

• no

no creature should know from Mr. W. how the affair happened. Upon this they parted; but Mr. M. came up again in two or three minutes to Mr. W. offering him a second time his assistance, but . W. again insisted on his going off. Mr. M. expressed his concern for Mr. W.; said the thing was too well known by • several people, who came up almost directly; and then went ' away. Mr. W. was carried home, but would not tell any • circumstance of the case till he found it so much known. He only said to the surgeon, &c. that it was an affair of honour. The day following, Mr. W., imagining himself in the greatest danger, returned Mr. M. his letter, that no evidence might appear against him; and insisted upon it with his relations, that in case of his death no trouble should be given to Mr. M. for he had behaved as a man ' of honour.' Mr. Martin was afterwards made the hero of Churchill's Duellist.

"Whilst confined by the wound received in this encounter, the public sympathy in his behalf was still further awakened by an attack made upon him by one Dunn, who was overheard to threaten the life of Mr. Wilkes, and appears to have sought an interview, chiefly that he might put his threat in ex

was overruled, and a message from the sovereign was conveyed to the commons, informing them, that J. Wilkes, esq. was the author of a most seditious and dangerous paper, and acquainting them with the measures which had been resorted to by the servants of the crown. The house, the proofs of the libel being entered upon, proceeded to vote, that No. 45 of the North Briton was, as it had been represented to be, a false, scandalous, and malicious libel, &c. and it was ordered to be burnt by the common hangman. A day having been appointed for the hearing of Mr. Wilkes's defence against the charge of being the author of the libel, he thought it proper to acquaint the house of the incapacity occasioned by his wound, and fur ther time was in consequence al lowed him. The house, however, suspecting some unnecessary delay, appointed Dr. Heberden and Mr. Hawkins to attend him, in addition to his own surgeon and physician; and further ordered them to report the state of his health. Mr. Wilkes politely rejected the offer of their visit. The house, he said, had desired them to visit him, but had forgotten to desire him to receive them, which he most certainly should not.

"At the same time, in vindication of the professional gentlemen whom he himself had employed, he sent for Dr. Duncan, one of his majesty's physicians in ordinary, and Mr. Myddleton, one of his majesty's serjeant-surgeons, humourously telling them, that as the house of commons. thought it fit that he should be watched, he himself thought two Scotchmen most proper for his spies. About a week after he suddenly withdrew to France; a retreat which prudence,