Letters between Mr. Wilkes, and the Rev. Mr. Horne.

201

Continuation of the Letters between, and relating to, Mr. Wilkes, and the Rev. Mr. Horne, from our left Magazine, p. 176.

To Mr. COTES.

SIR,

Was exceedingly forry, and much

pay you, or I did not. Is this debt to be found in your accounts which you have delivered to your creditors on oath? I will venture to lay it is not.

I was your name figned. If I did repay you, why do you en

to fuch a heap of nonfenfe and falfhood as is contained in your letter. I have never given you the leatt provocation. There was nothing in either of my letters that could offend you.

I only faid I was entirely a ftranger to you, when I applied to you for a publisher-that you found one for me that I made no other ftipulation with him, than to conceal my name, unlefs it was necellary for his fafety to difciofe it, and that by your means I firit became acquainted with Mr. Wilkes. The truth of all this you acknowledge. You then cat fome reflections on me, I fuppofe at the inftigation of Mr. Wilkes, who never yet hefitated about facrificing his friends for the moft trifling momentary advantage to himfelf. Now, Sir, you will fee in a few moments to what he has expofed you. You fay, that "foon after you had engaged a printer, I left England." The pamphlet was printed in June 1767. I did not leave England till three months after, in September.

You fay-that after my departure you thought the honell man would run too great a riique by publishing in my abfence; that you therefore took the whole impreffion from him." The fact is, that as foon as it was printed, you feveral times ordered it for publication, and a often topped it. You must remember the reafons you gave me for to doing: If you infilt on my telling them, I thall comply: I am only filent on that fubject from refpect, you ought to be fo from itrong tics of honour. You fay you paid for printing the pamphlet, but you do not recollect whether I have repaid you, nor do you deflre it." Now, Sir, obferve the dilemma into which you have brought yourself. Whilft I was abroad you became a bankrupt. (I do not mention it but from the neceffity you put me under; no man felt, and does till feel, more concern for you on that account than myfelf.) Either I did re

VOL. VI.

66

deavour to caft the reflection on me, of
being in your debt? If I did not repay
you, how will you efcape from the oath
of your bankruptcy? But you have
made this matter appear more ferious
than it is. Humphry, I do not want
to load you unjudly; all my friends
and acquaintance know, that on ac-
count of your misfortunes, and your
good nature, I have ever been your ad-
vocate. This expence of printing was
a mere trifle, which you have men-
tioned uncertainly in your letter, for
the fake of reflecting upon me, that I
might be fuppofed to be fomething con-
fiderable in your debt.
I did repay you
after your bankruptcy, after my return,
in 1757; you told me what I should
give you, and I paid you one day as we
were walking in the ftrect; for you
faid it was a trifle of fuch a nature, as
you never entered in your books. I
will pay you again, if you please:
Though, had I not paid you, it would
have been with a very ill grace that you
could reproach me for it; because,
when you became a bankrupt, you
owed my brother-in-law, Mr. Wild-
man, 221. which he would not claim;
He faid, honeft Humphry was heartily

welcome to it.

So much for the foolish pamphlet.

The only thing befides, which I have faid concerning you in my letter, is, that " I reconciled you with Mr. Wilkes, and that I thought he treated you, in your misfortunes, with a barbarous ingratitude." How could this offend you? You anfwer"that you never had a quarrel with Mr. Wilkes; and that you never accufed him of ingratitude." Mr. Wilkes has taken care not to fay fo much. I certainly did reconcile you: Mr. Wilkes, in the year 1767, and ever fince that time, down to the prefent moment, has conftantly accufed you of applying to your own purpofes above a thousand pounds, which, he says, he trusted with you to pay the debt due from him to the

Cc

Foundling

Letters between Mr. Wilkes, and the Rev. Mr. Hornes

Foundling Hofpital. In Mr. Wilkes's own account of the matter, I faw he did not tell truth; and when I talked to you afterwards on the fubject, I thought you justified yourself from the charge, and proved to me that Mr. Wilkes was in your debt. If Mr. Wilkes will deny this, I engage to bring as many credible witneffes as he pleases to prove it; for it has been his conftant defence, to all his friends, when he has been charged with that fraud on the Foundling Hofpital.

The bulk of your letter, Mr. Cotes, is upon matters very foreign to any thing I had faid concerning you or Mr. Wilkes. You give us an encomium on truth of, and fome common rant about, liberty; to which you add your opinion on political measures, and your tafle of literary compofition. You make fome remarks, and give a falfe account concerning the Middlefex and Surrey petitions; but I will not now be drawn off to answer them; nor fhall I trouble myfelf, at prefent, with what concerns you more nearly; I mean the POLICIES about D'Eon. I have known the circumstances of that fraudulent business fome time; but I fuppofe it will not be neceffary for me to disclose them; they will be brought to light without my affistance.

JOHN HORNE.

To the Rev. Mr. H OR NE.
LETTER IV.

SIR, May 24. IN N the accuracy of quotation you have a formidable rival in Mr. Lauchlin Macleane. You do not even publish your own letters correctly. I ought not then to be fo unreasonable as to expect you fhould print mine more faithfully. The third letter you have quoted of mine to Mr. Wildman has no date. Is there none in the original? I expect you to leave at Mr. Woodfall's, every letter of mine which you have quoted, and all thofe you print in future. Your letters to me fhall accompany this, and be left for your perufal at the printer's. The palm of exactness and fidelity you fhall yield to the Aiderman of Farringdon Without.

You quote me as faying, "when I was in England, I LODGED at Mr.

Wildman's houfe, in Argyle-Build
ings," but you chufe to omit the words
immediately following, because they
cleared me from one of your charges,
on his own moft pressing Invitation. In
your letter to me from Montpellier,
you only quote, "I have received yet
no letters," the original added, "from
England." In a former letter, I said,
"I fixed the price of the horfe,"
and infifted on paying him (Mr. Wild-
man) at that very time, which I did."
Will your brother-in-law deny this?
I thought five guineas the common va-
lue of a Welch poney. I had former-
ly purchafed more than one at that
price. He told me, I must give feven:
I therefore paid him down that fum.
The expences of the horfe, &c. tra-
velling to Calais, could not then be af-
certained. My letters confirm this
account. You quote, from that of
Oct. 19, 1767. "Send me likewife
the account of the little horse, and I
will pay the remainder to Mr. Pan-
chaud." Pray, Sir, what is the mean-
ing of the word remainder, in that fen-
tence? why did you not print that
word in Italics? the letter of March
29, 1767, fays, "I will repay you all
charges of every kind." Does this im-
ply the horse itself was not paid for
before in the fame manner the first
letter, "let me know every farthing
of expence you are at for me, my horse,

&c."

As to your old clothes, I have already faid, that they continued in my houfe, the Rue des Saints Peres, from May 25, till Nov. 1767, and were then fent to the great English banker's, Mr. Panchaud's. Your affertion of the paruning them, is an impudent falfhood, and a rafcally return for the care I took of fuch trifles at your defire, during the time I ftaid at Paris, and even on my leaving France. As to the Veftimenta pretiofa of Eutrapelus, it ought undoubtedly to be his acquaintance," not "him." Whether the printer, or I, made the trifling mistake, I do not recollect. The first idea was your's. I turned your own cannon against you. Your proof of my plagiarism of the Latin words is pleafant. You pretend I take from you two lines and a half, not a word of which you cited! I will

only

Letters between Mr. Wilkes, and the Rev. Mr. Horne.

only add, about the old clothes, that when you next wear red, I hope it will be 1 fuit of SCARLET and gold-cloth, not of black died red with the bloodof your countrymen.

The commiffions of Monfieur Saint Foy refpect that gentleman, not me, Mr. Wildman never made the claim of fuch a debt at the Bill of Rights. It is not to be found in the lift, nor was any application made on that fubject to Mr. Reynolds, either at Bath or in London. You declare, "I knew feveral of the fraudulent pretences you had ufed fince your enlargement from the King's Bench, to obtain goods from tradefinen." I know Mr. Horne to be the father of falfhoods. I call upon him to produce one fingle inflance, and I dare him to publish every thing he hnows of me, of every kind.

The reafon, Sir, why I did not give the whole of the two letters I have quoted, was the fhameful private fcandal in the one, and the dullness in the other. The practice of unneceffarily printing the names of private perfons, as in the late inftance of the members of the Bill of Rights, where it was a real injury to the parties, is highly to be cenfured. You may publish the entire letter if you pleafe. Why did you not quote the following palage of the letter, dated Jan. 3, 1766? “I am quite at a lofs about yourfelf, and very anxious to know what is determined, relative to you and thofe grand points with which your cause is inseparably united. Can it be that the prolent men in power should fo far forget themfelves as to forget you! "Sure nobody but my father would ever keep fuch a bird in a cage," faid Prince Henry of Sir Walter Raleigh; and furely none but the prefent miniftry would leave fuch a bird as Mr. Wilkes loofe."

As you mention the promise you had obtained, of being one of the chaplains to his Majesty, I fhall conclude my prefent extracts with the following paffage, which will fhew how peculi arly fitted you are to be a domeftic chaplain to our prefent fovereign.

"Sheridan is at Blois, by order of his Majefty, and with a penfion; inventing a method to give the proper pronunciation of the English language to

203 strangers, by means of founds borrowed from their own. And he begins with the French.

"I remember, a few years ago, when an attempt was made to prove Lord Harborough an ideot. The counfel on both fides produced the fame inftance; one of his wit, the other of his folly. Hls fervants were puzzled once to unpack a large box, and his lordship advised them to do with it as they did with oyfters-put it in the fire, and it would gape.

The commiffion of Sheridan appears to me equally equivocal. And thould a fimilar ftatute be at any time attempted against his Majefy, they who do not know him may be apt to fufpect that he employed Sheridan in this manner, not fo much for the fake of foreigners, as of his own fubjects; and had permitted him to amufe himself abroad, to prevent his fpoiling our pronunciation at home.'

As to the letter from Montpellier, you fay, 66 you have not denied that you dilowned to me the receipt of it." I affert, Sir, that I told you I received that letter, but had not time to answer it, while you ftaid at Montpellier. I referved this for the general catalogue of your infignificant lies, which I mean to give in my last letter. You add, "and you have not denied the fhewing about this letter, with an intention to intimidate and injure me." The letter was never fhewn, till after Mr. Morris declared publickly, "Mr. Horne told me, he had always the fame opinion of Mr. Wilkes:" I replied, "not always the fame. When I fee you next, I will convince you of it." I am not to answer for the injury a gentleman in holy orders may receive from fuch a letter, not wrote in a hurry, but of which he appears to have kept a copy, now called forth to light by his own treacherous conduct.

I fhall now, Sir, in anfwer to what you mention in the letter of Jan. 3, 1766, "I this moment received a letter from England, that tells me, Fitzherbert has lent you power to draw on him, to the amount of 100l. a year," give you a letter of the preceding month on this fubject, to Mr. Gearse Onflow, member for Surry, then one Ссг

204

Letters between Mr. Wilkes, and the Rev. Mr. Horne."

of the Lords of the Treafury, a copy
of which was taken by a friend at Paris,
before it was put into the pot. Mr.
Onflow has fhewn it to icveral perfons
in England.
(COPY)

folutions against General Warrants and
the Seizure of Papers, the repeal of the
late Excije on Cyder and Perry, and of
the American Stamp Tax; by which
four glorious acts the fubjects, both at
home and in the colonies, have been
reftored to their perfona' liberty, as
well as their invaluable and inalienable
rights and privilces. Such a conduct
fecured to them the confidence of the
people, and, of courie, the hatred of
our Sovereign, with their own speedy
diffolution. I am, Sir, your humble
fervant,
JOHN WILKES."

I

LETTER

SIR,

VI.

HAVE been afked, by fome very well-meaning men,

Rue des Saints Peres, My dear Sir, Dec. 12, 1765. I REGRET that I am obliged to fend this by the post, but I do not hear of any friend's going foon to England, and I think that it becomes the fairness of all my proceedings, with refpect to the gentlemen with whom I have been concerned, to ftate two or three facts to you, and immediately atter I had taken my refolution. Mr. Fitzherbert To Mr. JOHN WILKES. has offered me, in the name of fome of the miniftry, the annual fum of 1000l. to be paid out of the income of their refpective places. I have rejected this propoial, as clandeftine, eleemofynary, and precarious. I demand from the juftice of my friends, a full pardon under the great feal-for having fuccessfully ferved my country. I will wait here till the first day of the new year. If I fhould not then have received it, I fhall have the ftrongest proof that the prefent miniftry are neither the friends of Mr. Wilkes, nor of juice; because the. etter of Mr. Fitzherbert tells me, "that there is perfect harmony among them, and the perfect confidence and fupport of their mafter."

The frankness of my nature, and the openness of my conduct, oblige me to give you this notice. I afk not the grace of a pesfion, or of an employment. I all justice, and from gentlemen, who declare that I have been "extremely uefül, and ill used," and that they are my friends."

I bag the fcereft compliments of refpect to the good old Speaker, and to Mrs Opfw. I am ever, dear Sir, your mot affectionate, and obedient, humble fervant, John Wilkes. George Onflow, Efq;

I shall comide with obferving, that the above letter was ritten in confequence of Mr. Fitzherbert's miflaken information to me, at a time when the mer you who hate overe in tower, during the shores, because the molt virtuous, of all the lyre Ad larations; to whom we owe the palainentary re

1. Whether I did not in my first letter fay, that I would open no account with you on the score of private charafter?

2. And yet, whether I have hitherto charged you with any thing but bad actions of a private nature?

3. Whether your private character is worse now, than it was when I went fuch lengths in your fupport?

4. Whether I did not, at that time, know your private character?

5. How then could I be a friend to fuch a man?

6. If I was your friend, only for the fake of the public caufe, whether the fame reafon does not remain?

7. Whether your caufe is not ftill the fame? And,

8. Why I will fuffer any private pique, or quarrel between us, to come before the public, and injure that

caule ?

To which I answer,

1, 2. I have hitherto confined myfelf, according to the plan laid down in my first letter, to fhew, from facts, what muft have been the motives of iny conduct, and the nature of the intercourfe between us. For that purpofe, it was neceffary for me to mention fuch parts of your ill behaviour as fell within my own knowledge, and related to myself at the time of its commencement; that it might from thence phinly appear to every one, that I could have no private attachment to

Mr.

Letters between Mr. Wilkes, and the Rev. Mr. Horne.

Mr. Wilkes, though I was determined, to the utmost of my poor abilities, to affift him and his caufe, as far as it was a public caufe, and might tend to public benent. Had it been my intention to attack your private character (which I understand to be on all fides given up) I fhould have pursued a very different method: The tranf actions I have mentioned, are mere peccadillos, compared to the black catalogue which would then have appeared.

3. Your private character is not worfe now, than it was when I went fuch lengths in your fupport; except, that by continuing your former had practices in every respect, notwith-morrow, (the right of the electors beftanding every reafon public and private to restrain you, all hopes of your amendment are vanished; for the ingenuity of man cannot find out an additional motive of reftraint..