ef. a national.and conftitutional 
defence.; This plan, fo long fcout- 
defence.) This plan, fo leng 
ed, and fince,; in a great. meafure, 
emafeulated by fubfequent regula- 
tions}, was at. length carried “into 
effe&, butnot w ithout much oppo- 
fition; and cenfiderable diffatistac- 
tion on the fide of the people. 
» Mz... Wilkes, who was a great 
ftickler for the meafure, made an 
offer of his. fervices in Bucking- 
hamfhire on ‘this eccafion; and as 
he lived in great intimacy,with Earl 
Temple, the then lord-lieutenant, 
he foon became member for -Aylef- 
bury;( and colonel. of the county- 
regiment. . it is to be recorded a- 
mong the other fingular anecdotes 
of his life, that nearly at the fame 
time he was expelled from the one 
office by the. Houfe of Commons, 
and. difmiffed. from the other by a 
mandate from the firft. executive 
magiftrate. 
The member for Aylefbury foon 
participated in the general refent- 
sent againft Lord Bute, and, pof- 
feffinga a happy talent for fatire, con- 
tributed not a little to increafe the 
hatred he had everywhere excited. 
But this was not all> in the bitter- 
“nefs of his refentment, he accufed 
‘the nation among w hom that ‘no- 
bleman was born, of an hereditary 
attachment to flavery, and, without 
much ceremony, attacked certain 
perfons, who fondly hoped that 
their rank was not only too lofty 
for plebeian animadverfions, but 
even diffolved all connettion be- 
tween guilt and fhame. 
* ‘Squollet was the editor. 
‘CHARACTERS. 
37% 
Mr, Wilkes began his career as 
an’ authér in i762; and his firft 
political pu iblication, at © prefent 
known with certainty, was intitled, 
“+ Obfervations ‘on the Papers re- 
lative to the Rupture with Spain.” 
On the 5th of Ae in ‘the “fame 
year, he became the editor ofa pe- 
viodical paper of much ‘notoriety, 
called the ** North Briton,” which 
gave'a particular turn to, and ‘not 
only influenced the future progrefs 
of his affairs, but actually decided 
the tenour of ‘his whole life. No 
publication that ever came from the 
Englith prefs was read with more 
intereft, or circulated with greater 
avidity than this (the Letters of Ju- 
nius and the. works of Paine alone 
excepted): Nor were the effeéts 
difproportioned either to the end 
with which it was launched on the 
ocean of popular opinion, or the 
high expedtations that were con- 
ceived of its fuccefs. It was in vain 
that the minifters attempted to 
oppofe its proerefs, by means of 
the Briton * and the Auditor; the 
latter of which was conducted by 
Mr. Murphy, a man of confider- 
able parts, who, in the courfe of 
his variegated life, has defended 
the arbitrary principles. inculcated 
by a Tory adminiftration, and pre- 
fented us with a Whig verfion of 
Tacitus: His pen, however, on 
this o¢cafion ‘was made to drop 
from his*hand, by the mere force 
of ridicule aione; and his Journal 
itfelf expired in the flames of his 
own fhrida Taf +. He, gs 
id. 
“+ Such as with to be better acquainted with this intance of literary jockevihid: 
are referred to a note in p. 52, vol. 
works, or to the North Bion. 
1, of ,Bell’s fecond edition of Churchill's 
Here follows the epitaph occafioned by the dif- 
comfiture of the Auditors and it may be neceifary to premife thit this event 
Aa. 
oF Paaed + 
Wag 
