HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



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pamphlet, begun in 1731 by Edward Cave, 

 London bookseller, under the name of the Gentle 

 man's Magazine, was composed of the best articles 

 from the newspapers, and thus originated th 

 periodical works termed magazines and reviews 

 which are now conspicuous as vehicles of ligh 

 literature and political discussion. 



The peculiar literary genius of the age was 

 shewn in the fictitious prose-writings of Fielding 

 Smollett, and Sterne, and in the pictures of Hog- 

 arth, all of which represent the national character 

 in its greatest breadth. The novels of Richardson 

 are also accurate as descriptions of manners, but 



ntain no trace of the same humour. Next in 

 istinction to these writings must be placed the 

 issays of John Hawkesworth and Samuel Johnson 

 the latter of whom, besides being an essayist anc 

 poet, did a great service to literature in compiling 

 a Dictionary of the English Language. James 

 Thomson, William Collins, and Thomas Gray rank 

 high as poets ; and philosophy was represented 

 chiefly by Francis Hutcheson and David Hartley. 

 Drs Conyers Middleton, Joseph Butler, and Isaac 

 Watts were the principal writers on religious 

 subjects. 



GEORGE III. BUTE ADMINISTRATION PEACE 

 OF 1763. 



Soon after his accession, George III. eldest 

 son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, who died before 

 his father espoused the Princess Charlotte of 

 Mecklenburg-Strelitz, by whom he had a large 

 family. His chief adviser was the Earl of Bute, 

 a Scottish nobleman of Tory predilections, who 

 had been his preceptor, and possessed a great 

 influence over his mind. Partly through Bute, 

 who was made a Secretary of State, more 

 peaceful counsels now began to prevail in the 

 government. Pitt, the Great Commoner, re- 

 signed in 1761, because his proposal to declare 

 war against Spain, then the ally of France, was 

 opposed by his colleagues. War broke out again, 

 however, and was carried on with much success 

 on the part of this country till 1763, when peace 

 was made with both France and Spain by the 

 Treaty of Paris. By this treaty, Great Britain 

 gave up a certain portion of her conquests, in 

 exchange for others which had been wrested from 

 her ; but she was nevertheless a gainer to an 

 immense amount. She acquired from the French 

 Canada ; that part of Louisiana east of the 

 Mississippi; Cape Breton; Senegal; the islands 

 of Grenada, Dominica, St Vincent, and Tobago ; 

 with all the acquisitions which the French had 

 made upon the Coromandel Coast in the East 

 Indies since 1749. From Spain she acquired 

 Minorca, East and West Florida, with certain 

 privileges of value. 



TRANSACTIONS IN IRELAND. 



Since the pacification at Limerick, Ireland had 

 been ruled exclusively by the Protestant party, 

 who, under the influence of feelings arising from 

 local and religious antipathies, had visited the 

 Catholics with many severities. They naturally 

 became very discontented, and the contentions of 

 the patriotic party with the adherents of the 

 English ministry were carried on with the utmost 

 keenness in parliament, when the rebellion in 

 Scotland (1745) alarmed the government for the 

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loyalty of Ireland. The celebrated Earl of Ches- 

 terfield was, in this exigency, sent for a short time 

 as Lord-lieutenant, and allowed to hold forth all 

 possible encouragement to the Catholics and 

 patriotic party. So successful was he in his 

 mission of conciliation that Ireland, though full 

 of Roman Catholics, and bound to the Jacobite 

 cause by many associations, remained perfectly 

 faithful to the Hanover dynasty. When the 

 danger was over, the earl was recalled, and the 

 former system resumed. 



CASE OF MR WILKES. 



Ever since the accession of the Brunswick 

 family in 1714, the government had been chiefly 

 conducted by the Whig party, who formed a very 

 powerful section of the aristocracy of England. 

 George III. however, who had imbibed high 

 notions of the royal prerogative from the Earl of 

 Bute, shewed, from the beginning of his career, an 

 anxious desire to extend the power of the crown, 

 and to shake off the influence of the great Whig 

 families. A Scotsman, with no connection in 

 England, a favourite, and, moreover, a man of 

 unprepossessing manners, the Earl of Bute had 

 neither the support of the aristocracy nor of the 

 people. He was assailed in parliament, and 

 through the newspapers, with the most violent 

 abuse the peace, which was disliked by the 

 people, furnishing a powerful topic against him. 

 To this storm he at length yielded, by retiring 

 (April 8, 1763). 



Among the public writers who assailed the 

 ministry, none was more virulent than Mr John 

 Wilkes, member for Aylesbury, and editor of a 

 paper entitled the North Briton. Mr George Gren- 

 ville, who succeeded Bute, commenced his career 

 by prosecuting Wilkes for a libel, and arrested 

 him on a 'general warrant,' which was illegal. 

 Wilkes was subsequently expelled from the House 

 of Commons, and outlawed. A few years after- 

 wards, he came back to England, and, in 1768, he 

 was returned for Middlesex. Not being allowed 

 to take his seat, he became, in the eyes of the 

 mob, the champion of popular liberty, and riots 

 followed in various parts of the country, resulting 

 nloss of life. In 1774, Wilkes was allowed to take 

 lis seat. 



AMERICAN STAMP-ACT. 



The administration of Mr Grenville is also 

 memorable for the first attempt to tax the Amer- 

 can colonies. An act passed under his influence 

 (March 1765) for imposing stamps on those coun- 

 iries, appeared to the colonists as a step extremely 

 dangerous to their liberties, considering that they 

 lad no share in the representation. They there- 

 fore combined almost universally to resist the 

 ntroduction of the stamped paper by which the 

 ;ax was to be raised. Resolutions were passed in 

 ;he various assemblies of the States, protesting 

 against the assumed right of the British legislature 

 :o tax them. The home government was then 

 nduced to agree to the repeal of the act, but with 

 :he reservation of a right to impose taxes on the 

 colonies. Between the Stamp-act and its repeal, 

 a change had taken place in the administration : 

 he latter measure was the act of a new ministry 

 under the Marquis of Rockingham, which, how- 

 iver, did not long continue in power, being 



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