1798. | 
the Letters of Junius, and the works 
of Paine, alone excepted. Nor were the 
effets difproportionate either ,to the end 
with Which it was launched on the ocean 
of popular opinion, or the high expec- 
tations that were conceived of its fuccefs. 
Tt was in vain that the minifters attempted 
to oppofe its progrels, by means of the 
«« Briton *” and the ** Auditor” the law 
tex of which was conducted by Mr. Mur- 
phy, a man of confiderable parts, who, | 
in the courfe of his variegated life, has 
defended the arbitary principles inculcated 
by a Tory adminiftration, and prefented 
‘us with a Whig verfion of Tacitus. His 
pen, however, on this vccafion, was made 
to drop from his hand, by the mere force | 
of ridicule alone, and his journal itfelf 
,expired in the flames of his own Florida- 
turf +. He, however; did nor fall alone, 
fér‘his patron foon lay proftrate by his 
fide ; and although he was fufpected of 
regulating the motions of the minifterial 
puppets long after he left the ftage, yet, 
fo obnoxious had he rendered’ himfelf, 
thet, from this moment, he was forced to 
bid adieu, at leaft, to the oftenfible ex- 
ercile of power. . 
The Thane was fucceeded by Mr. 
Grenville, the father of the prefent lord 
Grenville and the marquis of Bucking- 
ham ; who, partly from hatred to the au- 
thor, and partly from animofity to his 
own brother, with whom he had quar- 
relled (he is alfo faid to have been: infti- 
gated by anotlier motive) determined, if 
he could not-fupprefs the publication, 
that he fhould, at leaft, punifh the editor. 

* Smoilet was the editor. 
+ Such as with to be better acquainted with 
this inftance of literary jockcy/fhif, are referred 
to a note in p. 52, vol. 1, of Bell’s fecund 
edition of Churchill’s works, or to the Nurth 
Briton. Here follows the epitaph occafioned 
by the difcomfiture of the * Auditer;” /and it 
may be neceflary to premife that this event was 
produced by a waggifh letter figned ‘¢ Viator,” 
in which the advantages derived trom the pof- 
feffion of Florida (obtained by the peace of 
Paris) are ironically pointed out, particularly 
the peats and turf, that weré to warm the poor 
American jilanters in the winter feafon ! 
SIsTE, ViATOrR.. 
“ Deep in this dog, the Auditor Les /fii/, 
His !abours finifh’d, and worn-out his quill ; 
His fires extinguifh’d, and his works unread, 
In peace he fleeps with the forfaken dead ! 
With heath ana fedge, oh! may his tomb 
be deft, 
And his own turf lie light upon his breaft.”” 
Es gquocunque volunt animun Auditorisagunto. 
Ho Ra 
Original Anecdotes.—Fobn Wilkes, Ely. 
45 
The crown - lawyers were accordingly 
on the watch, and fome unguarded, per- 
haps, improper expreiiions in No. 45— 
for [ write not an eulogium—afforded 
ample opportunity for a profecution. 
_ It has luckily been always the fortune 
of arbitrary councils, not only to render 
the means difproportionate to the end, but 
to have recourfe to odious meafures for 
the attainment of their objeét, It was 
this very circumftance, that, in one age, 
bereaved Charles of his life, James of his 
crown ; and, 10 another, endeared Mr. 
Wilkes to the nation. 
Had a common aétion taken place againft 
the editor of the North Briton, and, after 
due conviétion, a moderate fentence been 
infliéted, Mr, Wilkes would have beer 
branded as a recorded libeller... ‘It was - 
the illegal proceedings which. occafioned 
that gentleman to be confidered as a fuf- ' 
fering patriot, through “whofe fides the 
liberties of a~whole nation were wounded. 
His, therefore, from that moment, ceafed 
to be a private caufe—it was the caufe of 
the people. 
On the soth of April, 1763, he was 
arrefted in the ftreet, by a king’s mefien- 
ger, in confequence of a general warrant*, 
avainft the authors, printers, and pub- 
lifhers of the North Briton, No. 45, and 
carried to his own houfe. The publicity 
of the aét having occafioned much noife, 
he was inftantly vifited bya number of his. 
friends, and, among others, by Charles 
Churchill, a fellow-labourer in the po- 
litical vineyard, whom he faved from im~ 
prifonment, by that prefence of mind 
which never deferted him on trying oc-. 
cafions. In the mean time, he defired two 
other gentlemen to repair to the court 
of Common Pleas, and fie out a writ 
of Habeas Corpus, in. confequence of his 
being detained a prifoner in his owa 
houle, by an illegal arreft. 
As lord Halifax did not choofe to pro< 

* (Copy) 
L. S.. .¢* George Mountague Dunk, Earl of 
“« Halifax, Vifcount Sunbury, &c. 
«¢ Thefe are in his maje/ty’s name to autho- 
rife and require you (taking a conftable to your 
affiftance) to make ftri¢t and. diligent fearch 
after the authors, printers, and publifhers of a fe- 
ditious and treafenable paper, entitled the North 
Briton, Number 45, Saturday April 23d, 1763, 
printed for George Kearfley, Ludgate-ftreet, 
London, and them or any of them having found, 
to apprehend and feize, together with their 
papers, and to bring in fafe cuftody before me, 
&c. «3 
« Directed to Nathan Carrington, &c. ; 
(Signed) « Dunk Halifax.’ 
ceed 
