798:] 
‘is enemies : for on the roth of January, 
1764, we find him expelled the Com- 
mons, and a new writ was immediately 
ordered to be iffued for Aylefbury. The 
Houfe of Peers alfo thought its privi- 
leges violated, in the perfons of the bi- 
fhop of Gloucefter, whofe name had been 
afixed, as editor to an obfcene pamphlet, 
printed at Mr. Wilkes’s private prefs,and 
exhibited a remarkable refentment on that 
account. In addition to this, he was 
found guilty, in the court of King’s 
Bench, of the republication of the ** North 
Briton, No 45, with notes,’’ and for 
printing and publifhing the “ Effay on 
Woman.” Of the firft of thefe produc- 
tions, he was avowedly the editor ; 
but as tothe fecond, which is a parody on 
Pope’s Effay on Man, he was no farther 
criminal than by allowing twelve copies to 
be printed at his apartments : the real av- 
thor was a fon of an archbifhop of Can- 
terbury! In both inftances, the works 
in queftion were obtained by the bafeft 
fraud, his own fervants having been 
bribed and fuborned for that very pur- 
pofe. 
At length, a change of miniftry having 
taken place, and the parliament being 
diffolved, Mr. W. returned tc his native 
country ; and notwithftanding the terrors 
pf an outlawry, actually fiood candidate 
for the firft city in the empire, and only 
loft his eleétion by a {mail majority. He 
proved more fucceisful in the firft county, 
as he was returned a knight of the fhire 
for Middlefex, after a great and decifive 
-contett. 
The violated laws were, however, ftill 
te be atoned for, and, accordingly, the 
new member, with his ufual intrepidity, 
voluntarily furrendered himfelf, in the 
court of King’s Bench, on April zoth, 
1768 ; and on Saturday morning, June 
ath, fentence was pronounced ; in con- 
fequence of which he was imprifoned for 
twenty-two calendar months, and oblig- 
ed to pay a fine of 1oool.’ He found 
means, however, to get his out-lawry 
reveried *, and this was accomplifhed 
with lefs difficulty than had been ex- 
pected, as lord Mansfield, who, on great 
occalions, exhibited evident fymptoms of 
timidity,, was alarmed at the odium at- 
tached to all thofe concerned in the pro- 
ceedings, and did not, perhaps, think the 

* A fimilar cafe to that of Capt, Perry, fill 
languifhing inthe prifon of Newgate, had not then 
eccurred, or it might have been urged as a pre- 
cedent! The fituation of this gentleman is 
particularly hard, 
Original Anecdotesvone Fohn Wilkes, E/q- 
47 
bench itfelf, although furrounded by mace 
bearers and tipftaves, facred from the . 
fury of an incenfed multitude. 
No fooner was this neceflary prelimi- 
nary achieved, than the aétion againft lord 
Halifax, who had hitherto pleaded the 
out-lawry as a bar, was recommenced, 
and a verdict of 4oool. obtained. This 
fum, together with 1oool. recovered from 
Mr. Wood, the under fecretary of ftate, 
and the amount of the verdicts, damages, 
-and cofts of fuit, were all paid out of the 
civil lift, by an exprefs order of coun- 
cil! 
To balance the vi€tory, he was doomed 
to fuffer a frefh profecution. His long 
and rigorous imprifonment having en. 
fared the indignation of all liberal and in- 
dependent men, and enflamed large bo- 
dies of the populace to a degree of frenzy 
little fhort of madnefs, many riots took 
place, and St. George’s-fields became the 
fcene of much confufion. There were 
two legal modes of proceeding in this 
cafe. The firft, moft gracious and af- 
furedly moft politic, wwould have been a 
fpontaneous exercife of the royal mercy, 
which, by its extenfion to the prifonaer, 
would have diffolved the affociations en- 
tered into for his proteétion and {ppport, 
and left him without complaint, and, 
confequently, without adherents. The 
fecond was the conftitutional employment 
of the ciyil power, in order to keep the 
peace, and, in cafe of infraction, to punifa 
the offenders. A third was, however, 
recurred to, unknown to our ancient laws, 
equivocal invits nature, and problemati- 
cal in its application; this was the calling 
in a military force, a meafure firenuoully 
recommended by lord Weymouth, then 
fecretary of ftate, and, as warmly com- 
bated by Mr. Wilkes. This produced 
a fecond expulfion, and as one injuftice 
naturally leads to another, gave birth to 
the nomination of Mr. Lutterell, now 
lord Carhampton, as the fitting memter 
for Middlefex, although Mr. Wilkes was 
duly returned by the fheriffs, and fairly _ 
eleéted by an immen!e majority. 
If he was excluded however from 
parliamentary, civic honours poured 
thick upon him. While immured with- 
in the walls of a prifon (in 1769) he 
was eleéted alderman of Farringdon 
Withour, -the moft confiderable and 
patriotic ward in the metropolis. Twe 
years afterwards, he afpired to and ob- 
tained the dignity of the thrievalty, and 
in 1974, he was elevated to the city chair. 
In all thefe different relations, he exer-__ 
cifed 
