[262] The Duellist.
[263] It has been said that Wilkes had to leave Paris hastily, a letter de cachet having been signed to lodge him in the Bastille, probably as the supposed author of "The Origin of Despotism." This supposition is, however, a direct contradiction of a statement in Walpoliana attributed to Horace Walpole. "Depend upon it that Wilkes was in the pay of France, during the Wilkes and Liberty days. Calling one day on the French minister, I observed a book on his table, with Wilkes's name in the first page. This led to a conversation, which convinced me. Other circumstances, too long and minute to be repeated, strengthened, if necessary, that conviction. I am as sure of it, as of any fact I know. Wilkes at first cringed to Lord Bute. The embassy to Constantinople was the object of his ambition. It was refused, and you know what followed."
[264] History of England in the Eighteenth Century.
[265] "In the public press, on the platform, on the stage, his influence was enormous. His good pleasure sent politicians to Parliament; his good pleasure made London sheriffs, made provincial mayors."—Justin McCarthy: History of the Four Georges.
[266] Henry Lawes Luttrell (1743-1821), succeeded his father as second Earl of Carhampton, 1787.
[267] Chatham Correspondence.
[268] Subsequently George asked: "Has she cut my waistcoat? for I have had no time to examine. Nothing could have been done easier, for there was nothing for her to go through but a thin linen and fat."
[269] Mrs. Delany: Autobiography and Correspondence.
"Talk no more of the lucky escape of the head,
From a flint so unluckily thrown,
I think very diff'rent, with thousands indeed,
'Twas a lucky escape for the stone."