-and his Lordship forgot
it!

[Footnote 1: Lord George Gordon was a younger son of the Duke of Gordon;
and because the Parliament had passed a Bill to relieve the Roman
Catholics from some of the disabilities which seemed no longer desirable
nor just to maintain, he instigated a body calling itself the Protestant
Association to present a monster petition to the House of Commons, and
headed a procession of at least fifty thousand to march with it to the
House. The processionists behaved with great violence on their march,
insulting those members of both Houses whom they thought unfavourable to
their views; and, when the House adjourned without taking their petition
into consideration, they began to commit the most violent outrages. They
burnt Newgate; they burnt the house of the great Chief Justice, Lord
Mansfield; and for two days seemed masters of London, till the King
himself summoned a Privy Council, and issued orders for the troops to
put down the rioters. Many of the rioters were brought to trial and
executed. Lord George, being prosecuted for high treason, to which his
offence did not amount, instead of for sedition, was acquitted, to the
great indignation of the French historian, Lacretelle, that "Cet
extravagant scelerat ne paya point de sa tete un tel crime."]

Early on Friday morning the conservators of the Church of England
assembled in _St. George's_ Fields to encounter the dragon, the old
serpent, and marched in lines of six and six--about thirteen thousand
only, as they were computed--with a petition as long as the procession,
which the apostle himself presented; but, though he had given out most
Christian injunctions for peaceable behaviour, he did everything in his
power to promote a massacre. He demanded immediate repeal of toleration,
told Lord North he could have him torn to pieces, and, running every
minute to the door or windows, bawled to the populace that Lord North
would give them no redress, and that now this member, now that, was
speaking against them.

In the mean time, the Peers, going to their own Chamber, and as yet not
concerned in the petition, were assaulted; many of their glasses were
broken, and many of their persons torn out of the carriages. Lord Boston
was thrown down and almost trampled to death; and the two Secretaries of
State, the Master of the Ordnance, and Lord Willoughby were stripped of
their bags or wigs, and the three first came into the House with their
hair all dishev