ed him to
accept a share in the _True Briton_. He refused the offer and joined an
old friend, John Morgan, in opening a book shop in Pall Mall. For some
time he published the _Porcupine's Gazette_, which was followed in
January 1802 by the _Weekly Political Register_. In 1801 appeared his
_Letters to Lord Hawkesbury_ (afterwards earl of Liverpool) and his
_Letters to the Rt. Hon. Henry Addington_, in opposition to the proposed
peace of Amiens. On the conclusion of the peace (1802) Cobbett made a
still bolder protest; he determined to take no part in the general
illumination, and--assisted by the sympathy of his wife, who, being in
delicate health, removed to the house of a friend--he carried out his
resolve, allowing his windows to be smashed and his door broken open by
the angry mob. The letters to Addington are among the most polished and
dignified of Cobbett's writings; but by 1803 he was once more revelling
in personalities. The government of Ireland was singled out for
wholesale attack; and a letter published in the _Register_ remarked of
Hardwicke, the lord-lieutenant, that the appointment was like setting
the surgeon's apprentice to bleed the pauper patients. For this, though
not a word had been uttered against Hardwicke's character, Cobbett was
fined L500; and two days after the conclusion of this trial a second
commenced, at the suit of Plunkett, the solicitor-general for Ireland,
which resulted in a similar fine. About this time he began to write in
support of Radical views; and to cultivate the friendship of Sir Francis
Burdett, from whom he received considerable sums of money, and other
favours, for which he gave no very grateful return. In 1809 he was once
more in the most serious trouble. He had bitterly commented on the
flogging of some militia, because their mutiny had been repressed and
their sentence carried out by the aid of a body of German troops, and in
consequence he was fined L1000 and imprisoned for two years. His
indomitable vigour was never better displayed. He still continued to
publish the _Register_, and to superintend the affairs of his farm; a
hamper containing specimens of its produce and other provisions came to
him every week; and he amused himself with the company of some of his
children and with weekly letters from the rest. On his release a public
dinner, presided over by Sir F. Burdett, was held in honour of the
event. He returned to his farm at Botley in Hampshire, and continued in