nd of the town, by
which he incurred expenses his fortune could not support, and which they
were not willing to discharge. They could feast at his table, and drink
his claret; but his entertainments and his wit, which they equally
enjoyed, must be set down to his own account. Nay, one of his
companions, the new secretary of state, Lord Sandwich, one of the most
notorious of the whole club, now suddenly turned round upon him, and
accused him of leading a profligate and debauched life!

On the return of the commons to their own house, Grenville, aware of the
intention of Wilkes to make a formal complaint respecting the breach of
privilege, anticipated him by relating what had passed in the arrest
and liberation of that member, and by laying the libel on the table.
The house by a large majority-resolved, that the 45th No. of the "North
Briton" was a false, scandalous, and seditious libel, and ordered that
the said paper should be burned by the hands of the common hangman.
In reply, Wilkes declared that the rights of all the members had been
violated in his person, and he requested that the question of privilege
should be at once taken into consideration. The house adjourned this
question for one week, but on the same night, Lord Sandwich produced in
the house of lords, a copy of the "Essay on Woman," and loudly exclaimed
against the profaneness and indecency of this poetical production of
Wilkes. His attack on Wilkes surprised most men who heard him, but he
was followed by one who had a right to complain. Dr. Warburton, now
Bishop of Gloucester, inveighed bitterly on the use which had been made
of his name in the annotations, and commented in severe language on the
outrageous infidelity of the production, declaring that when the author
of it arrived in hell, he would not find one companion there among its
"blackest fiends." A day was appointed for bringing John Wilkes to their
lordship's bar, to answer to a charge of a breach of privilege; but in
the meantime, an event occurred which rendered it impossible for him
to appear. In the course of the debate in the lower house, Mr. Martin,
member for Camelford, who had been secretary to the treasury during
Bute's administration, and had been attacked in the "North Briton,"
stigmatized Wilkes as a "cowardly, malignant, and scandalous scoundrel."
His words were twice repeated, as he looked across the house at the
object of his attack, with rage flashing from his eyes. Wilkes seemed