]
[hg] _Where Beelzebub upon duty_----.
[hg] _Where Beelzebub upon duty_----.
Byron
L.
, 1898, pp.
190-197. ]
[536] {511}[In 1774 Wilkes was elected Lord Mayor, and in the following
spring it fell to his lot to present to the King a remonstrance from the
Livery against the continuance of the war with America. Walpole (April
17, 1775, Letters, 1803, vi. 257) says that "he used his triumph with
moderation--in modern language with good breeding. " The King is said to
have been agreeably surprised at his demeanour. In his old age (1790) he
voted against the Whigs. A pasquinade, written by Sheridan, Tickell, and
Lord John Townshend, anticipated the devil's insinuations--
"Johnny Wilkes, Johnny Wilkes,
Thou greatest of bilks,
How changed are the notes you now sing!
Your famed 'Forty-five'
Is prerogative,
And your blasphemy 'God save the King'!
Johnny Wilkes,
And your blasphemy, 'God save the King '! "
_Wilkes, Sheridan, Fox_, by W. F. Rae, 1874, pp. 132, 133.
]
[hg] _Where Beelzebub upon duty_----. --[MS. erased. ]
[537] ["In consequence of Kyd Wake's attack upon the King, two Acts were
introduced [the "Treason" and "Sedition Bills," November 6, November 10,
1795], called the Pitt and Grenville Acts, for better securing the
King's person "(_Diary of H. C. Robinson_, 1869, i. 32). "'The first of
these bills [_The Plot Discovered, etc. _, by S. T. Coleridge, November
28, 1795, _Essays on his own Times_, 1850, i. 56] is an attempt to
assassinate the liberty of the press; the second to smother the liberty
of speech. " The "Devil" feared that Wilkes had been "gagged" for good
and all.
[538] {512}
["Who might the other be, his comrade in guilt and in suffering,
Brought to the proof like him, and shrinking like him from the trial?
Nameless the Libeller lived, and shot his arrows in darkness;
Undetected he passed to the grave, and leaving behind him
Noxious works on earth, and the pest of an evil example,
Went to the world beyond, where no offences are hidden.
Masked had he been in his life, and now a visor of iron,
Rivetted round his head, had abolished his features for ever.
190-197. ]
[536] {511}[In 1774 Wilkes was elected Lord Mayor, and in the following
spring it fell to his lot to present to the King a remonstrance from the
Livery against the continuance of the war with America. Walpole (April
17, 1775, Letters, 1803, vi. 257) says that "he used his triumph with
moderation--in modern language with good breeding. " The King is said to
have been agreeably surprised at his demeanour. In his old age (1790) he
voted against the Whigs. A pasquinade, written by Sheridan, Tickell, and
Lord John Townshend, anticipated the devil's insinuations--
"Johnny Wilkes, Johnny Wilkes,
Thou greatest of bilks,
How changed are the notes you now sing!
Your famed 'Forty-five'
Is prerogative,
And your blasphemy 'God save the King'!
Johnny Wilkes,
And your blasphemy, 'God save the King '! "
_Wilkes, Sheridan, Fox_, by W. F. Rae, 1874, pp. 132, 133.
]
[hg] _Where Beelzebub upon duty_----. --[MS. erased. ]
[537] ["In consequence of Kyd Wake's attack upon the King, two Acts were
introduced [the "Treason" and "Sedition Bills," November 6, November 10,
1795], called the Pitt and Grenville Acts, for better securing the
King's person "(_Diary of H. C. Robinson_, 1869, i. 32). "'The first of
these bills [_The Plot Discovered, etc. _, by S. T. Coleridge, November
28, 1795, _Essays on his own Times_, 1850, i. 56] is an attempt to
assassinate the liberty of the press; the second to smother the liberty
of speech. " The "Devil" feared that Wilkes had been "gagged" for good
and all.
[538] {512}
["Who might the other be, his comrade in guilt and in suffering,
Brought to the proof like him, and shrinking like him from the trial?
Nameless the Libeller lived, and shot his arrows in darkness;
Undetected he passed to the grave, and leaving behind him
Noxious works on earth, and the pest of an evil example,
Went to the world beyond, where no offences are hidden.
Masked had he been in his life, and now a visor of iron,
Rivetted round his head, had abolished his features for ever.
