DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

SAR ccna ealiaaiecen st ea tiiicaialael OSE ( 1B) them to Berwick. Wilkes, however, bribed the master of the vessel, and instead of appearing at the polling booths the would-be voters found them- selves landed on the coast of Norway. Three years later Wilkes was more successful, and took his seat in the House of Commons as member for Aylesbury. That his return was not altogether cheaply acquired, we may infer from his saying to his friends, that he would never advise any gentleman to sit for the town he lived in, for his constituents would prove a perpetual and heavy encumbrance on his table and cellar. The early stages of his parliamentary career were comparatively tame. In one respect, however, they deserve our notice. He brought in a Bill for the re-establishment of the Militia, for which he was rewarded with a Lieutenant-Coloneley in the newly- raised regiment of the county of Bucks. It was only in 1763, consequently the third year after the accession of George ILI. to the Throne, that Wilkes suddenly leaped into public notoriety. Lord Bute was then Prime Minister. A man of common- place abilities, though of refined taste, he added to his inexperience of public business the most extreme views as to the legitimate power of royalty. The only claim posterity has allowed to his vanity and conceit lay in the unrivalled symmetry of his legs,