DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

squint, the other replied, ‘ He squints, does he ? Well, if he does, it is not more than a man should squint |!’ His portrait generally served as public-house signs, which drew the remark from one of his adversaries, that he swung everywhere but where he should. In times when party spirit ran so high that the private relations of life were affected by it, he always remained on good terms with his political opponents, even keeping on amicable terms with his enemy, Lord Sandwich. During his four years of travel in France and Italy, at the time of his outlawry, his- company was generally sought for by the representatives of Eng- land at the various Courts; and though he was excluded from official hospitalities by official instruc- tions from home, they generally managed to procure the treat of his society at private entertainments. It was on one of these occasions, when residing in Paris, he was asked by Madame de Pompadour—the omnipotent favourite of Louis XV., who was in the habit of sending her libellers to digest their sar- casms in the darkest dungeons—how far he considered a libeller could go with impunity in abuse of the Royal Family in England. Wilkes replied, * Madame, that is exactly what I am trying to find out.’ Much obloquy has been cast on his memory on account of the profligacy of his life and the im-