The Judicial History of Individual Liberty. the papers found in Wilkes' possession was an Essay on Woman, an obscene parody of Pope's Essay on .Man. Wükes had amused himself in his earlier day with a printing press, and this was one of his productions. The piece bore no name, and it seems certain that Wilkes' share in this affair was limited to printing it. At all events, only a few copies had been printed for private circula tion among the friends with whom Wilkes then associated. No offense had been com
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ing reprinted number forty-five of the North Briton and of having written the Essay on Woman. As he did not appear for sentence he was outlawed for contumacy. Thus the ministry thought they had got rid of Wilkes; but they mistook their man and the strength of the public feeling which had been aroused. Wilkes wearied at length of continental life, and in February, 1768, he audaciously appeared in London and announced him self as a candidate for Parliament for
JOHN WILKES. mined or had been intended against public morality; yet the House of Commons, at the instigation of the notorious rake, Lord Sandwich, voted the poem an obscene libel and a breach of privilege, and the Lords called for Wilkes' prosecution. Expelled from the House of Commons, and suffering from wounds received in a duel, Wilkes joined his daughter in Paris. His enemies made the most of his absence. He was found guilty by the court of King's Bench of hav-
London. Although he had entered the contest too late to secure his election, his boldness aroused the greatest enthusi asm. He immediately came forward again as a candidate for the County of Middle sex, and was triumphantly elected. The news of this victory excited the greatest en thusiasm among the London populace. For two days the city was practically at the mercy of the mob. On April twentieth, Wilkes, pursuant to his promise, surrendered himself
