The North Briton, Volume II.

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Creator

[John Wilkes].

Title

The North Briton, Volume II.

Publisher

London: Printed for J. Williams,

Date

1763.

Description

Provenance: Octavia Wilberforce's copy, with the bookplates of Lavington House and the Wilberforce Library, Backsettown.

John Wilkes, an opposition member of Parliament in the 1760s, wrote The North Briton, published periodically in pamphlet form. Charged with seditious libel for North Briton No. 45, he fled to France in 1763, was convicted in absentia and outlawed.

John Williams was likewise convicted at a 1764 trial before Lord Chief Justice Mansfield for publishing No. 45 in the second volume of this later collected edition. While he was punished in the pillory, 10,000 onlookers cheered him and collected 200 guineas for him.

Source

John D. Gordan, III