Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/125

Rh a royal levee, where the king coldly turned his back upon him, without seeming to recognize him. Repeated efforts appear to have been made by his relatives at this time, to induce him to withdraw from public life, but without success; and his conduct became daily more eccentric and embarrassing to his friends. It is impossible, indeed, to account for it upon any other ground than that of gradual aberration of mind.

In April, 1787, two prosecutions were brought against Lord George at the instance of the crown; one for preparing and presenting a pretended petition to himself from certain prisoners confined in Newgate, praying him to intercede for them, and prevent their being banished to Botany Bay; the other for a libel upon the queen of France and French ambassador. Mr Wilkins, the printer of the petitions, was also proceeded against. Both pleaded not guilty. It is a somewhat curious fact, that on this occasion Mr Erskine, Lord George's former counsel, appeared against him. Lord George acted as his own defendant, on the score of being too poor to employ counsel. The Newgate petition, evidently his Lordship's production, was a mere farrago of absurdity, treason, and blasphemy, reflecting on the laws, railing at the crown-officers, and condemning his majesty by large quotations from the book of Moses. He was found guilty, as was also Mr Wilkins. Upon the second charge, the gist of which was a design to create a misunderstanding betwixt the two courts of France and England, he was also found guilty. His speech on this last occasion was so extravagant, and contained expressions so indecorous, that the attorney general told him "he was a disgrace to the name of Briton." The sentence upon him was severe enough: upon the first verdict he was condemned to be imprisoned two years,—upon the second, a further imprisonment of three years; at the expiration of which he was to pay a fine of £500, to find two securities in £2500 each, for his good behaviour for fourteen years; and himself to be bound in a recognizance of £10,000. In the interval, however, between the verdict and the passing of the sentence, he took an opportunity of escaping to Holland, where he landed in May. Here, however, he was not allowed to remain long. He was placed under arrest, and sent back from Amsterdam to Harwich, where he was landed in the latter end of July. From that place he proceeded to Birmingham, where he resided till December; having in the meantime become a proselyte to Judaism, and performing rigidly the prescribed rites and duties of that faith. Information having reached government of his place of residence, and the increasing eccentricities of his conduct evidently pointing him out as an improper person to be allowed to go at large, a messenger was despatched from London, who apprehended him and brought him to town, where he was lodged in Newgate. His appearance in court when brought up to receive the sentence he had previously eluded, is described as being miserable in the extreme. He was wrapt up in an old greatcoat, his beard hanging down on his breast; whilst his studiously sanctimonious deportment, and other traits of his conduct, too evidently showed an aberration of intellect. He bowed in silence, and with devout humility, on hearing his sentence. Soon after his confinement, he got printed and distributed a number of treasonable handbills, copies of which he sent to the ministry with his name attached to them. These, like his "prisoners' petition," were composed of extracts from Moses and the prophets, evidently bearing upon the unhappy condition of the king, who was then in a state of mental alienation.

In the following July, 1789, this singular and unhappy being addressed a letter, or petition to the National Assembly of France, in which, after eulogizing the progress of revolutionary principles, he requests of them to interfere on his behalf with the English government to get him liberated. He was answered