wrung from Horace Walpole the solemn jibe that 'Despotism will
for ever reproach Freedom with the profligacy of such a Saint'.
Indeed, a man who so neatly balanced a reputation for wanton
extravagance, frivolity and undiscriminating gallantry with the
fervent loyalty and devotion of many of the most God-fearing
citizens in the country, is clearly no hero cast in the conventional
mould, and cannot fail to be an attractive subject for the biographer.
Yet in this volume little is said of Wilkes's private life or of
his vices or virtues, his personal conduct is neither condemned nor
condoned, and no more attempt is made to justify the epithets
showered on him by his enemies and critics than the adulation
heaped on him by his friends and admirers. Such matter, while of
intimate concern to the biographer, has little place in a study
whose object is not so much to portray the life, career and opinions
of Wilkes in themselves as to relate them to their social background
and to trace the nature, course and outcome of the movements that
sprang up in their wake.

It is, in fact, 'Wilkes and Liberty' rather than John Wilkes
himself that is the central theme of this volume. 'Wilkes and
Liberty' was, in the first place, a slogan adopted by Wilkes's
supporters in London; but it became far more than a mere slogan
and, in a wider sense, the term may properly be applied to the
whole series of political movements, petitions, demonstrations and
more violent outbreaks -- of merchants, craftsmen, journeymen,
freeholders and others -- with which his name became associated
between the spring of 1763, when the affair of The North Briton
first brought him fame and notoriety, and the autumn of 1774,
when he became Lord Mayor of London and was able to assume
his seat as Member for Middlesex. What was the social appearance
of London in Wilkes's day? Who were the Middlesex freeholders?
Who composed the London crowds that demonstrated for Wilkes
and shouted 'Wilkes and Liberty!'? Who were the petitioners --
60,000 in all -- that, in 1769, demanded that Wilkes be recognized
by Parliament as the lawful M.P. for Middlesex? What were the
causes of Wilkes's popularity among such widely differing social
classes? How far did his influence extend? What have been the
ultimate results and the historical significance of the Wilkite
movement? These are some of the questions that have been
largely neglected by Wilkes's biographers and that the present
volume makes some attempt to answer.

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