242
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. ix. MAR. 28, wu.
had found the black proof on the floor of
Wilkes's house, had approached Farmer,
and he, Faden, Hassall, and Kidgell had
fradually seduced Curry from his allegiance, luch time and money were consumed in the negotiations, and on 23 Sept. Faden writes to Webb :
" There is no way I can conceive but by getting some gentleman that can appear with one in com- pany and tendering down the money to Michael Curry, who I believe will not resist the tempta- tion."
On 27 Sept. Webb writes to Kidgell and Faden as to how they are to proceed :
" I need not mention that care must be taken to have the MS. ([note this.E. R. W.])and the proofs and an examination upon oath at the same time or before the money is paid arid the security given.
If he is desirous of preserving appearances, he
may have the papers in his pockett and they may be seized."
That there was anything humorous in " appearances " being preserved by the forcible seizure of Mr. Curry's person by that pillar of public and private morality, the chaplain to the Earl of March, would not seem to have struck the Treasury solicitor.
The papers were handed over, and not for nearly another month does Sandwich appear on the scene. On 22 Oct. he writes to Webb for the papers " containing the narrative of Mr. Wilkes's affair." He professes himself not at all acquainted with the matter, and begs to be excused asking a number of ignorant questions. On 10 Nov. he writes : "I must see the original papers of the Essay on W before four o'clock." As late as 1 Nov. he had still no idea that Wilkes's and Kearsley's men could prove the patriot's writing, for we find him desiring a noble lord at Aylesbury to find out " one or more people who could prove Mr. Wilkes's handwriting " (Eg. MS. 2136, f. 85). In his letters to Webb he was, it might be plausibly contended, playing a part ; but the letter to his noble friend is very difficult to reconcile with the view that he was on that date acquainted with the whole affair. What need to go to Aylesbury when Jennings and Curry were at hand ?
While " Jemmy Twitcher " undeniably " peached his pal " on 15 Nov., we must, I think, acquit him of the greater infamy of deliberately putting Wilkes's men up to the betrayal of their master. Men like Curry and Jennings knew well enough that these proof-sheets they were handling were marketable commodities, and while no man can believe that chance alone dictated to Jennings the wrapping of his^butter up in
the black proof before going to the " Red
Lion," we may easily suppose that these
worthless men were acting on their own
initiative, and did not approach Sandwich
through the solicitor until the whole matter
was in order.
On the other nttnd, if Wilkes's attorney's clerk had smuggled a proof of the * Essay ' into the brief which he allowed the very honest emissary of Halifax to see, the explanation would appear to be this : Jennings first shows the proof to the clerk,, who improperly puts it in the brief and shows it to the " other side," who take the Law Officers' opinion ; whereupon the clerk is approached by the Treasury solicitor and told how he is to instruct Jennings to act. Then Jennings dutifully finds the black proof, and ingenuously repairs to- the " Red Lion " for his bit of supper with the precious proof wrapped around his pat of butter, opening with the verses on Bute. If so, Jennings must have been slightly in error in giving the month of his meeting with Farmer as June, since Halifax's letter bore date 3 July, 1763.
On 31 Jan., 1769, we find from the Com- mons' Journal (cf. Cobbett, xv. 542, and Cavendish, i. 131, 138) the House voted that
"Mr. Wilkes failed in proving the accusation
against P. C. Webb of suborning with the * public money ' Curry his servant to betray him and steal the * Essay on Woman. "'
Unfortunately, we have no report of the evidence on this inquiry ; we only know that Sandwich and March were summoned to the House and gave their versions of what had happened.
We have seen that Curry was bribed ; but he seems to have been paid by Faden by money advanced out of his own pocket, and we learn from repeated and fruitless applications from Faden to Webb (Guild. MSS. 214/1) that the Treasury repudiated the obligation both as regards Curry and a sum of SQL advanced to Kidgell to keep up his credit. In the second logomachy, therefore, the Ministry scored the victory. ERIC R. WATSON.
RICHARD CORNWALLIS:
CALYBUTT AND FINCHAM FAMILIES.
RICHARD CORNWALLIS was born in 1569 at Coxford Priory, near East Rudham, Norfolk, and was the elder of the two sons of Henry Cornwallis (brother of Sir Thomas Corn- wallis, as to whom see the 'D.N.B.,' and first cousin of Thomas Cornwallis, Groom Porter to Queen Elizabeth, who married
