"H. of C."--_Annual Register_, 1770, pp. 59-67.]

[Footnote 15: On more than one occasion there had been disturbances in
the City, and in the streets adjacent to the Houses of Parliament, which
were little short of riot. One day the mob paraded effigies of the
principal ministers, which, after hanging and beheading them, they
committed to the flames with great uproar. On another day Mr. Charles
Fox (as yet a vehement Tory) complained to the House that the mob in
Palace Yard had insulted him, breaking the glasses of his chariot, and
pelting him with oranges, stones, etc.--_Parliamentary History_, xvii.,
163.]




CHAPTER II.


The Regency Bill.--The Ministry of 1766 lay an Embargo on Corn.--An Act
of Indemnity is Passed.--The _Nullum Tempus_ Act concerning Crown
Property; it is sought to Extend it to Church Property, but the Attempt
fails.--The Royal Marriage Act.--The Lords amend a Bill imposing Export
Duties, etc., on Corn.


The prosecution of Wilkes was not the only act of Mr. Grenville's
administration which excited both the Parliament and the people. In 1764
the King was attacked by a serious illness, and, as the Prince of Wales
was an infant scarcely two years old, it was manifestly necessary to
make arrangements for a Regency, in the event of the throne becoming