The royal whisperer, extraordinary: or A word to the wise..
[London? : s.n.,
1770]
Dated from internal evidence - this ballad is concerned with the events in 1770 in connection with the Middlesex parliamentary election. "John Wilkes, the political agitator and reformer and an alderman of London, had been elected to the House of Commons by a large majority, but was expelled by the government and his opponent returned in his place. Attended by the aldermen and common councilmen of London, Beckford marched from Guildhall to St James's Palace on 14 March 1770, and presented to George III a strongly worded address, remonstrance, and petition complaining that by supporting the government's action in the Middlesex election, he was tampering with the constitution and pursuing a course similar to that which lost James II his crown." - information from the 'Oxford Dictinonary of National Biography' online.
First line reads: Ye Britons of every degree.
In one column with a woodcut above the title.
ESTC
George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820
Wilkes, John, 1727-1797
Ballads, English