That devil Wilkes

This life of a man whom George III called "tht devil Wilkes" needs only the briefest introduction. The writer of it began it with the usual belief that Wilkes was an amusing but entirely dishonest man. After more than three years of study he has been forced to change his opinion and believe that Wilkes was politically an honest man. Wilkes' private life does not admit of excuse, nor did it seem to him to require it. But he never asked more than to be judged by the claim that is engraved on his coffin and his tombstone, and whether or not that claim is justified should be shown by the pages that follow.
My thanks are due to my wife for continual assistance and criticism, and to James Henle of the Vanguard Press, New York, for encouragement that was almost intemperate in its term.