Another version of the “Scotch Victory,” with the rebus of the jack-boot standing under a petticoat, and enclosed by Scotch thistles, forms part of a mock dedication: “To the Earl of (Bute), Protector of our Liberties, this plate is humbly inscribed by F. Junius Brutus.” “The Operation,” a frontispiece to the _Political Register_ for June, 1768, shows Lord Bute stabbing Britannia with a dagger, while the ministers already mentioned in association with the death of Allen are catching the blood which flows from her wounds:-- “The Blood of Vitals from her wounds he drew, And fed the Hounds that help’d him to pursue.” (DRYDEN.) The _Oxford Magazine_ for 1769 gives an engraving of the monument finally erected over the grave of Mr. Allen, junior. It represents an altar tomb enclosed by iron rails: on one side is introduced the reprobated Scotch thistle, with the legend, “Murder screen’d and rewarded;” on the other side is shown a Scotch soldier of the third regiment of Foot Guards, evidently intended for the murderous MacLaughlin, approaching and pointing to the inscription on the tomb, exclaiming, “I have obtain’d a pension of a shilling a day, only for putting an end to thy days!” CHAPTER VII. MIDDLESEX ELECTIONS, 1768-9. Within a month of his return died George Cooke, the Tory colleague of Wilkes in the representation of Middlesex, who had sat from 1750; he was prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, one of the joint paymasters of the forces, and colonel of the Middlesex Militia. Consequent on his decease a seat for the county was to be contested in December, 1768, and the public were indulged with another exciting struggle at the Brentford hustings. The candidates were John Glynn, the friend and advocate of Wilkes, and Sir William Beauchamp Proctor, the candidate defeated in the previous election. The superheated state of popular feeling had not had time to cool down; moreover, Wilkes, the chosen of the electors, was a prisoner. Both parties on this occasion seem to have resorted to terrorism; mutual recriminations as to the hiring of ruffians and bludgeon-men were made during the inquiries into the disturbances which ensued. A view of the situation, “Scene at the Brentford Hustings,” 1768, exhibits the violent and brutal behaviour of mercenaries in the pay of Proctor’s faction--chiefly reckless bullies, according to the engraving of the Brentford election. Females are beaten causelessly; a fruit-stall is wrecked, and a respectably attired person is taking advantage of the confusion to help himself from the stock, whilst the proprietress is wantonly beaten with a heavy cudgel; the legion of bludgeons is enlisted in the cause of “Liberty and Proctor;” a hero whose head is shaven, and who is evidently a professional pugilist of the Figg and Broughton type, is made to exclaim, “For a guinea a day; damn Glynn and all his friends.” Other beaters--chairmen, linkmen, and the like--are driving all before