“You complained yesterday before five hundred gentlemen, that you had been _stabbed in the dark_ by the North Briton. But I believe you were not so much in the _dark_ as you affected and chose to be. Was the complaint made before so many gentlemen on purpose that they might interpose? To cut off every pretence of this kind, as to the author, I whisper in your ear, that every passage of the North Briton in which you have been named or alluded to, was written by “Your humble servant, “JOHN WILKES.” To this letter Mr. Martin returned the following answer:— “Arlington Street, Nov. 16, 1763. “SIR, “As I said in the House of Commons yesterday, that the writer of the North Briton, who had stabbed me in the dark, was a cowardly as well as a malignant scoundrel, and your letter of this morning’s date acknowledges that every passage of the North Briton in which I have been named, or even alluded to, was written by yourself, I must take the liberty to repeat, that you are a malignant and infamous scoundrel, and that I desire to give you an opportunity of showing me whether the epithet _cowardly_ was rightly applied or not. I desire that you may meet me in Hyde Park immediately, with a brace of pistols each, to determine our difference. I shall go to the ring in Hyde Park, with my pistols, so concealed that nobody may see them, and I will wait in expectation of you one hour. As I shall call on my way at your house to deliver this letter, I propose to go from thence directly to the ring in Hyde Park, from whence we may proceed, if it be necessary, to any more private place. And I mention that I shall wait an hour, in order to give you the full time to meet me. “I am, sir, your humble servant, “SAMUEL MARTIN.” When the parties met in Hyde Park, they walked together a little while to avoid some company which seemed coming up to them. They brought each a pair of pistols. When they were alone, the first fire was from Mr. Martin’s pistol, which missed Mr. Wilkes. The pistol in Mr. Wilkes’s hand only flashed in the pan. The gentlemen then each took one of the remaining pistols. Mr. Wilkes missed, and the ball of Mr. Martin’s pistol lodged in Mr. Wilkes’s belly. He bled immediately very much. Mr. Martin came up, and desired to give him all the assistance in his power. Mr. Wilkes replied, that Mr. Martin had behaved like a man of honour; that he was killed; and insisted on Mr. Martin’s making his immediate escape, adding, that no person should know from him how the affair happened. Upon this they parted. Mr. Wilkes was carried home; but would not tell any circumstance of the case, till he found it was perfectly known. He only said to the surgeon, that it was an affair of honour.