Equally revered and reviled, the radical John Horne Tooke (1736–1812) enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as a political firebrand. Having attended Eton and St John's College, Cambridge, he explored careers in the church and law before finally gaining recognition as a vehement advocate of political reform. This acclaimed two-volume biography by Alexander Stephens (1757–1821) was published in 1813, incorporating personal correspondence and presenting its subject as 'a firm friend to the laws and liberties of his native country'. Volume 1 covers the period 1736–77 and leads the reader from Horne's birth, education and ordination through to his early defence of John Wilkes and the foundation of the Society of Gentleman Supporters of the Bill of Rights. During this period, Horne published The Petition of an Englishman (1765) as well as stinging letters in the Oxford Magazine. This volume concludes with an account of Horne's infamous trial and imprisonment for libel.
