117 



TOOKE, JOHN HORNE. 



TOOKE, JOHN IIORNE. 



118 



deprive him of bis bishopric ; and by this tribunal ho was iu fact 

 deprived ou tho 14th of October. 



He remained a prisoner in the Tower for the remainder of King 

 Edward's reign ; and the bishopric of Durham having been dissolved 

 by act of parliament, in April 1553, Northumberland obtained a grant 

 of tho greater part of its jurisdiction and revenues, with tho title and 

 dignity of Count Palatine. In a few months however the accession of 

 Mary again changed everything; and Tonstall, released from prison, was 

 reinstated in his bishopric, which the queen erected anew by letters- 

 patent. His own sufferings had not given Tonstall any taste for perse- 

 cution; and ho principally distinguished himself throughout this reign 

 by tho moderation of his conduct and the aversion he showed to the 

 violent courses urged by the court and followed with little reluctance 

 by most of his right reverend brethren. No burning of heretics took 

 place in his diocese ; and, suspected on this account to be half a Pro- 

 testant at heart, he lived under a cloud in so far as regarded the 

 favour of the court. Nevertheless when Elizabeth came to the 

 throne he refused to take the oath of supremacy ; and he was deprived 

 on that account, in July 1559. Being committed to the charge of his 

 friend Parker, already nominated, though not admitted, archbishop of 

 Canterbury, and in possession of Lambeth, Tonstall " lived there," 

 says Lloyd (in his ' Stiite Worthies'), "in sweet chambers, warm beds, 

 by warm fires, with plentiful and wholesome diet, at the archbishop's 

 own table : differing nothing from his former grandeur, save that 

 that was at his own charges, and this at another's ; and that he 

 had not his former suite of superfluous servants that long train, that 

 doth not warm, but weary the wearer thereof." Tonstall only enjoyed 

 Parker's hospitality for a few months : he died on the 18th of 

 November 1559. 



The character of Tonstall may be collected from this sketch of his 

 history. He will scarcely be allowed the credit of principle by the 

 more severe class of moralists : but although not made to be a martyr, 

 he had evidently many excellent moral qualities. Intellectually he 

 was rated very high in his own day : Erasmus, More, Warham, Gran- 

 mer, and Parker, were all among his admirers and attached friends. 

 Besides various scattered letters, speeches, and other short composi- 

 tions, some in print, some in manuscript, for a list of which we must 

 refer to the 'Biographia Britannica,' Bishop Tonstall is the author of the 

 following works, published by himself: 1, ' In Laudem Matrimonii,' 

 &c. (a Latin Oration pronounced at the betrothment of the Princess 

 Mary and Francis, eldest son of the king of France), 4to, London, 

 1518 ; 2, ' De Arte Supputandi Libri Quatuor' (a treatise on Arithme- 

 tic), 4to, London, 1522, and frequently reprinted at Paris, Strasburg, 

 and elsewhere on the Continent, as well as in England. The writer of 

 ' Notices of English Mathematical and Astronomical Writers between 

 the Norman Conquest and the year 1600,' in the ' Companion to the 

 Almanac for 1837,' says, " In point of simplicity this work stands 

 alone in its age, and is perfectly free from all the extraneous matter 

 which was often introduced into the scientific works of the day." 3, 

 A Sermon preached on Palm-Sunday, 1538, before King Henry VIII. 

 on Philippians, ii. 5-12 (in support of the royal supremacy), 4to, 

 London, 1539, and again 1633 ; 4, 'De Veritate Corporis et Sanguinis 

 Domini Nostri Jesu Christi in Eucharistia' (in defence of Transubstan- 

 tiation), 4to, Paris, 1554 ; 5, ' Compendium et Synopsis,' &c., an 

 abridgment of Aristotle's Ethics, 8vo, Paris, 1554; 6, 'Contra Impios 

 Blasphematores,' &c., a defence of Predestination, 4to, Antwerp, 1555; 

 7, ' Godly and Devout Prayers in English and Latin,' 8vo, 1558. 



TOOKE, JOHN HORNE, was the son of John Home, a poulterer 

 in Newport-street, Westminster, where he was born on the 25th o; 

 June, 1736. The name of Tooke he assumed afterwards for reasons 

 mentioned below. He was educated at Westminster and Eton schools, 

 at the former of which he remained two, and at the latter five years, 

 In 1755 he went to St. John's College, Cambridge, and took his degree 

 of B.A. in 1758. After leaving Cambridge he officiated for a short 

 time as usher in a school at Blackheath, and in 1760 took deacon's 

 orders, and obtained a curacy in Kent. He entered the church 

 through the wishes of his father, but' against his own inclinations 

 He had wished himself to study for the bar, and with this view 

 had entered his name at the Inner Temple in 1756. In 1760 he 

 received priest's orders ; and iu the course of the same year was 

 inducted to the chapelry of New Brentford, which hb father hac 

 purchased for him. He was however never happy in discharging the 

 duties of his profession, and gladly embraced the opportunity of 

 leaving New Brentford for more than a year upon two different 

 occasions, in order to travel on the Continent as tutor to the sons of 

 gentlemen in his neighbourhood. What he thought of his profession 

 may be seen from a letter of his to Wilkes, whose acquaintance he 

 made in Paris in 1765, and to whom he thus writes : " You are now 

 entering into correspondence with a parson, and I am greatly appre- 

 hensive lest that title should disgust : but give me leave to assure you, 

 I am not ordained a hypocrite. It is true I have suffered the in- 

 fectious hand of a bishop to be waved over me ; whose imposition, 

 like the sop given to Judan, is only a signal for the devil to enter. I 

 hope I have escaped the contagion; and, if I have not. if you should 

 at any time discover the black spot under the tongue, pray kindly 

 assist me to conquer the prejudices of education and profession." 

 Yet he continued for eight years longer to hold the beuen'ce he thus 

 coarsely acknowledged himself utterly unjustified in holding. 



On his second return from the continent in 1767, Horno took an 

 active part in the political contests of the day, and it was greatly owing 

 to his exertions that Wilkes was returned as member for the county 

 of Middlesex in 1768. Home's opposition to tho ministry was un- 

 ceasing, and he soon became one of the most popular men of the day. 

 He was the founder of the ' Society for supporting the Bill of Rights,' 

 in 1769, in which he was closely associated with Wilkes : but in the fol- 

 lowing year a quarrel took place between them, which led to an angry 

 paper war, in consequence of which Home lost much of his popularity. 



In 1771 he took his degree of M.A., which was granted to him, 

 notwithstanding tho opposition of many of the members of the 

 university, and among others of Dr. Paley. His quarrel with Wilkes 

 drew upon him in the same year the attack of Junius, whom he 

 answered with considerable success. 



His occupations were now so entirely opposed to the clerical pro- 

 fession, and his dislike to it, as well as the gross inconsistency of 

 remaining in it with his avowed principles, had become so great, that 

 he resigned his living in 1773 with the view of studying for the bar. 

 That he might not want the means of doing so, four of his friends 

 presented him with joint bonds to the amount of 400^. a year, which 

 were to continue in force till he was called to the bar. While pro- 

 secuting his legal studies, he afforded great assistance to Mr. William 

 Tooke, an old friend of his, in resisting an inclosure bill, which would 

 have greatly deteriorated the value of some property which Tooke had 

 purchased at Purley, near Godstone in Surrey. In return for his 

 services Mr. William Tooke made him his heir ; and it was upon this 

 occasion or shortly afterwards that he assumed the name of Tooke, by 

 which he is commonly known. 



On the breaking out of the American War, Tooke vehemently 

 attacked the conduct of the ministry, and opened a subscription for 

 the widows and orphans of the Americans, " murdered," as he said, 

 " by the king's troops at Lexington and Concord." The ministry 

 prosecuted him for a libel in 1777; he was found guilty, condemned 

 to pay a fine of 200Z., and to be imprisoned for twelve mouths. While 

 in prison he published his letter to Mr. Dunning, which is occupied 

 with a critical examination of the case of ' The King and Lawley,' 

 which had been quoted as a precedent against him in his trial : this 

 examination leads him to explain the conjunctions and prepositions of 

 the English language. This letter formed the basis of a considerable 

 part of the first volume of the ' Diversions of Purley.' 



Shortly after his release from prison, he applied in 1779 to bo 

 called to the bar, but he was rejected by the benchers on the ground 

 of his being a clergyman. This blighted all his prospects in life, and 

 he soon afterwards retired from London to a farm iu Huntingdon- 

 shire. He had however previously published, in conjunction with 

 Dr. Price, a pamphlet against the American War, entitled ' Facts ' 

 addressed to the landholders, stockholders, &c. of Great Britain. 

 Tooke did not remain long in Huntingdonshire, and on his return to 

 London ho took an active part in advocating the cause of parlia- 

 mentary reform, which Mr. Pitt then espoused. He published a letter 

 in favour of it in 1782, addressed to his friend Mr. Dunning, then Lord 

 Ashburton. He continued to advocate Mr. Pitt's party steadily for 

 some years, and when Mr. Fox came into power by the coalition 

 ministry, as it was called, he published his celebrated ' Two Pairs of 

 Portraits,' 1788, in which he contrasts the character and conduct of 

 Lord Chatham and Lord Holland, and of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox 

 respectively. Two years previously to this he published the first 

 volume of his ' Eirea, lirfpoev-ra.,' or the ' Diversions of Purley,' in 

 octavo, the latter of which names was given to the work in compli- 

 ment to the residence of his friend Mr. William Tooke. 



In 1790 Tooke became a candidate to represent the city of West- 

 minster in parliament; and though he spent nothing upon the 

 contest, he polled nearly 1700 votes. In 1794 he was arrested on a 

 charge of high treason, mainly as it appears on account of his con- 

 nection with the ' Constitutional Society.' Nothing however of a 

 treasonable nature could be proved against him, and he was accord- 

 ingly acquitted after a trial which lasted six days, during which he 

 distinguished himself by his calmness, intrepidity, and presence of 

 mind. His domestic affairs having become very much embarrassed, 

 his friends came forward to his assistance and settled on him a pension 

 of GQQl. a year. In 1796 he again offered himself as a candidate for 

 Westminster, and polled on this occasion upwards of 2800 votes. His 

 desire of obtaining a seat in parliament was at length gratified, though 

 not exactly in a way which best accorded with the principles of a 

 person who had been such a strenuous advocate of parliamentary 

 reform. He was returned in 1801 for the borough of Old Sarum by 

 Lord Camelford. He retained his seat till the dissolution of parlia- 

 ment in the following year, but was disqualified from sitting again in 

 consequence of an act of parliament, which was passed while he was 

 in the house, enacting that in future no one in priest's orders should 

 be a member of the House of Commons. 



Mr. Tooke now retired into private life, and passed the remainder of 

 his life at Wimbledon, where he had already resided for many years. 

 He had published a second edition of the ' Diversions of Purley' in 

 1798, in one volume, quarto, and this was now followed by the second 

 volume in 1805. He died on the 18th of March, 1812, in the seventy- 

 seventh year of his age. He was never married, but had several 

 illegitimate children, to one of whom he left his property. 



