34 
TOO 
latter lost popularity, without incurring any just charge 
against his political integrity. In 1771, he took his degree 
of M. A., though opposed by some members, among whom 
was Mr. Paley. To him it was owing, that the publication 
of the debates in the House of Commons has been continued 
without interruption. At this time he had a literary contro¬ 
versy with Junius, in which he was thought to have the 
advantage. In 1773, he threw off his clerical garb, and pro¬ 
posed to resume his legal studies with a view to the profession. 
But at this time an incident occurred, which was of material 
importance with respect to his future fortune. Mr. Tooke of 
Purley, in Surrey, had ineffectually opposed an inclosure 
bill, which was likely to be detrimental to his estate, and as 
this bill was passing rapidly through the Commons, he ap¬ 
plied to Horne for advice. After some deliberation he pro¬ 
posed to Mr. Tooke a remedy, which was to commence 
with a libel on the Speaker, which he would undertake to 
write. Accordingly he stated the case, accompanying the 
statement with some severe reflections, and sent it to the 
Public Advertiser. When the paragraph was next day re¬ 
ported to the House and read, it occasioned great irritation, 
and a motion was made for calling the printer before the 
House. Mr. Horne, as the acknowledged writer, was called 
to the bar; he immediately obeyed the summons, and in a 
respectful manner confessed, that through hatred to op¬ 
pression, and zeal to serve a friend, he had been urged beyond 
the bounds of discretion. After a long debate, he was 
remanded from the bar in custody of the serjeant-at-arms, 
and upon being brought ,up some days after, he was, by 
the good offices of some friends, discharged upon paying his 
fees. His purpose was answered: time was thus given for 
reconsidering the obnoxious bill, and the exceptionable 
clauses were either altered or withdrawn. 
Mr. Horne was ah ardent opposer of the American war; 
and when the news of the battle of Lexington arrived, the 
Constitutional Society voted 100/. to the widows and 
children of the Americans who had fallen in it; and the 
resolution to this purpose, printed in the public papers, 
was signed John Horne. In this resolution, the sufferers 
were denominated “ Englishmen, who, preferring death to 
slavery, were, for that reason only, inhumanly murdered by 
the King’s troops at Lexington.” For this paragraph, he 
was prosecuted, and tried at Guildhall, in July, 1777, and 
pleaded his own cause. Notwithstanding the spirit and 
acuteness with which he defended himself, he was sentenced 
to twelve months’ imprisonment, and to pay a fine of 200/. 
In the course of this trial, he first appeared before the public 
as a grammatical critic; and in 1778, he printed a letter 
to Mr. Dunning, which discussed the force and meaning of 
certain conjunctions and prepositions employed in his in¬ 
dictment, and which was the foundation of a larger work 
afterwards published. In the following year, he was dis¬ 
appointed in his expectation of being called to the bar; for 
though he was eminently qualified for the profession to which 
he aspired, he was rejected under the pretext of his being 
still a clergyman. This he felt as a very grievous disap¬ 
pointment, and with a mind not a little exasperated, he de¬ 
voted himself to politics. Accordingly, in 1780, he pub¬ 
lished a pamphlet, entitled “ Facts,” keenly reviewing lord 
North’s administration, and containing two chapters on Fi¬ 
nance, supplied by Dr. Price. Soon after the termination of 
the American war, parliamentary reform became a popular 
topic; and in 1782, Horne published a letter to Mr. Dun¬ 
ning (lord Ashburton), under the title of “ A Letter on Par¬ 
liamentary Reform, containing the Sketch of a Plan;” of 
which we shall merely say, that he disapproved of universal 
suffrage. Mr. Pitt was at this time a fellow-advocate in the 
same cause. Horne now avowed himself the friend of Mr. 
Pitt, in opposition to Mr. Fox, who6e coalition With lord 
North he very much disapproved. In 1786, Mr. Horne, 
having assumed the name of his friend Mr. Tooke, published 
his “ Epea Pterocnta, or Diversions of Purley,” so called 
from the country residence of his friend. Of this work, 
founded on his letter to Mr. Dunning already mentioned, 
the most prominent subject of discussion was the deriva- 
T O O 
tion of conjunctions and prepositions from verbs and nouns- 
This work attracted the notice of philologists, and gave to 
the author a high rank among writers on the philosophy of 
language. Politics, however, diverted his attention from 
subjects of this nature; and in 1788, he published “ Two 
Pair of Portraits,” the figures in which were the two Pitts, 
and the two Foxes, of the past and present generations. The 
first name was strongly illuminated, and the latter thrown 
into a dark shade. He might probably, however, at a later 
period, have adopted a different mode of colouring. In 1790, 
he opposed Mr. Fox and lord Hood at the election of repre¬ 
sentatives in parliament for Westminster ; and professing 
himself unconnected with party, and determined neither to 
open a house, nor to give away a single cockade, he polled 
near 1700, without solicitation or corruption. On occasion 
of his defeat, he presented a petition to the House, in support 
of which he freely indulged himself in very bitter sarcastic 
invectives. In the year 1794, he was brought to a trial, 
under the charge of high treason. During the progress of 
this trial, he maintained the most perfect composure and 
self-possession; and as he had little to apprehend after the 
previous acquittal of Hardy, the jury brought in their ver¬ 
dict of “ not guilty,” after being only eight minutes out of 
court. In consequence, however, of this trial, he became 
more cautious in his conduct, and declined the visits at 
Wimbledon, where he resided, of persons known to be 
violent in their principles and conduct. Upon the death of 
Mr. Tooke, of Purley, he inherited, in consequence of a 
previous agreement, half of the property left by that gen¬ 
tleman to his nephew. In 1796, he offered himself again 
as a candidate for Westminster, and suffered a second de¬ 
feat, after having polled 2819 votes. He was chargeable, 
however, with some inconsistency in the acceptance of a seat, 
in 1801, for the noted borough of Old Sarum, on the nomi¬ 
nation of lord Camelford. Some attempts were made to 
exclude him, under the plea of his being a clergyman; but- 
a compromise being proposed by the minister, Mr. Adding¬ 
ton, by determining the future ineligibility of persons in 
holy orders, he retained his seat till the dissolution of par¬ 
liament. Having published by subscription a second edi¬ 
tion, in 4to., of his “ Diversions of Purley," a second part 
in 4to., appeared in 1805, in which he chiefly adverted to 
etymology, and to adjectives and participles, and their 
formation, intermixing satirical strictures upon some literary 
characters of note. From this time his bodily infirmities, 
occasioned by a disorder to which he had been long subject, 
increased, though he retained his faculties in full vigour, 
and continued to enjoy life. His temper was little affected 
by mental or physical evil, and “ no one more strenuously 
maintained,” says one of his biographers, “ the balance of 
good in human existence.”—“ His latter days,” says the 
same writer, “ were cheered by easy circumstances, and the 
attention of many friends, whom he entertained with great 
hospitality, and amused by his conversation, which was 
singularly pleasant and lively. With an unaltered brow, he 
could be either facetious or sarcastic, and his features seldom 
disclosed what was passing within. His manners were po¬ 
lished, and his appearance was that of a gentleman of the 
old school.” His life at length terminated by tedious and 
continued decay, in March, 1812, in the 77th year of his 
age. As he was never married, his property was bequeathed 
to his natural children. Stephen's Memoirs of John 
Horne Tooke. 
TOOL, s. [col, cool, Sax.] Any instrument of manual 
operation. 
Arm’d with such gardening todls as art, yet rude, 
Guiltless of fire, had formed. Milton. 
A hireling; a wretch who acts at the command of another. 
He'd choose 
To talk with wits in dirty shoes; 
And scorn the tools with stars and garters. 
So often seen caressing Chartres. Swift. 
TOOLEY, a township of England, in Leicestershire; 5 
miles north-east-by-north of Hinchley. 
TOOLJAPOOR, 
