Description
The Three Trials of William Hone for Publishing Three Parodies viz. The Late John Wilkes Catechism, The Political Litany, and the Sinecurist’s Greed, or Three Ex-Officio Informations, at Guildhall, London, During Three Successive Days, December 18, 19 & 20, 1817 before Three Special Juries and Mr. Justice Abbott on the First Day and Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough on the Last Two Days (London: William Hone [1818])
Octavo. 41 pages. Laid paper in wraps bound in purple cloth. spine cover stamped in gilt “Three Trials of William Hone 1818”
G+ condition with several pages and cover soiled. Rear wrap missing. Final page missing a small piece of the corner. Staining to cover as shown – image looks worse than reality.
“In April 1817 three ex-officio informations were filed against him by the attorney-general, Sir William Garrow. Three separate trials took place in the Guildhall before special juries on 18, 19 and 20 December 1817. The first, for publishing The Late John Wilkes’s Catechism of a Ministerial Member (1817), was before Mr Justice Abbot (afterwards Lord Tenterden); the second, for parodying the litany and libelling the Prince Regent in The Political Litany (1817), and the third, for publishing the Sinecurist’s Creed (1817), a parody on the Athanasian Creed, were before Lord Ellenborough.
“The prosecution took the ground that the prints were harmful to public morals and brought the prayer-book and even religion itself into contempt. The real motives of the prosecution were political: Hone had ridiculed the habits and exposed the corruption of those in power. He went to the root of the matter when he wished the jury “to understand that, had he been a publisher of ministerial parodies, he would not then have been defending himself on the floor of that court.” In spite of illness and exhaustion Hone spoke on each of the three days for about seven hours. Although his judges were biased against him, he was acquitted on each count, and the result was received enthusiastically by immense crowds inside and outside the court. Soon afterwards, a public collection was made on his behalf.” – Wikipedia
This book is a transcript of the arguments at trial.
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