View source for Epea Pteroenta, or The Diversions of Purley

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Epea Pteroenta, or The Diversions of Purley''}}
===by John Horne Tooke===
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|commontitle=The Diversions of Purley
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|publoc=[[:Category:London|London]]
|publisher=Printed for J. Johnson
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}}[[wikipedia:John Horne Tooke|John Horne Tooke]] (1736-1812) was born John Horne, later taking the additional surname of his benefactor, William Tooke.<ref>http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/599409/John-Horne-Tooke, accessed April 23, 2015.</ref> He was a radical, English politician, supporter of parliamentary reform,<ref>Ibid.</ref> and ardent supporter of Americans in the Revolutionary war against Britain.<ref>http://enlightenment-revolution.org/index.php/Tooke,_John_Horne, accessed April 23, 2015.</ref> He assisted radical, [[wikipedia:John Wilkes|John Wilkes]] in establishing the Society for the Supporter of the Bill of Rights, but formed his own Constitutional society in 1771 in furtherance of his political goals.<ref>http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/599409/John-Horne-Tooke.</ref> He was imprisoned for seditious libel due to his outspoken support of the American colonists in 1778.<ref>Ibid.</ref> He was charged with high treason in 1794, but was acquitted by a London jury.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In 1801, after the end of the radical movement, John Horne Took secured a seat in Parliament.<ref>Ibid.</ref>
 
Horne Tooke frequently spent time with his benefactor, William Tooke, at William Tooke’s estate at Purley.<ref>http://www.historyhome.co.uk/people/horne-t.htm, accessed April 23, 2015.</ref> Horne Tooke commemorated their friendship in the title of his book, ''Epea Ptepoenta, or The Diversions of Purley''.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Part I, published in 1782, was stylized as fictional conversations between Horne Tooke, William Tooke, and [[wikipedia:Richard Beadon|Richard Beadon]].<ref>http://enlightenment-revolution.org/index.php/Tooke,_John_Horne</ref> Those conversations consisted of Horne Tooke providing philosophical answers to the questions posed by the other gentlemen.<ref>Ibid.</ref> ''The Diversions of Purley'' also included "satire, humor, mind puzzles, and personal jabs at others."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The book was received favorably and established Horne Tooke’s literary reputation.<ref>http://www.historyhome.co.uk/people/horne-t.htm</ref> Ultimately, Horne Tooke lost the inheritance of his benefactor over disagreements between the two.<ref>http://enlightenment-revolution.org/index.php/Tooke,_John_Horne</ref> He was able to support himself with a settlement of a portion of his benefactor’s estate, as well as through the publication of The Diversion of Purley , Part II.<ref>Ibid.</ref> 

==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as "Tooke's Diversions of Purley 8vo." and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to his grandson [[Thomas Jefferson Randolph]]. Both [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on August 22, 2023.</ref> on LibraryThing and the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> list the first edition, a 1786 octavo published in London. It may be that no other octavo editions were published in Wythe's lifetime. 

The Wolf Law Library has been unable to find and purchase a copy of the 1786 edition of ''Epea Pteroenta''.

==Citations from Wythe's Reports==

===''[[Devisme v. Martin]]''===
Wythe does not specifically quote ''Epea Pteroenta'', but in ''Devisme v. Martin'', Wythe 298 (1794),<ref>George Wythe, ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery (1852)|Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery with Remarks upon Decrees by the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]],'' 2nd ed., ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond: J.W. Randolph, 1852): 298.</ref> he alludes to a passage from the dialogue "Of the Noun": "Reason is an arrant despot; who, in his own dominions, admits of no authority but his own."<ref>John Horne Tooke, ''Epea Pteroenta, or, The Diversions of Purley'' (London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1786), 75.</ref> Wythe makes the allusion as a defense for his presumption in disagreeing with a decision from the English [[wikipedia:Court of Common Pleas (England)|Court of Common Pleas]]:

<blockquote>
The writer of these notes, differing in this point with three capital english judges, is aware, that he will be regarded with a fastidious eye by men, whose veneration for the westmonasterian oracles is equal to the veneration of the antients for the dodonaean and delphic oracles; but, when he has reason, the only <span style="color: #006600;">despot,*</span> to which he professeth unconditional submission, on his side, he will venture to differ with any man. *John Horne Tooke<ref>Wythe 300.</ref>
</blockquote>

==See also==
*[[Jefferson Inventory]]
*[[Wythe's Library]]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:John Horne Tooke]]
[[Category:Language and Rhetoric]]
[[Category:Thomas Jefferson Randolph's Books]]
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]

[[Category:London]]