I intimated an intention of exhorting my fellow-citizens against parodying Scripture
or the forms of worship established by law.See Hone's [letter to
The Times](1817-12-23-toTheTimes.html), 24 December, 1817. [[return]](#a) I am glad to find that the intimation had the effect I
wished. Had the Parodies been re-published in the way I anticipated, the Ministers of
the Crown might perhaps have essayed another alarum to the weak-minded; and—as there
is no calculating upon the movements of folly—have asked Parliament for another
suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. They are laughed out of Court; but instead of
arising and putting their house in order, and going
forth—like sensible men—and doing as one of old did, they still seek unrefreshing
slumbers upon the bed of office. The solemn bigotry of one of my Prosecutors, the
noble Secretary of State for the Home DepartmentLord Sidmouth, the Home Secretary who was instrumental in
arresting and trying Hone on charges of libel. [[return]](#b), reposes beneath the
unblushing hypocrisy of another of my Prosecutors—my brother parodist—the
Right Honourable President of the Board of Control.George Canning. During his anti-Jacobin days of the late
1790s, Canning had published political parodies based on religious texts. Hone used
these parodies during his trials to demonstrate that he was being unfairly singled
out for prosecution. [[return]](#c) Hence, if they keep their places during the year, we may
expect four New Lotteries, at least, with improved Schemes, and an increased number of
Bible Societies and Executions.
It is my wish and intention, because I trust I shall be enabled, to commence
business as a Bookseller, upon a more respectable footing than hitherto. I should be
wanting in justice to my family, and in gratitude to my friends, if I did not take
this opportunity of making my purpose known.
I shall prepare at leisure, and with care, an enlarged Report of my three Trials, in
a form more permanent than this, and more acceptable to the library. Of course there
will be great additions. I have just obtained a
short-hand verbatim Report of my third day's Defence, with the
Attorney-General's Reply, and the Chief Justice's Charge; and am procuring what else I
can, respecting the other Trials, from other sources. Thus assisted, I shall be
enabled to complete the Report agreeably to my own wishes, and perhaps the desire of
the Public. The work will be preceded by a narrative of every material fact connected
with the prosecutions, from the time I stopped the sale of the Parodies, until the
close of the Public Subscription now open in my behalf—it will conclude with a List
of the Subscribers, properly arranged. The Notes and Appendix will possess much
interest, on account of the curious matter they will include, from sources of reading
and information, to which few take the pains to resort. It will have correct copies of
the Parodies I read and referred to in Court, with several others of remarkable
interest; and I shall give it all the legal, political, and literary elucidation in my
power. It will likewise be illustrated by reduced fac-simile
engravings of every print exhibited and referred to on the Trials. These will be
executed with great care, and faithfully coloured in the same manner as the originals.
The book will be handsomely printed in royal octavo, and I shall omit no pains to
render it worthy a place in the best collections. In prefixing my portrait to it, and
publishing it by subscription, I follow the advice of the Gentlemen with whom the idea
of the Work originated. I shall issue a Prospectus as soon as I correctly ascertain
the extent and cost of the undertaking, and I purpose it to be my first Publication on
commencing my new career in Business.This is the first
indication that Hone was planning a long work on the History of
Parody. He continued to work on the project for several years, but it
never came to fruition, and in 1826 Hone's bankruptcy forced him to sell his private
library, effectively making the writing of the History
impossible. [[return]](#d)