1. John Childs and William Hone in 1819 — Printing, Politics, and a Developing Friendship
[1] On the 21st of December 1818, in commemoration of the first anniversary of his hard-won
courtroom victories against the government's charges of libel, Hone received a fine gift: a
large turkey from the village of Bungay in Suffolk. This "alderman in chains" (for such was
Hone's urban slang for such a feast-worthy bird) marked the beginning of a close and
sustaining friendship with John Childs that would last for the rest of Hone's life. The
present Conversation focuses on the letters exchanged between Hone and Childs in 1819, a
year that saw these two men cement their friendship and that also saw Hone's career emerge
from a year of lethargy and depression and into the second period of great fame and
influence. The letters under discussion here are as follows:
[2] John Childs, the source of Hone's Christmas turkey, was a jovial, energetic man, a printer
by trade, and one of the key voices among the small but influential Suffolk
reformist/dissenter community.1 He was closely aligned with Hone in both
personality and ideology, and the two remained on close and mutually supportive terms
through the controversial years of Peterloo and the Queen Caroline affair, through Hone's
battle with the Quarterly Review and then his later bankruptcy
and antiquarian publishing efforts, through Childs' very public challenge to the
government's monopoly on Bible printing, and finally through Childs' "martyrdom" during the
Church-Rates controversy in the late 1830s—a "martyrdom" assiduously documented and
publicized by a newspaper called The Patriot where Hone served
as the sub-editor. Throughout the 1820s and 30s, Hone was a frequent visitor in the Childs'
household in Bungay, and John Childs, along with his brother and business partner Robert
Childs, often called on Hone during their many trips to London. At least two of Hone's
children—William and Samuel Parr—served informal apprenticeships in Childs' Bungay
printing office. Clearly, these two men were intimately connected in their personal, their
professional, and their political lives.
[3] The letters exchanged between the two printers offer a remarkably candid, often very funny,
and extremely illuminating resource for students of early nineteenth-century print history.
Many of the central "themes" of the Hone/Childs correspondence can be seen even in this
brief initial Conversation. For example, on 8 January, 1819, Hone overcomes his habitual
procrastination long enough to thank Childs for the turkey:
My Dear Sir,
On the 21st of last month, or so soon after as
conveniently could be conveyed, I received from you what, in London, we call an Alderman
in chains— This was reserved for our Christmas day dinner when we, that is, my wife and
our seven young ones, played our many parts, and drank your health, and carrolled away
till our eighth little one in my wife's lap crowed herself so hoarse that we were
obliged to adjourn our mirth. It was not forgotten that the day of the date of your note
was the Anniversary of the day after the trials which Ministers and their myrmidons
designed should send me to keep Christmas in the custody of the Marshal of the
Marshalsea of our Sovereign Lord the King. It was not forgotten either that this attempt
brought me acquainted with some of the best of my Countrymen who with stout english
[sic] hearts in their bodies are unsubduable by all the powers of Despotism, nor was it
forgotten that to a contempt for Tyranny and a proud hate of it Britain is indebted for
all her liberties and I for my Christmas dinner.
()
In this opening communication from Hone to Childs, one can
already see several of the defining characteristics of the relationship: a good-humored,
almost Dickensian portrayal of jolly domestic life, an emphatic expression of support for
those (like Childs himself presumably) with "stout english hearts" and courage enough to
stand up to "Despotism" and "Tyranny," and the comical zeugma linking British liberties with
Hone's Christmas dinner.
[4] Later in the same letter, Hone describes a less sanguine condition of his own
life—recurrent episodes of depression and ill-health:
I have been, and am, ill—dying—but not dead. Blood at the
head—apoplectic affection —cupping—bleeding—blistering—lowering—a fortnight at
Bath &c.—vexation at home and habitual melancholy, which encreases upon me, all
these are indications of that sure & certain event which happeneth to all and which
may happen to me in an instant. I am in fact in a very bad way. The Trials have given me
a physical shake which has compelled me to abandon what I intend upon with alacrity and
& spirit, the sales by auction of libraries &c. for which I had made expensive
& extensive arrangements & had neglected my other business to further—I have
therefore now to begin the world afresh nearly.
()
This is, to say the least, a difficult time for Hone. While he had long been subject
to fits of depression,
2 this episode seems to have been longer and more
intractible than previous attacks. Indeed, Hone's extremely energetic writing and publishing
output from 1816 and 17 had dwindled to a mere handful of publications in 1818, and this
despite a sense of urgency regarding the publication of his
Trials and his intention to produce a
History of
Parody.
[5] Fortunately, the friendship with Childs offered both encouragement and support as Hone
began to re-energize his writing and publishing career in early 1819. For example, in reply
to Hone's letter of thanks, Childs claims that
The
purpose I wish to gain is to impress your mind with the importance of getting forward
with the publication of your trials, for in proportion as I feel alarmed for the state
of your health, so I see the positive necessity of your getting them into such a state
that they may become an heir-loom to your family. For this purpose I think you should
find some person capable of arrangement, to undertake the first part, and then your
perusal would render the work complete — for I fear the laborious confinement necessary
to complete such a work will be a serious injury to your health in your present nervous
state — therefore my Dr Sir do adopt some plan without delay which may effectually
bring the work to its termination.
()
And then Childs adds an enticing invitation:
Would
not a few days of relaxation in the Country do you good? if you think it would, and
could spare the time, do make the effort and come hither and spend a week with me. I
will try to brace your nerves, and return you to the City of Infidels a new
Creature[.]
()
In response, Hone is newly resolved to redouble his efforts with the
Three Trials, and must therefore decline the invitation to visit Childs in Bungay.
Instead both William and Sarah Hone offer high praise for Childs' encouragment:
My wife desires me to tell you that she has read your
letter and that she thinks it the best letter I have ever
received—she made me promise this — and I not only keep my promise but agree with her
opinion.
()
[6] While Childs' support and encouragement was certainly welcome in the Hone household, it
would be a mistake to think that Hone was in a wholly unproductive phase of his career.
Indeed, there were several projects on Hone's desk (and even more on the horizon) in
addition to the still unfinished Trials. For example, in the
same letter of thanks to Childs, Hone alludes to "the affair of the Note...which is going
like wildfire." The reference is to one of the most popular and influential of Hone's
publications to date: the Cruikshank engraved Childs received the Note with
great enthusiasm, ordering another 40 copies that he might circulate them in the region of
Bungay, and his letter of 1 February offers a useful commentary on the Hone/Cruikshank
project:
I know not what the Bank or the Government
or their myrmidons will do with this note. The effect will be tremendous. The Shield is
truly awful. Don't you think if the suspended bodies
were a little darker they would harmonize with the shield and the grating and would (I
fancy) produce a more terrific effect at first sight;
there is nothing like first impressions. The plan is worth the Copy right of fifty folio
volumes and will I trust raise such a cry against the Bugbear, that some real good may
arise from it[.]
()
Childs was correct in his assessment of the power of the Hone/Cruikshank
Bank Note. For a couple of weeks, Hone was selling the prints (each
one wrapped in a print of the ) as quickly as he was able to produce them
3. Also during this period, Hone was developing a friendship with
the essayist William Hazlitt. On Sunday, 31 January, Hone had dined with Hazlitt and John
Hunt and he "concluded a bargain" with Hazlitt for his "work on the prospectus." Exactly
what "prospectus" this might be is open to conjecture, but it seems quite likely that this
is the first hint of Hone's publication of Hazlitt's
Political
Essays which appeared in late July of 1819. It seems probable, then, that Hone was
beginning to shake off the lethargy of 1818 (despite in March expressing
continued concern over Hone's mental/spiritual condition), and it is certainly true that the
later months of 1819 saw an astonishing flourish of writing and publishing as Hone's career
entered its second period of fame and influence.
[7] Two other aspects of this initial exchange of letters between Hone and Childs deserve
mention here. First, almost by accident, Childs passes off some slightly misquoted lines
from Daniel Defoe's Jure Divino, a work that had been out of
print and largely forgotten since its appearance in 1706. This is a remarkable coincidence
since Hone, it turns out, had long been an admirer of Defoe, and indeed he had for several
years already been collecting stray Defoe publications for his friend Walter Wilson, the
Defoe biographer. Hone is not really joking when, in his reply to Childs, he claims that he
knows more about Defoe "than any other living admirer of him" (). This interest would
come to fruition two years later when Hone published his condensed version of Jure Divino, which he called As I have argued elsewhere,4 Defoe stood as a kind of influential precursor for many of the
radicals of the early nineteenth century, and the fact that both Childs and Hone had
independently developed this admiration for him simply confirms his currency among this set
of writer/publishers. Second, both Hone and Childs are keenly interested in the government's
control over publication of the Bible. This interest would result in Hone's highly
controversial publication of the in 1820 and in Childs' challenge to the Bible printing monopoly in
1830. (The influence of both Hone and Childs on Bible publishing in England will be
considered in a later Conversation.)
[8] To conclude this survey of the formative Conversation between Hone and Childs, we can
skip ahead one year to look at the next in what will become a long series of thank-you
letters from Hone to Childs, this one for his 1819 "alderman in chains." Hone begins with a
typically charming scene of family mirth:
Dear Childs,
The alderman arrived with his honours thick
about him and he now reposes in the stomachs of my Wife, Self, Eight young ones, a
friend from Dorsetshire, old Joe Webb, & my wife's Brother: and we have this moment
drunk the health of him who sent him—all the young ones are now about me cracking nuts
& jokes and I am wishing you could see them and imagining that you are engaged in
festivity of much the same kind. I drop you this line (omitting to do so yesterday by
the gentleman who took charge of the books for you for I had friend Fry and another good
fellow with me and I wished to know the day of the Fox dinner at Norwich before I wrote
you, which I had not and opportunity of doing till I saw Richard Taylor, who tells me it
is Monday the 26th January on which day, having consulted my pillow thereon, I purpose
to have the gratification of seeing you, according to your very kind intimation—but as
to the how & the "whereabout" I shall take your opinion. I wish to see some of your
good fellows.
()
Hone and Childs are now good friends, and there appears to have been some
considerable exchange of letters and materials and perhaps visits between them during the
middle months of 1819. These are both convivial, gregarious men (though Hone is typically
most content and happy within his own family or his small circle of close friends), and both
are canny businessmen who are very alert to the powers of the press. Indeed, Hone interrupts
his own thank-you letter immediately after its opening paragraph:
Business
Oldham Inquest — out on Thursday
next
Bentham's Panopticon — out of print
From J. E. Taylor I have had a
satisfactory letter
The Trials—curse 'em I wish they were done—they shall
be—see an Advt of mine (announcing the withdrawal of my letter to Copley) in the
Chronicle [ye]sterday & on Monday next
End of business
In addition to the titles mentioned in Hone's list, his "business" now included a
number of publications that he had produced in 1819, especially in the months following
"Peterloo": Hazlitt's (mentioned above), Hone's own , and (from early December) the
fantastically popular, Cruikshank-illustrated pamphlet called . Hone, in other words, had in 1819
rediscovered his characteristic parodic voice and had also found the energy to pursue a
remarkable burst of writing and publication. His 1817 acquittals had earned him some
protection from further libel prosecutions, and in the 18 months following Peterloo, he
exercised that freedom to such an extent that he became one of the most widely read authors
in England. The supportive friendship with Childs undoubtedly played a significant role in
this productive flurry.
[9] While such energy marks a positive change from the depressed lethargy of the previous year,
this activity is not without its risks. Hone's letter concludes with his expression of happy
anticipation of seeing "Mr. Edwards." As Ann Bowden points out,5 this is almost
certainly one George Edwards, a government spy and provocateur who was instrumental in
forwarding the Cato Street Conspiracy that, in just a few weeks, would send several radical
activists to the gallows. Hone himself was not betrayed into participation in the scheme
(though an attempt was made), but the very presence of George Edwards in Hone's Christmas
festivities demonstrates the sort of unwelcome attention he was getting at the Home Office.
Hone may have wished to steer clear of public conflict, but he soon would be drawn in to yet
another "trial"—this time in the pages of the Quarterly
Review.