ABSTRACT
W H I L E the battle of theory was raging, some of the stalwarts of the old reform controversy were coming back to the field. In 1790 Horne Tooke contested Westminster against the Foxites. Since the active campaign of the Constitutional Society closed, he had created a reputation in the world of letters by publishing his philological work, The Diversions o f Purley. It was a tribute to the new glamour of politics that he should forsake letters and again place his curious gifts at the service of reform.
