Hone

Hone, William (1780-1842), writer and bookseller, was born at Bath, and received from his -father a severely religious training. During his Tesidence in London and the neighbourhood, as an attorney's clerk (1790-1800), he abandoned the orthodox principles of his youth for those of the London Corresponding Society. In 1800 he set up as a bookseller in London, but he failed several times, nor did his name become generally known until he started the Reformer's Register (1817), a weekly periodical, in which he exhibited his talent for parody and lampoon. At the close of the same vear he was prosecuted by the Attorney-General for publishing three political tracts - The Late John 'Wilkes's Catechism, 'The Sinecurist's Creed, and The Political Litany, a parody on parts of the "Church Service, with illustrations by Cruikshank.

The able manner in which he conducted his defence led to his acquittal on all three counts. In 1819 appeared his Political House that Jack Built, but he subsequently abandoned politics for antiquarian research, publishing his Every Day Book (1826), Table Book (1827-28), and Year Booh (1839), which abound in curious information. Towards the close of his life he became a pious member of a Dissenting congregation. Throughout his whole life Hone was never free from pecuniary embarrassment.