Selected Political Writings of John Thelwall

John Thelwall was a pivotal figure in British radical circles during the Romantic era. He was one of the London Corresponding Society’s most prominent orators and was tried for high treason along with Thomas Hardy and John Horne Tooke in 1794. After his acquittal, Thelwall resumed his radical activities, giving electrifying public lectures on parliamentary reform and universal suffrage at Beaufort Buildings in London. He remained under close government surveillance and became a dangerous acquaintance. When he visited Coleridge and Wordsworth in Alfoxden his trip was investigated and the Wordsworths lost their lease.

This four-volume reset edition brings together Thelwall’s most important and influential political writing from across the genres, from scientific pamphlets and writings on the art of elocution, to political philosophy and journalism. The selections reveal his debt to several discursive traditions: classical republicanism and civic humanism; the historicized sociology of the Scottish Enlightenment; radicalized Lockean natural rights theory; and the emerging language of utility. Most of these difficult-to-access texts have never been republished in modern editions.

The edition benefits from extensive new editorial material including a general introduction, bibliography, chronology, headnotes, endnotes and a consolidated index. It has a broad interdisciplinary appeal and will be used by historians, literature scholars and political theorists.

• Focuses on the political writings of an influential and well-connected Romantic figure
• Most of the texts included have never been republished
• New editorial material includes a general introduction, bibliography, chronology, headnotes, endnotes and a consolidated index

Contents

Volume I: Early Political Pamphlets and Lectures, 1793-1796

Ode to Science. Recited at the Anniversary Meeting of the Philomathian Society (1791); An Essay towards a Definition of Animal Vitality (1793); King Chaunticlere; or, the Fate of Tyranny (1793); Political Lectures (1794); Fraternity and Unanimity (1795); John Gilpin’s Ghost (1795); Prospectus of a Course of Lectures (1796); An Appeal to Popular Opinion (1796).

Volume II: Selections from The Tribune, 1795-6

Selected Writings from The Tribune (1795-6)

Volume III: Journalism and Selected Writings on Elocution and Oratory, 1797-1809

‘The Phenomena of the Wye, During the Winter of 1797–8’, Monthly Magazine (1798); ‘A Pedestrian Excursion through Several Parts of England and Wales during the Summer of 1797’, Monthly Magazine (1799–1801); ‘Prefatory Memoir’, Monthly Magazine (1802); Elocution and Oratory: General Plan and Outline of Mr. Thelwall’s Course of Lectures (1803); ‘A Letter to Francis Jeffray [sic], Esq., on Certain Calumnies and Misrepresentations’, The Edinburgh Review (1804); Mr Thelwall’s Reply (1804).

Volume IV: Late Journalism and Writing on Elocution and Oratory, 1810-1832

A Letter to Henry Cline, Esq. (1810); The Vestibule of Eloquence (1810); Results of Experience in Treatment of Cases of Defective Utterance (1814); Selected Writings from the Champion (1819–20); Panoramic Miscellany (1826); ‘Funeral of the late Thomas Hardy’ (1832).

Related titles

• John Thelwall: Radical Romantic and Acquitted Felon
• London Corresponding Society, 1792–1799
• The Novels and Selected Plays of Thomas Holcroft
• Trials for Treason and Sedition, 1792–1794

Leaflets

• Selected Political Writings of John Thelwall: colour leaflet
• Selected Political Writings of John Thelwall: printable leaflet

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