Mentioned in despatches at Bunker Hill, brother to the Duchess of Argyll and the Countess of Coventry, John Gunning occupied an enviable position in Georgian society, but in 1792 his whole life started to unravel. The Apology, published in 1792, gives a first-hand account of Gunning's many seductions (including apparently 2 duchesses, 14 countesses, 4 viscountesses and 7 baronesses) and purports to explain the so-called 'Gunning Mystery,' the authorship of forged love letters between his daughter Elizabeth and the Marquess of Blandford. It also tells how the General, described by Lord Kenyon as 'an hoary, abominable, degraded creature,' betrayed the man who had rescued him from a debtors' prison by seducing his wife. But is the Apology itself a forgery? Although there are indications that it may be, this memoir displays an extremely good understanding of the Gunnings, perhaps too good to be the work of an outsider. In this new, annotated edition, Gerrish Gray unearths prosecutions for other forgeries (and capital offences at that) perpetrated by one of the suspects in the Gunning Mystery. He suggests that these may point to the true culprit.

Mentioned in despatches at Bunker Hill, brother to the Duchess of Argyll and the Countess of Coventry, John Gunning occupied an enviable position in Georgian society, but in 1792 his whole life started to unravel... It all started with forged correspondence between his daughter Elizabeth and the Marquess of Blandford. Was Elizabeth, her garrulous mother, her dissipated father, the sinister Essex Bowen or someone else responsible? The Apology, published in 1792, gives a first-hand account of Gunning's many seductions (including apparently 2 duchesses, 14 countesses, 4 viscountesses and 7 baronesses) and purports to explain the so-called 'Gunning Mystery' - the story behind the correspondence but fails to do so. The book also tells how the General, described by Lord Kenyon as 'an hoary, abominable, degraded creature, ' betrayed the man who had rescued him from a debtors' prison by seducing his wife. But is the Apology itself a forgery? Although there are indications that it may be, this memoir displays an extremely good understanding of the Gunnings, perhaps too good to be the work of an outsider. In this new, annotated and illustrated edition, Gerrish Gray delves into the fascinating world of Georgian society which is both refined and seedy. Gerrish Gray unearths prosecutions for other forgeries (and capital offences at that) perpetrated by one of the suspects in the Gunning Mystery. These point to the true identity of the culprit in the Gunning Mystery. Nonetheless, there are plenty of mysteries left: What led Gunning to marry the foolish Susannah Minifie? What was the bond between Gunning and James Duberley, the man who supplied his regiment's uniforms? Gerrish Gray is a retired historian who prefers to remain pseudonymous.

Contents: There is a Lady Sweet and Kind - Anonymous; From a Lady to a Gentleman, in Answer to a Complimentary Copy of Verses - Anonymous; A Cheerful Tempered Lover's Farewell to His Mistress Joanna - Baillie; A Sonnet - Francis Beaumont; Song - Aphra Behn; The One Before the Last - Rupert Brooke; Memory - William Browne of Tavistock; Song - William Browne of Tavistock; How Do I Love Thee? - Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Love in life - Robert Browning; My Bonnie Mary - Robert Burns; A Red, Red Rose - Robert Burns; So We'll Go No More a-Roving - Lord Byron; She Walks in Beauty - Lord Byron; Cherry-Ripe - Thomas Campion; The Unfading Beauty - Thomas Carew; Ask me, Lesbia - Catullus; 'Why Do I love' You, Sir? - Emily Dickinson; The Good Morrow - John Donne; The Sun Rising - John Donne; Song - John Donne; The Triple Fool - John Donne; To His Coy Love - Michael Drayton; How Many Paltry Foolish Painted Things - Michael Drayton; To One that Asked Me Why I Loved - J. G.; Ephelia - Lady Mary Villiers; To Plead My Faith - Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex; To a Lady Asking Him How Long He Would Love Her - Sir George Etherege; Beauty Clear and Fair - John Fletcher; Wooing Song - Giles Fletcher; Why, My Heart - W. E. Henley; To Anthea, Who May Command Him Anything - Robert Herrick; The Night-Piece: To Julia - Robert Herrick; To Electra - Robert Herrick; Time of Roses - Thomas Hood; Jenny Kiss'd Me - Leigh Hunt; To Celia - Ben Jonson; Cards and Kisses - John Lyly; Rosaline Thomas Lodge;;;; To Amarantha; That She Would Dishevel Her Hair - Richard Lovelace; To Lucasta, Going to the Wars - Richard Lovelace; The Scrutiny - Richard Lovelace; Love Unkind - Isabel Ecclestone Mackay; The Passionate Shepherd to His Love - Christopher Marlowe; To His Coy Mistress - Andrew Marvell; I'll Never Love Thee More - James Graham; Beauty Bathing - Anthony Munday; I Do Not Love Thee - Caroline Norton; Rondel - Charles d'Orleans; A Love Symphony - A. W. E. O'Shaughnessy; The Enchantment - Thomas Otway; What Cunning Can Express - Edward de Vere; Love and Age - Thomas Love Peacock; Phillida and Coridon - Nicholas Breton; The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd - Sir Walter Raleigh; The Ripest Peach - James Whitcomb Riley; A Song of a Young Lady to Her Ancient Lover - John Wilmot; Love from the North - Christina Rossetti; Phyllis is My Only Joy - Sir Charles Sedley; To Celia - Sir Charles Sedley; Sonnet XVIII - William Shakespeare; Sonnet LVII - William Shakespeare; Sonnet LXXV - William Shakespeare; Sonnet CXXX - William Shakespeare; Sonnet XCI - William Shakespeare; Sonnet CXLI - William Shakespeare; The Indian Serenade - Percy Bysshe Shelley; Love's Arithmetic - Sir Edward Sherburne; Had I a Heart for Falsehood Framed - Richard Brinsley Sheridan; Cupid, Because Thou - Sir Philip Sidney; I Prithee Send Me Back My Heart - Sir John Suckling; Out Upon It, I Have Lov'd - Sir John Suckling; When, Dearest, I but Think of Thee - Sir John Suckling; Tides - Sara Teasdale; Arbor Amoris - Francois Villon; Go, Lovely Rose - Edmund Waller; To Phyllis - Edmund Waller; The Self Banished - Edmund Waller; Against Indifference - Charles Webbe; The Je Ne Scai Quoi - William Whitehead; I Loved a Lass - George Wither; A Complaint - William Wordsworth; Rondeau - Sir Thomas Wyatt; Sonnet - Sir Thomas Wyatt