William Cobbett (1763-1835) was (in the words of G. K. Chesterton) 'the noblest English example of the noble calling of the agitator'. His radicalism brought him into conflict with the authorities on many occasions, but he reserved a special kind of venom for politicians like Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington, for men of letters like the lexicographer Dr. Johnson, and the Fellows of English Colleges, 'who live by the sweat of other people's brows'.