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...