In the early 1970s Mr E. P. Thompson and I independently hit on material relating to the Berkshire Blacks, who were active around 1722–3. This showed that Alexander Pope's brother-in-law, Charles Rackett, and the latter's son Michael were in some way implicated in deer-stealing in Windsor Forest. Charles was taken into custody, whilst Michael seemingly absconded. Mr Thompson planned a ful-length book on the episode of history leading to the Waltham Black Act of 1723; I planned merely an article. The result was that I published my findings first, having permitted Mr Thompson to see them in advance of publication. My brief article on the Pope connection appeared in the Times Literary Supplement on 31 August 1973, and Mr Thompson's reply on 7 September. Subsequently my wider discussion of the Black Act appeared in the Historical Journal during 1974. Mr Thompson's book Whigs and Hunters followed in 1975: again he had seen the typescript of my article in advance. Whigs and Hunters was published in a paperback in 1977, with some additional material at the end.

The substance of Mr Thompson's TLS article was reprinted as an appendix in both editions of Whigs and Hunters. It has therefore now reached a wide audience, including a majority of readers who in the nature of things will not have read my own contributions to the debate. I refrained from any response to this widely disseminated material, for a number of reasons. First, there is little disagreement between Mr Thompson and myself on the facts: his fuller enquiries yielded information I had not come across, but it would not have affected my basic judgments.