Nathaniel Beverley Tucker (6 September 1784-26 August 1851), though by profession a jurist and professor of law and philosophy of government at the College of William and Mary, is remembered rather for his avocation as novelist. Born at Matoax, Virginia, the fourth child of St. George Tucker and Frances Bland Tucker, he died in Winchester, Virginia. His life-long political conservatism and fiery loyalty to Virginia were no doubt shaped by the illustriousness of his familial ties and the eighteenth-century aristocratic atmosphere in the Virginia of his formative years. He was half-brother to John Randolph of Roanoke and had ties with other noble Virginia families--the Lees, Bollings, and Beverleys. Tucker's life was spent in a losing effort opposing those merging economic, social, and political forces that threatened the stability of a hierarchical social order, feudal and agrarian in spirit.

After completing law readings under the supervision of his father, he secured...