There is no corroborating evidence for Godwin's comment, as far as we have been able to establish, although 'one friend said he never heard Tooke defend an opinion in which he was certain Tooke believed sincerely'.

See David and Christina Bewley, Gentleman radical: a life of John Horne Tooke, 1736–1812 (London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1998), p. 278.