155
LETTERS.]
rolles was the amanuensis employed in
copying the Letters of Junius for the
Printer. With a postscript to the first
Essay on Jumus and his Works. L.
1851. 8vo.
LXXXI Cramp, William. Essay on the Authenticity of the four Letters of- Atticus. L 1851 8vo.
See also ' Notes and Queries," 1st Ser., 1. 275, 322.
LXXXII Parkes, J., and Merivale, H. Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis, K.C.B., with Correspondence and Journals. L.
1852. 2 vols 8vo.
A second edition appeared in 1867. LXXXIII. *Ayerst, Francis The Ghost of Junius, or, the Authorship of the celebrated ' Letters ' by this Anony- mous Writer, deduced from a letter, etc., addressed, in 1775-76, by Lieutenant- General Sir Robert Rich, Bart , etc., to the Right Hon. Lord Viscount Barring- ton, etc L. 1853. 8vo.
In favor of Lieut-Col. Sir Robert Rich.
LXXXIV * Griffin, Frederick. Junius discovered. B. 1854. 12mo.
In favor of Governor Pownall.
LXXXV. * Dowe, William. Junius Lord Chatham : a biography setting forth the condition of English preceding and contemporary with the Revolution- ary Junian period, and showing that the greatest Orator and Statesman was also the greatest Epistolary Writer of his age. L. 1857. 12mo.
Theauthorhad previously advocated the same theory, in the " Dublin University Magazine,** xi. 20.
LXXXVI. Symono, J. C. "William Burke, the Author of Junius, an Essay on his Era. L. 1859. 12rao.
LXXXVII. * Hay ward, A. More about Junius. The Franciscan Theory un- sound. L. 1868. 8vo.
Reprinted, with additions, from " Fraser's Magazine*"
LXXXVIII. Chabot and Twistleton. The Handwriting of Junius. L. 1871, 4to.
LXXXIX. * Junius Unmasked; or, Thomas Paine, the author of the Letters of Junius and the Declaration of Inde- pendence. Washington, D.C., 1872. 12mo.
xc. *The Handwriting of Junius pro- fessionally investigated by Mr. Charles Chabot (Expert). With Preface and Collateral Evidence by the Hon. Edward Twistleton. L. 1847. 4to.
An attempt to prove conclusively, by com- parative handwriting, that Sir Philip Prancis was the author of the letters.
IV. Some Miscellaneous Observations.
Here end my researches in the history of Junius, and in conclusion I shall place before the reader three quotations, from which he can choose as he \\ishes, and endeavor to settle this knotty question to his own satisfaction.
The first is from the introductory epistle to Scott's "Fortunes of Nigel," in which the author says .
" A cause, however ingeniously pleaded, is not therefoie gamed You may remember the neatly-wrought chain of circumstantial evidence so artificially brought forward to piove Sii Philip Francis's title to the Letters of Junius seemed at first irrefragible, yet the influence of the reasoning has passed away, and Junius, in the general opinion, is as much unknown as ever-"
Lord Byron had evidently arrived at no very definite conclusion in respect to the authorship, for in his " Vision of Judgment" Junius appears among the shades, and is as inscrutable as he was on earth .
" And several people swore from out the press,
They knew him perfectly; and one could swear He was "his father, upon \\hich another Was sure he -was his mother's-cousin's brother.
"I've an hypothesis 'tis quite ray own;
I never let it out till now, tor fear Of doing people harm about the throne,
And injuring some mmistei or peer On whom the stigma might peihaps be blown;
It is ray gentle public, lend thine ear! 'Tis, that what Junius we were wont to call Was really, truly, nobody at all."
Lastly, I cannot refrain from quoting the excellent view of the influence of Junius' labors as depicted by Messrs. Parkes and Merivale in their '* Life of Sir Philip Francis," to wit :
"That Junius can only be described with truth as a political adventurer there Is no doubt. It is plain enough that his own personal success In life was involved in that of the party whose cause he adopted, or, to speak still moie accu- rately, in the fall of the party which he attacked. And it Is equally true that be was utterly un- scrupulous in his use of means; that his sincer- ity, even when he was sincere, was apt to assume the form of the most ignoble rancor, and that no ties of friendship, or party, or con- nection, seem to have restrained his virulence. All this is but too deducible from the published anonymous writings only , . . But when all this has been said, there remains a residue of a higher order, which must in justice to him be fairly weighed in the balance. Notwithstanding all his sins against Justice and truth, Junius was assuredly actuated at bottom by n strong and ardent public spirit. He was throughout a genuine lover of his country. He was earnest in Behalf of her honor and of her liberties He saw clearly that her road to the accomplishment of a higher destiny lay through the maintenance of that honor and the extension of those liberties. He hated with an honest hatred the meanness of principle and venahty of conduct which charac- terized but too strongly the governments against
