tation, to the full of the demand upon him so well as Mr. Francis did yesterday. He was clear, precise, forcible, and eloquent in a high degree. No intricate brief was ever better unravelled; and no iniquity ever placed so effectually to produce its natural horror and disgust. It is very little to the credit of those who are Mr. Francis's enemies, but it is infinitely to his, that they forced him to give a history of his whole public life. He did it in a most masterly manner, and with an address which the display of such a life ought very little to want, but which the prejudices of those whose lives are of a very different character made necessary. He did justice to the feelings of others too; and I assure you, Madam, that the modesty of his defence was not the smallest part of its merit. All who heard him were delighted, except those whose mortification ought to give pleasure to every good mind. He was two hours and a half or rather more upon his legs; and he never lost attention for a moment." *

Portions of the above accurately depict the style of Junius; but I think enough has been adduced to dispose of the question of literary or intellectual inferiority, and shall now enter upon fresh proofs to connect the history of Sir Philip with Junius.

IV SOURCES OF THE JUNIAN INTELLIGENCE. BESIDE the extraordinary talent evinced in the composition of the Letters, one of their most remarkable features was the authentic and prompt intelligence manifestly at the command of the writer. Invisible himself, Junius seemed the central eye, to which converged the rays of light emitted from everything that moved in the political arena. It was this universality of information that especially tended to preserve inviolate his secrecy, and to mislead inquirers into his identity. How could it be imagined that a clerk in the War Office could equal a cabinet minister, and even Royalty itself, in the promptitude and accuracy of his official communications? that the monarch, who, by virtue of his prerogative, receives from his secretaries, chancellors, and spiritual vicegerents reports of all transactions in Church and State, should be outdone by so humble a retainer? that even the confidential whisperings of the King's closet, and the gossip sacred to the privacy of a ministerial dinner, could not escape this indefatigable scrutator? The unravelment of this mystery in the Junius story forms the purpose of the present section.

For the production of any important event, history shows that the conjunction of two elements is indispensable—a quali*Correspondence of the Right Hon Edmund Burke, vol. iii. p. 56. Edited by Earl Fitzwilliam and General Bourke. Lond. 1844.

fied instrument and co-operating circumstances. The genius of Napoleon, fostered by the times in which he lived, constituted the phenomenon of his existence. Junius, in a less dazzling field of action, forms another signal example of the junction of means with ends; and in Sir Philip Francis we see exactly the man who, from his peculiar position, character, and acquirements, was competent to fulfil the conditions of the problem. Apparently open, communicative, and jocular, he was really a reserved being; self-dependent, communing much with himself, and subject to passions that might urge him to extreme courses, more or less elevated, according to the nature of the impulse. The Zanga of Young, or the Falkland of Godwin, offers the nearest dramatic presentment of his peculiar organization. Early in life, from unusual ability and trustworthiness, he obtained, as already stated, the confidential patronage of Lord Holland, and subsequently of the Earl of Chatham; and these noblemen, the ablest and most influential of their time, became the chief sources of the private information of Junius, through the intermediate agency, privity, or co-operation of Earl Temple, and perhaps of the Grenvilles, Mr. Calcraft, and Dr. Francis. These possessed ample opportunities to contribute all the parliamentary, court, and club news that rendered the Letters remarkable. The city intelligence partly passed through the same hands, especially Mr. Calcraft's, and was obtained first from Alderman Beckford, and after his death from Alderman Sawbridge. Wilkes also furnished fuel to the Junian furnace, but he seems to have been left to be dealt with by Junius, who received the civic contributions of the agitator through the medium of Mr. Woodfall. Such is the list of the dramatis persona,- -a body of intelligencers, it must be owned, amply sufficient to produce the Letters.

It will be necessary, however, to detail more fully the relations and positions of the individuals named, and refer to the public and private information upon which their complicity is established. I shall first speak of the Holland section, which was distinct in interest and political connection from the Chatham party.

But though Lords Holland and Chatham were the primary sources of intelligence, and through intermediate channels contributed to the Junian reservoir, it is doubtful to what extent these noblemen were privy to the Letters, or knowingly contributed information. That Lord Holland was

unacquainted with Junius, is highly probable: his Lordship was a man of the world, of the Walpole school of politics, of a kind, affable disposition, and associated much with those in direct communion with Junius; but it is likely he himself had no knowledge of the writer, and was unconscious that he was aiding him by information. This will appear from a fact I shall soon mention. As to Lord Chatham, he would probably seek a communication with Junius on discovering that he was his former Latin Secretary, but not till after the Letters had become popular.

The position of Dr. Francis, as the chaplain of Lord Holland, living intimately with his Lordship, and as the author of political pamphlets early in the reign of George III., has been already described. At this period Lord Holland had retired from the King's service, but continued a great favourite at Court. He was, in fact, the confidential adviser both of the King and Lord Bute, in the chief ministerial crises that occurred from 1763 to 1770. Speaking of one of these junctures in 1767, Mr. Adolphus says, "Lord Chatham's health was now deemed irrecoverable, and the ministry were neither benefited by his advice, nor supported by his popularity. They wanted a distinguished leader of talent, character, and reputation, who could give efficacy to their measures, and by force of superior powers enchain those minor pretenders who, in the absence of such a chief, disdained submission and embroiled the cabinet." It was in this disorder of his administration that Lord Chatham wrote to the King, representing his health as so bad that it was impossible he could afford further assistance to his Majesty, but recommending that the Duke of Grafton should be prevailed upon to continue at the head of the Treasury. In this extremity Lord Bute applied to his former associate, Lord Holland, who, as leader of the House of Commons, had so materially assisted him in procuring a parliamentary approval of the peace of 1763. Lord Holland sent his advice, July 5t, and the result was an attempt to strengthen the ministry by a union with the Bedford and Rockingham parties. But it failed. On the 21st Lord Rockingham waited on the King, and immediately after his Lordship left the King's closet Lord Holland was introduced. The final issue of the consultation was, that the Duke of * Chatham Papers. + Almon's Life of the Earl of Chatham, vol. ii. p. 1167. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 130, note.

Grafton's ministry was reinforced by the friends of the Duke of Bedford; and it was this ducal union that subsequently rendered the Dukes of Grafton and Bedford the bitter objects of the attacks of Junius, when his patron, Lord Chatham, had recovered, and was eager to destroy the Grafton ministry.

Having given evidence of the private and confidential intercourse maintained by Lord Holland with the Court, I shall next show the intimacy subsisting between Lord Holland and his chaplain. It may be first remarked, that Dr. Francis was also chaplain of Chelsea Hospital, as well as the favourite chaplain of the celebrated Earl of Chesterfield, to whom he dedicated his play of Constantine. Besides his learned and dramatic accomplishments, he was a man of varied social intercourse, living in confidential communication with the highest personages. George III. used to honour him with audiences, probably from the fame of his classical translations. Gibbon the historian, who had been his pupil, bears testimony to the Doctor's attachment to the diversified society of London. He frequently met Garrick at the houses of Lord Holland, Foote, and other mutual friends. Garrick brought out at Drury Lane Dr. Francis's tragedy of Eugenia, and in the part of "Mercour" exerted himself greatly to promote its success. He was also on familiar terms with Mr. John Calcraft, the army agent, and who will in the sequel of this exposition be found to have acted a principal part. Speaking of Lord Holland, Mr. Heron

says:

"During the busiest period of his political life Mr. John Calcraft was his confidential clerk and humble friend. He lived much in the house of Calcraft, in Parliament Street, while Mrs. G. A. Bellamy presided at that gentleman's table. She introduced to him Dr. Philip Francis, the translator of Horace, who became his chaplain, was otherwise promoted under his patronage, was made the familiar companion of his convivial hours at the house of Calcraft, and was probably excited by him to undertake his translation of Demosthenes. Calcraft was enriched under Mr. Fox's protection till he aspired to an equality with his master. When he could not rise to the height of his ambition on the same side in politics with Fox, he deserted to Lord Chatham and the Grenvilles, was received into their confidence, and became an outrageous patriot."-Letters of Junius, vol. ii. p. 251.

With Dr. Francis moving in the circle I have described, it is obvious that the younger Francis, as Junius, would command a ready channel from which to draw court and political news, and whence, most probably, were derived those anecdotes of the private life of the King, of the Princess Dowager of Wales,

of the brutal behaviour of the Duke of Bedford to his Sovereign, of the intelligence conveyed by Garrick to Richmond, and of those changes in the superior offices of the government which he so promptly communicated. It also explains why Junius spared the Holland family, he himself having received favours from it, and his father continuing intimately identified with it, and the origin of the wish he expressed to Woodfall, that Lord Holland may acquit himself with honour," in reply to the charge of malversation.

But though Junius respected and spared the family of Lord Holland, I shall in this place adduce a piece of information, showing such relations of Junius towards it as will, I apprehend, be unexpected by the public. I have already stated, that Mr. Taylor in his Junius Identified, in the first instance, fixed upon Dr. Francis as the author of the Letters. But it appears, and I state this on the best authority, that Dr. Francis was entirely unconnected with the writings of Junius; and he was as much in the dark respecting the author as any reader of the Public Advertiser. This information has been kindly communicated to me by the grandson of Sir Philip Francis, upon the authority of a letter of Dr. Francis, in his possession. Mr. Francis is in possession of his grandfather's curious collection of MSS; and further informs me that the views of Dr. Francis differed from those of his son on many questions discussed by Junius; and he conceives that Sir Philip purposely concealed the secret from his father, so long as it continued his exclusive property." From this important explanation, I infer the proba bility that both Lord Holland and Dr. Francis were unconscious contributors to the Junius bulletins; and it is not unlikely that certain disclosures in them may have led to such discoveries and explanations between the elder and younger Francis as stopped further supplies, and "the habits of the closest intimacy, which had prevailed between father and son, were finally broken off.”*

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I turn next to the Chatham branch of the connection as a source of intelligence. Differing probably from his father in this respect, Junius throughout his career was the ardent and consistent admirer of the Earl of Chatham. From the Chatham Correspondence, lately published under the editorship of the grandsons of Lord Chatham, it appears that Junius privately addressed letters to his Lordship. In the first of these * Private Letters of H. R. Francis, Esq., dated April 26, and May 20, 1850.