pages, it will be seen I have shown many points of resemblance between Junius and Colonel Barré. The facts already stated prove that the latter was in all probability the author of a pamphlet published anonymously in 1760, which bears unmistakeable evidence of being the production of Junius, and which vituperates Lord Townshend, one of the subsequent victims of that writer, upon the same grounds, and in precisely similar language. That Barré, if really Junius, should not have published any political essay or pamphlet which can be traced to him with absolute certainty, may be explained upon the supposition that he was unwilling to expose himself to the chances. of detection, by the comparison of a known work with the Letters of Junius.

Evidence has been already produced to show Barré's hostility to Lord Barrington, and his probable antipathy to the King and the Duke of Bedford. The Duke of Grafton he must have hated and despised for his opposition to Lord Shelburne; and Mansfield, for his severity to Woodfall. Barré also manifested as much inconsistency as Junius did in his opinions of and strictures on the Earl of Chatham.

Enough has been said already respecting the comments of Junius on Lord Shelburne,―the constant friend of Barré. Those remarks soon terminated; and on the 30th May, 1769, we find his lordship thus complimented by Junius, in a letter addressed to the Duke of Grafton :-" If, instead of disowning Lord Shelburne, the British Court had interposed with dignity and firmness, you know, my lord, that Corsica would never have been invaded. The French saw the weakness of a distracted ministry, and were justified in treating you with contempt."

The friendships of Junius were precisely those of Barré ;—witness particularly his attachment to George Grenville, and to Sir Jeffery Amherst.

His opinions on public measures, as well as public men, were alike in unison with those of Junius; particularly on Parliamentary

Reform, the seizure of the Falkland Islands, the invasion of Corsica by France, the proposed imprisonment of the city magistrates, in 1771, and the management of the Army, and of the War Office.

The very circumstance that a politician so distinguished as Colonel Barré was only once named by Junius, is in itself remarkable though of course it is not, in itself, a proof that he wrote these famous Essays.*

It has been argued by Mr. Charles Butler, Dr. Mason Good, and others that Junius was a man of high birth, and of exalted rank and station. For the reasons so well expressed by my friend the Rev. John Mitford, and quoted in the Preface to this Essay, I cannot concur in this opinion; but on the contrary believe that Junius, like Barré, was a man of humble origin.

Nearly every writer on this interesting question admits that Junius was of mature age at the time he wrote his celebrated satires; and the want of this qualification is one of the strongest objections to the claims of Sir Philip Francis. Barré was in his 43rd year, when the first letter ascribed to Junius was written; and in his 47th when Junius exclaimed to Wilkes (in reply to an invitation to the Mansion House Ball); "Alas! my age and figure would do but little credit to my partner."

That Junius was, or had been, in the British army hardly admits of a question. Mr. Jaques observes that it is "impossible for any person to peruse attentively this controversy without being convinced that the profound and accurate knowledge of military affairs displayed by Junius could only have been possessed by an old and experienced soldier: that it was by no means of such a superficial and amateur character as might have been gleaned by a clerk in the War Office, but bears indubitable marks of being the result of that knowledge

* The reference to Barré is as follows;-"I willingly accept of a sarcasm from Colonel Barré, or a simile from Mr. Burke."

which is only to be acquired in the tented field, and amidst the actual turmoil and din of war."* The same writer quotes from the Letters a collection of martial similes which must convince every reader of the justice of his inference on this point. The most trivial military topics were discussed by Junius with unusual warmth and eagerness; the subject of his quarrel with Sir William Draper was essentially military; and his jealousy of the Guards, as evinced in his remarks on the escape of General Gansel from custody, would lead to the conclusion that, like Colonel Barré, he was attached to a regiment of the line.

Lord Brougham, amongst other writers, has asserted that Junius was not a lawyer by profession; adverting, more copiously than was necessary, to the imperfections of his legal arguments. Barré, it will be remembered, had been for a short time a law student, but he appears to have quitted that profession in disgust. This would account for that partial knowledge of the law which Junius displays, and for his severe allusions to its professors.†

Junius, by implication, calls himself an Englishman. Addressing "the English nation," he says, "I dedicate to you a collection of Letters written by one of yourselves." There are, however, many reasons for supposing that he was a native of Ireland; and indeed a large majority of the candidates for the authorship were Irishmen. The arguments on this point have been ably summed up by Coventry and Jaques. A complete knowledge of Irish affairs and

*Jaques's Junius and his Works, p. 75.

†The argument of Lord Brougham is applied by him to negative the claims of Dunning to the authorship of Junius. I have supposed that Dunning was a participator in the secret, and that he made some suggestions to Barré for the matter of the Letters to Lord Mansfield; but I do not imagine that the former was actively engaged upon them. It may be remarked that rigid accuracy in legal points was hardly necessary for the purpose of those Letters: such plausible arguments as would succeed with the public being all the writer sought for.

JUNIUS AND BARRÉ COMPARED.

95

Irish families is displayed in many of the Letters; besides peculiarities of phraseology and diction, which are strongly characteristic of a native of the sister kingdom. To mention only one remarkable expression:-Junius, in speaking of Colonel Luttrell, says, "He has degraded even the name of Luttrell ;"-a phrase of which the full meaning could be only understood in Ireland, where that name is synonymous with traitor or betrayer; owing to the supposed treachery of a member of the family at the battle of the Boyne. There are also several expressions in the Letters of Junius which justify the inference that the writer was a member of the House of Commons.

The remarkable familiarity with the French language evinced by Junius, at a time when that accomplishment was comparatively rare, is a striking point in favour of Colonel Barré. Not only was Junius acquainted with that language as a scholar, but he was equally well versed in its idioms, and even in its nicknames. He satirically calls one of his antagonists a "maquereau;" and Barrington is made to describe Chamier, in the words,-" Sire,—it s'appelle Ragosin” (one of Scarron's heroes). "Taking the pas," "mauvais honte," and similar phrases, of frequent occurrence in Junius, were not at that time familiarly used in this country. He criticises gravely Lord Rochford's diplomatic French, pointing out that “in three lines there are no less than seven false concords :"-and several other instances might be referred to, if necessary. To Barré, whose father was a French emigrant, this language might be called his native tongue; he was in the frequent habit of visiting France; in his letters to Lord Chatham he employs the words and phrases of that country; in his speeches in Parliament he often narrated French anecdotes; and on one occasion he expressly said,-" Now, for my part, I understand French very well."

Finally, the sarcastic eloquence of Barré was precisely that of Junius, and it cannot be too strongly urged, that his speeches must have possessed literary merits: they are most imperfectly represented in the newspaper reports of the period. His memorable

attack on Pitt, on his first entrance into Parliament, has its parallel only in the violent antipathies of Junius.

If the statements, the facts, and the arguments contained in the preceding pages should fail to remove that veil which has so long obscured the Authorship of Junius's Letters, they must nevertheless propitiate the reader in behalf of Colonel Barré, who, it must be admitted, possessed most of the talents and qualifications which the best informed critics consider to be essential characteristics of that writer. Barré was a man of moral and physical courage, a scholar, and an acute and a severe politician. He possessed sound patriotism, was deeply versed in military science and practical warfare, and intimately associated with some of the most profound statesmen of his age, with whom he long continued to co-operate in the intrigues and contentions of party rivalry and hostility. In all his characteristics, as a gentleman, a politician, and a soldier, he was fully competent to carry on and complete the delicate, the arduous, and the hazardous task of writing the series of Letters which I have ventured to ascribe to him, a task which must have involved him imperceptibly in an intricate labyrinth of mental labour, as well as exposed him, in no common degree, to personal responsibility and danger.

FINIS.

C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND.