JEREMY BENTHAM'S CORRESPONDENCE. Letters referred to, or were familiar with the writer. 9 "The Public Advertiser" was regularly sought for, and referred to daily, with avidity; and on one particular occasion it was spoken of with unusual curiosity and confidence. At the dinner-table on a certain day, when the clergyman and the three politicians only were present, Junius was not only noticed, but a certain attack on his writings, which had just excited much attention, was freely discussed. On this occasion one of the party remarked, that it would be shown up and confuted by Junius in the next day's Advertiser. When the paper came the next day, instead of the Junius, there was a note by "the Printer," stating that the letter would appear in the ensuing number. "Thenceforward," said Dr. Popham, "I was convinced that one of my three friends was Junius." This opinion he afterwards repeated to me. Many years' intimacy with Mr. Bayliffe, and Mr. Ralph Gaby, of Chippenham, two respectable solicitors of that borough, and who had frequent intercourse with the Bowood parties above named, strengthened this impression; for each of those gentlemen believed that the Letters of Junius were written by one of those eminent politicians. The widow of Mr. Bayliffe, a well-informed lady, in the eightieth year of her age, writes me word, that her Husband died with this conviction. That Dunning and Barré continued in familiar intercourse with Bowood and its noble owner for many years after the discontinuance of Junius, we find by the correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, who mentions them repeatedly in connection with other eminent persons whom he met, and was charmed with, at that truly classical seat. Amongst them we find young Mr. Beckford, the Earl of Pembroke, the Rev. Dr. Priestley,* the Reverend Dr. Price, and * The history of this amiable, scientific, and literary gentleman is intimately associated with Bowood, and the character of Lord Shelburne: as he was attached to that nobleman for seven years, at 250l. per year, with house, &c., had charge of his library and MSS., had a laboratory expressly furnished for him at Bowood, and travelled with his lordship through Flanders, Holland, Germany, &c., in 1774. "In fact," he says, "I was with him as a friend, and consequently was introduced to his Lordship's eminent associates both at home and abroad. I the Rev. Joseph Townsend, and many other persons eminent for taste, learning, and influence. Bentham's animated comments on the splendid hospitalities of the house, the fascination of the host and hostess, and the varied talents and characters of the guests, render his Letters from Bowood as amusing and interesting as those of Pliny, or of Horace Walpole. The following passages are at once strongly characteristic of the writer and the individuals referred to: "There seems no want of money here: grounds laying out, and plantations making, upon a large scale;-a gate going to be made, with a pyramid on each side of it, for an approach to the house at six miles distance; the pyramids to be at least 100 feet high. I call it Egypt. In the way, you have deep valleys, with meadows and a water-mill at the bottom of them;"and, on the sides, craggy rocks, with water gushing out of them, just for all the world as if Moses had been there."- "The master of the house, to judge from every thing I have seen yet, is one of the pleasantest men to live with that ever God saw," says the Doctor, "a great variety of characters, amongst whom was the Rev. Dr. Frampton, a man of great conversational talents and sparkling wit; whose company was much courted."-Like too many others of the brilliant Sons of Genius, he neglected the common obligations of man to man, and was imprisoned for debt, which occasioned illness and death in the prime of life. Although it appears that Dr. Priestley was generally well satisfied in his connexion with Lord Shelburne, before the end of seven years he required change, with novelty of pursuit and association. "I was not at all satisfied with that mode of life. Instead of looking back upon it with regret, one of the greatest subjects of my present thankfulness, is the change of that situation for the one in which I am now placed." On parting, Lord Shelburne settled an annuity of 150%. on the Reverend Doctor, and regularly paid the same. The subsequent career of the philosopher and divine was involved in vicissitude and many sorrows. A barbarous and demi-savage mob of infatuated religious persons burnt his house, books, and scientific property, at Birmingham; and he sought safety by retiring, first to London, and afterwards to America, where, soon afterwards he died, February 6, 1804.-" Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley," by himself, 2 vols. 8vo, 1806. It is to be regretted that these memoirs are so brief: for the author must have had much intercourse with Dunning, Barré, &c., during his connection with Lord Shelburne, but he mentions them only once, in saying that his lordship was very desirous of re-engaging him to supply their place, when they left Bowood, about the year 1779. put breath into: his whole study seems to be to make every body about him happy; servants not excepted; and in their countenances one may read the effects of his endeavours. Strangers are lodged in a part of the house quite separate from that which is inhabited by the family. Adjoining to my bedchamber I have a dressing-room, and should have a servant's room if I had one to put into it."- "On our visit to Wilton the only company besides ourselves were an officer who was quartered at Salisbury, and young Beckford of Fonthill, who, on the 28th of this month (August, 1781), comes of age, and gives a grand fête to all the world. Lord Pembroke is one of the best bred, most intelligent, pleasant fellows I ever met with in my life; they say he is mad, but if his madness never shows itself in any other shape than it did then, I wish to God I could be mad too. He talked with infinite vivacity, saying many good things, and no foolish ones."-"We have just now a monstrous heap of people. Arrived before dinner, Lord Dartry and Colonel Barré."—" Barré abounds in stories that are well told and very entertaining. He really seems to have a great command of language; he states clearly and forcibly; and upon all points his words are fluent and well chosen."—————" With Dunning I could have no communication; there was no time for it, except a joke or two, which the devil tempted me to crack upon him immediately upon his coming in. With Barré, although we have few ideas in common, I am upon terms of some familiarity, owing to the good-nature and companionableness of the man." My own acquaintance with Bowood commenced in the year 1797, when, as already mentioned, I began to collect materials for "The Beauties of Wiltshire ;" and for which work the Marquess of Lansdowne was the first nobleman who gave me encouragement. On intimating my object to his lordship, he presented me with Andrews and Drury's Survey of the county, in eighteen large sheets-also Robertson's Topographical Survey of the Road from London to Bath, and other books and papers, calculated to serve me in my daring project. I was also promised aid from the valuable library in Lansdowne House, London, and found a kind and obliging friend in Mr. Williams, the respectable librarian. His Lordship also gave me introductions to three or four gentlemen in the vicinity —viz., Mr. Methuen, of Corsham,-Mr. Heneage, of Compton,Sir Andrew Baynton, of Spye Park, and James Montagu, Esq., of Lackham, by all of whom I was impressed with a strong opinion of the great political knowledge of the Marquess, and of the extra ordinary talents of those who congregated around him at his country seat. It was about the same time that my attention was directed to a tombstone in Hungerford Church Yard, to the memory of WILLIAM GREATRAKES, which I well remember seeing, and which bore the following inscription: HERE ARE DEPOSITED THE REMAINS OF WILLIAM GREATRAKES, Stat Nominis Umbra. The motto of Junius, thus remarkably affixed to the epitaph of a comparatively obscure individual, was certainly calculated to excite curiosity; but there were other circumstances attending the death of Greatrakes at the Bear Inn, Hungerford, which tended greatly to encourage the opinion that he was intimately concerned in the Letters of Junius. These circumstances have been occasionally noticed by writers on Junius, but never with the attention they deserve. Without anticipating the facts and arguments which will be hereafter adduced respecting William Greatrakes, it will be sufficient, in this place, to observe that he was personally connected with both Colonel Barré and Lord Shelburne, and that the persevering inquiries which I have lately made respecting him, have convinced me that he was the amanuensis employed by Junius to copy his Letters for the Public Advertiser." Although it will be rendered evident hereafter that the genuine Letters were the production of one author,—that they were all prepared for the press by one master-mind, we shall find that there was a tripartite union in their component and combined parts. It cannot fail to be noticed by every attentive reader that they Some very remarkable facts relating to papers belonging to Greatrakes, have recently been communicated to me by two Gentlemen of Cork; and will be produced in a subsequent page of this essay. AUTHOR'S CONCLUSION. 13 contain a variety of technical and professional knowledge, which is rarely, if ever, to be found united in one person; and certainly not in any one of the authors to whom these Letters have been hitherto ascribed. Independently of caustic satire, of severe irony, of vindictive personalities, we find the whole correspondence pervaded by three leading subjects—each powerfully treated—viz., political history, military tactics, and legal learning. In attempting to compare the dates, circumstances, opinions, and events, connecting Junius with the personal histories of Lord Shelburne, Barré, and Dunning, the author has had to encounter many unexpected, conflicting, and perplexing difficulties. No satisfactory memoir of either of the persons here named has hitherto been published, and (in the case of Barré especially) the materials for such narratives are scattered, not only through gazettes, parliamentary and other public records, but in private as well as official documents, contemporary pamphlets, &c., many of which are now extremely difficult of access. With much labour and perseverance these data have been carefully examined and digested, and the result, though it may not produce conviction in the mind of every reader, unquestionably establishes a very strong case in favour of Colonel Barré, as the author of Junius. It appears highly probable also that Lord Shelburne supplied Barré with the secret political information which those letters display; and that Dunning, the friend and coadjutor of both, was at all events acquainted with the secret, and was consulted upon the legal topics which Junius discussed. Thus it will be seen that the first proposition I wish to establish is that Barré was the author or composer of the Letters. If I succeed in that, I conceive that the connection of Lord Shelburne and of Dunning with the mystery, follows almost as a matter of course, from their relative position with respect to one another. To Colonel Barré, therefore, it will first be necessary to direct the reader's attention; and probably the best way to show his connection with the Letters of Junius will be to mention briefly, and in chronological order, the principal events of his life. |