FORMER NOTICES OF BARRÉ.

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In submitting to the public the arguments in support of Colonel Barré's claim as the author of the "Letters of Junius," I should observe that his name has been already publicly mentioned in connection with the subject. Indeed, the opinion now advocated,namely, that the Letters were to a certain extent the joint productions of Barré, Lord Shelburne, and Dunning, Lord Ashburton,was expressly stated in the "Morning Herald" newspaper, so long ago as January, 1813, but, in the article referred to, the Earl of Shelburne is mentioned as the author, and Barré and Dunning merely as his assistants:—

"It is said that the author of the celebrated Letters of Junius has been positively ascertained, and that they were written by the Marquess of Lansdowne, father of the present nobleman who bears that title. The secret it appears was not discovered by its connection with any political affairs; but by some verses in the possession of a lady, who had a copy of them before they were transmitted to the printer for publication, and the handwriting of the Marquess is ascertained without the possibility of a doubt. It is well known that the Marquess was long suspected of being the author; and it is by no means improbable that he wrote the Letters in conjunction with his intimate friends Dunning and Colonel Barré, the one supplying the legal knowledge, and the other many of the bitter sarcasms which were spread through them, and which are quite in the manner of the Colonel, who also probably furnished the military information."

Moreover, Mr. Jaques, in his "History of Junius and his Works," refers to the following "theory of an ingenious reviewer, as a specimen of the strange speculations which have been broached on the subject:❞—

"If it be asked whether we have no guess who Junius was, we answer, he was the hand, moved, instructed, and guided by three heads. One of these was a nobleman, then extremely desirous of office, and strongly intriguing to obtain it; the second, a counsel of high celebrity, in progress towards nobility; the third was a military man by profession, of notorious senatorial eloquence, and impetuosity. Either of these singly could readily deny that he was Junius; and each of them, we believe, has been known to do so. Their combination, if suspected, was incapable of proof; and, in fact, as the trio merely furnished themes, but did not compose the Letters, they would have found little difficulty

in declining the honour, had it been charged on them conjointly. The soul of Junius is, as we conjecture, commemorated in the picture exhibited in Sir Joshua Reynolds's Gallery, representing Lord Shelburne of Junius's day, Mr. Dunning (Lord Ashburton), and Colonel Barré of parliamentary fame, in conference."

The" ingenious reviewer,"—whom Mr. Jaques does not more particularly mention, proceeds to assume that Dr. Wilmot was the penman who wrote the "themes" furnished by these parties.

Colonel Barré is mentioned as the probable author of the Letters in a communication to the "Gentleman's Magazine" for November, 1813, signed "Midgarth:"—but his claims have never until now been publicly investigated and explained.

In the course of my inquiries on the subject, I learnt from Sir David Brewster that one of his correspondents, a Captain Henderson, Ordnance Storekeeper at Chester, like myself, was of opinion that Barré wrote the Letters. Having spent a day with Captain Henderson many years ago, I immediately wrote to Chester apprising him of the course my investigations had taken, and seeking the advantage of such hints or information as he could furnish. In reply, I was informed that the Captain died in the month of March, 1847, "whilst preparing his remarks on Junius for the press:" but his son, Mr. J. M. Henderson, promptly and kindly forwarded to me the whole of his father's manuscripts, on the subject of Junius. It appears that Henderson's attention was first directed to Barré, as the probable author of Junius, by Lieutenant General Beckwith, one of his brother officers in the Quebec expedition. His papers show that he had devoted much time and attention to the inquiry; and if I had seen them in an earlier stage of my own researches, I should have been spared much labour in ascertaining facts and circumstances which he had previously noticed in his collections. The captain does not assume the existence of any confederacy between Barré and Lord Shelburne, or any other person, but simply contends that the former was the author, unassisted, excepting by an amanuensis:-admitting, however, as the supposition necessarily requires, that he was furnished

FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS.

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with much information by his noble friend. The papers of Captain Henderson, though voluminous, were left by him in such a state as to be unfit for publication. Unaccustomed to literary composition, his style and phraseology are frequently obscure, and his quotations inaccurate; some of the principal authorities were only known to him by extracts in reviews and other periodicals, and he was ignorant of some important elements in the case as now laid before the reader. Through the courtesy of his son, I have been able to avail myself of all that is really useful in the Captain's lucubrations; and it must be acknowledged that the particulars of Colonel Barré's personal and political history which I have been enabled to collect are highly interesting additions to the scanty biography of one of the most celebrated men of the last century.

The question of the identity of Junius is still far from exhausted, and other publications besides the present are now in course of preparation to elucidate the mystery. Amongst these is a volume by Mr. Coulton, the editor of the "Britannia" newspaper, which is announced for speedy publication by Messrs. Longman and Co. Mr. Murray has lately advertised a work on Junius; and it is said that Lady Francis will produce some fresh arguments to strengthen the case of her husband, the late Sir Philip Francis. In America, there is one, if not two works in preparation on the same subject. A gentleman in Sussex has long been occupied in an Essay, intended to show that the "polite" Earl of Chesterfield was the writer of “the Letters." Mr. Woodfall has made arrangements with Mr. Henry Bohn for the publication of a new edition of the Letters; which, if ably edited, cannot fail to be a valuable boon to all persons interested in this obscure literary question. The former edition, by Dr. Mason Good, which is capable of much improvement in the management of the Letters, has become scarce; and it cannot be doubted that a new edition at a moderate price will have an extensive and remunerating sale. Such a publication would be doubly interesting if illustrated by fac-similes of Junius's corrections on the proof sheets of the first authorised edition; copies of the unpublished papers by Junius in

Woodfall's possession; and also of the mysterious letters in the Buckingham library.

Whether the result of the works now announced be confirmatory or otherwise of the opinions I have endeavoured to maintain, I shall feel the satisfaction of having directed attention to some remarkable coincidences between the writings of Junius and the personal career and mental powers of Colonel Barré, which it will be most difficult to explain, if Barré was not the veritable author of the "Letters of Junius."

THE AUTHORSHIP OF

The Letters of Junius

ELUCIDATED.

"THE SHADOW CAME! A TALL, THIN, GRAY-Hair'd figure,
"THAT LOOK'D AS IT HAD BEEN A SHADE ON EARTH;

44

66

QUICK IN ITS MOTIONS, WITH AN AIR OF VIGOUR;
"BUT NOUGHT TO MARK ITS BREEDING, OR ITS BIRTH:
NOW IT WAX'D LITTLE, THEN AGAIN GREW BIGGER,
66 'WITH NOW An air of glOOM OR SAVAGE MIRTH;
"BUT AS YOU Gaz'D UPON ITS FEATURES, THEY

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'CHANGED EVERY MINUTE,-TO WHAT NONE CAN SAY."

BYRON.

KING, LORDS, AND COMMONS, ARE BUT THE SPORT OF HIS FURY."

BURKE.

CHAPTER I.

LITERATURE, AS A PROFESSION-THE AUTHOR'S DEVOTION TO IT FOR HALF A CENTURY-NUMEROUS TOPICS ATTRACTING HIS ATTENTION DURING THAT PERIOD— AMONGST THEM THE "LETTERS OF JUNIUS"-REASONS FOR THE CELEBRITY OF THOSE LETTERS-THE UNPARALLELED MYSTERY ATTENDING THEM-MANY EFFORTS MADE TO ASCERTAIN THE AUTHOR-THE READER'S CANDOUR PROPITIATED-PARTY POLITICS-THE AUTHOR'S EARLY NOTES ON JUNIUS-DR. POPHAM, OF CHILTON-TOMBSTONE OF WILLIAM GREATRAKES, AT HUNGERFORD -RECENT INQUIRIES-CONCLUSION THAT COLONEL BARRÉ WAS THE AUTHOR OF THE LETTERS, WILLIAM GREATRAKES, THE AMANUENSIS, AND THAT LORD SHELBURNE AND JOHN DUNNING FURNISHED POLITICAL AND LEGAL INFORMATION-COURSE ADOPTED BY THE AUTHOR IN THIS INQUIRY.

ASSIDUOUS and zealous devotion to any profession for half a century ought to entitle its professor to a diploma of rank, or some other honorary distinction ;-and the talented Author ought cer

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