WILLLIAM GREATRAKES, THE AMANUENSIS.

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It certainly appears to bear a strong resemblance to most of the specimens in Mr. Woodfall's new edition; and if the preceding relation turns out to be in substance materially correct, it may induce those who believe that Junius employed an Amanuensis, to confer that honour upon William Greatrakes, Esq.” Beyond the notices in this letter and the inscription on the tomb-stone of Greatrakes in Hungerford Churchyard, which has been given in a previous page, I have vainly sought, by numerous letters of inquiry, to trace the biography, and ascertain facts relating to this gentleman; but his life and adventures seem to be as mysterious as the Letters the parentage of which has been so often and so long sought. Some zealous correspondents in Ireland have exerted themselves to obtain information on the subject by searching registers, inquiring of descendants, questioning the aged, and by advertisements and letters in the Irish newspapers. One gentleman (Mr. D. J. Murphy, of Cork) informs me that so long ago as the year 1804, he published in "The Cork Mercantile Chronicle," a statement respecting Greatrakes, founded on the narrative of Mr. James Uppington, a tradesman of that city, who had obtained his knowledge of the circumstances from Mr. Richard Wigmore, of the same place, a relative of Mr. Greatrakes. After considerable trouble, the newspaper containing Mr. Murphy's observations has been obtained, and the paragraph referred to is as follows:

"Some time about the year 1767 a young gentleman of the name of Greatrakes (of a family which resides at a place called Killeagh, near Youghal) went to London, after going through the necessary studies at Trinity College, Dublin, for the purpose of being called to the Irish Bar. After a stay of four or five years, he was seized at Hungerford on his return home* with a disease which proved mortal. His trunk, &c., arrived, agreeable to the direction, to his family in Ireland. A relative of the family (through whom the writer received the account) was called in by the mother to undertake the task of inspecting his papers; among which he discovered the Letters of Junius in the hand-writing of the deceased young man, with all the interlineations, corrections, and erasures, which sufficiently established them as the original manuscripts.”—(Sept. 7, 1804.)

The inscription on the tomb-stone shows that Greatrakes died whilst " on his way from Bristol to London," on the 2nd of August. 1781, aged 52.

Notwithstanding the lapse of time, Mr. Murphy's recollection of the statements of his friend, Mr. Uppington, is distinct and positive. The latter, and also Mr. Wigmore, the person who was said to have found the papers, were, he observes, "respectable and trustworthy persons, totally incapable of fabricating a story that was then every day liable to be contradicted and exposed."

I have before me a letter from Mrs. Ronayne, of Youghal, a niece of William Greatrakes (daughter of his brother, Osborne Greatrakes), wherein she says:-"I am sorry it is not in my power to give you the information you require. I was very young when my uncle died; but I have heard that he used to say that during his life the Author of Junius would never be known; as that secret would go with him to his grave."

From another member of the family, Mrs. McCarthy, of Lismore, (whose grandmother, Mrs. Courtney, was a sister of William Greatrakes), I have received several anecdotes evincing the confident belief of his relatives, not merely that he was connected with, but that he was actually the Author of, the Letters of Junius. This lady's narrative, however, tends to negative the statement of Mr. Wigmore as to the supposed discovery of manuscripts in the trunk of Greatrakes after his death.* She states that when that event occurred, Captain Stopford wrote from Hungerford to her grandmother" stating the particulars of his demise; that he (Stopford) attended him in his last moments, and received his directions as to his burial, and the disposition of his property; that 10007., part of the amount which Greatrakes had received by the sale of his

I have also letters from Mr. Henry Wigmore, and Mr. Thomas Wigmore, relatives of the party referred to, who doubt the truth of the alleged discovery. The latter, apparently a gentleman of much intelligence, and possessing a taste for literature, expresses his conviction "that the facts relating to the contents of the trunk must have been greatly exaggerated. We may suppose that Mr. Richard Wigmore fell on a copy of Junius with, perhaps, notes in Greatrakes's handwriting; or some emended or suggested readings; a common thing amongst the readers of political essays."

GREATRAKES-CAPTAIN STOPFORD.

91

commission, was in his possession, to be handed to her to redeem some property which had been mortgaged, and which with all his other property was left to her. Captain Stopford added, that his friend had told him that he was the Author of the Letters of Junius, the original manuscripts of which were in one of his trunks; and desired that the motto of Junius should be his only epitaph. A member of the family was despatched to Hungerford to obtain the money, trunks, and other effects of the deceased; but Stopford, who was in needy circumstances, had fled to America, carrying with him every thing belonging to Greatrakes that had fallen into his hands. It was ascertained by subsequent inquiries that he was there killed by a fall from his horse, leaving a son and other relatives, whom the family of Greatrakes have been unable to trace.”

Amidst these conflicting statements, it is difficult to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion respecting the connection of William Greatrakes with the Letters of Junius; but from all the circumstances, I am persuaded that he was intimately concerned in them; and that the task which devolved upon him was to copy the Letters for the printer, under the immediate superintendence of Colonel Barré.* I have only to add on this part of the subject, that the signature, "Will. Greatrakes," engraved in the "Gentleman's Magazine" (Dec.1813), bears at least as much resemblance to the hand-writing of Junius, as that of Sir Philip Francis or any of the other candidates.

Reviewing the facts and arguments advanced in the preceding

There are corrections, in the “Junius" hand-writing, on the proof sheets of the 12mo. edition, in Mr. Woodfall's possession: and it has been argued from this circumstance, that the penman was the actual author and not a mere Amanuensis; but the argument is not conclusive. Such corrections might have been made by an Amanuensis in the presence of the author, and by his directions. Moreover the former was probably a man of education; personally interested in the subject; quite capable of correcting the proofs; and even of assisting in the composition of the Letters.

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."