know that it is forbidden to repel the attacks of unjust and inconsiderate men. The patience of Job is proverbial. After some of the convulsive struggles of our irritable nature, he submitted himself, and repented in dust and ashes. But even so, I do not find him blamed for reprehending, and with a considerable degree of verbal asperity, those ill-natured neighbors of his, who visited his dunghill to read moral, political, and economical lectures on his misery. I am alone. I have none to meet my enemies in the gate. Indeed, my lord, I greatly deceive myself, if, in this hard season, I would give a peck of refuse wheat for all that is called fame and honor in the world. This is the appetite but of a few. It is a luxury; it is a privilege; it is an indulgence for those who are at their ease. But we are all of us made to shun disgrace, as we are made to shrink from pain, and poverty, and disease. It is an instinct; and, under the direction of reason, instinct is always in the right. I live in an inverted order. They who ought to have succeeded me are gone before me. They who should have been to me as posterity, are in the place of ancestors. I owe to the dearest relation (which ever must subsist in memory) that act of piety, which he would have performed to me; I owe it to him to show that he was not descended, as the Duke of Bedford would have it, from an unworthy parent.

Letter to a Noble Lord.

THE LETTERS OF JUNIUS.

In presenting a series of choice extracts from the whole range of English prose literature, it would be almost unpardonable to pass over in silence the celebrated "Letters of Junius." That they may be the better understood and more keenly relished, especially by the younger portion of our readers, a few words upon the state of the times in which they appeared, as explanatory of their object, may, if not absolutely necessary, at least be somewhat interesting. George the Third ascended the throne of Great Britain at a very eventful period of its history. A war of unexampled extent, and embracing a vast variety of interests, was then raging-the "Seven Years' War," (1756–63,) between Prussia and Austria, in which Great Britain, as well as many of the other European powers, unhappily became entangled. Fortunately for England, a ministry of great talents and energy directed the affairs of the nation, of which the elder Pitt was the most conspicuous member and the main support. But soon after the king's accession it seemed to many that his prin. ciples were far more despotic-more inclined to extend the rights of the crown, and to abridge the rights of the people, than those which had actuated any of his predecessors of the same family. The great Whig families of the kingdom, by the aid of whose ancestors the Revolution had chiefly een brought about, thought that their services were slighted and set at naught oy a prince who was but a little way removed from that very sovereign whom their fathers had placed upon the throne, to the exclusion of a family of arbitrary principles.

These feelings and fears were increased by the resignation of William Pitt, in 1761, and by the formation of a new ministry under the Earl of Bute, the king's especial favorite. He had the honor, however, of bringing to a close that terrible war which brought so much of "glory" to Mr. Pitt and the nation, along with an overwhelming national debt. To meet the great expenses of the nation, additional taxes were proposed, both upon the people at home, and upon the then American colonies. This produced great discontent on both sides of the Atlantic. The Earl of Bute resigned in 1763, and a new ministry was appointed, at the head of which was Lord Grenville, 1763-65. At this time very free, and in many cases virulent discussions were carried on in the newspapers of the day, relative to the course of public events. Of these, a paper called the "North Briton" was the most violent. It was edited by John Wilkes, a member of parliament, who, in consequence of some very severe remarks in his paper upon the speech of the king to the parliament, was expelled that body. At once he became the idol of the people-offered himself as a candidate to the electors of Westminster-and was returned to parliament by a large majority. Parliament, however, declared him incapable of resuming his seat; and hence arose throughout the kingdom that remarkable discussion which shook the pillars of the state.

While the cause of Wilkes was agitating the nation, the question of taxing America, and the consequences that might result therefrom, were becoming every day more alarming. To add to the general discontent, there was a constant change in the administration. Lord Bute was succeeded by the Grenville ministry in 1763; Lord Rockingham was appointed prime minister in 1765; Lord Chatham formed a new arrangement in 1766; the Duke of Grafton another in 1767; and Lord North completed the series in 1770. Thus the people saw that there was little harmony of views in those who were at the helm of state, and who should, in their counsels, especially at such a time, be united.

On the 22d of February, 1770, the Marquis of Rockingham, in his place in the House of Lords, moved "that a day be appointed to take into consideration the STATE OF THE NATION. In supporting this motion, he urged, that the present unhappy condition of affairs, and the universal discontent of the people, arose from no temporary cause, but had grown by degrees from the first 'moment of his majesty's accession to the throne; that the persons in whom nis majesty then confided had introduced a system subversive of the old principles of English government; their maxim being, that the royal prerogative alone was sufficient to support government, to whatever hand the administration might be committed. The operation of this principle was observable in every act over which the influence of these persons had been exerted; and by a tyrannical exercise of power, they had removed from their places, not the great and dignified only, but numberless innocent families, who had subsisted on small salaries, and were now turned out to misery and ruin. By this injustice-by the taxes which had been imposed at home-by the indecent management of the civil list-by the mode of taxing and treating America-by the recent invasion of the freedom of election-in short, by every procedure at home and abroad, the constitution had been wounded, and the worst effects had resulted to the nation. He therefore recommended it strongly to their lordships, to fix an early day for taking into consideration the state of the country, in all its relations, foreign, provincial, and domestic; for it had been injured in them all. That consideration, he hoped, would lead them to advise the crown to correct past errors, and to establish a system of

government more suited to the people, and more consistent with the constitution."

It was at this period, when the public mind was thus intensely agitated, that the celebrated "Letters of Junius" appeared. They were published in the «Public Advertiser" of London, a paper printed by Mr. Woodfall;1 one of the highest respectability, and which had the most extensive circulation in the kingdom. The first of these letters was dated January 21, 1769, and the last, January 21, 1772. No sooner did they appear, than they attracted universal attention. The author, whoever he was, was evidently no commor man. To a minute, exact, as well as comprehensive knowledge of public affairs, he added a moral courage and dignity, a fearlessness in exposing the corruptions and the blunders of the government, a just and manly sense of the rights and interests of the people, and a scholarship that showed itself in a style of such unrivalled clearness, grace, and elegance, united to a condensation, energy, precision, and strength, that at once commanded the attention and admiration of the nation. Even his adversaries, at the very moment when his satire and invective were producing their most powerful effect, never failed to compliment him on the classical correctness, the attic wit, the figurative beauty, and the manly power of his language.

The first quality of style that will strike the reader of Junius, is the studied energy and great compression of his language. There is not only no superfluous sentence, but there is no superfluous word in any of his sentences. He seems to have aimed at this quality with the greatest care, as best suited to the style and character of his mode of thinking, and best accommodated to the high attitude which he assumed, as the satirist and judge, not of ordinary men or common authors, but of the most elevated and distinguished personages and institutions of his country; of a person who seemed to feel himself called on to treat majesty itself with perfect freedom; and before whom the supreme wisdom and might of the great councils of the state stood rebuked and in fear.

But of all the varied powers that Junius has displayed, none is so peculiarly and entirely his own, as his power of sarcasm. Other authers deal occasionally in it, but with Junius it is more general; and whenever he rises to his highest sphere, he assumes the air of a being who delights to taunt and to mock his adversary. He refuses to treat him as a person who should be seriously dealt with, and pours out his contempt or indignation under an imposing affectation of deference and respect. His talent for sarcasm, too, is of the finest kind: it is so carefully but so poignantly exerted, that it is necessary to watch his words to perceive all the satire which they contain. Thus we may have an impression that the author is only speaking in his natura! style, when he is employing a mode of annoyance which it requires the utmost address and skill to manage. But when his irony is perceived, it strikes like a poniard, and the wound which it makes is such as cannot be closed. Indeed, there is, perhaps, no author who possesses this quality in the same per fection, or who has exerted it with the same effect.

But the style of Junius, admirable as it is, cannot be proposed as a mode¦ for general imitation. "It is too epigrammatic-too much characterized by the tone of invective-and too strongly compressed, to be used by any mind

1 Woodfall was afterwards tried for these alleged "libellous publications," before Lord Mansfeld and though his lordship did all he could that he might be convicted, the jury acquitted him, and thus established, on an immovable foundation, THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.

2 See Burke's admirable description of him, on p. 718.

but one similar to that of its author, and, it may be added, but for purposes resembling those for which he employed it. Few authors, accordingly, have attempted to imitate the style of Junius, and the few that have attempted it have not succeeded. His style was exquisitely fitted for the purpose to which he destined it, and should be studied, carefully and repeatedly, by those who would see the English language in one of its happiest forms. But the nerve of Junius must belong to the man who can hope to use, successfully, the instrument which he used; for that instrument was fitted to his grasp, and among ordinary men there are none who can pretend to wield it."1

FROM THE DEDICATION TO THE ENGLISH NATION.

I dedicate to you a collection of Letters, written by one of yourselves for the common benefit of us all. They would never have grown to this size, without your continued encouragement and applause. To me they originally owe nothing, but a healthy. sanguine constitution. Under your care they have thriven. To you they are indebted for whatever strength or beauty they possess. When kings and ministers are forgotten, when the force and direction of personal satire is no longer understood, and when measures are only felt in their remotest consequences, this book will, I believe, be found to contain principles worthy to be transmitted to posterity. When you leave the unimpaired, hereditary freehold to your children, you do but half your duty. Both liberty and property are precarious, unless the possessors have sense and spirit enough to defend them. This is not the language of vanity. If I am a vain man, my gratification lies within a narrow circle. I am the sole depositary of my own secret, and it shall perish with me.3

2

I cannot doubt that you will unanimously assert the freedom of election, and vindicate your exclusive right to choose your representatives. But other questions have been started, on which your determination should be equally clear and unanimous. Let it be impressed upon your minds, let it be instilled into your children, that the liberty of the press is the palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman, and that the right of juries to return a general verdict, in all cases whatsoever, is an essential part of our constitution, not to be controlled or limited by the judges, nor in any shape questionable by the legislature. The power of king, lords, and commons, is not an arbitrary power. They are the trustees, not the owners of the estate. The fee

1 Woodfall's is generally considered the best edition of Junius; but an admirable one is that published by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1822, with notes and preliminary dissertations, and to which t am indebted for a portion of the above remarks.

2 By hereditary freehold he evidently means the constitution in its original purity.

3 The author of the "Letters of Junius" is now clearly ascertained to be Sir Philip Francis. Sec a very interesting letter from Lady Francis, in Lord Campbell's "Lives of the Chancellors," vol vi. p. 282, American edition.

simple is in us. They cannot alienate, they cannot waste. When we say that the legislature is supreme, we mean that it is the highest power known to the constitution:--that it is the highest in comparison with the other subordinate powers established by the laws. In this sense, the word supreme is relative, not absolute. The power of the legislature is limited, not only by the general rules of natural justice, and the welfare of the community, but by the forms and principles of our particular constitution. If this doctrine be not true, we must admit that king, lords, and commons have no rule to direct their resolutions, but merely their own will and pleasure. They might unite the legislative and executive power in the same hands, and dissolve the constitution by an act of parliament. But I am persuaded you will not leave it to the choice of seven hundred persons, notoriously corrupted by the crown, whether seven millions of their equals shall be freemen or slaves.

These are truths unquestionable. If they make no impression, it is because they are too vulgar and notorious. But the inattention or indifference of the nation has continued too long. You are roused at last to a sense of your danger.-The remedy will soon be in your power. If Junius lives, you shall often be reminded of it. If, when the opportunity presents itself, you neglect to do your duty to yourselves and to posterity,-to God and to your country, I shall have one consolation left, in common with the meanest and basest of mankind-civil liberty may still last the life of JUNIUS.

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEDFORD.1

MY LORD:-You are so little accustomed to receive any marks of respect or esteem from the public, that if, in the following lines, a compliment or expression of applause should escape me, I fear you would consider it as a mockery of your established character, and, perhaps, an insult to your understanding. You have nice feelings, my lord, if we may judge from your resentments. Cautious, therefore, of giving offence, where you have so little deserved it, I shall leave the illustration of your virtues to other hands. Your friends have a privilege to play upon the easiness of your temper, or possibly they are better acquainted with your good qualities than I am. You have done good by stealth. The rest is upon record. You have still left ample room for speculation, when panegyric is exhausted.

You are, indeed, a very considerable man. The highest rank; a splendid fortune; and a name, glorious till it was yours, were sufficient to have supported you with meaner abilities than I think

1 This is one of the most labored of our author's letters: and perhaps there is none of them which displays, in so striking a manner, his unrelenting spirit.