"Civil liberty may still last the life of Ju

nius."

"After long experience of the world, I affirm: before God, I never knew a rogue who was not únhappy."-Private letter to Mr. Woodfall, No. 44.

66

Many thanks for your obliging offer; but alas! my age and figure would do but little credit to my partner. I acknowledge the relation between Cato and Portia, but in truth I see no connexion between Junius and a minuet." -Private letter to Mr. Wilkes, No. 77.

"Long habit has taught me to pass by all the declamation with which champions parade. I look upon it as no better than those flourishes of the back sword with which the great masters of my time in the amphitheatre entertained the spectators, merely to shew their dexterity, but which made no part of the real engagement."— Miscellaneous Letter, 10 June 1769.

This paragraph not only proves Junius to have passed the meridian of life, but that he was a military character; the use of the broad sword being a branch of an officer's education.

23 April, 1768-"I remember seeing Basşambaum, Saurez, Molina, and a score of other Jesuitical books, burnt at Paris for their sound casuistry by the hands of the common hangman."

This not only proves to us, that Junius had been in France, but that it must have been at a period between Queen Anne's war and the war in Germany. Sir N. Wraxall says, that Lord George, when young, accompanied his father Lionel, Duke of Dorset, to Paris, and in all probability it was at this period that he saw the conflagration of Jesuitical books.

10 June, 1769-"I remember the great Walpolean battles."

Junius refers to the year 1741, when Sir Robert Walpole was expelled the House of Commons. Lord George does not appear to have been a member at that time; he therefore says, "I am an old reader of political controversy."

Article XXIII.-That from the hints Junius gave to his printer, Mr. Woodfall, we may infer, arrangements had been made for his coming into office; which, though not accepted by him at the time, were sufficiently important to induce him to write no more.

"I doubt much whether I shall ever have the pleasure of knowing you; but if things take the turn I expect, you shall know me by my works." No. 17.

"Act honourably by me, and at a proper time you shall know me."-No. 41. My letter of Monday will, I hope, convince

the author, that I am neither a partisan of Mr. Wilkes, nor yet bought off by the ministry. It is true I have refused offers which a more prudent, or a more interested man would have accepted. Whether it be simplicity or virtue in me I can only affirm that I am in earnest.”— Miscellaneous Letter, 12 April, 1769.

There was at one time a proposition for Lord George to be under secretary of state, but he declined it from his unwillingness to unite with those men who had treated him so unhandsomely.

"I have seen the signals thrown out for your old friend and correspondent. Be assured that I have had good reasons for not complying with them. In the present state of things, if I were to write again, I must be as silly as any of the horned cattle, that run mad through the city, or as any of your wise aldermen."-Private Letter to Mr. Woodfall, No. 63. Jan. 19, 1773.

A new ministry was formed in 1775, when Lord George Germain became secretary of state for the American colonies, an office previously held by the Earl of Hilsborough; by this arrangement, Junius's prediction in his letter to the Earl of Hilsborough, 20th September, 1768, became fully verified.

The anticipation of such an event would na

turally account for the extreme caution of Ju nius, and for the fear he always entertained of being discovered.

Article XXIV.-Finally-That so powerful an attack on the private characters of persons of such high rank, being inconsistent with the pen of political writers in general, who condemn measures, and not character, we may reasonably conclude that they proceeded from the pen of one who had received a severe wound from some of those individuals who formed part of the existing administration.

This article, as far as regards the personal motive of Junius, is already answered in the former part of the work. It now remains to notice his general censure of ministers in a political point of view, wherein I shall prove that the same strong and powerful language employed by Junius, is strictly in unison with Lord George Sackville's speeches in the House of Commons at that period,—a few instances will suffice.

Junius says-6th Oct. 1768-"It is impossible for an honest man to behold the circumstances, to which a weak distracted administration has reduced us, without feeling one pang at least for the approaching ruin of Great Britain."

"I am not surprised that the generality of men

should endeavour to shut their eyes to this me lancholy prospect. Yet I am filled with indignation, when I behold a wise and gallant people lost in a stupidity which does not feel, because it does not look forward. The voice of one man will hardly be heard when the voice of truth and reason is neglected; but as far as mine extends, the authors of our ruin shall be marked out to the public. I will not tamely submit to be sacrificed, nor shall this country perish without warning."-Letter XLVIII., 19 Oct. 1768.

14th November, 1768-"In this and my former letters I have presented to you, with plainness and sincerity, the melancholy condition to which we are reduced. The characters of a weak and worthless ministry would hardly deserve the attention of history, but that they are fatally united, and must be recorded with the misfortunes of the country. If there be yet a spark of virtue left among us, this great nation shall not be sacrificed to the fluctuating interests or wayward passions of a minister, nor even to the caprices of a monarch. If there be no virtue left, it is no matter who are ministers, nor how soon they accomplish our destruction."

24th Dec. 1770-"Give me leave, Mr. Woodfall, to ask you a serious question. How long do you think it possible for this management to last? I will answer you with precision. It will