Here there is a distinct avowal of a quarrel having taken place between Lord Barrington and Sir PHILIP FRANCIS, which, for the same cause, and at the same time, subjected his Lordship to the resentment of JUNIUS. The displeasure of the latter was particularly called forth when the interests of Sir PHILIP were in danger: it increased, pari passu, as the conduct of his Lordship grew more and more adverse to Sir PHILIP's views; and it arrived at its highest pitch in the moment when all his hopes were finally sacrificed.

But the parallel does not end here. In the same month that Sir PHILIP was expelled, JUNIUS wrote a private Letter to his printer, intimating that his labours were at an end, and that he should thenceforth discontinue writing, unless some good occasion offered.

"Your letters with the books are come safe to hand. The difficulty of corresponding arises from situation, and necessity to which we must submit. Be assured I will not give you more trouble than is unavoidable. If the vellum books are not yet bound, I would wait for the index. If they are, let me know by a line in the Public Advertiser.When they are ready, they may safely be left at the same place as last night.

"On your account I was alarmed at the price of the book. But of the sale of books I am no judge,

and can only pray for

your success.

What you say about the profits is very handsome. I like to deal with such men. As for myself, be assured that I am far above all pecuniary views, and no other person I think has any claim to share with you. Make the most of it therefore; and let all your views in life be directed to a solid, however moderate independence. Without it, no man can be happy, nor even honest.

"If I saw any prospect of uniting the city once more, I would readily continue to labour in the vineyard. Whenever Mr. Wilkes can tell me that such an union is in prospect, he shall hear of

me.

"Quod si quis existimat me aut voluntate esse mutatâ, aut debilitatâ virtute, aut animo fracio, vehementer errat. Farewell."*

This Letter was certainly intended to close the correspondence. It is the last regular communication to Woodfall, previous to that of January 19, 1773. From the concluding sentence," but if any one thinks my inclination changed, my courage weakened, or my spirits broken, he greatly errs;”— the writer seems desirous to defend his silence from unjust imputations, and to stand clear, in the estimation of Woodfall, of being influenced

JUNIUS, i. *253. Private Letter to Woodfall.

to desert the cause by unworthy motives. Nor was such a vindication unnecessary, for Woodfall possessed that knowledge of which the public were deprived: he knew that JUNIUS and VETERAN were the same person; and he, therefore, might justly suspect, that the fate of JUNIUS was involved in that of FRANCIS; that the loss of the opportunities which had belonged to the latter by virtue of his office at the Horse Guards, had caused the usefulness of the former, as a political watchman, to be fatally diminished. To me, I confess it appears singular, that with this key to the discovery of the author, curiosity did not prompt Woodfall at some time or other, to inquire whether Mr. FRANCIS was not aware of the name, and grateful for the exertions of his anonymous advocate. But it must be allowed, that a sense of duty might lay the late Mr. Woodfall under restraint; and that he, perhaps, felt his honour concerned not to take any steps himself, or by communicating his suspicion, cause them to be taken by others, so that the secret should be at length wrung from the reluctant author.

In the Letter last quoted, one passage occurs, which has been supposed to countenance the idea that JUNIUS was a man of independent fortune. In his refusal to receive a share of Woodfall's profits on JUNIUS, and his recommendation of a solid, however moderate independence, without which no

man can be happy, nor even honest, it is presumed, in the Preliminary Essay, that he gave a proof as well of his affluence as of his generosity;" and that he "reasoned from the sphere of life in which he was accustomed to move*." But how could JUNIUS have accepted these paltry profits, without giving a death blow to the high estimation in which he had led his correspondent to hold him, both for his rank and power!

"What! shall one of us
That struck the foremost man of all this world
But for supporting robbers; shall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes?
And sell the mighty space of our large honours
For so much trash as may be grasped thus?"

To argue as if it had been possible, is strangely at variance with the scope of an Essay, which professes to regard JUNIUS as a man of more than ordinary wealth and consequence. As for the remark on that part of the sentence wherein he affirms that no man can be happy nor even honest without independence, let us hope that the Essayist was equally mistaken in making this the great test of integrity in high life. Whatever may be the nature of our temptations, in the various classes of society, there appears no good reason for believing that those of fortune are irresistible only where

JUNIUS, i. 33. Preliminary Essay.

the least necessity is felt. I cannot surrender my judgment to such reasoning.

But what reflection could be more obvious, what advice more natural, on the part of one placed in the circumstances of Mr. FRANCIS? He saw himself in the power of a nobleman, who was equally able and willing to make him feel its weight. He had at that time relinquished all his prospects, it would appear, rather than "connive," as JUNIUS himself says, "at the jobs and underhand dealings of his superiors*." And there wants no further reason to account for the pensive tenor of this private Letter, than the writer's presentiment of his approaching fate.

From this time, with the exception of that Letter to the Printer, in which the expulsion of Sir PHILIP is announced, JUNIUS was totally silent for two complete months. It was a long pause for a man who had been in the habit of writing four or five private and almost as many public Letters, every month, for the space of five years. When he again took up his pen, it was but for a moment. On May the 3d, the 4th, and the 10th, he wrote three notes to Woodfall: and three public Letters were printed, dated the 4th, the 8th, and the 12th of May; the first of which notices the quarrel at the War-office; the second contains an account of

* JUNIUS, iii. p. 445, signature, VETERAN.