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JUNIUS AGAIN!

The announcement of another work on the identification of Junius, and by an expert in handwriting, induces me to offer for your pages ("from the Note-book of an old Irish Lady") an article now in my possession, which was written at the time of the first attempt to give to Sir Philip Francis the immortal honour of being the author of those celebrated Letters-an idea which had never been suggested from the time they ceased in 1772 until 1816. This is a fact not to be lost sight of, when we remember that every man of mark or likelihood was passed in review. To have at once taken the broad ground of internal evidence for refusing to adopt the hypothesis, is an instance of remarkable acumen: the fifty years which have elapsed since leave the subject as dark as ever, and the arguments so tersely advanced then against the claim of Francis are as suited now to set it aside, and may be acceptable to some of your readers. The writer was Mr. Dodwell Browne of Rahins, co. Mayo, one of the many men of rare qualities of mind who live and die unknown to fame. O.-D. T. "The Emperor Ki is certainly the same with King Atoes: for if we only change Kinto 4, and I into toes, we shall have the name Atoes. And with equal case Menes may be proved to be the same with the Emperor Y; therefore the Chinese are a colony from Egypt.'

GOLDSMITHI.

Then

"Of all the names yet brought forward for Junius, Francis he whose title can be set aside with the most case. It was the opinion of Dr. Johnson that the age which produced Junius did not give a second man equal to him-nor (I would humbly add) any man: by consequence, all who speak the British tongue have been to this hour on the alert to discover this transcendant author. In trying a right to this title, the first point to ascertain is the capacity of the pretender; and if it be not clear that in satirical writing he surpassed all ancient or modern authors, 'twere worse than idle to go into minor similarities, contingencies, or anecdotes. how by this scale does it stand with Sir Philip Francis ? We are familiar with his career from his entrance in the senate to this day; and every word he uttered in that long period was pungent and acrid, yet it was rated so low by the Ministerial party as never to be thought worth an observation in reply. They seemed to say to him, in the language of Burke, 'We are in pursuit of too noble prey to hurt vermin.' I have doubts whether the most ardent friendship could place Francis so high as mediocrity; but quite sure I am he never doubled that Cape in all heats, tempests, and affrays during his long parliamentary career. Not a spark of fire dropped from him that could be associated with ordinary genius, much less with this superlative meteor.

"The cup of wealth, bliss, and power, just raised to his lips-torn from them, displaced, dishonoured, kicked home from the Antipodes, and ever after left by each successive administration to languish in obscurity-if there was a state on this earth to reanimate the caustic powers of Junius, it was that in which Francis was then placed. He bought a seat in the senate, where he has ever since remained, still feebly endeavouring to harass and torment the Ministry, for the purpose of being restored to the last, but without impression. Thus, from

youth and power, he has sunk into a grand oblivion when insulted by the Leviathan of India. Had Francis drawn his sword and overcome, in his place wary Junius would have exercised his pen and overwhelmed his foe, aided as he was by the advantages his post and unguarded antagonist presented. Now to the minor points. It is inferred that, on the discovery of young Junius in the Bengal. This is a knock-down blow to the hypothesis. War Office, the Ministry instanter promoted him to If Junius stood thus discovered by the Ministry, who are a large body, and when added to their wives, children, and friends, a vast body, the mystery was revealed; at all events, it would be so on their retreat from office; and it may be asked, what object that Ministry could have had in shielding him by secrecy. Is it not more probable they who suffered from his cruel, treacherous, and ungrateful pen, though they dared not punish him themselves, would have let the secret transpire so as he might be punished by others who suffered and were not bound up? The mark to the signature, thus =9 makes against the hypothesis, as Junius, who studied secrecy, would not give such a clue to discovery: equally so is the idea that the secrets of the War Office were only accessible to one of its members; it is well known that through the state offices their arcana do not transpire to their clerks, especially the junior ones, of whom Francis was. The first appearance of Junius was, when Burke and the Rockingham party were deposed from the Ministry-when all state secrets were adjudged by Burke as of the Privy Council: thus Burke could know, and Francis could not, the secrets of the War Office. As to the miserable allusion, that while Francis was three months abroad the letters were suspended, it only proves that it is himself that wants to be imposed for Junius; otherwise, who on this earth could now know or care where he was on a particular quarter near half a century ago?

"As to the necessity of secrecy ceasing with the life of Burke, it was certain he was the only man whose memory could suffer by being identified as Junius. He was so luminous in many ways that he could gain nothing from Junius, whilst his memory must suffer from the assassinating principle of an anonymous satirist-so exquisite and profound. But where was Junius on Francis's return from India? What cause could then exist for his silence? If Government judged it expedient to tie his tongue by a vast place when a sapling and poor, how much more necessary when mature, independent, and inflamed on his return! It is too absurd. By this reasoning, when Francis was young, well treated, inexperienced, and dependent, he wrote Junius; when rich, goaded, insulted, and exhibited to public scorn, he was silent."

THE ARMOURY IN THE TOWER.

[The following document, which has never before been printed, will, we doubt not, be read with great interest by Mr. Planché and all who appreciate the good work which that gentleman has already effected in the re-arrangement in the armour at the Tower.

We trust that it may tend to awaken greater public interest in that invaluable collection, and so contribute to that further reform in the Tower Armoury which Mr. Planché is understood to have urged upon the Government: a reform which, without entailing additional cost upon the nation, would ensure the proper maintenance and gradual increase and improvement of this noble memorial of England's history.]

To the right honnoble y Howse of Lords in Parlam' assembled.

The humble Peticōn of Edward Annesley, keeper of the Stoares & Proof-Master in the office of Armory within his Magistes Tower of London. Sheweth

That yo' Peticoner being a Citizen And Armorer of London & skilfull in making and keeping Armes, was in the yeare 1642 called to serve the late king and Parliamt in the Magazen of war in London, where having served to the great Hinderance of him & his for aboue 5 his wages yeares being still due.

That the Armes in the said Magazins being Ordered to bee delivered into the Tower, And yo peticoner being appointed in the yeare 1647 Clarke of the Armory there & by warrant vnder the hands and seale of the right honnoable the Lord Farfax, then generall and Cunstable of the Tower; About 2 yeares after John Clarke one of the Store-keepers, and Richard Clarke his kinsman for certaine Imbeazelmts and misdemeanors being put out of the said Office yo' peticoner then vppon regulation of the said office to the saving a greate part of the Charge, was apointed keeper of the Stores and Prooff Master in the same, wherein yor pet hath continued with all dilligence and faithfullnesse to the Powers Rewling about thirteene yeares.

That yo' peticōner hath bin very jnstrumentall in preseruing many ritch Armors of his late Maiestyes; brought from Greenwich, And also hath preserued to his greate Expence a Ritch Armor of greate vallue made for his late Majestyes owne Person.

Yo' pet humbly prayeth yor honnors to take the premisses into consideracon, and to graunt him some such Confirmacon jn his said Jmploymt in the Office of Armory as to your honnors wisdome shall seeme meet, And yor pet' doth ingage in all faithfullnesse to serve his Majesty in his place of Trust, and in all other things shew his Loyalty as becometh a faithfull subiect. And ever pray &c.

EDW: ANNESLEY.

[Endorsed] The Peticōn of Edward Annesley Storekeeper & proof master of the Armorey of the Tower of London.

[Annexed to the above petition :-] An Account of all such rich Gvilt Armo's of his Late Maties as were browght from Greenwich to Gvild Hall, and from thence to the Magazins in London about the Yeer 1644 and which hath remayned under my Charge and Care ever Since exept one Rich Guilt Armor by ord" of the Councell then Deliverd to Genral Cromwell vizd.

One Small Feild Armor of his late Matie made for his own p'зon while yonge.

One other Feild Armor for his owne Person of Late use.

One Armor Cappapea made for Prince Henry his owne Person.

Two Small Armors Cappapea made for some yonge Princes formerly.

One Large Armor for Foot Judgd to be made for King Henry y Eight.

One Small Armor for Foot corded wth Silver about ye gould.

One old Fashioned Armor wth Sleevs of Mayle. One Guilt Targit and Some other od Peices.

One Armor of great vallew of his Late Maties made Last for his owne Person, and one Small Armor made for Prince Charles his now Matie both put to Sale at Somerset House ye which J procured of one Willit, to prevent ye Loss EDW: ANNESLEY.

of it.

[Endorsed] (3) Annesleyes discouery & Peticōn 23 May 1660.

EARLY NOTICE OF HANDEL'S ORATORIOS.

Looking over a volume of tracts, I have stumbled upon an early notice of Handel's oratorios, which I think may interest Dr. RIMBAULT, MR. HUSK, and such other of the readers of "N.&Q." as take an interest in the history of music in England. I am the more induced to do this because, if I am rightly informed, very little is known of the mode in which oratorios were originally given. The pamphlet is entitled

"See and Seem Blind; or, a Critical Dissertation on the Publick Diversions, &c., of Persons and Things, and Things and Persons, and what not. In a Letter from the HRight Honourable the Lord B to AEsq. 'Risum teneatis amici?' London: Printed for H. Whitridge, the corner of Castle Alley, near the Royal Exchange. Price Sixpence." No date.

The following extract is taken from 12-16:pp. "In this Opera, Miss Arne, an Undertaker's Daughter near Covent Garden, appear'd in a most amiable Light, to the great Delight and Surprize of the whole Town, she is very young, and very pretty; and has made innumering sweet; she Sings perfectly in Tune, and her manner able Conquests, her Voice is exceeding small, but exceedis entirely modern; she has such a Warble, such a je ne scay quoy, as tickles my very Soul; and yet there are some Brutes, that because she is English, are angry with themselves for liking her in spite of Prejudice.

"Her great Excellence, tho' it supported the Opera, eclipsed the other Performers; in short, it was a thousand pities it had not been done at one of the other Houses; it would have appear'd in a much better Light; but notwithstanding all the Difficulties it labour'd under, it made its way; and was it not a bold Stroke to set up an English Opera, in direct Opposition to the Italian? Was supported by the Royal Patronage; the Subscription and Interest of the Gentry, and the best Voices Italy could produce; and it was as odd, as bold, for my self saw it, both Opera's being perform'd the same Night; I left the Italian Opera, the House was so thin, and cross'd over the way to the English one, which was so full I was

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forc'd to croud in upon the Stage, and even that was throng'd: Is not this odd, I say, for an English Tradesman's Daughter to spring up all of a suddain, and rival the selected Singers of Italy?

"This alarm'd H-1, and out he brings an Oratorio, or Religious Furce, for the duce take me if I can make any other Construction of the Word, but he has made a very good Farce of it, and put near 40007. in his Pocket, of which I am very glad, for I love the Man for his Musick's sake.

This being a new Thing set the whole World a Madding; Han't you been at the Oratorio, says one? Oh! If you don't see the Oratorio you see nothing, says t'other; so away goes I to the Oratorio, where I saw indeed the finest Assembly of People I ever beheld in my Life, but, to my great Surprize, found this Sacred Drama a mere Consort, no Scenary, Dress or Action, so necessary to a Drama; but H-I was plac'd in a Pulpit (I suppose they call that their Oratory), by him sate Senesino, Strada, Bertolli, and Turner Robinson, in their own Habits; before him stood sundry sweet Singers of this our Israel, and Strada gave us a Hallelujah of half an Hour long; Senesino and Bertolli made rare work with the English Tongue you would have sworn it had been Welch; I would have wish'd it Italian, that they might have sang with more ease to themselves, since, but for the Name of English, it might as well have been Hebrew."

T.

LATIN RHYMES ON WINE AND DRINKING. I find in my Collectanea the following Latin lines on wine and drinking generally, which perhaps may interest the readers of "N. & Q." I have annexed to each quotation a liberal metrical paraphrase in order, to use Mrs. Raffles's words in the preface to her Cookery Book, "to make them intelligible to the weakest capacities." I can only regret that such men as Lord Lytton, Mr. Gladstone, Lord Lyttelton, and others of our translating scholars, are all so much taken up with the crambe recocta of Homer, Virgil, Horace, &c., that they have no time to spare for such classical gems as I have the honour of producing, and which are so full of sound practical information on topics which can never become obsolete.

Omnibus est notum quod valde diligo potum.
O'er my faults and my failings indulgently pass,
I was never yet guilty of shirking my glass.
Vivat in æternum qui dat mihi dulce Falernum.
May he flourish for ever in peace and in plenty,
Who gives me rare port of the vintage of twenty.

Post ternum potum vinum jam sit mihi notum.
Whate'er be is knowledge, the man is an ass
Who pretends to decide till he's drunk his third glass.

Vinum subtile facit in sene cor juvenile.
No cordial but port have I ever yet seen
That would light up in eighty the fire of eighteen.

Vinum Rhenense decus est et gloria mensæ.
Nought graces the table like excellent Rhenish,
'Tis a wine from which even the Gods might replenish.

Post matutinas, si tu vis bibere, bibas
Vinum præclarum, hoc docet regula Sarum.
The vow of old Sarum I've ever profest:
Never drink after matins, except of the best.

Dum saltant atomi patet excellentia vini.
When little motes are seen in wine,
You may be sure it's old and fine.

Post sumptum vinum loquitur mea lingua Latinum;
Sed, bibo cum bis ter, sum quâlibet arte magister.
When a bottle of excellent wine I've been drinking,
It makes me look wise and talk Latin like winking
But after three bottles, in arts and divinity

I am then a full match for the Master of Trinity.

Si bona vina cupis quinque hæc laudantur in illis :
Fortia, formosa et fragrantia, frigida, frisca.

Five things I ask for in champagne,
Then quickly I'll the goblet drain:
Body and flavour, fragrant smell,
Must all its excellency tell;

Yet still it scarce deserves my blessing
Unless it's iced and effervescing.

Vina probantur odore, sapore, liquore, colore.
Your port to be good,

Be it well understood,

The eye and the nose and the taste should approve. If the liquor be bright,

And the colour be right,

You have then, with age on it, the wine that I love.

Ne fundas vinum, si non siccatur ad imum.
Who fills on heeltaps rare old wine
Shall never darken doors of mine.

Tolle tuos morbos vino quod mittit Oporto;
Comfortat cerebrum, stomachum reddit tibi lætum,
Fumos evacuat et viscera plena relaxat,
Acuit ingenium, visum nutrit, levat aures,
Corpus pinguificat, vitam facit atque robustam.
No gentleman's cellar Oporto should lack,
For it comforts the brain and it strengthens the back.
The lungs it assists, and affords beyond question
The very best means of promoting digestion.
To the ear it gives tone, to the eyesight fresh vigour,
And the scarecrow expands to a corpulent figure.
No medicine, in cases of languid sensation,
Can so pleasantly quicken a slow circulation.
It drives the blue devils and sorrow away,
And makes a man witty, light-hearted, and gay:
Imparting new fibre and power to the whole,
New force to the body, new strength to the soul;
And thus it becomes to a weak constitution
The Elixir of Life in a state of solution.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

SIR THOMAS ROE: ON THE DEATH OF LORD HARINGTON, 1614.

To the liuing memory of the late and last Sr IOHN HARINGTON knight, lord HARINGTON, baron of EXTON.

To the booke.

Goe and speake truth; it is thy office now,
Not onely to enforme our liues, but how
By rare examples miracles agree,

With praise and with præcepts: this was hee.

His praise will not dishonour simple truth,
To say but what he was; and but a youth.
To the world.

If thou wert all dull earth, I should beleeue;
Thou hadst no sence to feele: nor soule to greene,
But ô thou art compos'd of sutler parts;
And seest thy losse engrauen in our hearts;
The purest part, of all thou art (alas

How fraile, art thou then) was as fraile as grasse.
To England.

Thou hast beene beaten many thousand yeares:
With seas; and yet art safe, but ô our teares
Will more endaunger thee: he was in thee
The hand, thou the sea; where such men bee
Beaten with rage of changes; yet they stand
Safe in themselues and fix'd as any land.

To his mother, and sisters!

Rather then tell how good he was; I will
Perswade you to forget: yet weepe your fill,
For such a sonne, O death, and such a brother
Is rare as heauens great eye; that hath no other.
To his friends.

To all that vertue loue, I doe commend
This title; it was alone to be his friend
And good; who hath ne claime and title now
He doth not him, but vertue disallow;
And yet he had one nearer, then the rest,*
He liu'd at houshold with him: we at feast.
To the arts.

Ioy he is gon; he would haue diu'd into
Your deepest secrets, and your knots vndo.
As vnknown tricks, discouerd easy seeme,
He would to vs reduce you; not esteeme.
To religion.

What hast thou lost, ô sacred misterie,
Thy nurse, and yet thy childe? He did not die
To thee, of all the rest: he was aliue
Thy martyr, and now dead, he doth more thriuc,
In thee: ô no: his state takes no increase!
Full of the ioies of God: he liues in peace.
To death.

Poore vncreated nothing; to contend
To make all things like thee; yet misse thy end.
Canst thou hold him one houre, ô enuious death,
Or touch his last, yet euerlasting breath;
O no: that fled where thou shalt neuer come,
Though here a while thou triumph on his toombe.
THOMAS ROE, knight.

The memory of sir Thomas Roe having been revived by the letters addressed to him by lord Carew, printed for the Camden Society in 1860, I have been induced to transcribe literatim the only specimen of the metrical writings of the accomplished knight which I can remember to have met with. It occurs at the end of a scarce volume in my possession, formerly in the Heber collection I. 6572, entitled The churches lamentation for the losse of the godly: etc. LONDON, printed by IOHN BEALE. 1614. Small 8°. The volume seems to have been designed for private circulation.

*S Ed. Harwood. [He afterwards became colonel of an English regiment in the Low-Countries; was shot at Maestricht; and buried at the Hague. His epitaph, n verse, was written by Hugh Peters!-B. C.]

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GOETHE ON LORD BYRON AND SIR WALTER SCOTT.

One of the most recent books on Goethe literature-a volume of Goethe conversations (Goethe's Unterhaltungen mit dem Kanzler Friedrich v. Müller *)-contains some of the great German poet's judgments and views respecting English literature and its representatives, especially Byron and Scott, which I think of undoubted interest to English readers, and of which I purpose giving a translation. But not only such paragraphs I wish to recommend, but the whole little volume itself, comprising, as it does, many wholesome and fresh remarks, aphorisms, and apophthegms, which will, it is true, not show us Goethe under a new aspect, but rather confirm our conceived notions and ideas of him as a conversationalist, finding him, as we almost always did, fond of even somewhat brusk irony, presiding Jupiter-like over his circle, and surrounding his parties, suppers, and little and intimate réunions with a kind of courtatmosphere. These "conversations," which have had the good fortune of being preserved and that of being edited with care, were noted down by the late Chancellor Friedrich von Müller (born 1779, died 1849), of whose interesting and valuable little volume, Reminiscences of the Times of War, 1806-13, I have had occasion to speak in the pages of this journal, when extracting from it the materials for Napoleon's interview with Wieland ("N. & Q." 4th S. iv. 51-53): a German who has during his whole life always shown himself to be possessed of a true and highthat "a man's life is his character." minded character, even if judged by the standard

ungen, who, as I have already observed, has done Mr. Burkhardt, the editor of these Unterhaltand comments as well as the excellent index, his work with great care, and whose annotations make the book of undoubted interest to the litehardt would, however, have done well to extend rary as well as to the general reader-Mr. Burkhis "introduction" (Einleitung, vide Unterhaltungen, pp. i.-xii.) over a somewhat greater space of biographical matter relating to Von Müller. The latter became known to Goethe in 1801, being

Edited by C. A. H. Burkhardt, 8vo (pp. xii. 170), Stuttgart (Cotta), 1870.

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introduced to him by the poet's art-factotum, Johann Heinrich Meyer, the painter and artcritic, and seems to have pleased the "old Jupiter" at once, of whom he mentions after his first interview that " he speaks quietly and composedly his eye is piercing" (vide antè p. 3); but the real diary-notes begin in December, 1808 (in this printed form at least), the last being a few weeks previous to Goethe's death (1832). They were written down, the editor observes, immediately after the conversations with Goethe took place, under the fresh and full impression of the moment. In these interviews and friendly homemeetings, like in others of the same stamp, we find Goethe fond of producing some work of art or of interest, new or old books, manuscripts, autographs, pictures, engravings (especially), rare plants, medals, minerals, &c. &c., as the fittest inducement for a pleasing and continually enticing conversation. For instance, one day (May 13, 1814), after having shown a beautiful engraving by Israel van Meckenen,* representing the Dance of Herodias, Goethe beautifully observed:

"If a person would only make any worthy habit his own, under which he may be able to heighten his enjoyment (Lust) in cheerful days and to comfort himself in sorrowful ones, let him accustom himself, for instance, to read daily in the Bible, or in Homer, or to look at fine medals or pictures, or to listen to good music; but it must be something excellent, something worthy to which he thus accustoms himself, that he may always and in any case have a respect for it.'"-Antè, p. 10.

This custom of Goethe's, then, of producing some work of art, or of more than ordinary interest, as an inducement for and of conversation, is a most laudable custom, which, however, may lead some persons to suspect that some of Goethe's conversations were highly premeditated and consequently somewhat coloured and artificial. Whether he combined, together with this custom, the graceful, lively play of the French with the somewhat stately oratorical didactic of the English conversationalist, only those who frequently and freely conversed with Goethe can be judges of. Being accustomed to dictate his very inmost thoughts in notes and letters (even to Frau von Stein, to Bettina) to another person, it will almost seem as if his way of speaking must have somehow reminded one of a delivered oration rather than of the spontaneous overflow of a highly refined, genial, and sensitive mind. But-to come to a beginning. Of the English authors mentioned and commented upon by Goethe in this volume, he of whom it is said that

* Israel van Meckenen or Mecken; thus the diligent Nagler (Die Monogrammisten, vol. iii. [1863], art. 2806) styles him, rejecting all the other names by which this renowned engraver, painter (?), and goldsmith is more generally known-Israel von Mecheln, Menz, Metz, Mainz, Münster, Metro, &c. He died March 15, 1503, and Nagler mentions his epitaph in full, where he is called "Israhel. va. Mecknē."

"He touched his harp, and nations heard entranced;
As some vast river, of unfailing source,
Rapid, exhaustless, deep, his numbers flowed,
And oped new fountains in the human heart "*.

Byron, occupies the greatest, the foremost place. Goethe truly admired him; Byron alone was the poet he allowed to be his equal. After his return from Marienbad and Karlsbad, he mentioned (September, 1823) that no other authors had been spoken of there but Byron and Scott. He must have been a staunch champion of Byron's, one who in the present time would have been fit to punish the vile gossip that had its source surely in an impure mind eager for vulgar applause, by a godlike silence or by his divine thunder. That Goethe often blamed Lord Byron we shall see; but he remained to him, ever and always, the great poet, the divine poet, not to be measured by the actions and notions of everyday people. On May 10, 1819, Von Müller writes:

"At Goethe's house, Goethe being very cheerful, I met an interesting young American of the name of Boxwell, who had been travelling about in Europe for three years. The conversation turned long about Lord Byron. whom Goethe pronounced to be the only great poet of our time."-Antè, pp. 30, 31.

In October, 1823, we find him finding fault with Lord Byron's Heaven and Earth-why, Von Müller does not mention (antè, p. 66); and a few days later he is speaking again of Cain and of

Heaven and Earth:

and also clearer than the former, this being of too deep "The latter he pronounced to be more comprehensive, and too bitter a cast of thought, although grand, bold, and affecting."-Antè, p. 69, and passim "N. & Q." 4th S. iii. 582.

In the following March (1824) we see him again occupied with Cain and The Vision of Judgment:

"I well understand how so elevated a genius must after so many splendid productions feel ennuyé, and on that account has been led passionately to seize the affairs of Greece as a new pastime.'

"At the same time he requested me to translate for him from the Moniteur an article on Cain, in order that he might be able to retouch' his own paper on this work in Kunst und Alterthum. Whensoever the French,' he

he added, 'give up their Philisterei I, they stand far above

From Pollok's Course of Time.

Who was this Mr. Boxwell?-English and American visitors and travellers were always most welcome at Weimar.

The

Philisterei.-Two well-known English authors have explained this word, Mr. Carlyle ("respectability with its thousand gigs "), and Mr. Matthew Arnold. latter more happily in his most excellent essay on Heinrich Heine. "Philistinism! we have not the expression in English. Perhaps we have not the word because we have so much of the thing. At Soli, I imagine, they did not talk of solecisms; and here, at the very head quarters of Goliath, nobody talks of Philistinism." listine must have originally meant, in the mind of those who invented the nickname, a strong, dogged, unenlightened opponent of the chosen people, of the children of

"Phi

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