112

words of a song once popular, "those, who will "believe it, may."

"sir William Draper always entertains his company well at "night; he is a jolly fellow; there are a number of racks "and vipers that dance through his conversation in all the "mazes of metaphorical confusion.' Fitzgerald immediately 46 knowing he was discovered, after being informed how his acquaintance came to the knowledge of the secret, took his "promise never to reveal it until after his (Fitzgerald's) "death.

66

"To the public this may appear a romantic story, but they may depend on the authenticity of it, which is supported by may other facts.

"It is well known that one of the parcels of Junius was "marked with the seal of Edmund Burke; and upon Burke "being challenged as to the fact, he declared that it was "either a forgery, or that his friend Fitzgerald was the au"thor of Junius; for he recollected breakfasting with Fitz"gerald the morning the parcel was delivered, and that "Fitzgerald asked his seal to put upon a letter, by apologizing "that he could not find his own.

"It is also well known that the Letters of Junius were "traced first to Lincoln's-inn-fields, and next to Chancery❝lane, in which two places Gilbert Stuart at different times "resided. "AN OLD MAGISTRATE."

It is needless to observe that this letter is entitled to little attention,-it is an anonymous communication, and unsupported either by external or internal evidence; it is also open to the objection, that it makes four persons possessed of the secret; now, that four persons, such as the letter describes, should keep such a secret inviolate, in spite of all the temptations to betray it, which vanity and interest would present, is highly improbable. Stuart was in narrow, Boyd in embarrassed circumstances, and neither remarkable for circumspection.

The writer was acquainted with the family of Mr. Fitzgerald, who is mentioned in the transcription, and with several

Mentioning, in one of his letters to Woodfall the edition, which that gentleman then projected of his letters, Junius says, "When the book is

finished, let me have a set bound in vellum, gilt and lettered as handsome as you can-the edges gilt-let the sheets be well dried before "binding."

Who is the fortunate possessor of these two vellum volumes?-The Reminiscent knows as little as the rest of the world, but thinks it was not unknown to the founder of a noble house, to which the public owes an edition of Homer, which does the nation honour.

Of HIM, Junius thus expresses himself:-" It "is impossible to conceal from ourselves, that we are, at this moment, on the brink of a dread"ful precipice; the question is, whether we shall "submit to be guided by the hand that hath "driven us to it,"-(General Conway),-" or

of his friends. He took a leading part in the riot at Drury-lane, which enforced, against the unwilling manager, the admission into the theatre, after the close of the third act, at half price. This exposed Mr. Fitzgerald to ridicule, but he was allowed to be a man of learning and elegant pursuits. He resided at Hampstead; one of his most intimate friends was a Mr. Madan, a gentleman who resided in the same place; a profound classical scholar, and yet remembered by many with respect. This gentleman, in 1776, mentioned to the Reminiscent, that he always suspected his friend Fitzgerald was the author of Junius's Letters, and thought him more than equal to the composition of them. But such circumstances are light as air, and even this mention of them may be thought to require an apology.

"whether we shall follow the patriot voice," -(George Grenville's),-" which would still "declare the way to safety and to honour*."

Mr. Charles Lloyd, a clerk of the treasury, and afterwards a deputy teller of the exchequer, was, for some time, private secretary of Mr. George Grenville, and always possessed his confidence. He was strongly suspected by many of being the author of the Letters; and several respectable persons, among whom we may mention Dr. Parr, ascribe them to him.-One strong argument in his favour is, that, when Lloyd died, Junius ceased to write. Junius's last letter is dated on the 19th of January, Lloyd died on the 23d.

His advocates have, however, to encounter the explicit declaration of Junius-" I have not "the honour of being personally known to "Mr. Grenville †."

* Is not this passage perfectly decisive against Mr. Burke's authorship?

+ Letter 18.

VIII.

COMPLETION OF MR. HARGRAVE'S EDITION

OF COKE ON

LITTLETON-CHARACTER OF

LITTLETON AND COKE.

THE next literary exertion of the Reminiscent was of a professional nature,—the continuation and completion of Mr. Hargrave's edition of Coke upon Littleton.

The merit of Littleton's Tenures is great : neither England nor the continent can produce any contemporaneous work on the subject of law, of equal or even approximating merit: but a general want of definition and some want of order may be reasonably objected to it; and it is not wholly free from error.

The Commentary of sir Edward Coke is an extraordinary work: the language of it is everywhere most clear; but the doctrines and illustrations are often so subtle and abstruse, as to require the utmost stretch, even of the strongest understanding, to comprehend them. A profound algebraist once mentioned to the writer, that he had never found in that science, a problem, the solution of which required greater mental exertion, than passages occurring in almost every page of this celebrated commentary.

Both lord Mansfield and lord Thurlow expressed the highest opinion of Littleton, and a very different opinion of Coke.

It is objected to his commentary, that it is defective in method: but it should be observed, that a want of method was, in some respects, inseparable from the nature of the undertaking. During a long life of intense and unremitted application to the study of the laws of England, sir Edward Coke had treasured up an immensity of the most valuable learning on the common and statute law of this country. This, he wished to present to the public, and chose that mode of doing it, in which, without being obliged to dwell on those doctrines, which other authors could explain equally well, he might produce that extensive and profound learning, which he felt himself to possess above all others.

It must be allowed that the style of sir Edward Coke is strongly tinged with the quaintness of the times in which he wrote; but it is accurate, expressive and clear. That it is sometimes difficult to comprehend his meaning, is generally owing to the abstruseness of his subject, not to the obscurity of his language.

It has been objected to him, that the authorities, which he cites, do not, in many places, come up to the doctrines, which they are brought to support. There appears to be some ground for this observation: yet, it should not be forgotten, that the uncommon depth of his learning, and acuteness of his mind, might enable him to discover connections and consequences, which escape a common observer.