278 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»d S. V. 118., Apeil 3. '58. 



Mr. Singeb, and leaving him at full liberty to 

 communicate it to Mr. Singer. I may add that 

 I have not any present intention of editing any 

 of Bacon's works ; but that I shall gladly con- 

 tribute my mite of assistance to Mr. Singer or 

 any future editor who may desire it. My re- 

 marks were drawn forth merely from zeal and 

 affection for that great Author who holds a lead- 

 ing place amongst the Lai'cs et Penates of an 

 Englishman's study. However, I freely admit 

 the truth of the old Greek Proverb — MnMEI20AI 

 ^x6v iffTiv ^ MIMEI20AI : and I frankly acknow- 

 ledge that Mr. Singer's edition of the Essays, 

 however capable of improvement, is undoubtedly 

 a valuable edition. Eieionnach. 



P.S. To my last Note, at p. 252., I subjoin these 

 additions and corrections : — "Quarrel "^^Induce- 

 ment ; " Virtuous "= Valorous. Eccles is a mis- 

 print for Ecclus, 



THE CANDOR PAMPHLETS, AND THE AUTHORSHIP 

 OF JUNIUS. 



(Continued from p. 242.) 



In my last communication I mentioned a pam- 

 phlet published by Almon in 1765, entitled The 

 Principles of the late Changes impartialhj examined, 

 by a Son of Candor, which your correspondent 

 D. E. does not consider to be genuine, because he 

 can see no trace of " Candor " in it ; but that, I 

 submit, is not a sufficient reason why it should not 

 be by the same author. Of this pamphlet Almon 

 says (Polit. Anecd. ii. 46.), that it was " written 

 under Lord Temple's own eye, and the greatest 

 part dictated by him." It merely pretends to de- 

 scribe the State of Parties, and the Political 

 Changes consequent upon the retirement of Mr. 

 Grenville's Administration, and the appointment 

 of that of Lord Rockingham in 1765. The subject 

 therefore is entirely and essentially different from, 

 and there are no points of comparison with, the 

 two other pamphlets by " Candor," which relate 

 almost exclusively to the Law of Libel, General 

 Warrants, Seizure of Papers, &c. With equal 

 truth it might be said of many of the Letters of 

 Junius, that there was no trace of Junius in them, 

 if the selected criterion of authenticity were some 

 particular letter on totally different subjects, such 

 for instance as that addressed to Lord Mansfield 

 on the Law of Bail. There are, however, some 

 passages in this pamphlet quite consistent with its 

 being by Candor, and the author of Junius. 



Heron, who is generally admitted to have been 

 the best and most intelligent commentator upon 

 the Letters of Junius, says of them, that they 



" must have been the result of long previous habit. 

 They cannot have been the first attempts of an untried 

 energy." 



Again, — 



" His Letters abound with those deep and general, yet 

 original observations on human character, and on the for- 

 tunes of human life, which can be produced only by 

 genius and judgment matured by experience, and fully in- 

 formed by much and various converse, both with books and 

 with mankind," 



With a full concurrence In these opinions, I 

 have always believed that much earlier specimens 

 of the writings of this author might be discovered, 

 the Letters of Junius being the crowning result of 

 his genius, ripened by long-tried political sagacity, 

 acquired facility of composition, and literary ex- 

 perience. The earliest of his unquestionable 

 productions hitherto noticed is A Letter to an 

 Honourable Brigadier- General, published in 1 760, 

 which was reprinted a few years ago, and edited, 

 with some intelligent remarks, by Mr. Simons of 

 the British Museum Library. 



I have now to request the attention of your 

 readers to some other pamphlets which I attri- 

 bute to the same pen ; and if I do not deceive 

 myself and allow my judgment to be warped by 

 prejudice, I think there will be found in them 

 sufficient internal evidence to warrant my conjec- 

 tures. At all events, I submit them to the criti- 

 cism of your readers. The first pamphlet which 

 I shall mention is entitled, 



" The Doctrine of Libels, and the Duty of Juries fairly 

 stated. By the Author of the Excise Scheme dissected, 

 &c. The fatal consequence of Ministerial Influence, &c., 

 and several other pieces in favour of our Constitution. 



" Pro rege sajpe, pro Republica semper. 



"London [June], 1752." 



It professes the same reverential respect for 

 Constitutional Law, and holds precisely the same 

 opinions on the same subjects more extensively 

 treated of in the better known Letter concerning 

 Libels, Sfc. I quote the opening paragraph of the 

 pamphlet, in which the first thing that strikes the 

 reader who is acquainted with the Letters of 

 " Candor," is the often-repeated affectation of 

 sitting " in coffee-houses listening to disputatious 

 young barristers," and " the ambiguities and gene- 

 ralities which the coffee-house lawyers are daily 

 descanting upon," &c. 



He begins, — 



" Having of late heard several warm disputes in Coffee- 

 houses and other public places about Libels, and in these 

 disputes some doctrines advanced which I thought not 

 only erroneous, but of dangerous consequence to our Con- 

 stitution, it set me upon reading over again, and recon- 

 sidering what has been wrote upon that subject; and as 

 these dangerous doctrines are, I find, generally supported 

 by our lawyers, who, by weak people, may be thought 

 best acquainted with the nature of our Government, I 

 thought it might be some service to my country to me- 

 thodize, and publish the result of my inquiries, as the 

 justness of Dr. Swift's observation will from thence plainly 

 appear." 



He then quotes the following from Swift's Set'- 



