504 
style, and the dabor lime is visible in his 
every sentence. 1 
It is pleasant, at this time of day, to 
con over the boast of Wilkes, that it 
had taken him but a year and half to 
write down one ministry, and that even 
less time would suffice him to despatch 
their successors! Alas! tempora mu- 
tantur, politici etiam mutantur in illis. 
How many Wilkeses and Junii, allowing 
that we possess any such, and how long 
a time, would be required. to write down 
our present ministers! The first copy 
I ever possessed of the letters of Junius 
was published in 1772. It lately fell 
into my hands, in looking over a parcel 
of old books. I had made, I perceive, 
marginal notes in it, one of which I re- 
quest permission to transcribe. In the 
celebrated and cauterizing letter to Lord 
Mansfield, dated November 14, 1770, 
Junius remarks, “ Even in matters of 
private property, we see the same bias 
and inclination to depart from the deci- 
sions of your predecessors, which you 
certainly ought to receive as evidence of 
the common law.” On this passage I 
have noted, at what period I know not, 
as follows, “ This is certainly most 
questionable doctrine, leading to a sla- 
vish dependence of mind in a judge, and 
perpetuating all the prejudices and 
errors of antiquity. Besides, is not the 
judgment of a successor of equal value 
with that of his predecessor?” Our 
juris positi will not, I apprehend, hold 
in much estimation my legal crudities. 
: CoaisTANEUs. 
P.S.—I last year conversed with a 
widow gentlewoman, with whom, in 
1770, a private secretary of Mr. Burke 
boarded and lodged. It was in Hatton- 
garden, This gentleman, according to 
the widow’s account, was in the con- 
stant habit of carrying vast quantities of 
MSS. to his principal, who, he insisted, 
among his intimates, was the writer of 
the Letters of Junius. 
{We do not think our correspondent has 
done much towards furnisliing the promised 
clue. Nor would his reference to his pre- 
sent Majesty, to Lord Lansdowne, the 
Duke of Grafton, the present Lord Mans- 
field, &c., in one of the passages, which, for 
the sake of brevity, we have omitted, in our 
opinion, stand in much stead in this respect. 
But his observations are valuable, in more 
points of view than one ; and, with apology 
for the liberty of necessary curtailments, we 
give them thankful and ready insertion.— 
Fn] 
Dr. Aikin and the Fordyces. 
[Jan.1,; 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir, 
R. Aikin, the original Editor I 
believe of the M. M. we are in- 
formed in his biography, served his ap- 
renticeship in an apothecary’s shop at 
ppingham, in the county of Rutland; 
and it is not a little surprising, that that 
same shop should have been the prolific 
hive from whence have issued, in regu- 
lar succession, no fewer than six dis- 
tinguished characters. The first of 
these was William Fordyce, who, shortly 
after his arrival in England, settled at 
Uppingham. After a short residence 
there, he emigrated to London, where 
he commenced physician, and was after- 
wards knighted. But before his evacua- 
tion of his post at Uppingham, he 
shewed himself a prudent tactician, by 
establishing a brother securely in his 
place. This brother soon followed the 
example of resigning his situation at 
Uppingham to a younger brother, and 
proceeding to the metropolis, where 
he also commenced physician with 
tolerable success. The other brother 
followed in the same track, and with 
the like successful termination, To 
him succeeded another aspirant, more 
remarkable than them all; who, as 
soon as he had accumulated a sum 
which he thought sufficient for his 
medical début in the metropolis, set off, 
with his diploma in his pocket; but on 
his arrival in town, either through fai- 
lure of his finances, or some other 
cause, he changed his ground, and en- 
gaged himself as clerk in a banking- 
house, or in the counting-house of a 
merchant ; this was no less a personage 
than Fordyce the banker. But to 
return to the shop at Uppingham. 
Fordyce the last having no brother to 
succeed him, the shop was transferred 
to a relation, Maxwel Garthshore, who 
held it I believe some years, but after- 
wards emigrated to London, where he 
had considerable business as a physician 
and accoucheur; with him Aikin served 
his apprenticeship, and I have reason to 
think that, for a short time at least, 
he occupied the shop. It is worthy of 
remark, that there are few families in 
which so many individuals, living at the 
same time, have been distinguished by 
their talents and acquirements, as the 
two families of of Fordyce and Aikin. 
Besides the brothers mentioned above, 
there was the author of “ Sermons to 
Young Women,” a writer of consider- 
able eminence in his day; andalsoa 
sixth brother, who was lost early in life, 
on 
