396 Junius and Horne Tooke.—Heraildic Emblazonments. 
eated by the obvious symbol of human 
feet) occupied. . We are not to judge of 
Mexican. skill in painting from this pic- 
ture-writing, which was probably, like 
that. of the Egyptians, of a sacred, and 
therefore unchangeable, character. It is 
quite evident that the Mexican artists 
were capable of drawing the human 
figure with as much accuracy, and quite 
as much ease, as the Egyptian. This, 
the Drawings taken from the ancient 
Palencian city indicate; —this, the Sculp- 
tures on the astronomical Cycle and 
eircular Altar-Stone fully establish. 
—= 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir; 
N anote to the letter of Cozstaneus, 
in your January Magazine, you re- 
mark, that you have heard from some 
persons, that the late John Horne Tooke 
declared, that he knew the author of 
Junius. This subject has been so often 
and so ably discussed, that I would not 
trouble you farther upon it, were it not 
with a view of setting you right in the 
above particular, 
During the years 1796 and 1797, I 
was frequently at Wimbledon; and upon 
one occasion, a gentleman, a barrister of 
considerable eminence, just then arrived 
from London, in reply to a question 
from Mr, Tooke, of—“ What news 2?” — 
replied, “The author of Junius is dis- 
covered,”’—“ Aye, who is he?” —“ John 
Horne Tooke.” —“ No, no, citizen,” 
rejoined Mr. Tooke, in his usually play- 
ful way—“I could not have written 
Junius—neither the secret or the style 
were within my reach. Moreover,” 
added he, “I very seriously assure you, 
that I have not the most remote idea 
who the author was.” 
Coestaneus remarks of Junius, “ That 
the evidence is equally clear, of his pro- 
ficiency in legal knowledge.” 
In reply to such conclusion, I refer 
him to p. 81 of Mr. Butler’s Reminis- 
cences, where he considers him not a 
profound lawyer, from the gross inaccu- 
racy of some of his legal expressions— 
as also, to the illustration of such 
opinion, in a subjoined note, Indeed, 
to those who still linger around the 
ashes of this almost extinguished sub- 
ject, I recommend the whole of Mr, 
Butler’s dissertation, 
I have given to this inquiry some 
attention, fairly balancing the weight of 
evidence; and I have little difficulty in 
considering either the late Lord George 
Sackville, or the late Sir Philip Francis, 
the author of Junius,—feeling, at the 
{June 1, 
same time, that Sir Philip’s attack upon 
the late Lord Thurlow (with every re- 
spect for Mr. Butler’s great discrimi- 
nation) gives a bias in favour of the 
latter, An Inquirer. 
— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir: 
N “the Songs of Greece, from the 
Romaic Text,” &c., noticed in your 
last No. (p. 356.) I find the following 
lines (stanza twenty-four of “ Dithyram- 
bics to Liberty”)— 
* See the British Leopard glare 
With ajealous bloodshot eye, 
On the savage Scythian Bear, 
While the Eagle hovers by.” 
Upon which Mr. Sheridan, the: trans- 
lator, has the following note. 
“Two lions and two castles quartered 
are the arms of Spain ; an eagle those of 
Austria; and three leopards, are supposed 
by M. Salomos, to be those of England; 
which is, however, an error, arising from 
the bad heraldic drawing of our three lions.” 
This commentary is, to me, however, 
far from satisfactory ; for although it is 
possible that the heraldic description 
“ British Leopard” may be a mistake of 
M. Salomos, originating in the cause 
assigned, yet it is not perfectly clear 
that it may not be an aceuracy derived 
from a very different and much deeper 
source. Is Mr. Sheridan not aware 
that, primitively, according to. the re- 
cords of heraldic antiquities, the arms of 
England were three Leopards ; and that, 
in all probability, it was by the bad 
heraldic drawings (primitively, at least,) 
not that Lions became liable to be mis-: 
taken for Leopards; but that Leopards 
became converted into Lions ? 
It is one of the ditficulties, I believe, 
among the antiquaries of the sleeveless 
coat, to ascertain at what period this 
heraldic metamorphose (or mutation of 
name, I ought to say,—for it is scarcely 
proper to call the assumption of shapes, 
that have no resemblance to any thing 
in heaven above, or earth beneath, or 
the waters under the earth, a metamor- 
phose)—took place. But that our coat 
was originally of Leopards, not of Lions, 
is, I believe, beyond dispute, And if any 
of your archaiological correspondents 
can furnish any information relative to 
the time when the things depicted in 
our heraldic emblazonments changed 
first, with little variation of their form- 
lessness, their names entire, I suspect 
that it would confer an obligation upon 
many _ 
A Tyro 1n Heratpic ANTIQUITIES. 
