228 THE FOGY DAYS AND NOW. 



and other legal advisers of the crown had many consultations 

 as to how this " mighty boar of the forest," as he was called 

 by Burke, could be most adroitly ensnared in the network of 

 the law. The host of enemies whom he aroused in every 

 direction were eager in plotting schemes for his detection. 

 But, aware that his power and perhai^s his personal safety 

 depended upon concealment, he continued to astonish every 

 one by his secret intelligence, and to assail the government 

 with undiminished intrepidity and rancor, revealing his appre- 

 hensions and precautions only in his private notes to Wood- 

 fall. His security was doubtless due in large measure to the 

 forbearance and honor of this publisher, who followed strictly 

 the imperative and precise orders of his correspondent. 



Sir Wt Draper, Avho entered into controversy with this 

 unknown adversary, was in the end overmastered and reduced 

 to mere humble complaint and confession. The Duke of Bed- 

 ford, Lord Mansfield, and the Duke of Grafton, all measured 

 intellectual lances with Junius, but were made to writhe in 

 ignominious defeat. 



Who the person was who thus foiled the scrutiny of his own 

 age has been the subject of more than one hundred volumes 

 and pamphlets. Efforts have been made at different times to 

 identify him with no less than forty eminent Englishmen and 

 Irishmen, and while it may be put down as supported by the 

 best evidence that the author was Sir Phillip Francis, still it 

 has not yet been demonstrated beyond a doubt, and to-day the 

 question, "Who was Junius?" remains unanswered. 



