writing, those three qualifications would necessarily be augmented and become more distinctly apparent. Be that as it may, they are the principles upon which the Junian hand is constructed. 'When Junius altered the natural tendency of his hand, which he sometimes attempted for the purpose of disguising it, by making the stances wherein that word occurs in his Let lower as well as the upper turns of his letters He has done so in eight of the twenty-one inangular, the two leading characteristics of extreme breadth to the former and narrowness to the latter still remain (see his Letter to Woodfall, No. 3). It is not only the fineness and smallness of the writing, but also the angularity of so many of the lower turns of the writing of that Letter that occasions the strong contrast of its general character to that of the Letters to Woodfall, Nos. 7, 9, 12, and 22, and others of the Junian writing. 'Although many of the Letters of Junius contrast with each other in their general appearance, the construction of the writing of all is based upon these principles:-In all, the upper turns of the letters are angular and cramped, and the lower turns wide and free; and the latter are habitually, though not al ways well rounded, agreeably with the natural tendency of Francis's writing, particularly when he wrote rapidly. The extreme width of the lower turns of the letters frequently oceasioned in the Junian hand as much space between the letters as between words, as shown in the subjoined facsimiles : dall ever that 'The following word, taken from Junius's first Letter to Mr. Grenville, forcibly illustrates these three peculiarities : ters. He would, therefore, be liable to repeat time Moreover, the general character of the writing of that word corresponds closely with the two instances taken from Francis's writing. II. But, further, Francis, having written the word "time," in the middle of a sentence, in the peculiar manner shown, had the habit of occasionally making an addition to the small letter t, which had the effect of converting it (improperly) into a capital letter, thus : found hime your time Second time 'Both of these peculiarities occur in the word "time" written on the 1st page of Junius's first Letter to Mr. Grenville, thus: nean Time + The Letter from which that word is taken is dated only a month after the date of Francis's Letter from which the first of the two facsimiles of the word "time" is taken, and it occurs in the same phrase, viz. "in the mean time." The form of the addition made by Junius does not exactly correspond with that by Francis, because he was disguising his hand; but the habit or intention is the same, notwithstanding the difference of form. disguise, however, like many others adopted by Junius, was not uniformly maintained. There is another instance in which no difference of form appears. Francis occasionally This made this addition to the small letter t when he wrote the word "thing" in the middle of a sentence where no capital letter was needed, as in the following facsimiles : Coory Thing anything any thing Every Thing 'It will be observed in each case that, if the addition be removed, the word will remain written with a small letter t, commenced with an upstroke in the usual manner, and that the entire word has been written by a single opera tion of the pen, sustained on the paper until the word has been completed. Those two peculiarities are by no means frequent in the Junian writings; their occurrence in Francis's hand suggests the source whence they are derived. They occur in other words in his writing at irregular intervals, insufficient to be regarded as habits of writing, but rather as inadvertencies to which he was liable. Another instance of an inverted letter i occurs in the word "writing," and "write," in Francis's Letters, thus : wonto writing It also occurs in similar words in Junius to Woodfall, thus: landishes Febry 'I do not remember having seen this mode of shortening a word in any other handwriting. It may have been common in the last century, but no instance has attracted my attention in a very large amount of different handwritings of that period which I have examined in the British Museum. It occurs once only in the Junian hand; but I find three other instances in the Letter Book on the backs of Letters by Francis besides that already given, sufficient to show that that mark of abbreviation was a peculiarity specially belonging to his hand. The preceding are instances of specialities in regard to forms, in all three of which, in combination, few if any other writers can be found to participate with Junius and Francis. I find in their hands not only coincidences of special formations of letters but of special uses for which particular formations only of certain letters are employed; and notwithstanding those formations are of a common character, the application of them to particular uses, to the exclusion of other common formations, gives them considerable importance.' We may also notice another speciality in the two handwritings relating to the letters m and n. "The junction of two words had the effect of materially altering the character of the forma tion of certain letters in the two handwritings now under examination. Both Junius and Francis frequently formed the letters m and n in a somewhat distinctive manner, as in the following facsimiles : Material Materials It will be observed that roundness of form | When Junius joined either a letter m or a letter characterises the upper turns, commencing then to the word preceding it, he altered the letters m and n, in the above examples. Those character of those letters in a very marked letters might have been joined to the words manner by changing the round form into a very preceding them and still have preserved that angular one. Francis also fell into the same character; and would do so in hands wherein habit, as is evinced in the following facsiroundness of form is habitual. This, however, miles:was not so either with Junius or with Francis. comma. Now it is remarkable that these nine | forty-one out of the forty-two letters in points, and particularly the first eight, are Francis's Letter Book. The habits of dif found combined in most of the existing ferent persons differ in this respect. Some Letters of Francis. Many of these points, put a comma, a few put a fullstop, a very taken separately, are of common concurrence few put a semi-colon, and the great majority in the openings of Letters; but their combi- of writers put no stop at all after the salutanation is likely to be extremely rare. Mr. tion. Others do not follow any fixed rule, Chabot says he has never seen them com- but sometimes put no stop, sometimes put a bined except in Junius and Francis; and fullstop, and sometimes put a Mr. Twisleton, who has examined more than What was remarkable in Francis was his 3000 Letters in the Grenville Papers,' the settled habit of marking his salutations with 'Anson Papers,' and other documents of the a fullstop. On scrutinising Junius with a same kind, likewise states that he has never knowledge of this habit, it will be found that seen those points united in any other writer. in this volume there are twenty-five salutaMr. Chabot, therefore, we think, is justified tions of Junius; that he placed after every in adding that, upon comparing a paper one of them either a fullstop or a line written anonymously with the known letters of separation; that he substituted the line of of a suspected party, such a combination in separation in seven instances only, which are each document would carry suspicion to the in informal Letters to his printer; while in highest point, and, united to a few only of twelve other Letters to his printer, and in all other coincidences of equal importance, his formal Letters, such as the three Letters would, by an impartial mind, be deemed to Mr. Grenville, the first Letter to Lord conclusive as to the reality of the suspected Chatham, the Letter signed "Vindex," and fact.' the Letter signed "Scotus," a fullstop invaAnother habit which Francis had in writ-riably follows the salutation.' ing was to put a fullstop after the salutation, We may also direct attention to the manthus: Sir.' 'My Lord.' This we find inner in which Junius signed his Letters. He It is interesting to observe, as Mr. Twisleton has pointed out, that this Letter of the 3rd of May, 1769, was written only two days before the private Letter of Junius to Woodfall, No. 2. Francis signed his initials P. F., between two dashes on the Wednesday, and Junius signed his initial letter, C, between two dashes on the Friday. In connection with this subject the following anecdote may be mentioned, for which Mr. Twisleton was indebted to Mr. W. J. lines, ending with "nothingness" and "changeless," added below them the word "senseless," and then rapidly subscribed his initials between the two dashes. On observing the signature, Mr. Blake said to him, "Pray will you allow me to ask you, Sir Philip, do you always sign your initials in that manner.?" Sir Philip merely answered gruffly, "I know what you mean, Sir," and walked away. This took place in or about the year 1817, forty-eight years after the 3rd of May, 1769, the date of the Letter in this volume in which the signature of his initials between two dashes first occurs.' There is also a striking similarity between Junius and Francis in their mode of abbreviating words. This will be seen by two or three examples. Junius and Francis occasionally abbreviated the words though' and 'would,' thus: 'tho',' 'wod' as in the following facsimiles: Blake, of Danesbury, to whom it was told by don't his father, the late Mr. William Blake : 'After the publication of "Junius Identified," Mr. William Blake was in a country house with Sir Philip Francis, and happened to converse with him on the poetry of Lord Byron, to which Sir Philip expressed his aversion. This induced Mr. Blake to single out for his perusal the well known lines in the "Giaour," beginning with "He who hath bent him o'er the dead." Francis read them, went to a writing table, seized a piece of paper, wrote down on it a string of words which he extracted from those *It may be remarked, by the way, that these two forms of the letter C can be traced to the FRANCIS. Junius and Francis both punctuated their writing habitually; and where a sentence ends in the middle of a paragraph, they frequently give force to the punctuation by substituting a dash for a period, and sometimes more effectively by employing both. Occasionally they add this dash to every other form of punctuation, in the follow hand of Francis, as shown in the following facing manner, thus: similes: Claret Chitchat The most remarkable instances are those of the notes of exclamation and interrogation, involving in each three operations of the pen, thus: |