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The authorship of the letters of Junius elucidated
The authorship of the letters of Junius elucidated Author:John Britton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PREFACE. " OH, WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE, WHEN FIRST WE PRACTISE TO DECEIVE." Sir Walter Scott. " I AM RESOLVED TO SEARCH FOR THEE : THE SEARCH ITSEL... more »F REWARDS THE PAIN." Cowley. " EVIDENCE ON A SUBJECT LIKE THIS, LONG PASSED AND PURPOSELY CLOUDED OVER FOR CONCEALMENT, MUST BE MADE UP OF MINUTE CIRCUMSTANCES, CLOSELY AND ACCURATELY EXAMINED, IF ANY LIGHT IS TO BE OBTAINED, WHEN CLAIMS ARE To Be Advanced Or Disproved."—Gentleman's Magazine, Feb. 1842. Amount Of Time And Labour Devoted To This Essay—First Clue To The Authorship Of Junius's Letters—Alluded To By The Present Writer On Former Occasions—The Inquiry Pursued Assiduously For The Last Twelve Months—The Author, Lieutenant-colonel Barre ; His Associates, Lord Shelbbrne, And John Dunning—William Greatrakes, The Presumed Amanuensis—His Story A Romance—Character op The Letters—Mystery And Danger Attending Their Publication—Manners And Habits Of MinIsters—Freedom Of The Present Age—The Letters Described And CritiCised By The Author, By Mitfobd, By Coleridge, And Others—AcknowLedgments To Correspondents. When I resolved to publish a new and distinct Essay, to elucidate the authorship of Junius's Letters, little did I anticipate the extent of labour and time which would be requisite to accomplish the task I had undertaken. Since I was first apprised of the sourcewhence they were believed by my informant to derive their origin, more than half a century has elapsed ; and though I have since read many treatises, and heard various opinions respecting their authorship, I cannot find, in any of the parties hitherto named, the qualifications and traits of character peculiar to Junius: those characteristics are, however, combined in a pre-eminent degree in three eminent politicians who, for many successive years,...« less