21 January 1769 On examining the photographed proofsheets we find that all the original dates have been obliterated and written in the feigned hand, except in one instance, namely, in the Letter to Dr. William Blackstone, where Francis forgot to make the obliteration, and has left the date [29. July. 1769.] in his own handwriting. We subjoin a facsimile of this date, together with facsimiles of two dates written by Francis in his private letters, in the very same month and year. JUNIUS. 29. July. 1769. FRANCIS. ·30. July. 1769. 5. July. 1769 After this, can any one doubt that the Letters of Junius were written by Francis?* * If the hypothesis should be started that Francis handwrote the letters for another person, but was for consideration the following observations of Mr. Twisleton: To make intelligible the precise bearing of the handwriting on the authorship, it may be remarked that the knowledge of who was the handwriter would be conclusive as to who was the author for any one who entertains a strong conviction of the truth of any one of the four following propositions: 1st. That the known character of the handwriter forbids the supposition of his having submitted during four or five years to be the amanuensis of another author. 2ndly. That Junius, in his Dedication to the English Nation, would not have volunteered the assertion that he was the sole depositary of his own secret, if all the while he had put himself in the power of another person by making use of him as an amanuensis. 3rdly. That the private Letters of Junius to Woodfall, and the corrections in the proof sheets bear internal marks of having been written, not by an amanuensis, but by the author himself. 4thly. That, independently of handwriting, the evidence which points to the handwriter as the author is so strong, standing alone, that although it may possibly not be conclusive, it justifies vehement suspicion, and attains a high degree of moral probability. Each reader must judge for himself whether one or more of these propositions commands his assent. For any one who believes in the truth of all the four, it would be idle to undervalue the strength of moral conviction as to the authorship, which must arise from the fact of the handwriter having been definitively ascertained. And, at the very lowest, if Francis was the handwriter, this throws out of competition with him for the authorship every individual candidate in re not himself the author of them, we would submit We have come to this conclusion after a careful examination of the evidence before us, and are not deterred from expressing it by the apprehension of being taunted with inconsistency. In a previous number of this "Review"* we advocated the claims of the second Lord Lyttelton for the authorship of Junius, and, on a subsequent occasion, † we stated various reasons against supposing Francis to be the writer of the Junian Letters. We are not insensible to the force of the arguments brought forward in the latter of these articles: we candidly confess that we sat down to the study of the Reports before us with a strong impression that it was impossible to identify Francis and Junius by a simple comparison of their respective handwritings; but truth and justice compel us to confess that we have risen from them with the conviction that Mr. Chabot has proved his case. We are conscious that the examples we have quoted may convey to our readers an inadequate idea of the conclusive nature of Mr. Chabot's arguments. They are only a few out of many hundred proofs; and they derive their chief force, as we have already remarked, from their cumulative character. Taken separately they are striking, but might in some cases be accidental: taken collectively they are irresistible, and their similarity cannot be explained by any conceivable number of accidental resemblances. If, therefore, the instances we have cited are not sufficient to convince some of our readers, we would ask them to suspend their conclusion till they have consulted the book itself, which if we may judge by the impression produced upon our own minds, will convert the most incredulous. We have already remarked that this work possesses an independent value apart from the Junian controversy. We had intended to point out its bearing upon other branches of enquiry, but having exhausted our space, we must content ourselves with referring to the important assistance it will render to all persons connected with the administration of justice.‡ gard to whom it cannot be shown that he was more competent and more likely than Francis to have composed the Junian Letters, and that he might possibly have made use of Francis as his amanuensis." Quarterly Review," vol. xc., p. 131. t Ibid., vol. cxxiv., p., 322. The Courts of Common Law have long admitted the principle that a comparison of handwritings may be employed as an instrument in the investigation of truth, but till within the last few years it was limited to two cases - 1st, the case of ancient documents, and 2ndly, in reference to documents already in evidence before the court; but these restric tions were abolished by the Legislature in civil 1 In conclusion, we congratulate Mr. Twisleton, not only upon having settled, as we think, once for all the long-disputed controversy respecting the authorship of the Junian Letters, but upon having produced the only work which has yet appeared in the English language, conveying systematic instruction on the comparison of handwritings. The book opens a new and interesting vein of inquiry, will be essential to all engaged in antiquarian or legal pursuits, and ought to find a place in every well-appointed library. "It sometimes happens," says Mr. Twisle- | be rejected as a forgery, or a forged will might toL," that it is impossible to detect the author be accepted as genuine." * of anonymous letters or of a forged signature, except by a comparison of handwritings. A bad and base man may successfully have taken such precautions that no human eye saw his hand while it was penning a particular document, and that no external evidence is in existence to trace that document into his possession. In such a case, everything in a trial may depend on the special knowledge which is brought to bear on the internal evidence of the document itself by the Advocates, the Jury, and the Judge. From ignorance of the subject an advocate sometimes does not ask the proper questions of an expert, whose evidence is favourable to his cause. From similar ignorance an advocate on the other side is frequently driven into the subterfuge of declaiming against ex-lock Will Case (Cresswell v. Jackson), which was perts, when, if he had a little knowledge of the subject, he might weaken the force of adverse evidence by two or three reasonable objections. And if in a trial either the judge or a single prejudiced juryman held the opinion that no certainty could be arrived at by comparison of handwritings, or that in such comparison it was a better test to look to general character than to individual letters, there might easily be an absolute miscarriage of justice. If accused of writing malicious and libellous anonymous letters, a guilty man might escape, or an innocent man might be condemned. When important interests were at stake a genuine will might * Mr. Twisleton adds in a note:-"In the Mat tried before Lord Chief Justice Cockburn and a London Special Jury in 1864, three codicils to a will were rejected as forgeries. In this case, in which erything, as far as handwriting was concerned, deMr. Chabot gave evidence against the codicils, evpended on minute differences, which he pointed out, and which the Chief Justice on the 1st of March, 1864, in a summing up of remarkable ability, brought in detail under the notice of the jury with his own comments. If the case had been tried by a judge under the influence of either of the principles mentioned in the text, the forgery would prob the Lord Chief Justice was published the same year ably have been successful. The summing up of from a transcript of the short-hand writer's notes (London, Alfred Boot, Dockhead, 1864). It will amply repay perusal as a specimen, generally, of intel lectual power; but it also deserves special attention as a luminous model of the manner in which evimay be presented to a jury." causes by the "Common Law Procedure Act" of dence founded on a comparison of handwritings 1854, and likewise in criminal cases in 1865. A FEW minutes before and after the earthquakes of the 17th March last, powerful positive electrical currents were rushing towards England through the two Anglo-American telegraph cables, which are broken near Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Mr. C. F. Varley, C.E., who informed us of the fact, broaches the novel speculation that some earthquakes may be due to subterranean lightning. He imagines that as the hot centre of the earth is approached, a layer of hot dried rock may be found which is an insulator, while the red hot mass lower down is a conductor. If this conjecture be true. and there is plausibility in it. then the world itself is an enormous Leyden jar, which only requires charging to a very moderate degree to be equal to the production of terrific explosive discharges. Blue Book of 1859-60, showing that the direction of these currents across England was in a very notable degree determined by the contour of the coast, and that the same auroral discharges would often produce currents at right angles to each other in direction, in different parts of Britain. Nature. AN examination of the mean monthly and annual temperature of the British Isles, based on observations extending over a period of thirteen years (1857 to 1869) at 155 stations, has been made by Mr. A. Buchan, the secretary of the Scottish Meteorological Society, and published in a recent number of their Journal. This paper affords the first reliable solution of this meteorological problem, which has an important bearing especially on the agricultural The French Atlantic cable was disturbed at interests of the kingdom. The monthly isother the same time, and so were many of the Eng-mals illustrate the powerful conserving influence lish land-lines, but the only observations as to the direction of the current were made by means of the Anglo-American telegraph cables. A number of Mr. Varley's charts about earthcurrents were published in the Government of the ocean on the temperature of these islands, and they enjoy that mean annual temperature (45° to 52°) which experience has proved to be most conducive to health and longevity. Academy. *CHAPTER XL. THE next morning, when Zachary Brasig arose, he took hold of his head with both hands, saying: "Karl, you may congratulate yourself that I haven't a worse headache than I really have for who could play assessor to-day? If I had followed Grammelin's cursed punch receipt I should have a whole nest of sparrows in my head this morning. But I made it after my own fashion." "Well, were you very jolly?" asked Habermann. "Ah, what? Here? Take care! I despise the whole democracy, when my shopman goes out drinking punch over night, and cannot get up in the morning; and old people should be ashamed He went off, but Kurz raved about his shop, and stormed at the whole world, until his wife, as soon as the shopman was out of bed, got him into bed, and put him under arrest for the time. "Hold, Kurz, you are beginning again with your flatteries, like last Sunday, but I cannot allow it at present, on account of my situation at the court. And adieu, "Oh, yes! the younger part of the com- Kurz! But I am sorry for you, for you pany were quite lively; as for me, I kept have caught the inflorentia, you should go myself very quiet. I sat by the town-mu- to bed, there is something in your bones, sician, David Berger, and, by the way, and if you will feel under your gaiters, Karl! what an amount that fellow can you will find you are beginning to get the stand! I thought to myself, that belongs rheumatism. But adieu, Kurz!" to his business; but one glass after another, incessantly! and at last he becante what they call sentimental, he embraced me, and, with tears in his eyes, told me how little he could earn in these political times, till Herr Süssmann, who is Kurz's After this little interview, Bräsig went shopman, and I really pitied him. And to the Rathhaus, and earned there withHerr Sussmann proposed to the company out any further trouble, and in all quiet, that we should get up a fraternity ball, five times four groschen, for the sitting for David Berger's benefit; that is, a po- lasted five hours. When he came home litical one, where all ranks, nobility, and they had finished dinner, and as the ritter-proprietors, and pächters and burgh- table was spread again, expressly for him, ers and their wives and children, should the Frau Pastorin made some pointed come together, and shake hands, and dance remarks about irregularity in one's habits with, and, for aught I know, kiss each of life, and coming home at two o'clock in other. And this indicium was resolved the morning, and sitting down to dinner upon, and it is to be a week from Sunday. at two o'clock in the afternoon; and Uncle And Herr Sussmann drew up a subscrip- Bräsig sat there, and grinned, looking tion paper, and I subscribed for you and very well contented with himself, as if he ine and the Frau Pastorin and Louise." would say, "Ah, if you knew what hard "Brasig, I beg of you, what would the work I have been doing, and in what place Frau Pastorin and Louise do at a ball, or I went through with it, you would stroke I, either?" me and pet me, you would kiss me, and do more than you have ever done for me;" and when he rose from the table, he said, solemnly, "Frau Pastorin, it will all come to light, as the Herr Burgomeister says," and he nodded to Habermann, "Bonus! as the Herr President Rein says," and going up to Louise, he put his arms round her and kissed her, and said, Louise, get me the finest sheet of writing paper that you can find, for I want to pack up a little-well, I will say indicium, 30 that it may not be injured, for it is to go a long way." "But you must, for it is a noble cause." "And you couldn't go either, Zachary, for a week from Friday is Mining's wedding day, and the next Sunday the going to church, and what would my sister say if you were absent, and at your stupid Reform-ball?" "That alters the matter, we must have it put off, and so adieu, Karl, I will go at once to Herr Süssmann, and see about it, and then I must go to the Rathhaus, you know, to sit for four groschen an hour." He went directly to Kurz's shop, but Herr Sussmann was not there, Kurz himself was running about, opening the drawers and looking in, and then shutting them again. LIVING AGE. VOL. XXI. 980 And as he went out with the sheet in Herr has the meaning of Mr., Sir, gentleman and master. [* Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by Littell & Gay, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] his hand, he turned round again to remark: "Karl, as I said before, what can be done shall be done." And he came back once more to say: “Frau Pastorin, I shall come home to supper to-night." He went to the post-office. The postmaster was at home, he was always at home; for a hundred and fifty thalers salary, he had imprisoned himself for life, not in a room, no, in a bird-cage, which he called his "comptoir," and when he had no postal business, he sat there and played the flute, and sung, like the finest canarybird. He was engaged in this agreeable business, when Bräsig entered: ·Good-day, Herr Postmaster. You are a man of honor, therefore I wish to ask your assistance in a delicate matter. Of course, it isn't necessary for you to know the thing itself, that must remain a secret, and what I tell you must also remain a secret. I am going to write to Paris." "To Paris? What the devil are you writing to Paris for?" 66 "Oh, yes," said the postmaster, "come right in here, before my wife sees you, for, though it is the regular room for passengers, my wife will allow no one under a count to go in there. And you must let yourself be locked in.” Brasig had no objections to that, and so he sat there, from three o'clock in the afternoon, until it grew dark, and wrote his letter; the postmaster fluted and sung, in his bird-cage; he wrote; the Frau Postmaster came and rattled the door, she wanted to get into her sanctum, and scolded because the key was gone; the Herr Postmaster had it in his pocket, and fluted and sung; Brasig wrote his letter. Finally he finished it; he read it over, and we can look over his shoulder. Here it is. "HIGHLY WELL-BORN YOUNG HERR VON RAMBOW: "A very remarkable thing has happened here, since Kurz the merchant had his manure carted on to baker Wredow's field, who is his rival in respect to the stadtbullen. Habermann found a piece of black waxed cloth there, with "To Paris," said Brasig, drawing himself up. the Rambow coat of arms on it, which was a "What in the world!" said the post-about the theft of the louis-d'ors, in the year great relief to him, on account of the suspicion master, one of you inspectors gets a let-45, and the Herr Burgomeister also says that ter from Paris, and the other will send one. Well, we will see how much it costs." He turned his books over, and said at last, "I can't find it here, I will reckon it up; it cannot be done under sixteen groschen." "No matter, I have earned twenty groschen this morning, at the court." 66 Whom is the letter for ?" "The young Herr Franz von Ram bow." "Do you know his address, where he lives?" 66 Why, in Paris." "But Paris is a great city. You must know the street, and the number of the house." "God bless me!" said Bräsig, “all that! I don't know it." it is an indicium. The Herr Burgomeister has made me assessor at the court; there is a little something to be earned in that way, but it is very hard for me, being an old farmer, and accustomed to exercise, and also on account of the gout; it is not much trouble to be sure, but one gets sleepy in the long sittings. But the good of it is that I can know all about the business, which Habermann must know nothing about, because the Herr Burgomeister has forbidden it. Since you are in Paris, and not in Rahnstadt, I can talk with you freely, as a We friend, about the business, and the business is this: the weaver, he lies, that he has no more intercourse with his wife, and the Herr Burgomeister says that is another indicium. have a great many indiciums already. The principal business is still to come, however, namely, Kählertsch. Kählertsch is positively determined to marry the weaver, and is of the opinion that the weaver will not have her, because his divorced wife wants him to marry her again. This has caused bad feelings in "Well, I know no other way, then, than Kählertsch, what is called jealousy, — and for you to write your letter, and enclose it she has come out with a lot of new indiciums, to the Mecklenburg ambassador, Dr. Urt-as the Herr Burgomeister says, very important lingen, he may be able to find him.” "Ask Habermann." "That is just the thing, he mustn't know of it." He must," said Bräsig, "for the business is of great importance, and that is what he gets his salary for. But what I was going to say, will you allow me to write the letter here? Because it must be kept a secret from Habermann." and elevant, or, as I express myself in German, the young Frau Pastorin knows how to manage him. Rector Baldrian brought the tailoresses, and a certain Platow or Patow or some such person, into the Reform; but Kurz has been repeatedly turned out; his four horses have the inflorentia; it began with his old saddle-horse, and it will end with himself, for he has already got the rheumatism. The old Frau Pastorin Behrends is still our honored hostess, also with eating and drinking, for Habermann and I lodge and sleep, and take our daily meals with her; she, as well as Habermann, would send greetings to you, but they cannot, for they know nothing about it. But we often speak about you, since you are always like an everpresent picture before our eyes. I cannot think of more to tell at present, - but one thing occurs to me. Pomuchelskopp got himself voted into the Reformverein; the master carpenter Schultz is a brave man, he stood by me, at that time. Krischan Däsel has been sent away by your Herr Cousin, and there is no definite trace of Regel; but Louise Habermann is - thank God! very well indeed. d'ors, as also the butcher Kränger testified, in two compertinent cases. And while the weaver was before the court, telling us new lies and new indiciums, they searched the weaver's house, with Hoppner at the head, and found nine Danish double louis-d'ors, in his cupboard, in a secret place. Which he tried to contend against, later, but did not succeed. She, the weaver's wife, who is the worst of the lot, was also caught, this morning, since they found, in searching her house, a snuff-box, which had belonged to the blessed Herr Pastor himself, and was kept by the Pastor's family like a relic, in a glass case, for which shameful deed she has been furnished with free lodgings. Kählertsch has also been taken up, since in her wickedness she has belied the court, the Herr Burgomeister, and myself, as assessor. They all lie, till they are black in the face, but what good does that do them? The Herr Burgomeister says he is morally persuaded that they have done it, and it must come out, and it will come out. What a triumph it will be for my Karl Habermann, when he stands in his old age, like an angel of innocence tried in the fire, and goes about among the people, with his white hair, in the white robes of innocence. They must be as ashamed as drowned poodles for all they have done to him, I mean to speak with respect - Pomuchelskopp and the Pumpelhagener, who have fallen out with each other, because Zamwell has sued the other, of which I" Immeriter Inspector, and temporary Asseswill say nothing more, since I told Pomuchelskopp my opinion of him at the Reformverein, and your Herr Cousin of Pumpelhagen has given me the cold shoulder. He is going on in a bad way, for he is dreadfully disturbed because Moses has given him notice for the money on St. John's day, and he has no money and no grain, and how can they live? He is an utterly incapable man. You must never, while I live, let Habermann know of this letter; because it | is a secret between us. But I thought it would be interesting for you to know who the real rascals were, and that Karl Habermann, thank God! is not among them. He is very much cheered up by these occurrences, and strikes out with his heels, like a young colt, when the saddle is taken off. I think this is an encouraging sign for the future. As for news of your old acquaintances in the region, I can only tell you that, next week Friday, Mining and Rudolph expect to be united in marriage. Frau Nüssler, whom you will remember as a very beautiful young woman, is still no need to say-very handsome, but has grown a little stouter; Jochen also is very well, and is training up, for his future establishment, a new crown prince. Your Herr Colleague, of old times, is now the Totum at Pumpelhagen; Habermann says he will yet do well; I say he is a greyhound, who goes among people with his fire-arms, on account of which he has put Frau Nüssler and me formally under the ban. We have a Reform at present in Rahnstadt; the young Pastor Gottlieb preached against it, but In the hope that my humble writing may not be disagreeable or inconvenient, I have the honor to subscribe myself, with the deepest reverence, and greeting you from the heart as an old friend, Your most obedient humble servant, sor. "RAHNSTADT, 13 May, 1848. - "POSTSCRIPT. — Apropos! I write this letter in the Frau Postmaster's sanctum, since the Herr Postmaster has locked me in expressly for the purpose, and has sworn not to say a word. This is all because of the secrecy, for Habermann and the Frau Pastorin and Louise know nothing about it; Louise has given me this sheet of letter paper, it belonged to her, and I believe it will be a little gratification to you, for I remember my youthful days, when I had three sweethearts at once. She is devoted, in love and sadness, to her old father, and for others she is a an answer from you, that you have no objecprecious pearl of the human race. tions, I will write again about the rascals they have caught. If you should be in our region again a week from Sunday, I invite you to our fraternity ball; the seamstresses and tailoresses are all to be invited. If I receive "THE AFORESAID." When Bräsig had finished this difficult piece of work, he rapped and pounded on the door, and as the postmaster unlocked it and let him out, he stood there, with the sweat dripping from his face. "Bless me!" said the postmaster, "how you look! It is true, isn't it? Unaccustomed labor is painful!" With that, he took the letter from him, and put it in an envelope, and directed it |