ally considered to
be settled. Mr. Taylor's opinion was supported by Edward Dubois, Esq.,
formerly the confidential friend and private secretary of Sir Philip,
who, in common with Lady Francis, constantly entertained the conviction
that his deceased patron was identical with Junius.

In 1817, George Chalmers, F.S.A., advocated the pretensions of Hugh
Macaulay Boyd to the authorship of Junius. In 1825, Mr. George Coventry
maintained with great ability that Lord George Sackville was Junius; and
two writers in America adopted this theory.

Thus was the whole question re-opened; and, in 1828, Mr. E. H. Barker,
of Thetford, refuted the claims of Lord George Sackville and Sir Philip
Francis, and advocated those of Charles Lloyd, private secretary to the
Hon. George Grenville.[4]

In 1841, Mr. N. W. Simons, of the British Museum, refuted the
supposition that Sir Philip Francis was directly or indirectly
concerned in the writing; and, in the same year, appeared M. Jaques's
review of the controversy, in which he arrived at the conclusion that
Lord George Sackville composed the Letters, and that Sir Philip Francis
was his amanuensis, thus combining the theory of Mr. Taylor with that of
Mr. Coventry.

The question was reviewed and revived in a volume published by Mr.
Britton, F.S.A., in June 1848, entitled "The Authorship of the Letters
of Junius Elucidated;" in which is advocated with great care the opinion
that the Letters were, to a certain extent, the joint productions of
Lieut.-Colonel Isaac Barre, M.P., Lord Shelburne, (afterwards Marquess
of Lansdowne,) and Dunning, Lord Ashburton. Of these three persons the
late Sir Francis Baring commissioned Sir Joshua Reynolds, in 1784-5, to
paint portraits in one picture, which is regarded as evidence of joint
authorship.

Only a week before his death, 1804, the Marquess of Lansdowne was
personally appealed to on the subject of _Junius_, by Sir Richard
Phillips. In conversation, the Marquess said, "No, no, I am not equal to
_Junius_; I could not be the author; but the grounds of secrecy are now
so far removed by death (Dunning and Barre were at that time dead), and
change of circumstances, that it is unnecessary the author of _Junius_
should much longer be unknown. The world is curious about him, and I
could make a very interesting publication on the subject. I knew Junius,
and _I know all about_ the writing and production of these Letters."
The Marquess added, "If I live over th