of his mind. He seems to have sitten down to write it, while its particular design was but obscurely conceived, while his imagination was still in a sort of tumultuous ferment with the ideas which it contains. It was probably finished at one sitting, with labour of thought rather exerted successively upon each particular part, than expanded, in the progress of the composition, to incessant consideration of the scope which should give unity to the whole.

It is, however, a genuine composition of JUNIUS. The general cast of thought; the structure and the colours of the style, rather expressing the native character of the Author's genius, than bearing the marks of cold, artificial imitation; the combination of reasoning, with the gorgeous ornaments of fancy, and with those incessantly bursting fires of lofty and vehement sentiment, which are kindled in none but great minds; infallibly bespeak, in this Dedication, the spirit of JUNIUS; and would enable us easily to distinguish it as his, even if it did not appear in connexion with his Letters. When I mark it, as not the most powerfully written and elaborately finished of all his pieces; I mean not to deny, that it is well adapted to the use for which it was intended, and worthy of the admirable Letters to which it is prefixed.

I DEDICATE to you a collection of Letters,

written by one of yourselves, for the common benefit of us all. They would never have grown to this size, without your continued encouragement and applause. To me they originally owe nothing, but a healthy, sanguine constitution. Under your care they

have

To me they originally owe nothing but a healthy, sanguine constitu tion, &c.] In the four periods, of which the second is here quoted, the Author introduces a metaphor, in which the resemblance of the metaphorical to the real objects, is not sufficiently complete for either ornament or illustration. He means to compare his Letters to a child, of which he represents himself, as the parent,-the public, The figure is sufficiently clear and correct, when hé

as the nurse.

describes

have thriven. To you they are indebted for whatever strength or beauty they possess. When Kings and Ministers are forgotten, when the force and direction

describes this progeny, as owing to himself a vigorous constitution, and as having thriven under the care of the public. But, when he adds,—To you, they are indebted for whatever strength or beauty they possess;-resemblance is entirely lost; and the metaphor, instead of dignifying and illustrating, only obscures and perplexes: for, though a young person may owe strength and beauty in a considerable degree to the care of those who feed, watch over, and educate him, as he rises from infancy to full-grown youth; how could the Letters of JUNIUS, owe either strength or beauty to any but their Author? If this had been only one of the long-tailed similitudes of Homer, in which an unnecessary circumstance, not entering into the comparison, is added to make the imagery complete; it might have possessed indisputable propriety and correctness. But, throughout every part of the figure, a substitution of the metaphorical imagery for the natural meaning, is minutely and studiously attempted. When, therefore, in speaking of the strength and beauty of his literary progeny-qualities which the Author alone could bestow-JUNIUS represents these as proceeding from the public favour; he calls us to view resemblance, where we can discover only striking incongruity; and thus errs from the propriety of writing, in a manner which deserves to be marked, that it may not be imitated. But, it is an eminent part in the character of JUNIUS, as a writer, to be fond of those hazardous darings in figurative expression, which must prove either singularly happy, or else strikingly incorrect. Of incorrectness in metaphor, these Letters will be found to exhibit very few specimens beside that which is here noted. Almost every succeeding page will present the most energetic strokes of eloquence, produced by that bold originality of figures, in which few other writers have ever been so conspicuously successful.

When Kings and Ministers are forgotten, &c.] This is a nervous, elegant, and well-constructed sentence. It is dignified by the prophetic boast of a mind conscious of having exerted mighty powers.

direction of personal satire is no longer understood, and when measures are only felt in their remotest consequences, this book will, I believe, be found to contain principles worthy to be transmitted to posterity. When you leave the unimpaired hereditary freehold to your children, you do but half your duty. Both liberty and property are precarious, unless the possessors have sense and spirit enough to defend them.-This is not the language of vanity. If I am a vain man, my gratification lies

It compresses, without mutilation or obscurity, much important meaning within a few short phrases. It employs the most expressive words, to convey every portion of its meaning. Its different members are compacted with an easy closeness, which greatly contributes to render the whole both more energetic and more perspicuous.

"

Yet, even here, some smaller inaccuracies have eluded the notice of the writer. His meaning is, that," when the Kings and Mini"sters of whom he writes, shall be forgotten,-when the force of "the personal satire in his book, shall be no longer understood,→ "when the measures which he opposes or recommends, shall be felt, only in their remotest consequences; then will the excellence "of the principles taught in these Letters, render them still worthy of being transmitted to posterity." But, his expressions apply to Kings and Ministers, to personal satire, to measures, in general, without the smallest limitation from Syntax or any of the requisite formalities of Grammar. Such inaccuracy of language will often escape, amid the glow of composition, from a fervid mind, intent chiefly upon the higher excellencies, and therefore leaving something of minute propriety to be supplied by subsequent revisal that there may not be always leisure to bestow. These negligencies in the composition of this sentence, render it probable, that JUNIUS wrote this Dedication at once, and sent it to the press without transcription; perhaps, without more than one very hasty perusal of his manuscript.

within

within a narrow circle. I am the sole depositary of my own secret, and it shall perish with me.

If an honest, and I may truly affirm, a laborious zeal for the public service, has given me any weight in your esteem, let me exhort and conjure you, never to suffer an invasion of your political constitution, however minute the instance may appear, to pass by, without a determined, persevering resistance. One precedent creates another.—They soon accumulate, and constitute law. What yesterday was fact, to day is doctrine. Examples are supposed to justify the most dangerous measures,

and

Examples are supposed, &c.] This alludes to the labour with which precedents had been sought, to justify the conduct of the House of Commons in refusing to receive Mr. Wilkes, as representative for the county of Middlesex, in the same Parliament from which he had been expelled. No precedent exactly corresponding, in all its circumstances, to the case in question, could be found. Examples of more imperfect resemblance were, therefore, to be pressed into the service. It was alledged, that they who had refused to receive back among them, Mr. Walpole, expelled for corruption and breach of trust in a ministerial office, would also have denied re-admission to a man guilty of those acts of licentiousness and turpitude which had procured the expulsion of Mr. Wilkes. JUNIUS, and the other advocates on the popular side of the question, maintained, that the Law of Parliament could exist only in statute or precedent; that the House of Commons, had not a jot of privilege for the protection of the dignity and order of their proceedings, but what was defined in that law; that, in its interpretation, no new necessity of circumstances, no plausible analogy, nothing but precise coincidence in all particulàrs, however minute, could be sufficient to justify the same procedure in a recent case which had taken place in a former one; that, if the precedent were

solitary

and where they do not suit exactly, the defect is supplied by analogy.-Be assured that the laws, which protect us in our civil rights, grow out of the constitution, and they must fall or flourish with it. This is not the cause of faction, or of party, or of any individual, but the common interest of every man in Britain. Although the King should continue to support his present system of government, the period is not very distant at which you will have the means of redress in your own power. It may be nearer, perhaps, than any of us expect; and I would warn you to be prepared for it. The King may possibly be advised to dissolve the present parliament a year or two before it expires of course, and precipitate a new election, in hopes of taking the nation by surprise. If such a measure be in agitation, this very caution may defeat or prevent it.

I cannot doubt that you will unanimously assert the freedom of election, and vindicate your exclusive right to choose your representatives. But other questions have been started, on which your

solitary and manifestly illegal, even this coincidence would be insufficient to give legality to a repetition of it; and that the House of Commons, therefore, in refusing to receive Mr. Wilkes, wantonly violated the constitutional rights of the freeholders of Middlesex, and indeed of the people of all England. This reasoning, however powerful, had not as yet proved fully successful. Yet, it composed perhaps, the best of all the argumentative parts of the Letters of JUNIUS. For both these reasons, it was natural that the Author should, in the Dedication, employ what means he might, to fix the particular attention of future readers upon that portion of his work.