Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/177

 FRANCIS, PHILIP  (1740–1818), reputed author of ‘Junius's Letters,’ only child of the Rev. [q. v.], by his wife, Elizabeth Rowe, was born in Dublin, 22 Oct. 1740. His mother died about 1744–5, and his father soon after removed to England, leaving the son at a school kept by a Mr. Roe in Dublin. About 1751–2 Francis came to England to be educated by his father. Among his fellow-pupils was the historian Gibbon. On 17 March 1753 Francis was entered at St. Paul's School, then flourishing under an able head-master, George Thicknesse. He became a good classical scholar. [q. v.], afterwards the publisher of ‘Junius,’ was a schoolfellow. Francis was captain of the school in 1756, and left it in the same year to take a junior clerkship in the secretary of state's office. The appointment came from his father's patron, Henry Fox, afterwards the first Lord Holland. (1726–1772) [q. v.] was intimate both with Fox and the elder Francis, and Francis had many opportunities of seeing the leading statesmen of the day. He continued to educate himself, spent his savings on books, and became favourably known to Robert Wood, secretary of the treasury, a man of classical parts and a trusted subordinate of Pitt in the seven years' war. Through Wood's influence Francis was appointed secretary to General [q. v.], whom he accompanied in the expedition to Cherbourg and St. Cas in 1758. In January 1760 he was appointed, again on Wood's recommendation, secretary of Lord Kinnoul's embassy to Portugal. He found time to learn French, Portuguese, and Spanish, and to compile elaborate note-books containing many diplomatic documents, besides discharging his official duties. Upon the conclusion of Kinnoul's mission in November 1760, Francis returned to his clerkship and his studies. His note-books show careful study both of classical and modern authors. He compiled careful financial and statistical tables, and made elaborate notes upon English constitutional questions. Wood recommended him to Pitt, to whom he acted as amanuensis between January 1761 and May 1762, writing despatches occasionally in French and Latin. Pitt, according to Lady Francis, was struck by the youth's talents, but no preferment resulted. In October 1761 Lord Egremont succeeded Pitt as secretary of state. Francis, who was in his department, tried, without success, to obtain the secretaryship to Hans Stanley's mission to Paris in 1761. He was acquainted with the course of later negotiations, and copied part of the correspondence between Egremont and the Duke of Bedford during the final negotiations for peace in the autumn of 1762. A remarkable reference is made to the relations between Egremont and Bedford at this time in the Junius letter of 29 Sept. 1769. Francis referred to his own employment on this occasion in a speech of 29 Feb. 1792. In 1761 he fell in love with Elizabeth Macrabie, then living with her parents at Fulham. She was an accomplished musician, and an attractive and sensible girl. She had no fortune, and the connection was disapproved by both families. They were both of age, however, and married at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, 27 Feb. 1762. A coolness resulted between Francis and his father, till in 1766 the father's illness brought about a reconciliation.

At the end of 1762 Welbore Ellis succeeded Charles Townshend as secretary-at-war. He appointed Francis, upon Wood's recommendation, first clerk at the war office, and directly afterwards appointed as his deputy Christopher d'Oyly, who became Francis's most intimate friend. From 1765 the secretary-at-war was Lord Barrington. Both Barrington and D'Oyly left the greatest part of the official correspondence to be drafted by Francis. From this point Francis's career involves disputed questions. His biographer, Joseph Parkes, attributes to him many anonymous writings upon evidence of varying cogency. Francis told his second wife that he ‘scarcely remembered when he did not write.’ He was only treading in his father's steps, although his official position made a public acknowledgment of his writings inexpedient. A letter signed ‘One of the People’ in the ‘Public Ledger’ of 2 March 1763, dealing with a theatrical ‘O. P.’ riot, is claimed in his papers (, i. 69). In May 1766 Francis sent a long letter to the Duke of Richmond, then secretary of state, upon English trade with Portugal. The duke did not return it till 2 Aug., when he was leaving office. A strong hint had been given in a letter signed ‘Tantum’ in the ‘Public Advertiser’ of 1 Aug., which may therefore be plausibly attributed to Francis. His interest in Portuguese questions may also justify Parkes's opinion that he wrote letters signed ‘Lusitanicus’ and one signed ‘Ulisippo’ in the same paper for 2 and 13 Jan. and 3 March 1767 (ib. i. 132, 136). The statement is relevant only as showing that Francis was writing in the papers. Parkes also attributes to Francis two pamphlets in 1764. The first was published by [q. v.] in September as ‘A Letter to the “Public Advertiser.”’ Part of it had appeared in that paper on 2 Aug. under the signature ‘Candor,’ but Woodfall declined to publish the rest without having the author's name. On 29 Nov.