Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/181

 he refused for ‘solid reasons.’ Barrington also wrote politely to Francis on 26 Feb. requesting him to make his own statement of the cause of his resignation, and desiring to use Francis's own words. The matter ‘cannot remain a secret,’ he says. In fact, however, the secret has been kept; no explanation is given by Francis himself or elsewhere. Francis's sixth child was born in this year; his father, who had long been hopelessly infirm, seems to have been partly dependent upon him. In losing his office, therefore, Francis would appear to have lost his chief means of support, while there were heavy claims upon him. He probably had some expectations through Calcraft's influence. He had been for some time thinking of an Indian appointment (ib. i. 260). He left England for a tour on the continent 7 July 1772, Calcraft promising to join him at Naples. Calcraft died 23 Aug. He had left 1,000l. to Francis by a codicil dated on the day of Francis's resignation, and an annuity of 200l. payable to Mrs. Francis if she should survive her husband and be left without due provision. Francis was also to be elected for his borough, Wareham. In his autobiography Francis leaves a spiteful character of Calcraft (ib. i. 359), curiously resembling a reference in Junius's letter of 5 Oct. 1771. Francis returned to England 14 Dec. 1772, anxious and only comforted by the friendship of D'Oyly. He was summoned to Bath, where his father was rapidly sinking, and returned to London on 12 or 13 Jan. The last letter from Junius to Woodfall had been dated 10 May 1772. A private note from Junius, taking a final leave of his publisher, is dated 19 Jan. 1773.

The evidence for the identity of Francis and Junius may be now briefly summarised. (1) Junius was especially acquainted with the affairs of the war office, and, in a less degree, of the state office. (2) Junius's fury at the dismissal of D'Oyly and Francis, coupled with his anxiety to conceal the fact that he was the author of these letters (private letter of 25 Jan. 1772), undoubtedly suggests some close personal interest. The publication of these letters in 1812, which first revealed the fact that they were written by Junius, suggested Francis to Taylor. (3) The facts above stated show that Junius throughout his career was acting, consciously or not, in the closest co-operation with Francis. Francis almost certainly wrote one of the ‘Miscellaneous Letters’ which fits into the Junius series. Junius guarantees the accuracy of a report by Francis of a speech in which Francis took a peculiar interest; and reports, probably due to Francis, make use of letters by Junius. Some presumptive proofs that Junius had information known to Francis will be found in the ‘Grenville Correspondence’ (ii. cxiv. seq.), where they are adduced to support the hypothesis that Junius was Lord Temple. (4) The papers of Francis show that his absences from London correspond with the silence of Junius. Horne on 16 Aug. 1771 taunts Junius for delaying till 13 Aug. to answer a previous letter of 31 July. Francis had left London at the end of July, and returned on 11, or possibly 12 Aug. Almost every letter assigned to Junius was delivered when Francis was probably in London. The chief exception is that Francis was at Margate when ‘Q in the Corner’ and ‘A Labourer in the same Cause’ were acknowledged in the ‘Public Advertiser’ of 6 July 1770. But the ‘Labourer in the same Cause’ is probably spurious, and the other may probably have been sent before Francis's departure (see Notes and Queries, 4th ser. xi. 130, 178, 202, 387, 425, for discussions of this point). (5) The evidence from handwriting is apparently very strong. In 1871 Mr. Twisleton published a careful examination by the expert Charles Chabot [q. v.], who gives in detail reasons which can be easily tested, and are apparently conclusive for identifying the handwriting of Junius and Francis. In the same book will be found a curious account of a poem sent in all probability by Francis about Christmas 1771 to a Miss Giles, in the handwriting of his cousin, Tilghman, and enclosed in an anonymous letter, which is identified by another expert, Mr. Netherclift, as in the handwriting of Junius. In one correction of the press, and probably in some corrections afterwards erased, Junius forgot to use his disguise. and writes a date in a hand indistinguishable from Francis's. This, however, has been disputed. (6) Some minor coincidences have been alleged. ‘ Bifrons’ in the ‘Miscellaneous Letters’ says that he saw the books of the jesuits burnt in Paris. This probably refers to August 1761, when Englishmen were excluded by the war. But Francis wished to accompany, and possibly may have been sent with despatches to, Hans Stanley, who was then engaged in negotiations in Paris, and who described the scene in a despatch which Francis, if in England, must have seen. On the other hand, it is doubtful whether Junius wrote ‘Bifrons’ (see, i. 192, 196). The alleged kindness to Fox is of little or no importance, because the elder Francis and Calcraft had bitterly quarrelled with Fox, and Francis was as likely to have attacked as to have spared him. (7) Francis clearly belonged to the same political school as Junius, and was, like him, a whig doctrinaire.