Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/44

 34 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9"‘S- VI- JULY 14.1911)- Now Francis told his cousin Major Baggs on 20 March 1772, “At the end of this quarter I leave the War Office. It is my own act. Do not be alarmed for me. Everything is secure and as it should be” (‘ Memoirs of Philip Francis] vol. i. . 280). In para- graph 26 the letter signed) “ Junia” is attri- buted to Lady Temple. The editor of George Woodfall’s edition of Junius says on p. 217 of the third volume that the letter signed “ J unia ” “was claimed as the production of his own pen by the late Caleb Whitefoord.” No one as yet ventured to impugn this statement. It would be easy, if necessary, to show good grounds for the claim. It is asked in paragraph 31, “Did Francis write poetry at alll” In his grandson’s work entitled ‘J unius Revealed ’ it is said on p 6 that he once told his second wife “ he could write verses, as he could do any other work he had a mind to, by rule of thumb, but the gods had not made him poetical.” In proof of his versifying capacity he transcribed three stanzas which he had produced for his cousin Tilghman’s use at Bath when making love to Miss Giles. All that has been written about the identity of Junius is mere guesswork. A plausible case has been made out for several men, and, in particular, for Temple, Francis, and Boyd, yet not a particle of proof has been adduced in any case. It is true of every investigator that he has started with a predilection for a certain man, and has given his mind to col- lecting what he deems to be evidence, but which is simply selected points in favour of a foregone conclusion. If I were possessed of a burning desire to learn the name of the writer of the letters signed “ Junius,” I should try to ascertain the personality of “Crito,” who wrote two letters to George Woodfall in 1820. In one of three papers headed ‘ New Light on Junius,’ which appeared in Nos. 3728, 3729, and 3732 of the At/zenreum, I uoted from Crito’s letter the words that hecliad “ most of J unius’s papers” and his “ manuscript memorandums.” I made it clear that Crito was writing in good faith, and I set forth the significant fact that the seal which he used when fastening his letter to George Woodfall in 1820 was that which Junius had used in fastening a letter to Henry Sampson Woodfall in 1770. I repeat what I wrote at the end of my third paper: “Whoever shall discover ‘Crito’ will pro- bably learn the real name of J unius.” W. FRASER RAE. THE Vasa or SOISSONS (9"‘ S. v. 477).-The allusion is to the 8t»0ry, told by Gregory of Tours, of the division of the spoil at Soissons after Clovis had (A.D. 486) defeated Syagrius and added the Seine valley to the Frankish domain. It was the practice of the Franks to apportion plunder by lot ; but Clovis had been begged, and had agrwd, to return a handsome vase, or bowl, to the church from which, among other sacred vessels, it had been carried off. When the apportionment was about to take place, the king preferred the request that his warriors would allow him to have the bowl in addition to such share as might fall to him. They were com- placent-all save one. He struck the bowl with his weapon and bluntly told Clovis he should have what thelot gave him and nothing more. The king, however, did get the bowl and sent it to the bishop. Later Clovis avenged it, blow for blow, by cleaving the skull of that warrior with his own hand. It might be inferred from Gibbon that the bowl was in existence when he was writing his history. Was it, and is it still? C. S. WARD. Woot~ton St. Lawrence, Basingstoke. E. L. G. seems to ask what is the con- nexion between Soissons and the vase of Soissons. Reference to Sismondi’s ‘Histoire des Francais] vol. i. p. 180 (Paris, 1821), will show the following. After the victory of Clovis over Syagrius the plunder was divided at Soissons. Thither came St. Remi, Bishop of Reims, to ask back a silver vase which the Franks of Clovis had carried off from his church. Clovis was willing to restore it : but one of his soldiers struck the vase with his battle-axe, declaring that the king had no right to any part of the plunder until it had been assigned to him by lot. Sismondi gives a reference to Gregory of Tours, as the only historian who is the authority for this tag. .Ions WIILKINS Box (9*'* S. v. 476).-I have no particulars of this person, but have a great deal of information respecting the Box family, which I shall be pleased to give to the querist G. F. R. B. if he will put himself in communication with me. Jossrn Box. Avenue Lodge, Gordon Road, Ealing, W. RUSKIN’S RESIDENCES (9**' S. v. 475).-The second of these, where he grew up, is not identifiable in this note, any more than in the ‘Prseterita’ or the ‘Fors Clavigera,’ where Herne Hill is described, but with no mention of Denmark Hill, which is only the north ascent to it from London. The statement, ‘Pra~:terita,’ 37, that it was “ the northernmost of a group which stand accurately on the top