_Junius_ (Vol. iii., p. 411.; Vol. v., p. 159.).--As in No. 120. J. R.
assumes the acrimonious bearing of M. J. in No. 82., I am induced to
refer to the stale, flat, and unprofitable question of the authenticity
of the Letters of Junius. If those gentlemen will refer to No. 82., p.
412., fifth line from the bottom, and read "_who once_" for "_and
once_," they will find any acrimony unnecessary; and that the use of the
word "_and_" was an accidental error. This useless riddle has occupied
too much of the time of able and of idle men, on what is, moreover, a
worthless subject. Dr. Johnson, in his paper on the "Falkland Islands,"
has given a severe but just criticism on Junius, and truly says, that
most readers mistake the "venom of the shaft for the vigour of the bow."
Junius has laid down no great principle, illustrated no political truth,
nor given any clear and irrefutable proof of contemporaneous history. To
attribute reprehensible motives always shows lowness and vulgarity of
mind. Junius gives one the idea of a democratic ruff mounted on stilts
going, from natural predilection, through the mud and dirt, and
splashing it wantonly, so as to bespatter and annoy a few, and to excite
the attention and surprise of many; but never to produce a conviction of
being just and true on any one.--_Requiescat in pace._