Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1819-06-26
TIE REAL LUNIUS.

Copy of a letter from II Campbell Esq. F. A. S.
to a Clergyman at Oxford, dated London,
Suffoik-st. March 9, 1919.
Rev. and Dear Sir-The flattering and
minded manner in which you
.applauded my humble exertions in favor
Of the first Of British bards, (Ossian) * the
pleasing task you imposed upon me, to
,acquaint you with the transactions of the
Highland Society, with respect to my
proofs of that poets authenticity (Which,
flattering, you hold to be +" the only rea-
sonable one yet offered to the world, y i'm
pei me to inform you that have yet had
no answer from the Highland Society on
the subject; but my noble namesake, the
Earl OF Breadalbane, has an opinion SINH
lar to your own, ofthe merit of the work.
and, like true Gale, has generously
promised me that the Honorable Society
will avoid the imputation of negligence,
and do the author stice.
Since lastwrote to you, / have been Blu
silly and pleasurably employed in another
important literary pursuit, and have been
as successful and happy in the result, as
was in that ofmy researches in Ireland.
You will have seen by the public prints
that the will of the late Sir p. Francis, is
totally void ofany clue that would lead to
the real author of The Letters Of Juni-
u.s. Though his testy answerto Mr.. Ro
.Sers, when Intercepted on the subject by
that gentleman at lord Hollands, makes
it evident to the world, that he particular
1y wished to have been considered the
celebrated author. Hence you will in
fer, that the Edinburgh Reviewers,
though passable critics, have not yet at
tanned the second sight, SO peculiar to
their countrymen, less gifted with the
.glamoury of metaphysics than they are.
To be brief with my rev, friend, has
ten to acouaint him, that the University
of Oxford, has the honor of having given
to the world that high priest of political
scrutiny, Junius, in one Of her greatest or
naments of oratory, and deep literature
the late DR.. Wilmot--and, that he was
consecratedby England's once illustrious
Prime Minister, Lord Chatham, and by
Lords Sondes and Archer, at whose house
several of his celebrated letters were writ
ten, and thence conveyed TO Mr.. Wilkes
who communicated them to ANoodfall,
the printer. This, my dear sir, is not fan
cy. The fac siniAes of Woodfall and
Hessey, and Taylor, are now before me,
contrasted with MSS. of the late Doctor
Wilmot-and there is not, nor cannot be
a shadow of doubt, but the same hand ira
Ged the characters.
If there could be any doubt for mo-
ment entertained of the fact, it would en-
tireiy be done away by the signature of
Lord Chatham to one of the papers now
before me, wherein that illustrious
statesman promises "to indemnify Doc
tor Wilmot for any losses he may incur
by publishing his Political Essays !"
and farther, by the death-bcd avowal of
the Doctor himself, declaring in the
most solemn and feeling manner, d" that
he doctor Wilmot) only was the au-
thor of the letters at issue!" The paper
was then sealed and delivered to his ami
able niece "a daughter of the late Duke
Of Cumberland, his FRIEND with strict in
functions that she was not to open it un-
til seven years after his death, which l
need not add, was faithfully attended to.
On the whole, the comparison of the
MSS. in the possession Of Woodfall,
and that of the " Heroic Epistle to Sir
VIM. Chambers" now in the possession
Of Sir Richard Phillips, and those in the