The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-10-31
The Author Of Juniug.

To the Editor Of the N O. Hmes-lf the
following curious story be trne, Sir Philip
Francis, if not the anthor of /" Junius, was
at least the keeper of the authors secret !;
and III the last condition, how faithfully
he acted, may be shown in the fact that
the secret died with him so far as he was
its custodian. To be brief: Sir Philip
Francis, on the point of embarking for
India, and after taking leave of him, wrote
a note to the Reverend John Smith, Dean
of Dublin and Rector of the Parish Of St.
Giles ID the East, London, to the following
effect:
my Dear Dean-A word more, and i'm
peratire-write not another line to Wood
fall until my return-preserve our incog.
nitO. Let Draper vince; let Bedford sleep;
let Grafton wriggle on the hook, and let
Horne To0ke recreate himself with The
Diversions at Perley.' They, the King, ct
id genus omne, have enough to digest until
/ return and we rec0mmence the choking
process. Aareroir. Phil. FRANCIS.
The Reverend John Smith, Dean, Rector,
&C., was q man Of great erudition, Of
most excellent wit, Of amiable temper, and
Of great esteem in the literary lotteries Of
the metropolis. Heneverpublished. though
his manuscripts on scientific and literary
art were numerous, and pronounced by his
friends to afford evidence Of the Hottest
genius; but he escaped, by his calygraphi-
cal reticence. the pains and penalties of
authorship, and he died happy at home in
his bed. A son Of his, wild and rowing in
disposition, came to America, and led an
idle, If not . dissolnte, life. He enlisted
in the q. s. army during the war of 1912.
Is. His name was also John, and it was
in camp thst become acquainted with
him. ! was drummer-boy in the same
regiment. We were wounded almost at
the same Instant that the immortal Scott
received bali in his shoulder. During
our convalescence, he related incidents OF
his life, and Of the happy hours ofhis child.
hood in the parish ofSt Giles. He showed
me many mementoes Of his family, leaving
no doubt in my mind of the truth Of his
story. Among these, was the original OF
the letter quoted above, Of Sir Phil. Francis
to his father He said he found it in an
old portfolio given to him by his parent,
and that 1t was amongst the few things he
had not lost in America.
Of course, | was very young when / read
the letter, and knowing little and caring
less about Junius and his time, Twas not
otherwise impressed by it than by the
quaintness Of its style; and the subject
seemed to be effaced from my memory.
recollected nothing Of it until TODAY, when,
reading Jnnius, by one of those mysterious
and inexplicable operations Of the mental
faculties, the entire letter was daguerreo.
typed to my mental vision; and ] hasten ia
make this communication to YOU, and
through you to the public in general, and
to the Literary Society Of New Orleans
oi,lly-con6dently expecting that we
shall all agree as to the truth of one Of two
things: Either that Sir Phil. Francis was
the author of Junius, with the Reverend
John Smith as his amanuensis; or that the
Rev. John Smith was the author with Sir
Phil. Francis asthe depository Of his secret;
SO that the question "who waa the author
Of Juninsq :" may be answered in three words;
Francis Or Smith. Perhaps some little
bird may some day tell US which. Il
Yours,
RICHARD LorTus SMITH, MD
Beaver Creek, parish Rapides, Oct. 10
1866. !.