The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1891-12-12
The Old Controversy About Their
Authorship Revived
BY A SALE OF AUTOGRAPHS,
Is Josef Hofmann, the Young Musical
Prodigy Dead ?-The Monument to the
European Frederick-The Centenary OF
Poland's Loss of Freedom.
ESPECIAL TO THE SEws.l

4
who always make it a point of attending
such functions, but among the large mass
OF the population which happily is not in
huenced by fads or fadists. The sale is of
collection of autograph books, letters
and other manuscripts, all bearing on the
| famous letters of Junius, which created
81 much stir in the latter part OF
the last century, and the authorship OF
| which, in spite of a more or less general
| decision in favor of Sir Philip Francis, Is
still matter Of supposItion and of oft re-
| curing argument. In this connection,
attributing them TO Francis, it is more
than ordinarily interesting TO note that
| among the books which will be offered for
public sale on this occasion is complete
edition of the Junius Letters. published
in 1896, which formerly belonged 10 Lady
| Francis, the wife of Sir Philip. On the
! fly leaf is the following inscription in the
handwriting of Lady Philip herself:
This edition of the Junius letters was given
To me By my beloved husband on the 10th of
December, 1914, two days after our marriage,
being the first gift to Inc after that event.
EMMA FRANCIS.
In addition TO the above there are several
autograph letters which bear the sigma
ture Junius as well as "A number Of Others
written by the men to whom, at various
times, the authorship of the letters has
been attributed. Among them are the
autographs of Viscount harrington Burke,
Lord Chesterfield, Sir William Jones, the
Duke of Portland Lord George Sackville,
Lord Temple, Horace Walpole, Herne
| Tooke, Lord Shelburne and Alexander
Wederburn. The appearance of these
letters will, no doubt, revive a dis
cussion on the subject, or at all events,
will surely produce a flood of Junius liter
ature in the different papers and periodi'
Gals, which will renew the public acquain-
tance witsAsOne of the most interesting
controversies which ever obtained in the
world of letters. We shall no doubt be re-
minded that the first seventy of these let
ters which created SO much stir when they
appeared in the Public Advertiser, be
tween January 81, 1863 and the same date
in 17,2 were for long time attributed to
Burke until he definitely denied that he had
| anything 10 do with them. Then all the
men named above were in turn credited
with the authorship, but IL was not until
the edition Of 1872 appeared that Sir
Philips name was publicly announced
as that of Junius. This announcement
was made by John Taylor, who wrote
two books Oh the subject, in the first of
which he urged that the letters were the
joint work OF DIR. Francis and his son,
while in the second he gave the latter the
sole credit of them. This theory has been
accepted by Lord Macauley and other his
torians, and is the one universally re-
ceived to-day.
The inscription on the fy-leaf, written
six years before Sir Philip was accepted as
Junius, will undoubtedly be used as a
strong argument in support of the
franciscan theory, because nothing is
more likely than that he should present as
one of the first gifts TO his wife copy OF
the work which was remarkable for its
boldness and its brilliancy, boldness
which did not hesitate to declare to George
hat la ha raH
by one revolution, it may be lost by
another" and "A brilliancy which has made
the letters a model of style even for to-
day
The writing of the known letters Of Sir
Philip will, OF course, be compared again
with the manuscripts of Junius in order
to see how far the theory of disguised
penmanship is borne out.
In Junius the formation of the letters is
straight up and down, while Sir Philips
real writing slanted in the ordinary way.
This feigned hand writing theory, it is in
teresting to remark, was not started for
fully fifty years after the publication of
Junius' edition of the letters, and il was
invented in order to meet the difficulty
which arose in the comparison of sir
Philips writing and that of Junius'. The
question, however, remains in much the
same condition as IL did century ago.
and scholars and the world at large will
this matter from the quicksands of doubt
and speculation To the rock-bottom of GER
tainty.
The uneasiness which has been SO
marked in shipping circles of late in con-
sequence of the gaps caused at Lloyd's by
the numerous designations OF members III
the underwriters quarters is on the in
crease. The situation Is regarded even by
the most philosophical as being decidedly
grave, for with the two additional notices
of withdrawal sent in yesterday, the mum
Der of underwriters who desire to cut
their losses has this year reached a total Of
seventeen.
Messrs. Moody and Sankey continue
their triumphal progress throughout Scot
land Everywhere the same report is is
sued. The people throng to hear them,
and the attendance is practically only lin
tied by the size of the hall. In fact, 1t is
doubted whether i'm all that career these
great revivalists have ever demonstrated
in more marked manner the magnetic
qualities they possess, or the power they
have of swaying large audiences.
Musical society and the world Of Lon
don in general has been startled by re-
port that little Josef IIofmaDu, the child
pianist, who created so great stir in
America when he appeared under Mr..
Abbey's management, is dead. The re-
port was ccomIanied by a statement that
overstudy was the cause OF this terrible
catastrophe, and il was OF course added in
order TO give color and likelihood TO the
anecdote, for happily il is nothing
else. Why anyone should have start
ed such canard il is difficult
TO say. Mr. Wort, the well-known
musical manager, was, however, inter
viewed on the subject, and he declares
that not only is little Hofmann not dead,
but that he is no longer little, as he Is "a
big healthy boy of fourteen. lie is living
with his parents In the Potsdamer Strasse,
| Berlin, and he only devotes from four to
| five hours a day To his music so that there
| is no possibility of his being killed by
overwork. His compositions are said to
| be exceedingly clever, and the most bril-
| liant hopes are entertained for his future
The Baroness Won Rogue the mother of
Mrs. Maybrick, Is jusI now occupying
some attention from the public in view of
| the fact OF the efforts which are being
made TO get her daughters sentence
| aiheiorated. | saw her just before she
| left town and she told me with respect TO
/ her recent visit TO Woking that Mrs. May
/ brick suffers good deal at intervals, and
| ut all times she protests her innocence of
\ the crime with which she was charged.
Y The Baroness declared that when the
| question is reconsidered some new points
/ Of evidence will be raised with regard to