They were so
cleverly written that all who read them wanted to know the author, but
failed to find out who he was. Afterwards they were published in book
form, entitled _The Letters of Junius_: in our early days the author of
these letters was still unknown, and even at the time of our walk the
matter was one of the mysteries of the literary world. The authorship of
_The Letters of Junius_ was one of the romances of literature. Whoever
he was, he must have been in communication with the leading political
people of his day, and further, he must have been aware of the search
that was being made for him, for he wrote in one of his letters, "If I
am a vain man, my gratification lies within a narrow circle. I am the
sole depository of my own secret; and it shall perish with me."
Controversy was still going on about the _Letters of Junius_, for early
in the year of our walk, 1871, a book was published entitled _The
Handwriting of Junius Professionally Investigated by Mr. Charles Chabot,
Expert_, the object being to prove that Sir Phillip Francis was the
author of the famous Letters. The publication of this book, however,
caused an article to be written in the _Times_ of May 22nd, 1871, to
show that the case was "not proven" by Mr.
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