Mr Almon must have had therefore the singular felicity to discover in the outlines of a disguised writing the same characteristic marks which distinguished the genuine manuscript of Boyd. It is of no importance to say, that the acknowledged writing of Boyd which was seen by Mr Almon, may have been likewise disguised, since it is utterly improbable that Boyd should disguise his writing to facilitate deceit; and yet that he should allow this disguised hand to be seet. by Mr Almon,-that he should use a mask for the purpose of concealment, and yet wear it in the company of his friends. The change of colour in Boyd's countenance upon the question of Mr Almon, may be sufficiently accounted for from surprise, or modesty, without supposing it to have arisen from his confusion at the discovery. Any man taxed with the writing of a paper, would behave in the same manner, though the accusation may be totally groundless. Although Boyd, perhaps, after cool deliberation, might have had no objection to be considered as Junius, yet the first disclosure of such a suspicion might naturally confound him. So much likewise depends upon the manner of hinting such a conjecture, that it would be totally impossible to draw any inference from the behaviour of Boyd, whatever it may have been, unless we knew the exact words in which Mr Almon addressed him. The political attachment of Boyd to Lord Shelburne's party is of little consequence to the argument, since the same reasoning might equally apply to all the followers of that party. The effect of the application to Mr Grattan seems likewise to contradict many of Mr Almon's inferences; and it has not yet been explained, even allowing to Boyd an extraordinary attachment to the Shelburne party, what motive of zeal or ambition could excite him to an attack so bold and virulent, which nothing but personal resentment could excite, nor personal injury excuse. With regard to the similarity of the writings of Boyd to that of Junius, they appear to me to possess all the singularities of that writer, without any of his beauties. Junius is arch, witty, and malignant: his style, though often incorrect, and sometimes feeble, is always smooth, elegant, and pointed. His wit is that of the courtier and the gentleman: it has all the sharpness of satire, without any of its coarseness; and directs the smile or the indignation of its reader, without exciting his hatred or disgust against its author. We sometimes wonder at its boldness, and are sometimes surprised by the weakness of his arguments; but we always respect him as one whose wit and talents might excuse greater improprieties, and do honour to a better cause. But the writings of Boyd are remarkable for stiffness of diction, and severity of sentiment, except in those passages which are copied from Junius; there is nothing playful, nothing poignant. He appears as a plain country-gentleman, whose vanity had incited him to imitate the manners and diction of a courtier. What he quotes from his master is totally disfigured. Out of the many plagiarisms from Junius, there is not one which does not disgrace the original by some awkward transposition of the words, or some superfluous amplification of the thought. In those passages where he has trusted to his own powers, his reasoning is without grace, and his wit without delicacy. It is impossible to suppose that Junius could disguise himself in such a manner, or that his powers could have declined with so much rapidity. If we allow Boyd not to be Junius, every difficulty will be explained, We shall then perceive that he proposed that writer for his model,

without being able to attain his elegance of style, or his perspicuity of thought. There is one circumstance mentioned by Mr Almon, which may give room for some suspicion that Boyd sometimes assumed the character of Junius, or at least of the friend of Junius. He informed his wife that Junius was the writer of the Epistle to Sir William Chambers. This assertion Mr Almon has asserted to be false; and it must therefore be allowed that Boyd wished to assume an honour to which he had no claim, or that he knew nothing of the matter. With regard to the assertion, that a clergyman now alive is the writer of the Epistle to Sir William Chambers,' I am inclined to believe that Mr Almon was mistaken or deceived. It is extremely probable that he knew nothing of the author, and that the clergyman that he mentions was only intrusted with the MS. of his friend. However this may be, I know that Mr Mason frequently alluded to several expressions in the Heroic Epistle before its appearance, and that after his death the rude draught was found among his papers."

Charles Fearne.

BORN A. D. 1749.-DIED A. D. 1794.

CHARLES FEARNE was the eldest son of Mr Fearne, judge-advocate of the admiralty, a very noble and learned man. At a proper age he was sent to Westminster school, where he soon began to distinguish himself in classical and mathematical knowledge. His natural reservedness, his slight figure, and the superiority which he early acquired over boys of his age and standing, at first subjected him to some insults; but young Fearne soon settled this, by calling out one of the biggest boys of his form, and giving him a hearty thrashing. In after life Fearne occasionally showed a spirit, both in his writings and opinions, which feared nothing that trenched on the character of his dignity and independence.

Being designed for the law, as soon as he had finished his education at Westminster school, he was entered of the Inner temple. He had at this time no fixed resolution to become a barrister; but whilst he was in this fluctuation of mind his father died; and his fortune, which turned out very inconsiderable, was equally partitioned between Charles and his two elder children. On this occasion Charles exhibited that generosity and independence that distinguished him through the greater part of his life; his father had given him on his entrance into the Inner temple, a few hundred pounds to purchase chambers and books; and as he had likewise given him a superior education to his younger brother, he nobly resolved on accepting this as a full equivalent for his share in his father's fortune. His brother and sister resisted this proposition for a while; but he was immoveable. My father," said he, "by taking such uncommon pains with my education, no doubt meant it should be my whole dependence; and if that won't bring me through, a few hundred pounds will be a matter of no consequence."

Our young philosopher had now the world before him, with no other means of support than his talents and education. His first scheme was a singular one. It appears that the mariquoniers in the Levant, so called

from their dressing the skin of the goat named the maroquin, keep secret the ingredients which they put into the liquor to give it a fine red colour. This secret Fearne thought he had discovered, and like most projectors immediately saw great profits arising from the discovery. Full of this project he sold his books, which brought him about one hundred pounds, and with another hundred pounds he had by him, (which was his all,) he thought he could lay the foundation of his future fortune. When he came to inquire more minutely into the business, he found the sum insufficient. This did not, however, check the spirit of his enterprise ; he communicated his scheme to a friend, who, sanguine as himself, joined him as a partner, and vats and tan-pits were immediately hired in order to commence business. The scheme, as might have been expected, did not succeed. He now again took chambers in the Inner temple, and sat down to the study of the law with unremitting diligence.

:

He had not been long in chambers, when his habits of study, diligence, and sobriety, were observed by an eminent attorney who wanted an abstract to be made of a voluminous body of papers, so as to bring the matter clearly before counsel. The papers were so intricate, and of such various references, that they required a very clear head, and a man not much taken up with other business to arrange them. Fearne answered the last description very well; and, on trial, was found to answer the other also; the papers were sent, and Fearne gave them all his consideration in short, from a large mass of very indigested documents, he in less than a fortnight's time produced an abstract so legally clear and precise as astonished his employer, who rewarded him handsomely, and from that time gave him a considerable part of his business. He now felt himself a little established; and having more leisure to emerge from the mere drudgery of the desk, he published his 'Legigraphical Chart of landed property;' a little work, by which at a coup d'œil, is discovered all that principally bears on this very important subject. This gained him reputation; and, being now known in the temple for a young man of very considerable legal erudition, his business began to increase, so as to enable him to give up his chambers and take a house in Breams-buildings, Chancery-lane. Here he laid himself out for giving opinions upon the various cases of law which were brought him, and acted entirely in the capacity of what is commonly called a Chamber Counsel,-a situation which, from his very great professional abilities, his domestic turn of life, and unremitting love of study, he was eminently qualified for. It was his rule to number his cases regularly as he received them, with their dates, &c., and every one had their turn regularly; nor was one case ever dismissed till it had undergone a most accurate revisal and examination; his opinions in consequence were conclusive, and his judgment as a barrister became so weighty, that few cases of any consequence were thought well-supported without the revision of Mr Fearne.

In the midst of this rising reputation he published a short Essay on Contingent Remainders and Executory Devises.' The clear and masterly manner in which Mr Fearne sketched this treatise-which he gave to the world without his name-engaged the attention of the whole bar: every body saw the great utility of such a work, and every body prais ed it as being executed in a very able and satisfactory manner: the judges of the several courts honoured it with their approbation, and

that great luminary of the law, Earl Mansfield, often quoted it from the bench.

A reputation thus acquired, sub silentio, was highly gratifying to the author. It satisfied his diffidence that there could be no risk in putting his name to the next edition. He accordingly prepared a new and large edition of his work, which he enriched with a number of apposite cases and decisions. The celebrity which this publication gave him, placed his character in the very first rank of legal abilities. Fearne, however, was above drudgery, and very much above avarice. He therefore divided his time between law, the practical study of natural philosophy and mechanics, and a few intervening visits to his friends. He kept a little box at Hampstead, whither he retired occasionally, partly to balance the confinements of study, and partly to amuse himself with some little mechanical or philosophical processes. Here he made some optical glasses upon a new construction, which were reckoned improvements; he likewise constructed a machine for transposing the keys in music, and threw out many useful hints in the dyeing of cottons. These he called his "dissipations;" and with some degree of truth, as they often broke in upon his professional engagements.

Whilst Mr Fearne was dividing his time between the pursuits of his profession and his philosophical amusements at Hampstead, an occasion presented itself which called out his talents in a new way: Lord Mansfield, when solicitor-general in the year 1747, having given an opinion in the state of a case on the will of William Williams, (afterwards the subject of the celebrated case of Perrin v. Blake,) which Mr Fearne, on the authority of the late James Booth, Esq. of Lincoln's inn, quoted in his first edition of the Essay on Contingent Remainders and Executory Devises.' His lordship afterwards disavowed that opinion on the bench, insinuating at the same time that Mr Fearne was under some mistake in reporting it. Fearne, who was all alive to the delicacy of his character, and who knew the strong ground he proceeded upon, took this opportunity to publish a brochure, entitled Copies of Opinions ascribed to Eminent Council on the will which was the subject of the case of Perrin v. Blake, before the Court of King's bench, 1769; addressed to the Right Hon. William, Earl of Mansfield.'

In the beginning of his letter he says; "Had I, my lord, presumed to make the allusions I have done to your lordship's name respecting that opinion upon grounds that did not wear the strongest marks of authenticity, I should have held myself guilty of an unwarrantable freedom; I cannot therefore but think it incumbent on me to avail myselt of the means in my power of satisfying your lordship and the public, that the motives which induced me to think the opinion alluded to was not erroneously ascribed to your lordship, were of a strong and almost irresistible complexion." He then states that he had copied that opinion from the manuscript reports of Mr Booth, one of the most ingenious and accurate lawyers of his time, who, at the same time that he inserted Lord Mansfield's opinion, likewise inserted the opinion of Sir Dudley Ryder, then attorney-general, and Mr Beversham Filmer on the same

case.

So that, as he says, "to suspect them in the gross was absolutely impossible; and, as no ground of distinction appeared in their respective authenticities, the combined credit of the whole equally extended to, and embraced them every one; but," continues he, in a vein of af

fected submission to his lordship's assertion, "I think it greatly to be regretted, my lord, that my much respected friend Mr Booth, whom I have often heard commemorate the honour he experienced of your lordship's intimacy and friendship during a course of several years antecedent and subsequent to the period which is said to have produced the opinion published by me, did not live to see his mistake corrected, -a mistake that appears to have stood so many years recorded in those books, which were the constant resort of that gentleman's professional practice. A mistake, I am confident, it must have been; for Mr Booth, I appeal to your lordship's own knowledge of that gentleman, never would have let me commit such copy to the press, and have admitted the dedication to himself of the book containing it, if he had thought its genuineness or accuracy in any degree questionable." This letter was written about the year 1780, and is said to have nettled Lord Mansfield much; but with his usual prudence he made no reply.

He now began to attach himself more to the country than the town; for, beside his little cottage at Hampstead, he used frequently to make excursions to obscure watering-places, or little towns on the sea-side, where, with his wife and some familiar friend, he would employ himself in sailing or fishing. Of course all business was hung up during these rambles, and the clerk he left behind him in town had particular directions "not to know where his master was-how he was-or when he would be in town." It was easy to see how this would end. The high reputation of Mr Fearne, however, and perhaps some little indulgence to the oddities of such a character, preserved him his business for some time. For a time his clients were contented to wait his return to town, and get the opinion of such a man on his own terms. They had nothing to complain of but delay; for his opinions to the last were as creditable to his research and understanding, as at any period of his life. But, says the proverb, "delays are dangerous;" and the law's delay was fatal to him. His business gradually fell away, until he was necessitated to accept pecuniary aid from his friends. The continual agitation of mind under which he now laboured brought on a nervous fever, which obliged him to retire to the neighbourhood of Croydon. There he lingered till the 21st of January, 1794, when he expired at the premature age of forty-five.

David Allan.

BORN A. D. 1744.-DIED A. D. 1796.

THERE seems to have been a taste for painting in Scotland in the reign of James V. There are still extant several portraits of that prince, which are exhibited in a good style. When Lord Seton went ambassador to the Spanish Netherlands, during the regency of Mary of Guise, he became acquainted with the celebrated Sir Anthony More of Utrecht, who was so delighted with the good taste of this nobleman, that he begged to accompany him in his return to Scotland; and during his stay there he did a family-piece for Lord Seton, on pannel. This was so valuable a painting, that when Charles I. was in Scotland, and at Seton-house, his majesty, during the time of dinner, had his eyes con