Junius

Junius, the signature of a number of letters by an unknown writer, which appeared in the Public Advertiser, edited by Henry Woodfall, from January 21st, 1769, to January 21st, 1772. Soon after he began to write he attracted attention by his knowledge of and attacks on eminent men, amongst whom were Lord Granby, the Duke of Grafton, George III., and many others. The authorship has been attributed to as many as thirty-seven different people, including Sir Philip Francis, Burke, Barre, Wilkes, and Home Tooke, but the evidence is in no case conclusive. Whoever he was he did not write for pecuniary gain, as he waived all claim to the profits of his work. The first edition of his letters appeared in 1812. Many works have been written trying to prove who their author was, the most important of which were John Taylor's books: A Discovery of the Author of the Letters of Junius; (1813), and The Identity of Junius with a Distinyuished Living Character Established (1816). These distinguished letters were the forerunners of the leading articles of to-day, which bear so important a part in politics.