Only a week before his death, 1804, the Marquess of Lansdowne was personally appealed to on the subject of _Junius_, by Sir Richard Phillips. In conversation, the Marquess said, "No, no, I am not equal to _Junius_; I could not be the author; but the grounds of secrecy are now so far removed by death (Dunning and Barré were at that time dead), and change of circumstances, that it is unnecessary the author of _Junius_ should much longer be unknown. The world is curious about him, and I could make a very interesting publication on the subject. I knew Junius, and _I know all about_ the writing and production of these Letters." The Marquess added, "If I live over the summer, which, however, I don't expect, I promise you a very interesting pamphlet about Junius. I will put my name to it; I will set the question at rest for ever." The death of the Marquess, however, occurred in a week. In a letter to the _Monthly Magazine_, July 1813, the son of the Marquess of Lansdowne says:--"It is not impossible my father may have been acquainted with the fact; but perhaps he was under some obligation to secrecy, as he never made any communication to me on the subject." Lord Mahon (now Earl Stanhope) at length and with minuteness enters, in his History, into a vindication of the claims of Sir Philip Francis, grounding his partisanship on the close similarity of handwriting established by careful comparison of facsimiles; the likeness of the style of Sir Philip's speeches in Parliament to that of _Junius_--biting, pithy, full of antithesis and invective; the tenderness and bitterness displayed by _Junius_ towards persons to whom Sir Philip stood well or ill affected; the correspondence of the dates of the letters with those of certain movements of Sir Philip; and the evidence of _Junius_' close acquaintance with the War Office, where Sir Philip held a post. It seems generally agreed that the weight of proof is on the side of Sir Philip Francis; but there will always be found adherents of other names--as O'Connell, in the following passage, of Burke:--