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of his patron, of his superior talents, and 
perhaps, also, from a strong sense of some 
peculiar obligation. M'Lean sailed for India 
in the Aurora. frigate, and was lost, in the wreck 
of that ship, on the coast of Africa. That 
the letters of Junius were not ascribed to him 
by any party is not surprising, for his literary 
talents were unknown to the public; but the 
general opinion of all men at the time was that 
they were the production of some person in 
connection with Lord Shelburn. 
Upon this subject, I hold no particular 
opinion of my own; nor, indeed, should I have 
perhaps noticed the circumstance at all, but for 
a recent most ingenious publication which has 
ascribed these -celebrated letters to the late Sir 
Philip Francis. One thing, however, merits 
attention in this curious controversy. In the 
Monthly Magazine for July, 1818, there is an 
interesting account of a conversation between 
Sir Richard Phillips and the Marquis of Lans- 
downe on this subject; in which His Lordship 
speaks of the obligation to secrecy imposed on 
himself in the question as having been removed