JUNIUS, Francis or Francis du Jon, the son of the preceding, was born at Heidelberg in 1589. He at first designed to devote himself to a military life; but after the truce concluded in 1609, he applied himself entirely to study. He came to England in 1620, and lived 30 years in the earl of Arundel's family. He was greatly esteemed not only for his profound erudition, but also for the purity of his manners; and was so passionately fond of the study of the northern languages, that being informed there were some villages in Friesland where the ancient language of the Saxons was preserved, he went and lived two years in that country. He returned to England in 1675; and after spending a year at Oxford, retired to Windsor, in order to visit Vossius, at whose house he died in 1677. The university of Oxford, to which he bequeathed his manuscripts,
erected a very handsome monument to his memory. He wrote, 1. De Pictura Veterum, which is admired by all the learned; the best edition of it is that of Rotterdam in 1694. He published the same work at London in English. 2. An explication of the old Gothic manuscript, called the Silver one, because the four Gospels are there written in silver Gothic letters; this was published with notes by Thomas Mareschal or Marshal. 3. A large commentary on the Harmony of the four Gospels by Tatian, which is still in manuscript. 4. A Glossary in five languages, in which he explains the origin of the Northern languages; published at Oxford in 1745, in folio, by Mr Edward Lee.