FRANCISCUS, an eminent scholar and philologist of the seventeenth century, was born at Heidelberg in 1589. His father, whose name was also Franciscus, was a Protestant minister at Leyden, and a professor in the university of that city. He had made himself a considerable name by the Latin translation of the Scriptures, which he had written with the assistance of Tremellius, and which is still favourably known under the name of its conjoint authors. After his death in 1603, his son, abandoning study, followed the military profession, till the truce of 1609 put an end to his hopes of preferment in that career. During the next ten years, he devoted himself solely to study and literary pursuits. Passing over to England in 1620, he became librarian to Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel, one of the best of the many good men who have borne that title. During the thirty years in which he held that office he amassed vast treasures of antiquarian, and especially of philological lore. His attention had early been drawn to the languages of northern Europe, more especially to the Gothic. This tongue is now universally allowed to belong to the great Teutonic family. A dialect of it was, at a very remote period, spoken in Scandinavia, and another at a still more distant epoch, in Moesia and Thrace. For the benefit of the Goths inhabiting these two latter countries, their bishop, Ulphilas, had translated the historical part of the New Testament. His MS. was discovered in the library of the abbey of Werden in Westphalia, and is now preserved at Upsala in Sweden. It is written on vellum leaves of various hues, violet being the predominant colour. The letters are an adaptation of the capitals of the Greek and Latin alphabets, and are all of silver except the initials, which are of gold. Junius did a real service to letters when, in 1665, he published a facsimile of this "codex argenteus," or silver book, by far the most precious relic of the Gothic tongue, and illustrated it with many learned and valuable notes. As early as 1637, Junius had made his name known by his useful essay, in three books, De Pictura Veterum. Of this work, he himself published an English version in the following year. But the most useful of all his writings, and one which has been largely turned to account by all English lexicographers, is his Etymologicum Anglicanum, in which he evolves the Saxon element of the English tongue with great acuteness and learning. When on a visit to Germany in 1650, he learned that a curious dialect was spoken in some parts of Friesland. Two years' residence and study on the spot satisfied him that the language in question was identical with the Saxon, and proved of great advantage to him in his collateral researches. In 1674 he returned to England, and spent his remaining years at Oxford. He died in 1678 at Windsor, where he had gone to visit his nephew, the illustrious scholar, Isaac Vossius. His valuable collection of MS. he bequeathed to the Bodleian library at Oxford, and the grateful university erected a handsome monument to his memory.

LETTERS OF. See Francis, Sir Philip.

JUNKSEYLON or SALANG, an island of Siam, on the W. coast of the Malay peninsula, and separated from it by a narrow channel about a mile in width, and nearly dry at low water. The island is about 25 miles in length, by 10 miles in breadth, and has at its northern extremity a harbour called Popra, which may be entered over a mud bar during the spring tides by ships drawing 20 feet of water. The anchorage round the island is generally good, with a mud bottom. Previous to the settlement of Prince of Wales' Island, it carried on a considerable trade. It has valuable tin mines which formerly yielded an average of 500 tons annually, but several of the richest mines are said to be now nearly exhausted. Pop. about 6000. N. Lat. 8°, E. Long. 98° 30'.