ADOLPHUS, JOHN LEYCESTER (1795-1862), English lawyer and author, well-known London barrister. Adolphus wrote Letters to Richard Heber, Esq. (1821) in which he discussed the authorship of the then anonymous Waverley novels, and fixed it upon Sir Walter Scott. This conclusion was based on the resem blance of the novels in general style and method to the poems acknowledged by Scott. Scott thought at first that the letters were written by Reginald Heber, afterwards bishop of Calcutta, and the discovery of J. L. Adolphus's identity led to a warm friendship. At the time of his death (Dec. 24, 1862) he was completing the History of England to 1783, written by his father John Adolphus (1768-1845). This book is still valuable for the history of the first part of the reign of George III.