William Henry Ireland

“ Ireland would frequently remark, "If the gentleman be a friend of yours, why does he set his face against a publication which it is admitted on all hands would be productive of a fortune to you?" My reply was still invariably the same.—At length these constant importunities rendered life almost insupportable; and I then for the first time ventured to question Mr. Ireland in the following manner: "Suppose they should not be really manuscripts of Shakspeare's?" ”

“ With regard to cupidity: if such had been my motive, why did I not exact from Mr. S. Ireland certain stipulations? why did I not, on the production of the first documents, accept the offer of some of his valuable books, for I was a lover of such property? why was I contented with the sum of ninety pounds for the Vortigern, when four hundred and three had been actually received for my sole benefit? ”

“ GENERAL OPINIONS. The opinions delivered as to the language of the profession of faith were unanimous—every person allowing the genuine feeling that breathed throughout the whole composition; which, it was stated, fully evinced it to be from the pen of our great dramatist: nor was my satisfaction a little heightened on finding that this effusion banished at once every idea of Shakspeare's catholicism from the minds of those whom I had frequently heard hazarding that opinion as to his religious tenets. ”

“ If so, I can have done no injury to any living creature; for that which in itself was not capable of deceiving any one, cannot perhaps, strictly speaking, be deemed a forgery: neither was it any injury to the reputation of Shakspeare as a poet. Now the former believers in the manuscripts being perfectly satisfied in their own minds, until Mr. Maione chose to inform them that they knew nothing about the matter, I do aver that it is at the said Mr. Maione they should level their shafts; as I could not have injured them; having, according to Mr. Malone, committed no forgery. ”

“ DISQUISITIONS ON THE WITTY CONUNDRUM. As it was supposed that nothing could possibly come from the hand of Shakspeare which did not possess some sterling good, the witty conundrum became an object of learned investigation; but all to no effect: for although many sapient opinions were hazarded as to its real meaning, nothing conclusive was decided upon: which is, indeed, not at all to be wondered at, as when it was by me committed to paper I had no particular end in view, neither was there any meaning whatsoever annexed to the drawing of the supposed witty conundrum. ”

“ It is extraordinary to observe how willingly persons will blind themselves on any point interesting to their feelings. When it was known that a play on the subject of Vortigern was coming forward, every person who inspected the manuscripts admired the strange coincidence of Mr. Ireland's having so long possessed a drawing on the very subject of that drama; yet do I not recollect, even in one instance, that the drawing in question excited the smallest suspicion of the fact above stated, which was unquestionably more consonant with probability. ”

“ PREFACE. IN the year 1796 I gave to the world a concise pamphlet, in which I avowed myself the fabricator of the manuscripts attributed by me to Shakspeare.
The papers themselves, and the circumstances attending their production, had so highly excited the public curiosity that the whole edition was disposed of in a few hours: and so great has since been the eagerness to procure a copy, that, though originally published at one shilling, a single impression has been sold, in a public auction-room, at the extravagant price of a guinea. ”

“ QUOTATION FROM MY SECOND LETTER TO MR. IRELAND. ———That I have been guilty of a fault in giving you the manuscripts, I confess, and am sorry for it, but must at the same time assure you, that it was done without a bad intention, or even a thought of what would ensue.
As you have repeatedly stated that "truth will find its basis;" even so will your character, notwithstanding every malignant aspersion, soon appear unblemished in the eyes of the world. ”

“ Jordan.
PROLOGUE TO VORTIGERN. WRITTEN BY SIR JAMES BLAND BURGESS, BART.
SPOKEN BY MR. WHITFIELD.
No common cause your verdict now demands: Before the court immortal Shakspeare stands; That mighty master of the human soul, Who rules the passions, and with strong controul Through ev'ry turning of the changeful heart Directs his course sublime and leads his powerful art. When on his birth propitious Nature smil'd, And hung transported o'er her fav'rite child; While on his head her choicest gifts she show'rd, And o'er his mind her inspiration pour'd; "Proceed!" she cried ”

“ GENERAL APOLOGY FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THE SHAKSPERIAN MANUSCRIPTS. I have been thus particular in every statement concerning my production of the papers, in order that it may be perfectly understood I did not act upon any premeditated plan of deception, but was as it were unwittingly led into the error; and when a man has yielded to falsehood in a single act, I believe it will invariably be found that he seeks a veil from detection in a continuation of the same impropriety. ”

“ On the production of the manuscripts, his royal highness began to inspect them with the strictest scrutiny; when, to Mr. Ireland's infinite astonishment, he not only questioned him on every point with an acuteness which he had never before witnessed from the learned who had inspected the papers, but he also displayed a knowledge of antiquity, and an intimate acquaintance with documents of the period of Elizabeth, which Mr. Ireland had conceived was confined to such individuals only as had made that particular subject the object of their study. ”

“ In some cases, it is true, an author, as well as other men, might be imitated, both in his manner and style, as well as in the signature of his name. But that is not the case in the present instance. All great and eminent geniuses have their characteristic peculiarities, which not only distinguish them from all others, but make them what they are. These none can rival, none successfully imitate. Of all men and poets, Shakspeare had the most of these. ”

“ LINES ON BEAUTY. Beauty having been so very frequently pictured as a mere transitory object, I composed the ensuing stanzas; intending to have introduced them, with the other manuscripts, as the effusions of our immortal poet.
Beauty's like bubble on the water's brim ”

“ Malone, I candidly submit to a generous public, whether my age, and the causes leading to my fabrication of the papers, should not be taken into consideration, and whether I may not be acquitted of every thing except boyish folly.
I beg leave to state, that such was the light in which it was regarded by Albany Wallis, esq., who stated it as his decided opinion that Mr. Malone and the public ought rather to pass the business over as a boyish frolic (such was his expression) , than continually heap odium upon me as a daring and bold impostor. ”

“ PRESENTIMENT. There is something so appalling in the conviction that a man does not stand upon the basis of truth, that he shrinks with terror when circumstances appear most favourable to his wishes. On the important night which was to seal the fate of my long-expected Vortigern and Rowena, I spent the greater part of the time of its representation in the green-room of the theatre ”

“ WHOLE-LENGTH PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPEARE. One day being seated at Mr. Samuel Ireland's after dinner, during the exhiliration of the moment I was so bereft of my senses as to inform Mr. Ireland that a whole-length portrait, as large as life, and painted on board, would be forthcoming among the various other documents. I had soon sufficient cause to rue this effervescence of the moment; for scarcely a day transpired but I was hourly importuned respecting the whole-length portrait; the production of which, it was stated, would infallibly stamp the validity of the manuscripts. ”

“ The mode of writing adopted by me in his lordship's letter will not, however, upon examination, be found so very dissimilar to the signature of Fraser on the spurious lease written with the same hand. Every person viewing the manuscripts was surprised at his lordship's miserable penmanship: and indeed, when compared with the fac-simile of his original autograph given by Mr. Malone in his Inquiry, nothing can be more opposite, as lord Southampton in reality did write a very neat intelligible hand. ”

“ COPY OF MY LETTER TO HIS GRACE OF SOUTHAMPTON. On writing this letter, as in the case of the profession of faith, I kept the tracings from Shakspeare's original autographs before me, and so penned the epistle, without making any studied transcript, but merely committing my thoughts to paper in the disguised hand as they occurred to my mind. ”

“ PUBLICATION OF THE PLAY OF VORTIGERN. It is astonishing to observe how very frequently persons neglect opportunities which present themselves of realising money. Either from bad advice or some secret motive, Mr. Samuel Ireland, instead of publishing the play of Vortigern on the night of its representation, deferred the bringing of it forward until after I had confessed that the manuscripts were the productions of my own pen; whereas had Mr. Ireland followed a different line of conduct, the profits of the piece would have been exceedingly great ”

“ Ireland's character, I had to encounter all the opprobrium which he and his friends chose to lavish upon me because I would not, because I could not, give the name of an original donor of the manuscripts. It was in vain I argued that I was bound on oath to preserve the secret inviolable, and recalled to Mr. Ireland's recollection the terms on which he willingly undertook to publish the papers: every representation proved ineffectual: his character, he affirmed, was called in question ”

“ Had this circumstance been generally known, it would unquestionably have led to the developement of the whole Shaksperian forgery. Indeed, the same effect might have been produced by the disclosure of my fabrication of the dedicatory letter to the religious tract in the time of Elizabeth; or of my procurement of ink from the bookbinder's man: not to mention the quantity of old paper purchased by me: all which were facts known to individuals who would have come forward had not their pursuits been so diametrically opposite to every thing like literature and a Shaksperian controversy. ”

“ MR. SH*R*D*N'S OPINION OF SHAKSPEARE. When it was agreed that Vortigern and Rowena should be represented at Drury Lane theatre, Mr. S. Ireland had- very frequent conversations with Mr. Sh*r*d*n respecting the transcendent genius of our bard; and one day in particular, after Mr. S. Ireland had been as usual lavish in his encomiums, Mr. Sh*r*d*n remarked, that, however high Shakspeare might stand in the estimation of the public in general, he did not for his part regard him as a poet in that exalted light, although he allowed the brilliancy of his ideas, and the penetration of his mind. ”

“ EPILOGUE TO KING HENRY THE SECOND. The following lines were composed in imitation of the choruses introduced in many of Shakspeare's historical plays, and in order to apologise to the audience for the change of time and place; which must necessarily occur in composing a drama comprising many years of the life of the principal character of the scene. I need scarcely add, that the two concluding lines were meant to allude to myself, though the believers in the papers supposed them to intimate that it was our bard who was young when the drama in question was written. ”

“ However, should literary imposture be rendered cognisable to a criminal court of judicature, I fear many of our commentators would tremble for their own necks, and particularly if the law, as no doubt it would, should have regard to the offence of distorting the meaning of an author, or imposing on the world the fanciful suppositions of the commentator for the original language of the writer. ”

“ Ireland, he approached the spot, to be an eye-witness of the fact; when he immediately remarked, that, if any such collection of bones was there at the time of Shakspeare, it was by no means improbable that they inspired him with a horror at the idea of so many remnants of the dead being huddled together in a vast heap, and that he in consequence caused the following lines to be carved on the stone which covers his grave (being to the right of the charnel-house door, and directly under his bust) , in order to deter any sacrilegious hand from removing his ashes. ”