532 Footnote People in World History
conversation given to understand that I had a great predilection for everything like antiquity, he had in consequence requested that I would pay him a visit; stating at the same time that he had many old papers which had descended to him from his ancestors.” Ireland visited the wealthy gentleman’s apartment, and examining bundles of aged papers, I discovered to my utter astonishment, the deed between our Bard and Michael Fraser, bearing the signature of Shakespeare.” The gentleman then offered this document to Ireland, and any others by Shakespeare that might be found, on the condition that the owner’s name be kept anonymous, for the gentleman “did not think fit to subject himself to the impertinent questions” that might follow.
The dazed elder Ireland studied the lease, checked the ancient paper, cracked old seals, faded ink, the signature itself, and authenticated the find. Immediately he sent word of it to the nation’s scholar’s and press.
Meanwhile, son William began producing a steady stream of 16th century licenses, notes, receipts, deeds, snippets of verse, contracts with actors-all in Shakespeares handwriting and all gifts of the mysterious wealthy gentleman.
Early in 1796 Samuel Ireland collected his son’s discoveries and published them as Miscellaneous Papers and Legal Instruments under the hand and Seal of William Shakespeare.
The Ireland were soon celebrities. Young William was advancing his own prestige, but he also wanted to do something for his idol. He wanted to show that the great poet was a recognized man of a social consequence even in his own day. So William fabricated correspondence between Shakespeare and Earl of Southampton, forging the poet’s letters with his right hand and the nobleman’s replies with his left. Going one better, he “discovered” several chatty exchanges between Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth. And to refute lingering suspicious that the great playwright had been a catholic, William conveniently found a 300 word “Profession of Protestant Faith,” proving the great man a good Anglican after all. A learned clergyman who read the statement declared: “We have many fine passages in our Church Service and our litany abounds in beauty, but here, Sir, is a man who outdistances us all.
Stirred by such praise, Ireland went on to discover the complete manuscript of King Lear and portions of the original Hamlet. He also came up with a love letter from Shakespeare’s hair.
By now Samuel Ireland was charging admission to the public to inspect the evidence on display in the house. William Pitt, Edmund Burke and the Prince of Wales were among those who came away deeply moved. James Boswell knelt before the fakes and cried: “I now kiss the invaluable relics of our Bard, and thank God I have lived to see them.”
William was now 18, and ready for the big move. He announced that, through his gentle man friend, he could lay his hands on a complete, unpublished, unproduced Shakespeare play. Remembering on oil painting in his father’s study showing the Saxon princes Rowena giving wine to Vortigern, William said the play Vortigern was a tragedy set in Romanized Britain. Now William had to stall an anxious public a months while he brought forth Vortigern a scene at a time.
While the world waited for the climactic discovery, there were those who had run out of patience for what they perceived to be a hoax. Three eminent Shakepearen scholars suspected forgery, but only one of them prepared to speak out. The vocal one was Edmund Malone, who was readying to expose Ireland’s finds in his work. An Inquiry into the Authenticity of Certain Papers Attributed to Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, and Henry, Earl of Southampton. Word of this book, which would not appear until later in 1790, was already spreading through London.
