guilt was the forgery of an autograph on an old pamphlet, with which
he gratified Samuel Ireland. He also wrote a sham inscription on a
modern bust of Cromwell, which he represented as an authentic
antique. Finding that the critics were taken in, and attributed
this new bust to the old sculptor Simeon, Ireland conceived a very
low and not unjustifiable opinion of critical tact. Critics would
find merit in anything which seemed old enough. Ireland's next
achievement was the forgery of some legal documents concerning
Shakespeare. Just as the bad man who deceived the guileless Mr.
Shapira forged his 'Deuteronomy' on the blank spaces of old
synagogue rolls, so young Ireland used the cut-off ends of old rent
rolls. He next bought up quantities of old fly-leaves of books, and
on this ancient paper he indicted a sham confession of faith, which
he attributed to Shakespeare. Being a strong "evangelical," young
Mr. Ireland gave a very Protestant complexion to this edifying
document. And still the critics gaped and wondered and believed.

Ireland's method was to write in an ink made by blending various
liquids used in the marbling of paper for bookbinding. This stuff
was supplied to him by a bookbinder's apprentice. When people asked
questions as to whence all the new Shakespeare manuscripts came, he
said they were presented to him by a gentleman who wished to remain
anonymous. Finally, the impossibility of producing this gentleman
was one of the causes of the detection of the fraud. According to
himself, Ireland performed prodigies of acuteness. Once he had
forged, at random, the name of a contemporary of Shakespeare. He
was confronted with a genuine signature, which, of course, was quite
different. He obtained leave to consult his "anonymous gentleman,"
rushed home, forged the name again on the model of what had been
shown to him, and returned with this signature as a new gift from