British Isles. 1859-62.
And several others under these initials.
E. S. L., _initialism_ [Hon. ELIZABETH SUSAN LAW, afterwards Lady
COLCHESTER].
Giustina; a Spanish tale: a Poem. 1853.
ESPRIELLA. See Alvarez.
E. V. B., _initialism_ [Hon. Mrs. BOYLE].
These initials have long been made familiar by delightfully delicate
and artistic illustrations to numerous works, chiefly to children’s
books.
F.
F., _init._ [FLOOD, _i.e._, NICHOLAS FRANCIS FLOOD DAVIN].
Mr. Black, Mr. E. Yates [see Q.], and this gentleman were the first
to write “Readings by Starlight” in the Evening Star. 1866.
F. A., _initialism_ [Rev. FREDERICK ARNOLD].
In London Society, Leisure Hour, etc. 1867.
FAG (Frederick) _phrenonym_ [Dr. JAMES JOHNSON].
The Recess, or Autumnal Relaxation in the Highlands and Lowlands ...
a serio-comic tour to the Hebrides. 1834.
FAIRLEIGH (Frank) _pseud._ [F. E. SMEDLEY].
Under this pseudonym the name of the hero and title of one of his own
novels, he edited Sharpe’s London Magazine, 1848-9, vol. 7 and 8,
in which Frank Fairleigh and Lewis Arundel were first published. On
relinquishing the editorship he says:
The discovery which many a literary man has made before us,
that the labours of editing and of composition are not only
incompatible, but diametrically opposed to each other; the latter
requiring a mind
“_Studious_ in meditation, fancy free,”
The former necessitating a ceaseless routine of active business.
_Sharpe’s Lond. Mag._ viii. 256.
FALCONER (Edmund) _scenonym_ [EDMUND O’ROURKE].
Extremes; or, Men of the Day. A comedy. 1859.
FELIX (Minutius) _pseud._ [GEORGE HARDINGE].
The Essence of Malone. 1800 and 1801.
Semi-anonymous: dedication subscribed.
FELIX (N.) [NICHOLAS WANOSTROCHT the Younger].
Felix ... on the use of a Cricket Bat; together with the history and
use of the Catapulta, 1845. 4to. Several editions to the present time.
FELIX (Charles) _pseud._ [ ].
The Notting Hill Mystery. Compiled by Charles Felix, [_ps._] from the
papers of the late R. Henderson, Esq. [_apoc._], Saunders & Otley,
1865.
Reprinted from Once a Week.
FELIX (Frank) Captain, _pseud._ [ ].
Musings on Guard (Poems). 1858.
F. E. P., _init._ [FRANCIS EDWARD PAGET].
Caleb Kniverton, the Incendiary, a tale. Oxford, 1833. Privately
printed.
FERN (Fanny) _pseud._ [SARAH PAYSON WILLIS, afterwards ELDREDGE,
afterwards FARMINGTON, now PARTON, an American Authoress of much
celebrity].
Fern leaves from Fanny’s Portfolio. Cincinnati, 1853.
Rose Clark. 1856.
About 30 pieces under this pseudonym.
F. F., _init._ [FREDERICK FYSH].
Nature’s Voice in the Holy Catholic Church, a series of Designs.
London and Derby, 1864.
FIGARO, _pseud._ [MARIANO JOSE DE LARRA].
Obras completas de Figaro. 2 tomes, Paris, 1848.
Figaro is a pseudonym adopted by numberless writers.
FISHER (P.) Esq., _pseud._ [WILLIAM ANDREW CHATTO, Author of the
History of Wood Engraving].
Angler’s Souvenir. London, 1835.
See J. R. Smith’s Cat. on Angling.
FITZ-EUSTACE Father, a Mendicant Friar, _ps.-titlonym_ [ ]. Essays,
London, 1822.
FLETCHER (Grenville).
LITERARY BORROWING.
[_To the Editor of the_ ATHENÆUM].
Ivy Cottage, Ballard’s Lane, Finchley, Jan. 1, 1867.
May I utter a complaint touching a Mr. Grenville Fletcher, late
editor of the _Kentish Champion_, _Court Journal_, _Mirror
of the World_, _Hants Standard_, &c. Looking, as I always
do, in old bookshops, I came across a volume, the other day,
professing to be a third series of “Parliamentary Portraits,”
by this gentleman. A very small piece of silver secured for me
possession of the prize. On taking it home and examining it,
I find page after page reprinted from my “Modern Statesmen,”
without a single word of acknowledgment. Mr. Fletcher gives a
sketch of Viscount Palmerston, almost entirely mine. He devotes
eight pages to Sir James Graham; and more than six of them are
mine. I wrote an article on Mr. Brand; Mr. Fletcher reprints it,
slightly altering it. Thus he commences: “It was during the lull
of an evening debate I once beheld Lord John Russell carrying
on a friendly and good-natured conversation, on the Government
benches of the House of Commons. To see his lordship smile is a
very unusual circumstance, for he is mostly so excessively cold
in his manner--added to which there is a rigid demeanour about
him--as one would only expect to be evinced by a _great_ man,
knowing that he is part and parcel of that wonderful machine
the British Constitution.” I had written: “It was once my
good fortune to behold Lord John Russell smile, and carry on a
friendly conversation, on the Government benches of the British
House of Commons. Generally his lordship is cold and dignified
in his demeanour, as becomes a man who is part and parcel of
that wonderful machine the British Constitution.” In like manner
Mr. Fletcher has helped himself to my Sketches of Mr. Disraeli
and Mr. Lindsay. This gifted work is dedicated to Lord Llanover,
and bears on the title-page the respectable name of Mr. James
Ridgway, Piccadilly. In his Introduction the author expresses
his gratitude to the _members_ of his own _craft_ (the public
_press_) for the truthful, generous, and impartial mode in which
his portraits have been critically noticed. Surely Mr. Fletcher
might have expressed his gratitude to, amongst others, yours, &c.
J. EWING RITCHIE.
F. M., _initialism_ [Sir FREDERICK MADDEN].
How the Goode Wife thaught hir Doughter [edited by F. M.], 1838.
FORREST (George) Esq., M.A., _translationym_ [Rev. J. G. WOOD, author
of numerous very popular works on Natural History, and editor of the
best book ever published for boys].
Every Boy’s Book: a complete Encyclopædia of Sports and Amusements.
_Routledge_, 1855. And Handbooks of Swimming, Skating, Gymnastics,
etc.
FORRESTER (Frank) _ps._ [HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT].
An Englishman by birth, but an American by adoption. Under the above
pseudonym he has written numerous sporting works and novels. Died
1858.
See Allibone’s Dict. of Eng. Lit. Sampson Low’s Cat. of American
Books.
FOX (Charles James).
Histoire des deux derniers Rois de la Maison de Stuart Par ----.
Suivie de Pièces originales et Justificatives; ouvrage traduit de
l’Anglais; auquel on a joint une notice sur la Vie de l’Auteur [By
the Abbé D’Andrezel]. Paris, 1809.
This anonymous translator “violated the fidelity which he owed to
his author” by suppressing numerous passages, without taking the
slightest notice of such, and by altering other passages, and in
fact “cooking it up” to serve the then prevalent French notions.
A full account will be found in the Edinburgh Rev., 1810. Quérard
in his France Littéraire, quotes a passage which intimates that
Napoleon himself had a hand in the mutilation and suppression of
the obnoxious passages.
FRANCO (Harry) _phren._ [CHARLES F. BRIGGS].
The Adventures of H. F., a Tale. New York, 1839. The Trippings of Tom
Pepper, or the Results of Romancing. 1847.
FUME (Joseph) _phrenonym_ [W. A. CHATTO].
A Pipe of Tobacco, treating of the rise, progress, pleasures, and
advantages of Smoking, &c. 1839.
FUNNIDOS (Rigdum) Gent., _ph._ [ ].
The Comic Almanack, with cuts by G. Cruikshank London [1834, 1846].
American Broad Grins. London, _R. Tyns_, 1838.
Writers before 1800 assumed this name.
FUNNYFELLO (Abel) _phren._ [ ].
A Shy at the “Great Gun.” The Blue-Coat Boy, or Domestic
Reminiscences of Mister T. Bounce, Driver of “The Turnabout”
[_i.e._ T. Barnes, editor of “The Times”]. With Illustrations by A.
Crookedshinks. No. 1 and 2, London, 1837.
G.
G * * * * * * * * (A. B.) M.D., _initialism_ [AUGUSTUS BOZZI
GRANVILLE?]
Critical Observations on Mr. Kemble’s performances at the Theatre
Royal, Liverpool. Liverpool, 1811.
GAULTIER (Bon) _polynym_ [THEODORE MARTIN and W. E. AYTOUN].
The Book of Ballads. 1845. First published in Blackwood’s Magazine.
G. D., _initialism_ [GEORGE DUNBAR, Professor of Greek in the
University of Edinburgh].
Herodotus. Græce et Latine. Edinburgh, 1806.
G. D., _init._ [GEORGE DARLEY (?), Mathematician and Poet].
The Life of Horace. British Poets, vol. 97. 1822. Life of Virgil,
1825.
Athenæum, Jan. 6, 1866, p. 22.
G. F. P., _init._ [GEORGE FREDERICK PARDON].
The Little Traveller, by the Author of the “Christmas Tree.” 1857.
Games for all Seasons, a sequel to “Parlour Pastime.” 1858. And
several others.
GIFFORD (John) _literary name_ [JOHN RICHARDS GREEN].
A History of the Political Life of ... Pitt. London, 1809, 4to.
Blackstone’s Commentaries abridged for the use of Students. By ----,
the author of the Life of ... Pitt. London, 1823.
He wrote all his numerous works under the above name, mostly
before 1800.
GIFFORD (John) _pseud._ [EDWARD FOSS, the learned author of that
sterling and very valuable work, _the Judges of England_].
An Abridgment of Blackstone’s Commentaries. 1821.
Did Mr. Foss intend that the public should be deceived? or was he
not aware of another, the real Richmond being in the field.
We believe he was not. It is most extraordinary that two persons
should, about the same time, write abridgments of the same work,
under the same pseudonym. But another extraordinary point is that
John Richard Green died in 1818, five years before his abridgment
was published! Mr. Foss seems to have been translated into German.
GIFFORD (John) Esq., _ps._ (we acquit this gentleman of being an
_impostor_) [ALEXANDER WHELLIER].
The English Lawyer. 14th edition, London, 1827. 17th edition, 1830.
21st, 1837. 30 editions.
It is almost impossible to suppose that he was not aware of a
“John Gifford” being the author of numerous works long before he
took the name.
G. L. M., Esq., _init._ [G. LAING MEASON].
On the Landscape Architecture of the Great Painters of Italy. 1828.
Only 150 copies privately printed.
See Martin.
GLYNDON (Howard) _pseudandry_ [LAURA C. RIDDEN].
G. M., _initialism_ [GERVASE MARKHAM].
The Young Sportsman’s Instructor. 1820. Eight copies printed on
vellum.
GOLDSMITH (Rev. J.) _pseudo-titlonym_ [Sir RICHARD PHILLIPS] see
Blair (Rev. D.) _ps._
Biog. Class Books. Grammar of British Geography. Wonders of the
United Kingdom, and several others.
Five Hundred Questions deduced from (Rev. J.) Goldsmith’s History of
England, etc. By James Adair.
In the preface he says:--The author [James Adair, _pseud._ Sir R.
Phillips] long meditated to write a new History of England, in
which more anecdote, and more information relative to manners and
social improvements, should have had place, than are to be found
in Goldsmith’s ... which he believes is generally adopted because
there is no other in the same compact form [this is frank--of his
own book] ... (as that) which passes _under the name_ of the late
Dr. Goldsmith. The italics are his. See Notes and Queries, 3rd S.
xii.
GRANGER (William) Esq., _pseud._ [ ].
The Wonderful Magazine. 1802. See Kirby, Publisher.
GRAY (Barry) _ps._ [ROBERT BARRY COFFIN].
My Married Life at Hillside. New York, 1865.
GREEN (John) _pseud._ [GEORGE HENRY TOWNSEND].
Evans’s, Covent Garden, Minutes of Evidence taken before the select
Committee on Theatrical Licenses. Mr. John Green called in and
Examined [Lond., 1866].
Evans’s Music and Supper Rooms.... Odds and Ends about Covent Garden
and its vicinity, the Ancient Drama, the early English Divinity
and Controversial Plays, compiled by Mr. ----, also a selection of
Madrigals, Glees, etc. [Lond., 1866].
GREENDRAKE (Gregory) Esq., _phren._ [J. COAD, editor of the Dublin
Warder, 1824].
Angling Excursions of, etc., with additions by Geoffrey Greydrake,
Esq. [Thomas Ellingsale, of Dublin.] 4th edition, Dublin, 1832.
We are not quite certain of the spelling of Ellingsale; it may be
Ellingsate.
GREENWOOD (Grace) _ps._ [Mrs. SARAH JANE CLARKE, afterwards
LIPPINCOTT].
History of my Pets, 1853. A Forest Tragedy, 1856. Recollections of my
Childhood, with Illustrations by H. Billings, 1858.
Numerous other works, for which see Allibone.
GREYLOCK (Godfrey) _phrenonym_ [J. E. A. SMITH?]
Taghonic; or Letters and Legends about our Summer Home. Boston, 1852.
GRIFFIN (Gregory) _phren._ [GEORGE CANNING].
The Microcosm, a periodical, by G. G., of the College of Eton
[assisted by J. Smith, J. H. Frere, R. Smith, and others]. Windsor,
1809.
GRIFFINHOOF (Anthony) Gent., _phrenonym_ [JOHN HUMPHREYS PARRY].
The Maskers of Moorfields; a vision. By the late A. G., Gent, (edited
by W. Griffinhoof, _ps._ J. H. P.) 1815.
GRIFFENHOOF (Arthur) _phren._ [GEORGE COLMAN, the Younger, the well
known dramatic author].
Songs, etc. in the Gay Deceivers, a musical farce, in two acts,
performed at the Theatre Royal, Hay-Market. Written by A. G., author
of The Review and Love Laughs at Lock-Smiths. Dated from Turnham
Green. [1804].
GRINGO (Harry) _pseud._ [Lieutenant WISE].
Tales for the Marines, by ----, author of Los Gringos. Boston, 1855.
GULLIVER (Lemuel) _fictitious_ [JONATHAN SWIFT, D.D.].
Travels into several remote Nations of the World. By Lemuel Gulliver,
first a surgeon and then a captain of several ships. 1726. Frequently
reprinted.
A lost leaf of Gulliver’s Travels will be found in “Miscellaneous
Remains of Archbishop Whately,” 1865; and in the Pall Mall
Gazette, 1867, was one which completely deceived several persons.
GULLIVER, _allonym_ [ ].
G’s last Voyage, describing Ballymugland, or the floating Island.
1825.
GULLIVER (Lemuel) jun., _pseud._ [ ].
Voyage to Locuta; a fragment, with etchings, etc. (a grammatical
Tract). 1818.
There were numbers of spurious Gullivers though chiefly before
1800.
G. W. M., _init._ [GEORGE WILSON MEADLEY].
Memoirs of Mrs. Jebb. 1812.
H.
HACKLE (Palmer) _pseud._ [ROBERT BLAKEY].
Hints on Angling. 1846.
H. A. L., the Old Shekarry, _init._ [Major LEVESON].
The Camp Fire. The Forest and the Field. 3rd edit. _Longman_, 1865.
_Sauders, Otley & Co._, 1867. With photographic portrait of the
Author. The Hunting Grounds of the Old World. 1st series, 1860.
Wrinkles, or Hints to Travellers and Sportsmen upon Dress, Equipment,
etc. 1867.
HALLER, (Joseph) _pseud._ [HENRY NELSON COLERIDGE].
In Knight’s Quarterly Magazine. 1823-4.
HAMILTON (Gail) _pseud._ [Miss M. A. DODGE].
Gala Days. Boston, 1863. A Call to my Countrywomen. New York, 1863.
Skirmishes and Sketches. Boston, 1865. Stumbling Blocks, 1864.
Wool-Gathering, 1867.
HAPPY (John) _phren._ [J. P. ROBERTS].
HARDBARGAIN (Henry) _phren._ [ ].
Hints to Subalterns of the British Army, by H. H., late of the ----
Regiment. 1843.
HARDCASTLE (Daniel) _pseud._ [RICHARD PAGE].
Letter to the Editor of “The Times,” on the Bank of England, etc.,
1826.
HARDCASTLE (Daniel) junior, _pseud._ [ ]
Banks and Bankers. 1842 and 1843.
HARDCASTLE (Ephraim) _pseud._ [WILLIAM HENRY PYNE, artist].
Wine and Walnuts; or, After Dinner Chit-Chat, 1823. 2 vols.
HARLAND (Marion) _ps._ [MARY VIRGINIA HAWES, afterwards TERHUNE,
American Authoress].
Alone, 1854. The Hidden Path, 1855. Moss Side, 1858. Sunnybank, 1866.
Christmas Holly, 1867.
HARRIET, _prenonym_ [BALDUCK].
Pious Harriet; or, the History of a Young and Devout Christian. By
the Author of the Retrospect, etc. London, 1820.
HARRIET, _prenonym_ [Miss WHITE, of Cashel].
Verses, sacred and miscellaneous. 1853.
J. P--r.
HAYDEN (Sarah Marshall) _pseud._ [MARY FRAZAER].
Early Engagements: ... and Florence. Cincinnati, 1858 (1854?)
H. B., _pseud._ [DOYLE, Father of Richard Doyle].
Reform Caricatures. London, 1830.
H. C., Esq., author of the Fisher Boy [W. H. IRELAND].
The Fisher Boy, a poem, comprising his ... avocations during the four
seasons of the year, by H. C., Esq., Lond., [1808].
The Sailor Boy, a poem in four cantos, illustrative of the Navy of
Great Britain, by ----. 1809.
H. D., of Cheltenham, Publisher, _init._ [HENRY DAVIES].
Hours in the Picture Gallery of Thurlstone House. Cheltenham, 1846.
H. E. M., _init._ [MANNING].
Dies Consecrati: or a New Christian Year with the Old Poets. London,
1855.
H. G., _init._ [HUDSON GURNEY].
Cupid and Psyche, a mythological tale (rendered into English Verse,
from Apuleius). London, 1844.
HIBERNICUS, _pseudo-geonym_ [DE WITT CLINTON].
Letters on the Natural History and Internal Resources of the State of
New York. 1822.
HIEOVER (Harry) _pseud._ [CHARLES BRINDLEY].
Practical Horsemanship. _Longmans_, 1856. Hunting Field. The Stud for
Practical Purposes and Practical Men. Stable Talk and Table Talk, or
spectacles for Young Persons; (with a portrait of the author).
See Allibone, under this pseudonym.
HIEROPHILOS, _phren._ [JOHN MAC HALE].
The Letters of H. on the education of the Poor of Ireland, etc.
... the letters of Bibliophilos (written in reply to Hierophilos).
Dublin, printed by P. Blenkinssop, 1821.
Letters of H. to the English People on ... Ireland. London, _Keating
& Brown_, 1822.
This is an enlarged republication of the above.
Catholic Emancipation ... Ireland ... to the Right Hon. G. Canning.
Dublin, _Keating & Brown_, 1824.
The whole of these are republished in:
The letters of the Most Reverend John Mac Hale, D.D., under their
respective signatures of Hierophilos, John, Bishop of Maronia, Bishop
of Killala, and Archbishop of Tuam. Dublin, _Duffy_, 1847.
HIEROPHILUS, _phren._ [ ].
A vindication of the ... Bishop of Peterborough from the
animadversions of a writer in the Edinburgh Review ... a Letter
to the Rev. S---- S---- [Sydney Smith, author of the Review].
_Rivington_, 1823.
HIS MOTHER, _demonym_ [M. M. ROLLS].
Excelsior, a truthful Sketch of a lovely Youth, B. G. L. R.--(Bernard
Glanville Lyndon Rolls). By his Mother. London and Birmingham
[1855?], 32mo.
HISTORICUS _phren._ [Hon. E. VERNON HARCOURT].
Letters in _The Times_.
H. K., _initialism_ [HERBERT KYNASTON].
Commemoration Address in praise of Dean Colet. London, 1852.
H. L. W., _initialism_ [HENRY LOVETT WOODWARD].
Poems of a Religious kind in the _Christian Observer_, London, 1835-6.
H. M., _initialism_ [HARRIET MARTINEAU].
The Martyr Age of the United States, etc. Republished from the London
and Westminster Review. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1840.
H. M. G., _init._ [GUNN].
History of Nonconformity in Warminster. Lond., 1853.
H. M. K., _disguised-author_ [Rev. HENRY MACKENZIE].
The Lay of the Thrings [1849]. Only 250 copies privately printed.
See Martin’s Catalogue.
HOGG (Cervantes) F.S.M. (Fellow of the Swinish Multitude?)
_pseudonym_ [E. S. BARRETT].
The Rising Sun, a serio-comic satiric romance (with coloured plates).
1807-9. Several editions.
N. & Q., 2 S. ii. 310.
HOGG (Nathan) _pseud._ [HENRY BAIRD].
Letters in the Devonshire Dialect [in verse]. Exeter, 1847.
HONORIA, _pseudonym_ [ ].
Essays selected from Montaigne, with a Sketch of the Life of the
Author [signed Honoria]. Lond., _Cadell_, 1800.
The Female Mentor, 2nd edition. [18--.] An edition, Philadelphia,
1802.
HONORIA, _pseud._ [M. A. POWER].
The Letters of a Betrothed, 1858, (signed).
HORAM, the Son of Asmar, _Persian pseud._ [Rev. JAMES RIDLEY,
Chaplain to the East India Company].
The Tales of the Genii; or, the delightful Lessons of ----.
Faithfully translated from the Persian MS. ... by Sir Charles Morell
[_pseudo-titlonym_ J. Ridley]. Lond., 1764. New edition, collated and
edited by Philo-Juvenis [_ps._ H. G. Bohn, the publisher of it]. 1859.
See Lowndes by Bohn, p. 2570.
In these beautiful tales Mr. Ridley has given an amiable portrait
of the Rev. J. Spence, the well known author of an Essay on
Pope’s Odyssey, under the character of the “Dervise of the
Groves,” whose name is “Phesoj Ecneps,” or Joseph Spence, if read
backwards.
HORNEM (Horace) Esq. _ps._ [GEORGE GORDON, Lord Byron].
The Waltz; an Apostrophic Poem, 1813, _Sherwood_, 4to.
Waltz: an apostrophic Hymn. By ----, (the noble author of Don Juan).
_W. Clark_, 1821, 8vo.
This trifle was written at Cheltenham, in the autumn of 1812,
and published anonymously in the spring of the following year.
It was not very well received at the time by the public; and
the author was by no means anxious that it should be considered
as his handiwork. “I fear,” he says, in a letter to a friend,
“that a certain malicious publication on waltzing is attributed
to me. This report, I suppose you will take care to contradict;
as the author I am sure would not like that I should wear his
cap and bells.”--_Note in Byron’s Works_, 1850, p. 456. We have
never seen the first edition, but a quotation in the Gentleman’s
Magazine, April, 1813, p. 348, shows it to be the same.
HOWARD (George) Esq., _pseud._ [FRANCIS C. LAIRD, Lieut. R.N.]. Lady
Jane Grey and her Times. London, 1822. Woolsey, the Cardinal and his
Times. 1824.
H. S., _telonism_ [RALPH THOMAS, Serjeant-at-Law].
Going to the Bar. In Cobbett’s Magazine. 1832.
HUMPHREY (Old) _pseud._ [GEORGE MOGRIDGE].
Books intended chiefly for the Young. For list see _Allibone_. See
Parley (Peter), _impostor_.
I.
IGNATIUS, Brother, [calling himself] Monk of the Order of Saint
Benedict, _name of religious order_ [JOSEPH LEYCESTER LYNE].
The Catholic Church of England, and what she teaches, a lecture.
Manchester [printed], London, 1864. Monks and Nuns, in reply to two
Lectures of Father Ignatius, O. S. B., 1864. Ignatius ... to ...
Father Darby [in reply to his Lecture on Monks and Nuns]. 1864.
IGNATIUS (Father) Passionist, _name of religious order_ [Hon. and
Rev. GEORGE SPENCER].
The Life of Blessed Paul of the Cross, translated by ----, London,
1860.
Life of Father Ignatius of St. Paul, Passionist [Hon. George
Spencer]. By the Rev. Father Pius a Sp. Sancto, Passionist. London,
_Duffy_, 1866.
IGNATIUS (Grandfather) _ironym_ [ ].
Re-generation or De-generation, a Pill for the Parsons and a Spur for
Spurgeon. [Lond., 1864].
IGNATIUS (John) _pseud._?
Advance of the Sikh Army upon India; and other Poems. London, Derby
(printed). 1847.
INDICUS, _pseud._ [Major EVANS BELL].
The Rajah and Principality of Mysore. 1865.
IRELAND (Samuel William Henry) _literary forger_.
Miscellaneous Papers and Instruments under the hand and Seal of
William Shakespeare, including the Tragedy of King Lear, and a small
fragment of Hamlet, from the original. 1796, folio, £4. 4s.
An imposture on a grander scale was never conceived or executed;
and perhaps we may add, with all respect to the learned
celebrities who were deceived by it, that dupes more easily
satisfied, more credulous and unsuspecting, were never met with.
It must be admitted that a very opportune period was chosen for
the imposition; and taking into consideration the youth of the
individual by whom it was perpetrated,--that he had not at the
time attained his twentieth year,--it must also be confessed that
it was carried out with considerable cleverness and ingenuity.
Ireland was the son of a gentleman who is known as the author of
several Picturesque Tours, and some illustrations of Hogarth--a
man of considerable taste, and an ardent admirer of Shakespeare.
He had been articled to an attorney, and having daily
opportunities of inspecting ancient deeds and writings, he
seems to have occupied his leisure, first in deciphering, and
afterwards in copying and imitating them. Possessed of this
dangerous talent, his father’s reverence for the great English
dramatist, and his own ambition for distinction, suggested to
his mind the daring imposture by which he rendered himself
remarkable. From an attentive examination of the authentic
signature of Shakespeare, he soon learned to imitate the
character of his handwriting with facility; and from time to
time presented his father with scraps of MS., to account for the
possession of which he invented a most romantic and improbable
story.