pretended discoveries. Was it possible that his father had no
suspicion of their origin, and was he entirely deceived by the
monstrous assertions of his clever but unprincipled son? The
appearance of the MSS. went far to prove their genuineness. A
number of literary gentlemen voluntarily subscribed their names
to a declaration of their authenticity. It is further stated that
Mr. Boswell, the biographer of Johnson, previously to signing
his name, fell upon his knees, and in a tone of enthusiasm and
exultation thanked God he had lived to witness the discovery, and
exclaimed that he could now die in peace.
One of the ablest critics of the day, however, Mr. Malone,
remained unconvinced.
Believing himself possessed of a most invaluable treasure--in
spite of the protestations of his son, who dreaded and foresaw
the exposure of the fraud--Mr. Samuel Ireland determined on
publishing the “discoveries,” and printed a large portion of them
in a fine folio volume, the title of which is given at the head
of this article.
A very slight examination of this volume would, it has been
thought, have shown the transparency of the fraud.
The most daring imposition, however, remains to be told. On the
2nd of April, 1796, the play of Vortigern and Rowena “from the
pen of Shakespeare,” was announced for representation at Drury
Lane Theatre. Public excitement was at its height. As the evening
approached, every avenue to the theatre was thronged with anxious
crowds, eager to obtain admission. Thousands, it is said, were
turned away.
The fraud, however, was very soon discovered, and an attempt
that was made to announce the play for repetition was wisely
withdrawn, the unanimous voice of the public having proclaimed
the imposture. This failure was a death-blow to the fraud.
Gratified by the notoriety he had acquired, Ireland was induced
to publish the following full and free confession in “An
Authentic Account of the Shakespeare Manuscripts.”
“I solemnly declare, first, that my father was perfectly
unacquainted with the whole affair, believing the papers most
firmly the productions of Shakespeare. Secondly, that I am myself
both the author and writer, and had no aid from any soul living,
and that I should never have gone so far, but that the world
praised the papers so much, and thereby flattered my vanity.
Thirdly, that any publication which may appear tending to prove
the MSS. genuine, or to contradict what is here stated, is false;
this being the true account.
“W. H. IRELAND.”
It must be confessed that circumstances seemed to warrant the
suspicion that father and son were equally implicated, and even
the latter’s solemn declaration to the contrary could not remove
the impression that had been made on the public mind. To the
time of his death, in 1835, he carried with him the significant
sobriquet of Shakespeare Ireland.
The above is chiefly abridged from the article by F. Lawrence in
Sharpe’s London Magazine.
In Chalcographomania, which is said to be written by Ireland,
these observations are made. They almost seem to render his being
its author doubtful.
Weeps o’er false Shakesperian lore,
Which sprang from Maisterre Ireland’s store;
Whose impudence deserves the rod,
For having ap’d the muse’s god.
To this latter the following note is added.
“It has frequently afforded me a matter of astonishment to think
how this literary fraud could have so long duped the world,
and involved in its deceptious vortex such personages as Parr,
Wharton, and Sheridan, not omitting Jemmy Boswell, of Johnsonian
renown; nor can I even refrain from smiling whensoever the
volumes of Malone and Chalmers, together with the pamphlets of
Boaden, Waldron, Wyatt, and Philalethes, otherwise ---- Webb,
Esq., chance to fall in my way.”--p. 57.
See Shakespeare (William).
ISA, _prenonym_ [ISA CRAIG, afterwards KNOX].
Poems. Edinb. and London, 1856.
ISABEL, _pseudonym_ [W. GILMORE SIMMS].
Pelayo; or, the Cavern of Covadonga, a romance (in verse). New York,
1836.
IT MATTERS NOT _WHO_, _phraseonym_ [Rev. E. NARES].
Heraldic Anomalies, or Rank and Confusion in our Orders of
Precedence. By ----. London, 1823.
J.
JACIA, _pseud._ [JOHN CRANE].
Remarks on Coinage. London, 1859.
JAQUES, _pseud._ [J. HAIN FRISWELL].
The “Censor” in the Evening Star, 1867.
J. B., Gent., _initialism_ [ ].
The Meteor; or a Short Blaze, but a Bright one, a farce. 1809.
J. B. P., _init._ [PAYNE]. Moxon’s Miniature Poets. 1865.
J. C., _initialism_ [JAMES CLAY, M.P.].
A treatise on Short Whist. This is bound up with the Laws of Short
Whist, edited by J. L. Baldwin, 1864.
Another little work on this subject was published under these
initials, but it is not by this gentleman.
J. C. B. _init._ [JOHN COXE BOYCE].
Poetical Productions of my Youth. Birm., 1842.
Written at the age of 15. Privately printed.
See Martin, Cat.
J. C. G., _initialism_ [JULIA C. GRIMANI].
Sacred Lyrics. London, J. R. Smith, 1849.
J. C. G. (Marin de P * * *) _init._ [ ].
A Fortnight in Paris ... with an Historical Notice by J. C. G. Marin
de P * * * Translated from a new and enlarged French edition, by J.
Fisher, of Paris, with ... a map. Paris, 1863.
J. D., _disguised-author_ [J. D. B. DE BOW].
The Political Annals of South Carolina. By a Citizen (signing himself
J. D). Charleston, 1845.
J. D., _init._ [DISTURNELL].
The Eastern Tourist, being a guide through the States of Connecticut,
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, also
a Dash into Canada. New York, 1848.
J. D., _init._ [JOHN DIX].
Pen-Pictures of Popular English Preachers; with Limnings of Listeners
in Church and Chapel. By J. D., author of the Life of Chatterton,
etc. London, Stokesby (printed). 1851.
JENKINS (Peter), see Tomkins (Isaac). 1835.
J. F. D., _init._ [ ].
The Outcast, or the Wonderful Dealings of Divine Grace exhibited in
the history of Kate ---- (edited by J. F. D.). 2nd edition. Dublin,
1856.
J. G., _init._ [JAMES GLASSFORD].
Miscellanea [Translations in English from the Latin of etc.], Edinb.,
1818, 4to. Privately printed.
Notes of three Tours in Ireland in 1824-6. Bristol [1830].
Not published.
J. H. B. M., _init._ [MOUNTAIN].
A Sermon preached at Blunham Church ... on ... the completion of an
East Window, by M. F. Sadler (with a preface by ----). London, 1864.
J. H. H. H., see Little (T.) junior, _ps._ [ ].
J. H. M., _init._ [MONK].
Memoir of Duport, Regius Professor of Greek and Dean of Peterborough
(by ----, from the Museum Criticum) [Cambridge, 1825].
J. H. N., _init._ [Father NEWMAN].
The Dream of Gerontius. 1865.
Dedicated to Father Gordon, of the Oratory, Brompton, by his
friend J. H. N.
J. K. L., _initialism_ [JAMES DOYLE, Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare
and Leighlin].
Letters on the state of Education in Ireland and Dublin, 1824.
These letters excited a great deal of controversy, and produced a
number of anonymous pamphlets.
Observations addressed to H. Phillpotts [afterwards Bishop of
Exeter]. Liverpool, 1828.
J. L. A., _initialism_ [ANDERDON].
River Dove; with some quiet Thoughts on the Happy Practice of
Angling. Lond. [18--.] Privately printed also published by
_Pickering_, 1847.
See Smith’s Cat. on Angling.
J. M., _initialism_ [MORGAN].
Elegy, Mark Luke Grayston. _Woodbridge_, 1830. _s.sh._
J. M., Rev. D.D., F.S.A., _init._ [J. MILNER, Bishop of Castabala].
A vindication of the End of Religious Controversy, etc. London, 1822.
J. M., _init._ [JOHN MUIR].
The Course of Divine Revelation, etc. Calcutta, 1846.
J. M., _init._ [JOHN MARTIN].
An Inquiry into the Authority for Echard’s Statement in his History
of England, etc. London, 1852.
J. M. and C. C., _polynym_ [JOHN MILL CHANTER and CHARLOTTE CHANTER].
Jack Frost and other tales. London, 1858.
J. N. D., _init._ [JOHN NELSON DARBY].
A number of tracts, etc., on religious subjects. 1861-5.
J. O., _init._ (Jacob Omnium, _pseud._ q.v.) [M. J. HIGGINS].
The Story of the Mhow Court-Martial (reprinted from the Cornhill
Magazine). London, 1864.
JOBSON (Frederick J.) D.D.
Whether Dr. Jobson has been guilty of plagiarism is a difficult
matter to determine. So difficult, that taking into consideration
his denial, we shall let our readers judge for themselves, by
giving the accusation and answer from the Athenæum, with no
alteration but a correction of the paging, etc.
Supposing that there is no ground for accusing Dr. Jobson of
borrowing without acknowledgment, then this correspondence
comes in as part of our plan. It certainly is one of the most
remarkable instances of two writers expressing their ideas in
similar words, though at an interval of several years.
LITERARY LARCENY.
[To the Editor of the _Athenæum_].
Hammersmith, Feb. 14, 1863.
Some four or five years ago I published a little book of Travels
called ‘Southern Lights and Shadows,’ which--thanks to kindly
notices in your columns and elsewhere--was tolerably successful.
The work, however, was sadly abused in the Australian colonies,
and, for some reason or other which was never made apparent to
me, gave sore offence to the Methodists of New South Wales. The
volume has, I think, run out of print, and is probably by this
time forgotten. Nevertheless, it has strangely been decreed that
a leader of the body who were most offended at it shall revive
and perpetuate its “obnoxious” pages.
Within the last day or two a “second edition” of a book entitled
‘Australia; with Notes by the Way,’ by Frederick J. Jobson,
D.D., has come under my notice. I cannot exactly tell what led
me to look into its pages, unless from a desire of seeing how
a Methodist divine would deal with a subject which, under my
treatment, had proved so unpleasant to the Wesleyan community
of Trans-Pacifica. Imagine my surprise when I found that, from
the opening to the close of Dr. Jobson’s volume, the leading
paragraphs were stolen from my ‘Southern Lights and Shadows’!
This is a serious charge to bring against any author, and so
specially serious when brought against an author who carries
D.D. at the end of his name, that I feel bound to support it
with direct and unmistakeable evidence. I append, therefore,
in parallel columns, a few of the passages which appeared in
‘Southern Lights and Shadows’ in 1859, and which now re-appear,
with but the slightest and shallowest disguise (a disguise of
so transparent a character that, like the _coa vestis_, it only
serves to reveal what it affects to hide), in ‘Australia; with
Notes by the Way,’ in 1863:
_My Book_ [1859]. _Dr. Jobson’s Book_ [1863].
The evenings in Australia are The evenings at Sydney were at
singularly beautiful. I have often times singularly beautiful. The
read a newspaper by the light of moon was so bright and large that
the moon. The stars are very you could see to read by it. The
white and large, and seem to drop stars, too, were brighter and
pendulous from the blue, like larger than ours in appearance,
silver lamps from a dome of and seemed to drop like pendent
calaite.--P. 85. lamps of glittering crystal from
the deep blue dome above.--P. 126.
All Dr. Jobson does here is to give us his new lamps of crystal
for my old ones of silver.
_My Book._ _Dr. Jobson’s Book._
In Sydney and its immediate There are more than five hundred
neighbourhood there are no less public-houses in Sydney and
than five hundred public-houses, its immediate neighbourhood, and
many of them as great and garish some of them are as ... gay and
as the gin-palaces of London. garish as our own street corner
--P. 52. gin-palaces.--P. 157.
As Dr. Jobson was writing three years after me, he, no doubt,
conceived it a safe and subtle alteration to turn the word
“less” into “more;” but as the “five” was a misprint for _three_
in my book, his caution has only made the trap into which he
has put his foot clip it the closer. A similar maladroitness
characterizes the reverend author’s picking and stealing
throughout. The reader will see it strikingly displayed in the
next example, where the sentences are so unaltered in themselves,
and yet so changed in their sequence and order, that, like the
boy who steals the eggs in ‘Parents and Guardians,’ Dr. Jobson
evidently thinks he has only to shift position to annihilate
identity.
[For brevity we here omit two long parallel passages].
In the first-quoted plagiarism Dr. Jobson gave “crystal” for
“silver”--in the above he supplies “brittle pottery” for
“crystal.” My “dogs” only are afflicted by the hot wind--Dr.
Jobson blasts the beasts of the field and the birds of the air.
My “great-coat is buttoned tightly around” me--Dr. Jobson’s
“great-coat” is only thought “desirable.” But this is accounted
for, as with me the thermometer “sinks fifty or sixty degrees,”
while with Dr. Jobson it “sinks _down_” but “forty or fifty.” My
“compact wall,” “Last Seal” and “Apocalypse,” however, are taken
bodily. It is scarcely worth while pointing out the ludicrous
errors which, in “dodging” my description about, Dr. Jobson has
committed. The “brickfielder” is not the hot wind at all; it is
but another name for the cold wind or “southerly-buster,” which
_follows_ the hot breeze, and which, blowing over an extensive
sweep of sand-hills, called the Brickfields, semicircling Sydney,
carries a thick cloud of dust (or “brickfielder”) across the
city. How true is old Butler’s remark that some plagiarists
accompany their robberies with murder to prevent detection!
_My Book._ _Dr. Jobson’s book._
It (the mosquito) comes buzzing The pungent bites of musquitoes,
against your cheek with a drowsy which in the evening, whether
sing-song _whir_, fixes its suckers in public, social, or private life,
into the flesh, and bounds off with come buzzing against your cheek
another song--a kind of _carmen with a peculiar _whir_, fixing
triumphale_--leaving a large red their blood-suckers in the flesh,
mark behind it, which is far more and then, after drawing their full
irritating than a healing blister potion, flying off with a flutter of
... They have a great relish--being triumph, leaving a blotch behind,
epicures in their way--for which, until ripened to a yellow
the round, fat, mottled part of head, is far more irritating than a
the hand ridging the off-side of healing blister.... And they have
the palm. In about two seconds evidently a high relish for the
one will sow it with bumps and round fat part of the hand, _from
blisters _from the wrist to the the wrist-bone to the little
little finger_.... They, too, finger_. If this part be exposed
especially hate and harass the from under the coverlid for five
new chum. Pp. 83-4. minutes, it will be sown all over by
them with bumps and blisters, not to
be forgotten till the next night,
if so soon. They, too, like the
boys in the streets, have wanton
pleasure in vexing “new chums.”
Pp. 158-9.
One very brief illustration more, and I have finished with Dr.
Jobson:--
_My Book._ _Dr. Jobson’s Book._
The shark gleaming, green and _Sat. March 2._--Pleasant passage
still, just an arm’s depth below down the harbour, in which,
the surface.--P. 131. gleaming, still and green, at not
more than an arm’s depth from
the surface, the ravenous shark
might be seen.--P. 173.
This last example raises one’s gorge. I close my book with an
attempt at a panorama of sea scenery, _and, in the middle of a
sentence_, are the words quoted in the left hand column above.
Dr. Jobson, after concluding his description of Sydney with
these words,--“Only let the churches of Christ send an adequate
number of missionaries to India, China, the multitude of the
isles, and to the interior of Africa, and these heathen regions
shall assuredly be evangelized: these realms of sin become the
kingdom of our God and of his Christ!” (p. 174)--opens the next
section of his book with _my_ fish! If a whale once appropriated
a missionary, verily here is a missionary appropriating a shark!
In closing, let me say that my only object in asking you to
insert this letter is to direct other writers on the subject to
Dr. Jobson’s book. If he has taken so much from me, I have no
doubt he has--to use an Australian phrase--“jumped other claims”
for the balance of his nuggets.
Frank Fowler.
47, City Road, March 3, 1863.
In justice alike to me and to the public who have purchased,
within fourteen months nearly three editions of my volume on
‘Australia, with Notes by the Way,’ I am sure you will give me
space to reply to a communication which appeared in your columns
of February 21, but which I did not see till nearly the end of
last week.
As to any quarrel which your Correspondent has had with my
friends on the other side of the globe I know nothing at all. Up
to the time when his letter was given in the _Athenæum_, I had
not heard of his ‘Southern Lights and Shadows;’ and as he states
that the book is out of print, I cannot hope to examine it [Dr.
Jobson could have seen it in the British Museum], else I should
be curious to learn how his “little book” on New South Wales
only, could supply the “leading paragraphs” “from the opening to
the close” of my post-octavo volume of nearly three hundred pages
[only 112 pages relate to Australia and Tasmania], and which
treats, not only of all the Australasian Colonies, but also of
all the principal countries in the way to them. I might also try
to ascertain whether he has broken up his own paragraphs, after
the fashion of his dealing with mine [The paragraphs seem to us
fairly quoted.] Every one knows how easy it is by such a process
to make things look alike, which are in their own setting and
original connexion sufficiently different. Not that I am about to
charge this writer with intentional misrepresentation: an attempt
at brevity may be a great part of the explanation.
The fact is, that in my travels I did as everybody else does:
that is, I read whatever came in my way bearing on the countries
through which I was passing; but I took care to note down my own
observations and impressions; and if, in doing so, some terms,
perfectly true to my own views, though, possibly, they had been
employed by others, adhered to my memory, and found their way
into my manuscript, no reader of books of travel could feel
surprise. In the several colonies of Australia, as in other parts
of the world (as often as I could do so), I availed myself of the
judgment of intelligent friends, who had the advantage of longer
residence, with a view to secure accuracy in the statement of
facts, etc. In this instance, there are peculiar circumstances
which, for explanation and proof, rest upon minute examination,
not only of my own manuscript notes, but also of the written
suggestions of others. And had the complainant communicated
with me through my publisher, or otherwise, there would have
been supplied to him evidence fully to account for the apparent
resemblances in subjects and terms to which he has referred. He
has not done so; and as I do not choose to leave the case, as
it really is, to depend upon my own single assertion, I have
submitted it, with all the papers in question, to gentlemen whose
public character and intellectual competency are above suspicion.
They all have authorized the appending of their names to the
following declaration by themselves; but as it is not necessary
to give all their signatures, I content myself with two: the one
by a gentleman of Cornwall, well known by his numerous writings;
and the other by a minister of high standing in the metropolis.
FREDERICK J. JOBSON.
“At Dr. Jobson’s request, we have examined the manuscripts and
proofs, to which reference is made above; and are fully satisfied
of the correctness of his statement; and that there is no just
cause, literary or otherwise, for the unfavourable reflections
which have been cast upon him.
“GEORGE SMITH, LL.D., F.S.A.
“WILLIAM W. STAMP.”
JORROCKS (John) _pseud._ [SURTEES].
Jorrock’s Jaunts and Jollities; or, the ... exploits of that renowned
Sporting Citizen, John Jorrocks. With twelve illustrations by Phiz
[_pseud._] _R. Ackermann_. 1838. royal 8vo, £1. 5s.
J. R. L., _init._ [LOWELL]. The Poetical Works of J. Keats, with a
Life (signed J. R. L.) Boston, 1854.
J. R. M., _init._ [MACCULLOCH].
Tracts ... on Metallic and Paper Currency, by S. J. Lloyd (edited by
----). 1858.
JUNE (Jennie), _phrenonym_ [Mrs. JENNIE CROLY].
JUNIUS, _pseudonym_.
The Letters of Junius and Philo-Junius, 1769-1772.
First published in the “Public Advertiser.” They are often talked
about, but seldom read, only the mystery about the author has
kept up the excitement. We cannot do more than say that nearly
every celebrated man of the time (and some obscure ones too)
has had these letters attributed to him. The author is not
authoritatively ascertained. A full account will be found in S.
Austin Allibone’s Critical Dict. of English Literature, 1859,
under Junius, etc. See Lowndes by Bohn.
There is also: Junius Redivivus, Junius Secundus, Philo Junius;
and Junius has been constantly used as a mask since it was made
celebrated, though chiefly by writers in periodical publications.
J. W., deceased, in usum Amicorum, _init._ [JOHN WILSON, of
Islington].
The Music of the Soul, etc., in verse. Lond., 1829.
Privately printed, see Martin.
J. W., _initialism_. See L * * * (Mrs.)
J. W., _init._ [JOHN WADE, Barrister-at-Law].
The Cabinet Lawyer, a popular digest of the Laws of England. 22nd
edit. _Longman_, 1866.
Semi-anonymous, the preface is signed J. W.
J. W. H. M., _init._ [JOHN WILLIAM HENRY MOLYNEAUX].
Private Prayers ... selected from Bishop Andrewes’ Devotions (by
----). 1866.
K.
K., _initialism_ [JOHN COLLYER KNIGHT].
Queried Tracts, from Kitto’s Journal of Sacred Literature. Lond.,
1851.
KATE (Cousin) _prenonym_ [CATHERINE D. BELL].
Set about it at once, or Cousin Kate’s Story. An Autumn at Karnford,
a sequel to, etc. Edinburgh, 1847. Georgie and Lizzie, 1849. What
may I learn, or Sketches of School-girls, 1849. The Douglas Family
[1851]. Margaret Cecil: or, “I can because I ought,” 1851. Arnold
Lee: or, Rich Children and Poor Children [1852]. Lily Gordon, the
Young Housekeeper, 1853. Hope Campbell, or, know thyself [1854]. Mary
Elliott, or be ye kind to one another. 2nd edit. [1856]. New Stories
[1861]. My first Pennies. Boston [U. S., 1864].
KERR (Orpheus C.), _phrenonym_ (Office Seeker). [R. H. NEWELL, of New
York].
What the satire of “Hudibras” was to the great civil war of the time
of Charles I. and Oliver Cromwell, it is pretended the “Orpheus C.
Kerr Letters” have been to the recent American struggle.
Avery Glibun; or between Two Fires: a romance. New York, 1867,
Is his latest production; as the preface is not lengthy, we
will give it:--“Avery Glibun being my first essay in sustained
fiction, it seems remarkably prudent to say no more about it.”
KETCH (John) _pseud._ [ ].
The Autobiography of a notorious Legal Functionary (J. K.) with 14
illustrations from designs by Meadows. Lond., 1836.
K. H., _initialism_ [ ].
Sketches in Prose and Poetry. _Smith & Elder_, 1838.
KIRKE (Edmund), _pseud._ [JAMES R. GILMORE].
Life in Dixie’s Land, etc., 1863. My Southern Friends, 1863. Down in
Tennessee, and back by way of Richmond. New York, 1864. Among the
Guerillas, 1866. Patriot Boys. Boston, 1866.
KIRWAN, _pseud._ [Rev. NICHOLAS MURRAY].
Romanism at Home. 6th edition. New York, 1852. Men and Things as I
saw them in Europe, 1853. The Happy Home, 1858.
KNICKERBOCKER (Diedrick) _pseud._ [WASHINGTON IRVING].
The History of New York, numerous editions.
One of the wittiest works of this brilliant author. “The first
part was sketched in company with Dr. Peter Irving.”--_Allibone._
L.
L., _ps._ [CATHERINE SWANWICK].
Poems. London, 1858, etc.
L., _init._ [JAMES LENOX].
Shakespeare’s Plays in folio, Bibliographical Notices of the same.
New York, 1861.
L---- (Lady), _disguised-author_ [Lady LYONS].
Olivia; a tale, etc. Philip Hetherington. The Lover upon Trial. All
1847.
L * * * (Mrs.), _disguised-author_ [LEFEVRE].
An extract of Letters, by ----, edited by J. W. [John Wesley].
Dublin, 1808.
Several editions before this year.
L. A. D., _pseud._ [ILFRACOMBE].
Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Pari Banon, a Drawing Room piece, 1859.
LASCELLES (Lady Caroline) _pseudo-titlonym_ [M. E. BRADDON?]
The Black Band, first published in the Halfpenny Journal.
The following, from the Athenæum, requires no explanation from us:--
THE MANUFACTURE OF NOVELS.