wick, in Staffordshire, about three miles from Birmingham, and thus contiguous to the county which gave Shakspere birth. How or when this gentleman first became possessed of it, is not known; but it is very certain that, previous to the year 1780, Mr. Patteson used to exhibit the volume to his friends as a curiosity, on account of the autograph. No public notice of it, however, was at any time made; and, contented with this faint notoriety, the autograph of Shakspere continued to slumber in the hands of this gentleman and his son, until by the friendly representations of Mr. Barnwell, the present owner was induced to bring it to the British Museum for inspection. Now, imperfect as this information is, yet it is ample of itself to set at rest all doubts that might at first naturally arise in the minds of those who are acquainted with the forgeries of Ireland, since, at the period when this volume was assuredly in the library at Smethwick, and known to contain Shakspere's autograph, this literary impostor was scarcely born. This fact must at once obviate any scruples in regard to the autograph now brought forward, having emanated from the same manufactory which produced the "Miscellaneous Papers." For myself, I may be permitted to remark, that the forgeries of Chatterton[1] and Ireland have always appeared to me thoroughly contempt-
- ↑ The Chatterton forgeries are now preserved in the British Museum, MSS. Add. 5766, a.b.c. and exhibit the most decisive proofs of the impudence of the imposture, and the obstinate ignorance of those who were to the last its champions. These defenders of Rowley argue that Chatterton was incapable of reading any work of research; but if so, how is it we find among his fictions the list of romances printed in Madox's Formulare Anglicanum, and a copy of the kneeling figure of one of the Howard family,
