938
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
with tbeii faces blackened, and otherwise dis- figured, who cut off his ears, part of one of his cheeks, and beat and kicked him in a most brutal maner. A reward of £200 was offered by the government for their apprehension.
1835, April 17. Died, William Henry Ire- land, some time editor of the York Herald, and whose name is rendered notorious by one of the boldest litenury impostures recorded in English history. He was the son of Samuel Irehmd,* bom in London, and educated at Soho school; after which he was articled to a conreyancer in New Inn, where having some leisure he began to exercise his ingenuity in the imitation of an- cient writing. His success iu these attempts set him upon the bold design of forging some papers, and passing them off as the genuine remains of Shal^peare. Having executed some of these on the blank leaves of old books, he communicated the treasure to his father, who, strange to say, made a parade of the discovery to ^e world, without secretly examining into the authenticity of the manuscripts, and the truth of the tale which he related concerning the manner of his obtaining them. For some time the public were greatly amused by these literary relics, and a few individuals, whose names stood high in the literary world, ought to have known better than to have lent themselves to the support of this gross imposition, and encourage, by subscription, a collection which was a disgrace to literature. A splendid volume made its ap- pearance in 1796, and a play was performed at Dmrv-lane theatre with the title of Vortigem; but this last dissolved the spell, and the discern- ment of an English audience quickly detected the cheat, of which no doubt could be enter- tained after the ample exposure it experienced from Mr. Malone.
In 1796, Mr. Ireland published An Authentic Account of the Shaktpeare Manutcripti, 8vo. in which he makes the following declaration :
" I tolenmlr declare first, that my father was perfectly niiacqnainted with the whole ailUr, beUerlng the papers moat firmly the productions of Sbakspeare. Secondly, that I am myself both the author and writer, and had no aid ftom any soul Uvlnf(, 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 pnbUcation which may appear, tending to prove the manoseripts genuine, or to contradict what is here stated, is fklse I this beioc the true acconnt. W. H. Inland."
Besides the tragedy of Vortigem, Mr. Ireland produced an historical drama, entitled/fenfy//., which he wished to impose upon the world as the genuine production of Sbakspeare. He was also the author of several novels, romances, and poems.
- Samnel Ireland, was originally a mechanic in Spital-
fields, London, bat having a tnrn for dravring and engrav- ing, b» aoaght to torn it to account by pablishing travels, adorned with prints. With this view he published a Pie- twrague Tour tkrough Holland, Braia>t, and part of rranee, in 1780, which was followed in ITia, by Pietmrmque riem on the Miter Tkame; 8vo. t and in lygs, PMureiue r<nm oa IMt Biter Jfedwof. In 1794, he pobllshed OrapUc llkutratlOHt of aogarth. Mr. Ireland's last work was Pieturaqae View, with an HIttorleal Account of the Imu of Court. He died June II, 1800.
1636, May 9. Died, David Hilton, a res- pectable newsvender of London, and honorary seceretary to the newsvenders' society, the duties of which he discharged with exemplary assiduity aud fidelity, under circumstances that imposed upon him no ordinary responsibility. He wss particularly instrumental in procuring the aboli- tion of the monopoly of the post-ofiSce clerks in regard to the sale of newspapers. This mono- poly was an extreme hardship upon the indepen- dent tradesman. Mr. Hilton was descended from the Hiltons, of Hilton castle, in the county of Durham, a family once possessed of great wealth and high disUnction, but which ulti- mately fell into decay. His remains were interred in the burial ground of St. James's, Clerkenwell.
1835, Mag 15. Mr. Winks, printer, Leicester, convicted in the penalty of £5, for not having registered his printing-press according to law.
1835, Mag 15. A petition from the lord mayor, alderman, and common council of .the city of London, was presented to the house of lords, praying for the abolition of the stamp duties on newspapers. In the course of the session, there were presented to the house of commons 142 petitions with 57,848 signatures, praying for the same. Two petitions, with thirty signatures, were presented against the repeal of duty.
1835, Mag 16. Died, Richard Harris, for- merly printer of the Sun London daily paper, and for many years clerk and publisher of'^the London Gazette. Mr. Harris died at Kensington, aged seventy-two years.
1835, June 18. JXed, William Cobbett, M.P. for Oldham, a celebrated political writer, and for forty years connected with the periodical press of England. He is one of those oulri animals that cannot be described. As a writer, bis essays, sermons, and speeches; his disserta- tions upon English grammar* and straw plait, his speculations upon currencyf and Swedish tur- nips; set criticism at defiance, and completely bewilder the reader with the versatility of his genius — or, we should rather say, with the inter- mixed display of sound sense and insanity, with which all his productions abound. He was the third of four sons of a small farmer and publican, at Farnham, in Surrey, and bred to his father's occupation, till in 1783 he privately quitted his home, and repaired to London, where he became "an undeistrapping quill driver," as he calls himself, to an attorney in Grav's Inn. This employment not suiting his restless disposition, he repaired, in 1784, to Chatham, and enlisted into a marching regiment, which he joined the
- It is a curioos fact, that whilst in England the govern-
ment could scarcely resist the urgency of the appUcatiosia made to abolish the duty on uewsp^Kis. the goTcmment of Calcutta was urged by the liberal press (the EngHtkmam and Hurkaru) to lay a stamp duty on newspapers, in order that they might dr^nlate the in the provinces.
t He learned grammar, he says, when he was a soMier on sixpence per day.
t At the time that Cobbett was directing all his enei«ics to write down the paper system, his numerous ^lecula. ttons were snppoited by accommodation paper to the amount of iMo,00«. nils was stated by Mr. Scarlett, now lord Ablnger, on bis trial, in December, iSM.
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