![Samuel Ireland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Samuel_Ireland.jpg)
Samuel Ireland (21 May 1744 – July 1800), English author and engraver, is best remembered today as the chief victim of the
Ireland Shakespeare forgeries
The Ireland Shakespeare forgeries were a cause célèbre in 1790s London, when author and engraver Samuel Ireland announced the discovery of a treasure-trove of Shakespearean manuscripts by his son William Henry Ireland. Among them were the manu ...
created by his son,
William Henry Ireland
William Henry Ireland (1775–1835) was an English forger of would-be Shakespearean documents and plays. He is less well known as a poet, writer of gothic novels and histories. Although he was apparently christened William-Henry, he was known a ...
.
Early life
He began life as a weaver in
Spitalfields
Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, but soon took to dealing in prints and drawings and devoted his spare time to teaching himself drawing, etching, and engraving. He made sufficient progress to obtain a medal from the
Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
in 1760. In 1784 he appears as an exhibitor for the first and apparently only time at the Royal Academy, sending a view of Oxford. Between 1780 and 1785 he etched many plates after
John Hamilton Mortimer
John Hamilton Mortimer (17 September 1740 – 4 February 1779) was a British figure and landscape painter and printmaker, known for romantic paintings set in Italy, works depicting conversations, and works drawn in the 1770s portraying war ...
and
Hogarth. Etched portraits by him of
General Oglethorpe (1785) and
Thomas Inglefield
Thomas may refer to:
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* Thomas (name)
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* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
, an armless artist (1787), are in the print room of the British Museum, together with etchings after
Ruisdael Ruisdael or Ruysdael is a Dutch surname. Notable persons with that name include:
* Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael ( 1629–1682), Dutch Golden Age landscape painter, best-known of his family
* Salomon van Ruysdael ( 1602–1670), Dutch Golden Age l ...
(1786) and
Teniers Teniers is a Dutch language surname. It may refer to:
*Abraham Teniers (1629–1670), Flemish painter
*David Teniers the Elder
David Teniers the Elder (158229 July 1649), Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp.
Biography
Having received his fi ...
(1787) and other masters, and some architectural drawings in water-colour.
Meanwhile, Ireland's taste for collecting books, pictures, and curiosities gradually became an all-absorbing passion. In 1794 he proved the value of part of his collection by issuing "Graphic Illustrations of Hogarth, from Pictures, Drawings, and Scarce Prints in the Author's Possession." Some of the plates were etched by himself. A second volume appeared in 1799. The work is of high interest, although it is possible that Ireland has assigned to Hogarth some drawings by other artists.
Picturesque views
![Houghton 59S-195 Samuel Ireland,Cloptan House, 1795](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Houghton_59S-195_Samuel_Ireland%2CCloptan_House%2C_1795.jpg)
In 1790 Ireland published ''A Picturesque Tour through Holland, Brabant, and part of France made in the Autumn of 1789,'' London (2 vols. Roy. 8vo and in large-paper 4to). It was dedicated to
Francis Grose
Francis Grose (born before 11 June 1731 – 12 May 1791) was an English antiquary, draughtsman, and lexicographer. He produced ''A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'' (1785) and ''A Provincial Glossary, with a Collection of Local Prove ...
and contained etchings on copper in aquatint from drawings made by the author "on the spot." He paid at least one visit to France, and the charge brought against him by his enemies that he was never out of England is unfounded. A second edition appeared in 1795. The series, which was long valued by collectors, was continued in the same form in ''Picturesque Views on the River Thames,'' 1792 (2 vols., 2nd ed. 1800–1801); in ''Picturesque Views on the River Medway,'' 1793 (1 vol.); in ''Picturesque Views on the Warwickshire Avon,'' 1795 (1 vol.); and in ''Picturesque Views on the River Wye,'' 1797 (1 vol.). In 1800, just after Ireland's death, appeared ''Picturesque Views, with an Historical Account of the Inns of Court in London and Westminster,'' and the series was concluded by the publication in 1824 of ''Picturesque Views on the River Severn'' (2 vols.), with colored lithographs, after drawings by Ireland, and descriptions by T. Harral. Ireland had announced the immediate issue of this work in his volume on the Wye in 1797.
In 1790 Ireland resided in Arundel Street, off the
Strand
Strand may refer to:
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*The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a:
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* Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa
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, and a year later removed to 8 Norfolk Street. His household consisted of Mrs Freeman, a housekeeper and amanuensis, whose handwriting shows her to have been a woman of education, a son
William Henry, and a daughter Jane. The latter painted some clever miniatures. Ireland also had a married daughter, Anna Maria Barnard. The family Bible shows that all three children were illegitimate and that Mrs Freeman was their mother. Her original name was Anna Maria de Burgh Coppinger.
Enthusiasm for Shakespeare
Ireland was a fervent admirer of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, and in 1793, when preparing his "Picturesque Views of the Avon," he took his son with him to
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
, to examine carefully all the sights associated with the dramatist. The father recorded many local traditions, which he accepted as true, including those concocted for his benefit (according to
Sidney Lee
Sir Sidney Lee (5 December 1859 – 3 March 1926) was an English biographer, writer, and critic.
Biography
Lee was born Solomon Lazarus Lee in 1859 at 12 Keppel Street, Bloomsbury, London. He was educated at the City of London School and at ...
) by John Jordan, a Stratford poet, who was his chief guide throughout his visit.
In his pursuit of information about Shakespeare, Ireland learned from some of the oldest inhabitants that manuscripts had been moved from Shakespeare's residence at
New Place
New Place () was William Shakespeare's final place of residence in Stratford-upon-Avon. He died there in 1616. Though the house no longer exists, the site is owned by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which maintains it as a specially-desig ...
to
Clopton House
Clopton House is a 17th-century country mansion near Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, now converted into residential apartments. It is a Grade II* listed building.
The Manor of Clopton was granted to the eponymous family in the 13th century and ...
at the time of the Stratford fire. To Clopton House he went, where he learned from the tenant that the manuscripts he was seeking had been destroyed only a week before. His disappointment was extreme. "My God! Sir, you are not aware of the loss which the world has sustained. Would to heaven I had arrived sooner!".
Forgeries
Late in 1794 his son, William Henry, claimed to have discovered a mortgage deed signed by Shakespeare, in an old trunk belonging to a mysterious acquaintance of his, whom he designated only as Mr. H. In fact he had forged the deed himself, using blank parchment cut from an ancient deed at his employer's office. Prominent authorities pronounced it genuine, and soon other items followed – a letter from Queen Elizabeth, a love-poem by Shakespeare written to his future wife, "Anna Hatherreway", the original manuscript of King Lear, and the manuscript of an otherwise unknown play, ''
Vortigern and Rowena
''Vortigern and Rowena'', or ''Vortigern, an Historical Play'', is a play that was touted as a newly discovered work by William Shakespeare when it first appeared in 1796. It was eventually revealed to be a Shakespeare hoax, the product of promi ...
''.
These were soon on display at Ireland's house, where notable literary men such as
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 (New Style, N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the Englis ...
,
Samuel Parr
Samuel Parr (26 January 1747 – 6 March 1825), was an English schoolmaster, writer, minister and Doctor of Law. He was known in his time for political writing, and (flatteringly) as "the Whig Johnson", though his reputation has lasted less well ...
,
Joseph Warton
Joseph Warton (April 1722 – 23 February 1800) was an English academic and literary critic.
He was born in Dunsfold, Surrey, England, but his family soon moved to Hampshire, where his father, the Reverend Thomas Warton, became vicar of B ...
, and
Henry James Pye
Henry James Pye (; 20 February 1745 – 11 August 1813) was an English poet, and Poet Laureate from 1790 until his death. His appointment owed nothing to poetic achievement, and was probably a reward for political favours. Pye was merely a ...
, the poet laureate, pronounced them genuine. The chief Shakespearean scholars of the day,
Edmond Malone
Edmond Malone (4 October 174125 May 1812) was an Irish Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of William Shakespeare.
Assured of an income after the death of his father in 1774, Malone was able to give up his law practice for at first p ...
and
George Steevens
George Steevens (10 May 1736 – 22 January 1800) was an English Shakespearean commentator.
Biography Early life
He was born at Poplar, the son of a captain and later director of the East India Company. He was educated at Eton College and at ...
, however, unhesitatingly denounced them as forgeries. (One curious exception was
George Chalmers, who made genuine contributions to Shakespeare scholarship, but who was nonetheless taken in by the imposition.)
Samuel Ireland, however, had no doubts about their genuineness, and published them in a folio volume in December 1795. Exposure quickly followed.
James Boaden
James Boaden (23 May 1762 – 16 February 1839) was an English biographer, dramatist, and journalist.
Biographer
He was the son of William Boaden, a merchant in the Russia trade. He was born at Whitehaven, Cumberland, on 23 May 1762, and at ...
, formerly a believer, responded with "A Letter to George Steevens", published in January 1796, that attacked their authenticity, but the decisive blow was delivered by Edmond Malone's response, ''An Enquiry into the Authenticity of Certain Papers and Legal Instruments'', published in March 1796. The failure of ''Vortigern and Rowena'' on its first performance quickly followed on 2 April 1796.
Final years
Ireland never recovered from these disappointments. Although his son admitted to the hoax in his ''Authentic Account'' (1796), many blamed the father. He published in November 1796 ''A Vindication of His Conduct,'' defending himself from charges of having willfully deceived the public, and with the help of
Thomas Caldecott attacked Malone, whom he saw as his chief enemy, in ''An Investigation of Mr. Malone's Claim to the Character of Scholar and Critic''. On 29 October 1796 he was ridiculed on stage at Covent Garden as Sir Bamber Blackletter in
Reynolds's ''
Fortune's Fool''. When in 1797 he published his ''Picturesque Tour on the Wye'', its chilling reception and the pecuniary loss to which it led proved how low his reputation had fallen. George Chalmers's learned ''Apology for the Believers in the Shakesperian Papers'' with its ''Supplemental Apology'' (1797), mainly attacked Malone, made little reference to the papers, and failed to restore Ireland's credit. In 1799 he had the hardihood to publish both ''Vortigern'' and ''Henry II,'' whose copyrights his son gave him before leaving home, and made vain efforts to get the latter represented on the stage. Obloquy still pursued him, and more than once he considered legal proceedings against his detractors. He died in July 1800 and Dr Latham, who attended him, recorded a deathbed declaration "that he was totally ignorant of the deceit, and was equally a believer in the authenticity of the manuscripts as those who were the most credulous." He was never reconciled to his son. His old books and curiosities were sold by auction in London on 7–15 May 1801. The original forgeries and many rare Shakespeare editions were described in the printed catalogue. His correspondence on the forgeries was purchased by the British Museum in 1877.
[ Cites cf. Addit. MS. 30349-53.]
Works
*''A Picturesque Tour through Holland, Brabant, and part of France made in the Autumn of 1789,'' London, 179
Volume 1at Google
Volume 2at Google
*''Picturesque Views on the River Thames,'' 1792, 2 vols., 2nd ed. 1800–1801
volume 1an
volume 2at Google
''Picturesque Views on the River Medway,''1793, 1 vol.
''Graphic Illustrations of Hogarth'' 1794
Views on the Upper, or Warwickshire Avon,''1795, 1 vol.
*''Miscellaneous Paper and Legal Instruments under the Hand and Seal of William Shakespeare, including the Tragedy of King Lear and a Small Fragment of Hamlet, from the Original Manuscripts in the Possession of Samuel Ireland,'' London, 1796
*
Mr. Ireland's Vindication of His Conduct Respecting the Publication of the Supposed Shakspeare MSS., London, 1796
*''An Investigation of Mr. Malone's Claim to the Character of Scholar or Critic, Being an Examination of His Inquiry into the Authenticity of the Shakespeare MSS.'', 1797
*''Picturesque Views on the River Wye,'' 1797, 1 vol.
Views, with an Historical Account of the Inns of Court in London and Westminster,''1800
*''Picturesque Views on the River Severn'' (2 vols.), with coloured lithographs, after drawings by Ireland, and descriptions by T. Harral, 1824
Notes
References
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ireland, Samuel
1744 births
1800 deaths
People from Spitalfields
18th-century engravers
British engravers
18th-century British writers