Page:Observations on an autograph of Shakespeare, and the orthography of his name.djvu/13

 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 and Ireland have always appeared to me thoroughly