Samuel Ireland - Final Years

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 the charges of having willfully deceived the public, and with the help of Thomas Caldecott attacked Malone, whom he regarded 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, the chilling reception with which it met 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, the copyrights of which his son gave him before leaving home, and he made vain efforts to get the latter represented on the stage. Obloquy still pursued him, and more than once he contemplated legal proceedings against his detractors. He died in July 1800, and Dr. Latham, who attended him, recorded his 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 7–15 May 1801. The original copies of the forgeries and many rare editions of Shakespeare’s works were described in the printed catalogue. His correspondence respecting the forgeries was purchased by the British Museum in 1877.