The DNB records that Boaden 'stated clearly in this letter his grounds for believing the Ireland papers to be spurious; but he did not attempt to deny that he, like so many others, had been at first deceived'; in the entry for Ireland , son of Samuel, theDNB notes: ' Encouraged by his success, young Ireland had presented his father... with a new blank-verse play, 'Vortigern and Rowena', in what he represented to be Shakespeare's autograph ... [he] concocted a series of deeds to prove that an ancestor ofthe same names as himself had saved Shakespeare from drowning, and had been rewarded by the dramatist with all the manuscripts which had just been brought to light.' He eventually 'admitted the imposture' and 'gave a history of the forgeries'.

NUC notes: 'The Papers are generally considered the fabrications of W. H. Ireland; B.L. attributes 'Vortigern' to Samuel W. H. Ireland'.

Half-title reads: 'A Letter to George Steevens, Esq.' ...

ESTC3048B5 ...Vortigern [by S.W.H. Ireland].