Page:An Inquiry into the Authenticity of certain Papers and Instruments attributed to Shakspeare.djvu/19

dence, it is not easy to conjecture. The writer should seem to have supposed that the labels and seals appendant to the deeds, because exterior, were external evidence: but neither these, nor the faded ink and discoloured paper or parchment, in my apprehension, come within that description. The only external evidence, strictly speaking, that has been produced, is the narrative, which I shall presently transcribe, stating that these treasures were found in a nameless place, in the custody of a nameless person. If these profound Scholars, Antiquaries, and Heralds are satisfied with that account, I can only say that they are very easily satisfied; and that, if the hand-writing is also to be considered as external evidence, their credulity on that head is perfectly consistent with the satisfaction which they feel in the manner in which these papers have been ushered to the publick.—In the position that “it was impossible so much could be hazarded without betraying itself,” I entirely agree with these gentlemen: the fabrication of these manuscripts, by whomsoever made, has accordingly betrayed itself almost in every line; so as to shew, beyond a possibility of doubt, that not a single piece in this collection was the pro-