The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-03-31

cut, wfth but enc or TWO exoepeonS, 0Ygoriee. y
is propcr 70 cay 81 once that Mr. koxon hss bean
deceived, and that no gentleman, from the moment
Of the discovery could have acted moro straightfor-
wardly and promptly than he has done in this trans
action. As soon as be was convinced that he had
been the means-the innocent means-of giving 70
the public false article, be did his best 70 repair
his mistake. He has suppressed the book, and has
called in the copies delivered to the trade.
The discovery was made in quite an accidental
manner. Mr.. hoxon had sent o copy Of the book
to Mr.. Tennyson. During visit which Mr.. Pal
grave was paying TO Mr.. Tennyson, he dipped into
the Shelly volume, and lighted on letter written
from Florence to Goodwin, the better half of which
he ut recognized as part Of an article on Flo
renee written for the Quarterly Recieic far back
as 1910, by his father Sir Francis Palgrave 1t is
good to find son 80 well versed in the writings OF
his father as young Mr. Palgrave proved himself to
be on this occasion. He lost no time, as we may
suppose, in communicating his curious discovery to
his father; and Sir Francis, after comparing the
printed letter with the printed article, wrote at
to Mr.. Moxon, informing him that the letter, by
whomsoever written, crib from an article
which he had written for the Quarterly Revie,c.
Startled at such intelligence, Mr. Moxon replied,
that he had bought the letter at public sale, among
other letters also by Shelley, and that the passage
of which Sir Francis claimed the authorship was
contained in letter written by Shelley, carrying
upon it the post-mark of the period and other
written signs which apparently marked it to be
genuine. The Deputy Keeper Of the Public Records
was it may be readily imagined, equally startled with
Mr.. Moxon at the announcement OF such a fact. He
wanted to see the letter. The letter was produced
1t looks genuine-is it not genuine 20 81 am the
author Of that passage, but not the writer Of that
letter. was the reply of Sir Francis. But may
not Sir Francis, it was urged to Mr.. Moxon, have
this letter in the noble collection OF autographs
belonging to his tather-in-law, Mr. Dawson Turner'
question which emily added fresh difficulty to the
solution sought.
In this emergency, Mr.. Moxon had recourse to the
assistance of n gentleman known to be conversant
hands, with a request that he would spare no pains
to ascertain the truth about them and with this in
formation to guide him-that they had been shown
to post Office clerks at the General Post Office,
who TO the best Of their belief" pronounced them
TO be genuine.
The first step takenafter this, was to compare the
postmarks with Byron's letters to Mr.. Murray,
posted from the same cities in the same month and
year, and to the same city--London. Here they
failed--and in this way. Where Ravenna'' on a
genuine letter was in small sharp type, in the
Shelley letter it was in large uncertain type; and
in the letters from Venice the postmark of the City
of Palaces was stamped in an Italc, and not, as in
the Shelley specimens, in Roman letter! These
were strong facts; but then the dates agreed with
Shelley's sOjoum ut the several places-the seals
were correct The handwriting was marveiousy
Shcy-like-no hesitation about ia free aceus
toned hand Are they not genuineP'
From whom did Mr.. Moxon buy these letters!
They were bought at Sotheby Wilkinson's at
large prices. From whom did Messrs. Sotheby and
Wilkinson rcheiee them for sael We had them
from Mr.. White, the bookseller in Pail Mall, over
against the Reform Club on runs the gentleman
detective. "From whom did you, Mr.. White OBJ
tain letters ?"-" bought them Of two women--I
supposed them to be genuine, and paid large
prices for them in that belief Such arc the words
supposedto have been spoken by Mr.. White. The
two women would appear to have been like the man
in a clergyman's band, but with lawyers gown,
who brought Pope's letters to CURL.
1t would be impolitc at this stage of an impor-
ant inquiry to publish the whole of the particulars
placed at our service IN calculation OF the forgery
Of these letters. II is proper however, to say thus
early, that there has been Of late years. as we are
assured, most systematic and wholesale forgery of
letters purportng to be written by Byron, Shelley
and keats--that these forgcrics carry upon them
such marks of gcnuneness rs have deceived the
entire body Of London collectors--that they are
executed with skill to which the forgeres Of Chat
terton and Ireland can lay no clam--that they
have sold at public auctions and by the hands of
booksellers TO collectors of experience and rank
and that the imposition has extended to a large
collection of books bearing not only the signature
of Lord Byron, but notes by him in many of their
pages-the matter Of the letters being selected with
a thorough knowledge of Byron's life and feelings
and the whole of the books chosen with the minutest
knowledge of his tastes and peculiarities.
But the marvel OF the forgery is not yet told.
At the same sale at which Mr.. Moxon bought the
Shelley letters, were cataogued for sale series of
(uupublishod> letters from Shelley to his wife,
vealing the innermOs secrets Of his heart, aud con-
tainirg facts, not wholly dshonorable facts to a
fathers memory. hut such as a son would wish to
conceal. These letters were bought in by the son
of Shelley, the present Sir Percy Shelley; and are
now proved, We are told. to be forgeres TO i'm
pose on the credulity of collector is a minor Of
fence compared with the crime Of forging evidence
against the dead, and still minor as in instance
against the fidelity off, woman
Our readers will remember that il is our practice
to report the principal autograph sales and TO offer.
when opportunity occurs. extracts from letters and
documents of historical or biographical importance.
Now, some of the documents and letters 10 which
we have called attention, have since, through
publicity, undergone the severe trial Of Sir FIRE.
derrick Madden's critical judgment, and have
found lifting place on the shelves Of the British
Museum. We have, however, we fear, given addi-
tlonal publicity TO of these undoubed Shelley
and Byron forgeries; and if readers will turn
to our account of the sale, at Puttick Simpsons,
of Mr.. Hodgess collection of autographs they will
find extracts of letters from Shelley to Byron and
from Byron to Shelley (the former especially, the
presumed originals Of which we have now no doubt
were forgeres. Sheley's letter containing an as
.ertion against the fidelity Of Harriet" which
sold for CO 6s., and which excited even then our in
dgnant protest, although we had no reason to
doubt its genuineness-was of this sort. The for
gerry OF Chatterton injured no one but an imaginary
prest-the forgery of Ireland made great poet
seem to write worse than Settle could have written
but this forgery backens the character of great
man, and, worse still. traduces female virtue.
Mr.. Moxon is not the only publisher taken in.
Mr. Murray has been heavy sufferer, though not
Shelley purchases; Mr.. Murray, wise through Mr..
Moxon's example, will not publish his Byron ac-
QUESTIONS.
Terrible Blow TO the Women I'm Berlin.
From the London News. March 81
Six years ago, Mutual Dowry Society was
formed at Berlin, and sanctioned by the govern
ment. Any female under twenty lone years OF age
could be inscribed for sum of from fifteen to
ty-fve pounds, which she was to receive produ-
cling her certificate Of marriage, but not till she had
contributed for at least five years to the fund-the
contributions levied in weekly or monthly sums, ac-
cording to the calls on the fund In the first year,
of course, there were no claims. The directors le-
We'd in the first year, only hree-quarters per cent?
in the second year and half; and in the fifth
year not more than three per cent? on the whole
eleven per cent in five years. This, Of course was
very enticing host Of poor girls believed that by
paying only eleven pounds in small rates, they
would get q hundreds and SO, in fact, some did,
whom the directors regarded decoy ducks. AT
present, upwards Of fourteen thousand girls, with
claims 10 the amount Of Gsi0,0O0, are inscribed.
averaging EGO each The bubble, however, has
burst When the sixth year came and the first
4 L.