RICARDUS CORINENSIS. 181 



Lave been addressed by Sir John Bruce to Lord Binning: "I send 

 you a true copy of the manuscript I found some weeks ago in a vault 

 at Dunfermline. It is written on vellum, in a fair gothic character, 

 but so much defaced by time, as you'll find, that the tenth part is not 

 legible." Sir John Bruce, a brother-in-law of Lady Wardlaw, was 

 already ia his grave, so no questions could be asked. Whoever penned 

 the extract, most probably meant nine-tenths, when he referred to 'Hhe 

 tenth part." But to whomsoever its authorship be ascribed, the letter 

 was not more genuine than the parchment it referred to. 



The poem itself had long before issued from the press of James Wat- 

 son, of Edinburgh, in the form of a twelve page folio tract; but later 

 editions include additional stanzas, over and above those first produced by 

 Lady Wardlaw in practical acknowledgment of her title to the author- 

 ship of the whole. To the versatile pen of this little-heeded Scottish 

 poetess, Dr. Robert Chambers has since ascribed the production of "Sir 

 Patrick Spens," "Gil Morrice," " Young Waters," " Gilderoy," and 

 others : the cream of Scottish ballads, hiiherto regarded as genuine 

 antiques, and printed by Percy as such, though not always without 

 unacknowledged patchings, or variations and additions on the authority 

 of his ancient folio MS. 



Or let us take an example among the foremost critics of that day. 

 The hero of the "Dunciad," Lewis Theobald, had his revenge on his 

 satirist, by publishing a critical edition of Shakespeare's dramas which 

 completely eclipsed that of Pope, and is still recognised as a valuable 

 addition to Shakespeiian textual criticism. But in 1728, he printed, 

 as a genuine play of Shakespeare, recovered from an original manu- 

 script: "The Double Falsehood," a worthless production, which was 

 nevertheless introduced on the stage, and received with general admira- 

 tion. The followiog passage, so foreign alike to the style and rhythm 

 of Shakespeare, was specially singled out for general commendation :— 



" SLi'ite up, my masters ; 

 !But touch the strings with a religious softness ; 

 Teach sound to languish through the night's dull ear, 

 Till melancholy start from her lazy couch, 

 And carelessness grow convert to attention." 



The vanity of the real author was not proof against the seductive 

 applause lavished on these choice lines. He confessed that they were 

 his own, but at the same time persisted in accrediting Shakespeare 

 with the rest. The title of "The Double Falsehood " most aptly pre- 



