Treasures from nowhere
In London in 1796, Edmond Malone published an inquiry against letters, deeds and plays attributed to Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth and their contemporaries. Samuel Ireland defended the papers in a reply published under his name. More than old spelling was at stake: if the cache was authentic, it added unknown documents to Shakespeare's history; if it was not, the appearance of the paper had misled readers and collectors.
Malone began with the reported provenance. A discoverer supposedly encountered deeds useful to a gentleman and was then promised any further material relating to Shakespeare. The cache expanded: annotated books, three manuscript plays and part of a fourth appeared at a country house.
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.
In pursuing this search he was so fortunate as to meet with some deeds very material to the interest of this gentleman, and such as established, beyond all doubt, his title to a considerable property:
this gentleman promised him every thing relative to the present subject, that had been, or should be found either in town, or at his house in the country. At this house the principal part of the papers, together with a great variety of books, containing his MS. notes, and three MS. plays, with part of another, were discovered.
For Malone, the only external evidence produced remained this narrative. Neither the place nor the papers' owner was named. The abundance of discoveries gave the treasure weight, but also widened the gap between the objects and a verifiable origin. Even material inspection of the papers would not supply the missing names.
Edmond Malone, Inquiry (1796), pp. 7 and 9, D01–D02; scan-verified English. Bibliographic context: qualified source manifest. English quotations were checked against the exact retained scan.