The interior of a room in Ireland's house, a number of his etchings are on a large folding screen. The older Ireland kneels by a large iron-bound chest with an antique lock and the letters 'W S'. He holds out to a young woman an enormous tail of hair (over a yard long) inscribed 'A Lock of my Dear Williams Hair'. She stands full-face looking at it admiringly. The chest is filled with documents, one of which he holds: 'Deed of gift to Ireland Will Shakespeare.' The others are: 'Verses to Anna Hatherreway', 'The Virgin Queen', and 'Holli[nshed's] Chr[onicles]'. Beside the chest are other papers: 'Ould Deeds ready Drawn to Fill up as Occasion may require'; 'King Henry the thyrde'; 'a double page', having on the right scrawls in which the signature 'Flizabeth' and 'Globe Black ..' is legible, and on the left: 'Bess must have been Drunk when she wrote this as she could not remember the first Letter of her name but calls herself Flizabeth'; 'My alterd Playe of Titus Andronicus All Written by Myself. W. Shakespeares Deed of Trust to Hemming'; a whole length print of a man wearing a hat and cloak inscribed: 'My own Figure at length 6 Foot.'
<p><br>On the left a loutish youth, William Henry Ireland, sits on the floor, full-face, legs apart; with a vacant grin he reads a book: 'Giles Gingerbread'. In front of him is a pile of four books, two inscribed 'Guy Fauks' and 'Fifteen Plays by Shakespeare which will be brought forward.' Other books and papers are piled in front of these: [1] 'Price of Stock Bank Stock Shut 6 per Pr 1000 4 per Ct Shut Shakespeare scrip below par.' [2] 'Leaves from old Books to Write Plays upon with Various Water Marks.' [3] 'Bacons History of Henry VII. 1622 notes by Shakspeare.' [4] 'The Tears of the Isle of Wight for the Death of Lord Southampton with notes by Shakespeare.' [5] 'Haywards Life of Ewd 6 1630 With notes by Shakespeare.' [6] 'Vortigern &amp; [Row]ena'. On the extreme right a young woman sits in profile to the right, etching. Behind her sits another directed to the left, pen in hand, in the throes of composition.
<br>On the chimney-piece is a shoe inscribed 'Roman Sandal', flanked by two pots: 'Bistre' and 'Tobacoo [W]ater' (for staining documents). A fire burns in the grate. Above is a bust portrait of Shakespeare in a circle inset in a square, inscribed: 'My Own Portrait Drawn by my own Hand from that rare Print by M Droeshout' [prefixed to the 1623 folio]. Beside it (left) is a three-quarter length portrait of 'Anna Hatherrewaye', standing by a table and holding out a book. On the right hangs a 'Plan of the Gold Mines Discovered in the Year MDCCXCV': a line of sea-coast is inscribed 'Wicklow'; men are loading asses at conical mounds and driving them towards the sea, where a small vessel lies beside a jetty.   On the screen are prints of 'Antwerp', 'Bruges', 'Lovats Ghost' (carrying his head under his arm); a letter (upside down): 'Dear Sir It greves me to say you were not Elected at the Antiquarian Society I am . . ' (two seals follow); a paper (beside Ireland) 'My Own Remarks on Brabant Flanders' (Ireland's 'Picturesque Tour . . .', 1790; he was alleged (incorrectly) never to have been out of England); prints of 'Windsor', 'Maidenhead',  'Stains',  'Henley' (from his 'Picturesque Views of the River Thames', 1792); prints of 'Prigg the Prizefighte[r]', 'The Drill', 'Vortigern'. Beneath the title: '"the Earth hath Bubbles as the Water has and these are of them, Shakspere ['of inserted in pen]'. 
<br>Beneath the design:
<br><br>'In A musty Old garret some where or another, 
<br>This Chest has been found by some person or other. 
<br>Yet by whom is A secret that must not be told 
<br>For your mystery puzzles the young and the Old: 
<br>But the Chest being here the contents you shall see, 
<br>Subscribe but four Guineas as part of my fee. 
<br>The first thing I shew you is a relick most rare, 
<br>An astonishing Lock of the great Shakspeare's hair! 
<br>Out of which twenty rings more or less have been made; 
<br>Nor a Single Hair miss't from this wonderful Braid. 
<br>The next is the Manuscript play of King Lear; 
<br>It is true Master Critic so pray do not Sneer: 
<br>In its own native form by no Editer drest; 
<br>But in Adam Like Nakedness simple and chaste. 
<br>An Original Sonnet I now shall present, 
<br>From sweet Willy to Anna Hatherrewaye sent. 
<br>Plainly telling in numbers so simple and new, 
<br>That Willye thye Willye to his Anna still trewe 
<br>With drawings and leases and deeds without number; 
<br>And fifteen new Plays that have lain by as lumber: 
<br>Which shall soon be brought forward to pleasure the town, 
<br>All our pocketts to fill and our labour to Crown! 
<br>For genious like Ours thats so little regarded, 
<br>Ought some way or other to be well rewarded. 
<br>Hark great Vortigern comes now ye criticks be dumb; 
<br>This is Shakespeares I'll swear: If 'tis not 'tis a Hum!' 1796
</p>
<br>Hand-coloured etching
1796<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1796-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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