e purpose of fabricating the letters. In May, 1891, a number of
alleged Burns' letters were put up for sale by public auction at
Edinburgh, fetching the surprising paltry price of from twenty to thirty
shillings apiece.

It was a feature of all Smith's productions that the letters were
extremely brief--a feature common to literary forgeries. The
circumstance which first gave rise to suspicion was that the letters
attributed to Scott, Burke, Burns, General Abercrombie, Grattan and
Thackeray all began and ended with the same words. Those signed by Sir
Walter Scott all began "I have your letter," and ended "I remain," a
form of phraseology the reputed writer never used, but which, according
to Smith, was common to all the distinguished men whose handwriting he
had counterfeited with considerable success.

On the strength of the partial guarantee provided by the sale of some of
these documents at a reputable auction room, Captain Caddell purchased a
parcel of alleged Scott letters without prior inspection. A brief
examination disclosed their fraudulent nature, and Smith was arrested.
The Edinburgh police took the matter up, and the impostor was convicted
in June, 1893, and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment.

Thackeray and Dickens are favourite subjects with most literary forgers,
Washington and Benjamin Franklin running them very close for
favouriteship. American collectors are particularly keen on procuring
specimens of the last two-named, and there is grave reason to believe
that many fall easy victims.

Fortunately the facilities for comparing and testing the genuineness of
the autographs of every distinguished person whose holographs are most
in favour with the forger, are numerous. In addition to the splendid
collection of specimens extant at the British Museum Library, there are
many facsimiles available.

The excellent work on Autograph Collecting by Dr. Henry T. Scott (Upcott
Gill, London) is indispensable to the collector. It contains some
hundreds of specimens, specially selected for the purposes of
comparison, and gives besides many very valuable rules and hints for
detecting the real from the sham.

Dr. Scott, writing of the autographic letters of his distinguished
namesake, says:

"Of Sir Walter Scott's autographs it may be observed (1) the paper is
generally letter size, gilt edged, with a soft, firm feeling to the
touch, and an unglazed surface. (2) The date and residence are placed on
the t