nce I copied this letter I do
not recollect; but I remember that at the time of transcribing it, I
had no doubt of its authenticity."

Thrice had the trick been worked effectively in conspicuous places
before Steevens died in 1800. But the evil that he did lived after
him, and within a year of his death the imposture renewed its youth. A
correspondent, who concealed his identity under the signature of
"Grenovicus" (_i.e._, of Greenwich), sent Peel's letter in 1801 to the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, a massive repertory of useful knowledge. There
it was duly reprinted in the number for June. "Grenovicus" had the
assurance to claim the letter as his own discovery. "To my knowledge,"
he wrote, "it has never yet appeared in print." He refrained from
indicating how he had gained access to it, but congratulated himself
and the readers of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ on the valiant feast
that he provided for them. His action was apparently taken by the
readers of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ at his own valuation.

Meanwhile the discerning critic was not altogether passive. Isaac
D'Israeli denounced the fraud in his _Curiosities of Literature_; but
he and others did their protesting gently. The fraud looked to the
expert too shamefaced to merit a vigorous onslaught. He imagined the
spurious epistle must die of its own inanity. In this he miscalculated
the credulity of the general reader. "Grenovicus" of the _Gentleman's
Magazine_ had numerous disciples.

Many a time during the past century has that worthy's exploit been
repeated. Even so acute a scholar as Alexander Dyce thought it worth
while to reprint the letter in 1829 in the first edition of his
collected works of George Peele (Vol. I., page 111), although he
declined to pledge himself to its authenticity. The latest historian
of Dulwich College[40] has admitted it to his text with too mildly
worded a caveat. Often, too, has "G. Peel" emerged more recently from
a long-forgotten book or periodical to darken the page of a modern
popular magazine. I have met him unabashed during the present century
in two literary periodicals of repute--in the _Academy_ (of London),
in the issue of 18th January 1902, and in the _Poet Lore_ (of Boston)
in the following April number. Future disinterments may safely be
prophesied. In the jungle of the _Annual Register_ or the _Gentleman's
Magazine_ the forgery lurks unchallenged, and there will always be
inexperienced explorers, who from time to time