Shakespeare and Oxford: 25 Curious Connections

1
Shakespeare and Oxford 25 Curious Connections
Shakespeare and Oxford25 Curious Connections
Edward De Vere,17th Earl of Oxford
William Shakespeare, the Writer
VERSION 5.0
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The Crime and the Suspects
The Crime
3
The First Step
1. What do Stratfordian Scholars say about the
writer Shakespeare?
4
The Second Step
2. How does William of Stratford connect to these
people and things?
5
The Third Step
3. What connections exist between Oxford and
these people and things?
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Characters in Hamlet
7
Topical Characters
(1937) Stratfordian John Dover Wilson in The
Essential Shakespeare Elizabethan drama was a
social institution which performed many
functions. Among other things it was, like the
modern newspaper, at once the focus and the
purveyor of the London gossip of the day. In a
word it was topical. (11)
8
Topical Characters
(1984) Annabel Patterson in Censorship and
Interpretation The Conditions of Writing and
Reading in Early Modern England "poetry, or
literature, has had from antiquity a unique role
to play in mediating to the magistrates the
thoughts of the governed, and that it exists, or
ought to, in a privileged position of
compromise." (13) "In the plays of Ben Jonson and
Philip Massinger, in Shakespeare's King Lear, in
a court masque by Thomas Carew, in the sermons of
John Donne, there is evidence, if we look
carefully, of a highly sophisticated system of
oblique communication, of unwritten rules whereby
writers could communicate with readers or
audiences (among whom were the very same
authorities who were responsible for state
censorship) without producing a direct
confrontation. One of the least oblique critics
of Jacobean policy, the pamphleteer Thomas Scott,
remarked in the significantly entitled Vox Regis
that "sometimes Kings are content in Playes and
Maskes to be admonished of divers things." (45)
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Connection One
William Cecil, Lord Burghley, as Polonius
(1869) Stratfordian George Russell French in
Shakspeareana Genealogica The next important
personages in the play are the Lord
Chamberlain, POLONIUS his son, LAERTES and
daughter, OPHELIA and these are supposed to
stand for Queen Elizabeth's celebrated Lord High
Treasurer, Sir WILLIAM CECIL, Lord Burleigh his
second son, ROBERT CECIL and his daughter, ANNE
CECIL. (301)
10
Connection One
William Cecil, Lord Burghley, as Polonius
(1920) Stratfordian Lilian Winstanley in Hamlet
and the Scottish Succession Polonius,
throughout the play, stands isolated as the one
person who does really enjoy the royal
confidence he is an old man, and no other
councillor of equal rank anywhere appears. This
corresponds almost precisely with the position
held by Burleigh.Burleighs eldest son Thomas
Cecil was a youth of very wayward life his
licentiousness and irregularity occasioned his
father great distress and, during his residence
in Paris, his father wrote letters to him full of
wise maxims for his guidance he also instructed
friends to watch over him, and bring him reports
of his sons behaviour. So Polonius has a son
Laertes whom he suspects of irregular life
Polonius provides that his son, when he goes to
Paris, shall be carefully watched, and that
reports on his behaviour shall be prepared by
Reynaldo. (114-116)
11
Connection One
William Cecil, Lord Burghley, as Polonius
(1937) Stratfordian J. Dover Wilson in The
Essential Shakespeare Polonius is almost
without doubt intended as a caricature of
Burleigh. (104) Hurstfield (1958) Burleigh
speaks with the authentic voice of Polonius.  
12
Connection One
William Cecil, Lord Burghley, as Polonius
The following orthodox Shakespearean scholars
have endorsed the identification of Polonius with
Burghley Stratfordian Lilian Winstanley in
Hamlet and the Scottish Succession (1920) E. K.
Chambers in William Shakespeare (1930) J. Dover
Wilson in The Essential Shakespeare
(1937) Conyers Read in Mr. Secretary Cecil and
Queen Elizabeth (1955) Joel Hurstfield in The
Queens Wards (1958) A.L. Rowse in William
Shakespeare A Biography (1963) James Sutherland
and Joel Hurstfield in Shakespeare's World
(1964) O.J. Campbell and Quinn, The Readers
Encyclopedia of Shakespeare (1966)
13
Connection One
Shakespeare the writer
14
Connection Two
Anne Cecil as Ophelia
15
Connection Two
Anne Cecil as Ophelia
(1869) Stratfordian George French in
Shakspeareana Genealogica The next important
personages in the play are the Lord
Chamberlain, POLONIUS his son, LAERTES and
daughter, OPHELIA his daughter, ANNE CECIL.
(301) Marriage was proposed by their fathers
to take place between Philip Sidney and Anne
Cecil, the fair Ophelia of the play. (302)
16
Connection Two
Anne Cecil as Ophelia
(1920) Stratfordian Lilian Winstanley in Hamlet
and the Scottish Succession Intercepted
letters and the employment of spies were, then, a
quite conspicuous and notorious part of Cecils
statecraft, and they are certainly made
especially characteristic of Shakespeares
Polonius. Polonius intercepts the letters from
Hamlet to his daughter he appropriates Hamlets
most intimate correspondence, carries it to the
king, and discusses it without a moments shame
or hesitation he and the king play the
eavesdropper during Hamlets interview with
Ophelia he himself spies upon Hamlets interview
with his mother. It is impossible not to see that
these things are made both futile and hateful in
Polonius, and they were precisely the things that
were detested in Cecil. (122)
17
Connection Two
Anne Cecil as Ophelia
Cecil, in fact, was always particularly careful
not to let Elizabeth or anyone else think that
ambition for his daughter could tempt him into
unwise political plans. In exactly the same way
we find Polonius guarding himself against any
suspicion that he may have encouraged Hamlets
advances to Ophelia. The king asks Act II.,
ii. How hath she received his love? and
Polonius enquires, What do you think of me? The
king replies As of a man faithful and
honourable Polonius proceeds to explain that,
such being the case, he could not possibly have
encouraged the love between Hamlet and his
daughter. (124)
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Connections One and Two
Shakespeare the writer
William Cecil, Lord Burghley as Polonius
Anne Cecilas Ophelia
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Connections One and Two
?
William Cecil, Lord Burghley as Polonius
Anne Cecilas Ophelia
20
Connections One and Two
William Cecil, Lord Burghley as Polonius
21
Connection One
Connection to Oxford The Earl of Oxford grew up
in Lord Burghleys household as a ward of the
Crown. Oxford and Burghley were at odds until
Burghleys death. In Lord Burghley and Queen
Elizabeth Conyers Read states Oxford entered
Burghleys household as ward in 1562. And those
seeing Hamlet in Court would recognize another
connection Lord Burghleys Latin motto was Cor
unum, via una, One heart, one way.
Stratfordian W. W. Greg states in The Editorial
Problem in Shakespeare In this text Q1 of
Hamlet for some obscure reason the names
Corambis and Montano were substituted for
Polonius and Reynaldo. The reason for Corambis,
however, is not obscure. Corambis, the original
name for Polonius, alludes to the Latin Cor
Ambo for double-hearted or of two hearts, a
clear shot at Cecils motto.
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Connection Two
Connection to Oxford Anne and Oxford grew up
together in Burghleys household and were later
unhappily married. The primary source for the
Hamlet story is Saxo Grammaticuss Historiae
Danicae. The text, referring to the couple later
represented as Hamlet and Ophelia, states For
both of them had been under the same fostering in
their childhood and this early rearing in common
had brought Amleth and the girl into great
intimacy. This mirrors Anne and Oxford. Both
were raised together in their youth. Stratfordian
Conyers Read in Lord Burghley and Queen
Elizabeth Oxfordentered Burghleys household
as a ward in 1562, at the age of twelve. (125)
23
Connection Two
Lilian Winstanley says, There is a further
curious parallel in the fact that when Cecils
daughter married De Vere, Earl of Oxford the
husband turned sulky, separated himself from his
wife, and declared that it was Cecils fault for
influencing his wife against him. She then
quotes Humes The Great Lord Burghley Oxford
declined to meet his wife or to hold any
communication with her Burghley reasoned,
remonstrated, and besought in vain. Oxford was
sulky and intractable. His wife, he said, had
been influenced by her parents against him and he
would have nothing more to do with her. Finally,
Winstanley draws the parallel, So, also, in the
drama we find Polonius interfering between his
daughter and her lover, we find his machinations
so successful that Hamlet turns sulky, and is
alienated from Ophelia for good. (122-124)
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Connections One and Two
Earl of Oxfordas Hamlet
25
Connection Three Hamlet as Autobiography
(1911) Stratfordian Frank Harris in The Man
Shakespeare and His Tragic Life-Story Even if
it be admitted that Hamlet is the most complex
and profound character of Shakespeares
creations, and therefore probably the character
in which Shakespeare revealed most of himself,
the question of degree remains to be determined.
(7) (1950) Stratfordian Harold C. Goddard in The
Meaning of Shakespeare To nearly everyone both
Hamlet himself and the play give the impression
of having some peculiarly intimate relation to
their creator. (332)
26
Hamlet as Autobiography
(1962) Hugh Trevor-Roper, Whats in a Name? in
Réalités (English-language edition)
Shakespeare wrote another play which, it is now
widely agreed, is largely autobiographical that
most bewildering, most fascinating of all his
plays, Hamlet. Hamlet, the over-sensitive man,
whose chameleon sympathy with all around him,
whose capacity to enter into all mens doubts and
fears, enabled him to mount a brilliant play but
disabled him from imposing his personality on
events or leaving any personal trace in history
this is Shakespeare himself. (43)
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Connection to Shakspere
William had a son, Hamnet, named after his
neighbor, Hamnet Sadler. Some Stratfordians see
Hamlet as a memorial to that son.  
?
William of Stratford
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Connection Three
The Earl of Oxford as Hamlet

• Connection to Oxford There are many striking
  parallels between Oxford and Hamlet.
• The several connections already discussed demand
  that we acknowledge the parallels between Hamlet
  and Oxford
• Both were noblemen and courtiers.
• Both had mothers who remarried after their
  fathers death.
• Both were spied upon by Polonius/Burghley.
• Both were patrons to players.
• Both were playwrights.

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Connection Three
The Earl of Oxford as Hamlet

• Both had a lover (Ophelia/Anne) whose father was
  the immediate counselor to the throne.
• Both had a lover (Ophelia/Anne) accused of
  infidelity.
• Both had a lover (Ophelia/Anne) who dies
  untimely.
• Both had been thought somewhat mad by others in
  Court.

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Connection Three
The Earl of Oxford as Hamlet
If Polonius is Burghley, and there is compelling
reason to think that people at that time would
have easily recognized him as such, then the
further parallels between Laertes and Ophelia and
Burghleys offspring cement the identification,
and compel us to look at who would then be
Hamlet. Despite attempts to identify Hamlet as
Philip Sidney or Essex (neither mistreated Anne
nor had intimate relations with her), Oxford is
clearly the reasonable, indeed the natural,
candidate. Once the number of parallels between
Hamlet and Oxford are identified some highly
unusual then the identification is compelling.
Only those who have professional or private
concerns with that identification have reason to
argue against it.
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Idiosyncratic Topical Events
32
Connection Four
Bed Trick Episode
In Alls Well That Ends Well Bertram arrives at
Dianas bed, not knowing that he is in reality
sleeping with Helena. Connection to Oxford G.K.
Hunter, ed. of the Arden Alls Well That Ends
Well Fripp in Shakespeare Man and Artist
(1938) II, 601 gives a reference to Osbornes
Memoires and here we seem to find a roughly
contemporary attitude to the same trick in real
life. Osborne writes of the last great Earle of
Oxford, whose Lady was bought to his bed under
the notion of his Mistris, and from such a
virtuous deceit she sc. Pembrokes wife is
said to proceed (1658 ed., p. 79) This is a
close parallel from the court-life of
Shakespeares time, and it shows only moral
admiration for the trick. (xliv)
33
Connection Five
Attacked by Pirates while Bound for England
Hamlet Act IV, Scene vii, 14-18 Hor. (reads the
letter) Ere we were two days old at sea, a
pirate of very warlike appointment gave us chase.
Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a
compelled valour, and in the grapple I boarded
them. Connection to Oxford Conyers Read, Lord
Burghley and Queen Elizabeth Oxford started
home, apparently in a fine rage, which was not
alleviated by the fact that his ship was
intercepted by pirates and he was stripped to his
shirt. (133)
34
Connection Six
Gads Hill Episode
Henry IV, Part 1, Act I, Scene 2, 120-138 Poins.
But my lads, my lads, tomorrow morning, by four
oclock early at Gads Hill! There are pilgrims
going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and
traders riding to London with fat purses. I have
vizards for you all you have horses for
yourselves Gadshill lies tonight in Rochester I
have bespoke supper tomorrow night in Eastcheap
we may do it as secure as sleep. If you will go,
I will stuff your purses full of crowns if you
will not, tarry At home and be hanged. Henry IV,
Part 1, Act II, Scene 2, 51-53 Bardolph. Case
ye, case ye, on with your vizards! Theres money
of the kings coming down the hill tis going to
the kings exchequer.
35
Connection Six
Gads Hill Episode
Connection to Oxford In 1573 Oxfords men, when
the Earl was a young man like Prince Hal,
conducted a similar prank in the same location.
Gads Hill is located in Kent on the highway
between Rochester and Gravesend. Letter to Lord
Burghley dated May 1573 by William Fawnt and John
Wotton, former associates of Oxford Wootton
and myself riding peaceably by the highway from
Gravesend to Rochester, had three calivers
charged with bullets, discharged at us by three
of Lord Oxfords menwho lay privily in a ditch
awaiting our coming with full intent to murder
us. From the details given in the letter there
is little doubt that the Gads Hill episode in
the drama is based directly upon the actual
prank the men were travellng on business
connected with the Exchequer, hence their appeal
to the Lord Treasurer Burghley.
36
Connection to Shakspere
Topical connections? Uh.
?
William of Stratford
37
Shakespeares Library Books
38
Connection Seven
Shakespeares Library
(1904) Stratfordian H.R.D. Anders in
Shakespeares Books We now may safely assert,
that Shakespeares knowledge of the Latin
language was considerable, and that he must have
read some of the more important Latin authors.
(39)   (1933) E.K. Chambers in A Short Life of
Shakespeare There has beenmuch enumeration of
the books, ancient and modern, erudite and
popular, which may, directly or indirectly, have
contributed to his plays.One may reasonably
assume that at all times Shakespeare read
whatever books, original or translated, came in
his way. (21)   (1947) Stratfordian Sister
Miriam Joseph in Shakespeares Use of the Arts of
Language He utilized every resource of
thought and language known to his time. (4)
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Connection Seven
Shakespeares Library
(1962) Hugh Trevor-Roper, Whats in a Name? in
Réalités (English-language edition) No scholar
today would see Shakespeare as a mere child of
nature. On the contrary, we realize that he was
highly educated, even erudite. It is true, he
does not parade his learning. He wears no heavy
carapace of classical or Biblical or
philosophical scholarship, like Donne or Milton.
But he is clearly familiar, in an easy and
assured manner, with the wide learning of his
time and had the general intellectual formation
of a cultivated man of the Renaissance.
(42)   (1986) Stratfordian Aubrey Kail in The
Medical Mind of Shakespeare Shakespeares plays
bear witness to a profound knowledge of
contemporary physiology and psychology, and he
employed medical terms in a manner which would
have been beyond the powers of an ordinary
playwright or physician. (14)
40
Connection to Shakspere
Shakespeares Library
?
No known connection. No evidence exists that
William had a library, nor did he leave books in
his will as others have done, in an age where
books were so valuable they were chained to
desks. Stratfordians suggest that William
borrowed printers copies of books from publisher
Richard Field while living in London, but there
is no suggestion that he had access to such books
in Stratford.
William of Stratford
41
Connection Seven
Shakespeares Library
Connection to Oxford Cecil House held one of the
finest libraries in England, which Oxford took
advantage of in his youth. Martin Hume in The
Great Lord Burghley Cecil was an insatiable
book buyer and collector of heraldic and
genealogical manuscripts. Sir William Pickering
in Paris, and Sir John Mason, had orders to buy
for him all the attractive new books published in
France and Chamberlain in Brussels had a similar
commission.The Hatfield Papers contain very
numerous memoranda of books and genealogies
bought by Cecil. (48) Conyers Read in Lord
Burghley and Queen Elizabeth Without doubt
Burghley took a great interest in the education
of promising young Englishmen. His household
indeed was currently regarded as the best
training school for the gentry in England.
(124-5)
42
Connection Seven
Shakespeares Library
A.L. Rowse in Eminent Elizabethans As a royal
ward Oxford was taken into that school of
virtue, Cecil House in the Strand. Here, under
the surveyance of the great man, Edward was
placed under the direction of a succession of
tutors for the first couple of years his uncle
Golding then the remarkable scholar, Laurence
Nowell for a time, the no less scholarly Sir
Thomas Smith. Young Oxford was sent only briefly
to St. Johns College, Cambridge Burghleys
own but he emerged from this training well
educated, with literary interests and of good
promise, considering that along with his rank.
(77) If any library could be said to be worthy of
Shakespeare, one can easily say that Cecils
qualified.
43
Connection Eight
Geneva Bible
(1904) H.R.D. Anders in Shakespeares Books The
bible he Shakespeare would have been most
likely to use himself. Was the Genevan
Version.   (1935) Richard Noble in
Shakespeares Biblical Knowledge On occasions
Shakespeare used the Genevan, just as on others
he use the Bishops and on others again, a
rendering found in the Prayer Book,but the
evidence is in favor of Shakepeares possession
of a Genevan Old Testament. (57)
44
Connection to Shakspere
Geneva Bible
?
No known connection.
William of Stratford
45
Connection Eight
Geneva Bible
Connection to Oxford The Earl of Oxford owned
the Geneva Bible and annotated in a way that
correlates with Shakespeares use of that
edition. B.M. Ward in his biography The
Seventeenth Earl of Oxford Payments made by
John Hart, Chester Herald, on behalf of the Earl
of Oxford from January 1st to September 30th,
1569/70 ... To William Seres, stationer, for a
Geneva Bible gilt, a Chaucer, Plutarchs works in
French, with other books and papers
(32-33) (Plutarch was also a prime source for
several Shakespeare plays.)
46
Connection Eight
Oxfords Geneva Bible
Title page from the Earl of Oxfords Geneva
Bible, courtesy the Folger Shakespeare Library
47
Connection Eight
Oxfords Geneva Bible
48
Connection Eight
Oxfords Geneva Bible Almes
49
Connection Eight
Oxfords Geneva Bible Annotation give unto the
poore.
50
Connection Eight
Oxfords Geneva Bible Marginal Note The
Weapon of the Godly is Praier.
51
Connection Eight
Oxfords Geneva Bible Look not on his
countenance.
52
Connection Eight
Oxfords Geneva Bible Look not on his
countenance.

• Nb. These slides are illustrative, not
  argumentative. They are presented merely to
  invite the reader to consider arguments made in
  detail in other contexts for the relevance of the
  de Vere Geneva Bible (See Stritmatter 2001,
  available at http//www.Shake-speares-bible.com),
  which are too complex to consider in detail here.

53
Connection Nine
Goldings Metamorphoses
(1598) Francis Meres in A Comparative Discourse
of our English Poets with the Greeke, Latine, and
Italian Poet, quoted in The Shakspere-Allusion
Book, Vol. 1 As the soule of Euphorbus was
thought to live in Pythagoras so the sweete
wittie soule of Ovid lives in mellifluous and
hony-tongued Shakespeare (46)   (1965)
Stratfordian John Frederick Nims in his
Introduction to Ovids Metamorphoses The Arthur
Golding Translation (1567) L. P. Wilkinson, in
the best book we have on Ovid, reminds us that
Shakespeare echoes him about four times as often
as he echoes Vergil, that he draws on every book
of the Metamorphoses, and that there is scarcely
a play untouched by his influence. Goldings
translation, through the many editions published
during Shakespeares lifetime, was the standard
Ovid in English. If Shakespeare read Ovid so, he
read Golding. (xx)
54
Connection Nine
Goldings Metamorphoses
(1993) Stratfordian Jonathan Bate in Shakespeare
and Ovid If Shakespeare and his contemporaries
owed their intimacy with Ovidian rhetoric to the
grammar schools, their easy familiarity with
Ovidian narrative was as much due to Golding.
(29)
55
Connection to Shakspere
Goldings Metamorphoses
?
No known connection. Orthodox scholars speculate
that William read Golding at the Stratford
Grammar School, but there is no record that
William attended this school.
William of Stratford
56
Connection Nine
Goldings Metamorphoses
Connection to Oxford Arthur Golding was Oxfords
uncle, and they both lived in William Cecils
household in the earlier years that Golding spent
translating Ovid. Part of Oxfords early
education was an in-depth, 2-hour-per-day study
of Latin. Stratfordian Louis Thorn Golding, a
descendent of Arthur Golding, in An Elizabethan
Puritan The Life of Arthur Golding It has been
assumed that he acted as tutor to his nephew
Edward. No definite record has been found
indicating such a connection which, however,
would appear reasonable in view of the factor of
relationship as well as the fitness of the one
and the youth of the other. . . It is evident,
however, that Arthur was in close contact with
the lad and was interested in and observant of
the progress and the development of his nephews
brilliant mind. This is made clear in the
dedication to him of his translation of Trogus
Pompeius I have had experience thereof myself
how earnest a desire your honor hath naturally
grafted in you to read, peruse and communicate
with others as well the histories of ancient
times and things done long ago, also the present
state of things in our days. (29, 30)
57
Connection Nine
Goldings Metamorphoses
Young Edward was then 14 years old. Oxfords
astonishingly precocious intellect is further
evidenced by the statement of his other tutor,
Lawrence Nowell, Dean of Lichfield, to Lord
Burghley the year before I clearly see that my
work for the Earl of Oxford cannot be much longer
required.
58
Connection Ten
Castigliones The Courtier
(1916) Shakespeares England There was a
favourite Elizabethan story, which illustrates
this practice it is alluded to by the porter in
Macbeth Knock, knock, knock! Whos there, I
the name of Beelzebub? Heres a farmer that
hanged himself on the expectation of plenty
come in time. (II. Iii. 3-6) It is told long
before Shakespeares time by Castiglione in his
book of the Courtier. (I, 39)   (1928) W. B.
Drayton Henderson in the Everyman edition of The
Courtier Without Castiglione we should not
have Hamlet. But it is not only Shakespeares
Hamlet that seems to follow Castiglione.
Shakespeare himself does. (xiv, xvi)
59
Connection Ten
Castigliones The Courtier
(1958) Abbie Findlay Potts in Shakespeare and The
Faerie Queen The Book of the Courtier, has
again and again been cited to show that
Shakespeares persons illustrate ideas of
courtliness. (84)   (1966) The Readers
Encyclopedia of Shakespeare Castiglione
exerted a strong influence on the courtly ideals
of Elizabeths reign. The merry war of Beatrice
and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing may be
derived from a similar exchange of wit in The
Courtier. (99)   (1990) Stratfordian Charles
Boyce in Shakespeare A to Z Il Libro del
Cortegiano was translated into English by Sir
Thomas Hoby, appearing in 1561 as The Courtyer.
Shakespeare may have read Castiglione in Italian,
however. (98)
60
Connection to Shakspere
Castigliones The Courtier
?
No known connection.
William of Stratford
61
Connection Ten
Castigliones The Courtier
Connection to Oxford In 1572 Oxford wrote the
Latin Preface to the Latin translation of The
Courtier by Bartholomew Clerke, his tutor at
Cambridge. From Wards translation of the
Preface Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, Lord
Great Chamberlain of England, Viscount Bulbeck
and Baron Scales and Badlesmere to the Reader
Greeting. A frequent and earnest consideration of
the translation of Castiglione's Italian work,
which has now for a long time been undertaken and
finally carried out by my friend Clerke, has
caused me to waver between two opinions debating
in my mind whether I should preface it by some
writing and letter of my own, or whether I should
do no more than study it with a mind full of
gratitude. The first course seemed to demand
greater skill and
62
Connection Ten
Castigliones The Courtier
art than I can lay claim to, the second to be a
work of no less good will and application. To do
both, however, seemed to combine a task of
delightful industry with an indication of special
good-will. I have therefore undertaken the work,
and I do so the more willingly, in order that I
may lay a laurel wreath of my own on the
translation in which I have studied this book,
and also to ensure that neither my good-will
(which is very great) should remain unexpressed,
nor that my skill (which is small) should seem to
fear to face the light and the eyes of men.
(80-1)   Gabriel Harveys comment to Oxford on
this Preface from his 1578 Gratulationes
Valdinenses Let that courtly epistle, more
polished even than the writings of Castiglione
himself, witness how greatly thou dost excel in
letters. (88)   Oxford was still in his 20s.
63
Connection Eleven
Cardans Comforte
(1839) Stratfordian Francis Douce in
Illustrations of Shakespeare regarding Hamlets
To be or not to be soliloquy There is a good
deal on the subject in Cardanuss Comforte a
book which Shakespeare had certainly read.
(133)   (1845) Stratfordian Joseph Hunter in New
Illustrations of Shakespeare Cardins
Comforte seems to be the book which Shakespeare
placed in the hands of Hamlet. (II,
243)   (1930) Stratfordian Lily Campbell in
Shakespeares Tragic Heroes It is easily seen
that this book of Cardan has long been associated
with Hamlet. I should like to believe that Hamlet
was actually reading it or pretending to read it
as he carried on his baiting of Polonius. (n.
134)
64
Connection Eleven
Cardans Comforte
(1934) Stratfordian Hardin Craig in his article
Hamlets Book in the Huntington Library
Bulletin, No. 6   The correspondences
between Hamlet and Cardans Comforte are really
very close many of them are marked by
circumstances of particularity, which might be
called arguments from sign, indicating that the
Shakespearean passages in question did actually
come by suggestion or borrowing from Cardans
Comforte rather than from any of the numerous
other writings from which they might have been
derived. (35)
65
Connection to Shakspere
Cardans Comforte
?
No known connection.
William of Stratford
66
Connection Eleven
Cardans Comforte
Connection to Oxford Thomas Bedingfields 1571
translation of Cardans Comforte was dedicated to
Oxford. Bedingfield reveals that the translation
was at Oxfords bidding. Furthermore, the
translation contains a letter to Bedingfield by
Oxford that reveals he commanded its publication.
After the letter is a poem to the Reader, written
by Oxford, an almost unheard of act by a
nobleman. From the dedication (modernized from
the 1576 edition) To the Right Honourable and
my good Lord the Earl of Oxenforde, Lord great
Chamberlaine of England. MY GOOD LORD, I can give
nothing more agreeable to your mind, and my
fortune then the willing performance of such
service as it shall please you to command me
unto And therefore rather to obey then boast of
my cunning, and as a new sign of mine old
devotion, I do present the book your lordship so
long desired.
67
Connection Eleven
Cardans Comforte
Sure I am it would have better beseemed me to
have taken this travail in some discourse of Arms
(being your L. chief profession mine also) then
in Philosophers skill to have thus busied my
self yet since your pleasure was such, and your
knowledge in either great, I do (as I will ever)
most willingly obey you. And if any either
through skill or curiosity do find fault with me,
I trust notwithstanding for the respects
aforesaid to be holden executed. (Italics
added.)   From Oxfords letter to Bedingfield
To my loving friend Thomas Bedingfield Esquire,
one of her Majesties gentlemen Pentioners. After
I had perused your letters good master
Bedingfield, finding in them your request far
differing from the desert of your labour, I could
not chose but greatly doubt, whether it were
better for me to yield you your desire, or
execute mine own intention towards the publishing
of your Book.
68
Law, Music, Power, Italy
69
Connection Twelve
Knowledge of Law
(1790) Stratfordian lawyer Edmond Malone in The
Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare His
knowledge of legal terms is not merely such as
might be acquired by the casual observation of
even his all-comprehending mind. (qtd. by
Greenwood 373) (1865) Richard Grant White in
Memoirs of the Life of Shakespeare "No dramatist
of the time . . . used legal phrases with
Shakespeare's readiness and exactness. . . legal
phrases flow from his pen as part of his
vocabulary, and parcel of his thought" (373).
  (1883) Stratfordian Senator Cushman Davis in
The Law in Shakespeare Where such knowledge
is unexampled in writers unlearned in the law,
Shakespeare appears in perfect possession of it.
(4)
70
Connection Twelve
Knowledge of Law
(1911) Stratfordian lawyer Edward J. White in
Commentaries on the Law in Shakespeare True,
almost every play, as well as the sonnets,
display great legal learning and accurate
knowledge, not only of legal terms, but of the
science and philosophy of the law, as well.
(7-8) (1959) Chief Justice John C. Wu in
Fountain of Justice Shakespeareknows his
common law and natural law pretty well. He knows
the psychological reason for case law. (86)
71
Connection Twelve
Knowledge of Law
(2000) J. Anthony Burton in The Shakespeare
Newsletter In Hamlet there is a consistent
and coherent pattern of legal allusions to
defeated expectations of inheritance, which
applies to every major character. The allusions
run the gamut from points of common knowledge by
landowners or litigants, to technical subtleties
only lawyers would appreciate, but their common
theme is disinheritance and the way it can occur.
It has already been suggested that the many legal
allusions in the play indicate it was written
with a legally sophisticated audience in mind.
Who else, after all, but lawyers and law students
would appreciate the Gravediggers parody of
legal reasoning in a forty-year old decision
written in the corrupted version of
Norman-English known as Law French?
72
Connection to Shakspere
Knowledge of Law
?
No known connection. The record shows that
William had some experience with lawsuits and
property, but no record shows that William
attended or was associated with Grays Inn, or
engaged in legal activity as a lawyer.
William of Stratford
73
Connection Twelve
Knowledge of Law

• Connection to Oxford Oxford matriculated at
  Grays Inn, although there is no evidence of
  residency, and in his position as premier Earl,
  he sat as a judge on state trials, including both
  the Mary Queen of Scots trial and the Essex
  trial.
• Stratfordian Conyers Read in Lord Burghley and
  Queen Elizabeth. In 1567, following Burghleys
  pattern, the Earl of Oxford entered Grays
  Inn. (126) Oxford was then 17 years old.
• Oxfords position would require that he have a
  formidable legal education.
• At least one of Oxfords tutors was an
  acknowledged scholar in Civil Law Sir Thomas
  Smith, who tutored Oxford from the age of 4 to
  12. Smith did not see law as a technical
  sideline, but rather an integrated part of ones
  education.
• Oxford was raised in the most legal/political
  house in England. And Cecil was noted for
  encouraging the nobility to have a thorough
  education, for the good of the country.

74
Connection Thirteen
Knowledge of Music
(1931) Stratfordian E. W. Naylor in Shakespeare
and Music It is scarcely a matter of surprise,
therefore, that the musical student should look
in Shakespeare for music, and find it treated of
from several points of view, completely and
accurately. (1)   (1963) Stratfordian F. W.
Sternfeld in Music in Shakespearean Tragedy
This book is the first to treat at full length
the contribution which music makes to
Shakespeares great tragedies. Here the
playwrights practices are studied in conjunction
with those of his contemporaries Marlowe and
Jonson, Marston and Chapman. From these
comparative assessments there emerges the method
that is peculiar to Shakespeare the employment
of song and instrumental music to a degree
hitherto unknown, and their use as an integral
part of the dramatic structure. (inside cover)  
75
Connection Thirteen
Knowledge of Music
(1966) The Readers Encyclopedia of
Shakespeare Shakespeares familiarity with the
music of his time is indicated by more than 500
passages in his works. His enthusiasm for this
art is manifested in the observances of many of
his sympathetic characters.Shakespeare was
acutely aware of the emotional and dramatic
appeal of the actual music that could be recalled
to the minds of his audience.Shakespeares uses
of vocal music in his plays were manifold, and
always purposeful, ranging from appropriate
moments of pure entertainment to those of
complete and indispensable integration with the
drama in order to illuminate character or carry
the action forward. (574, 575)
76
Connection to Shakspere
Knowledge of Music
?
No known connection.
William of Stratford
77
Connection Thirteen
Knowledge of Music
Connection to Oxford Oxford was known as an
accomplished musician and patron of music. John
Farmer dedicated two music books to him. Two
musical works bearing his name, The Earl of
Oxfords March and The Earl of Oxfords Galliard,
may have been composed by him. John Farmer, The
First Set of English Madrigals (1599), in his
dedication to Oxford Most Honorable Lord I
have presumed to tender these Madrigals only as
remembrances of my service and witness of your
Lordships liberal hand, by which I have so long
lived, and from your Honorable mind that so much
have loved all liberal Sciences for without
flattery be it spoken, those that know your
Lordship know this, that using this science as a
recreation, your Lordship have overgone most of
them that make it a profession. Right Honorable
Lord, I hope it shall not be distasteful to
number you here amongst the favorers of Music,
and the practicers, no more then Kings and
Emperors that have been desirous to be in the
roll of Astronomers, that being but a star fair,
the other an Angels choir.
78
Connection Fourteen
Knowledge of Power
(1892) Whitman Only one of the wolfish
earls so plenteous in the plays themselves, or
some born descendent and knower, might seem to be
the true author of those amazing works.   (1929)
H. B. Charlton in Shakespeare, Politics and
Politicians, referring to the history plays A
better name would be political plays, for they
are plays in which the prevailing dramatic
interest is in the fate of a nation. Since that
is their nature there will be in them much of
what Shakespeares insight had apprehended of the
forces which shape a nations destiny.
79
Connection Fourteen
Knowledge of Power
(1965) Adolf A. Berle, former ambassador and
special assistant to the Secretary of State under
President Kennedy, in Power, his treatment of
modern political power in its myriad
manifestations One wonders what the personal
reveries of a Plantagenet or Tudor dictator must
have been. Shakespeare probably gives a better
analysis than historians. His pictures of the
breakdown of MacBeth, of Richard II, and of
Richard III are more convincing than most
historical studies.Shakespeares historical
dramas are poetry all the way through. Reference
has been made in the text to a few interesting
passages only. Regretfully, I have omitted many
more. Take, for example, the evolution of MacBeth
from well-meaning field commander to murderous
police-state dictator, leading to loss of touch
with reality and consequent downfall. It could be
paralleled by the history of several contemporary
Caribbean dictators I have knownor, for that
matter, by the chronicles of contemporary
European dictators. Interplay of personality and
power is constant perhaps the best education a
power holder could have would be a solid
acquaintance with Shakespeares plays. (122, 579)
80
Connection to Shakspere
Knowledge of Power
?
No known connection. He is never mentioned in the
company of power-holders or being present in
Court.
William of Stratford
81
Connection Fourteen
Knowledge of Power
Connection to Oxford Oxford had frequent access
to Court, an insiders experience with Elizabeth,
the machinations of foreign heads of states and
ambassadors, and fawning courtiers. He saw power
manifested in a variety of corruptions.
Furthermore, being raised as a ward in Burghleys
household, and given his noble position, Oxford
would have been exposed to the absolute center of
Englands power. A. L. Rowse in Eminent
Elizabethans The 17th Earl of Oxford was, as
the numbering shows, immensely aristocratic, and
this was the clue to his career. In Elizabethan
society full of new and upcoming men, some of
them at the very top, like the Bacons and Cecils
the Boleyns themselves, from whom the Queen
descended, were a new family the Oxford earldom
stood out as the oldest in the land. He was the
premier earl and, as hereditary Lord Great
Chamberlain, took place on the right hand of the
Queen and bore the sword of state before her.
(75)
82
Connection Fifteen
Knowledge of Italy
(1873) Stratfordian Karl Elze in Essays on
Shakespeare Distinguished Shakespearean
scholars have expressed their conviction that
Shakespeare visited Upper Italy, especially
Venice, and that within and without his works
there are numerous weighty intimations calculated
to awaken and support the belief in such a
journey nay, that if any supposed journey of
Shakespeare can be made probable, it is above all
the journey to Italy.Mr. Ch. A. Brown frankly
admits that nothing can shake his faith in
Shakespeares travels in Italy, which, he adds,
not only extended to Verona and Venice, but also
to Padua, Bologna, Florence, and Pisa, probably
even as far as Rome. (262)
83
Connection Fifteen
Knowledge of Italy
(1930) Stratfordian E.K. Chambers in William
Shakespeare Much research has been devoted to a
conjecture that he spent part of this period in
northern Italy. It is certainly true that when
the plague was over he began a series of plays
with Italian settings, which were something of a
new departure in English drama that to a modern
imagination, itself steeped in Italian sentiment,
he seems to have been remarkably successful in
giving a local colouring and atmosphere to these
and even that he shows familiarity with some
minute points of local topography. (61)
84
Connection Fifteen
Knowledge of Italy
(1949) Stratfordian Ernesto Grillo in Shakespeare
and Italy Shakespeare evinces a varied and
profound knowledge of the country in general and
of our cities in particular.Innumerable are the
passages where he speaks of special
characteristics of our peninsula, of her history,
and of her customs. He knew that Padua with all
its learning was under the protection of Venice
and that Mantua was not.The various scenes in
Othello are no mere Venetian reminiscences, but
pictures exhaling the very spirit of Venice,
which Shakespeare has transferred to his drama.
(qtd. In Sobran 98, 135)
85
Connection to Shakspere
Knowledge of Italy
?
No known connection. Orthodox scholars now doubt
that he ever left England.
William of Stratford
86
Connection Fifteen
Knowledge of Italy

• Connection to Oxford Of the 16 months Oxford
  traveled the continent, 10 were spent in Upper
  Italy, primarily in Venice, Padua, Milan, and
  Florence.
• Alan H. Nelson, Professor of English at the
  University of California, Berkeley, supplies
  Oxfords itinerary on his web site
• Oxford first arrived in Venice in May 1575, made
  it the base of his operations, and interrupted
  his stay on at least three different occasions
• Between May and 23 September, when he visited
  Genoa and Milan (also Palermo, Sicily?) Oxford
  was back in Venice on 23 September.
• On 27 November, when he visited Padua. Oxford was
  in back Venice on 11 December.
• Between 12 December and 26 February 1576, when he
  visited Florence and Siena (he was in the latter
  city on 3 January). Oxford was back in Venice by
  26 February and remained until 6 March.
• Oxford left Venice for Paris on March, travelling
  via Milan and Lyon.

87
Connection Fifteen
Knowledge of Italy
 Shakespeare plays with locations in or excessive
references to Venice The Merchant of Venice,
Othello Genoa The Merchant of Venice Milan Two
Gentleman of Verona, The Tempest Padua The
Taming of the Shrew Florence Alls Well That
Ends Well Verona Romeo and Juliet, Two
Gentleman of Verona(Verona lies midway between
Venice and Milan, near Padua.) Messina Much Ado
About Nothing Sicily The Winters Tale
88
Shakespeares Fellow Poets
89
Connection Sixteen
Edmund Spenser
(1936) Stratfordian A. S. Cairncross in The
Problem of Hamlet Like Leir, King Lear also,
independently, drew on The Faerie Queen. The form
Cordelia comes from Spenser alone.
(169)   (1966) The Readers Encyclopedia of
Shakespeare Spenser has been credited with
making one of the earliest allusions to
Shakespeare. In Colin Clouts Come home againe,
the poet Aëtion is praised as a gentle shepherd
whose muse, full of high thoughts invention,
does like himselfe Heroically sound.. Numerous
verbal parallels suggest that Shakespeare was
familiar with Spensers work. A recent trend in
scholarship has been the study of themes and
techniques common to these two poets but modified
by the demands of their respective genres.
(818-819)
90
Connection Sixteen
Edmund Spenser
(1990) Stratfordian Charles Boyce in Shakespeare
A to Z Author of works that influenced
Shakespeare. Spensers monumental epic poem The
Faerie Queene (published 1590, 1598) provided the
playwright with the inspiration for many
passages, especially in the earlier plays and
poems. The pastoral poems in Spensers
Shepheardes Calendar (1579), and possibly his
great wedding poem Epithalamon (1595), did the
same for A Midsummer Nights Dream. Another of
Spensers poems, The Teares of the Muses
(1591), may be alluded to in the Dream
(5.1.52-53). (612)
91
Connection to Shakspere
Edmund Spenser
?
No known connection. Spenser died in 1599, well
within the time of Shakespeares fame as a poet
and playwright. They were the two great poets of
that decade. Yet Spenser never mentions William
of Stratford and William never mentions Spenser.
William of Stratford
92
Connection Sixteen
Edmund Spenser
Connection to Oxford In The Fairie Queene,
Spenser dedicates a sonnet to Oxford that stands
above the other 16 in its astonishing deferment
to Oxfords special relationship to the
Heliconian Imps (the offspring of the nine
Muses), a relationship that would be reserved for
someone of Shakespeares stature. Spenser and
Oxford were nearly exact contemporaries.  Receiue
most Noble Lord in gentle gree, The vnripe
fruit of an vnready wit Which by thy
countenaunce doth craue to bee Defended from
foule Enuies poisnous bit. Which so to doe may
thee right well besit, Sith thantique glory of
thine auncestry Vnder a shady vele is therein
writ, And eke thine owne long liuing
memory, Succeeding them in true nobility
93
Connection Sixteen
Edmund Spenser
And also for the loue, which thou doest beare
To thHeliconian ymps, and they to thee, They
vnto thee, and thou to them most deare Deare as
thou art vnto thy selfe, so loue That loues
honours thee, as doth behoue. Lets remember
that the offspring of the Nine Muses would
include Epic Poets, Love Poets, Sacred
Poets Writers of Tragedies, Writers of
Comedies Musicians, Historians, Astronomers,
Dancers
94
Connection Seventeen
John Lily
(1902) Stratfordian R. Warwick Bond in The
Complete Works of John Lyly The great
majority of parallels are too close to be the
result of chancebut enough are given to prove
Shakespeares intimate knowledge of the two parts
of Euphues. In the essay in the second volume on
Lyly as a Playwright, I have endevoured to show
how Shakespeare is indebted to our author not
merely for phrases, similes or ideas, but also in
the more important matter of dramatic technique.
(I. 169)   (1904) Stratfordian H.R.D. Anders in
Shakespeares Books Lylys women, refined,
witty, laughing, loving, or reserved, are the
prototypes of many of Shakespeares female
characters.Shakespeares first comedy, Loves
Labours Lost, is in direct imitation of Lylys
comedies. (132)
95
Connection Seventeen
John Lily
(1962) Stratfordian R.A Foakes in his
Introduction to the Arden edition of The Comedy
of Errors. There is no doubt that Shakespeare
knew the elegant prose plays of John Lyly.
(xxxiii)   (1962) Stratfordian G.K. Hunter in
John Lyly The Humanist as Courtier The
extreme formality of the structure of Euphues I
am suggesting to be a measure of Lylys effort to
organize the different levels of experience in
this life so that they throw light on one
another. He reflects and comments on the courtly
world of Elizabeth by organizing into witty
patterns different responses to its key ideas
wit, honour, love, royalty, etc. Seeing
his work in this way we may see how far Lyly
could be himself, and also the entertainer of
Elizabeth and other vital creatures, and perhaps
the largest single influence on that spacious
genre, Shakespearean Comedy. (10-11)
96
Connection to Shakspere
John Lily
?
No known connection. Lyly never mentions William,
nor does William ever mention Lyly.
William of Stratford
97
Connection Seventeen
John Lily
Connection to Oxford John Lyly was Oxfords
secretary. He dedicated Euphues and his England
to Oxford. They worked together in producing
plays. A.L. Rowse points out in Eminent
Elizabethans  At the end of 1578 John Lyly had
published his Euphues The Anatomy of Wit, which
had prodigious influence at the time. Lyly had
been Burghleys scholar at Magdalen College,
Oxford, supported at least in part by the great
man. At this time he had lodgings in the Savoy,
which was under Burghleys authority the
proximity is enough to account for Oxfords
taking Lyly also under his wing. In 1582 he
dedicated the sequel, Euphues and his England, to
Oxford I know none more fit to defend it than
one of the Nobility of England, nor any of the
Nobility more ancient or more honourable than
your lordship.  
98
Connection Seventeen
John Lily
Rowse also notes their involvement in the
theatre The Earl of Oxford and John Lyly used
the great house within Blackfriars for
performances of plays by their boys
company.   From the dedication of Euphues and
His England (modernized) I could not find one
more noble in court, then your Honor, who is or
should be under her Majesty chiefest in court, by
birth born to the greatest Office, therefore me
thought by right to be placed in great authority
for who so compares the honor of your L. noble
house, with the fidelity of your ancestors, may
well say, which no other can truly gainsay, Vero
nihil verius Nothing truer than truth.
99
Connection Eighteen
Anthony Munday
(1955) Stratfordian John Russell Brown in the
Introduction to the Arden edition of The Merchant
of Venice Book III of Mundays Zelautois
especially close to The Merchant in the judges
plea for mercy. (xxxi)   (1966) The Readers
Encyclopedia of Shakespeare Mundays first
extant play is Fedele and Fortunio (1584)and may
have been used by Shakespeare as one of his
sources for Much Ado About Nothing, where he
might have found not only the general outline of
his plot, but the idea for the characters of
Dogberry and Verges as well. (570)  
100
Connection Eighteen
Anthony Munday
(1987) Stratfordian Samuel Schoenbaum in William
Shakespeare A Compact Documentary Life On one
occasion, however so the evidence indicates
Shakespeare was called upon to doctor a play
written by other hands, for which company is
uncertain. That play survives, in damaged and
chaotic shape, in a manuscript with the title
The Book of Sir Thomas Moore. In its original
form a fair copy by Anthony Munday
(214)   (1990) Stratfordian Charles Boyce in
Shakespeare A to Z His first book was Zelauto
(1580), a novel written in imitation of John
Lylys famous Euphues. Its treatment of usury and
Jews may have influenced The Merchant of Venice.
Between 1594 and 1602 he wrote plays for the
Admirals Men. Three of these works have
survived John à Kent and John à Cumber (1594)
may have suggested elements of the comic sub-plot
of A Midsummers Nights Dream, and a pair of
plays on Robin Hood (both 1598) may have
influenced As You Like It.He was probably the
principal author of Sir Thomas More, which
contains a scene by Shakespeare. (574, 575)
101
Connection to Shakspere
Anthony Munday
?
No known connection. Munday never mentions
William, nor does William ever mention Munday.
William of Stratford
102
Connection Eighteen
Anthony Munday
Connection to Oxford Munday worked for Oxford,
who was his patron dedicated several of his
works to Oxford, especially Zelauto and joined
Oxfords acting troop, Oxfords Men. A.L. Rowse
points out in Eminent Elizabethans Oxford
accepted many dedications, and received at least
two authors into his service for a time John
Lyly and Anthony Munday. (79) In 1579 Anthony
Munday had dedicated The Mirror of Mutability to
him Munday was taken into the Earls service,
for the next year he dedicated to him Zelauto,
the Fountain of Fame as his servant my simple
self (Right Honourable) having sufficiently seen
the rare virtues of your noble mind, the heroical
qualities of your prudent person. (96)   And
Charles Boyce in Shakespeare A to Z states
Munday, originally a printer apprenticed to John
Allde, turned to acting but was unsuccessful he
appeared with Oxfords Men in the late 1570s and
early 1580s. (453)
103
Language Accolades
104
Connection Nineteen
Word Creation
The OED lists Shakespeare as the earliest known
user (in public documents) of many words.
Oxfords letters and poems show an even earlier
usage of these words (among others), many of
which predate Shakespeares usage by more than 10
years. OED Bifold a. Double, twofold of two
kinds, degrees, etc. 1609 Shakes. Tr. Cr. v.
ii. 144 (Qo.) O madnesse of discourse, that cause
sets up with and against it selfe, By-fould
authority. 1 Fol. By foule authoritie. Globe
Bi-fold authority! Oxford neyther can I
suffer yt to enter my thought that a vayne fable
can brandel the clearnes of yowre guyltles
conscience sythe all the world doothe know that
the crymes of Sir Charles Dauers were so byfolde,
that Iustice could not dispence any farther
(Oxfords letter of Nov. 22, 1601)
105
Connection Nineteen
Word Creation
OED Despairing, ppl. a. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent.
iii. i. 247 Hope is a louers staffe, walke hence
with that, And manage it against despairing
thoughts. Oxford Yet luck sometimes despairing
souls doth save, A happy star made
Giges joy attain. (Oxfords
poem Reason and Affection in Paradise of
Dainty Devices, 1576) OED
Disgraced ppl. a 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. v. iv.
123 Your Grace is welcome to a man disgracd
Oxford doo not know by what ore whose aduise
it was, to rune that course so contrarie to my
will or meaninge, whiche made her disgraced
(Oxfords letter of Apr 27, 1576)
106
Connection Nineteen
Word Creation
OED Restoration (Later form of Restauration) 1.
The action of restoring to a former state or
position the fact of being restored or
reinstated. 1660 Jrnls. Ho. Comm. 30 May, The
happy Restoration of his Majesty to his People
and Kingdoms. earliest mention in OED But used
by Shakespeare in 1603 in King Lear IV, 7, 26
Cordelia O my deere father, restauration hang
Thy medicine on my lippes
Oxford But now the ground wherone I lay my sut
beinge so iust and resonable, that ether I
showlde expect sume satisfactione, by way of
recompence, or restoratione of myne owne.
(Oxfords letter of Oct. 25, 1593)
107
Connection Twenty
I Am That I Am (Sonnet 121)
Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed, When
not to be receives reproach of being And the
just pleasure lost, which is so deemed Not by our
feeling, but by others seeing For why should
others false adulterate eyes Give salutation to
my sportive blood? Or on my frailties why are
frailer spies, Which in their wills count bad
what I think good? No, I am that I am, and they
that level At my abuses reckon up their own I
may be straight, though they themselves be
bevel By their rank thoughts my deeds must not
be shown Unless this general evil they
maintain, All men are bad and in their badness
reign.   I am that I am are Gods words to
Moses in the Geneva Bible at Exodus III, 14.
108
Connection Twenty
I Am That I Am (Sonnet 121)
Connection to Oxford In a private letter, Oxford
uses the exact same phrase in the exact same
first-person reference, a usage that is
startlingly unique. It takes a peculiar mentality
to take Gods words to Moses and make them refer
to oneself. Shakespeare does it in Sonnet 121.
The only other known usage where the author uses
the words applied to himself in the first person
is Oxford in a letter to Lord Burghley dated
October 30, 1584 (modernized) But I pray, my
lord, leave that course, for I mean not to be
your ward nor your child. I serve her majesty,
and I am that I am, and by alliance near to your
lordship, but free, and scorn to be offered that
injury, to think I am so weak of government as to
be ruled by servants, or not able to govern
myself. This connection between Oxford and
Shakespeare is intimate and unique.
109
Connection Twenty-One
Literary Accolades
(1595) William Covell in Polimanteia Sweet
Shak-speare.   (1598) Richard Barnfield's "A
Remembrance of some English Poets" in Poems in
Divers Humors And Shakespeare thou, whose
hony-flowing Vaine, / (Pleasing the World) thy
praises doth obtaine.   (1598) Francis Meres,
Palladis Tamiai As Plautus and Seneca are
accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy among
the Latines so Shakespeare among ye English is
the most excellent in both kinds for the stage.
The Muses would speak with Shakespeares fine
filed phrase, if they would speake
English.   (1598-1601) Gabriel Harveys note on
a blank page of Speght's translation of Chaucer
The younger sort takes much delight in
Shakespeares Venus, Adonis but his tragedie
of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke, haue it in them,
to please the wiser sort.
110
Connection Twenty-One
Literary Accolades
(1598-1601) From The Returne from Parnassus, Part
I I'le worshipp sweet Mr. Shakspeare, and to
honoure him will lay his Venus and Adonis under
my pillowe.   (1603) From "A Mourneful Dittie,
entituled Elizabeths Loss" (Anonymous) You
Poets all braue Shakspeare, Johnson, Greene, /
Bestow your time to write f