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Introduction

xiii

I.

The Baconian and Anti-Willian Positions

1

II.

The “Silence” about Shakespeare

25

III.

That Impossible He—The Schooling of Shakespeare

41

IV.

Mr. Collins on Shakespeare’s Learning

65

V.

Shakespeare, Genius, and Society

83

VI.

The Courtly Plays: “Love’s Labour’s Lost”

119

VII.

Contemporary Recognition of Will as Author

133

VIII.

“The Silence of Philip Henslowe”

153

IX.

The Later Life of Shakespeare—His Monument and Portraits

167

X.

“The Traditional Shakspere”

193

XI.

The First Folio

205

XII.

Ben Jonson and Shakespeare

235

XIII.

The Preoccupations of Bacon

271

Appendix I.—“Troilus and Cressida”

293

Appendix II.—Chettle’s Supposed Allusion to Will Shakspere

302