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Ok then lets take a look at this article.

Paragraph 1 : "For four hundred years there has been a question about the authorship of the Shakespearean works."

No, there hasn't. Apart from a sniffy eighteenth century parson  the Question never became prominent until the advent of Delia Bacon.

"the problem is  that William Shakespeare, the man from Stratford-upon-Avon, was not acknowledged as a writer in any documentation of the time."

Yes he was, from Francis Meres on there are explicit identifications of Shakespeare as a writer.

"There is no evidence he was ever present in the royal court, where most of the plays take place." There are records of the King's Men being present at the Court, ample documentation of the plays at court and lists of the players in the Royal Household records (alongside the pantry staff) with Shakespeare at their head.

"There is no evidence that anyone noticed when he died." Except for the First Folio.

"There are no records from anyone in which Shakespeare is personally referred to as a writer (read the contemporary mentions of William Shakespeare carefully—the works are referred to, not the man)."

Apart from Ben Jonson, Hemming, Condell etc etc. One might also mention Milton, who, though only 7 when WS died, had no doubt about his authorship and wrote a poem for the Second Folio.

Literary London was even tighter and smaller than now - a deception on the scale required would not have held.

On 16 January 2017 at 18:23, David Lace <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Just found this from the Mary Sidney site:

http://www.marysidneysociety.org/floral-design/

It makes sense.






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David Lace wrote:


Thanks Judy. This is what I heard, but never had it confirmed.





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Judy Prince wrote:

I hadn't read the article, David, and it's fascinating.

I believe, and have believed for years, that Mary Sidney (Pip's sister) wrote the works attributed to William Shakespeare.  I've written a play about her and think the 'mystery' of her authorship is quite obvious -- in fact far more obvious than the claims for other writers.

Just one fact that leaps out is the dedication of the famed sonnets to "Mr" (meaning "master") W H.  I think that WH is William Herbert.  If the WH sonnet dedication was written by publisher Thomas Thorpe, it would be highly unlikely for him to address an earl (William Herbert) as "master".  However,  Mary Sidney, writing the sonnets for and about her son, William Herbert, would've reasonably addressed her son as "master".  He and his brother Phillip were the dedicatees of the First Folio.  Re the sonnets, in the first 17 (often called the "procreation" sonnets) it's understandable that Mary would've wanted her son William to produce a child -- his first child, 'illegitimate', having died in childbirth, and his subsequent marriage to another woman producing no children.  Many years later he did have two (illegitimate) children with his cousin, Mary Wroth.

Best,

Judy



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