ABSTRACT
In addition to their arguments in favour of their own candidates and their denigration of Shakspere, the theorists have also launched a series of general attacks on the Stratfordian position. In this chapter I shall survey four examples of these attacks. This arrangement will have one distinct advantage for our purpose beyond the intrinsic interest of the items themselves, for two of them – Nos. 3 and 4 – are involved in the problem of the First Folio, which is the subject of the next chapter, and by dealing with them here I can avoid interrupting the discussion of that very complicated problem by lengthy digressions. The four items I have selected are as follows:
