PRETEND TO KNOW.'* He does not 'pretend to know' 'who' any of the
poets was--except Samuel Page, and he was a Fellow of Corpus. He
speaks of Shakespeare just as he does of Marlowe, Kid, Chapman, and
the others whom he mentions. He 'does not pretend to know who' they
were. Every reader knew who they all were. If I write of Mr.
Swinburne or Mr. Pinero, of Mr. Browning or of Mr. Henry Jones, I do
not say 'who they were,' I do not 'pretend to know.' There was no
Shakespeare in the literary world of London but the one Shakespeare,
'Burbage's deserving man.'

*Webb, p. 71.

The next difficulty is that Shakespeare's company, by request of the
Essex conspirators (who paid 2 pounds), acted 'Richard II.' just
before their foolish attempt (February 7, 1601). 'If Coke,' says
the Judge, 'had the faintest idea that the player' (Shakespeare)
'was the author of "Richard II.," he would not have hesitated a
moment to lay him by the heels.' Why, the fact of Shakespeare's
authorship had been announced, in print, by Meres, in 1598. Coke
knew, if he cared to know. Judge Webb goes on: 'And that the
Player' (Shakespeare) 'was not regarded as the author by the Queen
is proved by the fact that, with his company, he performed before
the Court at Richmond, on the evening before the execution of the
Earl.'*

*Webb, pp. 72, 73.

Nothing of the kind is proved. The guilt, if any, lay, not in
writing the drama--by 1601 'olde and outworne'--but in acting it, on
the eve of an intended revolution. This error Elizabeth overlooked,