Conspiracy of 1600. King James suppressed the play after the second
night, as, of course, he was brought on the stage throughout the
action: and in very droll and dreadful situations. Did Will take
the King's part, and annoy gentle King Jamie, "as some say"? Nobody
knows. But Mr. Greenwood, to disable Davies's recognition of Mr.
Will as a playwright, "Our English Terence," quotes, from Florio's
Montaigne, a silly old piece of Roman literary gossip, Terence's
plays were written by Scipio and Laelius. In fact, Terence alludes
in his prologue to the Adelphi, to a spiteful report that he was
aided by great persons. The prologue may be the source of the fable-
-that does not matter. Davies might get the fable in Montaigne, and,
knowing that some Great One wrote Will's plays, might therefore, in
irony, address him as "Our English Terence." This is a pretty free
conjecture! In Roman comedy he had only two names known to him to
choose from; he took Terence, not Plautus. But if Davies was in the
great Secret, a world of others must have shared le Secret de
Polichinelle. Yet none hints at it, and only a very weak cause could
catch at so tiny a straw as the off-chance that Davies KNEW, and used
"Terence" as a gibe. {149a}

The allusions, even the few selected, cannot prove that the actor
wrote the plays, but do prove that he was believed to have done so,
and therefore that he was not so ignorant and bookless as to
demonstrate that he was incapable of the poetry and the knowledge
displayed in his works. Mr. Greenwood himself observes that a
Baconian critic goes too far when he makes Will incapable of writing.
Such a Will could deceive no mortal. {150a} But does Mr. Greenwood,
who finds in the Author of the plays "much learning, and remarkable
classical attainments," or "a wide familiarity with the classics,"
{150b} suppose that his absolutely bookless Will could have persuaded