In 1909, sifting through bundles of unindexed papers in the Public Record Office, an American scholar called Charles William Wallace came across the twenty-six depositions that make up the Belott–Mountjoy case. These concern a man who in 1612 was prosecuting his father-in-law for an unpaid dowry in the Jacobean equivalent of a small claims court. Nothing very startling or even interesting, but then Wallace’s eye was caught by the name of a principal witness called ‘one Mr Shakespeare that laye in the house’. Wallace realised instantly that he had made the find of his life.

Literary Review

Nov 2007

Categories

Robert Nye

Will Three Survive?

We Could Do With A Few More, Monsieur

New Selected Spells by the Royal Witch Doctor

The Dark Side of The Stratford Man

Infinite Riches in a Little Room

Did Shakespeare Write Shakespeare?

A Notable Disliker Of Milk and Martyrdom

Name: Seemore. Crime: Extreme.

Shakespeare’s Annus Mirabilis

Robert Nye

Love’s Lodgings Lost

The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street

By Charles Nicholl

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