In this well-informed study, Scottish feminist and scholar Charlotte Carmichael Stopes attempts to determine if Francis Bacon covertly wrote the plays of William Shakespeare. Applying careful but rigorous analysis to the evidence, Stopes exposes the Baconian school of thought as far-fetched and devoid of scholarly merit.

Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (1840-1829) is best known as the mother of birth control advocate Marie Stopes. Like her daughter, Stopes forged the way for women seeking academic careers: she was the first woman in Scotland to graduate from university, and was later elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In this monograph Stopes resolves to settle once and for all whether or not Francis Bacon wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare, concluding that the Baconian theory is wholly without foundation. Over nearly 300 pages of erudite argument, Stopes examines the numerous distinctions between the lives and experiences of the two writers, their differing styles of writing, and the evidence provided by Shakespeare's contemporaries. Stopes' book also includes extensive appendices providing background information on Shakespeare and the early modern theatre. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=stopch