Thomas Porter Knew...

[@chris.asi_romeo]

The amount of research you did is astounding. 👏👏👏👏

[@wcraigburns3458]

Fantastic . Thank you for such an in-depth knowledge and analysis . It's breathtaking .

[@simonsmith3030]

I've watched many of your videos in the last few days Alexander. Excellent scholarship and presentation. Well done. My reluctance to even look into this idea of the Earl of Oxford being the Bard, owed something to the idea I wanted William of Stratford to be the author. As a working class grammar school boy myself I liked the idea of ordinary genius. I'd previously rejected the aristocrat as the playwright as I thought their class were just Hooray Henry types, and it needed someone whose work ethic, necessitated by perhaps a marginal lower middle class environment, to churn out the plays in order to survive economically. In retrospect it I realise it wasn't just about work ethic but having the necessary human capital built upon a classical education just not available to ordinary folk. I suspect this is the major reason why there is resistance to favouring an aristocrat over an ordinary man. Although it is liberating for many of us who don't regard as ourselves as geniuses, as it turns the dial of the importance of education and environment a little away from the setting pointing towards natural born talent. In my opinion it therefore also emphasises the important role of teachers and parents in providing the foundation for world class performance. The notion of the "secular saint" arising in the orthodox narrative doesn't I think do anyone any favours. Have you any opinion on whether Mozart was also "not Mozart " as suggested by musicologist Robert Newman ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4rTdox5hJx2bM0

[@alexanderwaugh7036]

Dear Simon, thank you for your wonderful post. I am very glad that you are now on board with the view that the authorship question is not about class but about truth and that knowing the truth vastly opens our Shakespearean horizons. I hope you will continue to enjoy this hugely edifying and all embracing subject, Alexander

[@duncanmckeown1292]

I can understand your disappointment with the unveiling reality, being of a working class background myself...but there were "low born" literary geniuses that did shine: Marlowe, for instance...and in the still class-ridden Regency period, John Keats. I think scholars' first loyalty should always be to the truth...which is what angers me about the orthodox "Stratfordians" who ignore embarrassing facts to protect their reputations...and the birthplace money factory! Mozart is a different case entirely, because we have literally reams of written material (much by him going back to his early Italian journeys! where are Shakspere's letters?) verifying his life-story.

[@nicholasstojanoff856]

Scholarly exegesis Alexander that like a flower bud unfolds cleverly revealing its inner meanings. Once the curtain is lifted one can never go back to the stubborn orthodoxy.

[@jonathonjubb6626]

Another brilliancy from Waugh! Bravo Sir...

[@alexanderwaugh7036]

So glad you like this - it’s one of my favourites.

[@jonathonjubb6626]

@@alexanderwaugh7036 I do indeed... Thank you most sincerely for all your presentations.

[@charlesnicholls8602]

Roses could also be interpreted as referring to secrets or secrecy (vide 'sub rosa')...

[@alexanderwaugh7036]

An excellent point. Thank you. 'Just as roses truly bloom everywhere, so your name...' certainly implies that his name 'vere, vere and vir' is sub rosa and has further interesting connections to Venus, the mythical love godess to whom Penelope Rich was so frequently compared. Levinus Lemnius reports: ‘Cupide, the son of Venus is saide of Poets to haue dedicated the Rose vnto Harpocrates the God of silence, (who is painted and purtraited holding his finger vppon his mouth) and that therefore the Rose serued as a signe of silence and token of secrecie, to such persons as be tatling talecariers.’ (226, in the Newton translation of 1587). He is referring to the myth of Harpocrates who was given the rose by cupid in order that he keep the secrets of Venus's love life quiet.

[@lafelong]

What a tease! What is the full translation of the Ben Johnson epigram?!?

[@alexanderwaugh7036]

“To Ben Jonson extraordinary poet - Verses are made of lead or bronze, a few of silver. Those made of gold are all your verses”. There’s bound to be some clever double meaning in their but I have not spotted it yet.

[@russellmartocci323]

Of course, these are all great. I am utterly convinced Shakespeare is a pen name for the 17th Earle of Oxford. This is a year old, but it does not seem to be informed of the theory the Wriothesoly was De Vere's son w/Queen Elizabeth. Note the red hair. Once you realize that the 18th Earle is actually the 17th earle's grandson w/Elizabeth, it all falls together.

[@zross8471]

A couple more observations...the number 57 could be taken as 17+40 Devere's number. Also counting from Gul: you get 17 words for the 17th Earle of Oxford if metra-tua is read as one word. Perhaps a stretch?

[@alexanderwaugh7036]

It means that ‘Shakespeare’ is the 17th word from the end which is indeed relevant. Have you seen the presentation I posted called ‘Revealing the NUMBER that Unmasks SHAKESPEARE’? Your observation would have fitted well into that.

[@adrianc1264]

A rose by any other name ...

[@catdrone2750]

Excellent piece here and very thought provoking Alexander. With all due respect, you may have left out on purpose for the sake of propriety the bawdy aspects of Porter's humor here (he was not known as the most "respectable" of gentlemen). I think you are correct in treating the three epigrams here as one. I read the prominent To or "Ad" as the beginning of the joke or the send up. Jonson piece here fairly straight forward with Metra Tua as his verse. The punch line at the end of the three part joke is Metra as "uterus" with Shakespeare (or De Vere as we read here) as having a natural talent for rich women. This would include both Anne's, Rich, and especially Elizabeth Trentham who provided him with a convenient income. No doubt De Vere is all over the second epigram which, also with the help of the two prominent dots, blends into the third very nicely linking him to the name Shakespeare. Thomas Holland Soldier in this poetic context is also potentially funny if read as Thomas Churchyard who was intimately associated with Oxford. So here sandwiched between two greats is the rather second rate poet Thomas the Holland Soldier who was known for his military exploits in Holland, was commissioned by Oxford, and wrote poetry that had much to do with battles and very little with roses. T. C. was also known for writing "To the dispisers of other mens workes that shoes nothing of their owne." Porter may have been taking another somewhat crass personal dig at Oxford here conflating him rightly with Shakespeare and more embarrassingly with Thomas Churchyard with whom Oxford has a falling out.

[@wayneferris9022]

"With de Vere I see"

[@granadosable]

Sounds very farfetched and unlikely to me.

[@davidthornberry4163]

Please excuse my somewhat primitive question, but why wouldn't The Earl of oxford simply father his OWN child with Ms. Rich? Why involve the third party?

[@alexanderwaugh7036]

Good question. Please see ‘Edward de Vere - Saint or Sinner?’ on this channel, for an answer to it.

[@chris.asi_romeo]

I do think its Francis Bacon but Edward De Vere is so convincing too. "With De Vere I see"

[@andrewyarosh1809]

Again, interesting content. But it doesn’t need to take 20+ minutes.....

[@alexanderwaugh7036]

Thank you Andrew. For those who find 2O minutes hard going there is a 34 second version right here: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKepeYCPqbRgiac

[@wcraigburns3458]

Spoilsport