This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VII Edward De Vere As Lyric Poet In proceeding from an examination of Shakespeare's work to search for the man himself we made lyric poetry the starting point, and the crucial consideration in attempting to establish his identity. Similarly, in reversing the process, that is to say in proceeding a priori from Edward de Vere to the work of Shakespeare, which must be the longest and most decisive section of the argument, we again begin with lyric poetry. We take the lyric poetry of Edward de Vere and see how far it justifies the theory of his being the real "Shakespeare." Up to the present we have had before us the single poem and a few odd lines of Oxford's supported by the testimony of the Dictionary of National Biography. It becomes necessary first of all DEGREESSmony to obtain further testimony as to his poetic powers and characteristics, and then to see to what extent others of his poems warrant his being chosen as the writer of Shakespeare's work. In the "Cambridge History of English Literature" (vol. iv, p. 116)--the section being written by Harold H. Child, sometime scholar of Brasenose, Oxford--there occurs the following reference to a collection of poems called "The Phoenix' Nest." "The Earl of Oxford has a charming lyric." Most of the other contributors are simply enumerated. Oxford, however, it will be noticed, is singled out for a special compliment, courtho* Again, we would draw special attention to the following excerpts from the "History of English Poetry" (vol. ii, pp. 312-313) by W. J. Courthope, C.B., M.A., D.Litt. (Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford: -- "Edward de Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, . . . a great patron of literature. . . . His own verses are distinguished for their wit . . . and terse...