You are quite correct, EB, Hamlet was based on a much earlier play that was stripped to its bones, rewritten to a 4000 liner, and then re-edited to the standard 2,500 or so lines of the day. It is contended (by others, not I) that the rework added in all the salient features of De Vere's life. And what is this about a cryptoCatholic - you haven't got Henry Neville back into this discussion, have you? Drabnaggit! All the effort I went to, to get him put to one side, and you bring him up again. What are you doing? (Some sorts of Stupid Conspiracy Theory Fanatic thingy-wotsit, I'll be bound ...)
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