G'day Peter T,

There are really two parallel threads running here - The songs and the spying/political/religious connections of Shakespeare, Marlowe et al.

The Reckoning sounds suspiciously like the book I havelost or misplaced. Maybe, if I keep the title in mind, I might find it.

Your comments on Shakespeare's probable Catholicism resonate with another book I have not lost ... this is by Ian(?) Wilson (author of The Turin Shroud and a devout Catholic). Title is something like Shakespeare - the True Facts and it covers this area in detail. From Memory, I think Both Shakespeare's father and his daughter were fined for 'recusancy' - failure to attend the major (and compulsory) services of the Church of England - Christmas, Easter &c. Significantly, Shakespeare paid the fines ... at least for his daughter.

Wilson explains just how serious Catholicism was viewed in Elizabethan days and shows how Shakespeare may well have done a lot to keep his head down ... and attached.

Regards,

Bob Bolton