James Leyland
@jamesleyland.bsky.social
Reposted by James Leyland
A democracy isn’t (just) an electoral system. It’s also a culture of deliberation, debate, sensitivity to public concern, attention to social movements and community leaders, respect for civil rights and minority interests, free expression and association and due process. How’s your country doing?
October 22, 2025 at 10:29 PM
A democracy isn’t (just) an electoral system. It’s also a culture of deliberation, debate, sensitivity to public concern, attention to social movements and community leaders, respect for civil rights and minority interests, free expression and association and due process. How’s your country doing?
Reposted by James Leyland
Oct 12, 1639: Globe shareholder and actor John Heminges is buried at St. Mary Aldermanbury in London. #OTD #Shakespeare
October 12, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Oct 12, 1639: Globe shareholder and actor John Heminges is buried at St. Mary Aldermanbury in London. #OTD #Shakespeare
Reposted by James Leyland
October 12, 2025 at 12:47 PM
RULE - The 1st Commandment, Sonnet pair 109-110.
1st Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Sonnet 110: A God in love to whom I am confined.
(excerpt from Booth, S, 'Shakespeare's Sonnets').
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
#ShakespeareSunday
1st Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Sonnet 110: A God in love to whom I am confined.
(excerpt from Booth, S, 'Shakespeare's Sonnets').
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
#ShakespeareSunday
October 12, 2025 at 11:33 AM
RULE - The 1st Commandment, Sonnet pair 109-110.
1st Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Sonnet 110: A God in love to whom I am confined.
(excerpt from Booth, S, 'Shakespeare's Sonnets').
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
#ShakespeareSunday
1st Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Sonnet 110: A God in love to whom I am confined.
(excerpt from Booth, S, 'Shakespeare's Sonnets').
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
#ShakespeareSunday
On my walk today
September 29, 2025 at 10:56 AM
On my walk today
Reposted by James Leyland
Reposted by James Leyland
Reposted by James Leyland
Epigraph from first work in Shakespeare's name compared with Nevill's motto:
Vilia miretur vulgus
* Let boors admire base things
Nevill's motto: Ne vile velis
* Wish for no base thing
#epigraphytuesday
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
Vilia miretur vulgus
* Let boors admire base things
Nevill's motto: Ne vile velis
* Wish for no base thing
#epigraphytuesday
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
September 9, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Epigraph from first work in Shakespeare's name compared with Nevill's motto:
Vilia miretur vulgus
* Let boors admire base things
Nevill's motto: Ne vile velis
* Wish for no base thing
#epigraphytuesday
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
Vilia miretur vulgus
* Let boors admire base things
Nevill's motto: Ne vile velis
* Wish for no base thing
#epigraphytuesday
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
Reposted by James Leyland
2/2 Elizabeth I, born OTD 1533, early in her reign. Greeting Dutch ambassadors in a room decorated to look like a garden, with caged birds at the windows. Possibly painted by Levina Teerlinc.
September 7, 2025 at 1:13 PM
2/2 Elizabeth I, born OTD 1533, early in her reign. Greeting Dutch ambassadors in a room decorated to look like a garden, with caged birds at the windows. Possibly painted by Levina Teerlinc.
Reposted by James Leyland
Marianne Stokes (1855-1927), Austrian painter who settled in England, considered one of the leading women artists of her time #womensart
August 31, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Marianne Stokes (1855-1927), Austrian painter who settled in England, considered one of the leading women artists of her time #womensart
Shakespeare folk know the Bellott vs Mountjoy case of 1612. Shakespeare was a key witness to events ~ 10 years before.
Other key witness? Humphrey Fludd - trusted courier between Neville & his secretary in Paris, 1600.
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
Other key witness? Humphrey Fludd - trusted courier between Neville & his secretary in Paris, 1600.
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
August 30, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Shakespeare folk know the Bellott vs Mountjoy case of 1612. Shakespeare was a key witness to events ~ 10 years before.
Other key witness? Humphrey Fludd - trusted courier between Neville & his secretary in Paris, 1600.
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
Other key witness? Humphrey Fludd - trusted courier between Neville & his secretary in Paris, 1600.
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th...
NEVILLE occurs only once in 7,700 settings of the sonnets (192,000 columns). And what a sonnet ...
www.academia.edu/127656765/Li...
www.academia.edu/127656765/Li...
August 29, 2025 at 1:02 PM
NEVILLE occurs only once in 7,700 settings of the sonnets (192,000 columns). And what a sonnet ...
www.academia.edu/127656765/Li...
www.academia.edu/127656765/Li...
Sonnet 64 & Eternity (at 64th letter of the dedication).
N.B. 'State' in lines 9 and 10 ... the end of everything (?)
#shakespearesunday
N.B. 'State' in lines 9 and 10 ... the end of everything (?)
#shakespearesunday
August 24, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Sonnet 64 & Eternity (at 64th letter of the dedication).
N.B. 'State' in lines 9 and 10 ... the end of everything (?)
#shakespearesunday
N.B. 'State' in lines 9 and 10 ... the end of everything (?)
#shakespearesunday
Doubter: I just can't find any real evidence FOR Shakespeare...
Stratfordian: Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence! Besides stinky, there's no evidence that anyone doubted him at the time.
Doubter: What was that neat thing again, about absence of evidence?
Stratfordian: Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence! Besides stinky, there's no evidence that anyone doubted him at the time.
Doubter: What was that neat thing again, about absence of evidence?
The examples above demonstrate that the name Shakespeare was misused (at the height of his fame).
Here are 3 more by W.S. who is also not Shake-speare.
... also, Ben Jonson bemoaning a broker, a Poet-Ape, a thief 'that would be thought our chief'.
Here are 3 more by W.S. who is also not Shake-speare.
... also, Ben Jonson bemoaning a broker, a Poet-Ape, a thief 'that would be thought our chief'.
August 21, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Doubter: I just can't find any real evidence FOR Shakespeare...
Stratfordian: Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence! Besides stinky, there's no evidence that anyone doubted him at the time.
Doubter: What was that neat thing again, about absence of evidence?
Stratfordian: Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence! Besides stinky, there's no evidence that anyone doubted him at the time.
Doubter: What was that neat thing again, about absence of evidence?
Following Shakespeare's 154 sonnets is the long poem 'A Lover's Complaint'.
Line 15: The abused woman has a napkin of 'conceited characters', cf. the abused Philomel's needlework - the only textual code in classical mythology (?) - and her mutilation invoked in Sonnet 102 (below).
Line 15: The abused woman has a napkin of 'conceited characters', cf. the abused Philomel's needlework - the only textual code in classical mythology (?) - and her mutilation invoked in Sonnet 102 (below).
August 20, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Following Shakespeare's 154 sonnets is the long poem 'A Lover's Complaint'.
Line 15: The abused woman has a napkin of 'conceited characters', cf. the abused Philomel's needlework - the only textual code in classical mythology (?) - and her mutilation invoked in Sonnet 102 (below).
Line 15: The abused woman has a napkin of 'conceited characters', cf. the abused Philomel's needlework - the only textual code in classical mythology (?) - and her mutilation invoked in Sonnet 102 (below).
Letters link Sir Henry Nevill to 'Twelfth Night' entertainment.
Nevill introduced Duke Orsino to Elizabeth's Court. No-one else knew of this visit - or the discovery of the lost Sebastian (with a mark 'upon his brow'). These were state secrets.
www.academia.edu/126533632/Ne...
Nevill introduced Duke Orsino to Elizabeth's Court. No-one else knew of this visit - or the discovery of the lost Sebastian (with a mark 'upon his brow'). These were state secrets.
www.academia.edu/126533632/Ne...
August 19, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Letters link Sir Henry Nevill to 'Twelfth Night' entertainment.
Nevill introduced Duke Orsino to Elizabeth's Court. No-one else knew of this visit - or the discovery of the lost Sebastian (with a mark 'upon his brow'). These were state secrets.
www.academia.edu/126533632/Ne...
Nevill introduced Duke Orsino to Elizabeth's Court. No-one else knew of this visit - or the discovery of the lost Sebastian (with a mark 'upon his brow'). These were state secrets.
www.academia.edu/126533632/Ne...
The dedication to Shakespeare's Sonnets is a 'MAP' of the Sonnets.
Setting out the dedication in a map grid, new words appear - the 1st letter of each maps to a Sonnet, e.g. L'ETE at 1,8 maps to Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th... #shakespearesunday
Setting out the dedication in a map grid, new words appear - the 1st letter of each maps to a Sonnet, e.g. L'ETE at 1,8 maps to Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th... #shakespearesunday
August 17, 2025 at 11:00 AM
The dedication to Shakespeare's Sonnets is a 'MAP' of the Sonnets.
Setting out the dedication in a map grid, new words appear - the 1st letter of each maps to a Sonnet, e.g. L'ETE at 1,8 maps to Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th... #shakespearesunday
Setting out the dedication in a map grid, new words appear - the 1st letter of each maps to a Sonnet, e.g. L'ETE at 1,8 maps to Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
www.academia.edu/125775909/Th... #shakespearesunday
Shakespeare often used irony (Antony on Brutus in Julius Caesar III, ii; Lennox on Macbeth III, vi).
Here, one clue that Leonard Digges is being funny re Shakespeare is that Digges himself was most famous as a translator from that "vulgar Language" Spanish.
Here, one clue that Leonard Digges is being funny re Shakespeare is that Digges himself was most famous as a translator from that "vulgar Language" Spanish.
August 16, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Shakespeare often used irony (Antony on Brutus in Julius Caesar III, ii; Lennox on Macbeth III, vi).
Here, one clue that Leonard Digges is being funny re Shakespeare is that Digges himself was most famous as a translator from that "vulgar Language" Spanish.
Here, one clue that Leonard Digges is being funny re Shakespeare is that Digges himself was most famous as a translator from that "vulgar Language" Spanish.
Master William Hunnis (MrWH)
- Elizabeth's dramatist (Children of Chapel 30y+)
- Primary creator of Kenilworth (highest possible stakes)
- Genesis specialist (onlie 'begetter')
- Sonneteer
- Blackfriars founder
- Shakespeare's teacher?
- Elizabeth's dramatist (Children of Chapel 30y+)
- Primary creator of Kenilworth (highest possible stakes)
- Genesis specialist (onlie 'begetter')
- Sonneteer
- Blackfriars founder
- Shakespeare's teacher?
August 15, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Master William Hunnis (MrWH)
- Elizabeth's dramatist (Children of Chapel 30y+)
- Primary creator of Kenilworth (highest possible stakes)
- Genesis specialist (onlie 'begetter')
- Sonneteer
- Blackfriars founder
- Shakespeare's teacher?
- Elizabeth's dramatist (Children of Chapel 30y+)
- Primary creator of Kenilworth (highest possible stakes)
- Genesis specialist (onlie 'begetter')
- Sonneteer
- Blackfriars founder
- Shakespeare's teacher?
I don't believe in an organised conspiracy to guard "Shakespeare wrote Shake-Speare".
I do believe academia has protected old anecdotes & these errors have compounded to become "facts", e.g. the circular evidence of "Warwickshire" words.
theconversation.com/the-bard-did...
I do believe academia has protected old anecdotes & these errors have compounded to become "facts", e.g. the circular evidence of "Warwickshire" words.
theconversation.com/the-bard-did...
The Bard didn’t use Warwickshire dialect – so was he really Shakespeare?
Shakespeare’s use of dialect is a key argument used by those who stand by the traditional author. But these so-called “Warwickshire dialect” words are nothing of the sort.
theconversation.com
August 14, 2025 at 12:10 PM
I don't believe in an organised conspiracy to guard "Shakespeare wrote Shake-Speare".
I do believe academia has protected old anecdotes & these errors have compounded to become "facts", e.g. the circular evidence of "Warwickshire" words.
theconversation.com/the-bard-did...
I do believe academia has protected old anecdotes & these errors have compounded to become "facts", e.g. the circular evidence of "Warwickshire" words.
theconversation.com/the-bard-did...
1/6 Time Sonnets
Sonnet 60, Minutes: ... our minutes hasten ...
The numbers and the contents of 5 sonnets seem to reference the 5 intervals of time: minute, hour, day, month, year (+ Octave).
independent.academia.edu/JamesLeyland
Sonnet 60, Minutes: ... our minutes hasten ...
The numbers and the contents of 5 sonnets seem to reference the 5 intervals of time: minute, hour, day, month, year (+ Octave).
independent.academia.edu/JamesLeyland
August 12, 2025 at 9:53 AM
1/6 Time Sonnets
Sonnet 60, Minutes: ... our minutes hasten ...
The numbers and the contents of 5 sonnets seem to reference the 5 intervals of time: minute, hour, day, month, year (+ Octave).
independent.academia.edu/JamesLeyland
Sonnet 60, Minutes: ... our minutes hasten ...
The numbers and the contents of 5 sonnets seem to reference the 5 intervals of time: minute, hour, day, month, year (+ Octave).
independent.academia.edu/JamesLeyland
#EpigraphyTuesday Rosalin’s Complaint seems to be exceptional in using epigraphy to accuse or warn readers of their potential misconduct. It stands apart from more typical Renaissance prefatory material, which tends to be welcoming—or at least neutral—in tone.
Epigraph on the volume containing Shakespeare's Phoenix & Turtle:
Mutare dominum non potest liber notus
A noted book cannot change its author
- Martial's "Epigram to a Plagiarist"
Mutare dominum non potest liber notus
A noted book cannot change its author
- Martial's "Epigram to a Plagiarist"
August 12, 2025 at 12:10 AM
#EpigraphyTuesday Rosalin’s Complaint seems to be exceptional in using epigraphy to accuse or warn readers of their potential misconduct. It stands apart from more typical Renaissance prefatory material, which tends to be welcoming—or at least neutral—in tone.