I conclude by repeating my assertion that there was only one Englishman from Elizabethan times who could have written the works of Shakespeare. He possessed the personal qualities, education, knowledge and experience that we see so fully displayed in the canon. Unlike any other of the authorship candidates, he had an essential need for using a pseudonym and had met, and was connected to, the cast of characters who continually raise their heads in the debate. This man was known to be a writer and a great scholar. Manuscripts of his work in English and Latin survive.

The puzzling themes and issues elucidated in the sonnets, an undisputed autobiographical sequence, match the vicissitudes of his life, that is, early success followed by a crisis of conscience and eventual exile. The sometimes obscure references in the plays to Catholic rituals and practices e.g. the spiritual exercises of Ignatius Loyola from Person’s Christian Directory, would most likely only be known to priests, especially those of the Jesuit Order. Contemporary mention of the great poet describes him dressed in purple robes, living in a cell, that is, a priest’s room in a monastery, and dead by the 1590’s.
It is my strong belief that the English scholar and Catholic saint, Edmund Campion, was the true author of the works attributed to William Shakspere.

Author’s note: It has not been my intention to present the arguments for all the other candidates including William Shakspere, as that has been done effectively many times elsewhere. I hope my ideas promote further discussion, and in the future provision will be made for updates to be posted, and perhaps for a readers’ forum if there is sufficient interest. For those Stratfordians or others whose skepticism may run to scorn I would like them to consider the words of T.S Eliot:

About anyone so great as Shakespeare, it is probable that we
can never be right; and if we can never be right, it is better that
we should from time to time change our way of being wrong. [24 ]