The author's opinion is that the plays and poems of Shakespeare were not written by William Shakespeare, the player who came from Stratford, and this is as certain as anything can be which is not susceptible to mathematical proof. This volume sets forth the author's theories and the proof with which he bases each theory. Contains five essays by Smithson entitled: The Masque of Time Vindicated; Shakespeare, a Theory; Ben Jonson and Shakespeare; Bacon and Poesy; The Tempest and its Symbolism; and two essays by Greenwood entitled: The Common Knowledge of Shakespeare and Bacon; The Northumberland Manuscript.