The Plays of William Shakespeare in perspective, we have only to remind ourselves what Johnson brought to it – an assemblage of almost every qualification we should ideally like to have brought to this kind of work with the single exception of patience... Operating in and through these qualities was his own extensive knowledge of human nature and life. No Shakespearean critic or editor has ever approached him in this respect. John Wain, another of Johnson's biographers, claimed, "There is no better statement of the reason why Shakespeare needs to be edited, and what aims an editor can reasonably set himself" than Johnson's "Proposal". The
Nevillean theory of Shakespeare authorship Nevillean theory of Shakespeare authorship The Nevillean theory of Shakespeare authorship attributes the work of William Shakespeare to the English parliamentarian and diplomat Sir Henry Neville (1562 – 1615). It was first proposed in 2005 by Brenda James and William Rubinstein in their book "The Truth Will Out". James had set the 144 letters of the dedication to "Shakespeare’s Sonnets" (1609) in a grid of 12 vertical columns of 12 letters and performed various manipulations to find the name "Henry Nevell", a name that was unknown to her. Further investigation led her to Neville, who as ambassador to France (1600–01)