Religious views of William Shakespeare the Tyburn gallows, where the members of the underground died, was called 'the place of much trading'. The Jesuit underground used this code so their correspondences looked like innocuous commercial letters, and Asquith believed that Shakespeare also used this code. Asquith's conclusions, however, have met with considerable criticism and evidence of a hidden code has been called "dubious". According to professor Jeffrey Knapp, the work of scholars like Peter Milward, who believe that "the deepest inspiration in Shakespeare's plays is both religious and Christian", has had "little influence on recent Shakespeare scholarship". John Finnis and Patrick Martin have argued more
The Plays of William Shakespeare by the Shakespeare scholar William Warburton. On 1 June 1756, Johnson reprinted his "Miscellaneous Observations" but attached his "Proposal" or "Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Dramatick Works of William Shakespeare, Corrected and Illustrated". On 2 June 1756, he signed a contract to edit an eight-volume set of Shakespeare's writings including a preface, and on 8 June 1756 Johnson printed his "Proposal", now called "Proposals for an Edition of Shakespeare". The "Proposal" sold subscriptions for Johnson's future edition at the cost of two guineas, the first paid before and the second upon printing. When Johnson achieved scholarly renown for his