This is an insightful study of the importance of the classical literary heritage and its intellectual importance for western civilization's heirs ever since the fall of Rome's empire. There are perhaps a few links in the chain of Bolgar's argument which could be somewhat questioned and disputed but the main thrust of his analysis is enlightening and probably largely correct. Bolgar didn't set out in any particular and specific way to present a vivid picture of the intellectual world into which Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, was born and the cultural and intellectual world which formed his outlook--but Bolgar has done this just the same. This is a key text for those who would understand the intellectual world into which the author of the works of "Shake-speare" was born and formed.

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My page-references (from the 1973 Cambridge University Press reprint (paperback edition)) for notable passages or longer portions from this work:

Preface to end of Introduction : pp. vii - 13
13-29; 34-35; 40; 45-58; 117-119; 120; 127-28; 140-142;183-184; 226-238; 239; 244-264; 265-275; 326-327; 364-366; Chap. IX: 380-393. ( )