Francis Bacon
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Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban PC, known as Lord Verulam between 1618 and 1621, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon led the advancement of both natural philosophy and the scientific method, and his works remained influential even in the late stages of the Scientific Revolution.
A young Francis Bacon depicted in a National Portrait Gallery painting; the inscription around Bacon's head reads: Si tabula daretur digna animum mallem, Latin for "If one could but paint his mind".
The Italianate entry to York House, built around 1626 in Strand, the year of Bacon's death
Bacon's statue at Gray's Inn in London's South Square
The Shakespeare authorship question is the argument that someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works attributed to him. Anti-Stratfordians—a collective term for adherents of the various alternative-authorship theories—believe that Shakespeare of Stratford was a front to shield the identity of the real author or authors, who for some reason—usually social rank, state security, or gender—did not want or could not accept public credit. Although the idea has attracted much public interest, all but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary historians consider it a fringe theory, and for the most part acknowledge it only to rebut or disparage the claims.
John Shakespeare's house in Stratford-upon-Avon is believed to be Shakespeare's birthplace.
Shakespeare's name was hyphenated on the cover of the 1609 quarto edition of the Sonnets.
Ben Jonson's "On Poet-Ape" from his 1616 collected works is taken by some anti-Stratfordians to refer to Shakespeare.
The effigy of Shakespeare's Stratford monument as it was portrayed by Dugdale in 1656, as it appears today, and as it was portrayed in 1748 before the restoration