This tight focus, ommitting de Vere's patronage of numerous works which are not most salient to Dunn's thesis and concentrating on the 13 literary works dedicated to him, gives the book a tight and impressive sense of focus, rewarding the reader on every page with rich insight into de Vere's role as an Elizabethan patron whose every move seems unacannily to have shadowed the necessary experiences of "Shakespeare".

Dunn's thesis is particularly impressive in making use of de Vere's extant correspondence to document and analyze his relationships and attitudes, viz.: "De Vere had become aware that Burghley was using the earl's own men to spy on him. He encourages Burghleyto 'leave that course, for I mean not to be your ward nor your child.' His dander up, the earl continues that he serves Her Majesty and 'I am that I am; and by alliance near to your Lordship, but free.' De Vere's rebellious tone could not be more clear, and his appropriation of Exodus 3:14 as it appears in the Geneva Bible may border on the sacreligeous, applying to a man the words of God concerning Himself, but de Vere's intent is plain: he is his own person, bent on whatever pursuits please him, and not to be interfered with by the Lord Treasurer. Warning Burghley that he is not to be perceived as 'so weak of government as to be ruled by servants, nor able to govern myself," he threatens that if further action along this line of spying persists, he will'take another course that I have not yet thought of.' His reminder of 'I serve her' majesty is not just the expression of a courtier's loyalty; he was providing entertainment with his acting companies and boy players who were performing their plays at Blackfriars for court offerings" (75).

Although Dunn remains prudently neutral on the authorship question -- as is of course a necessity for graduate students in the oppressive climate of Stratfordian fundamentalism still prevailing in most sectors of higher education-- it is clear that she, like B.M Ward in his 1928 biography of de Vere, is very well aware of larger, unelaborated implications of her study: "...although Lyly's Euphues transformed English speech and prose, and Italianism became the courtly fashion, the influence of men like Ascham and Cecil, suspicious of such things, remained preeminent in matters of government. It would eventually come to pass that William Shakespeare would benefit from the works de Vere patronized, for his plays came to make use of practically every one of the literary number in some fashion" (93).

Congratulations, Ms. Dunn, on a fine thesis.

Dunn's thesis, approved May 1999, is available for sale for $20 pp. from Michigan Microfilm, 1-800-521-0600