CHAPTER 7.
Of the approximately one thousand marked verses in the de Vere Bible, almost three hundred
--
approaching one third --
demonstrate a tangible influence in the poems and plays of
"Shakespeare.” One hundred and forty-one of these verses have been designated as influential for
Shakespeare -- either as source or parallel -- by prior scholars (Noble 1935; Shaheen 1987, 1989,
1993; Milward 1987). The remaining number exhibit various degrees or types of significance
within the Shakespeare canon, from minor examples which exhibit only a probable or subtle
influence, to those which display definite or even pervasive influences in the canon and are
discussed for the first time in my 1992-93 Report
A Quintessence of Dust or in the attached
Appendices D and G.
Such numbers, however, do not do full justice to
the quality of the de Vere Bible evidence. Although
somewhat over one thousand verses are marked in
the Bible, it is a mistake to regard these as
representing atomic bits of independent data. Indeed,
the Bible annotations exhibit at least three distinct
kinds of internal structure which affect any attempt at
numerical assessment of their evidentiary value.
First, the annotator frequently marks several
successive verses within a pericope or a chapter, as in
the sequence from Romans 6.19-22 (figure ten).
Counting such marked clusters in place of
individual verses we find only three hundred seventy-
seven, of which one hundred fifty-five -- 41%--exhibit a demonstrable influence in Shakespeare.
Figure Ten: Romans 6.19-22 in de Vere STC
2106.
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