The Northumberland Papers, Francis Bacon, and Shakespeare:

The Northumberland Papers are named after the location where they were found, the Northumberland House in London. The papers were discovered in the house in 1867 after the house had been sold to the city and they were tearing the building down to replace it with another structure. The Northumberland House happened to be right next door to the York House, where Francis Bacon stayed for years while he held the position of Lord Keeper. Francis Bacon was a famous philosopher and statesman.

On the cover page of the Papers, Shakespeare's and Bacon's names are written next to or near each others numerous times. Also, the document includes six of Bacon's manuscripts, Bacon's philosophical and poetical writings, and the naming of Shakespeare's works Richard II and Richard III.

People speculate that the repeated names on the cover page were written by Bacon or one of his secretaries in order to practice Shakespeare's signature.

Another reason people argue that Bacon was the true Shakespeare also involves the cover page of the Papers. There is a word on it that is unique to one of Shakespeare's plays. The word that is on the page is honorificabilitudini. The section from Love's Labour's Lost that is comes from is shown below.

Love's Labour's Lost (Act V Scene I):

Costard:

for thou art not so long by the head as

honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier