The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 8.1031.  Monday, 13 October 1997.

From:           Peter Nockolds <
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Date:           Saturday, 11 Oct 1997 11:37:11 +0100 (BST)
Subject:        Navarre = Roanoke?

Anyone seeking for Shakespeare's inspiration for the all-male academy in
Love's Labour's Lost might consider the first colony on Roanoke Island
in 1585-6.  This too was an all-male enterprise, and, as with the
academy, its members failed to stay the course.  In the play it is women
who tempt the men from their resolve: when Raleigh sent out the second
'lost' colony' in 1587 women were present, so it was more than likely
said that the absence of women was a cause of the failure of the first
colony.

More detail may be found in the article 'Echoes of Roanoke in
Shakespeare' first given as a lecture at the 1997 Thomas Harriot
seminar, Cambridge (UK). This may be found on the web site at

             www.sonnet.co.uk/egma/

Comments on or off-list are welcome.

Peter Nockolds